I walked in front of Mat, along the minecart tracks. This was unfortunate as I didn't notice his slowing pace or ragged breathing. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I would have anyway, because I was angry with him. But I was forced to noticed when I heard a faint thump behind me.

I turned on my heel to find that Mat had passed out and was lying on the ground, his face splashed with the blood-like liquid that coated the stone on the ground. The ambient noises of the Nether became suddenly prominent. "Fuck," I mumbled, kneeling down beside him. I pressed my hand to his forehead, and almost immediately had to pull it away. He was burning hot. "FuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!"

I tried to shake his shoulders, but as soon as I touched his metal half, I pulled my hand away again. It was so hot my fingers were burned.

"No, nonononononono," I started to panic. Did he have the fever? How did he get the fever? The only person he'd been kissing was me...

Shit.

He'd been kissing me.

Which meant, one way or another, I also had the fever.

I gripped my hair, losing control of my breathing. I was panicking. No one was around but some zombie pig things and screaming, explosive-shooting ghosts. We were still about twenty minutes from reaching the portal and I couldn't carry him all that way! He was too hot. And being in Hell probably wasn't helping.

Too hot. Everything was too, too hot.

I needed...I needed...I didn't know. I needed something.

I grabbed Mat's hair and shook his head around a little bit. He groaned weakly.

"Mat? Mat, wake up, please," I said desperately. Tears welled in my eyes, but they dried almost as quickly as they formed, leaving salty stains.

"Hmm...?" Mat tilted his head slightly towards me. "Where...? Why is the ground wet?"

"We're walking through crossroads, remember?" I said, leaning even farther down. "You just collapsed out of nowhere...Mat, I think...I think you have the fever."

"Wassat? Ihaveawha?" Mat's speech was slurred.

I laughed sadly. "Can you get up? We need to get out of here, all right?"

"What's so funny?" Mat asked quietly, with a small laugh.

"Nothing, nothing," I said. "I'm going to help you up and you can lean on me as we walk, okay?"

"Okay," Mat said. His eyes closed. "Ican'tpromiseanything."

Took my hoodie, which was tied around my waist, and wrapped the sleeves around my hands so I wouldn't get burned. I grabbed his human hand and pulled him up forcefully, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. He hung limply at my side, with cloudy, drooping eyes. I felt a tear quickly make its way down my cheek before evaporating. Please don't die please be okay please...

"'M sorry..." Mat mumbled. I paused and looked at him.

"Why?" I asked. "I'm the one who should be sorry." I continued to drag him beside the tracks.

"Nono...s' not about the fight..." Mat continued. "'M sorry I didn't tell you that I was sick."

"What?" I asked.

"I knew I was sick," Mat said, smiling sadly. "'M sorry for kissing you n' shit..."

"No, no no no don't be sorry," I said. "Everything's gonna be fine, okay? We'll get back to Genesis and find Choco and he'll know what to do."

"He'll just...quarantine us..." Mat mumbled. "Shut us in a room and leave us to die. Y'know he will."

"But..." I sighed. I knew he was right. "We'll figure it out. I promise. We're not going to die."

"I don..." Mat began, "I don't believe you but okay."

~~~

The walk was painful and tiring, but we made it. We made it to the portal, we got through the portal, and I used the last bit of my strength to help Mat up the flight of stairs and onto a horse. He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned against my shoulders for balance.

I had the horse run as fast as it safely could towards HQ. It was the middle of the night, and when we arrived, Lachlan must have heard the horse's noise, because he came running outside.

"What the hell?!" He yelled, waving his arms around. I slid off the horse's back, letting the now sleeping Mat slump forward.

"Yes, Hell is the correct answer," I said, breathing hard from anxiety.

Lachlan looked at me like I was insane. "That doesn't explain anything!"

"Okay, okay, um..." I threaded my fingers through my hair, "...help me get Mat of this horse and then I'll tell you what's going on."

"Who the hell is Mat?!" Lachlan exclaimed, stepping forward to help me. Oh, right, I thought. He only knows Nooch.

"Just help me, please," I pleaded. Lachlan obliged. The two of us lifted Mat off the horse and set him down on the front steps of the house. I tied the horse to a fence post as I explained the situation.

"So...Mat's gonna be a little hard to explain," I began, "but the two of us have literally been through Hell and back, and I think Mat has the fever. Which is especially bad because we've, uh, been kissing each other all week. By the way, is Crow still hiding here?"

Lachlan didn't respond. He looked like he was trying to process everything as quickly as he possibly could, but it wasn't working.

I had a funny thought just then. Error: program "Lachlan's Brain" has stopped responding. Would you like to terminate the program or wait for a solution?

I decided to wait for a solution.

It took quite a while.

A few minutes, probably.

"..."

"...yes, some of them are," Lachlan answered my question about Crow. "But Ashley and KJ took about half of them to a new location. They didn't tell me where."

"Are Choco, Kenny, Rob, and Preston still here?" I asked, slowly, for Lachlan's sake.

"Yeah," Lachlan said. "But they're all sleeping."

"Doesn't matter," I brushed him off. "Got any new clothes for us?"

"Probably. Is...is that blood?"

"Probably," I mimicked his tone. "Now help me get this guy inside, will you?"

Lachlan helped me carry Mat inside. We laid him on the kitchen floor, as all the other space was taken up by Crow refugees. I rummaged through the cabinets as Lachlan threw questions at me. I found a bottle of Ibuprofen and forced a few tablets down Mat's throat.

"Okay, what were you saying?" I asked Lachlan. "I wasn't listening to any of it."

"Okay, first of all, who the hell is this guy?" Lachlan gestured to Mat. "And why have you been kissing him?"

"Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but this is Nooch," I said. Once again, Lachlan did nothing but stare at me with his "Error: 404" expression. "See, he was a soul possessing a robot body. This was his original body, sans the metal bits, of course. Those are a recent addition. Anyway, that necklace you've got around your neck? The guy that created that also created Nooch. It's a long story."

"So...Nooch...is Mat..." Lachlan said, puzzled. "And you...he...who...what..."

"It's the middle of the night, I don't expect you to understand right away," I said, leaning against the counter. I looked down at Mat. Beads of sweat were dripping off his face and onto the floor. Because of this, the floor was becoming stained with the red liquid from the Nether.

"Okay, I ain't cleaning your clothes though," Lachlan said. "Or his clothes. Or his face. Or either of your faces. You know what? I'm just going to shut up now."

I laughed. It was funny to see Lachlan act like a normal human being for once.

Then suddenly, someone pounded at the door.

~~~

Stupid place to leave off, I know. You'll just have to wait and see ;3

(also just in case you didn't know Ibuprofen is a fever reducer/pain killer)

Ciao!