#the fact that it is culturally common for adults to have anxiety nightmares about school/exams...even decades later?

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*tries to organize my thoughts*

*remembers i'm not in school and therefore beholden to neither heaven nor hell nor any man's grading system*

*joyously shredding & tossing all my carefully arranged 3x5 mental notecards into the air like so much beige confetti. raising my arms in victory, cheering raucously until i accidentally inhale bits of homemade confetti*

(*coughing up itty bits of paper like a cat evicting a hairball with a firm understanding of tenants' rights*) wait wat happens next

[curewhimsy]

So I'm writing a Pandemic AU and I'll show you what I have... I guess...

It's probably not so good, since I've never really read or watched any media about this topic.

TW: Death, suicide, many possible disease-related triggers, may cause anxiety if you are the faint of heart. (Like me.)

Pandemic AU

The disease purple flu is a virus, named so as it gives your skin an odd purple hue

Symptoms- Sweating Dizziness Decreased blood flow to the head Pneumonia Congestion Stroke Hemorrhage Fever Internal bleeding Organ failure Paranoia and insanity (partly because of the mental strain of having the disease)

It can be transmitted through sweat, blood, food, and mucus. Sumi got it by ingesting food with the virus on it.

Think about how the disease and the panic effects culture. -Prayers for the world to get better -People all over are writing songs and making art pieces depicting the situation -Quarantines -Mass suicide when it looks bleak -Media that comes out is meant to cheer people up and uplift them

Think about the shortage of hospitals and how rapid people are becoming sick and dying. Eventually, it's decided nothing can be done...

Bianca's last day before the pandemic news breaks out is a very lighthearted, memorable day of having fun with friends, the exact kind of day you get sad when it ends. This is to show how suddenly lives are being affected by the disaster.

Rhona is one of the scientists researching a cure, along with Zero, and Reisei, who is a doctor in training.

The disease doesn't infect animals and Bianca feels terrible about leaving Snowbell all alone in a world with no humans, but cannot bring herself to end the cat's life. In the end, Snowbell wanders all alone until her death, caused by thirst.

Some domestic animals linger around longer than others, but all eventually pass away due to the absence of humans.

Lulu has a little song to cheer her up, her version of "A Few Of My Favorite Things". Right before her life ends, a sad reprise plays. Terrified Lulu can't handle the circumstances, and waits for the disease to kill her in order to escape the hellish world filled with suffering.

Bianca, a germaphobe, can't handle medical stuff, and panics more than anyone else. She's the type of person to get stressed even when the common cold makes its way around her school. Only this time, it's going around the entire world and it's killing everyone in its path! How fun!

"This is it. This is the end. I'm going to die. I've decided to take it. I wonder though, what happens next?"

"Goodbye..."

People dying before being able to live their dreams.

"Little did I know that happy times would be over for those innocent kids playing on the street, the merry adults going on their way, those peaceful old folk, and everyone. Little did we know we had our final happy Christmas, and that starting when I got sick, the days were going to be winding down."

Lots of crying, fear, panic, and emotions. Even the most stoic characters end up breaking down into a sobbing mess.

SPOILERS: Everyone dies.

The cure is halfway complete, but all the scientists died before they could finish it.

SPOILERS: BUT, in the end, it is revealed that heaven does indeed exist and everyone is reunited and in a much better place. After all the horror they faced, they all became heroes in their own right.

Earth will be there, just the way it was left when everyone died. It will be this way for hundreds, thousands of years.

However, there might be alternate endings. There could be an ending where only half the population survives as well.

------

Story Progression- This is an AU that takes place solely on planet Earth. "It all started with a honey bun." The disease starts in Canada in January 2018 after Sumi eats a contaminated honey bun out of an old vending machine at a party. Sumi contaminates Ember and Reina. Ember contaminates Claudia. Reina flies down to Brazil to visit family and unintentionally brings the disease with her. Ember ends up contaminating Alaska when visiting her family back in Barrow. Claudia brings the disease to Belgium when she visits her grandparents.

Bianca, one healthy person in Maryland with sick people all around her, feels helpless...

Bells ringing signaling the world going into emergency

The final one to die...?

------

Sumi's POV

That night I first started randomly sweating buckets, I just didn't think much about it. I thought it was unusual, but maybe I was just overworked or coming down with something mild. I did just come back from a lively party where I did do a lot of dancing. I'm an introvert, so such things do tend to take a lot out of me. It was probably nothing. I was sure of it. I was so sure I would wake up the next morning and forget all about it.

I made sure I drank an extra cup of water that night, and went to sleep. Little did I know, I wasn't going to get better, and that this was the modest beginning of a dreadful nightmare.

It turned out, I was one of the first people to contact the fatal purple flu.

------

When I woke up the next morning, I felt sluggish and the first sensation I noticed were my soaked pajamas and bedsheets. It was as if my entire skin had sprung one big leak.

I had been sweating profusely all night long.

That's when I started to worry. But of course my mind didn't jump to a pandemic just yet.

"I wonder what's wrong..." I asked myself. I normally didn't sweat when I was sick, and even when I did, it wasn't without the congestion and fever. What could've been the cause of my sudden profuse sweating?

I took of my wet clothes, dried my embarrassingly wet body with a towel, took out my tablet and began to look on Google. I normally didn't look up my symptoms online, but this time I felt stumped.

Long story short, Google didn't help. I just moved out on my own, so I decided to call my parents. It was still quite early in the morning, but I'm sure they would understand.

"Hey, mom? Um... this will sound a little weird, but I started sweating a lot last night."

"What?" Came the voice on the other line. "Sweating?"

"Yes, I'm sweating a lot. And the next morning I woke up soaked."

"You're probably just coming down with something. Take it easy today." My mother said.

"Oh no, I can't..." I said, "I have a big exam in a few days..."

"I'm sorry about that, just do your best!" My mom said.

That's right. I was just coming down with something. I tried reminding myself. But I somehow just couldn't convince myself. This felt so different. For the first time, I thought that maybe it was serious. But I never would have imagined it was the start of a pandemic.

------

I was still sweating when I got to school. At this point, it was just embarrassing.

"Hey, Ember." I said when I passed by her on the campus.

"Sumi! What's up?" My friend responded.

Was I going to tell her? I decided to try, but it didn't quite go in depth.

"I didn't feel so good last night." I said. "In fact, I still don't feel good now." I said.

"Hm, yeah. You don't look too good. You're all red..."

"Yeah... well, actually I've really just been-"

But before I could say the word "sweating", Ember got a phone call.

"Oh, Sumi? I gotta go now. Claudia wanted me to meet her by the bridge."

"Oh. Alright." I said, "It's time for my class anyway." I said.

"You take care, I hope you feel better!" Ember waved to me. I waved back.

Little did I know, these normal days were basically about to end.

------

Art class started normally. I was a bit late, so I had to sit further in the back. Wiping sweat off my brow, I was hoping to live out my day normally. I chatted with a few other students and followed the professor's instructions.

But by the time we started drawing figures, I felt a little dizzy. I shrugged it off. But by the third or forth pang of dizziness, I realized it could've had something to do with my sweating. I bit my lip and decided if it continued, I would go to the nurse on campus.

The pangs returned, and right before I decided to raise my hand, the dizziness got intense. I felt sweat streaming from my pores...

"You look horrible, Sumi." The professor said. How nice of him to say. But I understood. I was so red I looked purple.

When I spoke, my speech was slurred, and by this time I was frightened.

I barely remembered the words my professor said when he dismissed me. I just remember myself rushing out of the room and forgetting my favorite pencil.

By the time I got to the nurse's office I could barely stand.

"Um... can I lay down?" I asked.

"Oh heavens, sure you can!" The nurse said. "I'm sorry you don't feel good."

I didn't know if I could drive home at this point. Not like this. I decided to call my mom, but during the middle of the conversation, my phone hit the ground, or so she tells me.

When I woke up, I didn't know what had happened, but I saw my friend Reina there...