cassias navarro | district six | fin [cb]

Cassias and Minerva were the first members of the department to catch the plague. Cassias the first professor to survive, Minerva the first professor to succumb. Now the most overwhelmed department is being held together by a brittle skeleton, waiting for the next bone to drop from the structure.

The now acting head carries an engagement ring that was a day away from being presented to its receiver. A workplace love affair that acted as the best two years of his life, the ring was the meant to secure so many more years together for Cassias and Minerva, but it never managed to leave the box. The one thing the pair worked so hard to prevent, prevented their lifetime together.

Cassias is left with her memories and the half-adoption of her son that he did not father. Elliot is in the care of his Min’s parents though; Cassias does not have the time to give the boy, even if he does try…

He must keep on smiling, even though the pressure sores on his face from wearing the filtered masks every day. Work is his home. Colleagues are his family. He has got to keep it together for Hinode and the others, there is another plague to prevent and the aftermath of the last one to sweep up.

It is why he spends every night with the ring in his grip, his bed cushion soaks up the tears. Emotions contained for too long during the day, only when he is alone does he let the floodgates open. There hasn’t been enough time to grieve, once he recovered, he was back in the scrubs.

Maybe there is a life outside of the hospital for Cassias, but the memories wait within. If only there was someone to lead him out the front doors for just a few hours…