Just Another Disease

By Kay

Author's Notes: Well. Uh. This is... late in coming out. Whoops. It's really sad-- out of all my fics, this is the one I have ALL planned out... but it's the slowest in coming. Dude. I need to stop procrastinating...

Anyway! Slaaaash, glorious slash, la la la. Enjoy everyone! Thanks for being so nice and dedicated in your reviewing:glomps:

Jalil: She says this in the hope that you will review again, of course.

Christopher: And I would just like to say, to Duck-K, that I am not a slut… that's Jalil's job.

Jalil: ...

(SMACK!)

Christopher: AAAUUUGGH! JESUS! THAT WAS MY NOSE!

Several mornings after their return from Hel's domain, they came together for a meeting.

"We're making good progress," David said.

From across the room, Christopher snorted and leaned back against an oak bookshelf with undisguised tension. Barely glancing over at the irritated blonde, David continued smoothly.

"Now that we have Thor and Baldur and others on our side, we have a much better chance at this. Jalil's ideas ensured our good standing with the dwarves," he tactfully didn't mention Etain's sacrifice, "and construction on our own weapons is only a heartbeat away, I believe. We're actually doing this."

April nodded, her dark green eyes looking more determined than they had for weeks. Obviously, whatever turmoil she had been going through was slowly dissipating. There was nothing left but resignation and newly resolved willpower. Next to where she was standing by the doorway, Jalil lounged in a rickety chair, his long legs sprawled out casually. Instead of being his usual attentive self, however, a distant almost distressed tint was evident in his dark mahogany gaze.

He didn't nod to David, but he didn't argue either.

Their leader of sorts paced the small room they'd met in, radiating a restless yet purposeful air. He spoke quickly, his footsteps echoing on the dark mahogany wood below his feet. "The Sennites don't have a leader right now. It's mass confusion. Even though we don't have the firepower or strength yet to really pose any threat to their guns, it at least makes it easier to spy on them. The more we know, the better."

"Oh, is this where we go in with our Secret Spy Cams? The general's going Agent 007 on us, everybody," Christopher drawled, a sullen tinge to his voice. He smirked in response to David's automatic glare.

"I'm saying we need to know what's going on before we do anything, that's all."

"I don't see a magic looking glass anywhere, do you?" Christopher retorted. "Or do you plan to send some dwarves in? Very subtle. Short men with bad tempers always make great spies."

David narrowed his eyes for a moment before exhaling loudly in exasperation and shaking his head. He turned away, focusing on Jalil.

"Jalil," he said. The dark-eyed teenager looked back at him, an unreadable expression on his tired face.

"Yes, David?"

"Do we have any idea of some way to keep tabs on these guys? If they keep moving, we'll have a hard time keeping track."

"Just follow the bullet ridden bodies," Christopher piped up loudly. "Mass destruction seems to be a helpful hint, right?"

April sighed loudly, gently pulling back a strand of crimson red from her face. She directed her frown at the blonde. "Christopher, I think the idea is to know what they're doing before that happens."

"Well," the tall blonde grumbled, "at least I tried." He stretched slowly, his shirt brushing his waist, and slitted his eyes at her. "I don't see you coming up with anything."

David ignored him, studying Jalil still. The quiet resident scientist's eyes were on Christopher, watching with a blank look on his face. "Jalil? What do you think?" His gaze flying back to David's face, Jalil hesitated uncertainly before answering.

"Well, first we have to find out where they are right now. That's the first step. We can figure things out on the way, but unless we get a somewhat general grip on their location..." he trailed off with a shrug. His mouth slipped into a slight smile as he added, "I actually think Christopher might be right in that aspect. If we want to find them, look for the chaos they're obviously going to induce here."

"Hah! He said I was right!" Christopher crowed triumphantly. "Say it again, Jalil, I want to hear the words off your tongue again."

"Savor them," Jalil said dryly, "because that's the only time you'll hear them there."

Laughing in agreement, April pushed herself away from the wall she was leaning on. Flashing her usual brilliant smile at them, she remarked, "It sounds like it's all we can do, I guess. Wait and hope for some news."

They all looked to David, who frowned at them all, obviously struggling with the idea of waiting for trouble. In the end, he sighed, his brown eyes flickering in frustration. "I guess... if that's all we can do... I'll speak to Merlin about some possible ways to keep tabs on them once we find out where they are."

"Mm, go save the day, general. I'm going to get some breakfast." Christopher turned, waving flippantly as he left the room. The three left behind stared after him for a moment, before April also moved to follow.

"I'll talk to Etain about it," the redhead called over her shoulder. "There's got to be something she can help us with."

The door closed behind her, and David and Jalil looked at one another.

After a long period of silence, David let out a heavy breath, ruffling the strands of brown hair falling into his eyes. He sat down in another red velvet-lined chair, sitting across from Jalil's form, and closed his eyes with another sigh.

The dark-eyed teenager across from him was quiet, slowly blinking at the stillness of the room. It only took a moment, anyway, before David opened his eyes and spoke again.

"You look tired. Long night?"

Jalil shrugged. "Not really. I accidentally got up to early, that's all. Couldn't get back to sleep after that point. It's a bad habit."

David nodded, and they fell silent again. Through the small window of blurred, impure glass, sunlight drifted gently onto the floorboards of the room. It wasn't an eventful day by any means, which might explain the time they had taken to go to the meeting in the first place. After their return from Hel, things had been so busy that there hadn't been time to talk over what to do next.

David picked absently at the scarlet chair covering with his fingers, and looked at Jalil. "Have you disappeared... from the old world? Totally, I mean?"

A short pause. "Yeah," Jalil said.

"Mm. What happens now, then?"

The mocha skinned boy shot an amused look at his friend. "You're the general, shouldn't you know?"

"And you're the brains," David responded with a slight grin. "Every great leader needed advice sometimes."

"You didn't always want it," Jalil mused softly, the distant look returning to his eyes for the second time again. He missed the grimace on David's face. But even if he had, the dark tone in his voice told him enough.

"Every great leader learns from his mistakes, too," he said quietly.

Jalil looked surprised to hear it, but after a second the indifferent look faded back into his features. He nodded. "Yeah, I guess. I don't think I have much good advice, though. Not now."

"That's okay," David said dryly, the bitter look falling from his face. He shrugged and settled back in the chair. "Just tell me when I'm about to screw up, huh?"

"You got it, general."

They shared a small smile, a fleeting expression. And then David repeated, "So. What happens now, Jalil?"

Near-black, grimly patient eyes met David's own sharp gaze. And with a simple, resigned tone, Jalil said,

"We wait."

They wouldn't have to wait long at all.

Later in the very same day, David was watching the sunbeams carefully paint the floor and walls in their soft cream glory. Already having seen Merlin, and getting a few somewhat okay ideas about their problem, there hadn't been anything else to do. So he sat in the window of the bedroom he was given and watched below. The grass was the color of emerald fabric, pure looking and bright from above.

It was hard to believe, even with all the work and excitement around him, that he was going into a war.

'You never would have believed it a year or two ago,' he thought to himself, almost in wonder. 'You would've never imagined.'

It didn't seem like it was that long ago at all, though. Even in his mind, his mother's image was still as fresh and sharp as it had been for ages. Any second, he could cross back over and it would be like waking from a dream. A dream that was neither pleasant or horrifying, merely addicting.

'Face it. You don't really want to go back. You never did.'

It was the truth, not something he felt very bad about admitting now. They had all chosen, in the end, to stay here. Maybe it was just the power and lull that Everworld radiated, the chance to be someone instead of nothing. The opportunity to prove yourself. To write past mistakes into rights. To be what you couldn't be before.

'Every great leader learns from his mistakes.'

Yes. He would learn.

It was an idea he was gradually coming to accept after Senna's... after she was gone. It was hard to think of her now, all alone except for the slight breeze and the warm sun on his face. It was difficult to imagine he had been ready to lay everything down for someone like her. And yet he still...

'She was... everything. She still is, in a way, even though you don't want her to be.'

David sighed and closed his eyes.

What would happen now? They would go to war. They would try to get rid of the Sennites, get rid of modern weaponry, maybe even try to throw down Ka Anor while they were at it. When he stepped back to look at it, it seemed almost ridiculous. But it had to work. There were wrongs that needed to be righted there, and as cliché as it sounded, David wanted to make sure they were. It had been partially his fault from the beginning, hadn't it?

If they had never followed Senna. If they had figured it out just a little bit sooner. If he had never loved her. If he hadn't fallen for her spell.

Yes. Maybe a lot of it was his fault.

And maybe--

"David!" April cried loudly, her voice panicking from outside in the hallway. His eyes snapped open, startled, and his ears registered the pounding of footsteps outside his doorway. Moments later, it was flung open-- the door hit the wall with a loud thud, and then she was right in front of him.

"David, they found one, they found a body. It was a Sennite, someone found a dead one. They're coming here, but they want to know what's going on. You have to be there, come on, get up," she said, and it was a fast blur of words, she was hardly breathing before getting the entire message out. A message that made little sense in the first place.

David blinked at her, on his feet already by instinct. "What!"

April made a face at him, green eyes impatient. "Look, just... just let Etain explain. She's waiting down there with the others, we didn't know where you were. But we have to be there to meet them when they come, okay?"

"What? Meet who? What's going on?" he demanded. She shook her head hurriedly, and walked quickly out the door, knowing he was close on her heels.

"I don't know," the redhead said promptly as soon as they were in the hallway. "All I know is these people found a dead body. A Sennite, from the looks of it. They shot him to pieces, the sick freaks, did all sorts of stuff and left him for dead. These people found it. The... the somethings. Etain knows. They're coming with the body."

"I guess we know where they are now," David muttered darkly, straightening his sword scabbard as they hurried down the curved stairwell. The castle was high, and his room had the misfortune of being somewhat farther up than ground level. He gripped the staircase support tightly, his knuckles white.

"Apparently, we'd really like these guys on our side. But I don't know anything else, Etain wanted you there."

Tossing away the slight rise in pride at those words, David quickly asked, "When will these guys get here again?"

April glanced back at him as she hurried down the stairs, coming to the bottom. They were let back out into a large hallway with darkened stone walls. "I think... maybe by tonight, she said. They live a while away. Like, longer than we've been. But they travel fast."

David stopped in his tracks, forcing her to pause as well. He frowned at her.

"Wait a second. How could they get here so fast? Not even Pegasus was that good, not if this is as far a distance as you're making it out to be."

She sighed, trying to will him to move forward with her eyes, and then stopped. Placing her hands on her waist, smiling at him, April winked.

"Dragons, David. They ride dragons."

David just stared as she laughed at him.

End of Chapter One:

... I suck at writing. I don't like how this part came at all. Now that I read it over, I just want to go back and fix stuff. I wrote this so long ago... mweh, oh well. You'll live, right? My bad writing is nothing new!

Next pretty lil' part-- the gang meets these strange people. Glee. Some obnoxious jerk makes things difficult for them, they discuss and discuss, politics will ensue soon. And after I get through the boring carp, I'll give you lots of lovely C/J slash and David being hit on by a prince.

... insert evil, malicious laughter here.