I'm running. I don't know what from, or why, or any of those things, just that I am. There's fear in my veins, boiling my blood. It's painful and blistering.

It's agony.

Everything is too hot. The gasping in my head, my feet as they pound against the ground. It's too hot it's TOO HOT-

A roar echoes from behind me, bringing a new wave of fear with it. There are suddenly sparks dancing in my vision, flashing and blazing until it hurts to look at them.

Except I don't have the choice of looking away.

Coach Brunt is holding me, and I struggle, but then it's as if I'm five again. Small and innocent and protected. Loved. Safe. Ignorant. I want to snuggle into her warmth, to be held, and the darkness around me knows this. It won't allow it.

I'm dropped into a pile of snow. I recognize the ravine in Stockholm, and for a second, the heat pounding up my body dies down...

Before it comes back, hotter than before.

I'm sobbing into my arms as bullets wiz over my head, and I hear a crackle rod's snap before the sound of a body hitting the ground. I'm afraid to look. I know I'll see either Gray or Coach Brunt.

But it's Ivy.

A scream tears itself from my throat, blood pouring over my vision as yet another wave of heat eats up my veins. I can't stand, can barely think. My limbs go numb, and it's not until my left arm loses its feeling that I realize I had been able to move it.

Again, the scenery changes. I feel the familiar coldness of the VILE table under me, rope holding me down. I can't see, still blinded by the blood and the darkness in my eyes.

"Hello, Black Sheep," a voice whispers, deep and grating and distorted.

I whimper as the fear and the heat finally devour me.

Carmen didn't understand why everything hurt. She was huddled up between Zack and Ivy again, so that could explain the excess amount of warmth. But it didn't give reason for the sweat beading on her skin, or the pounding in her chest...

Something was wrong.

"Ivy," she whispered, her throat dry and raw. She tasted salt on her tongue, evidence of the tears she'd shed in the dream. "Ivy." Carmen lifted her head weakly, groaning as the simple action caused nausea to spike.

The red head beside her was breathing softly, her lashes flittering occasionally. Her brother sat on the thief's other side, his lanky arm stretched across the two of them. Carmen knew there was no waking him when he was knocked out like that, so her only chance was to get Ivy up.

"Ivy," she repeated forcefully, the word grating painfully against her throat. "Wake up." Her vision was already dimming as she said this. It was getting too hard to stay conscious. "Ivy, I need you. Something's wrong."

"I-what...?" Her blue eyes squinted open, and she yawned. "Carm? What's up?"

"Help," was all she managed.

Ivy shot up, immediately wide awake. "Carmen? What's wrong?" She took in her friends sweaty, bedraggled state and the heaving of her breaths. "Uh oh," she muttered, placing her hand against the thief's forehead. Ivy hissed and whipped it back, cursing under her breath. She smacked her brother a few times -hard- and ran to the kitchen.

Zack slowly sat up, looking rumpled and annoyed. "Ivy, what the heck?"

"Stuff it, Zack Attack. Carm's sick. Get Shadowsan," she ordered from the other room.

His eyes widened and he glanced to Carmen. "Crap," he growled, helping her lay down on the couch. "Crap crap crap. Carmen, try to stay awake, okay? Ivy'll be back in a second." He ran off towards the ninja's room. "Shadowsan!"

Carmen watched him go, blood pounding in her head as her eyelids threatened to close. Ivy appeared in front of her, holding a thermometer in one hand and a cold cloth in the other.

"Open," she muttered, sticking the metal rod under Carmen's tongue. "The fever that I mentioned earlier is back, Carm, and it's pissed off." She arranged the cloth on her forehead, brushing away sticky strands of hair. She then plucked out the thermometer, glancing down at its readings.

Ivy's face paled.

She cursed again, running to grab a bottle of ice water and medicine. "Swallow," she ordered, holding the small tablet and the bottles nozzle to Carmen's lips. The thief choked it and the water down, fighting to keep them that way as another wave of heat washed over her, making her shiver.

There was a faint sound of people talking, and Carmen thought she recognized Shadowsan's voice, though her thoughts were too muddled to make much out.

"...temperature...readings?"

"102 degrees Fahrenheit...might need...consider...hospital..."

"Only if...gets worse."

Carmen felt her eyes close, letting the gentle crackling in her body rock her away.

Ivy only let herself breathe lightly once Carmen's temperature stopped threatening to climb. It was 0.3 from reaching 104 when it finally slowed, then lowered slightly. She sighed, holding back tears and sitting on the couch next to Carmen's sleeping form. The thief was wrapped tightly in several blankets, though she still shivered violently.

"She's gotten better, right?" Zack asked, dark shadows lining his eyes.

Ivy nodded, tossing the washcloth to him. "Soak this in cold water and then ring it out, but not too much." He obeyed, taking the now warm scrap to the kitchen sink. Ivy turned back to Carmen, sighing yet again. "You really need to stop doing this to us, Carm," she whispered, wiping sweat from her cheeks. "Getting kidnapped, almost dying from blood loss, coma, trying to overdose, now a dangerously high fever. It's almost as if the world's against you." She attempted at a joke, if only to lift her mood, but it had the opposite affect.

Shadowsan appeared, his own face tired. "When can she have more medicine?" he asked, dark eyes glittering sadly.

"Couple hours."

He just nodded as Zack came back, handing the now cold washcloth to his sister.

"You two should try to go back to sleep," Ivy muttered, using it to wipe away beads of sweat and laying it across the thief's burning skin. "It's only two in the morning."

"You have to sleep, too," Zack argued, selling it with a deep yawn.

"Nope. I'm staying right here," she said, her tone making it clear that there would be no arguing.

They didn't, but neither went back to bed, either.

Let me know what you thought and if you're pissed off at me. Love y'all's!

I'm dedicating this chapter to my tabby cat, Sally. Today marks the two year anniversary for when we said goodbye to her. Miss you forever, princess. You'll always be my loving baby.❤️