"I would burn the world for you" (OxO Closed)

"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."

"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.

"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–"

"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.

"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.

"Well," Sella begins. "Since you're the only guests to arrive yet, we can move rooms within the hour. If you'd like, Bel, we coulr move you to the room and out of the infirmary by tonight." Bel ponders for a moment before nodding. The cot isn't comfortable and he doesn't quite trust the doctor to roam about where he's trying to rest. Luckily, he's feeling far more awake than he has in quite a few weeks. His chest aches from the pressure of the coughs and a headache is forming behind his eyes. Bels not dying and that's the most he could ask for.

"Fantastic, I'll get that squared away but then I have to return to the trabelling party. It'll be smart to inform Miran of Bel's condition before he breaks down a mountain or two," Sella smiles and stands, holding an arm out for Loven to take. "I'll see you in a few days. Please ask my lovely wife here if you have any massive questions." With that, the queens exit the room and take the stairs up to the throne. The pumas grumble and growl but eventually purr as soon as the Blakian queen arrives to pet their noses.

"Finally some alone time," Bel says gently. His mouth is dry and metallic. "Could you hand me that water?" He points to the glass on the bedside table that one of the assistants had provided earlier. After taking a few aided sips, he looks apologetically up to Nico. "Are you okay?"

"You're not okay," Bel corrects gently. "Nico, I almost died, it's okay to be at least a little upset." At me, at my family, at my father– Bel sighs and tips his head back against the pillow. He hates being sick. All he does is lay in bed and stare at walls. Nico won't let him out of his sight, and Bel knows that for a fact. While comforting, it'll be just like having a doting doctor taking care of every miniscule need. Bel isn't made of glass, despite what the universe wants to prove.

His dark eyes trail to the floor-to-ceiling windows allowing the early afternoon to breeze in. "I wanna take you to the waterfalls," Bel says. "My favorite is a little while away, but we can make a small trip out of it." A wistful smile crosses his face. "Sleep under the stars and beside a crystal waterfall. Me and you."

Bel shifts, allowing Nico to slide into the cot beside him. They have to shift, move around until Bel's comfortably resting on Nico's chest with his head tucked beneath Nico's chin. Their breathing and hearts eventually sync and Bel is almost nauseous with how lovesick this makes him. "I'm glad you're okay," he says quietly even though he knows Nico is anything but. All this damn thing will be is more nightmare fuel.

Remembering the vial in his pocket, Bel suddenly sits up and rummages around until he finds it. He smiles upon finding the dark liquid secure in the vial. "My sister got this to me this morning. Sleeping tonic–" He hands it to Nico. "This can help you.

Bel finds sleep pulling at him as soon as he rests his head back on Nico's chest. Warm, comforting, the calming cadence of his rising and falling chest with every breath. He just wishes, well, that he hadn't just almost died. He grits his teeth as he remembers the pain–how he saw a face when he was growing nearer and nearer to unconsciousness. His mother smiled at him and kissed his forehead but then he awoke and it was Nico holding his hand and sobbing. The guilt that washes through him makes Bel sick. How could he be so ready to leave Nico behind like that?

"I'm gonna fall asleep now," Bel mutters against Nico's chest. "I promise I'll wake up."

"You should sleep with me," Bel whispers just before he drifts off into the darkness of sleep.

Bel's nine years old. Across from him lay a box of blocks and dolls. A seven-year-old Val stacks them quietly on her side of the playmat. Five-year-old Treya hands her sister different blocks and provides quiet commentary of where they should go. The doors to the dark playroom open and in comes Miran, twelve-years-old and shell shocked from his first crusade. Bel watches his brother, movements careful, practiced, silent as he glides across the tile. The eldest says nothing as he collapses at Bel's side and cries. At this moment, Bel's sure this is a dream. Miran never cries, at least, not when their father had the possibility of listening.

Miran uses Bel's shoulder to wipe his tears, but it becomes clearer and clearer that they're much heavier than they should be. When Bel pulls away, his shirt is soaked in red. It's dripping from Miran's mouth and eyes. Bel recoils, hastily looking to his sisters to only find the blocks stained crimson from their bleeding hands.

Bel wakes quietly, pulling himself from the gory dream. He's still curled up against Nico's chest, but the sun has long set, basking the medical in dark moonlight. He doesn't have to look up to know Nico is awake. Nico would never sleep when Bel's in this state. "We can move rooms," he says with a whisper. "Find somewhere more comfortable."

"I think I can walk," Bel answers, carefully moving so he sits up. He's on Nico's lap, smooshed together in the small confines of the cot. Bel's mind momentarily wanders, but he immediately dismisses any sort of adventurous thought. Nico's not in the right headspace and Bel's recovering from a near-death experience. Hesitantly, Bel slides from the cot and stands on weak legs. He holds onto the nightstand to balance himself, trying to breathe through the momentary nausea that pales his face.

"We need to ask Loven where we're staying. It's been far too long since I've been here to remember where everything is," Bel informs after gathering his bearings. He gestures out the door, to the throne room that lay just up the stairs and down a hall. Loven, his cousin's wife and queen's consort, will likely be ruling in her absence.

Bel doesn't object as Nico sweeps him off his feet, leaning his head into Nico's shoulder. His arms are much warmer than the air. Having large doors leading to balconies wide open can't be quite too sanitary, but Bel's no doctor, so he doesn't question it. Speaking of the doctor, they're nowhere to be found, their two assistants also disappeared into the night. Their shift must've ended while Bel was sleeping. "Thank you," Bel's voice is barely above a whisper.

They move from the odd-smelling hospital and up the stone and glass staircase to the hallway leading to the throne room. Loven's voice filters through the air, slightly heated as she argues with a man with a gruff voice. A puma growls. The man stops talking. "She's through there," Bel points in the direction of an open door near the end of the hallway. Once through, Loven looks up from where she's bent over a map with a man twice her age across the table. He wears the silver and platinum crest of the kingdom on his thick armor. A small herd of pumas surround them.

"Bel, Nicandros–" Loven says, her voice shifting drastically from the low heat it had been. "It's the middle of the night, do you need anything?" The man beside her grunts and Loven shoots him an irritated glare.

Loven blinks, noting the slighted exchange between Nico and the man. "Excuse my father, he doesn't understand the concept of allies." He tries to object, saying that they have allies with Araniel, but Loven waves her hand and his mouth shuts with a click. It could've been magic or just a daughter's influence on her father. "And you all are free to go wherever in the castle. You're family of Sella, so you're family of mine." She looks over to her shoulder to her father and the pumas, nodding to the apparent alpha. He grumbles and paces around the man as another puma makes its way towards Loven.

"Let me show you where they moved you both to." Loven strides past them, her dark green suit pairing nicely with her red hair and the cool light of the night. She has to adjust her pace to keep up with Nico, still holding Bel. Even if Bel tried to walk on his own, he doubts Nico would let him. He's still pale from the blood loss. "I hate to say it, but you'll likely be seeing more of my father. He's the general of the guard here, and he's not too happy that I outrank him now." There's a spiteful smile on her face.

Bel stares at the man from over Nico's shoulder. Tall, broad, decorated armor in countless medals. Surely an imposing figure that could pose a threat to whatever plans, but he has two women who outrank him. Who is a general to oppose the queens? The last Bel had seen Sella, a decade ago when she was twenty and still rising in the ranks of the Blakian military. She had a companion that went with her through everything–wait. Bel turns back to stare at the side of Loven's face instead of her father's.

"You were Sella's companion in the military–" Bel points out. Loven stutters in her step before looking over to Bel. "Yeah, I know you–you went to some fancy royal banquet with us."

Loven smiles, almost bashfully. "Yes, I've known Sella since we were girls. My father was her father's second-in-command and they both encouraged me to pursue the military. Sella refused to let me go in alone and, well, here we are." She rubs her face, wiping the smile from it as they go up another set of stairs to the third floor. A long hallway stretches in front of them. "This is one of our guest wings. It's empty for the time being. If you'd like, we could move others up here with you, but I figured you'd want to be alone." She stops in front of an ornate silver door, left ajar by whatever maids had finished cleaning.

Loven toes open the door, holding it open wide for Nico to carry Bel through. In the center of the stone floor lies a four-poster bed, complete with drapes, a heavy comforter and enough pillows to fill the upper half. On the far side of the room stands a floor-to ceiling window with double-doors leading to a large balcony overlooking the beautiful cliffs and canyons of the Blakian mountains. Attached to the side of the room is a marbled bathroom with a large tub and fluffy towels. Every detail is embedded with silver and gems, the wood dark and sleek against the stone.

Loven carefully closes the door behind her as she leaves, reminding Bel that there's a key linked to their room on the small table by the door. As the latch clicks shut, Bel's hit with the silence. Nico's staring at the room, practically marvelling at it all. Times like these remind Bel that not everybody grew up like him, the room stretched around them a small step up from what he grew up in. The bed is larger, built for two instead of one, and there's access to a balcony in this one, a luxury Bel's father would never have granted him.

"Love, you can set me down now," Bel says softly, hoping to get Nico out of his small daze. "You won't break anything, and if you do, we all have more than enough money to replace it." Using Nico's arm to steady himself, Bel gets his footing against the dark marbled floor. The walls house teal siding until halfway up, where it gives way into black paint, the curtains and bedding a darker navy. Speckled around the hanging chandelier hang gems and diamonds, reflecting the night sky. "What do you think?" Bel asks quietly, tipping his head towards the rest of the room.