Sickness

Author's Note: This is a little ficlet having to do with my OC, Nauxrela Kaito, that I wrote when I was sick in eighth grade. It goes along with the story "Temporary" which has yet to be put up. I tend not to write in order, just write things at random and put them together. I haven't decided if this'll go in or not.

I felt like hell to be quite honest. My head pounded and throbbed with a furious migraine; my throat was as dry as a desert and it hurt to swallow; my nose was too stuffed up to breathe properly; my exhausted body wanted to sleep, but sleep did not want me. Slowly, I sank into an unpleasant half-sleep - the kind where you can still hear and feel, yet you're asleep and dreaming (sort of.)

"Naux? Naux?" a familiar voice inquired near me.

Axel.

I twitched in my empty, unsatisfying sleep, whimpering uncomfortable state.

"You're late for missions," Axel informed me.

I sighed in my sleep. I could hardly do something as simple as sleep for a normal amount and breathe regularly. How would I be able to do a mission, for the love of Kingdom Hearts?

"Are you okay, Naux?" Axel asked, worry tinting his voice.

A cool, leather-gloved hand lightly touched my forehead, as if to check for a fever.

"Geez, you're burnin' up," the pyrokinetic murmured.

Axel's hands carefully lifted me off my bed and I shivered, feeling cold without being wrapped in blankets. One of Axel's arms was positioned under the back of my knees, the other on my shoulder blades so I was cradled to his chest. If I'd been completely awake and well, I would've protested and cared about this. I wasn't though, so the fact that my best friend was carrying me to... somewhere didn't bother me. I just wanted to fall asleep - really asleep - and wake up not feeling like this.

I was cuddled, trembling against Number VIII's chest when he came to a halt and kicked at a door due to his lack of the ability to use his hands.

"What happened to her, Axel?" Number IV's voice sounded from about a foot away, yet it sounded unnaturally loud in my ears.
"I don't know... She had a mission with Larxene today and she was late, so I went to go get her - y'know how Larxene is," Axel explained to Vexen. "She didn't look too well, is way up, though I can't really judge that since my own is kind of high due to wielding fire."

Vexen must've motioned Axel to take me somewhere because we began to move again. But I was so content in this position so I sank a little deeper into sleep's embrace - or well, as content as I could be feeling as horrible as I did.

I woke up in an all-white room, monitors at my bedside beeping softly, laid out with a blanket pulled up just below my chest and my arms above the covers. Hmmm, I didn't know the Castle That Was Never Was had an infirmary. My heavy-lidded eyes scanned the room with a half-closed gaze and saw nothing but blank walls. My head pulsed with pain as I turned to look to my right, almost leaping out of my skin.

"Axel..." I began quietly, but I was cut off.

"You're awake. How are you feelin'?" the spiky-haired ginger asked.

"Terrible. I feel like death," I croaked, throat sore and dry. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"

"You're ill," Axel told me, stating the obvious. "And Vexen told me to watch over you while you slept just in case anything happened. Like you began to get worse."

I tried to sit up and protest that I didn't need watching, but as I propped myself up on my hands, a searing pain wracked my shoulders. I collapsed, clutching my right shoulder, my shooting shoulder, a gasp of agony escaping me.

"What the - " I started, twisting in an attempt to survey the damage.

My sleeve on my right arm hung lower, revealing a gauze-wrapped section of skin. Underneath of that, I knew there was a gruesome bite from a Poison Plant Heartless which stung horribly. My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I saw that my chest was partially revealed and I ducked to hide my flushed face. I zipped up my coat quickly, the black leather scraping the thin, stained gauze.

"Let me help," Axel said as he straightened out my cloak.

There was a semi-awkward pause.

"So the heartless we fought yesterday bit you, and you didn't say anything because...?" Axel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I didn't think it was this bad - nothing a little rest wouldn't have healed," I muttered, not meeting his viridian eyes.

"You could have died, Naux. Poison Plant heartless are venomous and deadly," Axel chided.

"Yeah, so? I'm not the Keyblade wielder," I replied indifferently. "I am... disposable."

"But you're the only one who can bring him back! We're counting on you," the tall, green-eyed Nobody told me as his expression softened. "And you're my friend."

"Thanks, Axel," I murmured, resting on the pillow tiredly. I snuggled deep into the hospital bed sleepily. "How much longer do I have to stay here?"

Axel chuckled at my annoyed-ish tone, apparently finding it amusing that I was complaining about free sleep time - you know, if I could sleep. "Until Vexen says you're healed, or all of the poison is out of your system."

"M'kay," I replied, sighing at the inevitable boredom that would ensue due to my inability to sleep issue. "Don't you have a mission to go on, Axel?"

"No, I had to cancel this morning."

A pang of guilt shot through my gut. Not only am I not helping Organization XIII, but I was causing Axel to not do his duties. Shame burned through me; how could I let them all down?

"It's not your fault you're sick and poisoned, Naux," Axel reassured.

"I guess," I murmured noncommittally.

I rolled onto my left side to attempt to get some sleep - what else did I have to do? I eyed the potion-and-panacea mix on my bedside table for a moment before reaching out and downing some of it, shuddering at the unpleasant taste. Ever so slowly, I began to let sleep slow my breathing, and felt the pain in my shoulder and head lessen with the help of the potion-and-panacea.

"Axel...?" I murmured.

"Hmmm, Naux?" Axel answered, walking over to me.

"You can go if you want; I'll be okay, I think," I yawned.

Axel chuckled. "I wouldn't be a good friend if I left you here, so defenseless and sick."

I rolled my eyes and laughed softly. "Shuddup."

I heard Axel laughing as I closed my eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep. Thank Kingdom Hearts it was real sleeping, deep, dark and content. Through the senselessness and darkness of my sleeping state, I felt Axel brush a strand of dark brown hair off of my hot face, and just barely heard his footsteps retreating out of the room after he shut off the lights.

Another Author's Note: Oh my god why do I find this cute? #narcissist Anyway, here's some friends!feels.