Chapter 35: Gem

                                    

                                          


THIRD PERSON
"I can't tell what it is." Sammy frowned as she wiped a freshly soaked towel against the Umbreon's forehead.
Vanta was quickly relocated to Hydra's office once the word was spread that he was coughing a lot of blood. Even though the large jackal wasn't there to man the station, Sammy was luckily knowledgeable enough to handle the medicine inside the cabinets.
"What could have happened?" Grace murmured, clearly on the brink of tears.
"He has the temperature of an average cold, but the symptoms of a deadly disease...I'm not sure I understand what this is." The younger Braixen paced around the room with a worried expression.
"I'll be okay...I just need to get this out of my system..." Vanta—with a very strained voice—tried his best to reassure the numerous Pokemon inside the room.
"Vanta..." Galant couldn't help but worriedly sigh at the sight of him. "Do you know of any illnesses you've had in your past?"
The Umbreon thought for a brief moment before shaking his head. "Not that I can think of."
"Ya think a sickness can pull somethin' off that quickly?" Sherwood humphed, seemingly finding trouble believing the idea.
"I've seen it before." Luster muttered as he trudged into the room with a large towel draped over his back. "My brother got deathly ill in just a day."
Sammy nodded at the Luxray as a 'thank you' before nabbing the towel. "Right now he just needs rest. I don't want to make any rash decisions until I'm comfortable knowing what he has."
"If only we had Hydra..." Galant muttered somberly.
As if everyone in the room didn't want to be reminded, there was nothing but silence after that. It'd been long enough for them to register that Hydra was most likely not coming back for a while, or worse, ever again.
By now, many believed he was dead—gone in the ashes of the fire. A few thought he was just missing. Most wanted to hope he was secretly alive, but the main issue is that he's gone now...and there's nothing they can do about it.

"Alright, well I have to go to bed." Luster stifled a yawn before backing up into the doorway. "You all should too...and someone should stay here to help him."
"As much as I want that, we can't watch over him every second. We need breaks too." Galant reasoned with a worried frown.
"I can stay." Sherwood offered. "I ain't gon' fuss about not getting much sleep."
"A-Are you sure?" Sammy turned to eye the Sceptile carefully.
"Yeah." The grass-type shrugged in response. "I'll jus' stay outside the door."
After that, everyone seemed a little more sure of the situation. Luster made his leave, Sammy checked up on Vanta's temperature before leaving, and Galant excused himself from the room.
"Uhm..." Grace hummed as she was one of the two remaining in the room.
"Take your time, kiddo." Sherwood offered the Eevee a reassuring smile. "I'll be waitin' outside when you're done."

After the Sceptile left, Grace found herself leaping up on the nightstand next to the Umbreon.
"Are y-you okay?" She stammered.
"Yeah...I just got a lot on my mind." Vanta frowned.
"Oh..." The Eevee exhaled. "Like..?"
"I might have overworked myself a little." He weakly smiled as his gaze was locked to the ceiling. "I always wanted to be a good leader for people."