Curse of Compassion

Chapter 7

If Mikal was done playing, Rogue was done, too. He got out of the pool in the same instant Mikal slipped. He couldn't just let her fall as he watched, so he did what any good friend would do. He caught her. 

"What? Rogue? Let go of me!" She shoved his chest away from her. 

The pain didn't set in until a few seconds after he touched her. It felt as if Natsu had lit his arms on fire. "Ngh," he groaned and grit his teeth. He saw the terror in her eyes before he squeezed his eyes shut. "It's..it's o-okay," he spat through his clenched jaw in an effort to calm Mikal, but the pain was almost unbearable.  His knees felt weak and he collapsed.

The second wave of pain hit as he fell to the ground. The sudden jolt travelled through his legs until it reached his head.  His skull felt like it was being busted open. Every pain receptor in his body amplified the pain like a surround-sound system. He felt like he was being burned alive. 

"Rogue!" He was barely able to register that Mikal was screaming his name. Someone grabbed his left arm and slung it over their shoulder, then grabbed at his right side to lift him to his feet. He figured it was Sting since Mikal couldn't touch him.  At this point the sounds of the outside world were overwhelmed by the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.

Every step to the infirmary was painful. He collapsed onto one of the beds and finally opened his eyes. "Yo. Can you hear me?" Sting leaned into his field of visioin.

"Y-Yes," he wheezed, his lungs feeling like they were being rung out like a wet cloth.

"What happened to him?" Wendy placed her hands over his arms without touching them. "Is he allergic to something?"

"You can say that." Sting grabbed a cloth from a drawer somewhere and dowsed it in the sink. He brought it over and placed it over Rogue's forehead.

"It...feels like fire," Rogue barely manages to speak as he gasped for air. His fingers curled over the mattress beneath him. His nails had begun to dig into his skin even though the bedding separated his fingers from the palms of his hands. "It feels like Natsu's fire."

"Yeah, we can see that. You're covered in burns. Wendy, what else do we need? Bandages? Antiseptics?"

"No, I think I'll be able to heal them completely in a few minutes." Her brows knit together as she concentrated on healing his wounds.

"Burns?" Rogue lowered his gaze to his arms. Sting was right. Second degree burns plagued a majority of his arms and the area on his chest that Mikal had pushed against. "Where is she?" He groaned as Wendy moved to place her hands over his chest. 

"I told her to stay back." Sting folded his arms.  "What happened out there?"

"She...was..falling." Rogue grimaced as his head faced another wave of sharp pains. 

"You didn't have to catch her. It wasn't like she was going to die from a little fall," Sting scolded with a harsh tone. Rogue knew this was his way of showing concern for him. 

"I couldn't h-help it."

"Rogue?" A small voice emerged from below the bed. Frosch hopped up and hugged Rogue's head. "Why are you hurting?" Her voice and body were trembling.

"Hey, Frosch," he slowly placed a trembling hand on his cat's back.  The movement caused more pain, but he bit his lip so he wouldn't scare his little friend more.  "I'll be alright."

"You promise?" The cat looked at him with worry. 

"Yeah, I promise." A corner of his lip lifted upward to reassure Frosch.