A/N: Warning- violence and LOTS of swearing. It's time for some angstmosis™, my friends.
It was the day of Xeno's meeting, and Ozzy and Thrax were walking towards the abandoned warehouse in the shoulder where the germs had told them it would be. They tightly held each other's hands and walked in silence.
They'd left Donut with one of the people who lived on their street, just in case anything were to happen. They had given her a big hug and a kiss before saying goodbye, telling her that they'd be back soon, but their smiles were wiped from their faces the second they had turned around the corner.
As they trudged down the narrow streets, they noticed how the temperature had dropped considerably since yesterday. Ozzy shivered and clung onto Thrax's arm, trying to steal some heat from him.
Thrax knew that low temperatures made it harder for white blood cells to function properly, and saw how Ozzy could barely keep his eyes open as they approached the warehouse. He stopped walking and leaned down to Ozzy's level, cupping his cheeks with his hands.
"Baby, are you feeling okay? You don't look so hot."
Ozzy nodded quickly and tightened his grip around Thrax's sleeve. "Yeah, of course, I'm f-fine."
"Ozzy, look at you, you can hardly speak! How do you expect to infiltrate the meeting like this? They'll know you're a white blood cell the second they see the state you're in! Let's call this whole thing off and go to the police."
Ozzy shook his head and pulled on Thrax's cloak to get him to keep walking. "Nah, I'll be f-fine. All I have to do in there is sit and listen. It's probably better that I c-can't talk to be honest."
Thrax put his arm over his shoulder and wrapped one side of his cloak around him to try and warm him up. "Well, I guess that's true. I'd have never figured out you weren't a germ if you hadn't opened your big yap in my meeting back in Frank."
He tilted his head back slightly and sighed. Their plan was to send Ozzy into the meeting disguised as a germ and record the whole thing, while Thrax waited outside the door in case things went south. He grit his teeth and tightened his grip around Ozzy's shoulder. The thought of sending Ozzy in there on his own terrified him.
What if they figured him out? What if the germs tried to kill him? What if Xeno got his hands on him? Ozzy had pluck and determination like Thrax had never seen, but it didn't take away from the fact that he was an unarmed white blood cell, and an especially small one at that. He'd have no chance against a germ, let alone a virus.
The only saving grace was that he couldn't be infected like a normal cell, but neither of them had any idea what Xeno was capable of or even how he killed. It's possible that Ozzy could have already been beaten to a pulp by the time Thrax realised that something was wrong.
He had come across many viruses in his life, and each one always varied greatly from the last. He had never heard of Xeno before, but judging by his lofty ambitions, he seemed like the kind of guy you wouldn't want to mess with.
All of his worries and anxieties were swirling around in his mind and clouding his judgement. He tried to focus on his breathing to calm himself down, and assured himself with the thought that Ozzy knew what he was doing.
They reached the warehouse and ducked into an alleyway off to the side. Ozzy shook his head to try and clear his mind and started pulling at his face to change his appearance.
He'd decided to use the same disguise that he had in Thrax's meeting back in Frank, so he squished both of his eyes together into one, pulled his hair up, made his legs and arms skinnier and elongated his face.
Thrax laughed quietly and put his arm over his shoulder. "Ahh, 'Pickanosis', right?"
"Oh, so you've heard of me now? And that's bad booty-shakin' Pickanosis to you!"
Thrax patted him on the head and smirked. "Heh, you know, before that meeting I thought I'd seen it all. I was so cocky and egotistical, thinking I was unstoppable. Then, there you were, a little white blood cell, managing not only to sneak into my meeting, but also figure out my entire plan and escape pretty much unscathed. You really are something, Ozzy."
"You might say I'm one cell of a guy?", Ozzy said, grinning and elbowing Thrax in the side.
"No, I'm not saying that." Thrax pushed his hair back and sighed as he looked Ozzy up and down. God, he's so tiny. He swallowed thickly and softened his expression.
"Y'know, there's still time to back out, baby. I'm sure you'll do great in there, but just in case, why don't we call the cops and leave it up to them?"
Ozzy furrowed his brow and went to reply when he saw a group of germs approaching. He prodded Thrax on the arm and pointed at them.
"Look! This is perfect, when they turn to go into the building, I'm gonna try and sneak in behind them. It'll draw less attention to me if I'm in a group", he whispered.
Thrax smiled sadly, failing to hide the worry on his face, and Ozzy took his hand. "I'll be fine, Thrax. You just stay alert out here and come in if you hear yellin', although like I said, nothing's gonna happen. I've got it under control."
He squeezed his hand and stood on his tiptoes to give him a kiss. Thrax wrapped his arms around him and tried to hold back his tears. He broke away and shoved his face into the crook of his neck, exhaling sharply.
"I love you, Ozzy."
Ozzy stroked him on the head and left some kisses on his temple. "I love you too."
He tightened his grip around his waist, before breaking away and sneaking over to the group of germs to follow them into the warehouse. He put himself next to the smallest one to try and blend in as much as possible, but even he was a head taller than Ozzy was. He looked up at them all and gulped.
These guys are way bigger than the ones in Frank. Xeno must be planning something serious to recruit germs like this. He quickly turned around and blew Thrax a kiss, before disappearing into the building.
Thrax slumped himself against the wall and threw his hands over his face as he slid down to the floor. Fuck fuck fuck, I hate this. He brought his knees up to his chin and wrapped his arms around his legs.
He grit his teeth as he thought about the situation they'd so recklessly put themselves in. What if something did happen? Thrax was no match for a whole group of germs and a virus. What the hell were they thinking?
He felt tears sting his eyes and he hugged himself tighter. What if that was the last time he was ever going to see Ozzy? It didn't bear thinking about. He couldn't even imagine his life without him. He was his everything, he was the only person to ever treat him with kindness, he'd filled his life with joy beyond anything he'd ever known, and he was by far the best thing he had or ever would have.
There was no way Thrax could even imagine going on without him. There would be nothing left for him to cling onto. He knew that if he lost Ozzy, there would be no point in carrying on.
He threw his head back against the wall behind him and screwed his eyes shut. If anyone lays a finger on him…
He felt a mixture of rage and fear building within him, threatening to boil over. His shoulders started to shake and his heart felt like it was going to explode. It was no use, he couldn't control himself, not while there was a chance that Ozzy was in danger.
He rose to his feet and growled, lighting up his claw. When I see Xeno, I'm gonna fucking kill him.
The door opened out into a big hall with high ceilings, broken windows and a long table in the middle. Ozzy darted his eyes around and stood on his tiptoes to try and make himself seem as tall as possible. He saw a lot of different germs sitting around the table, and even recognised a few from the day before. Shit, it's them. Thank fuck for my disguise.
He sat down on an empty seat and twiddled his thumbs below the table. Some of the germs were looking at him suspiciously, as if they knew he didn't belong here, but couldn't put their fingers on why. He glared back at them and sat back in his seat, trying to act calm and collected, when really he felt as if his heart was about to beat right out of his chest.
As the minutes passed, the germs were having hushed conversations amongst themselves about what was taking Xeno so long, while Ozzy was trying not to show how cold he was. His eyelids were heavy and he felt his head nodding forward, so he started pinching himself to try and stay as alert as possible.
Suddenly, everyone heard shouting coming from outside. The voices sounded like two men, two very angry men. Ozzy gasped and his eyes opened wide as he recognised Thrax's voice.
No! Shit, fuck, piss, balls!
Ozzy leapt out of his seat and charged over to the door, bursting through it. He saw Thrax straddling and beating the shit out of another guy, screaming in his face. Ozzy's eyes darted between them and he jumped back as they rolled towards him. Okay, so I guess that's Xeno then…
He didn't look like anything Ozzy had ever seen before. He had white skin, long green tendrils and light blue claws, which he was waving about in the air, desperately trying to slash Thrax's face. He could tell that he was far taller than Thrax, and had a long, dog-like snout, spikes above his eyebrows, a huge mouth filled with razor sharp teeth and completely black eyes.
Ozzy stood there motionless, staring at what was unfolding in front of him. What the hell could he do? He didn't stand a chance against a virus, and Thrax seemed to be holding his own this time. Even so, he took a step forward and prepared himself to help him in any way he could.
Just then, all the germs thundered past him and pushed him to the ground. They all jumped on top of the two viruses and tore them off each other.
Ozzy groaned and pushed himself to his feet. He slowly turned his head and saw Thrax being held back by four different germs, while two others punched him repeatedly. He gasped and ran over to them.
"No! Get the fuck off him!", Ozzy yelled at the top of his voice as he threw himself into one of the germs that was punching Thrax in the stomach. He pushed him to the ground, straddled him and started hitting him in the face, glaring down and clenching his teeth.
"Die, you piece of shit!", he screamed in his face as he brought his fist down on him again. "You're nothin' but a fucki-", before he was interrupted by another germ grabbing him from behind and dragging him over to where Thrax was being held. "Get the fuck off me! Leave him alone!"
The germ put his arm around Ozzy's neck and a gun against his back in case he tried to wiggle out. "Hey, I remember you, you're those two pricks who broke into our meeting", he uttered in his ear, making him shudder.
Ozzy realised that his face must have morphed back to normal when he was pushed to the ground beforehand. Now all the germs knew he was a white blood cell, and they were all grinning maliciously from ear to ear.
A smaller germ pointed at them both and stated, "yeah, this virus and his little divider whore are the fuckers that killed the boss yesterday."
"What should we do with them?", another germ asked, crossing his arms over his chest and leering at Ozzy.
"Kill the virus and bring the cell back with us."
"Shut up, you stupid pieces of shit", Xeno yelled, coughing up some blood before pushing himself to his feet. He wiped his mouth and lit up all of his claws. They glowed an eerie blue colour, and the light from them seemed to extend up his arms and over his chest. He strode over and pushed two of the germs out of the way, gouging their shoulders with his claws in the process.
Everyone watched aghast as the infection spread from the scratches, coursed through their veins and caused them to freeze up, before they cracked and splintered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
He glared at the remaining germs and twitched his claws as a warning in case they tried to defy him. "We'll deal with both of them now. This red dickhead and his little fuck-toy have already caused us enough problems. The virus is probably a police informer. Any information he's learned about our operation will die with him."
"No, you've got it all wrong, you piece of shit", Ozzy spat.
Xeno spun around and slowly walked over to Ozzy, pushing his hair back and staring straight into his eyes. He roughly took his chin in his claws and tutted, turning his head to the side to get a look at him.
Ozzy tried to shake his head to get him to let go, but he simply tightened his grip. "Fuck off, you lanky prick. You have no idea what you're talkin' about, Thrax hasn't done anything wrong." He tried to wiggle out of the germ's hold, but stilled as he felt the gun press into his back.
He glared at Xeno and said through clenched teeth, "let him go."
Xeno chuckled and turned to look at Thrax, digging his claws into Ozzy's chin. "Well, I can see why you keep him around, he's clearly very loyal to you, like a little dog."
Thrax spat at him and tried to wrench his body up to escape the germs' hold, to no avail. In response, they smacked him round the head and kicked him in the calf. He yelled and slowly lifted his head up to glower at Xeno. "Get your hands off of him or I swear to God…"
"What? What are you gonna do?", Xeno taunted. He smirked at him and pinched Ozzy's cheeks with his claws, piercing his membrane slightly. Ozzy stifled a whimper and screwed his eyes shut, digging his nails into his palms to try and take his mind off the pain.
"Leave him alone, he hasn't done anything! This was all my idea! Let him go and take me!", Thrax shouted, his tone desperate and his eyes pleading.
Xeno's smile widened as he withdrew his claws from Ozzy's face, and Thrax yelled out as he watched him light them up and shove one deep into his shoulder.
Ozzy cried out as he felt the cold spread from his shoulder, over his chest, and seem to envelope his whole body. The pain was sharp and excruciating, and he called out Thrax's name as he felt his throat closing up from the shock.
Then, through heavy eyelids, he watched as Xeno's smile was wiped from his smug face. Ozzy grinned at him as best he could and closed his eyes, sighing heavily as he tried to relax his whole body.
"What the fuck?" Xeno frowned and stabbed him again, this time in the leg, causing the cold to spread through him once more.
"Stop it! Leave him alone!", Thrax yelled. Even though he knew this wouldn't kill him, he could only imagine how agonisingly painful it was, and watched horrified as Ozzy cried out for his help.
Xeno shouted and tensed his hands into fists. "Why isn't he dying!? Is he a mutated cell or some shit?" He spun around and leaned over Thrax, glaring down at him. "Tell me!"
Thrax growled at him and bared his teeth. "I ain't tellin' you shit, but if this is the first time you've seen this happen, then it's obvious you don't sleep around much."
Xeno slapped him across the face and left three big gashes on his cheek. He turned around to face the germs and started barking orders at them.
"Kill the cell. I'm sure this virus will start talking after he sees how we bludgeon his little pet to death. We'll take him with us and make him tell us what he knows." He sneered and turned round to face him. "And he might give us some answers about what the fuck he's doing in this body in the first place."
Ozzy and Thrax looked over at each other with desperate eyes, thinking about the life they had built together and about everything they were going to lose.
Xeno laughed at their expressions and went to start gloating, when everyone heard police sirens approaching from behind.
Ozzy sighed with relief and let himself fall back against the germ holding him. Oh thank fuck, it's all going to be okay.
The germs all started to panic and they threw Thrax and Ozzy to the floor before darting off in random directions. Xeno groaned and kicked Thrax in the hip for good measure. "Don't think this is over. You're a disgrace to all viruses, you're nothing but a little snitch. I'll come back for you, and when I do, I'll make sure to kill your little pet real slowly, and I'll make you watch."
With that, he straightened out his clothes and strolled off in the other direction. Ozzy painfully crawled over to Thrax and put his hands on his face, lightly slapping his cheek. "Hey, Thrax, are you with me? It's okay, they're gone."
Thrax groaned and turned his head to face him. "I'm so sorry, Ozzy. I saw Xeno walking past… and I didn't want you… to get hurt…"
"Don't be silly, it's not your fault. This was my idea and it was a fuckin' stupid one. Do you think you can stand?"
Thrax nodded and slowly sat up. He saw the cytoplasm seeping out of Ozzy's shoulder and thigh, and gasped. "Baby! Quickly, rip two pieces out of my cloak and then we'll tie them around where he stabbed you to stop the bleeding."
He panickedly started taking off his cloak when four police cars skidded to a halt around them. The police officers all stepped out and aimed their guns at Thrax.
"We've got you now, Xeno. We've been following your movements all week. We know you've been meeting with germs and are planning on taking Lola down. Step away from the cell and come with us."
Ozzy's eyes widened and he frantically shook his head. "No no no, you've got it all wrong! He's a vaccine! Xeno went that way!"
He turned his back to them and fumbled around in Thrax's cloak, trying to find his ID card to prove to them that he was a citizen.
"Hey, kid, turn around right now!", one of the officers shouted.
"Wait! Look, gimme just a second to find…", Ozzy started to say, but was interrupted by a loud bang behind him.
He heard his heart thumping and felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room. He saw how Thrax pushed him out of the way before he heard the bullet rushing right past his ear.
A shout left his lips and he screwed his eyes shut, covering his face with his hands. He felt someone harshly grab onto his shoulder and pull him down. He snapped his eyes open and shook his head to get the ringing in his ears to stop.
He glanced at Thrax and saw him groaning and clenching his teeth. Confused, he looked down and gasped when he saw that his shirt was covered in blood. It was gushing down his chest and arm, and the ground underneath him was already starting to be stained with red.
"No, NO! Thrax!" He took his jacket off and tried to wrap it around his shoulder, but Thrax shook his head and grabbed his wrist to make him stop. "N-no, Ozzy, don't…"
"Step away from the virus, kid, we don't want to have to hurt you too."
Ozzy put his shaking hands over Thrax's cheeks and felt as tears started pooling in his eyes. Thrax slowly looked up at him and whispered, "Ozzy, get out of here, I don't want you to… have to see this."
Ozzy swallowed thickly and shook his head. "No no no, shut your mouth, nothin's gonna happen, you're gonna be fine!" He spun his head round to face the police officers and yelled desperately, "what the fuck are you doin' just standin' there?! Help me! Call an ambulance! Do something!"
He turned back round to face Thrax and grit his teeth. Thrax put his hand over Ozzy's and smiled weakly. "Thank you… baby. You've given me the most… amazing time of my life."
Tears started gushing out of Ozzy's eyes as he held Thrax's head up. "Stop talkin' like that! We're gonna get you help! I'm so sorry I dragged you into this, I'm an idiot!"
He kissed him on the cheek and forced a smile. "You're gonna be just fine, I promise, I love y-"
He didn't have time to finish his sentence before someone grabbed him from behind and yanked him backwards.
He thrashed his arms around and tried to elbow whoever was holding him. "Fuck off! Get off me! You've got the wrong guy, he's innocent! Do something, for fuck's sake! Help him!"
They shoved him into the back of the police car and slammed the door shut. He started pounding his fists against the window and shouting at them to let him out. "Let me see him! Please! Someone help him!"
His breath caught in his throat and he felt his heart skip a beat when he saw Thrax's head loll to the side and his whole body relax into the ground below him. "No, NO! Don't let him die!"
The police surrounded Thrax and pointed their guns at him as Ozzy was driven away screaming and kicking in the back of the car.
He pressed his face against the back window, desperately searching for any sign that Thrax was still alive. "Take me back! I have to be with him! Don't let him die alone! This was all my idea, you can't leave him to die like this! Please!"
Soon, they had driven too far for Ozzy to be able to see Thrax anymore, and he started shouting louder. He turned around and shoved his face against the barrier between the front and back seats.
"Please, listen to me! I used to be a cop! He didn't do anything wrong, we were tryna find Xeno!" He wiped his eyes with the back of his arm and said through his sobs, "please, take me back there!"
The police officer in the passenger seat groaned and spun round to glare at him. "Shut the fuck up, for Lola's sake. We're taking you to the precinct for questioning. If you're smart, you'll sit back and do as you're told. If you tell us what you know, this'll all go smoothly. If not, you'll end up like your virus friend back there."