Believe Me

Thirty: Maybe Lollipop Can Be Their Tea

Believe Me

Ch 30: Maybe Lollipop Can Be Their Tea

Jerome's POV

"LOLLIPOP, LOLLIPOP, OHHH, LOLLI- LOLLI- LOLLI- LOLLIPOP!" I yell as we run down the street.

"DUH- DUM DUM DUM," Mitch finishes, skidding to a halt. He holds the mystical lollipop out in front of us. "Our searching efforts have not been in vain, my dear friend."

"For we have found a lollipop!" I exclaim. "'Tis a joyous day, indeed!"

"Shall we consume it, Biggums?"

"Indubitably, my valued Benja."

He frowns. "Wait. How shall we consume it? There are two of us!"

I smirk and wiggle my eyebrows, and his eyes go wide.

"Well..." My benja grows a devilish smirk of his own and steps closer to me, so close that I can feel his light breaths against my lips. "If you insist."

Sky's POV

I cannot blink.

If I blink, I will miss it when he opens his eyes for the first time since returning home to the city.

I cannot blink.

I blink.

Seto zaps into the room after hearing my long string of curses. "Sky?" He frowns. "Oh." The sorcerer walks over to me and crouches down to be at eye level. His frown deepens. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"Midnight," I yawn.

"Sky, that's- you've been here for twelve hours, are you serious!?"

"I wanna be the first person he sees when he wakes up?" I explain, shrugging tiredly. I have some apologizing to do.

"Well, don't worry, you'll certainly be notified when he does. Meanwhile," Seto says, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of my chair, "you should get some rest."

"Seto, no!" I protest, plopping back down. "You said he'd wake up today, so I'm waiting."

"Sky, I..." Seto bites his lip. "Truthfully, he should've woken up the day we got back. I gave him some extra time, just in case, but... Sky, I don't know what's wrong with him. He seems perfectly healthy, but he won't wake up."

"W-What?"

He shrugs helplessly.

"I- He- Then what-" I suck in a breath. "Seto, what if- what if he has the disease?"

Seto's eyes go wide. "Sky, you're a genius!" He darts over to Ty's bed, quickly pulling up a magic scan. "Hmm... Yes. Yes, he has the disease. Oh, why didn't I check this sooner?"

"The freaking idiot!" I rage, standing up and pacing back and forth across the room. "He had the cure in his possession, and he must have known he had the disease – he could have just taken a small bit for himself, but no! He just had to make sure I'd be okay! Notch, he's such a moron!" Seto zaps out of the room, and I continue my rant. "Total imbecile! All it would've taken is a single sip, and he'd have been one hundred percent fine! Why is he so selfless? I-I'm not important! I b-broke his heart," I gasp out, and when did I transition into sobbing? "I- I h-hurt him, s-so much, and I- I- H-How could I g-give him up? How could I choose a-anything over him?"

At some point, Seto has re-entered the room. "Listen," he says, "it's going to be okay. I don't know what you're on about, but Ty will forgive you for it as soon as he wakes up."

"N-No," I sniffle, "I don't think he will."

"He's your best friend," Seto says. "He's Ty. Have some faith."

"I'll try..."

"Seto, I can't find it," Brice says in confusion, peeking into the room. "Where'd you say you put it?"

"In the- Hmm. Uh, let me just summon it." Seto raises his hands, flicks his wrists. "Summone Antidotum." Nothing happens. "Er, maybe if I summon the potion bottle rather than the potion? It's a solid..." One more spell.

An empty potion bottle clatters to the floor.

"Where is it..?"

"I... Um... Is it..." Seto's eyes widen. "We used it all. I didn't make any more because we thought we had already vaccinated or cured everybody, I- we- the cure is gone."

I swallow hard. "W-What?"

"Can't you make a new cure with the disease inside of Ty?" Brice asks worriedly.

"If I could do that, I'd have done it before going on what was basically a suicide spell mission," Seto says. Brice frowns, opens his mouth, closes it again.

"I-I- He- What?" I ask. I'm not processing this correctly, I don't think- I can't- Ty can't-

"Maybe we could get a direct strain of the virus from the oven," Seto offers, and I shake my head slightly, locked in a daze.

"No," I say, "we blew the oven up."

"Uh, okay, it's fine!" Brice says hurriedly, quite clearly on the edge of panic. "We can, um, we can ask the citizens for cake! Maybe they still have some in their houses!"

"You might be on to something," Seto mutters. He raises his voice to give commands. "Call Jason and Merome, tell them to ask around. Meanwhile, Sky and I will set up the lab."

Silence.

"Go! Now!"

Brice scurries out of the room, and I finally let out the sob I didn't realize I was holding. "We haven't got the cure," I gasp out between sobs.

"Shh, but we're going to make more," Seto promises, putting his hands on my shoulders. "Ty will be okay."

Jason's POV

"Please, have you got any of that green cake left – the one we told you all not to eat anymore?" I ask, trying to keep my tone steady.

"No, sir, I'm sorry," the woman answers sadly. "I had my sons burn it when we found out." I let out a helpless sigh. Ty is a goner.

"But," says the lady, and my ears perk up. "Rodney, that nice man across the street? He and a few others donated their cake to the mental institution across town."

"The mental institution..?"

"Yes, they were asking for extra cake."

"Oh. I... Hmm. Thanks for your help, ma'am."

"You're welcome," she replies kindly before shutting the door.

I turn to face Merome. "What do you guys know about the asylum?"

Mitch tilts his head while he thinks, and Jerome answers immediately. "The mental Recruits are still being held there, I think, but I haven't heard anything about cake..."

"Oh! I think I remember seeing a poster advertising the asylum's need for cake!" Mitch pipes up. "It was in the Hunger Deans Lobby."

"Let's go see it!"

☼☼☼

"Got any cake? Well, don't eat it! It's dangerous! But we can use it for science if you donate it to us. We're on the north side of the town; you'll know us by the big 'Mental Asylum' sign. Thank you! ~Sincerely, the Mental Recruits."

"Are you kidding me?" I ask, entirely unamused.

"Wow," says Mitch.

"Why would anyone donate poisonous cake to the patients of a mental asylum?" Jerome asks.

"I have no clue," I reply, "but I have a feeling this is going to end very, very badly."