Ink let out a soft sigh as he leaned against the doorway to the gym with his arms crossed, watching Chris train her advanced guard class. It had been a couple weeks since she and her patrol team had returned, and lately, she's been a bit quiet, withdrawn even. 

It wasn't like her at all. Ink had watched a couple days ago as Dream confronted her about her behavior and actions. 

Chris had just passed it off as some late effects from travelling between different AUs, and therefore, different climates. Ink remembered Dream not looking satisfied with her answer, but leaving the topic there regardless.

But now, Ink lost count of the times he had caught the fighter limping, coughing, and wincing when anything touched her left lower leg. Ink had even walked in on her having a nasty coughing fit. 

He asked her if she was okay, and Chris had told him that something she drank went down the wrong pipe. Not too mention, she was starting to look a little pale. 

So, here he was. But Ink wasn't planning on confronting Chris. 

She would just say she was fine and would probably tell him not to worry about it. No, there was someone in this class that he wanted to talk to. 

He would probably get some answers out of her. 

"Alright people, that concludes today's lesson. Tomorrow, I'm going to teach you guys how to properly shoot a gun" Chris called. 

A couple of excited whispers and mutters echoed around the group as they all put away the equipment that they had been using. After exchanging good-byes, everyone began to leave. 

Ink let his eye-lights float over the small stream of humans and monsters until they landed on the person he was looking for. 

"Jessica!" he called. 

Jessica's eyes met his eyelights, and after a moment's hesitation, she made her way over to him. 

"What's wrong?" she asked as Ink gently took her upper arm and led her away. 

"I need to talk to you about Chris" he said. 

Jessica nodded as Ink brought her to a secluded hallway. 

"Alright, first off, how was Chris today?" he asked. 

"Tired. Simple as that. She tried to hide it, but a lot of us could tell anyway. And, during the middle of the lesson, she got pretty dizzy to the point where she had to sit down for a couple minutes" Jessica told him. 

"Alright, anything happen will you guys were out AU jumping?" Ink asked. 

Jessica nodded. 

"A couple days before we came back, we were in Jungletale. It was at the end of checking out the place, and we were getting ready to teleport out of there, but we were held up a bit when Chris was bitten by a spider" she said. 

"Chris was bitten by a spider?" Ink asked. 

"Yeah. Jason managed to get a good picture of it before it disappeared. I've been trying to get her to go to the infirmary, but, each time she refused, saying that she was fine. I wonder if she knows we aren't buying her lies anymore" Jessica explained. 

Meanwhile, Chris had managed to get to her office. Sitting on her desk, she removed her boot, pulled up her pants leg, and undid the bandage wrap she had put on a couple days ago. 

It was dirty with small bits up pus and discharge from the wound. The spider bite had gone from two clean puncture wounds to now being swollen. 

The area around the bite had become a clack and blue color with some yellow and green here and there. Nowadays, it hurt to put any weight on her leg. 

Chris knew she couldn't put things off any longer. She had to get to the infirmary. 

Otherwise, well, Chris didn't want to think about the consequences. She put everything back on and limped off to her room. 

She had to change her bandages before she got to the infirmary. She closed the door behind her and went over to her bedside table. 

Opening up the drawers, she got out a fresh roll of bandages. After sitting down on the bed, a small wave of nausea and dizziness washed over her, making Chris work a little faster. 

She changed out the bandages and stood up, stumbling a bit due to the sudden sharps pains that were now shooting up and down her leg. She managed to make it halfway across the room before her vision blurred and a heavy wave of dizziness washed over her. 

At that moment, Chris had another coughing fit. She covered her mouth to muffle it, but felt something warm and wet hit her hands. 

Pulling her hands away from her mouth, Chris was horrified to see her blood on them. Another harsh coughing fit brought up more blood and sent Chris to her hands and knees. 

Now she was struggling to breath. Her harsh, ragged gasps showing she was fighting for every breath of oxygen that she was taking. 

With darkness coming into the edges of her vision, the rest of Chris's body fell to the floor with a painful thump, her strength being quickly depleted. 

She didn't even have the strength to cough, so the blood just leaked out of her mouth. Her back heaved a bit as she continued to fight for every shaky breath. 

The darkness that had crept in from the edge of her vision had now almost fully covered her eyesight. And things were getting muffled, like she was hearing everything underwater. 

The last thing she could make out before succumbing to the darkness was the room getting a bit brighter and someone yelling her name...