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Must…protect…Hermits.
It was the only thought swirling around his hazy mind, the only thought keeping him on his feet.
Xisuma had been like this for the past few days, not that anybody knew. He had found a glitch in the code that desperately needed fixing, lest it grow and endanger everyone on the server.
And so Xisuma had set out to fix it, pushing down whatever sniffles he had felt at the time in favour of protecting his family.
Eventually, the illness had overtaken his body, slowing his movements and fogging over his thoughts, but Xisuma keto going.
His fingers ached from typing all day, wrists sore. The whole rest of his body ached as well, but in a different way. He felt like was held down by bricks in his clothes. Sweat clung to his forehead as he sat there, typing away, pushing out the world.
Eventually, Xisuma found himself slumping and no longer being able to hold his own head up. He took that as a sign to take a step back, but the movement came accompanied with vertigo that had the whole world around him spinning.
Xisuma forced deep breaths into his tired lungs, breaking out into a cough when he took a breath that was too deep. When the coughing didn't stop for what felt like hours, Xisuma pulled up his comm to check on his own health, instead of the code.
There. Entwined with his code, and what was making him feel so ill was… the flu? Xisuma didn't think voidwalkers could even get the flu. Still, it was there, and Xisuma knew about it, meaning he had to actually take care of himself for once.
But his body had other ideas, for when he stood up, he staggers, and blackness enclosed on his vision.
The last thing he remembered was falling, then black.
-
When Xisuma came to, it was darker, and he felt infinitely worse than before. His head was throbbing, he couldn't breathe through his nose and his entire body hurt.
Xisuma turned over onto his front as a coughing fit suddenly overcame him. He wheezed through it, trying desperately to get his breathing under control, until it finally ceased.
A ping on his communicator reverberated through his skull, piercing in its' noise. Xisuma groaned, but managed to reach up onto his desk to pull the thing onto the floor, where he lay, so he could read it.
Keralis: meeting today! gonna be a good one I can feel it!
…Shit.
-
Of course Xisuma was late to the meeting- he was late on a good day, but today there was no joy in the situation as he dragged his body into the hall.
The sudden wave of noise nearly forced him back a step, but he just grimaced and slipped into his chair- the same as all the other chairs, as he had decided once around four years ago that everyone was equal on the server.
Xisuma had lessened the transparency on his helmet, meaning none of the Hermits could see his eyes. Sure, everyone had seen him in a state before, but this time it felt necessary to cover up.
He had also turned up the filter on his mask, allowing more oxygen to be filtered in, to hopefully keep him coherent for the duration of the meeting. It whirred slightly louder, but it was nothing Xisuma wasn't used to.
"Alright, hello Hermits, and welcome to our monthly meeting, thank you for all being more on time than me." He tried to make a joke, but it fell dry when he realised a couple of the Hermits were staring at him in concern. He swallowed down a cough and continued speaking.
"I'm gonna pass to Doc for the next bit, since you wanted to talk about something? And after that the floor is open for any ideas and discussions, you know the drill."
Xisuma leaned back in his chair after he finished speaking. He knew it was a half-hearted message, and that it would bring out suspicions amongst the Hermits, but he could literally not bring himself to care. As he was speaking, a headache had made itself known in his temples and Xisuma wanted nothing more than to let himself fall asleep.
But no, he was stuck in a meeting and for some random reason he was pretending not to be ill.
He knew it was silly, but he also knew if the Hermits knew he would be sent to bed and wouldn't be able to fix the code and then they'd all be in danger and then maybe his Hermits would die and it would all be his fault and he could never ever let that happen because if he did he'd never forgive himself and-
Xisuma cut himself off with a sharp breath, which of course turned into a coughing fit. …A very loud one. …In front of all of his Hermits.
XIsuma excused himself, still coughing, and staggered out to the hallway, leaning against the wall and sliding down it. He was utterly miserable.
-
The silence in the meeting hall after Xisuma ran out was deafening.
Everyone could see that something was up with the man, they just didn't know what.
Most Hermits turned their attention to Doc once he started speaking, trying to assure everyone even though he didn't know what was going on, but Etho kept staring at the now vacant seat of Xisuma's. He had known his admin long enough to know that that was not normal, and he should probably be concerned.
And so, he stood up and followed where Xisuma had left.
He found the admin, slumped against a wall, head in his hands. The man looked completely defeated, more so than Etho had ever seen him.
That scared him.
Etho approached Xisuma cautiously, almost like he's run away if the fox-hybrid trod too loudly. It took a few seconds of wondering why the helmet fastened on his head was whirring so loudly, before Etho realised. He was on oxygen. He knew.
Etho frowned at the revelation, but slid down next to Xisuma regardless.
"Hey." A simple word, an invitation to a conversation, couldn't go too wrongly, right?
Wrong, Xisuma jumped about four metres into the air, broke into yet another coughing fit, and scrambled back from Etho, who froze.
That's… not the reaction you want.
Gently, Etho tried again, this time scooting forwards and offering a hand.
Xisuma grasped the bony fingers in a vice-like grip, nearly crushing them as he struggled to breathe properly, even with the aid.
Now that Xisuma knew he was there, Etho attempted a conversation once more.
"Xisuma, what's going on?"
Xisuma just whimpered through laboured breaths and mumbled, "Flu, I think." Before coughing again and leaning his head onto Etho.
Etho tensed. Talking, he could mostly do. Comforting, not his strong suit but manageable. Any physical contact other than holding hands? No thank you. But Xisuma seemed content, so Etho let him just this once. He was ill after all.
It was then that Doc opened the door to the meeting hall and came striding down the hall. He looked at Etho questioningly, and Etho muttered, "Thinks he's got the flu, could be something else. He's put himself on extra oxygen, so I think he was trying to hide it. I didn't know voidwalkers could even get the flu, but here we are." Doc sighed and pulled out his comm, switching to an admin mode he used as a backup and scanning through X's code.
"Yep, there's a flu strain attached to his code. Doesn't look too bad, but then again, never seen Zisuma ill before." Etho hummed in response, turning back to the admin, who was now burying himself in Etho's hair, helmet and all.
"Shall we get you to bed, then?" Xisuma didn't make any more sound, but tilted his head slightly. Etho and Doc took that as an agreement, and both assisted in bringing the admin back to his feet. He swayed, but they steadied him, and started to guide Xisuma to a secluded room in which he could finally rest.
-
Over the course of the next few days, each and every Hermit helped the admin to recover. Some brought flowers, some made food, some burnt cookies (Doc shook his head at Grian's antics, muttering "At least you tried." when he showed up with them), and some just kept him company.
Within no time, Xisuma was back on his feet, re-taking over the coding from Tango and Doc, who had replaced him while he got better, and finally managing to finish the meeting he ran out of when he first got sick.
Everything got better again. Apart from Grian's cooking skills, of course.