...so sorry again! The last chapter didn't get anything across except that Pur was gonna die anyway...so I'll make it up to you with this one! Writer's Block is gone (hopefully), so I can type lots for your enjoyment!

Pur: Make sure this one isn't boring.

Nne: You didn't even help on the last one!

Pur: It's your fic!

Nne: You're the main character!

If you let me finish the fic without jumping to conclusions, it'll be more...purposeful. *grins*

Pur: Impatient human stinkbeasts...

Nne: You can't blame them...I'm putting you through lotsa pain an' madness.

Chapter Seven: Month Three

All Purple could hear was the quiet stirring of fluid in the tank, wrapping itself in cold swirls around his bare skin. He shivered uncontrollably, but his gray skin was burning with fever. Trying to sleep was now impossible; closing his phlegm-covered eyes hurt like hell because the black spores were perched in small groups throughout his body. The room was dark, but the chrome machines captured the light of the tank's lower luminosity bars, mimicking the soft blue glow.

Purple shifted, uncomfortable. He watched, emotionless, as the heart monitor raised silent alarm of heart constrictions. The holograms were always operating now, and they surrounded the entire back of the tube. He twitched his welted antennae, trying to pick up the presence of any Irken in the premises. Sensing only the thrumming of the Massive, now on its way to the Crystalline perimeter, he lifted his thin arms and folded them, lowering his chin. Half closing his eyes, he started humming to himself. He needed to be told. Even Red had refused to inform him of how the operation went. He had woken up to a hysterical doctor and a pissed-off partner, then had collapsed out of exhaustion. He had been on life support, they told him, for the past week or so. When he had inquired why, the doctors merely saluted and walked away.

So he waited. He was supposed to find out if it was a success or failure today, but it was halfway into the afternoon and he still hadn't found out. Chewing his lip, he looked at his battered body. If he was cured, it wasn't supposed to hurt this much, was it?

The light above him flickered on. The door on the far end opened slowly, and light poured into the room. A small group of doctors approached him, Peprik in the lead.

Peprik stopped before him, saluted, and bowed. Her eyes were confused and filled with grief. The look hurt Purple more than the verdict afterwards.

"My Tallest, it's good to see you awake again. I was afraid you were going to be placed on life support again." Peprik smiled, then her lips had a spasm and she bent her head. "Now you can...you can..."

Peprik's eyes brimmed over with tears. Purple, taken aback, looked at the others flanking her. "Is she crying because she's relieved or crying because I'm not going to shake this off?"

Peprik lurched off of the ground. "Damn you!" she cried, launching herself at the tube. "I hate you! I tried, damn it! I can't save you! You won't make it! I knew the freakin' thing would best me! You helped it! You didn't get better...yo...you..."

She collapsed against the recuperation tank in a quivering ball, sobbing. Purple smiled gently. He bent down as far as the tank allowed him and placed his hand on the glass. "Peprik," he whispered, "you did great."

Peprik sniffed and looked up. "No I did...didn't," she hiccuped. "You're not...going to...get..."

"Shhhhh," Purple soothed. "I know. I know."

"So I failed you. I failed you...and now..."

"Peprik, you kept me alive."

Peprik started. "What? No...I didn't..."

"Yes, you did. When I first found out that this couldn't be cured by any serum we had, then I despaired. I didn't show it, but inside I knew that impending doom was upon me. When you kept testing me, you said I had to trust you or else it wouldn't work. You kept pressing me to fight it, and I did. I would have been dead long ago if you weren't there for me."

Peprik blinked. She wasn't there for him. She spent all of her time out in the examination room, or experimenting...

"Sir?"

Purple had straightened up suddenly with a stifled gasp. "So...sorry...I need..."

"My Tallest, what's wrong?"

Purple rammed his fist into his throat. "I can't...breathe..."

Peprik stumbled over to the console and rotated an orb. The other doctors, feeling they were of no use, silently exited the room. Peprik looked at the recuperation tank to see white fluid rush in and be guided up to Purple's mouth. "Take a deep breath," she ordered, leaning against the console. "It'll clear soon."

Purple opened his mouth and tried to suck in, but lapsed into a violent fit of coughing. Blood seeped out and was quickly filtered. "I'm...try...ing..."

Peprik lowered a lever and rotated the orb again. "This'll help. It'll sting, but at least you're not hacking-"

Peprik raised an invisible eyebrow as Purple threw his head forward and a large white-yellow ball flew out of his mouth. He looked sheepishly over at Peprik, panting. "Uh...heh...I'm not a regular smoker?"

Peprik laughed. "Right...I'm glad. Can you breathe again?"

"Not well, but better than usual."

"Wait...better than usual? What does that mean?"

Purple blushed, bringing back slight color into his pale face. "I'm just suggesting that I feel clearer than before."

Peprik became worried. "How much clearer?" "Significantly. How's that?" Purple grinned. "At least I'm not bent in half vomiting."

"Thank Irk for that." Peprik scratched her antennae. "I shouldn't worry so much about you. I'm treating you like a smeet."

Purple cradled the back of his head with clasped hands. "It feels good to be pampered again."

Peprik twirled herself around in the chair. "I remember when I was in training to become a General Practitioner, most of the higher doctors would harass me because of my height. Constantly I thought of dropping out and becoming a janitor aboard one of the Flagships. At least I would be with my own kind, basically."

Purple raised an invisible eyebrow. "There is significant difference between heights on Irk..."

Peprik nodded. "Once, I begged the Main Doctor to purposely dismiss me because the threats had gotten so bad. She refused, of course, and said that she would send me to you two-the Tallest-to be disiplined.

"That alone scared the hell out of me, so I returned to my studies and pulled through to rise above the rest."

"Nice story."

Peprik turned red. "I'm sorry. I get carried away."

Purple shook his head. "No, really. I liked it."

"Would it be too much to ask if you told me one of your successes?"

"I'm afraid we haven't had much success with anything lately. The Crystallines have been refusing to participate in the Galactic Search...or whatever it's called...and the rest of the planets are running out of things to do. Of course, the Invaders have complete control over them, but if they're watching over a useless chunk of rock...What's the use?"

Peprik, suprised, turned to Purple. "What? The planets are a symbol of our power!"

"Ah. And what happens when the planets are idle and hesitant?"

Peprik opened her mouth, then closed it.

"It makes the Irken Empire seem idle and hesitant, also. See how that works?"

"Yes, my Tallest."

"Don't be upset. We're not going to fail any time soon."

"I wasn't thinking about that," Peprik countered. "I was just wondering...

"What happens when our forces can't hold an enemy back?"

Purple was just about to answer when the heart monitor alarm beeped for the second time. Peprik turned to shut it off, then swiveled back to face Purple. He was looking past her, though, with a willing look in his eyes.

"Peprik?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Something has been bothering me for a while now, and I think it would be better if you left right now. You can come in later, but I don't want you hearing this."

Purple's skin was turning ashen, and she saw that his chest was heaving and shuddering involuntarily. She shook her head. "I can't leave you. Are you going to be sick?"

Purple half-nodded, then shook his head "no". "I've had this once before, and it scared me. I think you'd be better off going somewhere else."

"What happened to you? Why didn't you-"

"You're going to find out........" Purple hissed, glaring at her warningly. "Don't say I didn't-"

The words were cut off by gurgling, and Purple started a gagging motion. Peprik believed he was going to throw up, but she glanced at the monitors. The heart was almost completely stopped, squeezing miniscule amounts of blood out of the crushed aorta. The lungs...

"Oh God..."

The black spores were moving. They were digging into the lung tissue, and soon they would tear it apart-

"That wouldn't have happened before!" she shrieked. She raced over to the automatic respiration machine and rammed the connection wire into the side of the tube. Pounding the link button, she watched as thick wires burned holes into Purple's body and connect themselves to Purple's lungs. The spores quivered, then began to dig harder into her Tallest's lungs. They would not hold for that long. If the lungs couldn't hold the air, then what was the point of helping him breathe? Blood poured out of the overactive vessels and over the white virus, staining it pink. The heart monitor was still serving the alert. Overwhelmed, Peprik connected a life support machine up to the tank and rushed over to the electricity console. Cranking a lever, she watched as two arms lowered themselves levelly with Purple's chest cavity and send a straight line of electricity into Purple's heart. It jumped and slowly increased activity. She watched it slow. The computer sent another jolt; the heart skipped and pumped several irregular beats. Again, another slow, desperate pump from the heart before performing inefficiently, again, another shock from the probes. The spores had slowed down, but at each shock they spread out over the lungs. Again. Again.

Watching intently, waiting for her Tallest to awaken, Peprik kept a safe eye over the health stats. She was not letting him go.

...

Scary, no? So sad...and where's Red? I don't know! I'll put him in the next chapter, but I hope this was an improvement from the last!

Pur: No kidding.

Nne: Yay! Month Four is rising!