For the Disease and Illness Challenge!
There they were. Sitting bored in a rainforest, waiting for the drug dealers to make their move. They were split into three teams: Artemis and Robin in the trees above, Kid Flash and Superboy in the bushes below and Miss Martian in her bio-ship above the waters Aqualad swam in. The distance between the young heroes prevented them from having a telepathic link.
Hours passed and nothing. Aqualad was about to call the team to let them know nothing was going on when he felt something around his neck, covering his gills. With his gills blocked, he tried to pry whatever was around his neck off, but it was stuck. It was some substance he couldn't even begin to recognise. When he realized he couldn't breath through his gills, he instinctively gasped for air, filling his lungs with painfully cold, yet burning sea water. He swam as fast and as hard as he could to the surface only to be pulled back down by the thing around his neck.
Aqualad was drowning. He never once thought it was possible, but he was actually drowning. Fear ran through his mind, he couldn't think. His body needed air, needed oxygen and fast. He turned around, looking for whoever did this but no one was there. He found the end of the thing tied to a rock and swam over, weakly untying it. As soon as it was free, he swam up to the surface, gasping for air, clawing at the thing still wrapped tightly around his neck. His whole body hurt as he took in breath after breath of air. He coughed as black specks started invading his vision.
Miss Martian felt their leader's fear and flew out of the bio-ship, going into stealth mode to try and find him. It took a few minutes, but she found him clawing at some tarp looking thing around his neck. She gently lifted him out of the water and into the ship as she tore the thing off of him. Aqualad coughed violently, spitting up bits of water he had swallowed and breathed in. He didn't understand what was going on as he slowly blacked out.
A while later, he woke up in the med-bay of Mount Justice. He slowly sat up and looked around. Robin and Wally were at his side. "How long was I out?" Kaldur asked, surprised at how rough his voice sounded.
"Couple days. You had us worried," Wally said with a genuine look of concern on his face.
"I.. I am sorry." He glanced down, rubbing a hand along his neck.
"M'gann said you got caught in a fishing net. You definitely weren't feeling the aster," Robin said with his signature grin. "You should be fine, but you'll need to take it easy for a while. Nearly drowning isn't something to joke about."
Kaldur nodded, extremely disappointed in himself. The three continued to talk for a few hours before Robin and Wally left to let Kaldur rest.
A week had gone by since the incident, and everything seemed to be getting back to normal for the team. Kaldur, Aqualad, was leader again and the nearly drowning fiasco was almost forgotten by all. Except for Kaldur.
Ever since that day, he'd been having a hard time breathing. It seemed to be getting better for a while, but then it seemed to get worse. He tried not to let the team see him during one of his coughing fits. He even went out of his way to get away from the team before that could happen.
But it seemed to be happening more frequently. The coughing was getting worse and harder to hide. 'It's just a little cough,' he kept telling himself. The next couple days got even worse. Not only was he coughing more, but he was feeling drained, sluggish, more tired than normal. 'I have been training too hard,' he told himself and shrugged it off as just that.
The day after he noticed the fatigue, the team had to get up extra early for a surprise training session. Kaldur wasn't able to sleep at all, despite being so tired. The coughing kept him up.
First up was Artemis and Wally. It didn't take very long for Artemis to throw Wally to the ground, causing a bright fail to light up the room.
Next was his turn. Kaldur versus Robin. Leader versus to-be leader. The two sparred, as usual. Robin flipping around, trying to keep his acrobatic skills at a minimum while Kaldur tried to get the edge and catch Robin off guard.
Then he felt the tickling in his chest. The burning desire to cough. Every breath increased the feeling. But he couldn't do it now, not in front of the team. He went on the defence from there, trying to regulate his breathing. One swift, but light punch to the stomach sent him to the ground in a coughing fit. It hurt, every muscle, every breath, every sharp cough he let out.
Black Canary ran over, bending down to check on Kaldur. Tears were streaming down his face. He just couldn't quit coughing, no matter how hard he tried. He wasn't sure how long he had been coughing, time seemed to just stand still. Seconds seemed like minutes seemed like hours in his fit. If this was how Kid Flash felt all the time, minus the pain, he could truly feel sorry for the speedster.
Kaldur wasn't sure what happened, but the next thing he knew, he was being pumped with various different medicines, hooked up to machines to monitor his breathing, to help him breath, and most of all, to help him keep from coughing.
The team nervously stared at each other. No one knew what to say. No one knew their leader was sick at all. Now he was in the med-bay, barely able to open his eyes. His heart stopped seconds before Batman and Flash entered the Cave. Luckily, the two were able to bring him back, but it took two minutes.
It was then that Batman decided to call Aquaman to tell him the news.
Not even an hour later..
"Recognized, Aquaman-"
"Shut that damn computer up and tell me where Kaldur'ahm is!" A dark sounding voice came from the Zeta Tubes. Aquaman stormed through the Cave to meet Batman and the rest of the team standing in a circle, talking quietly. He walked straight up to Batman and grabbed him by his collar, picking him up. "How dare you wait until after he died to call me?" The man screamed, spittle flying from his mouth onto the Dark Knight's face.
Batman calmly brought a hand up and wiped off his face. "He's not dead."
"He was dead for two minutes! Two minutes!" Aquaman let go of Batman and pushed passed him, toward the med-bay. "I'm taking him back to Atlantis. I knew this team was a bad idea!"
Batman shook his head. Artemis walked up to him, after gaining a bit of courage, and asked, "Are you just going to let him do that? He.. He can't do that, can he?"
Batman sighed. "Aquaman is just worried. Once he calms down, I'll have a talk with him."
Artemis slowly nodded and walked back to the others. The whole team was shocked and intimidated, having their own little mental conversation to calm each other down.
Aquaman stormed though the group to the Zeta Tubes. "If he dies, Batman, I'll be back for him." Aquaman glared in Robin's direction. He mumbled as the tube whisked him away, "See how you like losing your protege."
Robin glanced at Batman who was sending a sharp glare at the tubes. No one said a word as Batman stormed off to the tubes. With that, he was gone and the Cave was dead silent.
Conner came back from taking Wolf for a walk and noticed the tension in the air. "Someone die around here?" He asked, breaking the silence of the room. The rest of the team looked at him then went their separate ways. Megan explained everything to Conner via mind link.
Nearly a month had passed when Kaldur visited the team again with his still angry mentor, Aquaman. "Say your goodbyes and gather your things, Kaldur'ahm. We will be returning to Atlantis shortly. For good."
Kaldur sighed and nodded, "Yes, my king."
While Kaldur was busy explaining his leaving to the team, Batman snuck up on Aquaman and had a nice, long talk with him. An hour later, mentor and protege met up at the Zeta Tube. Aquaman put a hand on Kaldur's shoulder and explained that if he really wanted to stay on the team, he could, but only if he checked in with him once a week. Kaldur nodded and Aquaman left, glancing over to the shadows, shuddering as he did.
Robin winked over to the shadows where Aquaman was looking seconds before as Kaldur rejoined his team.
AN: There aren't enough Kal stories! Especially with a sick Kal! So this was born.
Nother note: Bronchitis. It hits Atlanteans hard.