Two days earlier...
Just before Riley had gone to sleep, Disgust decided to go shopping on Fashion Island (she already had plenty of nice outfits, but in her opinion, you can never have enough). Once she arrived, she noticed that she was feeling slightly dizzy, but shrugged it off as motion sickness from the train ride.
After making a sweep across her favorite boutique and picking out three new dresses, a jacket, and four pairs of shoes, she made her way to the front to pay when suddenly...
The dizziness came back to her. Only this time, it was a much stronger sensation. She stopped in her tracks and started breathing heavily. She swiped the back of her hand across her forehead and noticed it was damp. One of the employees took note of her state and quickly ran to her side.
"Disgust, are you okay?"
Disgust tried to say she was fine, but all that came out was a pained whimper. She considered nodding instead, but it was already evident that she would be lying.
"All right, that does it," the worker said, taking her items out of her hands, "Your purchases are on me, hon. You need to go see a doctor right now."
…
Being an emotion, Disgust didn't really need to see a doctor all that often, but after answering some questions and going through a blood test, she had no idea that the diagnosis would be the hardest part.
"I have cancer?"
The doctor nodded solemnly in response. "I'm afraid so, Disgust," he told her. "Luckily, it is not the worst form of cancer one can have, but it is still severe enough to require the standard treatment."
When she asked exactly how it was possible-emotions couldn't get sick, she thought-it was explained to her that Disgusts did in fact have the ability to contract illnesses. She didn't want to admit it, though the doctor could already tell, but she was scared. How would she be able to help with Riley? What would happen if Riley lost an emotion?
"We're going to call up to Headquarters and let them know what's-"
"No!" Disgust interrupted, "Please don't tell them. I don't want them to worry."
The doctor looked at her in disbelief. "Disgust, you can't keep something like this to yourself," he said, "It isn't possible."
"Please, Doctor," she begged, practically in tears, "The other emotions have much more important things to think about. They don't need this on top of it all."
"Disgust, think about what you're saying," the doctor said, dumbfounded, "I would consider your health to be a very high priority."
But after taking one last look at her pitiful state, he sighed. "I'm not going to convince you, am I?"
…
Riley had already fallen asleep hours ago, so after promising that she would come to all of her scheduled appointments and take the medicine that she was prescribed, Disgust had to take a recall tube back to Headquarters. Once she had returned, she threw on the jacket she had bought to hide the bandage on her arm from where she had her blood drawn, just in case whoever was on Dream Duty noticed her.
"Disgust, you're back."
Upon hearing her name, she yelped and turned around to find Fear standing by the console, having just monitored Riley's third dream of the night. "Oh, h-hey, Fear."
"Why so jumpy," he chuckled; this was a question that was usually asked of him, not by him. He took note of the lone shopping bag in her hand and said, "Wow, your load's pretty light for how long you were out."
Disgust giggled nervously (Seriously, it's like we've switched personalities or something). She started making her way up the ramp when Fear asked her, "Is that a new jacket?"
"Uh, yeah," she replied, "I did go shopping, after all." Then, knowing his next question would be why she was wearing it now, she added, "I, uh, decided to go for a walk, and it got a little chilly."
At this, Fear grew skeptical. "It's the middle of August." Before Disgust could open her mouth to respond, his eyes widened in trepidation. "You don't think it's the start of another ice age, do you?"
"Do I think another ice age is coming," Disgust deadpanned, "In Riley Andersen's Mind World and nowhere else?" She ignored the rest of his frightful ramblings to himself and went to her room.
After removing the jacket, taking one of her pills, and ducking underneath her covers, she finally let out the tears that she didn't even realize she was holding.
…
As I've been progressing through my ideas for this story, it looks like the focus is going to be more on Disgust's predicament than Fear's. Stay tuned for the next chapter!