Paralogue 2

Sickness

Arian falls ill one day and is confined to the Guild's infirmary.

"Urrrrrrgh…" groaned Arian. He felt worse than he ever had felt since he woke up in this world on the shoreline just outside Elvira's house. Everything hurt - his head throbbed, his nose was like a waterfall, he was sweating buckets on his nose and paw pads, and his stomach felt terribly nauseous, having just been forcibly emptied of its contents five minutes beforehand.

"...I don't suppose I need to ask how you are, Arian," Raya the nurse said, as she returned to the infirmary. "Same as before?"

"Same as before," came the weak reply.

"...You're still burning," the Audino noted, after feeling his forehead. "I'll get a thermometer for you." She went to a nearby cabinet and took one out. She brought it over to Arian, and placed it in his mouth.

She went away to carry out other duties, and returned some ten minutes later. She investigated the thermometer's reading.

"...No." She shook her head. "Still sky high. Looks like you'll be staying in bed for the next while."

"...Urgh…Really?" Arian moaned, both in dismay and because of his sickness.

"...I'll get some more water and an ice pack for you." The Audino placed a canteen of water by his bedside. "Try and get some rest. I'll leave a basin here for you to vomit into if you need to."

"Right…Thanks, Raya…" Arian mumbled. Rest seemed like a good idea. Already, he found his eyelids beginning to droop.

"Anytime, Arian. Call me if you need me." That was the last thing the human heard before falling into the unconsciousness of sleep.

The next time he woke, he heard voices talking.

"What? Arian's sick? Since when?" That loud, boisterous voice…Lex? It was hard to tell through his current ill state.

"Yes, he's sick. He has been since yesterday." That voice, he knew well. It was Elvira. "I'm going in to check on him now."

"...Can we come too? Please, Elvira? Raya?"

"I'd like to come, too." That voice was also familiar; it was Isaac, Lex's partner and the co-founder of Team Mindfist.

"...Alright," Raya permitted. "But as long as you're not too loud."

"Great!" Lex said, as if he hadn't heard the Audino's request. He came into the room, and saw the Riolu turn over in his bed to look at the new arrivals. "Hey, Arian!"

"Hey, Lex…" Arian weakly replied.

"Sorry to hear you're sick," the Cranidos continued. "How'd you get sick? What happened?"

"Vomiting bug," Elvira answered. "It's been doing the rounds locally, and Arian was unlucky enough to catch it. A bad dose of it too, by the looks of it."

"Didn't you say you and Arian had been babysitting some children a few days ago?" Isaac questioned.

"Yes. That was a mission on one of the boards," Elvira recalled. "We'd done a mission halfway across the country the day before, and Arian didn't feel like going far. It seemed an easy enough job…but…" She looked worriedly at her ailing partner.

"...I don't think we need to deduce any more from that," the Espeon said, before turning to his Cranidos partner. "Lex, a reminder to keep away from those missions in future. We don't want to end up like Arian."

"But I like those missions…" the dinosaur whined.

"It's too risky. We'll only be more of a hindrance to the Guild if we get sick." Isaac was quite firm. But turning to Arian, his tone was somewhat more sympathetic. "...I hope you're well soon. That would be for the benefit of all of us." With that, he turned and walked away.

"Yeah…Get well soon, Arian," Lex wished, before following his partner.

"...He's pulling no punches as usual," Arian noted, with a slight huff. "Typical Isaac…" Being grumpy because of his ailment, he was in no mood for the Espeon's calculated callousness.

"...Just ignore him, Arian," Elvira said. "...How are you?"

"...Horrible," came the reply. "Aches and pains everywhere, and I've no energy to do anything…I want to get out there and do more missions. But I can't…"

"Don't you worry about missions. Just focus on getting rest," the Treecko assured. "I'll be an auxiliary for the other teams. And it's not like we're short on money."

"...Thanks…Good to know you have my back…" Arian said on a happier note. He was about to say more, but at that point, he was overcome by the itch to sneeze.

"Aaaaaachoooo!" It was quite a loud sneeze, one that expelled a great amount of mucus and immediately winded Arian. "Urgh…" The Riolu reached for a tissue to blow his nose with.

Elvira couldn't help but wince at the savage noise of his sneeze. "...I think I'll leave you now, Arian. Try and sleep, will you?"

"I will," promised Arian weakly. "At least I can do that much…"

"I am sorry to hear you are ill, Arian. I pray you will feel better soon."

These were the words of Serafina, who had chosen to visit Arian in the mid-afternoon with Natalie. The Meowstic and Ledian looked sympathetically at the human's plight.

"...I remember bein' sick like that when I was a young'un," Natalie recalled. "I hated it. Couldn't do nothin'..."

"We've all been sick like this at some point in our lives," Serafina said. "I was bedridden with the flu when I was nine years old. My family all fretted relentlessly, especially my brother. But I got better eventually. And I have no doubt you will recover soon, Arian."

"...Thanks," Arian said gratefully. He reached for the glass of water at the side of his bed, and downed it fully.

"Let us refill that for you," Serafina volunteered. "Is that alright, Raya?"

"Yes, that's okay," the Audino, who happened to be in the room at the time, permitted.

"But…don't you have things to do…?" Arian asked. "I don't wanna be a burden…"

"Do not worry about us. No task is more worthy than helping a friend," Serafina assured. "I would feel personally better helping you myself. Anything to alleviate more duties from Raya."

"Thanks, Serafina…"

"Bit crook today, are ya, Arry?"

Next to visit were Team Sandstream. Ishmael, Axel and Lillian looked at the ailing Riolu with the sympathetic looks that accompanied everyone else who visited him that day.

"Yeah…" Arian replied weakly through bleary eyes. He'd had another nap. "I caught that vomiting bug that's been going around…"

"A vomiting bug? So that's what it is," Lillian murmured. "...Poor Arian. You look like you caught it bad…"

"Could be worse," Axel said. "Remember when we were kids and caught desert fever?"

"Oh, don't remind me," the Sandslash replied. "I still have shivers remembering that…Our parents genuinely thought we were all going to die."

"...Well, ya can die from it," Ishmael pointed out. "But Arry'll be fine. Just an ol' bug, is all. Ain't nothin' like what us lot got."

"I suppose I can count myself lucky there…" Arian said.

However, he wasn't feeling so lucky next minute, when he felt his belly gurgle and lurch. Instinctively, his paw went to his mouth.

"Urp!" He knew what this meant. "Gonna puke!" He leaned over to where his basin was, gave a heavy cough, before he threw up for what felt like the umpteenth time that day. He'd lost count of how many times Raya had to clean out that basin.

"...There, mate." Ishmael lightly smacked his back as he coughed up the last of the vomit. "Crikey, ya got the bad end of it, didn't ya?"

"...Guess I did…" Arian muttered, as he hacked up some more coughs. He was feeling tired again, and lay back against the covers.

"...We'll let you sleep," Lillian said to him. "Get well soon, Arian."

"Yeah…Ya'll be back in action in no time!" Ishmael encouraged.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine, Arian," Axel said, attempting to match the Krokorok's enthusiasm.

"Thanks, guys…" the Riolu murmured, as he felt himself slip into the land of dreams again.

"...Ugh…That's yucky," complained Arian. He had been given medicine made by Raya to help him with his symptoms.

"It'll help," was Raya's response. "Besides, Elvira went to collect the materials of this medicine to help you through this. The least you could do is take it."

"...You collected them?" Arian turned his head to his partner, who was in the room. "Thanks a bunch, Elvira…"

"It's no problem," the Treecko replied. "The Mystery Dungeon I was in with Lex and Isaac today had plenty of heal seeds and specialised herbs. So I picked some to give back to Raya."

"That's clever thinking of you, Elvira. Anything to help Arian back onto his feet." Arian knew that voice. It was Guildmaster Melchior standing in the doorway. "Pardon me, Raya. May I come in?"

"You may," permitted the Audino nurse.

"...How do you feel, Arian?" he asked. "Are you any better than this morning?"

"...Honestly? Not much better," rasped Arian. "But…at least you've all visited me today. Thanks for all of that…"

"Not at all. …And even those that haven't visited you today still have you in their thoughts," Melchior informed. "For instance…Aldebrand sends you this."

He produced a bowl of soup and a spoon, and placed on Arian's bedside table.

"Soup?" The Riolu leaned over and sniffed it. "It smells delicious…"

"It's great to have when you have an illness like this," the Swampert told him.

"...Mmmm mmm mmm." Arian took the spoon and sipped some of it. It felt like heaven, given his current state. "This is delicious! …Tell Aldebrand I said thanks."

"I will. …Get better soon, Arian," Melchior wished. "Know that the rest of the Guild wishes you well, too."

"...Thanks to everyone, then," Arian revised. "And once I'm all better…then I can repay them."

Notes

This came from a writing prompt on r/MysteryDungeon entitled 'Sickness'.