"I am your worst nightmare."
"I am a killer."
"I am death."
"I am you."
"You know you cannot escape yourself, can you Alex?"
Alex was pulled from his nightmares by an insistent tapping at his window, he groaned knowing it was probably Tom.
Alex pointedly ignored his aching muscles and trudged towards the window, he could see Tom's face grinning manically through the window.
Ugh to think ten minutes could go so fast...
To think he could've been sleeping right now, Alex thought to himself. But no instead he was sitting cross legged explaining to his friend about yet another bad SCORPIA plan.
"Seriously Alex why does the worlds shit get served to you on a silver platter?" Tom asked.
"I have no bloody clue, I like to think it's my charm," Alex answered sarcastically.
Tom spluttered indignantly looking at Alex strangely.
Tom opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Wolf's shout from downstairs,
"you okay Alex?"
"Yes." He shouted.
"Okay, you think you can handle pizza for dinner?"
"Yes, you might want extra Tom's up here,"
"Seriously what the actual hell is wrong with that kid and doors..never mind Hawaiian good?"
"Yes!" Alex and Tom screamed in unison.
"Okay then."
Alex flopped onto his bed as Tom moved to sit on his desk chair.
"So what do you want to do?" Tom asked swinging his legs backwards and forwards.
"Sleep," Alex mumbled into his pillow.
"We could always swap Eagle's conditioner for gl-"
"NO." Alex shouted rising up on his elbows.
"But.."
"No I am not cleaning the entire bathroom again because of one of your schemes." Alex said rubbing his aching temples.
"Fine." Tom said pouting.
"Gah just let me sleep for awhile, go annoy Wolf or something" Alex said laying back down.
"It doesn't matter, your sick I'll go tell Wolf to hold off on the pizza, I've got homework to finish at home anyway," Tom said standing up.
"Sorry Tom, I just feel really shitty," Alex said croakily.
"It's alright, I'll text you later, and I'll tell Fox or whatever to check up on you," Tom said shouldering his school bag.
"No.." Alex mumbled half heartedly.
"Dude I can feel the heat radiating off of you from here."
Alex grunted in response and burrowed into his blankets, falling asleep to Tom shutting his bedroom door quietly.
1 hour later:
Alex was done.
Done with life, done with the whole entire bloody universe.
All he wanted to do was sleep, was that to much to ask?
He had suffered through SCORPIA invading his school, Tom's short visit and now? Now he was about to be poked and prodded by none other then Snake, he'd coughed once and the guy had bloody decided to do a full body exam...why?
Alex leaned against his headboard, staring up at his ceiling; muttering every curse known to man.
He glared at Snake's approaching figure, as if his stare would do anything.
"It's just a cold," Alex croaked out.
"Mmhm I know that, I'm seriously only doing this to pacify Wolf and his motherhenning ." Snake said placing the over flowing medicine container on Alex's bedside table.
"Now shirt off," Snake said gesturing with his arm.
"Godamnit," Alex mumbled shrugging off his school shirt, which he'd failed to change out of before.
He suffered through Snake taking his temperature and pulse, then checking his ears, eyes and throat just to state the obvious. The smart ass than went on to then check his neck glands for swelling, poked his stomach for tenderness and surprisingly completely bypassed the bullet wound above his heart.
Alex leaned further into the pillows as Snake rifled through the medicine kit, chucking out various bottles and bandages.
He groaned when Snake pulled out two familiar bottles and one not so familiar.
"Now is this going to go down the easy way or the hard way?" Snake asked brandishing the three bottles.
"Well wouldn't you like to know?"
2 minutes later:
"FREAKING HELL Alex it's just cough syrup!" Snake shouted, struggling to catch Alex's surprisingly leith body.
"You know for a fact it's never just cough syrup," Alex retorted backing towards the door fumbling for the door knob.
"Come on Alex, do you really want me to call the others?" Snake asked quietly.
"Bring. It. On." Alex said stubbornly.
"WOLF WE HAVE A PROBLEM," Snake shouted as Alex ducked out of the door.
A few moments later:
"Really Alex?" Wolf asked holding down Alex's arms while Fox and Eagle held down his legs and torso.
Alex glared at him as Snake measured out 10 mL of cough syrup, getting ready to force it down Alex's throat.
Alex locked his lips shut as Snake thrust the medicine towards his lips.
"Come on Alex, seriously?" Snake asked tiredly, he sighed before prying Alex's jaw open roughly and pouring the contents into his mouth.
Snake then proceeded to clamp a hand over Alex's mouth and pinch his nose shut waiting for Alex to swallow.
Alex huffed in indignation but swallowed the "strawberry" cough syrup, deciding he didn't really want to pass out from lack of air.
"Now are you going to be good and take the rest?" Snake asked waving two bottles, one sloshing about the other rattling like a pill bottle.
"What do you think?" He croaked out.
Alex grimaced as they all tightened there grips and Snake unscrewed both bottles.
A few more moments later:
"See this is why he never takes medicine like normal kids," Wolf grumbled carrying an unconscious Alex up the stairs.
"You always bloody well end up slipping in some kind of drug to knock him on his ass."
"Well it's better then having to haul his fevered butt back home again." Snake huffed.
"I'm not going to make a comment about that, cause I really, really don't want to know." Wolf said kicking the door open.
"That's a wise choice" Snake said, pulling the blankets over the kid as Wolf placed him on the bed.
"He's going to kill us when he wakes up," Wolf said watching curiously as Snake arranged the right medicine bottles on the bedside table.
"That is why they invented sedatives," Snake said as if it was the most normal thing ever.
"Seriously, what is wrong with you?"
Alex felt fuzzy as hell, like someone had dunked him head first into a cloud.
God what'd Snake given him, he could barely remember his own name. That was not a good thing under any circumstances.
Alex fought against his mushy brain and opened his eyes to pitch black, huh night already?
He blinked fuzzily, adjusting to the darkness.
He looked up at the ceiling expecting to meet blank space, instead he found himself staring into a pair of cold blue eyes.
Oh hell no...this, this was not happening.
"Hello Alex."
Alex blinked dumbly at the the guy he thought..no knew was dead, this was not happening it was just a hallucination..yeah a fever driven hallucination.
"You. Are. Not. Real." Alex said rather maniacally, rising up on the bed gingerly.
"Now, now Alex do you really believe that? You know as much as I do that I'm real," Yassen said coldly.
"You died, you were shot. This is just my mind trying to be a dick." Alex muttered moving away from Yassen's towering figure.
"Language." Yassen commented leaning against the wall on the right of Alex's bed.
"Don't talk to it, it'll go away," Alex muttered to himself.
"So now I'm an it? I'm offended boy." Yassen said dryly.
"It's just a hallucination Alex, just an imaginary person."
"I'm very, very real Alex." Yassen muttered, moving forwards a step.
"I'm done Fox go cheat on Eagle. You have the rest of the pizza I'll check on Alex."
Alex sighed in relief when he heard Wolf's voice outside the door.
"Oh look Alex mother dearest is coming to pay a visit," Yassen said sarcastically.
"Shut up." Alex whisper/shouted.
"Alex who are you talking to?" Wolf asked stepping through the doorway.
Alex went white as he realised he'd said that aloud.
"Aww he's concerned for you, how sweet." Yassen said voice dripping with venom.
"Stop talking. YOU ARE NOT REAL!" Alex shouted.
Wolf's eyes widened as Alex screamed at nothing.
"Alex are you okay?" Wolf asked edging slowly towards Alex.
"Just peachy," Alex muttered.
"Okay, I'm pretty sure you need some more medicine," Wolf said moving closer towards the bed, wincing at the heat he could feel radiating off Alex.
"I'm fine," Alex mumbled staring at the blank space on the wall.
"Ah yeah and I'm the queen of England, I just saw you shout at a blank wall I'm pretty sure that is not a good sign" Wolf said picking up a random medicine bottle and reading the label.
Wolf watched resigned as Alex glared at the wall, maybe they should've checked up on him sooner.
Alex edged towards the end of the bed eyes widening as another figure appeared next to Yassen.
"Tom. What are you doing here?" Alex hissed glaring at his friend who had just appeared out of thin air...shirtless.
"Thought I'd pop in for a visit, show off my glorious physique." Fake Tom said completely serious.
"This is not happening," Alex mumbled repeatedly ignoring Wolf's entire existence.
Wolf groaned aloud wondering if he should've grabbed Snake on the way up, he grabbed the fever reducer and some other thing Snake had left bypassing the cough syrup completely.
Alex mumbled aloud over and over screaming at what Wolf saw as nothing but what Alex saw as his best friend and a dead assassin.
Wolf hurried in dissolving the tablets into the glass of water by Alex's bed, he contemplated how he would get the water into Alex.
Alex's eyes widened as Tom took a step closer towards him, Alex was practically falling off the bed by now.
"Why don't we give Wolf a show darlin, you and me?" Tom asked in a sickly sweet voice.
Alex barely held in the bile that was climbing up his throat.
"WHAT THE HELL TOM NO WHY WOULD YOU EVEN CONTEMPLATE THAT?" Alex screamed.
"But I thought you liked me," Tom said pouting.
"Oh god no," Alex said sweating heavily, he barely registered Wolf shoving Alex towards the centre of the bed.
"Okay Alex here's how this is going to go down, you are going to drink this and then you are going to go back to bed," Wolf ordered.
Alex jolted being kicked out of his hallucinations, he gratefully accepted the water Wolf handed him.
He ignored the bitter tasting water in favour of watching Yassen and Tom closely as they sat on the edge of his bed.
Alex handed the glass back to Wolf who placed it on the bed side table. Alex had expected Wolf to leave soon after instead the big softy grunted before sitting heavily beside Alex.
"Wolf what are you doing?" Alex mumbled dazed feeling nauseous and drowsy at the same time.
"Waiting for you to go to sleep," Wolf grumbled as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.
"Why?" Alex asked curling up under the blankets trying to ignore Yassen's and Tom's flickering figures.
"Because I'd rather not come back up here to realise you'd jumped out the window or something," Wolf answered simply.
"Oh okay then," Alex said.
"Alex," Wolf asked
"Yes."
"Go to sleep."
Alex mumbled Incoherently before burrowing down further beside the SAS soldier and falling asleep.
Wolf waited a moment before carefully standing up and walking softly towards the door.
Okay they officially needed like a rotational schedule he thought to himself.
"grandes estrategas estaban." Great strategists they were.