Survival Of the Fittest (Hawkeye Fanfiction)

Chapter 23: In Sickness and In Health (Hawkeye)

Fulvus growled but it came out more of a strained cough of a wheeze. He was training with Clint, or at least he was trying to train with Clint. Clint seemed to be doing a lot better but Fulvus felt worse. Clint hit in the center, not his usual center but still in the center. He was still feeling the wears of the flu that he had.

It seemed like half of the organization had some type of sickness. Fulvus tensed as Clint came over to him with his bow and arrows in hand. "Are you ready of have you not stretched yet?"

Stretching would do absolutely nothing for Fulvus. It would just make him feel worse. "I'm good," he rasped as he lowered down and tried to spread his sweaty feathers. However, they just stuck to him and made him feel like he was carrying a hundred pounds. However, he wasn't about to complain. That was just something that he didn't do.

Clint leaped on and more weight surged through Fulvus, nearly making him fall. He wasn't sure how flying would do but he wasn't one to back down from a challenge, especially one like this. He took a few challenging steps before he spread his wings and took to the air. A breeze blew on his face and he looked away. Usually it didn't bother him but with his raging fever it made him shiver more than usual.

"Are you okay," asked Clint with a slight cough as he lowered his head and scratched Fulvus's neck, trying to perk him up a bit.

Fulvus gave his head a firm shake to try and snap himself out of it. He flew sideways and Clint shot and arrow and it hit right on target. Fulvus tried a complicated bank turn with a spiral but the motion made him more nauseous than usual. He swallowed what might be rising in him before he made a sharp turn with Clint firing another arrow. This one missed but it was a move that Fulvus hadn't done before so that was what Fulvus was going with.

Fulvus suddenly let out the huff-squawk-sneeze that made his whole body shake. He kept shaking his head but five more sneezes pierced the air. By the end of it he was coughing, struggling to stay in the air since his body felt like it was just a pound of bricks.

"Bless you," exclaimed Clint as he looked down at Fulvus.

Fulvus coughed again, pain in his voice as he began to speak. "Thank you. Sorry, I would have warned you but I didn't feel that one coming," he explained as he sniffed heavily.

"Why don't we take a break," suggested Clint and Fulvus didn't need to be asked again. He lowered down and allowed Clint to step off of him. He almost collapsed as his head turned as he coughed again. "Fulvus, I don't think that you should be training."

Fulvus opened his mouth to answer but all that came out was that weird sounding sneeze that Fulvus had learned to hate. "Excuse me."

Clint kneeled down as Fulvus sat. "Bless you again. Fulvus I don't think that you feel up for this and I can see it. I can train on my own today. Why don't you get some rest."

Fulvus hated to be out of action, but he couldn't argue. "O-Okay," he stammered as snot began to travel down his face. He snuffed and pushed his head away from Clint. "Don't do anything fun without me."

"I won't," vowed Clint as he gave Fulvus a gentle nudge on the shoulder. "Just be ready for tomorrow."

Fulvus gave a flick of his tail tip, saying that he would be ready and willing. He coughed heavily before he pushed out the door.and the light began to give his eyes a massive headache. "Go away," he growled to the lights but he realized how stupid that sounded so he shook his head.

"Fulvus!"

Fulvus turned his head and saw Todd with Crest positioned on his shoulders. Crest seemed to be asleep but Todd was fully awake and he darted over to Fulvus. He was about to rear on his hind legs to touch noses in greeting but when he saw Fulvus he took a step back. "You sick?"