On June 7th, 2016 In Your Time of Need chapter 1: A Painful Gift was posted.

Do you realize what this means? It has today officially been one year since the start of this story! :D Yay ;D

Anyways, I thought we should celebrate that with another chapter! ENJOY :D

Red Among White (part 1)

Blood in the snow; there was something very symbolic about that. Leo found himself mesmerized by the image, or maybe he just didn't want to face the source of the blood...

"Leo..." He sounded tired, but there was still strength in his voice, and Leo finally dared to look at him. "I'm okay."

Well, that was a lie.

Focus: Chase & Leo

Leo stared at the red. Blood in the snow; there was something very symbolic about that. The small droplets scattered around the bigger spot. The, almost glowing, crimson color that was such an aberration to the constant white of the forest. Leo found himself mesmerized by the image, or maybe he just didn't want to face the source of the blood...

Where were Adam and Bree? Shouldn't they be back by now...? What if something else had happened to them? No, they're fine. Don't worry. They're just trying to find a signal, trying to contact Big D.

"Leo..." Chase broke through his thoughts. He sounded tired, but there was still strength in his voice, and Leo finally dared to look at him. His brother tried a weak -and failed- smile. "I'm okay."

Well, that was a lie. A big, fat, obvious lie.

Chase shut his eyes again and bit down on his lip, probably against the pain, or dizziness. His breathing continued to hitch every now and then, and when it didn't it would still be a little too forced to come off as natural. He was leaning heavily against the tree behind him, using it to stay upright. His hands were clutching at his side, the blood seeping through his clothes and fingers and was slowly dropping to the ground, creating a small pool of blood.

He shouldn't be standing up. Adam and Bree didn't even know their brother was hurt, that he was bleeding...

Chase let out a gasp as he opened his eyes again. As he saw that Leo was still staring at him -his face most likely pale and tense- Chase tried another smile, but this one looked even more like a grimace than the last. Leo continued staring.

He hid it, he thought bitterly. He had hidden it, and would probably haven't even told Leo if he'd been able to. But Leo had found out just as Adam and Bree had disappeared...

Leo continue staring at the hilltop their siblings had just crossed. They had just been attacked by freaking wolf robots -wolf robots!- which had caused them to get lost in the forest, and had then agreed that Adam and Bree would go and try find some cell reception and call Big D. They maybe should have all gone, but they had just fought robots -WOLF robots!- and were all pretty beaten up and exhausted, so they figured that only two should go. If they wouldn't find anything, the other two could try. Leo was actually a bit surprised Chase hadn't volunteered to go.

Without a warning Chase cried out behind him, and Leo spun around. He saw his brother collapse to all four, or technically three as his hand pressed against his side and he seemed almost unable to breathe. Leo immediately panicked. Chase had been fine just a second ago, hadn't he? Suddenly Leo wasn't so sure...

"Chase?!" Leo questioned as he fell to his knees in the snow beside his brother, one hand on his shoulder as he tried to catch his eye. Slowly Chase raised his head, his eyes glassy and pained, and Leo panicked even more at the fact that he hadn't noticed that something was up. Sure he had still freaked out over the fact that they'd been battling wolf robots -WOLF ROBOTS!- and who might have sent them, but still... He should have noticed.

"It's okay, Leo." Chase grunted out, which seemed to take a lot more effort than it should have. He slowly brought up the hand that had been pressed to his side. Leo paled at the blood covering it. "I-It's... It's just a... just a scratch."

Leo stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. Which he had, hadn't he? Just a scratch? Like hell...

"Leo?" Chase's voice once more pulled him from his thoughts. Leo just blinked at him. "I'm-... It's really... really o-okay..." he seemed to struggle even more than before with the words, and it hadn't slipped Leo's noticed that he changed from "I'm" to "It's". Leo turned away from him.

Leo turned away from him and focused his gaze back on the hilltop. It wasn't okay... But Adam and Bree would come back any second now, and tell them Big D was on his way. Then they would take care of Chase and everything would be okay.

"Just hang on..." Leo mumbled, half to himself, half over his shoulder. "Just hang on and stay with me. Help will be here any moment now..."

"Help me up, would you?" Chase said, trying to smile innocently, but a cough caused it to turn to a grimace. Leo seriously wanted to smack him for acting so nonchalantly about it. Plus, he shouldn't stand up if he was hurt. But his brother continued insisting.

"Please," Chase mumbled, and Leo knew the boy hated the whimpering tone his voice had taken on. "The ground's cold."

Knowing that if he didn't help him Chase would stand up by himself, Leo finally obeyed. As he propped him up against a nearby tree he got a good look on the source of the wound. It was a bite...

"It bit you." Leo blurted out, staring at his brother wide-eyed. "It bit you. A wolf robot bit you. A wolf rob-"

"Seriously!" Chase groaned and rested his head against the tree, his hands were pressing against the bite -the wolf robot bite- and his eyes were closed. "You're... still freaking out... about that?"

Leo bit his lip at the gasping breaths that split Chase's question, but of course he was still freaking out about that. It had been wolf robots -WOLF ROBOTS!- and Chase had been bit... Leo let his gaze fall as Chase opened his eyes again and stared at the sky through glassy eyes. Leo's own froze at the ground. There was blood in the snow now. Chase's blood. Leo stared at the red.

"L-Leo?" Chase stuttered out and Leo once more spun around, and found himself horrified by the scene before him. His brother wasn't leaning against the tree anymore, but was instead bent over, seemingly about to fall at any moment. His eyes, glassy and unfocused, were filled of so much pain, so much helplessness, so much fear, that Leo found himself momentarily frozen to the spot. Chase didn't try to smile this time, instead he managed to lock eyes with Leo for a moment.

"S'rry," he forced out before his eyes rolled back into his head...

Dun dun duuun! Okay, that was shorter than my usual chapters! But fear not dear readers, school is just getting in the way for the moment, so I'll leave you with the words: TO BE CONTINUED. So, yeah, it's time for another multi-parter! ;D Hope you liked this part though; reviews are always appreciated! :D

By the way, I'm kind of thinking about starting up a new series sometime in the future called "The Life We Didn't Live", with the following summary: (AU) What if the Davenports had been a normal family? What if Douglas was never evil? What if the lab rats were never bionic? What would their lives have been like? Follow the Davenports through brotherly quarreling, teenage dramas, family dinners, and failed Christmases as Donald and Douglas tries to mend their broken bonds and unite their families.

What do you think? Anything you would be interested in reading?

Until next time! :) /Libra