Catz: Disclaimer for this chapter: I am not a doctor. Enjoy.
"Vriska? Are you up?" Tavros asked, wheeling himself into her room, balancing a plate with a few pieces of toast on it in his lap, holding a cup with water in it. He thought it seemed like an tasteless breakfast, but Rose had insisted that it was best to not test a sick person's stomach first in the morning, and toast and water would be the easiest to keep down. He flipped on the light, wheeling over to the bed and setting the food down, lifting himself onto her bed where she still slept, facing away from him.
"Vriska?" He said. "Hate to wake you up, but you need to eat. You can go back to sleep after you do, alright?"
No response. He reached over, gently shaking her shoulder.
"Hey, sleepy. You gotta eat, ok?"
Still no response.
A bit concerned, he grasped her shoulders and rolled her over to face him, and was met with a face flushed nearly completely blue. Her eyes were closed, her breathes were quick and shallow, and she had a sheen of sweat on her blue-tinted skin. He reached out and touched her forehead, pulling back quickly at how unnaturally hot her skin was. Her forehead was even hotter than the first day he had been in here.
"Oh, oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck Vriska, this is bad, this isn't just a cold." Tavros said, talking more out loud to himself than to a still-asleep Vriska. "I'm calling Karkat." As he fumbled for his phone, he felt a hand weakly grasp his wrist, and looked over at half-opened eyes.
"D-don't call the others…" She muttered, eyes unfocused and darting around, seeming to search for his face. He gently took her hand from his wrist, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
"Sorry Vriska, I know you don't want them in here, but I need help for you," He said, his screen lighting up at his touch. She half-sat up, clumsily clutching at his shirt, re-directing his attention from the screen to her.
"If you let them know where we are, the – the agent won't be able to escape…"
"What are you talking about?" Tavros asked, panicked over her condition and confused by her words.
"If you don't get the coat, she'll find the note in the pocket…" Vriska muttered, releasing his shirt and falling back to the pillow.
Tavros quickly scrolled through his contacts to Karkat's number, hitting call and lifting it to his face.
"Hey, Tavbro."
"Karkat, I need you to come here. Vriska's really sick – I don't know what's going on, but she's burning up, and she's delirious or something – she's saying things that don't make sense, just – hurry. Please."
"Damn – Ok, I'm on my way." Tavros heard Karkat faintly shout for Rose before the line went quiet, and slipped the phone with "call ended" on the screen back into his pocket, looking back to Vriska, who was mumbling something unintelligible as her eyes fluttered.
"Shh, it's ok, you're ok," Tavros said, taking her hand, and oh god, her fingers were so cold. She stopped murmuring, but turned her head towards Tavros, her half-open eyes flitting around his face.
"Tavros?"
"I'm right here, ok?" He said.
Her eyes flitted shut, and the full minute Tavros spent waiting for Karkat to get there felt so much longer, every second more defined by worry and fear.
When the door finally did swing open, Tavros was jostled as Karkat and Rose crowded around the bed, both trying to see Vriska at once. Karkat touched Vriska's forehead, hissing as he pulled back, and Rose stuck a weird-looking device in one of Vriska's ears, and there was a clicking noise before she pulled it back and looked at it, worry taking over her usually calm features, repeating it with the other ear.
"Her temperature is 105 degrees Fahrenheit," Rose said, stress tightening her words.
"Translate that so the lesser beings here, aka me, can understand," Karkat said, his stress making him snappy.
"It's really bad. 104 is a critical temperature, and 107 or 108 is usually fatal," Rose said shortly. "Karkat, carry her out to the car. We're taking her to the ER." Rose took Tavros's wheelchair's handles as Karkat scooped up a limp Vriska in his arms (gog, he had gotten so much taller in the last sweep), and Rose pushed Tavros down the hallway, Karkat following close behind.
Catz: Google-sensei has taught me much about fevers. I am enlightened. It is me.
Yeah, this is a cliffhanger. Sort of. I'm (not) sorry.
There was TaVris hand-holding in this chapter, but that was intended more as comfort than romance. For now.
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