Apollo & Luna

Fever

He was running for his life. He had somewhat lost his captors, and escaped into the field. His legs were numb, but he pushed his appendages hard to run further and faster. He needed to flee – to flee and to live. He couldn’t die because he would leave his sister behind. He still hadn’t arranged something for her. The cruel world would feast on her innocence, and her fragile body wouldn’t be able to take it if he died.

He needed to live – but he failed in his escape.

Ping!

The muffled sound of the gun still echoed in his ears, and he felt the sharp, burning pain in his chest as he fell.

He failed…

He looked at the growing map of scarlet on his chest, and his world turned blurry until it all became black.

He was floating on the ocean of darkness. The waves, transforming into hands which grabbed onto every limb, squeezing, pulling, toying with the fear which had been cultivating deep within him and he knew he would drown. Soon.

“Hey…”

The soft command made his lids flutter as they slowly opened and the ocean of black disappeared suddenly chased by the light.

“Hmmmn?” His almond shaped, silver-grey eyes sluggishly opened and the sight of an angel greeted him.

Golden hair, huge blue doe eyes, pointed nose, rosy lips set on milky white skin – Yann was sure he had died. But wasn’t he in hell just a while ago? If so, then what was an angel doing here with him, he wondered as a bout of sleepiness assailed him, and he let the waves of darkness claim him once more.

===

Alicia studied her ward with a worried frown. She was sure she was able to wake him up a while ago, but it seemed the man was more exhausted than she had first thought. Well, she was exhausted too, but she was still ambulant.

She had never ever experienced healing such a huge damage – one that had placed the other on the brink of death before, so she had no idea about the side effects or the effects of her action for the matter. Reaching out, Alicia felt the surface of the man’s skin and found it scorching hot. He had a fever!

Clenching her hands, Alicia had the urge to cure the man’s fever as well, but her own fatigue was getting into her. If she pushed herself and healed the man further, she feared she’d lose consciousness, and put not only the man but herself as well in danger. This vast field after all was home to different creatures – most especially the huge field snakes she’d heard people talked about.

Choosing to conserve her energy, Alicia placed her cloak on the ground and rolled the man there. Even if the other’s body was lithe and obviously not fat, she was still more slender and smaller. She couldn’t lift him up. Using her cloak, she crouched low, and proceeded on dragging the man towards her cart. She would take the man home and nurse him there.

She just prayed that her mother would sleep through the night so that she’d have ample time to think of how to explain things to her. She didn’t want to lie to her though. She would never do that, she thought as she moved.

Reaching their small house, Alicia took care not to make noise as she unhitched the cart and led the horse back to the barn. Having done so, she returned to get her patient out of the wagon and dragged him inside the house to her room.

Gathering her remaining strength, she lifted the man so he could lie on the bed and undressed him. The man’s usually fair skin was flushed with fever and she forced herself to continue moving. She couldn’t rest yet, not when the man was this sick.

She took a basin of water and used a small towel to lower the man’s temperature, but all her efforts were futile. The man’s fever only worsened, that his teeth started chattering, his body shaking.

“What to do?” Alicia asked in frustration as she placed the last of her blankets on top of the sleeping man.

Her patient looked terribly cold and his skin remained on fire. Biting her lip, she started unbuttoning her old shirt. There was no other choice, she thought as she hurriedly stepped out of her clothing.

“You owe me,” she whispered to the sleeping man as she joined him on the bed, under the blanket.

Alicia flinched when she made contact with the man’s scorching skin, but she ignored the discomfort and the embarrassment as she placed her arms around him. Placing her hand over the man’s chest, she spent a whole hour listening and feeling her patient’s heartbeats.

It was nearly dawn when the man’s fever broke, and she was at the edge of wakefulness. She was truly beyond exhausted.

As her own consciousness started to leave, before her mind drifted off to the land of dreams, Alicia prayed that tomorrow would be better.

===

She paced restlessly in front of the window in her room, biting her lips unconsciously in worry as she did. Looking out from time to time, all she ever saw was the darkness ahead and the starry summer night sky above. The night chill entered the broken transom and her lean frame shuddered.

“Where are you?” she whispered into the night, her body alert to any sound.

She had known earlier that day when Alicia had stopped in the middle of moving at the pig stall that she had one of her visions.

Yes, she knew she was having them but chose to ignore that fact in fear that what happened years ago would repeat itself. She didn’t want Alicia to wallow in severe depression again, being reminded how it was because of her that the father she loved was killed.