"Torn Between Worlds"- A Markiplier and Jacksepticeye AU

Illness

*Y/N's POV*

Ethan had to spend the night because he had spent so much time talking with me and Jack. He included Mark, too, of course, but they had known each other almost as long as they've been alive- he was excited about his new friends. He always knew what he wanted to ask next; he didn't pause to think of his next question, or stutter because he got his words mixed up. It was almost unnerving how seamless he was. But we accepted the water angel into our lives and appreciated his light and his little quirks.

The next morning started out normally. We all got up at our own different times, with Ethan being up first, of course. He had gone to the store and got hot chocolate for us. I woke up second. When I sat down at the table, Ethan "good morning" 'd me.

"Morning!" Ethan smiled. He made a movement with his hand, and water floated out of his hair, changing a majority of its color from bright blue to a rich brown. I looked at it in awe.

"I know, right? Some people wish they had other abilities, but I'm perfectly satisfied with mine."

"That's good."

"Having a Water Core ability is really helpful, actually. I can take water from anywhere, no matter how dirty it is. I can only take pure water, not any of the dirt or stuff in it, so it'll always be clean." He was focusing on controlling the water in small movements as he was speaking.

"Oh, that's helpful!" He nodded in agreement.

"Look at this:" He brought the water closer to his hand and focused closer in on it. After a few seconds, it started bubbling and steaming. He finally controlled it into my cup, and the hot chocolate was done without me even having to stir it.

"I can boil and freeze it. Also really helpful." I smiled at him.

"It's amazing. I swear, I could live a thousand lifetimes in this world and it would never cease to amaze me."

"Me, too."

Me and Ethan sat down and talked for a bit before Jack shuffled out of his room rubbing his eyes.

"Hey Jack." I said

"Morning!" Ethan so joyfully piped.

"'Mornin'" Suddenly he brought his head up and took a deep breath in through the nose. "Oh, is that... chocolate?" Ethan and I nodded, and Ethan motioned to Jack's already-made cup, and Jack eagerly sat down with us.

I started to get concerned at how long it was taking Mark to join us. I was about to ask Ethan to maybe knock on his door and check on him, but then he finally came out. He looked tired and beat, as if he had a 2-hour gym session in the middle of the night.

"Woah, hey there, Mark. What's up with you?" Ethan asked.

"Hey. Just a stomach bug, it'll pass."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I sympathized.

"It's.. it's fine." He sounded out of breath. Jack looked like he wanted to double-check with him, but he stayed silent.

"Join us?" Ethan reminded him. Mark lazily nodded and came over. As Ethan was making Mark his drink, we started to notice his heavy breathing. I could tell he was trying to hide it, but he was doing a poor job at it.

"You sure you're fine, Mark?" Jack decided to pop the question. Mark licked his lips and spoke through a deep sigh.

"Yeah'p." He looked down at the table to avoid our curious glances. It was then that I noticed something trickling down my forehead. I wiped it with the back of my hand. "Sweat?" I looked over to Jack, and his forehead had started to glisten, too. Then I noticed the room was actually heating up a small bit, and I looked over to Mark again. He had rested his head in his left hand and was leaning on the table with his eyes closed, as if in discomfort.

"Mark?" I asked quietly, as to not disturb him. His expression looses a little, but he didn't respond.

Ethan looked over, and his eyes widened, along with his mouth opening slightly. He lowered his arms, stopping what he was doing, as if he was preparing for a jump scare in a game. Finally, Mark's face lost all expression, and he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

"Mark!" Me and Jack cried out in unison. We stood up, about to rush to his side, but Ethan held his hand between us.

"Wait." He knelt down and, using his free hand, he used the last amount of water left in his hair and put it over Mark's forehead. It started violently sizzling instantly, but Ethan didn't look the least bit surprised.

"Oh, not that again." Ethan murmured. "Hold on- don't touch him, by the way. I've got this..." Me and Jack stepped back as Ethan picked up Mark bridal-style and walked over and set him on the couch. It cooled down a few degrees now that Mark was farther away. "The human body is composed of 70% water... not too hard to cool it down a touch to carry over 120° of fire-hot muscle..." He said aloud to himself, sighed, then looked to us. "Seriously, we measured it the first time- it was over a hundred degrees, no joke."

"What is this, Ethan?" Jack motioned to Mark and asked before I had the chance to say anything.

"This..." he sighed and stepped away from the unconscious burning body to face us. "Is one sick Mark, first of all." He stated sarcastically. "I remember that's first time he got like this, but this time looks much more severe. He was only a child the first time- easy to manage, and not this hot." He wiped the thin layer of sweat off of his forehead. "It was not too long after he first started living with me. It was because he was staying up late and not getting much sleep because of his parents' deaths, of course. Well, it was a multitude of things, actually: lack of sleep, hydration, food, sunlight-he was a mess. Wouldn't leave the house at first, didn't eat or drink much... can't help but feel sorry for him." Me and Jack nodded in agreement. "I don't know what it is, to be honest with you. All I know is that it's worse than a fever. Normally it'd be alright, but he's got the Fire Core ability... so, of course, you can imagine what happens because of that." We nodded.

"How do you think this'll last?" I asked.

"It wasn't too long the first time, actually. He was able to get out of bed the next day, and he was perfectly fine the second morning. But it was nowhere near this severe last time. He didn't fall to the ground or anything... I'm more worried this time around." Our gazes fell to Mark, whose brow was furrowed from the heat and discomfort. Ethan shook his head.

"Things were different this time: his house-sorry, your house, Jack-literally exploded-you really need to fill me in on that later, by the way-he never gets the average amount of sleep for someone his age, and he's just done mirroring, I almost forgot. Takes a lot of energy to do that one. A lot of energy that, apparently, he didn't have..." He paused to look at Mark pitifully. "So, to answer your question... I have no idea."

"What do we do in the meantime, then?" Jack asked.

"The usual stuff: lots of water, electrolytes... and hope for the best." We shrugged.