Edited to fix typos and add/remove some lines
'i knew something like this would happen, I just knew it'
JC ran towards the infirmary flanked by Moro and Dom the peafowl while carrying Louis' body on his back, the nurse, whom Sanu contacted her ahead of them, met them at the door and led them inside, JC seeing a whole group of animals within,
"what happened?" she asked as JC laid Louis on one of the beds
"I'm not sure" Dom answered "he suddenly collapsed right after the curtain fell"
"i saw him swaying a bit" JC said as he removed the hat, cape and skull off Louis "i would've said that it was first show exhaustion, but everyone's reactions told me otherwise" he added, looking down at the skull, it was similar to a large canine, maybe one of the few ancient ones, possibly a dire wolf, he ran a finger over one of the fangs, before putting it aside, Moro picking them up
"I'll return these to the dressing room and bring everyone back" she said and ran off,
"hopefully by then, the theatre would be becoming vacant" Dom said as JC approached Louis, at first glance, one would assume he was in a peaceful sleep, but he knew better as the medical looked Louis over, one pausing near his left ankle as they felt it over,
"hmm, feels as if there's a fracture here" they said "but I'll have to make sure"
"a fracture?" Dom questioned himself "how could he have gotten that?"
JC stared silently, remembering that for the last couple of days, Louis had been rolling his left leg, as the medical team confirmed the possibility of a fracture near his ankle, the pieces started falling into place, Louis must have had recently fallen onto that foot hard, but walked it off, thinking it was a dislocation or it was slightly twisted, ignoring the need to seek proper medical attention, he was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the medical team taking an x-ray of the leg, positively determining that it was fracture, JC glanced away from Louis as they applied a needle linked to an iv bag to his forearm, he glanced back, seeing the needle sticking into the flesh, he shivered a bit, but not as bad as…..then, Dom noticed this,
"you OK JC?" he asked, gently patting his back "not a fan of needles?"
"i….i can't say….yet" JC replied, shivering a bit, Dom lead him out of the infirmary as the medical team got to work to apply a plaster to the leg,
"listen, JC" Dom started to say, before pausing to figure out the right words "if you need anyone, and I mean, anyone to talk to, you can talk with me, and the rest of the backstage crew"
JC glanced at him as Moro returned with most of the drama club in tow, none of them said anything as they waited, the medical team soon came out and walked away, JC backed away as the nurse came out and explained the injury to them allowing everyone to keep vigil over Louis until he woke, she and the medical team leaving them with him,
"i know that this might sound a bit insensitive" Kibi the anteater said, looking at the others "but I thought that "breaking a leg" was a good thing" this got a small laugh out of a few of the others
"if it were someone else, maybe" Legoshi said, everyone looked at him as he looked down at Louis "but it's Louis, the only one of us who wouldn't be rattled by something like this" the others agreed to what Legoshi said as JC silently watched on, he remained silent as the group was discussing what was to happen during the performance the following night, when Louis woke, when Sanu told him what happened when he passed out and when Bill told him the nature of the injury, JC could understand the look of shock that Louis had when he was told this, as they were trying to cheer Louis up following this, JC noticed that Louis was looking distracted or confused about all this, then getting a look of anger, Sanu tried to backtrack to save face
"what do YOU think WE should do Louis?" everyone looked around at JC, including Louis "it's all up to you mate, whatever you choose, we'll back your decision, all of us" he added, as he looked around at the others who agreed to this, JC noticed a faint smile on Louis before he assigned Bill to take his place, Bill looked shocked at first before becoming ecstatic, JC weaved through the others to get closer to Bill and size him up better "this might present a problem" he said,
"how would this be a problem" Bill questioned as Louis narrowed his eyes a bit, curious about what JC was going to say, JC turned to Bill and gently slapped his arms and chest
"you have too much bulk on you, if we try the stunt that me and Louis did today, you'd be capable of ripping my arm off from your momentum alone" JC explained
"he has a point there" Sanu said "humans aren't built a tough as the rest of most of you, so I'm afraid that the stunt will have to be pulled, for this production anyway"
"agreed" Louis said "i don't want to have a stain on the drama club's reputation if our newest member is injured in such a way in front of everyone else"
JC stared forward, not hearing the others as they voiced their agreement, what Louis had said stirred up something, JC heaved a bit as the memories seeped back slowly before his vision went black, the next thing he knew, he was looking up at everyone as he laid on another infirmary bed, he groaned and sat up
"what happened?" he asked
"you passed out" said Louis, the club members moving aside to allow them to see each other "you looked as if you were about to have a seizure, or throw up"
"a good thing Louis pointed it out" Sanu added "otherwise, you might've collapsed, Legoshi came over and dragged you over here
"I'm guessing I wasn't out too long?"
"not that long" Sheila said "I'd say about 10 minutes" JC nodded and started to get up before Sanu stopped him
"easy there JC" he said, trying to push him back "you need to rest before you can go anywhere"
"I'm not letting a dizzy spell stop me" JC replied and tried to get up, this time, it was Legoshi who stopped him, the two of them locked eyes for a moment, JC knew that Jack told the guys in 701 about what happened to him earlier that week, he sighed gently "fine, but when I wake tomorrow, I'm coming straight to the drama club" he declared, soon after, the rest of the club left, Legoshi mentioning going and getting the pills that JC was prescribed with, Louis looked over at JC when they were the only 2 left,
"was that just a dizzy spell, or was it something more?" Louis questioned, JC sighed gently,
"something more" he replied "but I don't feel ready to tell anyone, not even in private" Louis eyed JC silently as he looked down at where his feet were, frowning gently
"i understand" he said before laying down, JC laid down as well, waiting for Legoshi to return with the pills "tell me, the pills your getting, what are they for?"
"they're to induce a dreamless sleep, I've been plagued with nightmares recently" Louis stared, putting two and two together as his eyes widened a bit, he turned onto his side away from JC as Legoshi arrived with the pills, JC took one with some water before laying down, falling asleep near instantly, Legoshi placed the pill bottle on the table next to the bed before leaving
"Legoshi" he turned to face Louis "do me a favour, and look out for JC, he's not as physically able as you or as physically vulnerable as I am, but I can tell that he's emotionally vulnerable" Legoshi stared at Louis as he said this before his response
"i will Louis" Legoshi left the infirmary after this, thinking to himself about what had happened.
"it's incredible that you managed to make it" JC said to Louis as he hobbled into the backstage area on crutches "not saying that you were slow to get here in spite of your injury and desire to maintain your image, I'm just shocked that the nurse allowed you to come down" Louis narrowed his eyes a bit
"i came to make sure that Bill doesn't make a fool of himself while performing my role" he said as JC followed him "who have they got to take Bill's original role?"
"Legoshi" JC answered, pausing behind Louis "and from what the others told me, he wasn't too keen on the idea" Louis turned to face him,
"I'm going to see Bill" he said, turning away to limp off "you try and get Legoshi ready for the performance" JC silently nodded and stepped into the props and costume room, seeing Dom, Kibi and Sanu looking over some checklists and Legoshi sitting on a crate, reading a script, he approached Dom and Kibi as they examined a black mask,
"did you fix the problem I had with it?" JC asked, Dom and Kibi looked up
"yeah, we loosened the elastic so it wont cut into your scalp this time" Kibi said, handing the mask the JC, he ran his hand over the plague doctor style mask, large enough that it could hide the species of any who wore it, he pulled off his hat so that he could put the mask on and adjusted it so that he could see out before running some fingers over the elastic around his head,
"it's perfect" JC said, removing the mask with a smile
"someone in costumes didn't take into account the amount of elastic needed, cut it too short" Dom explained
"but it's all fixed now" Kibi added "we worked on it after leaving the infirmary last night"
JC silently nodded before glancing at Legoshi, muttering his lines to himself
"i feel sorry for him, he didn't ask for this"
"i have to agree" Sanu said "but we needed someone to fill the 3rd villain roll and Legoshi was the only one available"
JC stared at Sanu, then looked back at Legoshi just before Bill waltzed in
"nearly showtime" Sanu said to Bill "sleep well?"
"sure" Bill replied, JC glanced over at Legoshi, seeing him start to sniff the air, but ignored it as he pulled on the body concealing cloak his character wore "eh? What is it?" he heard Bill question, sounding worried, JC glanced over at them as Legoshi gave Bill a look "Louis and I were out in the hall gossiping about you, nothing bad"
JC shook his head silently as Legoshi stood up and approached Bill, making the latter worried as the former started sniffing around him, as if seeking something,
"what the heck, is that normal?" JC questioned Dom and Kibi silently
"not really" Kibi replied "but being a wolf, Legoshi must be sensing something the rest of us can't"
"that figures" JC said as Bill left the room with Legoshi following him, Dom mentioning that they only had 10 minutes before curtain, JC grabbed the mask and the large black fringed hat and headed to the side stage area, waiting for Bill to head on before slowly wandering out to watch from the back, pacing around, hidden in plain view of the audience to keep them guessing.
JC soon had the mask and hat on and was pacing as the others started their performance, he'd pause every so often to watch Bill, facepalming behind the props at his sloppy delivery
"dammit Bill" JC muttered under his breath, thankful that the mask also slightly muffled his voice "i don't think that this is what Louis had in mind when he cast you as his replacement" he kept silently watching before stepping out at the right moment and delivered his line, Bill returned his line with some proper effort, seeing as they only rehearsed the lines earlier that morning, they squared each other up and started sparing, however, after the blade-lock,
"incredible, you don't disappoint, especially after your-" he paused as he saw Legoshi approaching the 2 "so you have no honour Adler, having another come to assist you in this fight" he said, ad-libbing as he stepped back, Bill glanced back at Legoshi as he approached, threw away his sword and started attacking Bill viciously, something flying past JC's head, he turned and saw a vial of red liquid landing near Louis, JC looked back at Bill and Legoshi as the two started a full on fistfight on the stage, retreating to Louis,
"what's going on?" he questioned
"I'm not sure" JC said, kneeling to pick up the vial he stared at the contents, his eyes widening, realising what was in it, his breath becoming laboured, only to snap out of it as Louis snatched the vial out of his hand,
"take it easy JC, we need to focus on breaking up that fight" Louis said as JC looked back, then spotted something nearby, he picked it up, looking at Louis
"think you can walk without those for a bit?" he asked
"i think I'm able to"
"well then" JC said, tossing up the sword, catching it by its dull blade and held the hilt to Louis to take "it's time to reclaim your role as Adler" Louis nodded and handed his crutches to JC as he passed him to break up the brawl, JC watched for a moment before placing the crutches on a nearby box and leaving, going into an empty dressing room, the silence only broken by the intermittent sounds heard from the stage via the sound system, he looked at his shaking hand, panting gently
'i don't want to pass out from that again, I need to calm myself, need to get that memory into the back of my mind, then try to be rid of it forever'
JC looked up as Dom peeked in,
"JC? You feeling alright?" he asked "you left the side stage area kinda quickly"
"something I needed to get off my mind, alone" he said, removing the hat, mask and cape for Dom to return to costume storage, JC sneaked out of the theatre, sitting near the fountain, he felt physically and mentally sick, last night, he was nearly physically sick, and a few days ago, he was mentally sick, he lowered his head into his hands, panting hard, a tear falling into the dirt in front of him, he didn't notice, but he was glad that no one else was there to see him cry.