Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me

Search by :  Username E-mail Region Interest AOL IM ICQ Number Yahoo! ID MSN Username Jabber

Anna of Arendelle wants to do the next right thing (pleaseletmein) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2021-01-04 16:58:00

Who: Anna, Y’Shtola & Elsa
What: Anna’s health gives out
When: January 4th, late afternoon
Where: Random sidewalk in Orange County to hospital
Warnings: Medical things
Status: Log | Complete

Anna didn’t want to admit it, but she really wasn’t feeling well. At all. She had initially just brushed off the fatigue and loss of appetite to the fact she had been busier than usual during the holidays between volunteering and work and the friendship dinner and just the schedule that the redhead kept. Not to mention trouble sleeping because of the Dreams and feeling like she wasn’t enough and constant dreams about wolves.

Then came the coughing. Definitely not a good sign. Just like the shortness of breath wasn’t a good sign. But she pushed through it.

Then came the chills and fever so she had finally sucked it up and sent a message to both Logan and Natasha that she wasn’t going to be able to make her shifts that day. It was probably just the flu but better to be safe than sorry, right?

Still, she didn’t have flu medicine and so, despite the fact she probably could have asked someone to get her things, Anna bundled up and headed to the pharmacy.

A simple in and out trip. That’s all it was, and then she would be back home and curled up in blankets and would beat this flu back and it would be fine. Everything was going to be perfectly fine.

There’d been something strange in the aether today. Y’shtola didn’t believe in coincidences and more than once her feeling of something strange had led her to an interesting discovery. It was becoming increasingly harder to not call upon the spell from her dreams that would let her see the flow of aether through the world. But to use that magic would shorten her life, and she would rather not do so unless absolutely necessary.

That it existed at all was of a major curiosity; by all rights this world (or star as the people in her dreams would refer to a planet) shouldn’t haven’t aetheric energy. The physics were completely different. And yet here it was.

It was very strange, and her newly modified instruments were telling her that, in almost those exact words.

The ears on top of her head twitched at the sound of someone approaching, and she stepped to the side to allow them to pass, snow-white tail twitching behind her.

Noticing the person step aside, Anna managed to mumble a word of thanks before the coughing took over again. Ugh. She was not a fan. It brought up too many things. And okay that made sense. How could it not? But it wasn’t like the cystic fibrosis was back. This was a flu. People got the flu all the time.

But the coughing was getting worse and she had to stop, gasping for breath in between the coughing.

That was when she noticed the blood on the arm of her jacket.

“....Oh no…”

Her voice was weak and it felt like everything was going white. Spots were dancing before her eyes as she started coughing again, the sensation that her head was swimming and she didn’t know what way was up or down.

Was it really hot? She suddenly felt really hot.

The white spots were blurring together and her limbs felt like they were heavy and in jello all at once before her legs just gave out and she passed out, breathing shallow.

The coughing was a concerning sound, though it was that time of year. Y'shtola was about to say something calming and reassuring about it when the cougher's whole demeanor seemed to change. That 'oh no' was tiny and scared and she'd heard variations on it all over the world.

With supernatural swiftness, she turned as she felt the woman go slack, like someone had cut her strings. Her tail lashed out, wrapping around Anna's waist to catch her before she hit her head. She grabbed onto her with her hands a moment later and listened carefully to breathing.

Ragged, wet breathing, but breathing.

"Bugger," she murmured, her pale white eyes gaining the slightest hint of color, a pale green.

Anna's aura was a reddish pink, and while Y'shtola couldn't see features or details, she could make out Anna's shape like a lit up human figure.

Only there was black energy in her lungs and a few other places that indicated some kind of sickness. Damage, or something worse like cancer. She wasn't a doctor in this life, and even in her dreams healers couldn't miraculously cure ailments of this nature. There were tonics, which she knew how to make, that might ease the pain and help in healing a little faster, but first this woman needed to be stabilized and then she needed a doctor’s help.

Y'sthola pressed her hand over Anna's chest, a white glow emanating from her fingers. Holy magic was useful for immediate wounds, stemming blood loss and holding one over for the medics and Chiurgeons to work on.

In other words, triage.

She didn't know this woman, but it didn't matter; her magic could keep her lungs working and buy her the time needed for doctors to properly care for her. And then time to come up with a tonic to help healing go along more smoothly. She wondered what flavor Anna might like.

"Let me buy you some time, though it be at the cost of some of my own." She used her spell again, watching the way the aether shifted and changed within the woman. It was fascinating, but the situation was far too urgent to enjoy the science of it. Tendrils of Light threaded through Anna's lungs, almost acting like a bulwark against whatever illness this was. Temporary measures, yes, but Y’shtola knew that bought time was the most precious.

Exhaling slowly, Y'shtola's world went dark again as she lifted Anna into her arms, "Let's get you to hospital then."

Even though Anna was unlikely to hear her, she felt better speaking, telling her what she was doing as she carried her to a hospital that was conveniently nearby. And tried to shake off how addicting seeing the world alight like that was.

Darkness and cold and loneliness. That was what Anna felt. That and the wolf that seemed ever present in her sleep these days. And the trouble was, she never could tell if it was from the Dreams or just….normal nightmares. The fears. Because sometimes they were very obviously Dreams. But other times, the wolf was there but it was from the waking world.

She should have put it together sooner.

But she wanted to believe she was fine. That it was only the flu.

Oh, if Anna had known that being stabilized would mean her mysterious benefactor would have their life shortened, she would have protested. It wasn’t that bad. She didn’t need to do that for her. Not like Anna wouldn’t have done the same if she had the ability to. But she would have protested.

She wasn’t awake though. And while getting oxygen was at least easier, it was still a struggle on the way to the hospital. Even the bustling sounds of said hospital weren’t enough to pull her from the darkness. Even as it was the one she had spent so much time in. There were definitely nurses and doctors there who would recognize her just from that and know who to get in touch with.

Y'shtola had placed herself in harms way for others before, so this was no different to her.

She was swarmed almost as soon as she entered the door, and yet somehow not entirely surprised that they knew this woman. She surmised she must be a frequent visitor, though that only made her wish she could help more. But to spread oneself too thin, like a thin sheet of plastic over too large a bowl, would be folly.

"Does she have family?" She asked one nurse, but was brushed off.

Not entirely liking that and realizing that she still held onto the woman's purse, she fished through it until she found the phone. With a little sweettalking of a nice old man, she was able to open up the emergency contacts and dialed.

A woman's voice answered on the second ring, "Anna! I was just thinking of calling you actually. A client gave me some chocolates and I thought I should share."

"I'm afraid this isn't Anna," Y'shtola said, putting on her kindest bad news voice.

Elsa's good mood shattered when someone else answered Anna's phone and only spiraled from there. She heard 'hospital' and 'collapsed' and her whole world narrowed to that one key fact; her sister was in the hospital.

But she was the big sister, and she was better than this. Once she was calm (worried, a storm inside, but calm), she called an uber for the drive to the hospital.

Leaving behind a ridiculous tip, she rushed inside, but the person at the desk said Anna wasn't ready for visitors yet, so all she could do was pace.

"Excuse me."

She turned when someone addressed her, and then blinked several times as cat ears registered, "Uhm."

"I believe this belongs to your sister."

Elsa gratefully took Anna's purse from the cat woman, "Thank you. I can't thank you enough for helping her."

"I'm Y'shtola."

"Elsa."

She let the woman take her by the elbow and make her sit down, and from her demeanor she half expected her to offer a cup of tea.

Elsa could actually use a cup of tea right now. All she could do was wait, while trying to figure out what to tell her girlfriend without making her panic too.

Probably best not to start with 'I'm at the hospital.'

Only when she’d sat down, did the hospital finally call to notify her Anna was in the hospital.

The buzz and noise of the hospital wasn’t at all jarring to Anna. And in fact she didn’t think much of it once she finally started coming to. Everything was still a haze, of course. The last thing she remembered was going to the pharmacy to get something for a flu and now…

Now she was in an ever familiar hospital bed, attached to oxygen tubes and an IV drip.

And all she could feel was quiet resignation. It wasn’t all that hard to fall back into familiar habits. So despite feeling weak she had forced herself to sit up when the doctor came in to tell her what the imaging said.

Pneumonia.

“Oh.”

Well that probably explained a lot. And she did know it was important that she was in a hospital for that because of everything. Why couldn’t it have been something simple like the flu? She didn’t want to worry Elsa, who…

“Elsa!”

Which just led to her coughing as her sister came in as the doctor had left to do rounds. Her sister being there probably shouldn’t have been such a shock but….old habits and all.

Elsa rushed over to her bed, gently putting a hand on her shoulder and trying to make her lay down. Truthfully, Elsa would probably make a terrible patient too, if for different reasons. "Easy, easy..."

Pneumonia. She could scold her sister, but she was mostly relieved that she was okay. Relatively so, considering her medical history. The thought of Anna on a ventilator or worse had crossed her mind a few times.

"I'm here," Elsa said.

There was some sort of irony that Anna had gotten all annoyed at the mere prospect of Elsa working herself to getting sick because of a Dream and then Anna actually doing that. Though it wasn’t like pneumonia came that way. But with the amount of people she’d been around and her health, well….she probably had done just that.

So instead she just gave a small nod as the coughing finally subsided.

“So you are.” The comment was said with a small smile. Given she was so used to doing all of this alone? Even if she was also worrying about Elsa’s self blaming issues when it came to her health. She would have preferred not being set up to oxygen but well, that was needed right now.

Since she probably couldn’t climb into the bed with Anna and protect her, Elsa pulled a chair over so she could sit with her. Elsa smiled, sounding rueful, “I’m glad you’re okay, but you really should tell me when you’re not feeling well. If I was sneezing snowgies again I’d tell you.”

And yes, she was worried sick, absolutely terrified with Anna in the hospital and the doctors not being super informative just yet, but now that she could see her she felt a little better.

Was Anna keeping this from her the consequences of her actions? She kind of deserved it, considering her behaviour for years.

Elsa chewed on her lip and resolved to do better.

That was undoubtedly something that would be frowned upon and it wasn’t like hospital beds were all that big to begin with. But sitting next to her always worked. And was still something that was very unfamiliar to Anna. Months of them rebuilding their relationship didn’t exactly erase the years of isolation and her being more used to that. Especially in situations like that.

“Well, snowgies. I just figured it was a basic cold or flu. Take some medicine, curl up and sleep.” It wasn’t as if she had been ignoring it and pretending. Well once it became too much to handle. But that was also irrelevant.

Noticing the lip chewing, Anna couldn’t tell what it was about but was afraid her sister was blaming herself again for things she had no control over. Which was part of why she hadn’t said anything once she had realized Elsa had blamed herself for her being sick in the first place.

“I still wish you’d told me,” Elsa said after a moment. “I know I haven’t been the best sister ever, but I’m not going anywhere and I want to take care of you. The way I should have all along.”

She couldn’t change the past but she could do better going forward. It was just...the thought of losing Anna again was the stuff of nightmares and she’d already lived that once this year and she didn’t want to anytime soon.

Elsa rubbed her thumb over her palm, realizing (maybe for the first time) just how much work she still had to do to repair her relationship with Anna.

And it was a scary, scary thought.

“I’m sorry.” Because of course in the end, Anna would apologize. She got so scared in the Dreams about Elsa not needing her, about her sister overworking herself, that she didn’t want to add to that. Didn’t want to do something that would again lead to the isolation her sister inadvertently placed on her. That she needed looking after and couldn’t be trusted that she fell into the same bad habits.

Especially without anyone else around really for her to talk to or feel she could rely on.

Tiredly, the redhead leaned back against the pillow of the bed, a mix of anxiety on what was happening, the saline drip and just overall sickness combining together.

"Oh, don't be sorry," Elsa said, taking Anna's hand as carefully as she could. Which mostly meant her fingers, but close enough. She felt guilty, like she'd guilt-tripped Anna and didn't know what she was actually doing, when all that mattered was Anna.

It had always been that way, even when she hadn't been able to let Anna see it. She studied Anna's face, trying to ascertain what she was thinking and feeling. Why she might have kept her feeling sick from her.

Was she too overprotective? Or did Anna think that if she was sick Elsa might leave again? Like she was the opposite of overprotective.

"I just want to protect you and I sometimes forget you're an adult and you don't need my protection. But I don't always know how to prove to you I'm not going to..." She waved her other hand, "Leave you alone, again. I'm just kind of scared that you won't need me. Or I'll miss it when you need me the most. Or something."

Admitting her feelings was hard.

Oh. They were doing emotional things. Okay. Which yes, made sense. It was a stressful situation and with everything between them, well, old feelings were going to come up. Before she could respond, Anna turned her head to the side and coughed before shrugging.

“I know.”

Mostly. Maybe. Okay right now with the Dreams it was hard to know with how cold Elsa was being and the constant dreams about wolves. That didn’t help.

“Guess old habits you forgot you had come back when the situation arises.”

Because it was true. There were her fears and anxieties about Elsa blaming herself. About being a burden. But also...a very sad truth that she had ended up dealing with her health alone. Oh, their parents had done what they could. But so much of her childhood ended up in a hospital room like this, hours upon hours alone, and then they had died when she’d gotten her surgery and well...to Anna, she usually just had to deal with it.

And it was fine. She didn’t mind it. She didn’t. So instead she just gave a small smile.

“But I’ll remember that if I feel sick again. And not to fall back to old habits.”


"Me too," Elsa said. "About those old habits and closed doors. It might be a little easier now, I think." She smiled ruefully, knowing what dream mistakes to avoid, "I've seen enough and opened up enough, I hope. Even if I'll probably still make mistakes sometimes."

Two steps forward and one step back. And she wanted to apologize ahead of time, but she didn't know how to bring up the dreams and she wanted to leave it up to Anna to ask about them.

Which might backfire on her, but she'd deal.

Anna gave a small nod as she closed her eyes.

“Think that’s part of growing. Making mistakes I mean.”

Because it would make sense that Elsa might make mistakes. Just as Anna had in not saying anything about her health because of anxieties that still existed even when she tried to say they were silly. So what if the Dreams brought things up.

And if she’d mention the Dreams at all. That was also hard to say, especially with the way they were going. She had already figured Elsa would tell her anything major and then she’d died and hadn’t been given a heads up so that was sort of uncertain.

Then again, this was the last place to worry about any of that. And she certainly wasn’t worried about it. Not when she was finding it hard to even stay conscious by that point.

“Anna?” Elsa asked, though she wasn’t entirely sure her sister was still awake, “I know things are hard sometimes, but it’ll be alright.” She really did want to ask where Anna even was dreaming, but this definitely wasn’t the right time for that. All she could do was try to reassure her.