A/N: A little early but as promised, here's chapter eight! this was originally going to be the last chapter but after all the positive feedback I knew I had to make the ending better! Serously, it sucked... :/ Keep in mind i wrote this whole thing over the course of two days. So now that it's going to have an actual legit ending, it'll be a bit longer. :3
Mello lay on the couch, shaking and in pain. Soon after swallowing the medicine, he had gotten sick and lost consciousness. Now he was half delirious as he writhed on the couch with Matt sitting on the floor beside him, trying to sooth and comfort him. Matt cursed himself for giving the blond medicine without knowing what it would do. What if Mello died? He had only considered the up side of the drugs, not the side effects. In his moment of weakness he had let himself be blinded to anything but the possibility of getting Mello back. What scared him was that he had no intention of stopping. It was a crazy plan, doomed to failure from the start but it felt like the only option. In the back of his mind a voice said that he was loosing it, that the last few years combined with Mello's condition had snapped him but he brushed it away.
He didn't know what to do for the blond other than try to distract him from the obvious pain he was in. As he stroked back Mello's hair though, he couldn't help but notice that his temperature was a little lower and his breathing less raspy and labored. That was the only sign that the medicine was having any positive effect. Just as he almost smiled, Mello screamed and thrashed, almost overturning the couch. Matt had to pull away to avoid being scratched before he could restrain the blond. His heart was breaking that he had to do this, even as something told him that he really didn't…
When the medicine's six hours of effectiveness were up, Mello lay still on the couch. He was no better or worse, just tired as he slept off the experience. Matt sighed in relief and fetched some raw meat. He knew Mello would be starving and would need his strength back for the next medicine. He needed to stop, the next one could potentially kill the blond but the alternative was just as terrible. He could feel himself loosing all sense but it felt like he'd started something he couldn't stop.
Gently waking Mello up, he fed him small chunks at a time and stroked his once perfect hair. Another hour's rest and he had selected his next medication. It had the same active ingredient since he noticed Mello's reduced fever and better respiration after the last one but this time it was in a smaller dose and mixed with different things. Matt didn't pretend to know what he was doing, but logic said this was the quickest way to find one that worked. Of course, logic also said that he shouldn't be doing this in the first place.
He pushed the pills into the blonde's mouth and waited, this time knowing better what to expect. The symptoms were a little different but the effect was the same: a lower fever and better breathing along with pain and nausea. It didn't work quite as well as the one before it and didn't last as long either. It seemed that a larger dose was the only way to get a good effect, though it made the side effects stronger as well. He repeated the process until he had a list of active ingredients and their effectiveness, as well as what percentages they were present in the medicine and what they had been mixed with. It was difficult to keep track of the complicated names but he began to spot patterns in which medicines helped which symptoms. Of course, he also kept track of how bad the side effects were. He vowed not to use one particularly innocent sounding ingredient after Mello had nearly attacked him.
Though none of the drugs had proved to be exceptionally life threatening on their own, Matt's biggest fear was that Mello would become so weak between doses that he wouldn't be able to handle another. He tried to let the blond rest a little before each new drug, sometimes slipping out to get more pills with the latest ingredients he was focused on. He had tried antipsychotics but they didn't help clear Mello's mind and normal fever reducers had no effect. The virus obviously worked in different ways than most but Matt felt that there had to be a cure.
With each new drug Mello became less lucid, and Matt knew he had limited time before the blond couldn't take any more. The side effects grew more severe as he used stronger drugs in greater dosages. He would either find a medication soon or Mello would… He bit his lip as he stared down at the shivering infected. He was causing the blond so much pain but he told himself it was for his own good. Mello had traveled unknown distances to find him, and trusted him yet all he could do was hurt him in hopes of curing him. He wondered if the ends justified the means, especially if the end was Mello's death.
As Mello slept, he made another trip to the drugstore, this time with a better idea of what he wanted. It took thirty minutes of searching to discover the door in the back section of the pharmacy that he hadn't explored yet. The sign said 'employees only' and he suspected it was a break room. He rattled the knob and found it locked. Curious as to what kind of break room needed a lock, he looked around for something to pick it with. Going back into the main part of the store, he easily picked up the tools he needed and returned to the nondescript door. A few minutes later and he found himself in a storage cabinet of sorts. There were refrigerated sections for the medicines that needed in, though many of those were long expired, and several sealed cases.
Breaking the glass was easy with the help of a fire extinguisher and he studied the labels on each container. He could see why the bottles were locked up when he read the active ingredients, each highly concentrated and with multiple serious warnings. Looking through them all he searched for names that he recognized and pulled out his list to compare too. There were two possible drugs that he could try, the others either not effective or with side effects that were sure to be deadly. He knew that in the doses present in the pills though, the two he had picked out could be fatal as well. Staring at them he began to put them back on the shelf. It was too dangerous and too big of a risk. He couldn't give Mello something so strong when he knew what the possible outcome could be.
Before he set them down he thought back to Mello before the infection. Each perfect strand of hair was always in place, and his controlling attitude had been a source of endless amusement and trouble for the redhead. Chocolate addiction aside, he had been the most bad-ass person Matt had ever met, or hoped to meet again. When he had left for the second time… Matt thought about the slump just after that, when he stopped eating and stayed up till all hours playing games to distract him from the nightmares. He couldn't go back to that.
Before he could change his mind he stuffed the two bottles in his back and left for the apartment, aware that he had been gone longer than usual. It was probably for the best though as Mello would have more strength this way. He was going to need it…