Chapter 34: Ending

Greg slowly opened his blurry eyes as he took in his surroundings. They were oddly familiar to him, but he couldn't really place it. That was, until he fully opened his eyes, noticing that he was now back in his room. He sat up in bed, and remembered everything that had happened to him in the past few days. He couldn't help but wonder whether or not it was all a dream, and whether or not The Apprentice had really been defeated for good. Well, there really was only one way to find out.

Finding that his limbs didn't hurt as much as he thought they might, Greg hopped off his bed and opened his bedroom door, proceeding down the long hallway. Walking felt a lot harder than it should have, as Greg was afraid of what he might find once he reached the end. It came too soon in Greg's opinion, as he was already standing in front of his brother's door.

Slowly, he reached for the knob, turning it as if he was afraid that something would jump out at him. Nothing did, however, as the door was slowly pushed open letting the light of the hallway shine in the darkness of the room. Without any further hesitation, Greg opened the door all the way. He figured that if he was going to find out the truth, he might as well do it quickly. However, he was a bit surprised to find his older brother, fast asleep on his own bed.

So it wasn't a dream after all. Greg had really saved Wirt from a terrible fate. The young boy felt overjoyed, so he ran over. climbed atop the bed, and started shaking his brother awake. "Wirt! Wirt wake up!"

It seemed to take longer than usual to wake him up, but Greg realized that he must have been exhausted, with the whole Apprentice thing. Remembering what he learned in science class, Greg felt Wirt's wrist and checked his pulse. Thankfully, he was still alive. With the loudest voice he could muster, Greg shouted. "WIRT!"

A few shouts and pokes later, the older boy was fighting to wake up, his eyes slowly adjusting. "G-Greg?"

Wirt was a bit surprised to find that he wasn't inside his dark void. Maybe he was dead after all. "Wirt! You're awake! I'm so glad!"

But if he was dead, then how could his little brother be there with him? "W-What happened?"

"I can't believe you're back! I was so worried, I thought I'd never see you again!"

It was at that moment that Wirt realized he had been saved, and was now back home. The guilt started eating him alive once again as he sat up and hugged his brother tight. "Greg, I am so sorry! I said all those things to you, and I didn't mean any of them! I am really sorry! I hope you can at least try to forgive me!"

The younger boy smiled at the fact that he was hearing his own brother's voice once again, instead of the dark, unwelcoming voice that The Apprentice used. "It's alright Wirt. I'm just glad you're okay."

It was in that moment that Wirt felt exhaustion creep over him. "Why do I feel so weak?"

Greg knew the answer to that. "Well, you didn't eat, you didn't drink, you locked yourself in the dark, and Beatrice did beat you up pretty good."

"Beatrice?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah, she helped me bring you back."

Wirt sat in silence for a minute taking that information in. "I think I'll go eat something now."

"You might want to apologize to mom and dad, too."

Wirt nodded, knowing that they would most likely yell at him anyway.

Everything seemed to have went smoothly from there, and soon approached the holiday that everyone always looked forward to. "It's Christmas! Come on everyone, let's open presents!" Wirt smiled at his little brother's enthusiasm as he walked into the living room. Their parents had joined them shortly after. They all had a good time, passing out and opening presents, and later that night, they would all gather around for a Christmas dinner.

Until then, however, Wirt and Greg were playing outside in the snow. The snowball fight went extremely well. For Greg, that was. Wirt had continued to get pelted with snowballs, which was rather funny to watch. Eventually, they decided to give up the snowball fight in favor of building a snowman. It didn't turn out so bad in the end. It just needed a lantern and an axe and it would have been a perfect depiction of The Woodsman.

Now, the two of them were sitting on the porch with Jason, watching the snow fall. "So that's basically what happened, huh?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah. It was pretty scary. But you came back, so now it's okay."

Wirt didn't seem reassured. He just sat there, sulking. Greg wasn't going to have that, so he continued. "I'm just so happy you're okay. And I know it wasn't you doing any of those things, it was the curse The Beast placed on you."

Wirt nodded. "Yeah. At least he's gone forever now. I hope."

Greg smiled. "It'll be alright Wirt. Now everything can go back to normal again."

Wirt gave off a smile of his own. "You're right. We don't have to worry about The Beast anymore."

"See? I keep telling you that, but you always look so sad."

"Yeah, sorry."

Greg realized that it would take a little while for both of them to recover from the ordeal. "By the way, what do you think about Beatrice?"

Wirt snapped out of his own thoughts upon hearing the question. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what do you think about her? Do you like her?"

"Sure I like her. She's our friend after all."

"No, not like that. I mean, do you like her?"

It took awhile for the older boy to process what he was saying, and once he did, he hid his face from view. He realized that he did like her like that after all.

Greg smirked. "I knew it."

About a minute passed before anyone spoke again. "Hey Wirt?"

"Yeah Greg?"

The younger boy pulled his brother in for a hug. "I'm glad you're back."

Wirt returned the hug. "And I'm glad you're safe."

Jason croaked and turned around to find two shadows up against the door. At first glace, they looked an awful lot like Wirt and Greg. However, the frog knew better. The two shadows then disappeared, leaving for the spirit world. The frog croaked once more and looked back at the two living brothers.

Everything was going to be alright.

The End

For Making This Story Possible, I Would Like To Thank:

AFandomLostInTheEcho

Phantombullets240

AnimePopCircle

Wildtail Of Wind

After a year-long hiatus, Merry Christmas, 2014