Title: Burning Up

Author: l_anaki/hohlagh; aka Lord Anaki

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Hurt/Comfort; Friendship

Disclaimer: All characters you may recognize belong to Disney and everyone else who made Sky High possible. Also, I am making no money from the posting of this fic.

Warning: Mild Language

Warren Peace had never been sick before (either that or he couldn't remember such an event ever occurring), but he knew he was because he felt like shit. His whole body ached and he couldn't seem to stop shivering. He was cold, which was a rarity in itself, and accessing his powers proved to be impossible. His temperature was unusually high at 115 degrees. It would cause any normal person great concern, but Warren wasn't normal at all. Due to his pyrokinetic abilities his body ran at a hotter level than most and the times he had used a thermometer before told him that his average was between 101-106 degrees. Seeing that it was almost ten degrees more made him frown.

The teen really had no idea what to do. Considering he had felt fine the night before and had degenerated into the sniveling sickly mess he saw in the mirror today meant bad news. To have gotten this far so fast concerned Warren, but not enough. He was tough. He figured that most illnesses like the flu and whatnot only lasted seven days or so. He could suffer through it.

On the third day Warren was beginning to feel much worse. He had resorted to home remedies and medicines alike, but nothing seemed to work. He was burning up from the inside out. His fever had gone up exceptionally over the past few days. It was now at 130 degrees. He seriously needed to cool down; however, that proved to be impossible. Every time he picked up a glass of water it bubbled in his hand and just steamed away. Cold showers didn't help either. The drops felt like needles piercing every inch of his skin so Warren never could stay under for very long. He didn't know what else to do.

He would have gone to the school nurse at Sky High, but unfortunately the disease had chosen a bad time to attack: Summer break. If it had anything to do with his powers then there weren't very many other places he could go…

Ooo0ooO

Will Stronghold was surprised to hear a knock on his door at about eleven o'clock that night. His parents were off somewhere fighting who knows what and they probably wouldn't be back until morning, which meant the boy was in charge. He had just been on his way upstairs after a late snack when the knock came. He stared at the door in bewilderment. No ordinary visitor would be knocking at this time and he wondered if something bad had happened so without further ado he opened up and stared again. There on his door step was none other than Warren Peace looking worse for the wear.

"Warren? What happened? You look terrible."

"I don't know where else to go." Warren mumbled. "Please… help me."

The older teen stumbled for a moment and Will grabbed onto his arm. He almost let go in shock, but he tightened his hold instead as he saw Warren waver again. "Christ, you're burning up… You better come inside."

With Will's assistance Warren managed to get to a couch. Will looked the older boy over again and mentally winced. It was obvious from Warren's appearance that he had been battling his illness alone up until now. There were dark circles under his eyes and his skin had a slight greenish-gray overtone. Will had some experience with being sick. Before his powers had manifested he had gotten a bad case of the flu, which turned into pneumonia so he knew exactly what to do.

"Hold on. I'll be right back."

He raced off to the downstairs bathroom where they kept the thermometer and quickly grabbed it up. Within a few seconds Will was coaxing it under Warren's tongue. It took a minute before the device beeped. When it did Will removed it to look at the number.

"Holy shit! This can't be right."

"It is." Warren said.

Will stared at Warren for a moment and then glanced back to the number. It read 135 degrees. 135! How could it be so high? No matter, no matter… He needed to bring that number down and fast. His gaze once again fell on Warren.

"Strip." Will ordered.

That earned him a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Have you gone deaf pyro? I said strip. You need to get out of those clothes. We need to cool you down."

The older teen scowled slightly, but began to oblige. While Warren worked to get off his sweaty garments, Will went to the freezer and removed every bag of ice he could find. He went to the AC/Heating controls and turned it as low as he could without breaking the knob off. He was furious as he wondered why Warren had not done anything about the fever sooner. He poured the ice into the bathtub and ran cold water over it and just hoped that that would work. By the time he got back to the living room Warren was just sitting in his boxers.

"C'mon," Will said, "to the bathroom."

Warren marshaled up his energy. He was on his last reserves by now so it was no surprise that he almost collapsed about halfway there. Luckily Will provided him some much needed support and they reached the bathroom without further incident. Warren eyed the tub with a mixed look. An involuntary shudder went through him as he considered his alternatives… He didn't like being cold; however, it was certainly better than burning.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Warren lowered himself into the ice cold water. Steam rolled up from the tub as he entered it, but that was all. He shivered a couple of times as he lowered himself further until finally he was up to his chest in it. Will nodded to indicate that that was enough and settled down on the toilet to wait. He checked the elder teen's fever from time to time and found to his dismay that the ice bath wasn't helping… After almost half an hour the ice was nearly gone. Warren, trembling like mad despite his fever, was to blame.

"Damn." Will muttered.

"It's not working, is it?"

Will shook his head. "I thought it would, but…" He gave a rather helpless shrug. "I dunno what else to do, Warren."

"C-c-can I get out n-now?" Warren asked, teeth clacking.

Warren was so weak by this point that he could barely move and the shaking sure as Hell didn't help. Will had to literally lift him out of the tub just to get him out at all. If anything Warren looked worse instead of better. Maybe when the Commander and Jetstream got home they would be able to help… Until then all Will could do was watch and wait and pray. They moved back into the living room where Warren soon fell asleep on the couch. Morning came and went with no sign of the other two Strongholds.

Warren woke up feeling like death warmed over. He groaned slightly. Will was there within a heartbeat, looking over the older boy with a semi-trained eye. He was no doctor and he had no healing powers, but he wished in that moment for either. Warren didn't seem any better than the night before. His face was drawn and there was sweat upon his brow despite the fact that he was only clad in boxers still.

"I need to take your temperature." Will said. "Can you sit up?"

Warren did so with another groan and opened his mouth for about the hundredth time to let Will place the device under his tongue. He sat there miserably as he waited for the beep to spell out his doom. Will cursed as he glanced at the number. It had gone up… again. Fuck.

"How do you feel?" Will asked. His words made him want to wince, but he couldn't help it. He had never seen Warren like this before. He was worried and he was concerned and he didn't know what to do, which made matters ten times worse.

That earned another raised brow. "Like shit."

Then several things happened at once. Warren gave an odd shudder, groaned a third time, and threw up. He caught fire, as did the couch, and Will jumped back in shock. The sprinkler system turned on, but it only spurted out steam. Mr. and Mrs. Stronghold entered the living room and stared. It was Mr. Stronghold who braved the flames and knocked Warren out. The blaze stopped.

"Dad? Mom? I'm sorry… I didn't know what to do. He came here and he wanted my help and I couldn't turn him away." Will babbled. "He's sick or something…"

"Don't worry Will." His mother said. "We'll help him."

Ooo0ooO

A month had passed since then. It turned out that Warren's powers had advanced far past his abilities to control, which they had a tendency to do due to puberty. It was often said that most teenagers didn't stop growing or maturing until they were in their early twenties and supers were no exception to this rule. The sudden burst had caught Warren completely off-guard and not knowing back then how to release the pressure, his body had attacked itself instead.

Warren knew better now.

He stalked across the schoolyard, his gaze locked onto Will Stronghold. His eyes fairly danced with the fire he kept inside. The other students in his way quickly jumped to the side and wondered what on earth had pissed him off so much. In truth it was all an act. He was still seen as the toughest guy in Sky High. He had a reputation to look after and ever since that incident with Royal Pain he was even more popular than before.

Will fidgeted slightly as Warren came to a stop in front of him. He couldn't remember what he had done to warrant such attention, but his fears eased somewhat when the older teen simply grabbed his bicep and squeezed.

"I never thanked you for what you did that night." Warren said.

"Uh…"

Warren smirked. "You're so stupid, Stronghold." He let Will go and stalked off again.

"You're welcome?" Will muttered.

Layla tilted her head. "What was all that about?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing," Will said, "nothing at all."

~ Fin ~