A/N: Somwhere between my empty head and my constant writers block, I did something right. I'm amazed that my only reviews at the time I am writing this do more than encourage me to go on.

Someone wrote 'God Bless' and it means much to me.

All the other comments and encouragement I'm grateful for, so here, without further ado, is Chapter 2 of 'The Virus'.

I already wrote my disclaimer, and nothing has changed except the chapter.

The Virus

Chapter 2: Cursed

"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" Quistis asked softly, her hand on Zell's warm forehead.

"No problem. I'm as strong as an ox." Zell's statement lacked conviction, it was like he was trying to convince himself of his strength and weakness.

"He'll be fine, Quistis." Rinoa assured her with a smile. "I won't take my eyes off him."

"All right. Remember, if his temperature goes up-"

"Buzz the cockpit, I remember."

"And-"

"Cast esuna. Stop fussing." Rinoa said calmly, and shooed the older woman out. "Go on now, I'm sure you don't want to hang out with us two."

Quistis reluctantly left the barracks, leaving Rinoa and Zell by themselves.

There was a long silence, then Zell asked, "Do you think I'll die, Rin?"

Rinoa looked shocked. "Don't even say something like that, Zell! Of course you won't!"

"I feel guilty..." He confessed, with a soft sigh. "What if one of you gets injured on this stupid trip to save me? What if someone else dies? I'll never be able to forgive myself..."

"Zell, don't think about it too much." Rinoa soothed. "We'd do this for you no matter what. You're my best friend, and Squall's too. We couldn't just sit by and watch you get sicker and sicker."

"It means a lot to me." Zell thanked her, and shut his eyes.

Rinoa looked over to say something else, but Zell had fallen asleep.

*****

"This is ridiculous." Irvine muttered, earning him a nasty look from Selphie. "No, don't look at me like that, I didn't mean saving Zell is ridiculous!"

"Well that's sure what it sounded like." She told him, stealing his hat and putting it on. "What did you mean?"

"I meant the fact that no scientist bothered to go out there and get the cure times, like, fifteen! Then when the rare thing happened and someone got sick... We'd have the cure in a second!"

"Well, it's not like that." Squall said from where he was sitting in the pilot's seat. "The cure only exists on this island in the middle of a forest, and we're the ones who have to get it."

"Maybe we could take it back times fifteen then!" Selphie cheerfully suggested. "Then no one else would have to go through this for a long time!"

"Says here..." Quistis started, reading a paragraph from a book. "The rare Pheyttia Blossom, used to cure the disease of the same name, must be turned into medicine hours after it's picked or it will wilt and die. It would never survive the ride home."

"That's why Dr. Kadowaki sent us with the necessary ingredients to make this medicine." Squall told them, pointing to the box on the seat next to him. "We'll make the cure right on the spot and administer it. She told me he should show direct signs of recovery. If we don't do it right the first time, nothing will happen, so we should make another one and do it again. She informed me there will be more than enough of this blossom, so we should be able to mess up without worry at least ten times. Then the things she sent us will run out, and we'll be in trouble. We're about half an hour from the island." Squall finished by speaking the last sentence into the intercom, to the barracks.

"I got it." Rinoa answered, then added, "Hey, his fever seems to have gone down. Is that good or bad?"

"It depends. Dr. Kadowaki told me he might lose his fever for a few hours, but that he will end up cold, close to when someone's dead. She said just to keep him warm and not to worry."

"Will do, Squall." And the transmission ended.

Squall silently prayed that Zell wouldn't get any worse, and that they'd find this flower before the day was over.

He knew little of the terrors awaiting them on Noble Island.

*****

"We're approaching Noble. Selphie, and you make sure we're ready to land?"

"No problem, Commander." She smiled and jumped up to make sure everything was prepared and working.

Squall pressed the intercom button. "Rin, how's everything?"

"Not good. He was cold for a bit, but now his fever's high again, and he can't sleep." Squall noted that she sounded very worried.

"All right, try another esuna and don't worry about blankets. We're about to land, so brace Zell for the impact."

"All right."

Squall turned the intercom off and concentrated on the landing when Quistis let out a low cry of fear. "What is it, Quistis?"

"Something BIG is down there. I saw it go into the forest when it saw us coming..."

"It's probably more scared of us than you are of it." Squall assured her, and turned on the landing gear.

The landing was over in seconds, and it was unusually smooth for what Squall usually landed like, but no one made a comment. It was good he was improving.

"Squall, are we down now?" Came Rinoa's voice, still a little scared.

"We're landed, everything's fi-"

He was cut off when a huge tremor caused everyone to lose their balance and fall.

*****

Rinoa cried out and fell into the wall in front of her, barely managing to avoid hitting her head.

Behind her, Zell gave a cry and tumbled from the bed, hitting the floor with a loud impact sound.

"Squall, what was that?!" Rinoa yelled, pressing the button.

Her reply was static.

"Squall?!"

Again, static.

But before she went into a panic, the door was forced open and Squall came in. "Something hit us right after landing." He explained, walking past her to Zell and helping him off the floor.

"I feel gross..." Zell muttered, sitting on the edge of the bed when he was far enough off the ground.

"Selphie and Irvine are outside checking for damage, and Quistis is making sure nothing in the Sick Bay is broken."

Rinoa sat down next to Zell and let him use her shoulder as a head rest. "What happens if there's damage? I mean, will we be able to get off this island?"

Squall sighed. "I'm not sure. That's the problem. Our radio is out, and we have no way of radioing Garden. If anything happens we could very well be stuck out in the wilderness."

"Squall never tells a lie." Zell sighed, his eyes shut. "Even if it means telling everyone 'We're doomed'."

"I never said that. And also, Rinoa, Zell. You two are coming with us."

"Huh? Squall, Zell can't walk!" Rinoa protested.

"It doesn't matter. Whatever that was might come back to hit us again, and I won't feel right leaving you two alone without backup."

Selphie peeked around the door, a look of hopelessness on her usually happy face. "Whatever it was didn't hit us."

"Good."

"No, bad. It bit the ship and took half the engine with it when it left."

Squall stared at Selphie like she was lying. "This is made of Titanium Alloy, nothing could bite through it."

"Care to come and see?" Irvine asked, stepping into the room. "There's a huge chunk of the engine missing, and, like, the only proof we have is the jagged edges. Something bit the ship. Something strong."

Squall looked back at Rinoa and Zell. "You two are definitely coming with us now. Irvine."

"Yeah?"

"We'll have to take turns carrying Zell. Don't be worried, the disease isn't contagious. And Zell doesn't weigh all that much. I'll take him first." Squall walked up to Zell and turned, crouching to the floor. "Ok, Zell, can you just-"

"Yeah, I know." Zell put both his arms over Squall's shoulders, and then let Squall pull him the rest of the way onto his back. "This is uncomfortable."

"Tell me about it." Squall nodded, but finished, "But we'll have to deal with it. All right, let's get out of here."

*****

After about five minutes of walking, Squall stopped and said, "Irvine, Selphie, and Quistis. We'll stop here for the night. You three go back and get what we'll need from the Ragnarok. I made sure we have plenty of tents, so we don't have any need to worry about running out. Get some food, and water."

The three nodded and left, back towards the Ragnarok.

Squall placed Zell, who was now sleeping, down on the ground and made sure none of the fear he was feeling could show on his face. If he was scared, he knew everyone else would get all worked up as well.

But Rinoa knew him too well. "Something bit through the Ragnarok, and you expect me to believe that calm look on your face? No one's falling for it, least of all me. You must be scared."

Squall looked at her, then sighed. "You know me too well, Rin... Yeah, sure I'm scared. There's something out here that can bite through Titanium! If it can bite through that, it could kill a human without trying. Why shouldn't I be scared?"

"Well, at least I stocked up on Ultima and Flare before I left." Rinoa sighed, sitting down on the ground.

Just over her left shoulder, something moved, and Squall had drawn Lionheart without thinking, grabbing Rinoa and pulling her aside.

There, held at the tip of his sword, was the ugliest thing he had ever seen. It looked a little like a blood soul, except it had two gigantic eyes that were obscenely hanging out of the sockets. And instead of floating, it had eight long legs, like a spider. Salive dripped from it's mouth, and it eyed Squall like he was lunch.

"What is that?!" Rinoa shrieked, hiding behind Squall.

"I don't know... It's some new form of monster..."

The spider thing ducked away from Squall's gunblade and retreated into the safety of the forest.

"I don't like this place." Rinoa said, still hiding behind Squall.

"That makes two of us..."

A/N: Alright, I hope this chapter came out fast enough... I'm sorry if it's a bit shorter than Chapter 1, I had more to write about in the last chapter. I'll start Chapter 3 ASAP, ok?