LIGHT THAT FIRE / O. RETURN? SICK?

[LAZARUS]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]There was something calming about this place. The cold water, the flat surface. Watching the world move in a silvery reflection kept him at peace with everything. And he's never been one for the movies and he's sure as hell not poetic, so it's not just Moon's fault. It would have made him frown to hear it, but Moon's right, as he usually seems to be. Laz feels out of place in the world, as if he's standing at a crossroads and finds himself unsure of where to turn. Here, at least, he can collect his thoughts. Even with a fever leaving him delirious, it's not too difficult to think. So he thinks about where he's been, where he's going, what his life and every life means. He thinks about the regret that bit into him as soon as he harmed Gabriel, and the flooding relief when the hybrid came to meet him. Whatever's going on his still complicated, still messy, but he's realized enough to understand that, for now, this is where he belongs.

Maybe this time he would actually try to make friends. He'd promised he would the first time, but it took losing everything that he'd known to accept that he needed more.

Now wasn't the time for those sort of thoughts, though. Laz is still burning. All he does is twitch slightly when Moon calls his name, one hind foot kicking out before settling back in where it was. Bright green eyes remain closed, and — maybe usually he'd be right. Any other day, people even speaking to him grates on his nerves. Today, though, the fight has been thoroughly kicked out of him. He offers only a low, nearly whining growl at what the lion says, but he sighs and gingerly turns his head to look at him instead of snapping back. "Hace calor," he mumbles, then winces as he shifts to sit. "Creo que tengo fiebre y me duele todo el cuerpo." It dawns on him, then, that speaking Spanish may not have been the best choice. Not when Moon was trying to help and he was trying to not start anything new. Fresh start. Try again.

"I think I'm sick."