"Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time… It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other." - Leo Buscaglia

Chapter 3 - Darkness

This was beyond bad at this point.

Ruffnut couldn't quite make out what Astrid was saying to her. The words were jumbled and there were to many breaks between them.

Her vision faded, but cleared up again. Astrid was pretty when she was upset. Her cheeks were rosy with denial and her eyes were sharp with determination. But Astrid was pretty is most situations.

"No, Ruff, Stay …. me. You have …make it back to…!"

Ruffnut felt an uncomfortable pull at her stomach, but visibly relaxed when the pressure was off. She let herself lean against something soft. So soft. She felt fingers remove hair from her face. Astrid was talking to her, but she was unable to form any words to answer her back properly.

By Thor, it was hard enough to keep her eyes open. With every minute that passed, they threatened to close for good. Ruff's brain tried to tell her lips to give her companion a reassuring grin, but Astrid's prodding didn't stop.

She was going to die. She knew it. This had to be what was happening to her.

Right? Was this what it felt like to die? She didn't want to die. She wanted to live. Ruff hadn't actually ever given any thought to the actual process of dying. She didn't have time to think about it now though. Her head hurt too much. Her body hurt too much. It seemed that everything hurt too much. But the excorticating pain was tapering off. She began to feel a cold sweat enveloping her body but she wasn't sure where it came from or if it was actually happening. Her mind was shutting down, telling her to stop thinking all together. How was she supposed to think about not thinking? That's something Tuff would think about.

Tuffnut… Dread instantly chilled her body.

The thought of her twin sent her mind in some sort of panic. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. They were twins. Born together, live together, die together. It was an unspoken pact between the two of them that no one would ever fully understand. She didn't want to die alone. She wanted to live and die with her brother by her side in some sort of chaotic mess like it was supposed to be. A part of her was happy that it wasn't her that would have to live through losing her brother. She wouldn't be able to live with herself. It was selfish of her to think about that, but out of the two of them, Tuff would be okay. He had to be okay. Tuff was the stronger twin. He would make it through it.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. They were supposed to go together.

Ruffnut could no longer feel Astrid prodding at her. Little black dots swarmed her vision, the corners of her sight slowly fading into black. Everything was blotting out.

"Ruffnut, you can't go to sleep. You have to stay awake! Ruff!"

Astrid was yelling at her again. She faintly felt her prodding at her again and her body felt to heavy in the determined Viking's grasp. Ruffnut fought to remain conscious, even sputtering out some words but the only words audible were "S-stop…..Hoff."

The last thing Ruffnut saw before darkness consumed her completely was Astrid's beautiful, distorted face and blue eyes struck with panic.

It's been a while. This story is not abandoned and it won't be! It will get finished! Life happened. It was originally supposed to only have three chapters, but plans have changed. I'm half way done with the next chapter! Thank you all for sticking with the story despite lack of updates.