Chapter Text
Blish had once again woken his brother up with his coughing in the early hours of the morning.
It wasn’t a usual cough that most Asura would have, but a type of cough that makes you double over in pain as it sets your throat and lungs on fire.
“Blish?” Gorrik called out as he rushed to his older brother’s room to check up on him. As soon as Gorrik saw the state that Blish was in, he froze, eyes wide with terror and ears perked up in concern.
“I’m…f…fine.” Blish tried to console him in between bouts of coughing and gasping for air. In truth, he was not fine. He wasn’t able to breathe let alone properly reassure his brother to stop him panicking.
“You are not fine!” He protested reaching for a glass of water and the small vial of pills the doctor prescribed Blish last month. He tells Gorrik that they are helping but there has been no physical improvement.
He is still paler than normal, coughing, and unable to balance on his own two feet most of the time. They had been to every doctor in Rata Sum and Metrica Province but there was still no answer as to what was happening to Blish.
More importantly, they had no way of curing it.
No way of curing the condition that had been plaguing him since he was a progeny.
He just wanted to know what was happening. He had already come to the conclusion that his case was possibly too far advanced to treat, but there could be others that may benefit from answers. After all, that was what he had wanted to have and if he had the chance to make just one person’s life that little bit better than his has been, he would greet that chance with open arms and cherish every moment of it. Because that’s the sort of impact he wanted to leave on the world, so that they’d see him as something slightly more than ‘a condition with no cure’ or ‘a charity case’.
Once he was able to, Blish took the glass and vial out of his brother's hands and took two of the pills. Only six left, only three more attacks left until he had no help from the medicine. But he didn’t want to think about that now, it wasn’t an issue for today. Right now, Gorrik was his main priority.
“Gorrik, look at me.”
But Gorrik remained staring blankly at the vial with the six remaining tablets in.
Blish took the glass vial out of his hands steadily as not to alarm him, “Gorrik, I’m ok, see? Breathe, I am ok.”
His words had the opposite effect to what he intended, Gorrik started quietly crying and quivering, still staring straight ahead like he couldn’t comprehend anything else happening around him at that moment in time. All Blish could do was rub his back in an attempt to console his younger brother and calm him down.
Others — including his own parents — often assumed that he always knew what to do in these situations when Gorrik is unable to control his own emotions, but the truth is that Blish was just as scared as his brother a lot of the time. Scared that it would all become too much for Gorrik one day and just tip him over the edge.
To no fault of his own, Gorrik was more affected by Blish’s attacks than Blish himself was. Because even though the after effects were temporary and the pain subsided after a few minutes, Gorrik went into panic mode every time it happened. Shaking and staring soullessly to hide the pain in his head that often stayed there for hours, even after the attack had subsided.
—
“I think that we should go to Kryta.” Gorrik stated one day.
“Kryta?” Blish queried.
“Yeah, I mean they have other…doctors and stuff that could help you heal, and humans have other -– if less advanced — medical equipment and medicinal herbs that are different to ours. I have found an apothecary in Queensdale which is widely known for it’s variety of-”
“Brother,” Blish interrupted Gorrik’s anxious rambling, “you don’t have to convince me, your word is enough. If you think we should go to Kryta then we will.”
Blish knew his brother was trying to help, and deep down there was a small flicker of hope that maybe the humans would have something to assist in his condition. But in reality, he knew that probably wasn’t the case and that there was a reason they haven’t been able to find anything yet — because there was nothing to find.
Gorrik scurried off to try and find supplies to pack for their unexpected journey north but not before shouting back; “But you’re paying the waypoint fees!”
Blish couldn’t help but chuckle at that. During these hard times, it has felt like the two brothers have only become closer whilst taking care of each other. They’d leaned on each other more than ever before, and even though their fights only used to be few, there had been none for nearly a year now. That was something that even their parents could not achieve.
It was bittersweet.
They were closer than they’d ever been before, being forced together through means of needing comfort and support, but at what cost did that proximity come?
Blish was still getting worse, there was no denying it. As much as he tried to hide it for Gorrik’s sake, it hurt. It hurt so much.
Every cough felt like his lungs were being set ablaze from the inside, cutting off his airways and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. His head became dizzy and light whilst his vision tunnelled and started to go dim. He didn’t need to worry Gorrik more than he already was,and he knew that Gorrik would be just as hurt if he found out that Blish had been keeping the pain all to himself, but…
“Are you coming?” Gorrik asked from the doorway, carrying his half-packed bag.
“On my way.”