✮ Her head wished she had went on thinking he was an infuriating, overly-confident, horribly handsome asshole, that hated her people and always put himself first. Her heart knew he wasn't any of those things. He was a celestial; a man plucked from t...
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"Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another."
―Homer, Iliad
Day 58
It wasn't for another three days that Astoria finally worked up the courage to pull the files from under her mattress and start towards the medical ward. Her hand shook slightly at her side, and she had a horrible headache, but she knew she was doing the right thing. She owed it to the people around her—to Bellamy, and Oran, and Raven, and everyone else—to try and fight back against her sickness. She owed it to herself to fight for her life.
Abby wasn't there when she entered, and the room was filled with a few sky people that still hadn't been cleared after the mountain. Astoria sat on one of the beds and opened Isabelle's file, rubbing her fingers over the first page before she began to slowly read. She had gotten better in the recent days, but it still took her time to sound out certain words.
Isabelle was diagnosed with radiorum mors at age nine, but it didn't start effecting her quality of life until she was eleven. First came the fatigue. No matter how much she rested, she never found herself fully awake. She would sleep more often at the beginning, and in her last month she spent entire days in bed. The nose bleeds were next, harmless and painless but rather annoying as the file stated. Then the aches; in her bones and head, and at the end even her teeth. Soon she began to vomit blood and bile, and the substance stung her throat like acid.
Astoria didn't like the sound of any of it.
Eventually Abby arrived, and she titled her head at the sight of the grounder entranced in the papers in her hands. "Toria?" she asked, and the girl lifted her head. She couldn't bring herself to smile, and instead closed the folder in her hands and stood to her feet.
"Can we go someone private to talk?" she spoke quietly, fully aware of all the ears around. Abby nodded, and pulled her from the medical ward. They walked until they were in the Chancellor's office, and Astoria stood in silence as she tried to find the right words. What was the proper way to tell someone you were dying, and that you were placing your life into their hands?
Instead of speaking, she held out the folders for Abby to take. She did, and when she opened Astoria's she narrowed her eyes. "I don't understand," the doctor started, never having heard of radiorum mors before. It wasn't something they dealt with on the Ark.
"I'm sick," Astoria explained, and the woman looked up to meet her eyes. She was shocked, and Astoria quickly continued before she could earn any pity. "And if we don't figure something out, I'm gonna die."
Abby shook her head, "Sweetheart, I've... I've never even heard of any of this."
The grounder took a deep breath, and moved forward to switch Abby's attention to Isabelle's file. "Then you better read up," she suggested, and the doctor started to read the new information. "I don't wanna die," she swallowed the spit in her mouth, finally admitting the fear that had been eating away at her for weeks. "And I don't wanna put my life into your hands, because... that's not fair to you, but..." she took a moment to collect herself. "You can page me once you've gone through them both, and... we can see if you have any ideas."
