neutral_omens | (no subject)

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Time: October 20, 2000
Place: The Stairs
Status: Public (Complete)
Summary: Maybe stopping to take those pills wasn't such a good idea after all...

Loki was feeling dizzy and weak. In fact he hadn't felt like getting out of bed at all this morning, but then he'd been spending too much time in bed lately and maybe a cold shower was just what he needed to get the blood circulating and give him some energy.

It hadn't worked, though, so he'd decided that he needed something to do. Maybe a few more books would help and walking up the stairs to the library would provide some much needed exercise.

That had been the theory anyway. After only a few steps however he had to stop to catch his breath. His knees felt weak and wobbly and he was considering sitting down for a while when suddenly he heard steps from above. He looked up and saw the very person he'd been trying to avoid most.

He forced himself to stand up straight and pretend that everything was fine. "John."

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"You went off your meds like a sodding moron, moron, and it caught up with you," John said gruffly, leaning in the doorway. "What the fuck'd you think would happen?"

Gabriel shot John a less than friendly look. "Could we please refrain from insulting the patient for the time being?" he asked, clipped.

His tone was considerably more cordial, however, as he addressed the god. "Loki,you're in the hospital wing at Tadfield Manor. I'm Gabriel, and this is Anathema, and we're just trying to help you. Do you remember what happened?"

"Damn pills weren't working anyway," Loki growled at John.

Gabriel's answer was a lot more helpful, though he wasn't sure how to answer his question. He wasn't even entirely sure which events he was referring to. What had happened before he'd ... well, fainted apparently? What had happened after that? Or how he'd got the cancer in the fist place?

Who was Gabriel anyway? He didn't remember ever seeing him around before which was alarming. Unless Gabriel was a very recent arrival it meant that Loki had either been very sloppy in his exploration of the manor or there was more than just one hole in his memory.

His mind was working slower than usual, but Gabriel definitely wasn't a human, nor any god Loki recognised ...

"Oh, not another not-god!"

"Not-god?" Anathema asked, rather amused by the way that Loki had said it. It sounded like such a bad thing.

She shook her head slightly. "Can you tell us what you were doing, where you were going, before you collapsed? And there are different medicines you could have tried."

"God that isn't allowed to call himself god," Loki explained.

"Library. Talked with John." He shot Ana a tired look that should have been a glare. "They didn't work either."

If his answers were a bit incoherent he didn't notice, though he did realise that his brain still wasn't back to it's normal speed. He was dizzy and tired and a little frightened even though he'd expected to die soon. It still seemed too early.

"It's the sodding curse, it's gotta be," John muttered, a trifle sullenly. His bedside manner might need some work, but he was trying to help, dammit. Adam alone knew why he bothered. "Odds are we're gonna have to find a way to lift it before anything will really work."

"Curse right," Loki agreed. "The curse that Czernobog himself couldn't lift."

Anathema frowned at this. "Well maybe this curse needs to be lifted before anything will work. If the God that did this to you couldn't reverse it...well maybe a different way of breaking the curse is needed?"

How she didn't know, but she would like to give it a try, after all, someone she knew was dying right in front of her. "I'll help. You never know...maybe we can come up with something..."

She also didn't know who she could enlist to help her...maybe Uriel would? She was an angel after all...

John rubbed at his forehead, frowning thoughtfully. "Don't suppose good ol' Czernobog mentioned what class of curse it was, or what he did to try to lift it? It'd save some time if we knew."

Loki attempted to laugh. It didn't sound quite right.

"Czernobog had no idea what he'd done," he explained. "Was surprised it actually worked at all. And he wasn't the only one that tried. I've asked actual healing gods. It can't be lifted."

Definitely not by two humans no matter how cool John was.

Gabriel arched a brow coolly; the powers of the mortal pantheons had always seemed so scattered and sporadic that he wasn't sure how thorough Loki's endeavor might have been, and he wouldn't be convinced until they'd at least made an effort with this curse themselves.

"Nevertheless, I think Constantine's right," he spoke up. The words hadn't tasted as foul as he thought they might, but he still quite intentionally didn't look at the man after he'd said them. "I think that will have to be our first course in treatment. After getting you back on your medication, of course," he added, nodding toward the pills in Anathema's hand.

"And trust me, you will be taking them, mister," Anathema replied, smiling slightly. She wasn't lying either. If necesary she would ram the things down Loki's throat. What a silly thign to do just because nothign seemed to be working. That didn't necessarily mean they weren't at least keeping the disease at bay for a while.

She shook the bottle of pills and opened the lid. "So, think he should start taking them now?" She said the question to both John and Gabriel. And was it her imagination, or did those two not like each other very much?

"They don't work and make me sick and dizzy," Loki complained pouting. "I really don't see what they're good for."

Of course he knew why he was supposed to take them. He had read about them, after all, and he wasn't stupid. He just didn't want to. He'd had enough of the fight. Couldn't those damn doctors ever leave one to die in peace?

"And you don't feel sick and dizzy while off them either? Hmm, then explain your little fainting spell outside?" It was mean, she knew, but right now she didn't really care. no, he was going to take the pills. She got one out and held it threateningly in her hand "Your choice, fight or be a good boy."

She didn't realise that Loki could act so much like...like a child!

"I do, but the pills make it worse instead of better," Loki pouted. "Not taking them." He turned his back to Anathema demonstratively.

"So," Anathema said, turning round to face John and Gabriel, "Do you think I should forcefeed him the pill, or do you think one of you could convince him not to fight?"

She was hoping that John could convince him since the two of them were at least friendly with each other. But if not...those pills were going to be going down very much by force.

John pushed away from the door frame and walked over to hunker down eyeball to eyeball with Loki.

"Have you ever actually watched someone die of cancer, Loki? I have." His eyes were bleak, belying his cold, hollow tone. "It's not peaceful. It's sure as hell not painless. I watched a good mate go screaming in a pool of blood and shit, and I watched myself waste away in the mirror while I choked up black bits of my own lungs. I hate fucking cancer, Loki, and I will be damned if I'm gonna let it take another friend away without a fight."

He straightened up and looked down on the god coolly. "'sides, way I see it, you owe Crowley twice now. You're bloody well gonna live to pay up. So quit your whinging and take your fucking medicine before the nice lady makes good on her threat."

Gabriel nearly intervened, having little patience for such threats; if the other immortal was petulant enough not to cooperate in his own treatment, the archangel hadn't much reason to force it on him. However, there was a void quality to Constantine's voice as he addressed the illness that gave even Gabriel pause: a tone empty of all but the harshest of truths.

And he knew it was true, having witnessed the worst of Constantine's suffering himself. He didn't know if the man wondered why the angel would bother healing a pagan deity when he'd denied a mortal help all those years ago; but he felt the strain of guilt even when Constantine never spared a glance in his direction.

So Gabriel was quiet as Constantine spoke, arms crossed before him, eyes downcast, almost as though he stood in prayer. If the god could sense one fraction of the painful honesty in that voice that the angel could, he knew it would be intervention enough.

Loki suppressed a shudder at John's description, but he wouldn't admit that he was scared. Norse gods did not get scared of death or pain.

"There's nothing you or anyone can do about it, John. Nothing will work."

Why did it have to be John that witnessed his collapse? He hadn't meant to bother the human with this. He wanted Uriel here and Odin. Or maybe not them either. It might not be good for Bran to worry Uriel and Odin would be disgusted by his weakness. No, complete strangers like Anathema and Gabriel were the best thig in this situation.

"In other words," Anathema replied, "You're just giving up? I barely know you but it seems...out of character for you to do so."

She took a deep breath. "I've never watched anyone die from cancer before but I don't want to start now. So take your medicine."

She didn't bother adding on a please. She didn't think it would do any good in this situation.

"You do realise that this is not going to make any difference," Loki said, but did take the pill out of her hand. "Can I at least get some water to go with it?"

Swallowing the pill was going to make him feel sick either way, but without the water he wasn't even sure it'd stay down and he did not want to have to swallow another right away.

Thinking it a miracle that Loki had even taken the pill in the first place she raced off to get the glass of water asked for. Coming back, she handed it to him. "Here."

Despite the fact that he swallowed the pill with water Loki's stomach still clenched painfully and he had to fight against throwing up for a moment. Damn this had been a lot easier a few months ago. Maybe he should have asked for some food first.

Hie curled up un his side miserably. "Happy?"

"Yes, thanks Loki." She went back to her desk then, leavign the other tow in the room to say whatever they wanted to. She was still on duty after all and Loki was in the room with Gabriel. She couldn't see anythign bad happening right that second.

She was just happy she didn't have to force Loki to take his pills.

John waited until Loki had complied, and then said with just a ghost of the cocky Constantine smirk, "We'll see about that...." Leaning down near Loki again, he touched the god's shoulder and stage-whispered conspiratorially, "Listen, if you wind up puking, try to do it on the Snob's shoes, eh?

"Anyway, I'll be back later, I got some shit to look up."

He walked out with a perfunctory nod to Gabriel.

About ten seconds later, he stuck his head back in the door, looking slightly sheepish. "Er. Anybody know offhand how you spell 'Czernobog'?"

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