A/N: Viruses and infections are incredibly risky when it comes to my disease. They can trigger a relapse or - in my case - rapid and progressive deterioration. The reason I've been constantly getting worse and losing functional capacity is because I caught gastro last year (so you can imagine how scared I am to catch covid, given it's so much more dangerous). Anyway, I started writing the next ten chapters or so after I came back from hospital. Gastro had me incredibly sick for about a month and then, even once it was gone, I had to deal with the fact that my disease was now progressing rapidly. So yeah I wrote these chapters as a sort of way to work through all that (and it's why they weren't originally in this fic and I had to slot them in before what I originally had written).


"I can't believe you're both sick."

Raven grunted, burying her face in her mug. "Luna's fault."

"You fell on me."

"You're the one who said you would catch me! And the whole poison fishing thing was your idea. So - your fault."

Abby closed her eyes with a sigh. Prayed for patience. You were friends with Thelonious for years, you can handle anything.

She'd been dismayed when, upon discovering the two rash-stricken women, Raven had informed her about their little tumble into a river. Rivers were breeding grounds for infection and if Abby had known about their plans for the day, she would have put a halt to them immediately.

If she could.

Raven was, by nature, suicidally stubborn and Luna was proving to have her own particular brand of obstinance. It made for. . . a very challenging pairing.

"Just. . . try not to infect the rest of us." She really didn't want to spend what might be her last days on earth suffering from a chest infection - or whatever the hell this was.

Raven grumbled her acquiescence whilst Luna looked vaguely apologetic.

Good enough.

Of all the things that could have happened. . .

"It's not contagious," the nightblood assured.

"You're sure?" Abby's brow furrowed, looking down at the tablet in her hand. The results from the blood tests she'd done pointed towards some sort of pathogenic bacteria, one she'd never heard of before. If it was similar to cyanobacteria then Luna was correct and they had no need to fear contagion.

But only if she was correct.

Abby would have preferred to have a little more scientific evidence to back up the claim.

"As I said before, it's Horni Ichei. Which doesn't spread from person to person. You contract it from a type of black algae called woda nailai that glows in the dark. You can usually spot them in the day because they grow in a unique spiral fashion." Luna grimaced slightly. "If you remember to look."

"And you saw this algae?"

Her lips pressed together. "No."

"Then how can you know it's the culprit?"

Luna gestured at Raven's arm, which had grown a more fearsome shade of red in the time it had taken Abby to run the tests. "It causes a half-circle rash."

Abby leaned closer, inspecting the odd-shaped marks for a second time, just to be certain.

She sighed, drawing back. "Well, I suppose that solves it." Though again, she would have preferred to have something more scientifically concrete to go on.

"It's not usually dangerous. Only the very young and old have ever been known to die from it - and extremely rarely. It should pass in a day or so."

"Oh thank God," Raven sighed, throwing her head back. "I was afraid it was going to be one of those week-long things."

Luna's mouth lifted slightly. "The rest of you should be fine. You can't contract it through eating the fish that swim in contaminated waters. Not in my experience. They seem to have developed an immunity to it." Abby didn't miss the profound look of relief on Luna's face as she said this - could well understand it, given her history.

Abby could also admit to feeling more than a little relief herself. She had enough to contend with at the moment without struggling through an illness on top of it.

"Great. So only we get to suffer. Yay," Raven grumbled, enthusiasm evaporating.

"It's your own fault for going swimming in the first place," Abby tsked.

She squawked. "It wasn't exactly a choice!"

"It was my fault," Luna sighed, moving some hair behind her ear. "I should have checked the water was clean."

Raven frowned, looking like she was about to protest, but Abby was concerned with bigger things. They could continue to play the blame game later. After she'd ensured the wellbeing of both her patients. "Luna, your immune system is severely impaired at the moment. This may not be dangerous usually but that doesn't mean it won't be dangerous for you now." Especially since Abby had no experience in treating it. No studies to refer back to. No-one to ask for advice. If Nyko was here. . . "I want to give you a universal antibiotic."

It was a medicine that had been developed a decade or so before the nuclear apocalypse to treat antibiotic-resistant infections and infections of unknown origin. It was usually very effective. Though, Abby had no idea how it would work against a pathogen from a mutated organism such as this.

Normally, she did her best not to prescribe antibiotics since they had the unfortunate side-effect of also destroying good bacteria. But in this instance, she considered it to be an absolute necessity.

"You as well, Raven," Abby added, already knowing she would be met with resistance.

As expected, Raven's face twisted in a blend of irritation and disbelief. "But my immune system's fine. I don't need antibiotics."

"Normally, I'd agree with you." Though not on the part of her immune system being 'fine'. The mechanic's health had been in a state of disrepair almost from the moment she'd hit the ground. Not to mention, science had figured out a long time ago just how much havoc stress could wreak upon the immune system - and no-one could say that Raven's life had been stress-free. Or Luna's, for that matter. "But bacterial infections increase a person's susceptibility to strokes and we do not want you to have another one."

Raven glanced hastily at Luna whose face didn't flicker at this piece of information. "Fine," she said shortly - and a little too quickly. A clear sign that she wanted the topic brought to an immediate close.

Abby wondered whether the details of her condition were something Raven would have preferred kept under wraps from the nightblood.

A little late. Luna had guessed her terminal status over a week ago.

Abby sharply retreated from that thought.

Right now, ignoring the severity of Raven's condition was the only solution if she wanted to maintain any kind of focus on the task in front of her:

Synthesizing nightblood.

Right now, that was the only thing she could allow herself to think about. And another reason she kept dodging Jackson's continued attempts to talk about her own condition.

Though, making that nightblood would certainly be a lot easier if Luna's health was in a better state. A hindrance that Abby had been floundering over how to remedy.

From the beginning, she'd considered performing a blood transfusion. Likely more than one. That, at least, would help alleviate the worst of Luna's anemia. Though it wouldn't cure it.

Unfortunately, they had no idea how Luna's body would react to a non-nightblood transfusion. For all intents and purposes, she seemed to be A negative (just like Nyko, in fact, perhaps that was a common blood type in the Grounder population?) and, one would therefore assume, able to receive blood from any O negative or A negative donor. But they didn't know for certain. And even if Luna's blood had been completely normal, there was always the chance of something going wrong. Such as an acute or delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction due to immunization from a previous pregnancy, or even TRALI.

(Abby could admit to also being reluctant to contaminate the only surviving source of nightblood they had on offer)

Ultimately, it wasn't worth the risk.

Luna's life was far too valuable to roll the dice on.

Especially when, for the most part, her body seemed to be managing alright without such measures.

If that changed. . .

Well, they'd cross that bridge when they came to it.

What Luna needed most right now was time.

Which they simply didn't have

Abby's eyes traveled to her patient, feeling anything but comforted by her current state. Raven's wasn't all that inspiring either.

It didn't help that they'd both seen fit to leave things so long before seeking aid. That little walk they'd taken had been two days ago.

"I can't believe you didn't come to me the second you started showing symptoms."

Well, Raven she could believe. Ignoring or hiding any physical ailment was written into her core DNA. But she'd expected better of Luna.

She presented herself as being a person of far greater maturity. Though, Abby could admit she was beginning to have her doubts.

Raven shrugged, utterly unrepentant. "It was just a rash."

"And do you normally get rashes, Raven?"

"Well, no."

Abby sent her a pointed look before turning to Luna, hands on her hips.

The nightblood sighed. "I didn't know about the rash. The rest I thought was simply down to not sleeping well."

She wasn't sure whether to believe her or not. "Generally, poor sleep doesn't cause coughing and throat pain."

Unless they were dealing with a case of sleep apnea.

Luna grimaced. "You'd be surprised."

Abby exhaled, letting her hands drop. There was no point continuing along this line of inquiry. Whether she was telling the truth or not, what was done was done.

Not for the fist time, Abby found herself wishing she'd chosen another vocation on the Ark. Working in History and Record Keeping surely wouldn't have led to this much stress in her life.

Luna sneezed, and another sigh fell from Abby's lips. Hopefully this wouldn't progress into something like pneumonia - something that had been known to happen with other algae-born infections. They couldn't afford for the nightblood's body to become any weaker than it already was. Not to mention, such infections affected the blood and they were simply lucky that they were currently only using that blood for testing and experimentation - and not for transfusions. Though with the possible solution Abby had been toying with for days now. . .

No, they couldn't afford for Luna to get any sicker. "I'm going to give you both a shot to boost your immune systems. It should clear this up a lot faster."

The immune booster wouldn't fix Luna's white cell count but it would give her antibodies a leg up in fighting off the infection. As long as the drug wasn't given routinely, there would be no adverse effects - such as impairing normal immune functioning. It was what they'd used on the Ark whenever viruses made an appearance, in an attempt to halt their spread as quickly as possible, and, with Luna's precarious health in mind, she'd brought some along with her from Arkadia.

Though, she hadn't expected to be using it on Raven as well. Or in these circumstances.

She'd given Luna very clear instructions to keep the wound site on her arm clean. In what way did that translate to going swimming in some dirty old river?

Even if their story about falling in was true, this bacteria likely would have infected them just from wading through those waters. The moment it had made contact with their skin, they'd gone past the point of return. And if it was anything like cyanobacteria and other microalgae, it could also be airborne and therefore inhaled.

Abby was strongly considering grounding Luna to the safe confines of the lab and mansion.

(though, admittedly, she didn't like her chances of convincing the nightblood to comply)

Raven pouted, inching away slightly. "I hate shots."

Abby smiled wryly, reasonably confident that she was just being difficult for difficult's sake, as usual. It was comforting, in a way, that some things never changed. "You once underwent spinal surgery without any anesthesia, I'm sure you can handle one needle."

Luna frowned, glancing at the woman beside her who studiously avoided her gaze. Apparently, this was another thing she would have preferred kept under wraps.

Luna's curiosity was cut short by a hacking cough and Raven whipped back around, eyes somewhat wide. Quickly, she reached for the glass of water on the table in front of them - a glass well within the nightblood's own range - and hastily offered it to her. Luna accepted it with a strained smile, eyes soft.

Raven watched her take a sip as if it was the most perilous of acts, prone to sudden disaster. After three had passed without any subsequent coughing - or choking - she relaxed slightly, looking away as though nothing had happened.

Abby frowned.

Despite their earlier bickering, she hadn't missed the way Raven's eyes tracked every one of Luna's movements, the stiffening of her body every time she so much as sneezed, as though Raven believed her to be stricken with a much more serious illness and liable to keel over at any second. Luna seemed far from oblivious to the scrutiny, if the mildly exasperated smile that would appear on her face during these moments was anything to go by.

Abby suspected she was indulging her.

She thought back to the conversation they'd had the other night. Raven's . . . protectiveness over Luna was certainly unexpected. Abby wasn't sure she'd seen her behave in such a way with anyone before now. Perhaps Finn, though she wouldn't know. She hadn't been a witness to very many of their interactions before he'd passed.

To be honest, she wasn't sure what to make of the development.

As Luna's doctor, she was glad the young woman had someone in her corner, looking out for her.

As someone who was constantly having to weigh up the nightblood's wellbeing with that of all humanity's. . .

The development was less welcome.

Abby liked Luna. And she certainly wasn't out to cause her any harm. But she was walking a very thin line between the nightblood's needs and those of the entire human race and it scared Abby that she wasn't sure which side she would come down on, if push came to give a monumental shove.

Whichever she did, it would be the wrong one.

Whichever she did, it would mean failing at least one person.

But that was a problem for another day. Today her job was easy.

Today, she got to be a doctor rather than a scientist. Today she got to heal and only heal.

(though, Abby would be lying if she said she couldn't have done without the opportunity)

She crossed her arms, staring down her patients, watching the way Raven scratched at her arm - the action turning increasingly aggressive.

Which reminded her. . .

"I need to have a look at your arm, Luna." Something she would have done immediately the other night if anyone had bothered to inform her about the events of the day. "It needs to be checked for infection."

Raven stiffened. "Is that a possibility?"

"It's an open wound that came into contact with dirty water and Luna's immune system isn't nearly strong enough to defend against pathogenic organisms right now, so yes it's a possibility," Abby said shortly, not in the mood to sugar coat.

Raven flinched and she ignored the unspiraling guilt inside her at the reaction, a task made easier by how reluctant her patient appeared to present her arm. "Luna?"

Sighing, she held it out, the reason for her reticence becoming plain as Abby unwrapped the bandage. The skin around the venipuncture site was slightly swollen and inflamed, hardly a reassuring sight. "Does it hurt?"

"Some," Luna admitted without enthusiasm.

Abby pursed her lips, releasing her arm. "I'm going to redress this with some antimicrobial bandages but it doesn't look too serious. I'll have to keep a close eye on it for the next few days, though." She looked between the two of them. "No more going for a dip in any rivers. You're lucky you didn't pick up something even more serious."

"Again, it wasn't exactly voluntary," Raven groused.

She ignored this. "And I want you both on bedrest. You, especially," she focused on Luna who seemed less than pleased by the attention.

"I feel fine." The serene set to her features was a little too pronounced. Abby suspected she was doing her best not to cough.

"You have a fever that's more than slight. You're not fine. You will be but you're not right now. So bedrest."

"I don't have a fever," Raven pointed out, a little too smugly - though Abby didn't miss the worried glance she shot Luna's way. "So I think I can do without the bedrest."

"You're still sick and there's no guarantee that you won't develop a fever in time. The fastest way to beat this is to rest and keep your fluid intake up. The shot I'm going to give you should speed things along even more. In a day or so, you both should be fine. But only if you give your bodies the rest they require, do you understand?"

The nods she received were reluctant - slightly more than petulant - but satisfyingly forthcoming.

"Good."


A/N: The next chapter is almost done so it shouldn't take as long to post :)