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The first night in the lighthouse was peaceful. Despite Gem, Pearl and Grian’s enthusiasm about the idea of being the chaotic villains of the server this season, once the beds were made in their humble sandstone tower-base, all three were out like a light, thoroughly worn out from the first session. Especially Gem, whose body seemed to be having a rougher time adjusting to the new, less-polished beta world. She’d been pale and shivery the whole time, her voice raspy as if the fog of the out-dated landscapes burned her throat. Pearl and Grian hadn’t worried much, especially at Gem’s insistence that she was fine and simply needed a good night’s sleep in a proper base to get accustomed to the environment.
Grian woke slowly, sunlight from the window hitting the avian hybrid’s face as he opened his eyes groggily.
He sat up and stretched his wings out behind him until they touched the wall. They were brown and white this season, plus a little grey; he’d been unsure what species he was mixed with (he was always some sort of bird, but never the same type between life cycles) until Etho had shown him pictures of something called a “potoo”, and apparently he’d “unhinged his jaw in a very similar way while laughing”, and that was good enough for him. Not quite as fabulous as his peacock features last season, but it was what it was.
He looked over at the other two beds along the wall near his. Pearl’s was empty; he guessed the moth hybrid had chosen to get an early start on the farm (it seemed the crops were somehow more sensitive in this less polished world), but Gem’s still held a Villie-shaped lump hidden entirely under the blankets. He squinted and realized with mild alarm that the lump was quivering violently. He could hear Gem’s uneven, almost rattling breaths from where he sat.
“…Gem?” he muttered uncertainly. Was she actually ill? Should they have been more concerned last night about how quiet she’d been last night?
“Mmmg…” a hoarse grumble came from the lump as his new teammate burrowed further into the blankets.
“Gem?” he said again, louder.
The lump shifted and Gem’s head popped out and turned towards him blearily.
“What…? Wutisit?” the reindeer rasped, then promptly dissolved into a fit of coughing.
“Whoa. So you look awful. And sound awful. Why didn’t you wake us?” he asked, sitting up straighter as Gem fought to regain her breath.
“M’fine…” she muttered, sniffling.
The redhead looked very far from ‘fine’ in Grian’s opinion. Her freckled face was pale, save for a dull flush spread across her cheeks. Her doe ears drooped dejectedly against the sides of her head, fluttering slightly whenever a shiver seized her frame. Even her antlers looked duller, though Grian wasn’t sure if that was a thing.
“No, you’re not. I wonder what’s going on, none of us have ever had this hard a time with a season change before,” he said thoughtfully.
“Lucky me…” she grumbled, pulling the blanket in tighter around her shoulders.
“Uh…” the bird shifted his shoulders, growing awkward, “do want… water? Some bread? Jacket potato? Steak?”
“What are you? A waiter?” Gem grunted, wrinkling her nose at him.
“I don’t know! I’ve never had to deal with a sick teammate before,” he flailed his wings defensively. Out of all the injuries he’d seen in the past, none of his previous teammates had ever gotten truly ill on his watch, and now one had not even a few days in.
“I don’t need…” she didn’t get to finish before being taken over by another spasm of coughing.
“Okay- okay- I am not responsible enough for this, I’m getting Pearl,” he decided quickly, getting to his feet.
“Grian…” Gem grumbled in between coughs, though she didn’t try to stop him as he moved towards the door.
…
By the time Grian got back with Pearl in tow Gem was standing up, seemingly attempting to cook something in the furnace but leaning heavily against the wall and still shivering profusely. Pearl, with the air of someone who’d had to do this exact thing before, gently guided the pale-faced deer to sit back down on her bed.
“Wow, you’re burning up, G. Did you lick any doorknobs yesterday?” Pearl asked lightly, brushing sweat damp curls out of Gem’s face.
“What’s it matter? I’m fineeee,” the redhead drawled shakily.
“You need to find a dictionary and look up ‘fine’, I think,” Grian teased from where he stood near the crafting bench, arms crossed and head cocked in a plausibly nonchalant way, he thought.
Gem stuck her tongue out at him, then sniffled and hugged her shoulders as more chills ran through her.
“I’m freezing,” she muttered, seemingly too embarrassed to pull the blanket up around herself.
“You’re definitely staying in bed today,” Pearl said decidedly, draping the blanket over the doe for her.
“But we have a lighthouse to build! And chaos to spread! We’re the villains! Villains don’t take sick days,” Gem protested, pushing the blanket off and then wincing as she shivered harder.
“You can’t exactly spread chaos if you can’t stand up straight,” Grian pointed out as Pearl pulled the blanket up again and then began redoing Gem’s braid where it’d started coming loose.
“I think I’m with Grian this time,” the moth hybrid offered.
“Haha see! I’ve got a Pearl! And they always say whoever’s got Pearl’s got the argument,” Grian declared triumphantly as Gem sheepishly clutched the blanket around herself, “now, you want some beetroot soup? No, wait, does that exist yet? Mushroom soup? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that exists. Hold on, I’ll get some mushrooms.”
“I’m not eating your shroom stew,” Gem called after him as he started towards the door.
“Yes you are! And you’ll like it!” he responded cheerily.
Pearl came outside a moment after him to fill a bottle with water for Gem.
“Do you think we should worry? I know Gem’s tough but I’ve never really had a team member be ill before,” he asked as he pulled a bowl out of a chest.
“I have, with Scott, all the way back in Last. He had a couple of bad migraines around the start. I don’t think we need to worry. Gem always gets a little grumpy when she’s hurt but you’re right she’s tough,” Pearl reassured, “she’ll be alright after some food and rest.”
…
Grian could see the moon, half full, shining behind some clouds outside the lighthouse window.
“Grian, could you pass me the bowl?” Pearl ordered, and the bird obeyed, carrying a bowl of cool water over to where the moth sat on the edge of Gem’s bed. She dipped a piece of fabric in, wrung it out and pressed it to the reindeer’s forehead.
Their third teammate was curled on her side under a light blanket, protesting weakly at the cold of the cloth.
What had started as unrelenting but manageable chills had given way to a fever so high that even Grian, who naturally ran higher than most as an avian, could feel it if he brushed against her.
“Do you think she’s any better?” he asked, feeling rather stupid and useless as he watched Gem whimper slightly in pain.
“I- I don’t know…” Pearl muttered, not looking up from the deer’s face as it contorted, “I… don’t think… shit…” she cursed as she brushed her fingers against Gem’s no doubt burning cheek again. His teammate turned toward him with frightened eyes, “I don’t know what to do, Grian! I’ve never seen anything like this. She keeps getting worse, I- I…”
She trailed off helplessly. Grian stared back at her, then, “Etho!” he blurted, “m- maybe Etho will know something. He knows this version of the world best of anyone. If anybody’ll know what to do…”
Pearl got to her feet, “It’s worth a try.” She hesitated, glancing at Gem, then moved towards the door, “I’ll go get him. You stay here with her.”
“What? Sh- shouldn’t I go and you stay?” Grian stammered, looking between his two fellow Villies.
Pearl shook her head, her face objective and decisive, which somehow scared him most of anything, “I’m the only one who can fly at night. I’ll be faster.”
That was true, despite potoo birds apparently being nocturnal, he was still an utterly useless flier in the dark, while Pearl could flit through it like just another part of the night sky.
“Just… keep her comfortable. Keep the cloth on her head. Please,” the moth looked close to desperate.
Grian hesitated, then nodded. A moment later their third was winging away into the night.
The bird padded over to the edge of the doe’s bed. He stared at the limp form of his teammate. He hadn’t been imagining it. Gem’s antler’s were definitely different; right where they met her head, a small patch of paleness had appeared on each, contrasting with the brown and ginger. Not big, not very noticeable, but certainly there. He’d never seen that before. He wondered if it was a clue to what she had, but if it was, he wouldn’t know what to do with it.
Gem had started to shiver again, her limbs twitching as she sniffled, coughed and whimpered in her sleep. He wondered if he should remove the cold rag, but Pearl had said to keep it there.
“I should probably applaud you, actually. Cuz this is really dramatic, and that’s what being a good villain’s all about,” he said quietly, walking around to the other side of her bed.
He could see her shoulders trembling from where he stood. He hesitated.
“Villains are also good at getting people to do things for them, yeah? That’s working here too.”
He sat down on the bed beside the deer, and slowly spread one wing over her, letting her burrow into his feathers and soak up their warmth. Even through his wing he could feel the immense heat pulsing from her as her body fought against whatever it was that had threatened it so much. How dare this thing threaten one of his teammates. He’d make it pay, somehow. He shifted closer so Gem could curl around him, exchanging body heat.
They stayed like that a long time. Gem slowly stopped shivering, and didn’t resume whimpering either. Grian didn’t dare move. He heard the wind whistling past the window outside.
The avian had half dozed off against the headboard with Gem still huddled close when he heard the door burst open.
His bleary eyes focused onto the shapes of Etho and Pearl hurrying in.
Etho bent over the bed and Grian shifted his wing enough for him to see the sleeping doe.
“Aw, Gem…” Etho murmured sympathetically, gently resting a hand on the second Villie’s head.
“Do you know what’s wrong?” Grian asked urgently, “I thought it was just the world transition getting to her at first, but this seems really bad for just that.”
“Well, you were half right,” the white wolf hybrid said softly, “you said she’d never been in a world this old before?”
Grian nodded.
“Yeah, newer worlds have defenses against these, but in the older lands back in my day, creatures were much more prone to getting viruses.”
“Did you seriously just say ‘back in my day’, Etho?” the bird hybrid teased despite himself. He saw Pearl actually huff the tiniest chuckle, however worried she may look.
Etho had the grace to look abashed before continuing, “It used to be pretty common. Even if you never got sick, just being in the worlds would give you some level of tolerance. I can imagine how much of a shock it would be on someone’s body if they never experienced it before. I’m more surprised she’s the only one having issues.”
“So, will she be okay?” Pearl asked, moving closer to the bed.
Etho stroked the hair out of the younger lifer’s face and adjusted the cloth on her forehead, “She should be fine. It’s only a matter of time before her body fully adjusts, it won’t kill her, and it seems like she’s out of the worst. Just make sure she gets good food and water when she next wakes up. And try to keep her from exerting too much for a little while.”
The older man stood up, looking satisfied with his advice. Grian had to ask, before the wolf left.
“What about her antlers?” he said quickly.
“What about them?” Etho looked back down at him and the deer.
“They’re all pale around here, and- and it kinda confused me,” he explained, a little lamely.
Etho studied the paler patches at the base of the antlers, looking puzzled. He saw Pearl shift to look down at them as well.
“Huh. I don’t know what that’s about,” Etho admitted, “The virus shouldn’t affect how she looks. Our appearances can change as the series goes on, though, remember?”
“I guess. I’ve never seen it change this soon though. I think it happened over the night of the world update,” Grian said quietly, figuring he might as well air his confusion anyway. Etho looked just as confused as him though.
“That is unusual. But, if our appearances can change between lives, maybe they can change between versions too? Like, a more gradual shift?”
“So, we shouldn’t worry about it?” Pearl asked, and Grian realized she’d sat down on the bed as well, one of her wings brushing the one of his that wasn’t over Gem.
Etho shrugged, “Probably not? Sorry, I wish I knew more. I’m not exactly well-versed in skins changing. But, I wouldn’t worry about it right now.”
He flicked his tail as if to ease their worries.
“I should get back to Cabin Core. I can’t leave Bdubs alone for too long. Good luck, you two, I promise Gem will be alright now.”
And with that he was gone, leaving the three Villies alone in the lighthouse.
“Do you think he’s right?” Pearl murmured.
Grian looked at Gem. Her face was peaceful now, there was a slightly healthier amount of color in it than before. He could see sweat sheening her face like her body was finally pushing out the attack.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said eventually, “I mean, don’t listen to me over Etho here. I thought I was smarter than him once and it didn’t go well.”
He’d gone through that whole confusing process with Gem, he remembered. Pearl chuckled slightly, then stifled a yawn.
“We should probably all sleep now,” she said reluctantly.
Grian made to stand and Gem immediately grumbled incoherently and pulled his wing back over herself.
“I don’t think she’s gonna let you get up,” Pearl giggled more heartily, her antenna twitching.
“Save yourself,” the bird whispered dramatically, extending an arm towards her in mock sorrow.
“Villains go down together,” the moth declared, and moved to curl up on Gem’s other side, “g’night, Grian.”
Grian sighed and laid back with his wing still over Gem.
“G’night, Pearl.”
…
A few days later, Grian awoke with his throat sore and hoarse, a small price to pay.