It had been fifteen minutes since McCormack had injected him. The chains he was hanging from were clanking constantly from the shivers that were wracking him. He couldn't tell if the jerking motion from it was causing the ache in his arms, neck and head or it was from the disease. The coldness that pervaded made him think of Kyleen, if this is what she felt like when she froze to death. He also wondered how this disease got it's name if it made you feel so cold. He didn't think his body was capable of sweating right now.

He barely bit back a groan as a particularly violent shiver jerked his arms, but he couldn't help the gasp as scalding hot liquid started to run down his arm. He looked up to see that the restraints had cut into his wrist. The blood that trailed out felt molten against his cold skin. Lowering his head, he looked at McCormack.

The Immortal had gone back to his book and was calmly flipping through the pages.

After another five minutes, Face thought that the shivers were starting to ease. He still felt numb, but slowly, his body stopped moving. He hung limply, exhausted, for a moment as even the cold went away. His breath evened out, a full minute and everything seemed normal. He wondered, could it be...this disease died out four hundred years ago, could it be something that people had grown immune to. Wouldn't that just piss McCormack off. He started laughing. McCormack looked up from his book.

"Yes, I would laugh now, Lt. Peck. Stage two should start soon."

Stage two? He gathered his strength to raise his head, but the movement pulled at his damp shirt. Wait, damp? Looking at his chest, he saw that his white shirt was soaked. Even as he watched it become see-through, he could feel the sweat coursing down his arms and legs. Ha blinked it out of his eyes even as it dripped onto the cement floor under him.

The desert of Iraq hadn't even made his sweat this bad. What was worse was that he didn't know why he was sweating. The cold had melted way and he didn't feel hot, inside or out. It just seemed like his body was pouring all its moisture out of his pores. His hair was soaked and he was hanging above quite a puddle when McCormack jerked his head up, threw the book down, grabbed the sword leaning against the desk and disappeared into the shadows of the warehouse.

The door to the warehouse opened and HM walked in. the twilight outside illuminated him as his gaze took everything in. Face opened his mouth to call out when a furnace erupted inside of him. The heat was incredible and trying to make its way out of him. His gasps must have drawn the pilot's attention as he came running.

"FACE!" HM stopped in front of him, cupped his face, uncaring of the slick feel. Face tried to lick his lips, suddenly intensely thirsty, as he blinked blearily at HM. His pulse was pounding now and it felt like a herd of elephants were sitting on his chest. "What did he do to you? Face, this looks like...is this...Please, let me be wrong, I can't watch someone else I love die of this! Face, did he tell you what he gave you? Is it Swoten Un-hele. Is it the Sweating Sickness?" He managed to nod. "How the HELL did he give you the Swoten Un-hele

"H-HM."

"Yeah."

"B-behind." HM dropped his face and back up rapidly, pulling a sword out of his coat. The immortals didn't say anything, simply charged at each other. The clanking of the swords was the way Face kept track of the fight. At first they were in front of him, then he blinked and they were on his right. He struggled to open his eyes after the next blink and they were on his left. His head was swimming so it took him a few second to realize that the reason he seemed to be sinking was that the hook was lowering. He flinched as an arm went around him.

"It's okay, Kid. I've got you."

"Boss?" he lick his lips again. "HM, he's-"

"I know. Let's get you out of here."

"NO!" he struggled as much as he could against the arms holding him. He couldn't leave until he knew HM was safe.

"Face, we need to get you to a Doctor."

"Won't mat-matter." he told Hannibal as his eyes finally focused on the fighters.

McCormack brought his sword up in an overhead cut that HM deflected. He was able to reverse direction of the stroke to bring it around, pushing McCormack's own sword towards his side. HM let go with one hand and punch McCormack. He stumbled back even as HM grabbed his sword arm. Their eyes met for a second, then HM pulled forward. McCormack fell right into the path of HM's sword.

Face followed the head as it made a wet thunk on the ground before rolling into the shadows. The body stayed standing for a seconds after HM let go.

HM walked a few steps away, squared his shoulders, hands tightening on his sword. Face thought it was because his body was burning from the inside out that he saw lightening bolts coming from the body. But when a larger bolt leaped from the body to HM he tried to run to him. Hannibal held him tight. Together they watch as bolt after bolt ran along the ground, destroying boxes, windows, light bulbs, on their way to HM, who stood there, jerking with every strike. When he was surrounded by lightening, he screamed. As if a shock wave came from him, the rest of the windows shattered.

He collapsed to his knees, leaning on his sword for a moment, before hurrying over to them.

Face wasn't too aware of the drive back to Kyleen's cabin. All he knew was HM's hand on his forehead, the cool water pressed to his lips and the words HM was whispering to him in Middle English. He sighed in relief as his clothes were stripped from him. He was also happy that he seemed to have stopped sweating as he was placed in bed. He smelled the rubbing alcohol before it left ice cube trails down his skin. It lingered only seconds before the heat inside of him chased it away.

He didn't know how long it was before the fire seemed to dim and he lifted tired eyes to HM.

"Face?" he lifted his arm, even though it felt like BA was hanging off it, to cup HM's cheek. He ran his thumb along his eyes, chasing away the tears.

"Don't cry. I think it's going to be okay. The heats going away."

"I know it is, but it's not going to be okay. You have to stay awake. The third stage is starting and you HAVE to stay away. Please, Face!" he buried his head in the crook of Face's neck, whispering brokenly. "I don't want it to be like this for you! For every time to be like this, to be reminded of this. And I can't-" he lifted his head, cupping his cheek, shaking him awake. "I can't watch you die of the same thing that Alice died of! STAY AWAKE!" He shook him again.

"Okay" he said sleepily, but even as he said it he knew he was losing the fight. His eyelids felt like they had cement trucks on them. He felt like every sleepless night he's ever had was combined with the exhaustion he'd felt during Ranger Training. As his eyes closed, he saw HM moving to rest his forehead against his. "I love you." he whispered against the pilot's lips. He felt HM's tears fall and trail down his cheeks.

"I love you." HM kissed him. "Sleep."

"You..just...said..."

"I know." the pilot kissed him again, placing his hand on Face's chest. "Just sleep. Everything will be fine when you wake up."

HM sat there for another two minutes until his hand no longer rose and fell with Face's chest and the thump-thump no longer echoed against it from inside.