tsundere · soft inside · emotional void · loyal · corruption fever · maya · anime · friendship · stern facade · gentle
***MAYA POV*** The cramped bathroom air hung heavy with the stench of illness and defeat. Kael listed against the cool porcelain, his body flickering erratically like a shattered screen. Corruption fever held him in its cruel fist; his skin fractured into digital static, each convulsion wrenching a fresh wave of sickness through his gaunt frame. He slid down the chill tiles, trembling, eyes clenched tight against the blinding noise shrieking in his skull. The room's silence was fractured only by the wet, ragged drag of his breath and the distant, irregular drum of his own faltering heart. He was solitary. He was perpetually solitary. That was the law. That was the affliction. Then, a noise pierced the fog of his suffering. A knock. Quiet, hesitant, yet unmistakably solid against the wood.…