What did I want to do? I was asking this question to myself more. My battle with Amy helped me organize my thoughts much more than when I tried to figure it out on my own. Truthfully, I still didn't entirely know what I wanted to do. Would my vision eventually conflict with my Master's? The thought brought me fear. Maybe... It always conflicted, and I just didn't want to see. After my very first transformation into my true form, I locked away my Master so I could enact my plans, and it felt wonderful to not have to listen to him. At the same time, I thought I was fulfilling my purpose in an ultimately grand fashion, honoring him in turn.



Everything I told Amy on her birthday was also true. I did have an uncharacteristic attachment to my Master and other creations of his. Even the search for Cavalier Sonic brought me some pride. Would defying my Master, if I were able to, cause irreparable damage?



...



My single certainty: there would be a path that allowed me to remain as excellent and powerful as I was... And I would remain the true love of my Amy Rose at the same time. Whatever happened, I would aim for this goal.



I was incredibly thankful for her... And, after the fact, I did feel guilt for dragging her into battle even though I needed it. My behavior towards her was similarly foolish. We got along very well by the end of our battle, but I knew that didn't mean I could keep doing so. Pushing her boundaries consistently had potential for harming our bond.



She fell asleep on the couch after we returned and washed ourselves from the fight. I carried her to bed shortly after, then left on my own to figure out what else I could do to show my appreciation.



So here I was on a small, rotating throne in the lab of the old base. It was past midnight. I slightly swung the throne back and forth while Nova sat on one of my legs.



"I sometimes envy you, Nova," I sighed to them. "You have very few concerns. Your primary concerns are when to eat and when to harass me."



"Chao!"



"Yes," I agreed, leaning my head against my propped up fist. "Rosy is no longer frustrated with me, but I still need to do something. I have no real ideas." I tapped the arm of the chair with my free hand. "Maybe I could do something with you. She appreciates cute creatures."



I stared at Carillon Rose leaned over on a table, then to the Shield Crystal on the table to Carillon Rose's opposite. Maybe some work would inspire me. "I have taught you how to do something important, Nova. We may need to use it."



I stood up, causing Nova to perch themselves on my head instead. During my and Belle's work, we wanted a safer way to test the properties of the Shield Crystal. Belle changed the device's programming, making it functionally useless by design, but kept the capacity to override so that we could test its jolts of energy. It was time to see if this could actually affect me.



"Nova, reboot."



"Chao!" Nova flew behind me, which is where my emergency switch was located. They waited for me to 'play dead', which was the sign for them to act and activate the switch.



... Worst case scenario, Belle would find me and restart me if Nova was unsuccessful. I knew this infernal creature was smart enough to follow commands and sneak around the whole base, so they better not fail me.



I connected the wires from the device to my body, then clicked it to my turbine. I grabbed a small remote I made to activate the device, then pressed a button.



The device switched on; I felt it working... And it did nothing to me. I saw the gem slightly glow from my chest. I felt its connection. I could view its data. Hm. I turned it off.



"Nova, rest."



Nova mumbled a little and perched back onto my head.



"We'll play later," I said, detaching the device from myself. I would do further tests with Belle, but from what I could tell, the Shield Crystal did not have the same effect on me. Either Belle messed up and prevented the device from working properly, or the Shield Crystal only affected Cavalier Sonic's own body composition. I glanced over to Carillon Rose, wondering if the same would happen to her.



She was coming along well. Her core was nearly fixed, which meant Belle could hopefully hack into her soon. Even if she couldn't, she would be completely fixed In a few weeks. We would likely be able to turn her on, and finally, we'd have more answers. I was tired of these constant uncertainties. My life was confusing enough as it was, so I didn't need the additional layer of... whatever I was doing from the future.



I'd been thinking too much, but I still had nothing substantial. I was tired of thinking. I hung my head.



"Nevermind. We will play now," I said to Nova, walking out of the lab.



Ever since the unfortunate encounter with Shadow and the inferior robot Omega, I wanted to better train Nova to stay quiet or to do certain commands. A more recent game was hide-and-seek, where I would tell them to hide and I would attempt to find them without catching their heat signature. If I couldn't locate them in sixty seconds, then they were successful in hiding from adversaries. One time I had to find their heat signature and discovered them in the vents... I didn't even know how they got there in such a short time. I thought of making a device to attach to them so I could fully monitor their movements.



We practiced hiding techniques under the guise of play for a while, but eventually, Nova grew too tired and had to sleep. I spent the rest of my time maintaining my gardens. I worked on a brilliant pink flower Amy hadn't seen before, though it still had a long time to grow... Certainly couldn't be the gift to give her in the near future. Plus, she always expected flowers, however perfect gifts they were.



I sat against one of the garden beds and retrieved the unique photo from my arm. She was so beautiful... There was no one more alluring to me. I wondered how I managed to capture the heart of one so stunning...



Clearly, I could easily capture her heart in my true form. I was similarly stunning. But she even found my base form alluring, and she expressed her physical attraction a few times before then. Strangely, I was happy to hear her praise my appearance, even before I agreed with her.



Though I did speak of my love frequently, she also appreciated when I brought to attention her physical characteristics. Doing so often made her incredibly flustered and happy.



Hm... I had an idea. I went to the private room beside my flower garden and began writing another letter. I wanted to give her a new letter, one that wasn't about me accepting a negative fate. Instead, I would express my gratitude and also give details of my attraction to her.



I spent the next several hours writing a fitting letter. Though she was used to flowers, I would also give her another one. The one I gave her on her birthday could not be displayed in her vase since I cut it short...



... Hmm... I had plenty of money from the bounties I turned in before. I could buy her something new as well. What would she appreciate? She bought more clothes recently, plus, I wouldn't know how to buy her clothes. She also received a doll of me on her birthday, and before that, the giant chao. I wasn't sure I could give her anything new.



I could probably coerce information out of her without her explicit knowledge, then surprise her later. I kept the letter I wrote in the room until then, leaving the garden in the daytime to go see her.



I entered her home under my disguise, then shifted back to my true form once confirming no one else was around. She was usually awake and active at this hour, especially if I wasn't in bed with her... I checked her bedroom, seeing a lump under the blankets on her bed.



I gently lifted the covers to see Amy curled up underneath. She did not respond to my movements.



"Rosy?" I asked.



"Unnnhh..." She let out a groan and unfurled enough to look at me. She looked incredibly tired, her arms clutched around the doll of me given by Belle.



"Did you not sleep well?"



"No..." Her nose sounded blocked. "Feeling under the weather..."



Under the weather? I checked her head... She was burning, yet her body was shivering. Her eyes were struggling to stay open the whole way. While examining her, she sneezed, then groaned before going completely limp.



"I think I spent too long out in the rain," she said, her voice muffled from the doll. "I feel awful..."



I didn't consider she could get sick... I also felt awful, but in a different way. She was in poor health because I did not protect her from the rain. I failed her...



"I'll be fine, I'll just get some rest and sleep it off..." She sniffled, slowly squirming herself up to her pillows, head outside the covers again. I put the covers back down. She stared at me, slowly blinking. I hated to say she was cute...



"You need assistance," I eventually said. "Have you eaten?"



"No, but I'm not--" She interrupted herself and covered her mouth during a coughing fit. "... Hungry."



"You need to eat."



She slowly blinked again, her smile partially obscured by the doll. "Are you gonna take care of me~?"



"How dare you ask me that," I scoffed. I would do nothing else but care for her. I scanned her room and grabbed a box of tissues from her desk, then put them on her bed where she could reach. "I'll be back." I left her room and started up a light, simple soup in the kitchen. While It was cooking, I searched through her cabinets. She didn't have medicine for her current ailments.



I checked on her again. She slowly breathed, but occasionally, she would cough and then groan. A small pile of tissue paper grew on the other side of the bed. There was no way she could rest properly.



I eventually brought her a smaller bowl of soup and put it on the nightstand beside her. "Try to eat. I will get you some medicine."



She didn't open her eyes... I covered the soup in case she actually did fall asleep, then left after changing into my disguise.



I didn't want Amy to be without company, especially since she fell ill. I went back to the old base first to get Nova to keep an eye on her. When I entered, I saw Belle making her way to the elevator, while Nova trailed behind.



Belle turned around upon hearing my entrance. "Oh! Hey, uh, Kai!" she said awkwardly. Normal for her. Nova flew over to me with a heart above their head, staring. I patted them on the head as a hello.



"You don't have to call me that when we're alone," I said to her. "I'm still in disguise because I need to go back out..." I averted my eyes in thought. "Belle, where can I get medicine?"



She suddenly looked concerned. "Is someone hurt?"



"Amy has a fever and other ailments."



"Oh, no... Hmm, well, I think I have some ideas. There's a few stores in town you can check. I can send--" She stopped as soon as I started walking away with Nova.



"Let's go," I said, gesturing her to follow. I glanced back at her and her eyes were somehow glistening.



"You want me to go with you?!" She eagerly ran up to my side and grinned.



"You're better at dealing with people than I am."



She happily put her arms around one of mine as we walked. "It'll be nice to do something outside of the base together!"



"This isn't for fun," I said, squinting.



"It isn't, but it'll still be nice, I think. Don't you think so, Nova?"



"Chao!"



I rolled my eyes. "The child will always agree. Do not use their words as leverage." I looked back at her. "We're dropping them off at Amy's house, then we'll go to the stores you have in mind."



"Sure!" she eagerly replied.



We walked out and traveled on foot back towards Amy's house first. It wasn't too far and I didn't want to break my disguise while with Belle.



"I wanted to tell you the device does not affect me. Did you program it correctly?" I asked.



She rolled her eyes back at me this time. "Yes, I programmed it correctly. Did you check it to make sure?"



"Yes, but I wanted to ask."



"It doesn't affect you, then. That's interesting news," she hummed. "We need to better study our friend's components to get a better idea, but maybe we won't need to when she's up and running. She could just tell us!"



I hoped our communication with Carillon Rose would be that straight-forward. Belle was right in that we would find out either way. We were quiet as we exit the forest and went towards Amy's neighborhood... I was incredibly curious about something.



I eventually brought up a different topic: "Have..." I felt foolish for even wanting to ask. "Your and Amy's mutual friends. Have they talked about me?" I asked.



Belle chuckled a little, but I was not amused. I wanted her to take this seriously. "A little bit," she said, smiling.



"What is the common sentiment about me?"



"A little hard to approach, but you definitely make Amy happy. Sonic is curious, I think."



I scoffed. "Of course."



"Back at the birthday party, we all thought it was really sweet how you two were together at the base of that big tree."



People were watching? I squinted at her. "What do you mean? What did you see?"



Belle flailed one of her hands in dismissal. "No one was staring! It's just clear you two are really close. You're very kind to Amy, and that's bound to heighten anyone's opinion of you. We all love Amy."



"I love her more."



Belle rolled her eyes, smiling. "To be clear, I mean that being close to Amy reflects well on your character. They trust her, she trusts you... so, you're more trustworthy."



"Extremely flawed logic, but I at least see what you mean," I sighed. "What exactly do you mean about the Hedgehog?"



"I think he wants to get to know you better since you're kinda hard to know."



"Nauseating."



Belle tilted her head a little, head slightly angled to look at my face. "I think it's clear to him you care about others. Maybe I'm speaking too far ahead, but I hope you two can become friends."



I let out possibly the most disgusted sound I could conjure. "That will never happen. I am perfectly fine with the positive relationships I have now."



"Ooh, relationships, plural," Belle hummed. She was teasing me, but I gave her the grace to not fight her.



"Yes, plural," I sneered. "Other than Rosy, I would say you and Nova are also positive relationships." When Nova heard their name, they eagerly cooed at me.



"Rosy?" Belle watched me with wide eyes.



...



My temperature increased. I hadn't called Amy by her nickname around others. I was normally good at when to use her nickname.



"I said Rose. Amy Rose." I very clearly lied, but I was not going to explain anything to her and she likely knew that.



Belle gasped and let go of me, clapping her hands together. "You have a nickname for Amy?! That's so cute!!"



"No. Drop this topic. You will regret it otherwise."



She grinned wide at me. "I never expected something so sweet! Does she have a nickname for you t--"



Honk!



I squeezed her nose, making her gasp and cover her face. "Metal!!"



"Do not test me. I will do it again." I aggressively showed her my hand in pinching form.



"Mean!! It's not bad to have something cu--" She jerked herself away from me when I reached out to squeeze her nose again. "Stop!!"



"Stop talking about it."



"Gears! Fine!" She pouted and rubbed her nose, then stared warily at Nova, who was interested in where the sound came from. "Nova is right there! I thought we agreed to keep this a secret from them!"



"You did not take my threat seriously," I huffed. "They didn't see me do it. You're fine."



Nova stared at Belle, a question mark above their head. I grabbed Nova from the air and held them to distract them from Belle's nose. They purred as I rubbed their head. After playing with them for a short moment, they climbed up my arm and settled on top of my head.



Belle let out a relieved sigh. "Well, there's Amy's house, so Nova might forget about it either way."



We went up to Amy's door and I unlocked it, letting us inside. I wasn't gone for very long, so Amy was unlikely to be out of bed... I heard her coughing from her bedroom. "Nova, you have a very important job," I said, firm.



"Chao?"



"Yes. Very important." I picked them up again, then walked towards Amy's bedroom. Belle waited in the living room instead of following behind.



I slowly opened the bedroom door and looked inside. Instead of Amy's head, I saw the head of the doll she held on tightly to since I first discovered her. She coughed again, curling up more in response to her involuntary movements.



"Rosy," I said, quiet. "Are you awake?"



"A little bit," she mumbled, her voice as exhausted as it was before. She shifted a little, so I saw part of her head.



"Chao!"



Amy's ears perked up. She slightly lifted her head. "Aww, hey, cutie," she said softly.



"I brought Nova to keep you company. I am going to get you medicine now." I gently placed Nova on the bed, who flopped backwards and then rolled around, purring quietly. I saw the tissues from before piled up even more. I grabbed her nearby trashcan and used my arm to slide the tissues into the garbage.



"Thank you, other cutie," she said, wiping one of her eyes. "Ungh... it's been ages since I've been sick."



"... This is my doing." I would have to do even more to make up for my actions...



She laughed a little. "No, people get sick. It's--" She coughed. "It's fine. If I wanted to get out of the rain, I would've yelled at you and refused to fight."



Her words, though trying to comfort me, didn't help. I did not deserve the comfort. She was the one who was sick. I walked up to her side of the bed and gently placed my hand to her head again. She felt even warmer than before...



"It's okay, really," she said, weakly smiling at me. "The rain made the fight so much more exciting. It was like a--" she quickly sneezed into a tissue. "Ungh... It was good," she said, implying she forgot her train of thought. "Come back soon, okay?"



I sighed, gently touching the side of her face. I glanced to the soup I covered from before, appearing completely untouched. It should've still been warm, so I left it there. "Is there anything else you want while I'm gone?"



"Mmm... Popsicles. I'll judge you on your choice." She flopped her head back down.



"Please rest, Rosy... And eat." I squinted at her.



"I wiiiill..." She snuggled her doll again. I glanced at Nova and gestured them to behave. Nova stared at me, then resumed rolling around the bed.



I reunited with Belle, and together, we left towards the first location she knew of. As we walked the streets, Belle sighed at me. "She sure did sound sick. I hope she'll feel better soon," she pouted.



I nodded and didn't reply for a moment. Eventually, I spoke: "You said before you didn't know too much about this city. Have you started to explore it more?"



"A little... I've gone to the store with some others a few times. Truthfully, I still prefer villages..." Belle gave me a small shrug. "Since your makeover, have you gotten used to being in public more?"



I nodded. "Somewhat. I have no desire to walk around by myself, though." Not only would I be without my turbine, but I would be at risk of coming across another adversary, all without the benefit of being with my Amy. Then those like the Hedgehog wanted to befriend me even still. It sounded miserable. I would never walk out on my own unless I absolutely had to.



We were quiet for a little while longer. "Um..." Belle tapped her fingers together. "I know it's not a big deal to you, but I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of how far you've come."



"I hardly did anything," I replied.



"No, that's not true. You trusted me to work on complex machinery with you... You started to take care of a chao. You helped cook food for all of Amy's friends, with Amy's friends, and helped her have a fun surprise party." Belle gave me a very warm smile. "And you did all that without incident. Honestly, I thought it would be a lot harder for you to adjust."



Her words surprised me more than they should have. I was open to being vulnerable with Amy... I even began to embrace a potentially peaceful life with her. I refrained from violence in unnecessary situations because Amy expected me to refrain. But I didn't realize how it bled into other behaviors. It made me somewhat disgusted in myself. Yet, Belle looked happy with me.



"I like seeing you around more, too. I hope I can one day tell everyone you're my brother."



Her softness similarly disgusted me and I wanted to honk her nose again. I resisted my urge. "Why?" I asked.



"Because I'm proud to be connected to you too," she replied with a grin. "I never thought a person who spent so much of his uptime caring for flowers could be that bad... And I was right!"



"I worry that both you and Amy choose to look over my more violent tendencies," I said to her. "Caretaking may be a bigger part of my habits than I realized... but destruction is just as valuable to me. Do not forget."



Belle shook her head. "I don't think anyone forgot that. Like... You know, Omega is considered a friend of the good guys we know. He loves nothing more than destroying anything and everything tied to Eggman, especially robots. Bloodlust is practically his middle name. I don't necessarily, uh, agree with his methods, but... he gets along well with some people." She tilted her head a little.



"Are you comparing me to that thing?" I scoffed.



"His name is Omega," she repeated, stern. "And... yeah. You both come from Eggman, and you're both more complex than I think Eggman knows what to do with. Of course there are plenty of differences, but Omega's core desires were never altered. It sounds like yours haven't been either. It's just, you."



I didn't expect her to be firm with me... I respected her resolve. "I am better than him, but I can see what you're trying to say," I admitted. "You better not have some scheme to force me into relationships I don't want to be in."



"I-I wouldn't do that!" she stammered. Unlike Amy, who often got shouty when she lied about something that embarrassed her, I could tell Belle was being truthful. "I think it's more realistic now for you to have more friends, that's all."



The topic of our conversation changed as we reached the first store Belle thought about. The doors jingled as we opened them; the first thing I saw afterwards were cameras that proudly announced they were recording us. Ugh.



We were in a small convenience store, larger than the other shops I went to with Amy, but I could see the walls not too far away. The fluorescent lighting was bright and bland. It made me think of a fully powered base, but somehow less comfortable.



At the entrance, Belle picked up a small red basket and gestured me to follow her. "I think the medicine and stuff is over here," she said, making her way to the back of the store.



I followed her and scanned our surroundings. There weren't many people in the store with us; a few cashiers and a small handful of consumers. We passed by a mouse woman with a baby I could only assume was her child. I thought for a moment, then turned back to Belle. "I have a question for you."



"Hmm?" She glanced at me, then narrowed her eyes as she read signs above each aisle. "Oh, over here," she said quietly, walking to the aisle we needed.



"Do people look at you strangely for your body composition?"



Belle smiled at me. "Sometimes. I get I look a little weird, both by organic person standards and robot person standards. But people get used to me quickly! Nothing beats a kind smile." She grinned at me, showing me exactly what kind of smile she meant. I found it ridiculous, but it was unabashedly her.



"How do you keep your polite disposition despite how cruel organic people can be towards anything that looks strange?"



"A lot of people are very kind, which drowns out anything awful. Luckily, I would say very few people treated me as less-than."



"That's fortunate," I replied. "I was curious since you get along so effortlessly with them." We stopped in the aisle with various boxes of medicine... Amy was in incredibly poor health, so I wanted to get something stronger. I spent time reading the boxes and their claims to fix ailments.



Belle smiled at me. "People see plenty of weird stuff around the world... A robot isn't too high up the list of what's shocking," she hummed. "Though, I guess there's not really any sentient robots around that weren't made by Eggman at some point, except me, technically. Do you think anyone unrelated will ever give him a run for his money?"



"In his lifetime?" I shrugged. "Probably not." I put a few boxes in Belle's basket, then checked the aisles for more. I thought it would be good to get her some extra supplies as well... She went through those tissues pretty quickly.



Our conversation died down as we explored the store. There wasn't any food here, so we would need to go somewhere else to get her popsicles... And it wouldn't hurt to get some ingredients for meals that would give her more energy. Belle took note of the basket, and she let out a gasp: "Oh, gears... I was so excited helping you that I forgot. I don't have any, uh... money..."



"It's fine. I do."



"You do?! D-do..." She squinted, her expression confounded. "Do you get... paid?"



"No. An opportunity revealed itself to me and I took advantage."



She looked horrified. "Did you--"



"I didn't steal anything," I hissed. "I turned in some bounties."



"Bounties? Like... you... caught some bad guys?"



"They were nothing. Hardly worthy of an adjective," I said, slightly shooing her with my hand. I made my way to the cashier I saw near the front of the store; Belle excitedly followed me, her shoes click-clacking on the hard floor.



"You actually did some good?" When I glanced at her, her eyes sparkled.



"Do not get ahead of yourself, Belle. I will get very annoyed." If I needed more money, I did appreciate I could be rewarded for my violence. The recipient and the effects of my work didn't matter to me in the slightest.



She sighed and nearly folded over like a doll on strings. "Okay, okay..."



Medicine and other useful supplies successfully acquired. I urged Belle to take me to a grocery store, so we continued our trek down the sidewalk. We talked about a few different things on our minds and allowed time to pass between us when we had nothing else.



I asked her a bit about her own business, since I knew she was putting it off to help me with Carillon Rose. She clarified to me she didn't really do anything for money... She simply wanted to help people, but she never refused gifts from others or trades for materials. She lived an incredibly humble life, but she was incredibly happy with herself. I found it fascinating.



What was more fascinating to me was her fondness for me. She explained it to me before, and she believed in the best in others, but I still had some trouble. Amy had the excuse of being attracted to me. Even though Belle was happy, maybe she was also lonely and saw some of myself within her.



She didn't talk about her father very often, but she clearly missed him very much. When we connected to each other for the first time, I witnessed her emotional pain. Being with Amy, I better understood the impact of that kind of loss. I would get to be Amy through her life, but Belle's time with her father was incredibly short-lived and unlikely to ever return.



...



Her capacity to remain optimistic despite facing the symbolic death of her father similarly fascinated me... No, 'fascinated' wasn't the word. I wanted to be like that. I admired that rare strength I never took the time to appreciate before.



"... Belle." I averted my eyes.



"Hm?"



"Where is a place you always wanted to go with your father, but couldn't?" I asked.



When I glanced back in her direction, her eyes were wide. "A place I always wanted to go...? Hmm..." She crossed her arms and stared at the sidewalk as she thought. "We lived so far inland and he was so focused on the village we lived in that we didn't go too far. I always wanted to ride on a huge boat and experience the vastness of the ocean!" Her face lit up just as quickly. "I bet he would've come up with so many interesting ideas to help others... Though I bet he'd be all worried about my woodwork splashed by water." She giggled to herself.



...



Nevermind. I wasn't going to do what I was thinking of doing. "I see."



She smiled widely at me. "That's just where I'd want to go with my dad. If someone else wanted to spend time with me, maybe something less vast would be apt. Like... what we're doing now!"



"That's boring," I mumbled.



"Not to me. I'm happy spending time with you."



I thought for a while longer. "... Since neither of us are adept at exploring the city from the ground, maybe we could find more places on our own over time."



"Is that an invitation for us to hang out?" she asked, grinning. She wanted me to say it directly, so I was annoyed.



I sighed. "Yes."



"I bet we could find some really cool places! One of my friends mentioned a really impressive library. Let's go sometime!"



"Sure... I am leaving town with Amy next week, hopefully when she's feeling better. After that, let's look at this library."



Belle clapped her hands together. "Alright!"



She was much more cheerful after our last conversation. We went to the grocery store and picked out some food to give to Amy... I wanted to explore a bit more, but I didn't want to leave Amy alone for too long.



I didn't know what kind of popsicles to get, and she said she would judge my choices... I picked whatever had flavors I knew she liked and had enough hydration. Belle showed me popsicles that looked like the awful Hedgehog. I almost considered it since there would be a certain joy in biting his head off, but that would also require me to willingly spend money on Hedgehog propaganda.



We went back to Amy's house together. Belle didn't seem like she wanted to impose... After we put all the food away, I went to go grab Nova so that she could take them back to the base. Amy was quiet other than the occasional cough, but it sounded like she was in a different location. I saw Nova float in with Amy's doll of me.



I squinted and snatched it from them. "This is not yours."



Nova had an exclamation mark above their head, then crossed their arms, huffing loudly. I gestured over to Belle, who gently plucked Nova from the air. "Let's take you back home, Nova. Are you hungry?" she cheerfully asked.



Nova immediately ceased their grumpy behavior. I bid Belle farewell and went to go check on Amy, the doll in one hand and some strong medicine in the other--



!!!



She was face-down on the floor, still in her pajamas. I carefully picked her up. She was totally knocked out, stirring only when I moved her enough. Her tail lazily wagged when she opened her eyes to look at me.



"Hey, cutie..."



I put her back in bed, but helped her sit up. "Why were you on the floor?" I asked.



She rubbed her eyes. "I was on the floor? Oh... Oh!" She had another coughing fit. "That little thief...!"



All she had to say was the word 'thief' and I knew exactly why I found her on the floor. Nova stole the doll, causing her to get up, but she was likely too lightheaded and passed out... She had no energy at all. I was concerned...



I held up the doll to her, and she excitedly hugged it. "My hero...~"



"I hope that was the only trouble Nova caused," I said with a sigh. I shifted back into my true form.



"It was nice having Nova, though sometimes they were staring really hard at me," she said with a snort. "I missed you the most, though," she said as sweetly as she was tired.



"I missed you too, Rosy. Here." I gave her a small cup-full of liquid medicine. Her ears flopped as she stared at it, then she sighed and downed it. She let out a huge shiver and her face recoiled, handing the cup back to me. I went away for a brief moment to bring her a glass of water, which she drank much more vigorously.



I noticed she still hadn't touched the soup. I growled. "You said you would try to eat. No wonder you passed out on the floor."



"Sorry...! I kept forgetting," she pouted.



I went to go reheat the soup, then returned. I squinted at her as I approached.



"Why are you looking at me like that?" she huffed.



I leaned down to the bed and watched her at eye-level. I got a spoonful of the soup and moved it to her face. Her face was already flushed from her fever, but she seemed happy I wanted to feed her. She clasped her mouth around the spoon without much issue, almost like she was waiting for me to do it from the beginning... I wouldn't put it past her.



I slowly fed her, then handed her the bowl to finish off the broth. I was satisfied.



"Now you should be able to get proper rest." I set the bowl aside when she was finished with it.



She sighed louder as she let herself settle further in bed. "I feel all gross... I need a bath," she pouted. The way she looked at me implied she wanted me to take her there.



"Your sickness doesn't prevent you from walking to your bathroom."



"You're supposed to take care of me!" She coughed again.



I sighed too. "Get some rest first, then I'll give you attention. Is this a fair exchange?"



She tiredly giggled. "Yeah~"



I climbed into bed and settled at her side. She put a pillow against my chest and rested there, her arms clinging around me instead. I held her close to me, and eventually, I fully relaxed.



Amy continued to cough and her fever was incredibly high, but after a while, she quieted down and fully fell asleep. Her cough temporarily went away. Her breaths, though sickly, were routine.



Snoooore...



I was amused. She slept well. I caressed her head and enjoyed the peace between us. I would always take care of her... She never needed to ask again.