Nico was still panicking. He didn't think anything Sella could say would calm him down. Nothing would until Bel was taking care of and on the mend. Not until the color returned to his cheeks and he saw that pretty little smile. Not until Bel stopped coughing up blood. How coukd he not know? Nico had put Bel through more than enough stressful situations. Why was this just now happening? Had he not been paying enough attention?
Nico let out a small "oof" as his puma made a jolting step. He did his best to stabilize Bel in his arms. He didn't want to cause any unnecessary pain to him. He tried to keep the worry off of his face as he looked down at Bel he didn't want him to think there was any reason to panick. But Nico wasn't very good at hiding his feelings. Not when it came to Bel.
Nico tucked him further into his chest as Bel began to cough. He didn't care if blood got all over his armor or clothes. It would wash out or it wouldn't. It didn't matter. Not when it cane to Bel. His health came above all else. "I know you are, love, but you can't go to sleep yet. You gotta hold on until we get to the palace."
"I'm sorry–" Bel starts, his words long and slurred. "I'm sorry Nico, I should've told you." I thought everything was going to be fine. I thought I'd have more time before it worsened. I thought I could get a healer to take care of it– Bel coughs again. His vision swims, his stomach drops. It's harder to breathe. He prays that if he passes out that he'll be able to wake up again. "And yes–yes, I want to marry you and–" he trails off as rocks shift behind him.
"Shit–" Sella cries because of course nothing goes right. Her puma snarls and pivots, facing the threat behind them. A long spear expends from her hand. "Manticore approaching. Nicandros!" She barks. "Take Bel to the palace! Find Loven, she'll be in the throne room and she can help you!" The Queen bares her teeth, her massive puma slowly prowling closer and closer to the watching monster on the peak.
Nico whirled his head around, watching as the manitcore appeared. He nodded his head at Queen Sella. "Be safe," he said to her before urging the puma forward. He could see the palace. He only needed to keep on the right track to get there.
Nico looked downnat Bel as he urged the puma fast. "And you, stop saying those things." Those were dying words and Nico refused to let Bel die. "You're going to be just find. You can tell em those things after you've let a doctor look at you, alright? So nothing you say counts until after that." He was crying now, silently. Those tears starting to fall down his cheeks but the wind whipping by dried them before they could ever get too far.
"Just thought I'd let you know," Bel whispers. "Just in case." Because Bel doesn't know if he'll be able to wake up of he falls asleep. "I can't breathe–" His hands are shaking and his skin is pale and slowly Bels vision is beginning to fade. Weakly, Bel squeezes Nico's hand before it goes limp. The last thing Bel sees before his vision gives is the spinding palace. It's half an hour away.
The puma, sensing the distress of his riders, begins to pick up his pace. Behind them, Sella grunts as the manticore lunges. She's quick to parry, quick to attack, quick to throw the beast from her. Their puma slides down a portion of the mountain, giving a confortavke distance between the men and the monster.
Nico inhaled sharply, looking down at Bel. "No, please, no. Stay with me." The tears fell harder now. He raised Bel's limp body uo, checking to see if he was breathing, if his heart was beating. He felt useless. He couldn't so anything. And even if he was a healer, nothing would work but a doctor. "Stay with me. I can't live without you." Nothing was worth living for without him.
"Come on, faster!" He yelled at the puma. He didn't care if the cat died from running so hard. As long as they made it to the palace. He didn't care who died as long as Bel got the help he needed. "Go!"
The cat snarls, continuing to slip and slide down the slope. His claws sink into the rubble, ensuring that they don't go tumbling down the cliffside. The manticore shrieks. The puma bounds, jumping a perilous section to a more secure bolder. Behind them, Sella whistles, a shrill and sickening sound. There's a cry; there are falcons. The falcons are larger than the puma, trilling and scrying as they dive at the manticore.
One of the falcons lands in front of the puma. As it lands, the earth tremors, the ground reshapes, the perilous mountain changes to a steady ramp. The falcon nods before taking to the sky again. There's three manticores. Sella uncovered a nest. She has a gash across her cheek but she's still standing. Arko the massive puma growls and circles the monsters. One bleeds heavily.
The second puma, the nameless one, sees the clear path and begins to sprint. The half hour decent has been reduced to a maximum of ten minutes. Bel needs every second he can have. His heart beats but it slows. His eyes droop. He's getting colder.
"Please, please, please. Gods, please let him live. Please," Nico begged to the heavens. He would do anything for him to lice. He would give up his crown, his soul, as long as it meant Bel would live. "He is better than I am. He needs to live. Please let him live."
This was the longest time kf his life. What was minutes felt like hours, like decades. But the palace came closer and closer and finally he was bursting through the gates and the puma came to a stop I the middle of the courtyard. People were swarming him and needed them all to back off. He needed to get Bel help. He was swinging off the saddle, Bel in his arms. "I need Loven! Take me to Loven! Now!"
The commotion spreads through the courtyard like wildfire. Mothers grab their children, merchants protect their stock, roaming guards grab their swords. One of the guards steps forward, looking at the unconscious man in Nico's arms. He knows those features. "Follow me," the guard says, turning his back and running to the palace gates.
The Blakian palace is beautiful, made of silver, stone and glass. Bel almost wished he could be conscious to see it, conscious to see the landscape with Nico, be conscious to spend at least a tender moment with his love.
The guard takes a right, a left, and goes straight though a massive set of steel doors. Lounging on a thone, her legs thrown over an arm, is a woman with pale skin and shoulder-length red hair. Her face is sharp and fox-like and confused as she looks up. "Who are you?"
Nico was almost running with Bel. The only reason he didn't was because he didn't know where he was going. He needed these guards to walk faster. To go faster. To do something! Because they were doing nothing. He was going to loose Bel and there qas nothing he could do to stop it. He coukd feel the rising panic in his chest.
He was brought to a woman sitting on the throne. He couldn't care less who it was. Not with Bel's life on the line. So he wasn't apologetic for his words, "I am Nicandros, king of the Lisais and the lover of Prince Belicoril. And if someone doesn't come help I will start putting my sword through chests until someone does."
"Relax, tiger," the woman says smoothly as she rises from the throne. She crosses the distance between them and takes a look at Bel. Instantly, she recognizes his features and condition. "Damn. Follow me." She turns and exits the grand hall, holding the door for the men before she begins to run down the hall. They have to descend a set of stairs and then they're in an open, airy room with cots lined against a wall. "Doctor!" She yells, pointing for Nico to set Bel down in one of the cots. "Doctor, it's bad Scarlet flare."
A person of medium height and heavier build looks up from their desk, glasses sliding low on their nose. "How severe?" They inquire, standing and rushing over to look at Bel's condition. "Near cardiac arrest–Yale, Eryn!" The doctor yells for their assistants. "I need the cures immediately."
The two assistants rummage through a cabinet, handing different vials and syringes to each other. The doctor carefully unravels the cloak from Bel's body, finding a scalpel to slice through his outer layer and shirt. The woman takes a step back as the assistants bring up the cures. Some are tipped down Bel's throat, others injected straight between his ribs. In his unconsciousness, Bel begins to seize and hack. Loven puts a hand on Nico's shoulder. "This has to be done. They have to get the blood from his lungs somehow."
Nico was ready to snap at her again. He would be treated like this. Not when Bel's life was at stake. But then she was descending the dais and she saw how truly terrible Bel was doing. Finally, someone was doinging something.
He ran after to her, right on her heels. The halls felt too long. They felt like a labyrinth and Nico was worried he wasn't going to make it. But finally they entered and he set Bel down on the nearest cot to him. He set him down but didn't release him. He didn't want to let him go. Not yet. Not if this was going to be his last moments with Bel.
But he was being pushed away. If he had any fight left in him he would have pushed back. But he had none. He could only watch in misery as they tore his shirt open. As they injected him and cut him open. As he began to seize, his hand came over his mouth to cover it. He was shuddering and crying and there wasn't anything he coukd do. Bel was dying and he could do nothing but watch it happen.
The doctors tilt Bel's head so he doesn't choke on his own blood. The blood quickly stains the crisp white pillow a sickly shade of red. He's wheezing, trying to take shuddering breaths through all the blockage in his lungs. The doctor swears under their breath. "There's too much buildup. The medicines won't do enough to eject it." They look to the woman with sad eyes.
"Then we need a mage, damn it," she responds, quickly countering the doctor's pessimism with her own unrelenting proactiveness. "We already know healers are useless for genetic conditions, but we can get an elemental one to help us, right?" Her green eyes narrow. "Draw the blood from his lungs with a little magic?"
"Well–yes my queen, but where could we get an air mage? We need one–" Bel coughs. "Immediately."
Nico wasn't hearing anything they said until he heard the word mage. It echoed through his ears and he lifted his head. He was a mage. An air mage. He'd might be able to help. He hadn't done anything like that before. The most he had done with the lungs was tale all the air out of it. But perhaps he could guide the blood out if his system.
Nico rushed to Bel's side, hands outstretched and moving. He was searching for the little air that was left in his lungs. This would have to be quick, there wasn't much left. And he couldn't breathe with all the blood in his lungs. He coukd do this. He could do this for Bel. He had to. It was his only chance.
Quickly, he used the air to force the blood out of his lunges. The only offside was that it drew all the air put of his lungs. So they needed to do this fast to get him breathing again. Once the blood was out, he stopped back and prayed to the gods this worked.
The woman widens her eyes as Nicandros suddenly steps up, resting a hand on Bel's chest. She's about to tell him to step back, to let the doctors handle this, but then Bel's coughing harder than ever. The assistants scramble to ensure that his head is turned. There's an ugly, gruesome noise and a hardened clot of blood falls from Bel's lips with a violent exhale.
"I'll be damned–" the doctor marvels. Bel's breathing heavily, but he's no longer choking. His eyes flutter open as he takes in his surroundings. His skin is pale but at least he's breathing. The woman sends the doctor a pointed look and they scramble to find a proper IV to replenish his lost blood.
"Nico–" Bel whispers, weakly reaching out with one hand as the doctor and assistants work on his recovery. Different salves and ointments are applied.
The woman sighs, rubbing her hands over her temples and eyes. She has about a million questions, but she knows that there's no time to ask them. The Prince is in no place to answer them. Loven's sure Sella would kill her if she killed her baby cousin by demanding far too many answers. Loven doesn't know much of Aranial's politics, but she knows what Sella has told her. She knows that the king is a cruel one and he fathered four children.
Nico ignored the doctors and nurses and assistants. He didn't care about then as long as they helped Bel. Bel. His Bel. Who looked to be on his death bed. His heart was pounding, waiting for it to work. And then it did. He was breathing and nico himself felt like he could breathe again. His head hung low on his shoulders as he let out shuddering breaths. And then he heard his name.
Bel was calling to him and Nico was kneeling by his side in an instant. He took his hand and held it to his chest, over his heart. He placed a soft kiss on the knuckles. "I'm right here, love. I've got you. I'm not going anywhere." He wasn't going to leave Bel's side for a moment. Never again. He was going to be by Bel's side always. Even if it meant he had to miss somethings. War meetings were important but it would be too much for the prince to handle. So Nico would sit it out with him. As long as they were together.
"How will his recovery be?" Loven looks to the doctor, finishing applying the different medicines.
"This is the most severe case I've ever seen," the doctor answers. "I can guarantee that his condition has gone untreated for several years. It's only surfacing because of the immense stress he's been recently put under. Moving a city isn't an easy feat, and if they're planning what I think they're planning, then it's only going to get more stressful from here." The doctor huffs and wipes at their brow. "It shouldn't be nearly as bad. We have the main clot out and if he takes proper medicine every day, we won't have to worry about flare ups."
Loven nods. She's seen her younger siblings-in-law go through the same treatment. It's almost always caught in an early stage, but after the death of Sella's mother a few years prior, one of the siblings had a particularly bad flare up and was bedridden for a day. "Thank you doctor."
"Hi," Bel says softly. He's smiling. There's blood on his teeth and he's smiling. "Sorry I fell asleep."
Nico could hear voices in the background but they all faded as he focused on Bel. He could get the information he needed later. But for right now, Bel was his main focus. The prince had almost died and he had gone crazy trying to find him help. He brought up a hand and pushed his hair out of his face. He leaned over to kiss the top of his head.
"That's okay, love. You did alright." There was still blood in his teeth. It made Nico's heart wrench. It was just another reminder of what had just happened. That and the blood staining the sheets. Nico wanted to move him somewhere clean. He wanted to bathe him and let him wash out his mouth and move him to a clean bed. "I'm just happy you're awake. How are you feeling?"
"Tired," Bel answers, closing his eyes as Nico presses his lips to Bel's forehead. He can still taste metal. He can smell it. The assistants work around him, offering Bel a new pillow and handing Nico a warm cloth to clean Bel's face. "M sorry i didn't tell you." His smile disappears as he looks sleepily up to Nico. "I didn't think it was this bad."
Somewhere from another side of the castle, there's a loud crash. Loven sighs and rubs her temples. "That would be my wife." She excuses herself from the room and makes her way up the stairs. Sella's yelling about her cousin, but Loven is quick to calm her. Sella loudly mentions Manticores a few times. Loven just laughs and shakes her head.
Nico helps to lift Bel as his pillow is switched out to a fresh one. He takes the rag handed to him and gently begins to clean Bel's face. "I know you are. You can rest now." He caressed his cheek lovingly. He gazed down at him with a smile. "I know you didn't. But I want you to tell me these things no matter how small. Even if you just stubbed your toe or got a papercut. I want you to tell me."
He looked up as he heard the crash. The yelling that followed signaled that it must be Sella. He was glad that she survived. He turned his attention back to Bel.
"Sorry," he says again, one more time for good measure. The commotion outside slightly startles him, but he knows the high energy and volume from Sella means she survived. A quiet Sella is always more concerning than a hollering one. "Is she okay?" Bel asks, sitting up to try and catch a glimpse of his cousin.
Sella keeps talking, her voice growing closer and closer until she's standing in the doorway. Loven is at her side, wiping at the blood seeping from the gash on her cheek. Without much resistance, the Queen is led to a chair and tended to by her wife. "Bel!" Sella cries upon seeing him conscious and well. "Thank the Gods–"
"Pleaee, don't apologize. It's okay." It was not okay. Bel almost died and Nico could do nothing to stop it. He didn't even know it had been going on. "You're safe now and that's all that matters." He turned hi head to look back in the direction of Sella. "She's alright. Ran into a little issue in the mountains but she's tough."
He watched as Sella came to the other side of Bel. He was quiet with their reaction, watching hoe Bel took things. Anything tok stressful and he was cleaning the room. He wasn't going to let anyone disturb him or cause anymore stress. And Sella seemed like a lot to handle. He didn't care of she was queen and he was jn her kingdom. He didn't care they were cousins. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt Bel.
"I'm okay," Bel says as Sella runs her hand over her forehead.
"And I'm glad," she replies. "The Doc will perscribe you with what my siblings take every morning." As she says it, the doctor walks over with a mask-looking device with a small area to screw in a vial. "You breathe it in and it should prevent buildup in your lungs. I'll hand the recipe to Treya when she arrives. I know she's an alchemist and will have the necessary skill to make the medicine." She looks to both Bel and Nico for conformation. They both need to know the process.
At her side, Loven is carefully cleans Sella's cut. "And I don't know if you've had the time to get propetly acquainted with my wife. Loven, this is my cousin and his… fiance?" She raises an eyebrow at the title, unsure if it's the correct one to use. She did hear Bel confess a wish for a marriage. Sella suddenly gets an idea to plan an elaborate one within Blakkast's walls, but it's not her place and she doesn't want to get in the middle of their happy little relationship.
Nico looked up at Sella and the doctor nodding his head. He was listening now. He was going to make sure Bel took his medicine every day. Every day. He wasn't going to allow something like this to happen again. "How long should he breath untouched mask?" He asked. His eyes kept glancing down at Bel, as if to make sure he was okay.
Nico gave Loven a small smile. "It's nice to meet you." He didn't apologize for his words earlier. He would do it again. He would have followed up on his threat. He would have done it all if it meant Bel was okay. Nico didn't answer the question about fiancee. That was for Bel to answer now that he was feeling better. No more confessions in the light of death. He wasn't dying. He wasn't going too. Not for a long time. And now Bel didn't need to feel pressured about saying yes.
"Only about five minutes every morning. Bel, if you find yourself short of breath or wheezing, take another few minutes. Think of it as asthma, but it can kill you." Sella shrugs. Bel has to giggle at his cousin's bluntness. Sella tries to hide the smile that forms on her face. "Y'know, I fought three manticores at one time to make sure you got here safe." She playfully punches Bel's bicep. "I would've been pissed if you died on me."
"Be nice, Sella," Loven sighs affectionately as she adheres a bandage to the side of her cheek. "Well." She drops her hands. "It's been nice meeting you, Bel. Sella's been speaking anxiously of your arrival. After all, it's been quite the amount of time."
"A decade," Bel adds with a nod of his head. He squeezes Nico's hand. "I've missed this place. Thank you for taking us in."
"I've had the staff prepare a room for you, but granted you brought an unexpected companion, I'd be happy to move you to a different wing of the palace. One where your siblings won't be directly down the hall?" Sella seems to have a very knowing look in her eyes. Loven rolls her own eyes and stands, letting her hand linger on Sella's shoulder as she strides away to the medicine cabinets to reshelf the ointments used on Sella's skin.
Nico gave Sella a glare at her blunt words. He didn't like that. He didn't want to speak that into existence. Bel had almost died. He didn't want to be reminded of that. So he ignored the woman and only smiled at the doctor and nodded his head. He would make sure Bel took his medicine every morning and for the appropriate amount of time.
He raised his eyes at Sella at her words. Perhaps she could get back on his good side. He liked the sound of that. Having rooms away from people. Especially Bel's siblings. Not that he planned on doing anything too extrenuous with him. He wasn't going to risk a thing.
Sex was off the table. For a long time. He wasn't sure how well Bel was going to take the news but he would wait to break it until he was feeling better. "When can we move our rooms?" Because Nico wasn't going anywhere without Bel. If Bel wa staying in the infirmary than so was Nico.
