Welp! Here we are, folks, with another little lockdown story! This has been in the works for a WHILE, but some other obligations, writer's block, imposter syndrome, and a whole mess of other things kept it on the backburner this whole time. A couple of notes at the end!

Onward~

Athena Asamiya had never been so exhausted in her entire life.

In the past, she would find herself burnt out by concerts, press tours, and King of Fighters tournaments, but none of those events came close to what she was going through now, and she wished that her current fatigue was brought on by any single one of those happenings (or maybe even all of them at once, if it were possible), and not from the fact that she hadn't really been sleeping because she was keeping her healing powers going almost completely non stop since she first became sick.

She didn't know how she caught COVID-19, as she had done everything so carefully: she cancelled her tour and she wore her masks and she washed her hands and she changed her clothes every time she went out — which was very little. As someone who didn't get sick all that often to begin with, getting hit with the mother of all respiratory illnesses was a definite shock — physically (obviously), as well as mentally.

Because of her sickness, Athena had to quarantine from everyone she held dear (and even those she didn't, of course). Thankfully, those closest to her had not caught it. She was the outlier, and, even though it sucked, she was glad that it was her who was sick, and not one of her loved ones. After all, she had the unique ability to heal herself — but that wasn't without its limitations.

And, so, as Athena stared out of the massive windows overlooking the city from the comfort (or, maybe discomfort in this case?) of her plush sofa, her concentration lapsed, which gave way to a major coughing fit. After what felt like an eternity of hacking, she was able to compose herself enough to visualize her lungs — specifically, the little air sacs within them — and focus what little energy she had on quelling the inflammation.

"D-dammit," she muttered while pulling a blanket around her shoulders. She took a breath — or tried, anyway, as her nose was still really stuffed up despite her efforts to keep her breathing passages clear — and reached for the thermometer on the side table. Her temperature came back at 38°C, which was down from 38.5°, and definitely some much-needed progress. She just hoped that it would continue to lower….

Suddenly, Athena's cell phone started ringing from its place across the living room, eliciting a low groan. The device had been ringing way too much throughout the day, the sound of her default ringer akin to little explosions or maybe even nails on a chalkboard. However, the custom song currently issuing from the device told her that, this time, the caller was someone she actually wanted to talk to. She used her powers to carefully bring the noisy gadget to her outstretched hand, which caused another coughing fit that made her eyes water.

"H-hi," she choked as she brought the phone up to her ear.
"Hey bae," Sie Kensou greeted solemnly. "How ya holdin' up?"

Athena answered with a pained noise.

"I'm so tired, Sie," she answered, her voice cracking. "I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this…"
"Hang in there. You'll get through it — like you always do."

Another fit of dry coughs, followed by a sniffly breath.

"I know… I know… but it's so hard. I miss everyone… I miss you."
"I miss you, too. We'll see each other soon — I promise."
"But you can't promise that."
"I just did."

There was a pause while Athena made an attempt to use her healing factor once more, but she was so weak that it failed. As a result she could actually feel her temperature slowly beginning to rise. She leaned back and shut her eyes while a headache began to set in.

"He-hey…?"
"I'm still here, Sie, don't worry."
"I wish I could be there. I'd bring you soup and sing to you."

Athena chuckled, which hurt her chest a little.

"I'd gladly take the soup, but, please, don't ever sing to me."
"Aww, c'mon! It'd be great! Here, name a song — an old classic, or something."
"I'll pass. Thanks, though."

Just then, a low tone sounded, letting Athena know that she was getting another call.

"Hang on," she sighed. She looked down at the screen, which displayed her agent's name, and promptly ignored the call. She was absolutely not in the mood to discuss her career, or anything close to it — especially now that she was ill. The couple fell into silence then, which gave Athena an opportunity to attempt to refocus her healing powers — to no avail. She was simply too worn down; she was going to have to try to eat something (which was not very appealing, given that she lost her sense of taste days ago), or maybe even sleep, before she could resume.

"Uhhh… Teeny?"

The distressed tone of Sie's voice made Athena sit up a tad straighter (but not by much because of how jelly-like her muscles felt).

"You know how I feel about that nickname," she mumbled, despite the sudden vibes she was getting.
"Okay, good, great, but… we have a problem."
"And… what would… that… be?" Athena asked around another round of coughs.
"Go to Buzzfeed."

Athena wrinkled her nose (a very bad idea).

"Why?"
"Just… trust me…!"

There was more coughing as Athena minimized the Phone app so she could navigate to the mobile version of the popular webpage. She scrolled down, down, down… and gasped when she saw it:

A photo of her from her last public appearance, smiling wide, with the headline:

ATHENA ASAMIYA HAS COVID-19

"Oh… oh no," she moaned as she skimmed the article, which included a candid photo of her leaving the medical facility where she had been tested, and detailed how she hadn't been seen in public for weeks. The article closed out with, "As of this writing we were unable to reach her for comment."

Athena placed a clammy hand on her even clammier forehead as she thought about how fast the rumour mill must have been turning. The comments section was probably already full of speculation as to whether or not she was still alive. But… even though one of the first rules of fame was to avoid the comments section… she had no choice but to venture into the biggest of them all…

"Damn paparazzi!" Athena growled while she stretched out her free hand so she could summon the television remote. The second it was in her palm she started navigating through the menus until she found what she needed.

"Teeny, what are you doing over there? Please don't read the comments. You know not to —"
"I am aware, Sie," Athena said while trying to hold back another cough, "but I need to see how much of a mess this is…"

She selected YouTube and went to the livestreams. Sure enough, he was streaming. She selected the appropriate channel and began watching.

"I just… I can't believe it," Jhun Hoon, AKA White Tiger, AKA Team Korea's #1 Athena Stan, was sobbing into his microphone while one of Athena's singles played softly in the background. "Sweet, adorable Athena! She did nothing wrong! Nothing wrong! And now… now…!"

He stopped to bury his face in his hands. He took a deep, shaky breath, uncovered his face, and continued:

"I can't believe that we live in a world… a world where Athena Asamiya would be… victimized… by this horrible, horrible disease! We need to band together, and send her our well-wishes. Our prayers. Our —"

Jhun stopped and let out a sniffle as he stared a little off to the left, evidently reading something from the chat box.

"I know. I know, NastyBee2003. This is gonna be tough — for all of us. We just have to — No. No, we cannot fuck COVID in the ass."

Athena stared at the screen, transfixed, as Jhun continued to talk to his viewers about the state of her health while the chat window on the side of the screen went absolutely haywire. It was nice to be adored by her fans, but did her medical condition really warrant an entire livestream discussion, led by one of Korea's greatest fighters?

Apparently, the answer was yes.

What? Did you really think no one was going to get COVID? Anyhow.

* Athena and Kensou are hooked up in illyverse here, which borrows some things from Rex Madison's continuity. We, like, collab'd or whatever. It's called Hurt and you should totally read it if you haven't already.
* Athena calls Kensou by his first name. Obviously.
* 38°C = 100.4°F; 38.5C = 101.3F
* "I am aware, Sie," is a callback to a line in Hurt, which was also a callback to one of Mads' many Athena fics.
* Jhun Hoon, is, of course, a massive Athena stan, and his username/online alias is White Tiger.
* "Stan" for those who may not know, is a term that means a super, duper, MASSIVE fan. It's derived from the song Stan by Eminem
* I've watched a lot of YouTube during this quarantine
* Let's keep an eye out for the NastyBee2003 in the future... winky face.

That's all for now you lovely guys and gals! Cheers!