Enormity // Jalex

5. I never said I'd lie and wait forever

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"Alex I don't quite know how to put this but I don't think it's your wound that caused the sepsis, in fact, I don't think you have sepsis at all...I think you've been poisoned." Jack and Alex's eyes both blew wide at the revelation Zack had just made after taking another look at Alex.

The prince had been down with..well, whatever he had for a week now, which was the start of the inclination that he didn't in fact have a bacterial blood infection. Alex hadn't so much as been able to eat without assistance and any substance he did manage to get finally down, would soon be back up again as soon as half an hour later. He felt rotten and there was nothing he or Jack could do about it, or so Alex thought. Jack had been deliberating using magic on the prince for a while now. Just a little bit, just to ease the pain but he was sure to be caught wasn't he? Using magic on people had always been a risky thing because a simple slip of the mind or lack of full concentration and that person could be dead.

Alex lay back on his bed, trying not to throw up for the third time this hour. He was shocked Jack had managed to stay by his side while he practically spilled out his insides but then the thought that Jack might think he had to stay crossed his mind. Not once in the time Alex had been sick had he dismissed the boy from his side and Alex thought that maybe that why he was always here, he may not know he was allowed to leave. Alex didn't exactly want Jack to leave, he'd been his sole comfort this past week, the one thing stopping him from topping himself off due to sheer boredom but Alex knew it wasn't good for the boy to stay for such long hours. Twice Jack had even fallen asleep still clutching onto the prince's hand and only woken up when Alex stirred in his own sleep. Alex was about to voice his concern when Zack did it for him.

"Jack could I have a quick word please?"

Jack reluctantly left Alex's side, hand dragging out of his slowly and following Zack outside. Zack's forehead was creased in worry and Jack knew that was a bad sign as he closed the door as quietly as he could behind him. "Jack, Alex's condition is getting worse and I fear he won't make it through the night. I've diagnosed the problem and it seems someone has poisoned him with ricin and tried to make it look like sepsis." The words hung in the air because fuck, Alex was could die from this.

"But you can cure it right? You have a potion?"

"Jack, ricin has no cure if given in large quantities and it brings me no pleasure to say it but..I think we both know you're the only one who can do anything about it."

"You don't mean-" Zack cut him off with a swift movement of his hand.

"That's exactly what I mean." He whispered back. "Jack if you don't cure him, he's going to die and Glenfall won't have a king when Peter dies."

Jack stared incredulously at the man before him. Never in his wildest dreams would he ever have thought he'd be in this position where someone's life was wholly in his hands and nobody else's. He wasn't sure if he could do it. But what was the harm in trying If he was going to die anyway? If Zack was suggesting he use magic then it must have been pretty serious, he decided, because it was a well known fact to Jack that Zack was not a fan of the boys ability to move things with just a blink of an eye like no other and conjure up spells he'd never heard of from the back of his mind.

Jack's power was one of a kind. No one before and no body after would ever posses such a power and Jack felt the pressure. He was, to put it bluntly, afraid of what he could do. He'd always been so shielded, so protected from the truth but the moment Zack had found out who he was, the true revelations were made. Zack had once heard, long ago, that somebody would posses such a great knowledge and power but he never thought it to be true, an certainly not within his life time. The prophecy had read of a saviour to the kingdom and one who's destiny was of great importance.