Chapter XI
Shattered
Chapter XI
They broke up the group hug. Alex looked at them thankfully. "You guys are amazing." He said smiling.
"We know!" Fay said brightly.
"Obviously." He chuckled. "Thank you for the support, but I'm tired and would like to rest. They nodded understandingly and he opened the door and let them leave. He began to feel an itching in his throat.
As soon as the door close he began to hack violently. Alex tripped backwards onto the bed and landed with a soft thump. He put a hand to his mouth, still coughing, and felt a warm wet splatter on his palm. He removed his hand and looked, their was a worrying amount of blood coating it and slowly running down his forearm. He rushed to the bathroom and cleaned up. The water he used to scrub his arm slowly turned a disturbing shade of pink. His lungs felt like they were on fire and full of holes. He was wheezing as he looked at his pale reflection in the wall mirror.
The sickness was turning aggressive.
He cleaned himself up and crawled into the bed. It seemed that it was accelerating. Maybe, he would get a few good years before he died, he though as he drifted of into restless slumber.
Krystal and the others had left his room and helped Lupa to settle in. She and her sister got one of the extra rooms on the crew deck. They assisted her with making it a little more homely. Krystal donated a vase of flowers, Miyu gave her a poster of an Arwing, and Fay had given her one of the pictures she painted of a garden. Lupa thanked them all profusely and was quick to get Penelope a bed as well.
With that done they all went to the kitchenette and began to make a meal, they had noticed that Alex had not eaten since before his... Sojourn to the facility, where he had his almost fatal injury. This sparked the memory that he was in fact dying, albeit slowly, and dampened their spirits. Still they persevered and created a dish from Krystal's homeworld. Something called Paclac, it had some strange purple noodles and blue sauce.
With Krystal's instructions they were able to make it successfully. Miyu tasted and found that it was not half bad. "Where did you get the ingredients?" She asked.
"Well I found similar ones at a market on Corneria."
Fay tasted it too. "Wow it's really good!"
Krystal looked bashful. "It can't be that good."
Lupa gave it a try. "she right, it's amazing!"
Penelope wanting in on the action grabbed the spoon from her sister and struggled to reach into the pot, made difficult due to the fact that she was short. "A little help here!" She grumbled indignantly.
With a laugh Fay snatched her up and leaned her over the pot of Paclac. Penelope dunked the spoon in and got to finally taste it. Her young muzzles opened in delight. "It's awesome!" She squeaked.
Krystal grinned happily. They actually liked it. Now she just had to get Alex to try it. "I'll be back, I'm gonna go wake up Alex, I'm sure he won't mind if its some food. The other girls stayed behind taking small nibbles from the pot of exotic food.
Quickly, in fear of the food vanishing down the maws and gullets of the voracious women Krystal headed for Alex's room. As she got closer she heard something distressing. Her sensitive vulpine ears could here a terrible coughing noise through the door of the room. It sounded as if he was drowning and being chocked at the same time. Concerned she banged on his door. "Are you alright?" She asked loudly.
The coughing ceased. After a moment a hoarse voice responded. "I'm fine, just...uh had some something go down the wrong tube." It didn't sound very convincing.
"I'm coming in!" Krystal said firmly and opened the door.
"No don't!" He croaked.
She did anyways.
Ales was leaning over in the bed, he was in a tank top and she could see his skin glistening with sweat. Most alarming was the pool of blood in his lap. "Alex!" She exclaimed in terror and rushed over to his bedside.
"I'm Alright." He said woozily, blood dripping down his chin. "Just a little cough.
"A little?" She said tearfully. He was not looking good.
"Yeah a little. Don't worry I'll be fine. He got up, with her help, and wrapped up the sheets trapping the blood between the white folds. "I'll clean this up." His hands were shaking.
She grabbed his quivering hands and steadied them, they were ice cold. "Here let me help." She said softly. She helped him get the sheets and out it all into a ball. "Go get cleaned up."
He nodded tiredly and went into the bathroom. Once he was out of sight she let her calm exterior go. She collapsed onto the barren bed weakly. It was worse then she thought, but why? From what he said it should take a long time to reach that level.
"Krystal?" She looked up to see him standing in the bathrooms doorway. He looked much better. He had cleaned the blood off and dried the sweat. He almost appeared as of nothing had happened.
"Yeah?"
"You okay?"
She scoffed ruefully. He was more concerned about her then himself. "Yes."
"Good." He mumbled. "Uh, can you keep this between us?"
"I don't know."
"Alright, just don't let Penelope find out. I don't want her to get upset." Alex said.
There he went again. Always about others. "I won't tell her."
"Good, good. So....what did you need?"
"I was just coming to tell you that I made some food."
"That sounds wonderful." He walked over to her and helped her to her feet. Halfway up she pulled him into a bear hug. She sniffled and buried her muzzle into his chest.
"Shh...it's going to be alright." He soothed and stroked her back. For a moment she realized how absurd it was for the sick man to comfort the healthy vixen. But she threw that thought away and dug deeper. For ten minutes she held onto him, as if, at any second, he would disappear.
He gently lifted her furry chin with his thumb and forefinger and brought it up to his. "How about we go get some grub?" He said with a twinkle in his eye.
Jade to burnished gold.
She couldn't help it she brought her muzzle to his lips and kissed him. Their mismatched mouths having no problem with it. Eventually she pulled away reluctantly, breathless. He was smiling broadly. "Feel better?" He asked amused.
"Much." She said with a grin.
"Excellent, Now! Let's go get some food." He exclaimed jovially. She wrapped an arm around his broad shoulders and scooted up to his side and snuggled into it as they walked. He moved his hand around her waist and kept her close.
She thought of the kiss, it was amazing! She felt jolts of electricity when their lips had met. Her fuzzy lips still tingled. She looked up to the humans face as they walked. He was focused on the path in front of them, but he was still smiling faintly. She noticed that he had distracted her from his plight. And in some way she was thankful. His strength supported her.
That was unexpected.
He had brought her face up to cheer her up. And then she had kissed him. It was truly something else, he had never really had any female contact in that way. He was to busy fighting to truly get a chance. But back there had shown him what he was missing out on.
As they walked down the hallway he thought about her. She was certainly beautiful, in an exotic way. She was warm and fuzzy, and if felt great whenever she hugged him. She was caring kind and thoughtful. In other words, the perfect girl for him. Who cared if she was covered in fur, it just made her that more snugable. That...was not a real word, but who gave a damn!
He was a little sad that he would probably not get a chance to expand upon the budding relationship between them. If this continued he would not last much longer. But by god he would make the best of it!
Soon they arrived at the kitchenette and walked in, arm in arm. They went to the table and she had him sit down. Then she walked of with a little sway in her steps, much to his bemusement. She really was great.
Miyu, Fay, and Lupa watched the prancing vixen as she headed for the cabinet and pulled out a couple of bowls. They saw her walk in with Alexander, hugging each other. Miyu was the first one to ask as soon as Krystal neared the pot. "What happened?"
Krystal checked for Penelope, she had beelined for Alex and was already happily talking with him animatedly. She looked back to Miyu and said excitedly, "we kissed!"
"No!" Fay said in surprise.
"Yes, it was absolutely wonderful!" Krystal had a dreamy look on her face.
"So he kissed you?" Lupa asked.
"Well...uh I kinda kissed him first." She said sheepishly.
"So you made the first move." Miyu confirmed.
"Yeah."
"What sparked it?"
Krystal frowned sadly. "He is getting worse."
"How so?" Fay asked worriedly.
"When I went to his room I hear a most horrible coughing sound, so I entered, and he was sweating terribly and there was a pool of blood in his lap."
Miyu Fay and Lupa gasped.
"What was wrong?" Lupa, the doctor, asked.
"He had a terrible coughing fit that left him considerably weakened."
"That doesn't sound good." Miyu muttered.
"Indeed it is not, he has a problem with his lungs. I might be able to stop it, or at least, slow it down." Lupa said hopefully.
"Let's wish you can." Krystal said and filled up the bowls with the Paclac. She walked back over to the table. They saw that Alex had gotten a hold of Penelope and was having a playfight in the chair. She was tickling him and he chuckling. Suddenly he had a small fit of coughing and brought a napkin to his mouth. After a while he removed it when Penelope was preoccupied with the arrival of the food.
It was stained red.
He looked at it and swiftly pocketed the evidence in hopes that no one else had seen. But they had, and it worried them.
After the tickle war and the hidden napkin Alex watched Krystal saunter over with two steaming bowls of....purple noodles covering in blues sauce. When she set one down in front of him he looked at her suspiciously.
"What....is this?"
"Paclac." She said simply.
"Pac....lac?"
"Yes."
He took a fork off the table and jabbed it, it jiggled. "Paclac?"
"Yes!" She shouted running out of patients.
"......huh." He slowly took a fork full and ate it. She looked at him expectantly. "Hmmm......." He stretched it until she couldn't take it anymore.
"So!"
Alex looked at her frazzled muzzle. "It's....outstanding." He said finally.
She let out an explosive breath. "You can be terrible sometimes.
"I know." He grinned.
After that Krystal set up the other places for everyone else. In no time at all everyone arrived. Krystal sat next to Alex who was beside Penelope.
The table was rectangular and long enough to seat the whole team. Falco, Fox, Slippy, and Miyu sat on one side, all the others on the opposite.
Without much ceremony they began the meal, with much gusto. "Damn Krystal, this is pretty good!" Falco exclaimed mid bite. They all hummed in agreement, except for Slippy, who was to busy inhaling it to contribute.
Falco then turned to Alexander. "So you good now?"
"Yeah, I've never been better!" He said with a smile. Of course, he was lying.
"Good to hear."
They all talked and laughed amongst themselves for the whole meal. Alex was thankful that he didn't have another fit, that would have killed the mood. In an effort to show everyone, even Krystal, that he was fine, he spun tales of his time as a squadron leader. He didn't really talk about any battles, he mostly talked about his friends and certain hijinks they had done.
They sat there talking for a long time. In fact he didn't even know what time it was. And he was surprised to learn that it was late. Just as things were going well he could feel the onset of another attack. He stood up abruptly.
"Sorry to cut the fun short, but I'm still a little tired." He explained to the curious team. He began to cough and covered his mouth with the napkin from his pocket, forgetting that it had already been stained by blood. "I will see you all in the morning." He said returning the napkin to his pocket, unaware that they had seen the blood. He quickly left the room. The women gazing at the door worriedly.
"Was that...." Peppy asked.
"Yes." Krystal said cutting him off. "Lupa why don't you get Penelope to bed, it's late."
Lupa nodded grimly and picked up the reluctant canine pup. "I don't want to go to bed!" She said tiredly, but falling asleep soon after.
"Okay, what's going on?" Fox demanded, worried for his teammate.
Alexander had barely made it to his room before he was wracked with sickening coughs and shutters. He stumbled around until he found his bed. It was the worst attack yet. He was seizing and his diaphragm locked up as he coughed almost nonstop. He was weakened and could barely stop himself from falling of the bed.
He laid in the dark of his room and struggled to breath. After awhile he felt the warm comforting furry arms of Krystal as she got in the bed and wrapped him completely in an embrace. Tail as a blanket and head on his shoulders. She did her best to sooth him and whispered to him. "It's going to be okay." Over and over again until he stopped shaking and coughing.
It was a long night.