Nurses were beginning to clean the room of the boy with black blood. Hours after his parents ran out of the funds to pay for his needs here at the hospital. With the outrageous amount of bills piling up to keep him medically alive, it was affecting their home finances and had to make a choice. Much to their regret and sadness.

The nurses were removing all the machines that were used to keep the boy alive. Disconnecting tubes, wires, and patches were taken off one by one, until the newest of them touched his forearm and his arm jerked slightly.

"Ah~!" The flinched and moved back in fear. The more experienced nurse chuckled.

"It's just riga mortis setting in, sometimes it makes the limbs long after the heart has stopped beating." She said, approaching the boys' arm to finish her fellow nurses job when suddenly his arm reach out to grab her forearm instead. Wirt looked at the nurse weakly and confused.

"Ah!" They all screamed.

After the initial confusion and fearful reaction of the nurses, the doctor was called in to assess the situation and confirmed the boy was miraculously still alive. After making the phone call to his parents, who were overjoyed and cathartic over the news that their son had somehow lived after they decided to end his treatment due to financial treatment.

Wirt's mother especially saw this as a miracle and second chance to have her baby boy with them again. Wirt's step dad, after getting past his initial shock, filed a lawsuit against the hospital for negligent care and demanded that all the medical bills they payed were to be returned in full and more. They won the lawsuit due to how anomalous the situation had been.

Greg, however, was the one who was confused in a different manner than everyone else. He was simply happy, but not joyous. Greg knew the entire time that his brother would be fine and come back, and never doubted it for a second. No fear had ever come to mind that his brother would not wake up. So the first thing he said to his brother made everyone else in the room at the time smile at how innocent a child could be to death.

"Welcome back, Wirt. That sure was a long nap you took." Greg smiled, and in return, Wirt hugged his brother with every weak fiber of his being.

It had been a full month after the initial reaction and mayhem that was the story of Wirt's 'resurrection'. Many newstations wanted to have an interview with the family, several groups of faith were eager to seek into what he saw on the other side. But when Wirt's nervous wishes to be left alone, his mother and step-father, for the first time in a long time, listened and made sure to let him have his privacy. From the outside world that was.

There was absolutely no way his mother was going to leave him alone for a while, and his brother and their frog, were with him a hundred percent of the time. His step-dad was there when he needed to be or when Wirt wanted him to be, but overall, everyone was doting on him, not wanting to let him slip through their lives again. Though, his mother could tell, that Wirt missed something. She didn't want to ask, but could tell he kept quiet about something and would always turn his head when he saw a bird fly overhead or land nearby.

Strange, she thought.

It was the week before Christmas and break and Wirt hadn't returned to school just yet, neither had Greg, mostly due to their mother requesting to take them off to have them home until after the new year. Wirt, during that time, had been playing with Greg whenever he could, being the best older brother he never got to be before the Unknown debacle. He remembered everything, as did Greg, and both bonded over their shared experience in the Unknown, though Wirt never told Greg what happened to him after remaining in the Unknown.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Wirt offered, to Greg who was none the wiser.

Two of the things that their mother took interest in was the drawings Greg had made of the Unknown and Wirt's poems about the ambiance of it. She was genuinely taken aback by the thought of what her boys saw, and figured it was best to let them express it however they chose to do so. She was just happy to see them interact more, and so proud of Wirt becoming so invested in everything that he wasn't into before.

One evening, Wirt and Greg were recreating people from the Unknown out of snow and having a blast.

"Look! I made the vegetable man's car!" Greg smiled as he showed Wirt a car made of snow resembling vegetables.

"Oh yeah? Well I made the villagers of Pottsfield!" Wirt shouted happily as he showed off a pumpkin head made of snow surrounded by sticks to make up the bones.

"Look, I made the highwayman!" He smiled as he showed a snowman with a sash with two holes around its head.

"Well, I made auntie whispers!" Wirt presented a large hunched over snowpile with large holes for eyes.

"I made the Beast!" Greg said much to Wirt's terror as he saw a slender pile of snow with branches sticking out the head to present it as its antlers.

"I-I-..." Wirt began to stutter.

"Wirt, you ok?" Greg asked. Wirt, without thinking, threw a rock at the center of the pile, causing the rest to fall apart. "Woah! Nice throw big brother!" His brother said, amazed by what he witnessed his brother doing, until Wirt got on his knees and held Greg closely.

"Greg, don't ever mention the Beast again, not even as a joke, ok?!" Wirt said frantically. "Promise me!" He pleaded. Sensing the distress in his brothers' voice, Greg nodded.

"I'm sorry Wirt. I promise." He hugged back, without question.

"Thanks...I'm sorry if I snapped." He apologized.

"Its ok Wirt. I'm sorry too." Greg smiled. They stayed like that for a while.

"Come on...lets continue to make more snowmen, ok?" Wirt suggested.

"Ok!" Greg said excited as Wirt stood up. Walking away from his brother, Wirt suddenly stumbled across an unfamiliar bump of snow that wasn't formed from the previous days. It was a skinny bump in the shape of a curved line, with a noticeable bump at the end. Curiously, Wirt dipped his hand into the snow and felt the familiar smooth wood.

"This wasn't here before." He said to himself and pulled it out to reveal the Woodsman's axe. "No...but...how?" He asked to himself.

"Woah! You got the Woodsmans axe?! Cool!" Greg looked on in amazement, Wirt turned around to see his brother.

"What? No! I mean...he technically gave it to me, but...I don't know how he...I just...how did..." Before Wirt could spiral into a nervous and unending stutter, a snowball whizzed through the air and hit the back of his head with a noticeable sound. "What the?" He flinched and turned around to see the impossible. Behind the fence of their backyard stood Beatrice, in several layers of blue, winter petticoats, a white and peach colored scarf and hat. She looked absolutely stunning.

"Hey there, pushover." Her lips curled up into the type of smile you can only get when seeing someone you love for the first time in a long time with the thought that you may have never seen them again. Wirt's eyes began to water and he dropped his axe. Greg gasped in surprise and happiness.

"Beatrice!" They both yelled her name in sync and rushed to open their back gate, Wirt almost slipping due to being taller, and Greg managed to beat him to her and launched himself up to hug her tightly, much to her confusion.

"Hey, Greg, how did you know it was me?" She smiled in surprise, holding the little tyke up.

"You're the only one that calls Wirt that, and you sound just like when you did a BlueBird!" Greg said simply in excitement. Wirt finally caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her without hesitation.

"I missed you." They said at the same time. She kissed his cheek softly.

"How is this even possible?" He asked, afraid that if he did, he'd wake up and she'd disappear.

"I thought I could be just happy with being with my family back home...but I missed you so much...I still had the Tome and...the Queen appeared to me-"

"The Queen of Cloud City? She sure is nice!" Greg smiled.

"Yes, the very same one." She booped Greg's nose, causing him to giggle before she turned to Wirt again. "She could tell I really missed you and explained a spell that could only connect the living...and those in the Unknown through a connection...made before one leaves one place...but since you and I are already tied because of these." She flapped the small of her feathers on her back to show him. "It made it easier for her to build a bridge between our worlds." She smiled at the end of her explanation.

"That's amazing." Wirt spilled tears of joy. "So...you're staying her for good?" He asked.

"Nope." She smiled. "I can come in and out of the Unknown as I please. And bring you both back and forth whenever you want and I can."

"Cool!" Greg gasped in amazement.

"Wirt! Greg!" Their mother called out to them.

"Well, I don't think you want to explain this to your mom just yet." Beatrice smiled and put Greg down. Their mother opened the door to the backyard, both brothers turning to her.

"Are you boys ok? Oh my gosh! Wirt, that's so cute!" She took out a camera, much to both brothers confusion. "Hold still." She said. Wirt turned to look at his shoulder and saw a tiny bluebird. He smiled softly, his tears still falling, Beatrice gave him a quick peck on the cheek and nuzzled it just as him mom took the picture. She then flew back out into the trees. "Aw...its gone, I was hoping to take more." She pouted.

"Don't worry mom." Wirt wiped his eyes. "I have a feeling that you'll take lots more in the future.

Finally! I can add this one to my finished stories. I hope you all enjoyed this story! Those of you who stayed and those of you who are new. I apologize to those who have followed this story back when I started it almost three-four years ago. I hope that you guys enjoyed my progression in writing. I can definitely understand the frustration that comes with seeing a favorite author post on a different story and not the one you want. I really hope my continuing it this late makes up for it. But it is done with.

A lot has happened in my personal life that was bad and good that prevented me from coming back to this story. I lost interest, gained it back every now and then, procastinated even more, but I knew I owed it to myself and you guys to finish it. And it is. So from me, Happy Holidays! And Happy New Year! And to I hope that this story becomes a part of your (wait for it) golden memories or even one of your loveliest, lies, of all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS