God Eater: Shattered Dawn

Chapter 19: Disease

Dedicated to frozen_love_cousins, who is incredibly sweet and fun to talk to.

Also for helping me enjoy Barbie The princess and the Popstar. I still prefer Princess and the Pauper though.

Lupa's POV

However annoying it was to be off work ill, no one was particularly sympathetic.

I made a great number of escape attempts, none of which were successful, to my misery. Lindow seemed to find the whole situation hilarious, whilst Sakuya was worried for my health.

Soma? Well, he only started to come after he was dragged along by Licca, who came visiting. Apparently he was stood outside in the hallway, having a stare out with the door. I wasn't sure what to make of that, somehow.

Whilst it was boring, I guess staying in bed had its perks. I woke up on the first day off to find a beautiful rose in a vase, the petals just beginning to open out. I never found out who it was from, but my heart was touched, all the same.

I had plenty of time to read as well, taking books from Sakuya each time she visited. I was fascinated by Earths history, immersing myself in the different ages.

When Soma did finally visit, he brought me my ipod and a charger, so some of my boredom was lifted. We spent a while talking about music, and he told me he'd added a new album onto my ipod. After he'd gone, I spent the evening listening to my album, in a complete bliss.

When I was finally given the good to go, I rushed up to Hibari, demanding to know if there were any missions to take.

"Erm, Lupa, it's 11pm. There aren't any missions at this time of night," she had her hands raised in defence. "In fact, I was just leaving."

"Oh right. Sorry about that..." I apologised sheepishly, and I hurried to my room before I could make a further fool of myself.

Soma must have been awake again, because there was a soft knock on the door. I greeted him sweetly, making him a cup of tea before sitting at the table.

He drank in silence, then halfway through his drink, pulled a face. "This is awful." he complained, swilling the contents.

"Well, I don't drink tea, so I wasn't really sure how to make it..." my heart sank, and I stared into my hot chocolate, feeling depressed.

He dissapeared into the kitchen and came back with another cup of tea, brewed to his taste. I continued to wallow in despair for a while longer, even more depressed that Soma could make good cups of tea.

Once he had finished his cup, he sighed out in satisfaction before placing it on the table. I was melting into the chocolaty liquid, meeelting.

"You ever going to drink that?" he asked. Before I could answer, he had reached across the table, and was bringing a spoonful of hot chocolate to his mouth.

"Hm. Not as bad as the tea." he decided. I perked up immediately, but outside kept my cool. After all, I needed to keep up ma street cred.

"Actually, I am drinking this, in answer to your question." I huffed, drawing the mug back towards me and taking a sip. Mmmm...

He smirked, obviously enjoying teasing me. It felt good to be able to smile again, to laugh over little things without a care in the world.

Jack's POV

I lay in the corner of a building, shaking. The pain was unbelievable, a burning, searing agony that seemed to be flooding through my veins.

Wildly, I tore at my paw with my teeth, I needed to get this thing off me now.

I was aware that it was a pointless fight, that the disease was spreading through me at this very second, a fever clouding my judgement, turning me animal.

I whimpered. Pain pulsing. Mind scattering. Sanity fading. Her face.

Then nothing.

Lupa's POV

I screamed again, my eyes flying wide open. "Lupa!" Soma cried. I gasped for air, kicking at the shadows crawling over me, clawing at my throat for air.

"Calm down!" he wrapped his arms around me, pinning my arms to my sides. The darkness crawled away, but the dream remained. I stopped struggling and burst into tears.

He held me awkwardly for a while, letting me cry on his shoulder. "It was about Jack, wasn't it." he stated.

"Mmhm." I retold the dream to him, my tears slowly stopping. I felt so safe in his arms, he anchored me to the real world.

I squinted around me. "How long was I asleep?"

"Minutes. You just suddenly slumped over, and wouldn't get up. Then you started panicking again." I didn't remember falling asleep at all.

It wasn't a dream. I was Jack in the vision. His spirit was calling out to me.

He stood up and offered me a hand. I took it gratefully and let him pull me over to a sofa. I was beginning to feel embarrassed. First time he sees me out of hospital and I had to go and collapse. *sarcastic claps*

We talked a little, but I was only really aware of the darkness seeping through every corner of the room, waiting for another chance to strike.

Then my eyelids began to droop again, missing out on sleep was taking its toll. He remained silent as I curled up, unable to find it in myself to move off the couch.

Just before sleep carried me off in its arms, I felt the soft warmth of a blanket being placed over me and heard Soma say goodnight before he left.

Soma's POV

I closed the door behind me, careful to make no noise, before turning to return to my room.

"Well hello there Soma, did not expect to see you here." Lindow was stood, arms folded and a puzzled expression on his face.

I made a move to go past him, but was blocked by an arm. "Nu-uh." he tutted, taking me firmly by the shoulder. "You and I are going to be having a little talk."

I struggled pointlessly for a while, then gave up, letting him drag me to the deserted entrance. There he finally let go and gave me a triumphant look.

"Now Soma, she's only just gotten out of hospital, I would have hoped you would hold back a bit on your girlfriend, at least until she'd had a rest." My mouth dropped open. What. The. Hell.

"You heard me right." he was enjoying this way too much. Then his face became more serious. "Look, I know you really like Lupa, but-"

"She isn't my...we aren't...you and your sick mind! She's just a friend!" I stammered, repulsed at the thoughts that Lindow was suggesting.

Lindow gave a tired sigh. "Actually, with the way you keep visiting her, people don't know what to think. It's not helping your reputation."

He jabbed a thumb at the notice board, indicating the few rumours that always popped up.

"Just be more careful, okay?" he added. When Lindow wasn't being an idiot, he was like a big brother to me, advising me and watching my back. An annoying brother, but a brother nonetheless.

I pondered this as I went to my room, putting on my headphones. I smirked as I remembered when Lupa finally explained who her 'close friend' was, namely not a boyfriend. That made a wierd sense of satisfaction fill me.

If a disease was spreading through Jacks body, something was invading my brain. Why else would I be thinking these thoughts?