New Geneva...

Ilario

"Where are you working today?" I asked as Matheos and I headed out of the breakfast room, passing into the narrow corridor that led to the numerous work rooms.

"With you," he replied. "For the morning at least." I nodded and we finished the journey in a companionable silence. At the door to the 'cures' room, we both paused and then entered together. I closed the outer door behind us while Matheos pressed a large blue button on the control pad and activated the quarantine. The entrance chamber was small and led into another, even smaller room where we showered and changed into sterile suits, pulling on the gloves and face masks carefully.

"I'm supposed to be working on the Alburn Plague," Matheos said as we headed into the main room and the metal door closed behind us, sealing us in. I nodded thoughtfully.

"I thought as much," I said. "I just can't quite get the combination right. There's got to be something missing."

"Me," Matheos said with a grin. I smiled vaguely and shook my head at him before showing him which samples to look at. I got the test details out and his eyes widened.

"So it cured two and killed three?" he asked. I nodded thoughtfully, the statistics finding a snug corner in my head.

"And there was absolutely no change in the other five," I said. "So what's different in the two who were cured and the three who were killed?"

Amelia-

At last, the two of them managed to rugby tackle the plant back into its pot and Seven slammed the screeen shut. Amelia, however, was still intrugued.

"Is it... sentient?" she asked with a frown.

Seven shrugged. "Couldn't tell without a dissection and we can't get close enough to is to find out. I doubt it though."

"But it's possible," Amelia said, intrigued. "A sentient plant... it's like something out of a horror movie..."

"Yeah," Seven said coldly, and Amelia got the hint.

"Alright, alright, I won't touch him again," she said, taking off the gloves. "Ew, I've got dirt under my nails," she said. Seven rolled her eyes.

"Vain, much?" she asked. Amelia gave her a dirty look.

"Sometimes it's nice to have something that you care about in this place, you know," she said, by way of explanation.

Seven had no reply. Amelia cursed herself and gave her a warm smile.

"Sorry. Mornings get me. Anyway, I'll see you later, right?"

Seven grunted, and Amelia hurried to the Chemisty labs, almost late.

Matheos-

"There's a possibility that the other five have... some kind of immunity to the substances you used, right?" Matheos asked.

Ilario nodded slowly.

"But the samples were taken from the same parent, so how could some cells be immune and others not?" he mused to himself. "They were from the same organism, weren't they?" he checked.

"Definitely," Ilario said. "Seeing as I took them myself."

"Of course," I said, rolling my eyes. "Let's have a look at the two it cured."

I pulled two of the petri dishes towards me.

"So your combination is a cure for the disease, presumably. I doubt it was coincidence."

"But what about the other eight dishes?"

I looked at them. "The ones that died... do they still have the plague? Which killed them, the plague or the cure?"

[Seven Folestion]

Her hands darted around the mess that was presumably a desk for a pen and piece of paper. Amelia had quickly left after the sort of awkward and uncomfortable wrestle with the plant and the conversation after. The room had fell silent besides the rustle of dirt on the floor and very few crumpled papers on the desk.

Seven pulled out a notebook and found a half written on piece of paper, tearing it off, and then scribbling onto the front:

I need anaesthesia

She hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind and jogging her way towards the Medical ward of the building where Ilario or Matheos should be--and they were. Seven knocked onto the window that also served as one of the walls and put the paper up to it.

"Hey!" she shouted, knocking again to get their attention. "Turn around!"

Ummm, I don't know about you, but I'm still waiting for Ben's answer, why is this dying? It hasn't even begun!

Sorry guys, I've been pretty busy what with NaNo and everything...

Ilario

Flicking through a slim file tucked away on one of the shelves, I located the right page and scanned the autopsy report.

"Hmm, they still had some signs of the plague but they were diminished, it looked like they were going to make a full recovery right up until the day they died. It was sudden."

"Must have been the cure then," Matheos said. I nodded, putting the file on the side and glancing at one of the petri dishes. It didn't worry me heavily to know that something I had created had taken lives. They were going to die of the plague anyway, I reasoned and those I saved always made up for it. But it irked me that I'd been so close and failed at the last hurdle. I hate set backs...

"I hate to admit it but I can see no other way of progressing without trying it a few more times," I said thoughtfully, my brows dipped in a frown. Matheos shook his head.

"You'd just get the same results," he said. "What other information have you collected on the ten of them?"

"If you'll walk into my office..." I smiled a little and led the way through the big room filled with its many tables and various work areas, into one of the small side rooms. This particular one had paper walls, each sheet stuck there by blu-tack and my hand-writing or typed data covered much of the space.

"I started here, looking at simple things like ages and then I compared gender and their current stage of the plague but none of these showed any definate pattern. Then I tried other things, go ahead and read it. There's nothing to link those who died or those who were cured or even those who were somehow imune." Matheos walked around the room a little, reading my notes and the data, occasionally pausing to get his head around a particular piece of information.

"These five who weren't effected, are they... dead yet?" Matheos asked.

"All but one," I said. "That's what I hate about this plague. It works quickly so we'll have to keep searching for new volunteers."

*This is dying, why? It's barely three pages and everything is going sooo slow. Where is everybody?"

[Seven Folestion]

"Hey! Ilario!" I slammed against the wall, but they didn't turn.

I dropped the paper and, as it floated to the ground, I dug in my jacket pocket for my cell phone. Quickly finding it, I dailed int the Medical Ward's phone number. It rung, and rung, the two of them inside wondering the sound--until Matheos found it.

"Hello?" he said, pushed looking at the papers he pushed away to find the phone.

"God! You two are deaf," I sighed irritably into the phone. "Now, I need anaesthia,"

"For?"

"A..." I paused, trying to think of an answer that made sense, but found nothing. So, I went with the truth. "A plant--sort of."

**Whoops, sorry. Thought I'd posted, and NaNo and schoolwork's been getting the better of me...**

Ben:

He watched Ballow's lip quivering, the boy seemed to be on the verge of tears. Ben scratched his head a little, genuinely unsure of what to do. Social situations weren't his forte. Is he faking? Or is he actually going to cry because I wouldn't tell him what I'm working on?

He fidgeted a little, then sighed, "Alright, fine. I'm working on a genetic cure for radiation poisoning, relatively basic stuff, but they need it to be compatible with all the new cures and the like. Some of them react badly with the way everything's structured, so I've got to look at restructuring genetic makeup and chemical balances so that they'll work with the cures. That's why I was talking to Amelia, I've gotta get over to the chem labs later to run some stuff by her." He glanced to his computer again, Am I going to get anything done today? "You were saying something about reversing gravity, though?"

Ilario

"Who is it?" I asked as Matheos talked into the phone. He pointed behind himself absently and I turned, following the direction of his hand. Through the glass window of the door and all the way through the outer chamber, I could see Seven outside the cures room. I waved a little, half-heartedly, irritated that she was interrupting our work. She rolled her light green eyes at me and moved a little of the dark brown hair away from her ear as she nodded and spoke into the phone.

"Fine," Matheos was saying. "I'll send Ilario out with it."

"With what?" I asked, frowning. Matheos put the phone down before turning to me and saying:

"Seven needs some anaesthia for a plant." I raised a brow.

"And you're not taking this excuse to talk to a pretty girl because..." Matheos grinned and held his arms out, encircling the room in one huge gesture.

"I'm working," he said. I rolled my eyes again and re-entered the outer chamber, walking calmly towards another of the rooms branching off from it. This one was a large store room with shelves and shelves filled with various herbs and bottled medicines and anything else that had ever been tried as a cure (and a few things that hadn't).

Finding the right bottle was easy, it being grouped by type and alphabetically within each section but I had to go into the shower room and strip and change before I could leave sure that I wasn't carrying particles of the plague virus out with me. Removing the mask from my face felt good and I passed the bottle to Seven as soon as the door was closed behind me.

"Dealing with anything dangerous in there?" she asked conversationally.

"No more dangerous than some of the plants you guys concoct," I stated. She flushed red just a little and I wondered what the hell she had been up to but my skin itched to be wearing medical scrubs again and be back in there, studying my viruses.

[Seven Folestion]

"Anything interesting going on in there?"

Ilarios glanced back through the window and a look passed over his face that clearly read: Stop talking to me so I can go back! I looked away awkwardly, he didn't really want to talk. The silence afterward was unbearable.

"After I knock out my Venus fly trap, could you take a look at it? See if there's anything useful in it besides the ability to be a living trash can."

Ilarios actually chuckled a little at the joke and I couldn't help but join in--a little. He nodded and said, "Sure,"

I started to turn and walk towards the Botany Ward to retrieve the cage with Vens securely inside, footsteps were behind me. I glanced backwards and Ilarios sped up to walk beside me. My face felt warm, was I blushing? It started to feel a little hotter. Why am I blushing? I looked up to him and he smiled. Why was he smiling?!

Luckily, the ward wasn't that far away. I slipped the key out of my pocket and unlocked the door. Everything paused for a second, silence between the two of us, as the sliver of metal slid to the right and opened. A pile of vines and leaves from various plants fell forward. Ilarios took a gentle step inside and looked around, his eyes widened just a bit. Has he never been in the Botany Ward before? I thought.

"Well, there it is." I pointed towards a corner of the room where, in a fairy large glass and wire-mesh covered cage, was a two foot tall Venus fly trap snapping at the glass. I shoved the anaesthesia in his hands, he looked to me. "Good luck, doctor."

Ilario

Doctor... I liked that, it had a nice ring to it. But when it meant me trying to feed pills to some huge, man eating plant, I was willing to be just plain old Ilario. Seven smiled at me encouragingly, her head tipped slightly to the side as she watched what I was going to do. It was nice how the light caught her flesh and made it look soft and warm, glowing from withing like a light bulb.

"Why don't you assist me, Nurse?" I asked with a brimming smile, mostly grinning at my own silliness. I was getting to be almost as bad as Matheos.

"Sure," she said. "I'll stand in front of the door, make sure the patient doesn't make a dive for the exit."

"That sounds... helpful," I decided. Tipping some of the pills into my hand, I moved cautiously into the room, stepping gingerly over wines and leaves so as not to damage any of the plants. The Venus fly trap seemed to watch me from within its containment and I almost thought it was smiling as I approached that corner of the room.

A little closer, easing forwards and the thing launched itself at the glass, snapping frantically towards me. I judged how much farther I could go before the lid would be in reach. Not far. I stepped my way across and watched it for a moment, entranced despite the slight jolt of fear pumping through my blood.

Approaching from the side, I laid one hand on the lid, holding the pills in the other. In a swift movement, I lifted the lid, tossed the pills in and sealed its container again. The Venus fly trap stopped mid snap, disappointed by my speed and how easily it had been out-witted, having paused a while to watch the pills fall in.

It looked to them now and with what could only be described as a sulky countenance devoured them, having nothing else to swallow. I beckoned Seven over and she hovered a step behind me, both of us watching as the pills took affect.

"Let's taker a closer look, shall we?" I asked, itching to get my hands on a new specimen, to see if it might be an aide in any of my cures.

[Seven Folestion]

"Hold it," I placed my arm between him and the plant. "It could be faking,"

Ilarios raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms dubiously, but there was a hint of trust in what I said. I dropped my arm and took a few careful steps toward the cage. Vens stirred slightly, but that was it. I tapped the glass softly and waited a moment. Nothing.

"See?" Ilaros shook his head, almost laughing.

"Well, it was faking the last time I tried to take one of its leaves." I raised my left hand into the light and turned it, palm up. "It even bit me!"

Ilarios took my hand in his and seemed to be studying the small, needle-like dots meticulously. I blushed a little, I think. My face felt warm again--and so did his hand. As he turned my hand to look at the other side, I felt a small smile starting to creep up my face.

"Um, I think we should carry the cage over to your ward before it wakes up again." I tried cool my face down and keep my expression serious, but I don't think that worked very much. "You can look at my hand when we get over there." I smiled again.

Ilario

"Probably a good idea, I don't have the right medicines to treat it here..." I answered thoughtfully but as my eyes met hers, I felt like I had somehow misinterpreted her words. Was she suggesting... that I liked holding her hand? I raised a brow as she continued to stand there and look at me and then reached for one side of the tank. She hurriedly took the other.

As we carried it, our hands almost meeting around the sides, I wondered: did I like holding her hand? And I supposed I did. But then, she was female, attractive and friendly. It was only a natural reaction.

"You'll have to shower and change into one of the thrilling, surgical outfits you know," I said casually. She blinked in surprise.

"Oh... I didn't think of that. But it's cool." You show me yours and I'll show you mine... the line rose unbidden to my mind and I smiled, knowing I'd spent too much time with Matheos. We reached the outer door and I pressed the button, ushering her in before indicating that we should put the tank on the floor.

"The shower's this way. I'll let you use it first and you'll find the suits and masks in the lockers just against that wall. There's hair bobbles there too." I pointed first to the shower cubicle and then to the back wall of the room. "I'll be back around the corner with the plant when you're done. Just come and get me."

*sorry, m'dears, I did warn you I would disappear... what sucks is that next weekend I'll be hiking the whole weekend so you won't actually be seeing me for two weeks... Anyway, this week has gone sooo slowly, I've been super-stressed....*

Amelia-

Her stomach rumbled and the others working on her bench looked up.

"I'm hungry," she said with a blush as she walked over. "Sorry I'm late, but on the bright side, we do know that the fertilizer makes flytraps go cra-zy."

There was one other girl in her lap group who raised her eyebrows- she was a prissy little thing. The boys all grinned stupidly.

"Right so," she said, putting on my goggles -super stylish plastic with turqoise transparent rims, what a fashion statement! "This stuff... has anyone tried it on radiation-affected soil?"

One of the boys shook his head. "There's a transport coming later today. From England."

"My hometown," she said with a smile. "How did they get in?"

"With difficulty," was the answer.

"Look," I said, prodding the jelly-like substance that sat in the beaker in front of us. "It's got to be better than horse manure, right? The plants lap it up and it should help to reverse the effects of radiation..."

"And it's also incredibly expensive to make in large quantities," one of her teammates pointed out.

"True," she said, and sighed. That was the problem these days. Nobody had any money. It was strange to think, Amelia had always had money, and never thought that would change. But the whole world was in financial crisis.

"Let's get cracking," she said, shaking the thoughts away and concentrating on the problem in hand.

Matheos-

He smirked as he watched the other two leave. Ilario is spending too much time with me for his own good, he thought. But then again, good for him.

He looked at the petri dishes again. The plague was a difficult one. He watched the ones that had not been affected closely, but wasn't able to see anything. Then he took one of them and slid it under the microscope. The virus was definitely there, eating away.

He stood up and looked at the file again. Taken from Bordeaux, France, it said in Ilario's cramped writing.

Matheos sighed. He didn't have a clue and needed help with it.

[Seven Folestion]

The glass slipped from my fingers gently to the ground. I swivled around on my heels and headed towards the showers, still a little dazed. The stacks of blue tiles wall to floor to ceiling was helping a little to clear my head. The water that sprayed from all sides made me think of car washes... it also made me wonder how long it'd been since I'd taken a decent shower.

After awhile, there was a knock on the door. It was Ilarios. "Hey, Seven? You don't need to take that long. Only a quick rinse!" there was laughter.

"Oh, um," I stumbled for an excuse, but the water felt so nice.

I shut it off the water and dried, slipping on the surgical outfits and anything else I found in there. I really did look like a docter and it made me giggle when I caught my self in the mirror.

"Okay, I'm, er, done." I opened the door and found Ilarios sitting on the floor, gazing into Vens cage.

Once he looked up, an amused smile playing across his face, he started towrds the shower. My face was beginning to feel hot again and I new it was from him.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms.

He looked me up and down, smile still present. "Oh nothin'..."

Ilario

I'd never seen a girl's hair look so vibrant before. If it looks that shiny and lovely when it's wet, why do they bother to dry it? Wet hair in the lab could be a problem but... I mulled it over while I showered. No, there was no option. It would have to be dried.

Pulling the scrubs on and slipping the mask over my mouth, I left the shower room to find Seven now looking at the plant. I touched her arm and she jumped a little, whirling around, slightly off balance. I steadied her, my fingers gently squeezing her arm until she'd recovered.

"We've got to get you dry," I said. She raised a brow and I looked at her hair. She touched it, feeling the dampness and made a face. "Mine's wet too."

Back around the corner, I showed her how to change the shower so that it exhaled heat instead and we both stood there, our thoughts escaping us under the noise of the pipes. But at least all the water was evaporated.

"Okay, let's get the plant," I said. She nodded and we lifted the glass together, moving into the other room as the door sealed behind us. Matheos came over to see what we were up to.

"You're bringing a plant in here?" he asked skeptically. He reached over to remove the lid just as it began to stir.

"Should we warn him it bites?" I asked Seven casually. He snapped his fingers back. "Here, you can give Venus her next dose."