For I Don't Want To Taste This Poison...

His breathing was heavy, but he didn't want stop walking. If he stopped, then he wasn't going to make it to the house in time. He was going slow enough already because of that stupid valley. As soon as he had managed to get through the barrier, he had started fighting his way to get to DCA. It hadn't exactly worked that way, though.

He had managed to get to the poison valley, but that was where things went awry. Some poisonous snake had bitten him, though he hadn't exactly noticed it immediately. The toxic pollen of the valley hadn't helped. Unfortunately, he hadn't even noticed it until he started getting dizzy.

Stupid valley.

Allen's vision was getting blurred, with his pupils dilated. Through what little he could see, he was hallucinating. A few unresolved scars from the past were haunting him. The thought of being in a war... and actually being in a war was killing him. He shouldn't have done this... it brought up things in the past he didn't want to remember.

Sure, he was strong and as cold as stone, but his heart was melting now. Even if he was the man that he was, people couldn't help but have weak moments.

Allen's head was fuzzy and his lungs felt like they were on fire. The knight fell to his knees, coughing up blood. Cold sweat began to drip from his forehead in a fever, and he was, at that moment, too weak to go any farther.

"You're breaking a promise..." he said weakly, regarding himself in third-person. Enelya had told him that if he was hurt to come see her... but he hadn't made it. And, worst of all, it took these kinds of moments to make one realize that they didn't want to die. The immortal managed to get a glance at the sky, even though he couldn't see it clearly. It very well may have been the last thing he would see if he somehow didn't get to the house.

He finally fell on the ground, no longer able to see anything. He coughed up more blood before finally falling unconscious.

~

There was a scratching at the door of the Oros sisters house and a whimper that followed it. There was an urgent howl, followed by more and more scratching. The female wolf looked back, then returned her eyes to the door. "Enelya!!" she called quietly, hoping the human was in there. "Enelya, it's your friend!! Something's WRONG!!"

She looked back again. A few other wolves in the pack had gone to drag him to the house, but they weren't there yet. She scratched at the door yet again, hoping to receive an answer as quickly as possible.

The female wolf was relieved when Enelya answered the door. She walked in a nervous circle, ears perked up. When asked where he was, she quickly jumped a couple of yards away. "He's about half a mile down there. The other wolves went to try and drag him here, but I don't know if they can..."

"Do you know what happened? Thank you for helping him. Are you alright?"

She could see Enelya's fear and worry. It didn't take a genius to see it in her eyes and in her voice. The wolf was worried about Enelya's friend, too, since he had helped free the cub. "Poison," she answered quickly. "He was in the poison valley and he got bitten by some snake. The poisonous air there seems to have had affected him, too, since he was bleeding from the mouth." Internal injuries were never fun to deal with. She ignored the question of whether she was alright and jumped another few feet, wanting to get to Allen as soon as possible. "Come on, we have to hurry, Enelya!"

~

Allen wasn't even aware of the jaws that had closed down on his arms and shoulders. He was currently being dragged along by about six wolves, and a trail of blood was falling from his mouth. Every now and then he coughed to clear his lungs, which only helped to create more blood. Hopefully none of the mutants would catch the scent and come to find what had made it.

Half of his face was in the dirt, which only caused it to become dirty, along with his hair. It contributed to the coughing as well, since getting dirt in ones lungs wasn't very helpful in a situation like this.

The wolf ran, leading Enelya to her friend. Once there, she got out of the way, not wanting to slow the human down. She watched, ears perked still as she hoped it wasn't too late.

"Oh dear... Dear Allen... "

He couldn't even hear her. Allen was so far off from the world that any noise wasn't going to reach him. The poison was too much, as was the fever and the slowly growing infection. He had gotten scratched by a mutant and, thinking that it had been nothing, hadn't bothered to come to the house and get it checked. It turned out to be something indeed, though.

"Please, please wake up..."

His eyelids twitched slightly as water was sprinkled on his face and poured down his throat. Hazy brown eyes opened and he choked somewhat on the water, but he managed to keep it down. Eyes looked around for a moment before finally focusing on Enelya. She was blurry, along with everything else, and instead of blue hair with purple eyes, he saw something completely different. "Wha... Esme?" he questioned weakly, coughing up more blood at the use of his lungs. There was hope in his weak eyes for a moment. "You... you're here?" It was amazing. Absolutely amazing. He knew that she couldn't have been dead! She was immortal, and the one that had made him immortal. She wouldn't have left him and died with their daughter. She loved him after all...

He was awake, but he continued to go in and out of consciousness. He was trying to stay awake, just for Esme, but it was hard with the poison in his body. Why wasn't she healing him already? Had she lost the power to do that? It was strange, but it was alright. As long as she was there beside him, he was happy. That was all he needed right now.

Before he knew it, he was in a house and laying on a bed. He couldn't see at all, but he knew she was there. A liquid was soon poured into his mouth and he coughed at first, a metallic taste entering his mouth once more, but he swallowed that taste along with the mixture he was being given. She wouldn't give him anything that would make him worse, he knew it for a fact. Esme wasn't like that.

He was aware of something on his ankle, and after a few moments, could see more clearly. He could actually make out colors now, and finally saw the blue hair and purple eyes of Enelya Norvayn.

Confusion swept over him, along with panic. Brown eyes widened somewhat as the fever increased, though the wet rag helped it slightly. He gazed at Enelya, a sort of more innocent and helpless look to his eyes that he hadn't had before. "Where did she go?" he questioned, choking over his own voice. "Esme... she was just here! Enelya, where did she go? Did she leave again?"

He stared at his friend, hoping she knew. He didn't want to lose Esme... he had lost her twice... a third time would devastate him beyond belief.

"Here... suck on this."

Allen was given the flower. Not going to disobey a healer, he sucked on the flower. It did, indeed, ease the pain and he felt warm throughout his body. He had never been able to learn about all these flowers and plants that could heal... his brain just hadn't absorbed it. Even if it was useful, healing wasn't his thing. He was the fighter, not the person who stood at the side and ran in like a referee when someone went down.

"Don't speak, Allen, you're hurt."

He wanted to speak, though. He wanted to talk to her and know how she was doing... she was his friend, he cared about her. He also wanted to know why Esme was gone... he really had seen her before, really he had! Eyes softened somewhat and he looked away, sighing inwardly. "You don't..." He broke into a coughing fit, just to get the remaining blood out of his lungs. After that, he continued. "You don't understand, Enelya..."

Well, she didn't. There was no way she would understand what searching for hundreds of years and joining wars and killing people just to impress someone was like.

After a few moments, a pair of lips connected with his own. Eyes widened somewhat, then softened and closed as he allowed her to do it. He didn't hate her for it.... he didn't even care. Maybe his heart had skipped one beat, but after that, he was unenthusiastic. He felt the blood go down his throat, but he didn't mind it at all.

Enelya's lips parted from his, and his cheeks flushed and he smiled softly. Whether the red face was from embarrassment or fever, it was up to Enelya to decide. "Well now, what was that for?" he asked her. "I didn't do anything to deserve that."

Allen hadn't really noticed it was just to heal him.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll understand later, okay?”

Her finger silenced him, and to be quite honest, that stern look on her face frightened him somewhat. Allen was used to Enelya being sweet, not commanding. He should have known, though — women were so moody and had a lot of different sides to them. Sighing, the immortal nodded and bit his lip. He didn't entirely want to make her understand, but he figured it was necessary.

“It’s an anti-oxidant… Kills poisons…”

"Oh..." Allen said. For some reason, he was slightly disappointed. It had showed slightly in his voice, but hopefully Enelya would mistake disappointment for pain. In a way, he had kind of had wanted it to be more... but he didn't know. Ever since he had met her, he had been questioning himself and had just been completely messed up with his emotions. He had wanted it to maybe have been more, but that would have been strange. We're only friends.

Just to tease her, though, and probable annoy her with his talking, the immortal managed a smirk. "You sure that was it?" he asked her. He was, in fact, feeling better because of her blood killing off the poisons in his system.

“No, but I’m not going to sit here and let you die. Get over it.”

Allen snorted softly, but smiled. "Well, I'm glad there's some reliable people in this world," he told her. Most of the people he had come across in his life weren't exactly the best... Esme, for example. Even if he had loved her... people who deserted others to take care of a problem wasn't exactly responsible. With the fever clearing up now, he realized that he had just been imagining her there.

And it hurt.