Life is a funny thing. We fight to keep living but we are only reminded of it with pain.

The agony had woken me up though at that moment I wished I'd never had. My entire body was hurting and it was the only thing that told me I was alive. Unfortunately, the pain was nothing but a scratch once the memories started to come back.

I remembered the war. I remembered being separated from Jimhaya and fighting those assassins and I remembered the aftermath. Shock and fear filled me and I shot up from the bed I was lying on. I opened my eyes and saw white from the blinding lights over my head. Bad idea.

A massive headache appeared and my body protested from my sudden movements. With a groan I fell back down because the pain was too much to handle and my breath became uneven. A gentle hand touched my shoulder to steady me.

"Easy there honey" I heard Red's voice say "You are still recovering"

I concentrated on my friend's hand until the pain was remotely bearable. I decided to try opening my eyes again but more slowly this time. I noticed I was in a hospital room which came to no surprised. The room was a nice light blue-white colour. There were two doors, a window and small table but nothing else. I blinked a few times to adjust to the lighting above my head because it was too bright or maybe it was just me.

I was conscious that my left arm was securely attached to my body and I could feel my wings behind my back. They were outreached to each side and were supported by suspended braces.

I turned my head and followed the hand that was still on my shoulder up to my friend's face. Red didn't look good. Her hair was in a messy bun and it looked as if she had lost twenty pounds. Her cheeks were hollow and her clothes were baggy which was extremely uncharacteristic of her.

"Red" I tried to say but my voice was hoarse as if I had swallowed a kilo of burning charcoal. I cleared my

throat as best as I could because even that movement hurt. "Hey Red, you look like shit"

Red chuckled "Well you aren't much better" I smiled a little. Red raised a hand and hesitated before softly brushing my cheek. "I'm glad you are awake, sweetheart. I'm so glad. I've missed you" she choked up. To reassure her, I took her hand in mine and squeezed it.

"yeah, I'm here" I whispered and my friend smiled at me relieved. "I missed you too" We stayed like this but something was really bugging me.

"Red, I know it's bright but why are you wearing sunglasses indoors?" I asked her. Her body stiffened. She removed her hand from mine and used both to grab the sunglasses. I gasped.

Her eyes were no longer the beautiful blue-gray I knew. They were replaced by white cataracts. The pupils were white and there were no irises. Burnt scars surrounded her eyes from the bridge to the nose to the far side of each of them and down to the beginning of her cheekbones.

"Jasmine, your eyes. What happened to your beautiful eyes?" I said as I turned to my side and raised myself with one elbow. With my free hand I grazed her scars afraid I would hurt her. It was incredible. There was nothing but emptiness.

"Some lizard demon spat acid saliva in my eyes and by the time we asked a healer for help, it was too late" Red said grimly. I sunk back into the pillows closing my eyes shut.

"This is so messed up" I said. I stayed silent for a few seconds before asking the dreadful question that had been on the tip of my tongue since I woke up. "What happened? Who else is injured? Did anybody die? What happened to Jamie?"

Red rested a hand on my shoulder again to stop my ranting. Her face held no expressions which indicated that the information was not good. I closed my eyes once again and listened to my friend. She explained what happened during the war and the aftermath. She told me that it was the principal that found me under the castle remains and that I almost didn't come out. She also told me that the Duke of Farnon, Riker and Hound were all dead.

"Mom is fine. She had cuts and bruises that the Duke did to her. The asshole pumped a lot of drugs in her so it took about a week of rehab to clean her system. Her magic is slowly coming back.

A quarter of dad's body got burnt by Wizard's Fire. The healers managed to save him but he will forever be swallowing painkillers and use specially made herbal lotion to protect the skin but it got him a reputation. He is now known as the 'Burnt King: the wolf who killed the Hound'

Aunty Aaliyah died. She was killed on the battlefield. The principal and Cameron came back with barely any scratches on them. Our cousin Connor got hit by a sword and almost died. The healers saved him and he will be able to walk and talk soon. Ren got stuck in a bear trap and the healers had to cut his leg off. Jessica and the baby are also fine-

"Baby?" I cut her off surprised. "Jess is pregnant?"

"Yeah. She is" Red smiled genuinely for the first time.

"Ren must be ecstatic. I can just imagine him hogging the life out of Jess" I chuckled at the thought.

"Ren died yesterday" Red said. My laughter stopped abruptly. I was speechless. I opened my mouth but nothing came out so I closed it again. I tried again and this time my voice came out shaking.

"But you said he was fine" I told her. Red shook her head.

"He was fine. The healers fixed his leg and he was breathing and laughing until yesterday. They must have missed another injury or his heart just failed. The healers think it was something else."

I was in shock. My best male friend was just gone; just like Lena. How could someone like Ren die? How was it possible for someone to live through a war only to die from something else?

"I don't get it. He survived the war. He fought and lived for a reason" I said.

"People keep dying Siana. A war won't stop life from following its habits. Sometimes people just... die"

I was in too much of a shock to cry. I simply stared at the ceiling.

"What about Jamie?" I choked out but Red remained silent. I turned to look at her and growled warningly. "Tell me"

"Jamie is in a coma" Red whispered sadly. "A machine is keeping her alive until the healers find a way to save her but the probability of her waking up is slim"

Having heard enough, I removed the covers and sat up. I ignored my protesting body and swung my feet to one side. I tried to stand but the pain was immense and I fell back down with a groan.

"What are you doing?" Red asked.

"I'm going to see Jamie and don't try to stop me" I told her. I'll be damned if that bitch died on me now. The second time I tried to stand was a success but my legs were weak. I saw my clothes neatly piled on a chair at the other end of the room and thought of the best way to get there.

"Where are your clothes? I will get them for you" Red asked me.

"No offense Red, but you can't see. I'll be fine, just give me a few minutes" I told her. I tried to take a step forward but stopped when Red made a mournful noise.

"Not you too" she said. I looked at her and saw that she was crying. "You think I don't want to see my sister also? I feel so helpless. Nobody wants me to do anything like they are afraid I'll hurt myself simply because I'm blind. All I want is to do something to forget life just for a second."

I smiled sadly at her forgetting she couldn't see it. Red had such a good heart and always put everyone else before her. I felt bad to remove the part I loved most about her because of her condition.

"I think I might need help getting dressed after all" I told her before sitting back on the bed.

Red looked relieved and stood up with her arms stretched. She used her hands to guide her around the room as I told her where to go. I gave her directions so that she didn't bump into anything. Red slowly made her way to my clothes. Once she had them she turned around and waited for instructions.

"Okay, there is a second chair on the right" I told my friend but she walked right into it. She groaned as her legs hit the back of the object.

"Siana" Red whined

"Sorry, it was my right and your left" I said sheepishly but I was still having a hard time to think clearly.

Red forgave me and finally arrived beside the bed. I reached out and grabbed her hand with mine to facilitate her movements. She helped me out of my hospital gown and tried not hurt me in the process. Removing the gown was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. My left arm was wrapped tightly to my chest because both my arm and wing were broken. Luckily, the gown was open at the back.

Once the gown was off, Red proceeded to wrap my wings to my back so that I could wear clothes without moving them and then put a sweater over my head. Only my good arm could go through the sleeve so we left the other tucked underneath. The sweat pants were easy along with the flip-flops. Red tied my hair in a bun because they were beyond dirty and knotty by now. Sleeping for one week does not make a girl pretty that is for sure. But I didn't care. All I cared about was Jimhaya and her condition.

Red gave me an elbow cane so I could support myself and she grabbed my good shoulder for guidance and her blind cane stretched in front of her. Together we slowly made our way out of the room and down the corridor to a portal. My friend told me she couldn't teleport because she did not know where Jimmy was being held. Teleportation only works when you know where you are landing and now that Red was blind, she could not see her surroundings.

"It is not that bad" Red tried to comfort me. "Mom is teaching me the Second Sight. With that, I will be able to see auras and energy flowing within any living and non-living things. I won't be able to see colours or faces anymore but I will be able to feel the vibrations under my feet and see emotions. The hardest part will be the adaption. Human bodies are only used to see with a certain limit which is in front of at all times but now, I will 'see' in every direction possible like a sphere: Behind me, over my head or under my feet, at hundred yards from where I am standing..." Red pointed to my left "take that guy for example. I don't see him clearly but I know he is going to die soon."

"Red, there is no guy there, only a wall" I said to her.

"Oh. Well he must on the other side of a wall then" Red smiled slightly "Auras are quite easy to see but I have not grasped the non-animated objects yet"

We made it to the portal and stepped through it without any hesitation but what I saw on the other side took my breath away. We were in a dark room filled with machines and hieroglyph like a mixture of old and new technology. It was very cold and I could see me own breath. I was glad I was wearing a sweater at that moment. The room was separated in different compartments by glass windows. In each section were more machines and a single bed. Some were currently being used while others were vacant. In the middle was a desk with multiple computer screens and a person typing on a single keyboard.

I saw Kelly and Jessica looking through a window to the far left and so Red and I made our way towards them. Jess heard us coming and turned her head and she looked awful: Her eyes were puffy and red and she had black bags under them. Her cheeks were hollow and she had lost that confident smirk she always had. I had never seen her so lifeless and I didn't like it. She watched me walk to her and let me engulf her in a one armed hug which she returned passively.

"I'm sorry" I whispered. I knew she was tired of hearing it but it was the least I could do. Ren was my best friend since he entered the school all those years ago. Jess squeezed me tighter to acknowledge my words. She knew what he meant to me as well.

We separated and I gave Kelly a tight hug as well. "You suborn girl. You should be in bed" she scolded me. I smiled slightly and looked through the window.

Jimmy's frail body was lying on the bed on the other side with a mask covering her mouth and nose. The mask was linked to a machine by two giant tubes that went on each side of the bed and behind Jimmy's head. Countless of tubes and cannula connected her with different devices. Jimmy's body was covered by a blanket and her hospital clothes were thicker than usual.

Jess found me a chair and placed it behind me. She helped me sit down and I winced by the action. I was panting hard as I let my body relax after such a hard journey. Red came behind me and put her hands on my shoulders.

"This place is called the Freezer" Kelly informed me. "The temperature is lower than normal so that the body's system slows down enough to not cause more damage"

"Why can't the healers do anything?" I asked her.

"Because they can't heal a dead body" my head whipped sideways. I looked at Kelly in surprised and begged her with my eyes to tell me it was a lie. This couldn't be true. I stared at Red who confirmed it by turning her head away. Why didn't she tell me?

"Jamie died in my arms. She saved me and got nailed to a tree by a giant spear through her chest. One of her lungs was punctured and the blade grazed the heart enough to start a leak" Kelly continued "The Freezer is specially designed for situations like these. In the blue tubes, there is a substance that keeps the brain active and more specifically the part that allows us to heal. The green ones have a healing potion to help make the body's recovery easier. The other tubes are nutrients, IV and respiratory devices. If Jamie can heal on her own then she might have a chance of waking up"

"Healing the brain that had been damaged by the lack of oxygen is the body's first priority. It is the hardest and slowest process. Then the body will proceed with the vital organs and finally to the rest. Only then can Jamie wake up, if she ever does" Jess finished explaining.

"She'll wake up" I told them.

"There is a reason there not many people using the Freezer" Red said. "Nobody wakes up the same after dying and there are always consequences"

"Well" I drawled trying to lighten the mood "We're talking about Jimhaya here. She is used to being broken. I don't think it will change much" I had the reaction I wanted. We all laughed lightly and smiled sadly. I rested my head on Red's stomach and she wrapped an arm around my chest and stroke my hair with her other hand.

"Besides, she has you two: three bodies, one soul" I told the sisters "Plus she has two other slightly disturbing personalities that will do anything to survive. Jimmy is going to be fine" I had to believe my own word. I refused to think otherwise.

"And she's got you" Jess replied sadly. I reached out and grabbed her fingers with mine. I closed my eyes and told myself once more that everything will be fine and let sleep consume me comfortably.

She had to be okay. After all, she was Jimhaya Hundale. She was Creepy Crawly to the school, Queen of the Damn to her sisters and Blood Princess to the Underground. But to me, she was just Jimmy; the girl I loved.