Two days. It had been two days since the War for The Stick and my headache had gone from bad to worse. It had gotten to the point where the inconvenient throbbing had turned into a full-blown, migraine-induced sickness that had quite-literally put me on my ass. Complete with a full-body ache, hallucinations, and a fever that would put a normal human into a coma: my life had officially returned to being complete and utter shit, whatever the fuck that green alien shit was: the virus did NOT like it. At all. That being said, as I lay curled into a tight ball of whimpering misery under my blankets and wishing I was dead, I barely-noticed the fact that my mom had come into our room and changed my green bedsheets to a soft set of pink ones: apparently my sweat-soaked form had rendered the previous ones soaked to the point of being unusable…not that I was in enough of a coherent position to give a shit.
Through the shakes, chills and chattering teeth: I was at a constant war with my nausea and queasy stomach as I fought with all my meager strength left to not throw up as every little sound, smell and movement brought back every miserable sensation with a vengeance: and the pitiful 'squeak' of a moan that escaped my throat barely made any noticeable noise as the pounding in my head was joined by the rhythmic 'banging' of someone knocking on the front door…at least it wasn't the smell of alcohol, drugs or the near-constant fighting of my parents that caused my fresh wave of sheer agony this time, I almost preferred Riley bashing me over the head with a sledgehammer to this bullshit. 'At least Alex is nice enough to be quiet, even the ever-present screams in my head shut up.' I thought miserably as another groan escaped my jaws as the knocking returned, this time nearly-unbearably loud as it resounded directly outside the bedroom door.
"Saphira? Your little friends are here to see you." mom called, shamelessly speaking at normal volume from outside the door: which in turn brought a fresh 'zing' of pain through my fever-cooked brain to the point where my vision flashed white from beneath the thick blankets. Even from beneath the covers, I still cowered from the light of the hallway and the soft footsteps of my friends that sounded far-too-loud for what they were as they approached my bed. "Saphira, dude: are you seriously still sleeping? Its after 11!" someone cried, causing a long whine and induced tears of sheer agony to leak from between my lashes as I curled into a tighter ball in hopes of them going away and leaving me alone. "Dude, what the hell was that? I know you're not trying to skip-out on the game, not with 'The Moorish' trying to fight us and take over our Bases again!" another voice said, though I was way too out of it to think about who it was or what they were talking about, as I was too busy trying to block them out and NOT puke my guts out.
"Aw dude, look! She has snakes! I've never seen a snake look like those before, wonder what kind they are?" the first voice pointed out in excitement, pointing out Hershey and Jake: which surprised me to figure out that they were apparently awake right now, as they're usually nocturnal. "They look like ball pythons, though I never saw one look like THAT before, wonder if she'll let us hold one?" the second replied, to which I normally would've agreed to…if I wasn't feeling like I was being cooked alive from the inside out. "Come on dude! We've got shit to do and we need our Queen! We can't do it without you and your brother doesn't want to fight without you, either." the first voiced coaxed, leaving the subject of my Scale Babies alone for the moment, before giving my pitiful, hidden form a shake: only to immediately recoil at the assumed feeling of soaked blankets and nearly-unbearable fever that had me in its talons and wasn't letting go anytime soon. "Jesus Christ! Holy shit, you're burning up! Mrs. MacManus! Come quick! Saphira's sick!" the first voiced yelled, drawing another pitiful 'squeak' from the lump called 'me' at the sheer volume that damn-near sent me into white-noise as both voices panicked as the footsteps of my mother approached the bedroom door. "Now boys, I don't mind if you come and visit, but please don't yell in the house." she scolded, apparently paying me no mind as I let loose another shudder and sniffle of pain and misery.
"But Mrs. MacManus! Saphira's sick! She needs to go to the hospital!" the second voice protested, seemingly seconds after they too, put their hand on me to confirm the first one's panic. "Don't worry boys, she'll be alright: she's…'special', she'll be good as new in no time." mom replied, seemingly unconcerned with the fearful panic my friends were having on my behalf, and even though she wasn't wrong: I knew the only reason she wasn't about to drive me to the hospital was because of my dad: who's become even more of a dick than usual and was now constantly surrounded with the stench of majauana…which wasn't much better from the reek of alcohol that surrounded my mother. With that being said, she wasn't hearing any more of their protesting and retreated from the room: not paying my shivering form any further mind as the room went quiet again for a few minutes as my friends apparently processed what they'd just been told, to the relief of my highly-sensitive ears and throbbing brain.
"Dude, fuck this." I heard the closest one to me, mutter: somehow figuring out through the fog and mush between my ears that my visitors were boys: though I couldn't figure out which two they were. "Where're you going?" the second questioned, before the sound of my bedroom door opening cued another fresh wave of agony through my sensitive ears. "Be right back, watch her." the first answered, before his steps echoed in a repetitive rhythm as he headed down the stairs. 'The hell do you expect me to do? Not like I'm going anywhere.' I mentally griped, before a flinch and flash of white behind my eyelids quickly decided for me to not think anymore: thinking hurts. After a few minutes of awkward silence that was accompanied by even more awkward 'pats' on my curled up ball of misery: the repetitive footsteps made another appearance as they eventually returned to my room and over to my bed. "Dude…is that a fucking meat thermometer?" the first boy deadpanned: making a small tremble flutter through me as the mental image of that entire scenario made what little amount of an amused snort made itself known. 'Dear lord, just kill me already.' I thought as I literally FELT the humiliation float around the room without even having to look. "Shut up. It was all I could find!" the second snapped, before quickly toning down the volume as another 'flinch' shook the bed, mere seconds before the assumed 'meat thermometer' was shoved under my arm as I curled into a tighter ball as I tried in vain to fight off the light that burned through my eyelids from the open door.
"Holy fuck, dude! How are you not fucking dead?!" the first one cried, making me nearly lose what little control of my stomach that I had at the sheer volume and painfully-high pitch of the panicked voice directly next to my head. "What's it say, Kyle?" the second voice asked, confirming the one closest to me was Kyle: making me feel annoyed with myself that even through my fever-cooked brain, I still wasn't able to figure that out. "113.9?! Jesus Christ, Saphira!" Kyle yelped, throwing the blankets off me: exposing my shivering, sweat-soaked miserable self to the blinding light of the bedroom: causing me to lose what little grip of control over myself I had as my queasy stomach gave a painful 'lurch'. Snapping my eyes open, I flipped out of my curled up position and hit the floor running: making a beeline for the bathroom, slamming the door shut and dunked my head in the toilet without a second to spare. Ten minutes of painfully puking my guts out with a side of tears, groans, and half-baked thoughts of stabbing myself in the brain with my bladed tendrils to stop the white-noise and stars behind my eyelids later: I finally disposed of everything the virus was demanding I give, leaving me unsteady on my feet and lightheaded as I flushed the toilet and nearly chugged the bottle of mouthwash next to the sink. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I nearly recoiled at the horrendous sight looking back at me: burgundy hair dark-black with sweat, grey face and Panda Eyes: I looked a cross between drunk, high, and seasick at the same time.
'God DAMN I look disgusting.' I scowled, pulling my dreary, droopy eyes from the mirror over to the bathroom door as I heard two sets of footsteps approaching with both hesitance and concern. "Saphira? Are you alright? Talk to us." I heard Kyle call, pausing just long enough to answer as I blew my nose with some toilet paper (which didn't do my sensitive nose any favors) and washed my gloved hands in the sink. "Fine! Just flushing my guts down the drain!" I croaked, cringing at the horrible scratchy tone my voice turned into before quickly deciding to step outside and swallow all the icy snow I could stuff in my mouth. Staggering to the door, I peered through the crack and came face-to-face with Kyle and Clyde, though only Clyde was in costume: and in the same attire as what he'd been wearing as the day I met him (guess Eric let him rejoin after all). "Hey guys." I tried to say, only for my voice to crack halfway through: making the sound cut off to the point where I only got a few syllables out. "Dude…you look like shit. I can have my mom drive you to the hospital, I'm sure she won't mind." Kyle offered, cueing me to immediately shake my head to the best of my ability without shifting my mushy brain any more than it already was. "Saphira, seriously: you don't look so hot." Clyde added, oblivious to the sideways look Kyle sent him before turning back to me with a highly-concerned look on his face. "Thanks, Kyle. But I'll be fine, I'm not…terribly fond of hospitals and doctors…or needles." I replied, subconsciously tightening my grip on the door at the thought: causing Kyle's eyes to widen in realization of my hidden message and nodded solemnly as he understood.
"You sure? You've got a nasty fever and look like you're about to fall over, maybe you should go back to bed and I can ask your mom to make you some soup." Clyde said, making a small smile stretch over my face at his very nice offer, but also knew it wouldn't do my sensitive stomach any favors right now: not with the virus going ape-shit through my system. "I'll be alright guys, really. Just let me take a shower and I'll be down to play in a little bit." I assured, watching the boys share an unsure look before Clyde hesitantly turned away and made his way back to the stairs. "Well…alright: we can't force you to do anything you don't want to do, I'll go get changed while we wait and I'll ask the guys to go easy on you until you feel better." Kyle replied, looking me over again for a few seconds before turning on his heel and followed after Clyde: leaving me to my privacy as I shut the door and twisted the lock. 'This is all so overwhelming…to have someone actually give a shit.' I thought as I pulled out a clean, turquoise towel from under the sink and turned on the shower to as cold as I could get it before throwing off my already-soaked, red plaid PJs and jumped in: long-since used to the feeling of wet clothes as my once-hidden body suit quickly became drenched with the near-freezing water that gushed from the showerhead.
Even though I very-much wanted the icy shower to cool me off, my fever was overheating my already-dangerously-high body temperature to the point where the water was actually evaporating off my body suit in an annoying steamy mist: causing me to curl my lip over one of my fang-like canine teeth in a displeased snarl, before accepting the fact that there wasn't anything I could do about it. 'As if 107.7 wasn't high enough.' I mentally griped, knowing how much my regular body temperature made it a pain in the ass to take a decently-cold shower as it was…now to add a vicious fever on top of that. Growling at the thought, I hastily and thoroughly scrubbed myself clean, ridding myself of the disgusting feeling of being sick and overall nastiness that came with fevers…and illnesses in general, before turning off the water and wrung out my hair, wings and tails of my body suit before stepping out and leaving the bathroom to Alex: who was patiently waiting outside for his turn: not even bothering to dry myself off, dashing into our room and threw on my dark-red hoodie, burnt-orange beanie and orange pants before staggering to the stairs in a blurry, drunken haze.
Ignoring the drops of water I was trailing through the house, I ignored my parents as they headed up the stairs in a rush: mom with a basket of clean laundry with dad following closely behind with a scowl on his face. 'Here we go again.' I sighed, knowing there was about to be yet-another fight between them as I slipped out the sliding glass door and into the backyard: the icy air slapping me in the face and freezing the water on me nearly-instantly. Stepping out into the snow, my gaze snapped to a decently-sized snowbank and I ungracefully flopped down into it and ate as many icy handfuls of the white, powdery substance as I could get my gloved hands on: feeling the frozen water quickly melt around my overheated form and actually throwing chills through me, inside and out: which was a very-welcome change over the continuous waves of heat flashing through me a few minutes ago. "Much better." I noted, sighing in relief as the overabundance of snow, ice and freezing water chased away my fever with a vengeance: finally leaving me the fuck alone long enough to actually feel something other than living death. My relief was short-lived however, as the telltale noise of my arguing parents reached my sensitive ears from upstairs: allowing me the misfortune of hearing every word clearly, which was one of the many things I despised about the virus that had destroyed my life and any hope of normalcy.
"We should be happy they've made friends in this town so quickly!" mom stated, confirming my suspicions that their argument was (yet again) about us…adding to the theme that a lot of their recent-bullshit circled around the two of us…now even more than usual. "We came here to HIDE! More 'friends' just means more trouble! We never should have brought that monstrosity with us, after all its done! We wouldn't even NEED to hide if we hadn't brought it with us and dumped it off somewhere or let Gentek kill it!" dad spat back, making me roll my eyes at the latest title he's decided to give me. ''It'. Is that HONESTLY the best you can do?' I thought, shaking my head at the pathetic excuse for an insult that he decided on…out of the literal thousands he could've chosen instead. "You're being paranoid! You need to lay off that stuff! Its changing you!" mom yelled, not even attempting to correct him on his latest insult towards me, no surprise there. "OH 'LAY OFF'! It's the ONE thing that helps me relax from your STUPID SHIT!" he screamed, only to cut off his rant mid-sentence: most-likely because Alex decided to exit the bathroom at that precise second: for whatever reason they pretended to be civil when he was around…small miracles I guess: that shit gets annoying after about two seconds, especially to my ears.
With a shake of my head, I headed back inside as soon as I saw mom turn the corner and pretended to tend to the dishes in the sink: trying to mask the noise of her crying. Biting back a growl, I grit my teeth and shifted my gaze from her and in the direction of the front door as more 'knocking' sounded in two-tap intervals, I guess they got tired of waiting for me. Sliding the door shut, I caught the attention of my mother, who turned to me with an ugly, red, crying face as she obviously tried to hide the fact she was crying, apparently trying to be happy while we were around, which wasn't working…at all. "Your friends are at the f-front door, Saphira. Go outside and play." she whimpered, furiously wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand and turned her back to me, probably to keep me from seeing her tears. 'Why did you marry that dickhead, mom?' I wondered, stepping closer to her and embraced her legs in a hug, only to immediately let go and step away at her frightened 'gasp' and horrid 'flinch' as soon as I made contact with her. Ignoring the hurt that stabbed me in the chest, I backed away as she turned around and made to approach me, meeting her watery gaze with a steely look as she furiously waved her hands and tired to apologize.
"Saphira, wait! I didn't mean-" "Yeah. You did." I stated emotionlessly, cutting her off and stormed past her: giving her zero time to make excuses as I rushed out the kitchen and to the front door, just as Alex reached the bottom of the stairs with a confused look in his eyes as he finished tightening his scarf around his face. "Don't worry about it." I told him, opening the door and came face-to-face with Kyle and Butters, who were both dressed in the same costumes they'd been wearing during the War for The Stick: Kyle in his Elf King costume and Butters in his Paladin costume (though Kyle had exchanged his golf club for a hockey stick at some point), which already felt like weeks had passed since then. "My Lady! The filthy Moorish are attempting to overtake Kupa Keep!" Kyle exclaimed, before quickly dashing off to the street to join in a brawl of at least twenty kids: half wearing costumes I was familiar with, while the other half wore rather-intimidating armor that reminded me of what Clyde's minion's wore: complete with bicycle helmets of varying colors.
"Y-Ya gotta come fight, Your Majesty! You and the General are our only hope!" Butters added, before he followed after Kyle in a panicked frenzy. Glancing down at Alex, I grinned as he held my tiara up to me with a determined look on the visible part of his face through his upgraded Thief costume. Annoyed that I didn't grab my own costume, I gratefully took my tiara and put it on: sending a mischievous look his way while tying on my boots. "Ready to cause some havoc, General?" I questioned, laughing as he put one fist in the other with an attempted 'menacing' glare on his face. "Well then, let's dance." I growled, feeling my lips stretch over my teeth in a savage grin: leading the charge through the door and into the fray, happy beyond belief that I was FINALLY living the Dream of Freedom…and I'll be damned if I'll let anyone take it from me.
