The time of the plague

Chapter six

In the meantime, Julian was desperately flicking through a plethora of medical books- trying to find some sort of remedy he could produce to cure Vanessa's poisoning. In only a space of a few minutes in finding out the news, Julian was visibly becoming manic; his hair (that was usually so carefully draped) was ferociously ruffled and his eyes had become sore from the never ending scanning of useless facts and constant tears of regret. However, as he encountered a random page in some sort of document, the lines illuminated towards the doctor's tiresome eyes: 'to cure poisoning of a patient, get them to ingest a clinical mix of activated charcoal antidote...". Momentarily, Julian felt a flutter of hope as he eagerly read on: 'however this cannot be the case if your patient is of another species, battling symptoms of a plague and has been infected with a black bottled poison. Only a small dosage from these types can destroy the immune system and weaken the patient to the point of no return...' A ringing silence engulfed the room as his only hope had diminished before him. Tears trickling down his cheek, his heart felt helpless as his legs completely gave out- causing him to kneel on the cold, hard floor... utterly heartbroken. The words 'the point of no return' became engraved in his brain as he buried his head in his hands with agonising despair.

Shrieking weakly, he bawled "It's all my fault! It's all because of me that she's in this mess!" Unable to hide what felt like an irreparable weight in his chest, he gasped for air as the overwhelming tears violently shook his body. Staring directly at the poisonous bottle that was still in his quivering hands, he trembled in anguish, "You! It was all you!" Dramatically ,he raised the bottle to his eye level as he continued to screech, "You've ruined everything! She has no way to survive this because of your fatal contamination! If only I'd contain my anger and been the proper doctor... you would never have found your way into my hands!". In a monstrous stupor of unstoppable rage and unbearable sorrow, Julian used all his might left in his exhausted body and threw the bottle towards a wall- leaving a deafening clattering sound while the venomous solution dispersed in the air.

Soon Portia arrived with multiple hot water bottles. She helped Tilde evenly distribute them over Vanessa ,hoping that helps to bring her body temperature back up.

After a while when Julian didn't come back, Tilde went to go find Nazali. Once Tilde found Nazali, she explained what was going on. 

"Okay, keep trying to bring her body temperature back up. Hopefully that might help her regain consciousness and about her inconsistent heartbeat, give her a sample of cocaine, that should help increase her heart rate. I'll go look for Julian" Nazali said before exiting the wing to find the doctor.

When they neared his lab, Nazali heard a shattering of glass. Once they heard the sound, they ran to Doctor Devorak's lab- unveiling a sobbing Julian crouched upon the lab's floor; numerous documents carelessly scattered around him in a mess. Perplexed and unable to comprehend the situation, Nazali rushed to his side.

"Julian what happened? What's wrong? What was the shattering sound I heard?" They asked, kneeling next to him with their hand on his shoulder.

"I'm a murderer. I'm so sorry Nazali, I've failed you and everything I promised I would do when you trained me to become a doctor. I let my emotions get the better of me and now I'm a murderer" Julian said staring straight ahead emotionlessly.

"Julian what did you do? Please just tell me because if you don't , I can't help you fix what happened" Nazali said softly and calmly.

"I poisoned Vanessa because I was angry at her for not following my instructions and getting the plague needlessly. But it wasn't her fault... she didn't deserve this." Julian explained as he tried not to break down and cry again.

"Hey Julian it's fine. There are antidotes for poisons. We just give her one of them, come on. Let's get to making it" Nazali said hurriedly, trying to get Julian to get up.

Julian let out a maniacal laugh when they suggested that. "You can't do that," he said between fits of laughter.

"Why not?" Nazali asked, confused.

"The usual activated charcoal mix won't work on her because she is a mermaid and she is dealing with the plague. Also ,I used one of the black bottled poison that doesn't have an antidote and just slowly kills the person who has been poisoned with it" Julian said as he eventually broke down into tears.

Speechless and helpless in battling Julian's point, the once fearless doctor and mentor of the greatest healer in Vesuvia, their violet eyes began to prick with tears of anguish as they sniffled, "It's okay, Julian. I guess things like this happen.... " Desperately trying to hold back their tears, they ultimately failed as Nazali turned their head away; releasing a cascading waterfall of teardrops.

Shocked by his first sight of seeing his mentor breakdown in front of him, whispered "Nazali, I'm sorry. I never meant this," meanwhile comforting them by patting their shoulder. However almost immediately, Nazali shrugged off Julian's touch coldly and rapidly wiped away their tears as they rose from the floor. Refusing to look at the remorseful Julian and attempting to contain their rising irritation for his unforgivable mistake, they responded monotonously "I need to check up on Vanessa". Rapidly, Nazali sprinted out the room.