The Broken Observatory - Party Crashers AU

Poisoned?

WARNING: Vomiting blood.
  
  
After resting for a bit, we got up and decided to go further. I figured that we shouldn't allow ourselves to rest for too long, unless it was for sleeping. The time was limited, we weren't supposed to just fuck around.

However though, I noticed after that weird berry I ate, I was starting to feel nauseous. It didn't bother me that much, thinking I just stimulated my stomach by eating that, but what I also noticed was how cranky and upset I was easily and quickly getting. It was hard for me to believe the reasoning is that berry, because that felt stupid to think that way in the first place, but not believing so would equal an extremely weird coincidence.

We walked forward for over 40 minutes, when I stopped and told the boys that I needed a second. Vernias, of course, asked if I was okay, which I obviously answered that I am and just need a moment to collect thoughts. Eevee and Vern nodded and I quickly walked into the forest, making sure they didn't see me in the distance.

I felt uncomfortable, as well as feeling some weird pain in my stomach. I walked around to get more fresh air, but each second I felt more nauseous, as I ended up vomiting. I would think it's because I didn't eat much before and the amount of berries made me throw up, but quickly forgot these thoughts as I noticed that I threw up literal blood.

My eyes widened at the amount of it on the ground, immediately felt weaker, probably because of what just happened. I was considering asking for help, but no. We had a mission to do, and I didn't want to slow anyone down. We had to save the observatory, and more importantly for me, help Brent. That was all that mattered.

I took a leaf from a tree and wiped my mouth a bit, hoping it will be good enough to not get questions from anyone. I came back and waved to them, smiling faintly.
  
  
"There you are, so can we keep going now?" - Eevee said.

"Yeah, let's go." - I answered, and was about to go further but Vernias stopped me. - "Huh?"

"Look at me, Nick." - Vernias said, frowning, as he used his wings and flew up so he leveled himself with my height.
  
  
I felt a bit distraught; I knew Vern has some weird instinct when it comes to someone's health. He then took out a glove out of his pocket and wore it on his hand, as he harshly and suddenly wiped the corner of my mouth with it.

He flew back down to stand and took a few steps back as he looked at his finger, while Eevee was just confused.
I was just feeling weird from the sudden action from Vernias.
  
  
"Dude, what the fuck?" - I shouted and wiped my mouth again. - "Why would you do that?!"

Vernias frowned more and looked at me with a serious face, as he turned his hand to show the glove and blood on it.
"Care to explain why you have blood coming out of your mouth?"

Eevee looked at the glove, then at me, frowning as well as he saw that.

I looked away, and thought of an excuse.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Vern." - I started, laughing a bit. - "When I was about to come back from the forest, I accidentally got into some branches from a low tree. Probably one of those got into my mouth and cut a bit inside. Nothing to be worried about."

I didn't feel like I sounded too convincing, but Vernias and Sophist seemed to believe me.

Vernias sighed.
"Okay... Do you want me to heal it a bit, though?"

"No, it's fine, don't worry about it." - I said with a slight smile.

Vern nodded.
"Oh, and sorry for rubbing your mouth like that, I just got a little worried." - he said, a bit embarrassed.

I laughed a bit.
"No problem."
 
Vernias nodded and we continued our way again.
  
  
  
Vernias' POV.
A tree branch? Hard to believe. I was sure Nick was lying, but I couldn't tell what was wrong, and I knew for a fact that no matter how many times I would ask, he'd always say that "he is fine".

I whispered to Sophist and he agreed with me about Nick's well-being. We walked behind Nick since he led the way and he seemed too focused on the path, which gave me and Eevee an easy opportunity to talk with each other.

I also noticed that he was often going to the side, saying he "needs a minute" or some other excuses, and came back with blood dripping off or just a bit dirty around his mouth. I was worried that something could have happened to him or he met some manipulators.

After about 2 hours of walking, when Nick once again said he needed a moment, I decided to talk with Eevee about it to see if he also noticed what I did.
 
 
I waited for Nick to disappear from our view and I began speaking.
"Eevee?"

"It's about Nick's behavior, isn't it?" - he crossed his arms.

I nodded.
"Is it just me, or does he "needs a moment" way too often?" - I said, frowning and worried. - "Not to mention that everytime he goes to the side, he comes back with blood around or in his mouth."

"I've noticed that too." - Eevee said, frowning as well. - "This bitch is hiding something serious and doesn't let us help him."

"Okay, don't be rude. I'm worried about him, Eevee." - I answered to that. - "He also seems a bit more upset and cranky too..."

"The emotions might still be from the separation with his brother, but I do agree that something is wrong." - Eevee admitted.

"Well, it MIGHT, but so many things overlap with each other that I doubt the emotions are only because of being worried about Brent." - I pointed out.

"You're not wrong there." - Eevee agreed with me. - "I'd pressure him, honestly. It sounds bad, but worse thing is him not letting us know what is wrong and not letting us help him."

I shook my head, disagreeing.
"It's pointless. He's stubborn, and I see it, pressure won't help." - I said. - "Maybe let's try to confront him about it when it gets really serious or we'll just see something happening?"

"Fine, down for that."
   
  
We stopped our conversation as we saw Nick coming back, rubbing his mouth. He announced that we're going, so we followed, without questioning him. We knew he'll say that he's fine, asking him about it was a waste of breath.