Mizerach Castle

Disease and Family Loss

"What?!" Qui exclaimed, causing the doctor to back away in surprise. 
"I..I'm sorry, I've been trying to cure it, I-"
"What is it actually?" She asked, calming down. Or trying to.
"The sickness?" She nodded. "It's where a certain organ in the stomach-chest area, like the large intestine, becomes really swollen. It varies between people, but in almost all patients they die in the end from either the inflated organ exploding, become pierced by the ribs, or...."
"Or?"
"Or if they digest themselves, which happened to your sister, Whisper. She...she digested her gallbladder, somehow and...and...and..." Whisper nodded simply, looking down. "I'm so sorry! We tried to save her, but-"
"Don't worry, Dr Nora. I know you did your best." He was quiet when he spoke.
"It...it would probably be best if you two left." They nodded and sat in the courtroom about five feet away from each other.
"Feeling better?"
"Fine." He wore a bigger shirt and larger pants, but otherwise he looked the same. He still wore the dark grey tie, the black suit shirt with coattails, the black undershirt, and that mask. She unruffled her skirt and fixed her top.
"You don't look ok."
"I'm fine!" He snapped, standing up. She stood up as well, not realizing that he stood for Dr Nola.
"Hello, Dr Nola." She wouldn't meet their eyes. "What's wrong?" Qui asked.
"Nothing."
"Then why...? Are you here...?"
"I was thinking about a cure, and how you have magic, Whisper..."
"What can I do to help?"
"I'm not sure what you can physically do, but I've heard from the king that he used to have tunnels under the castle that are magical. They could help?"
"We can go look?" Whisper said, pointing towards the door that Nora came from.
"I...ok." She looked down and wiped a tear from her eye.
"What's wrong?" Qui asked, putting a hand under her chin and lifting her head gently. The doctor had tears pouring from her eyes.
"My daughter......Sara...died of enlarged heart failure....my husband, Richard.....died of a heart attack from the sickness that I failed to stop....Arthkika had a heart attack, but she's alive and fine....my nephew, Johnathan, died of accidentally setting his brain on fire with the sickness...." She started bawling and Qui hugged the weeping scientist.
"Shh....it'll be ok." Whisper watched from a distance, deep in thought.  They soon stopped hugging. "We will go find the cure in the magical tunnel thingy and make sure no one else dies."
"Th...thank you for trying." Whisper vanished when she turned to look at him. What?
"Hey! Where'd he go?" He returned a few minutes later.
"So I checked the passageway and it had collapsed with not much room to get in, maybe bug sized." Dr Nola let out a screaming wail and ran off. Qui gave him a look.
"What?"
"Haven't you learned to apply the knowledge slowly, and be gentle? It's like stroking a woman: carefully!"
"You and I stroke our women differently."
"That's not the point! You just broke all of her dreams!"
"Well, sor-ree, I guess I'll just stop being honest!" 
"Don't be blunt! Haven't you learned people skills?"
"No! You don't learn people skills as a tortured sla-" He cut himself off and looked away, crossing his arms and blushing a pale purple lightly. His cheeks had the only color on his whole body. He cleared his throat.
"Well, we can at least try again to get down in the tunnel." They nodded and headed for it. Whisper pointed to the entrance, which was filled with stones and boards.
"Let's start moving it!"
"Ok."
"Imma grab my violin."
"How's that gonna help?" She went to her room and returned with the fiddle and bow strapped to her back. He had moved all of the boards, allowing a small figure to fit in the gap.
"Ok. So. Now....?"
"Those rocks are unmovable. Way too heavy."
"Who's gonna fit in that?" The gap could fit a halfling, a small person perhaps...
Or that small gremlin thingy standing next to her in the suit. 
She looked at him. He rose his hands in surrender, backing away a little bit.
"Nonono." He shook his head and waved his gloved hands. "I will not-" She picked him up. He was, surprisingly, very light. Since he was only about five feet tall, he could fit! "NononONONO-"
He fell on the other side with a groan.
"Gimme a good reason to help you over."
"Uh....because?" He sighed and looked down. He snapped his fingers and she appeared beside him.
"Woah, what the shit?" They stood in the dark, the only light being from the hole.
"Teleportation."
"Why didn't you teleport the rocks or something?"
"Too much strain." He shrugged and snapped again, causing a small turquoise flame to come to his fingertips. "Now let's go before the others die."