Zero: I decided to change some of my muses. Xyrho is getting old, plus I don't think many of you even know who he is. While I think of someone, I'll start releasing this chapter. Please excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes, as always.

Lynas: Zero doesn't own Star Ocean or anything related to Star Ocean. There, Disclaimer done.

Zero: Alright. Well, this chapter is more Nel-oriented than it is Fayt. I don't know if the future chapters are going to be like this yet. I haven't thought that far yet. Haha. Okay, well then, enjoy.


Chapter 2

Sickness

Nel groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. The front of her body felt cold, and it was of no wonder since she was laying face down in snow. She turned herself over and sat up. There was nothing in sight other than mountains and more snow. It was obvious she was still in Airyglyph because of the snow, but the question was where in Airyglyph. The castle was nowhere to be seen, and there was nothing around that looked memorable to her.

She tried to stand up, but quickly winced in pain. She fell back to the ground and stared at the wound in her ankle. "I should take care of this first." She used a healing spell on herself, quickly healing her ankle and any other wounds on her body. She stood up with her hands on her waist, as she continued to look around. Then she remembered something. "Fayt…" she said softly.

The boy was last seen in the explosion caused by the dragon's attack and his Ethereal Blast. Did he die? She shook her head, trying to escape the thought. That can't be it. He's tougher than that. She nodded to herself. She was sure he was still alive. "I should probably find a place for shelter before I find Fayt, or else I'll have nowhere safe to take him to." Now with a plan, Nel walked off to find any kind of shelter away from the vast amount of snow.

It didn't take long until she found a small cave in a mountain. She smiled. Looks like things weren't as bad as she thought if it took only this amount of time to find shelter. Her smile quickly became a frown though, after realizing that there was no wood to build a fire. She couldn't continuously cast Fire Bolt or anything of the sort, as that would be energy-consuming and wouldn't be rational. Then there was the problem of food. The two were planning on staying in Airyglyph for the night to sleep and eat, so they only brought a few snacks and fruits.

She placed a hand on her forehead, shaking her head once again. "This is a real mess we're in…" she looked back at the snow. "Or at least I'm in until I can find Fayt."

Nel continued walking through the endless amounts of snow, looking far and wide for Fayt. She knew that it didn't make sense to search for him. She wasn't even sure that he flew this way, but she searched anyways, hoping to find the boy. What's worse she couldn't shout out his name, or else it would cause in avalanche. After about three hours of searching, she finally gave up and decided to head back. Just then, as she took a step, her foot caught onto something, and she tripped forward.

She looked at what she tripped on, and saw a small patch of gray in the snow. She touched the object, and it felt soft. "Wait…" she quickly uncovered the object, and found blue hair. "Fayt!" she started removing the snow faster than before. After uncovering most of his body, she took hold of his legs and pulled him out of the snow with all her might. His facedown body laid flat on the snow, motionless.

After pulling him out, she flipped him over and grabbed his arm, taking two fingers and placing them on his wrist to try and feel for a pulse. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She couldn't feel one. Panicking a little, Nel dropped his arm, and placed her head on his chest, trying to hear or feel a heartbeat. Once again, she closed her eyes to enhance her other senses. After a few seconds, she showed a relieved smile. It was small, but she could feel a small beat as well as hear a very slight thumping sound. She opened her eyes and lifted her head. Afterwards she flipped him back over on his stomach and then grabbed his arms, pulling them over her shoulders. She tried to stand up, but dropped back down immediately.

"Why do you have to be so heavy…?" Nel complained. Her body wasn't built for carrying heavy things, since her profession required stealth and speed rather than strength.

She adjusted Fayt on her back until he was in a comfortable position for her. Grabbing hold of his thighs around her waist, she slowly walked back to where the cave was.

Around halfway, Fayt moved a little by himself and groaned. Nel stopped walking and looked at his face, but quickly stopped and turned the other way, blushing. His head was resting on her shoulder, but it was so close that if she faced his direction, her lips would touch his cheek. Shaking it off, she continued walking. Even though he moved, it seemed like he was simply fidgeting during his sleep.


Back in the cave, she slowly placed Fayt on the cold stone floor. The only light that could be seen was the small amount of sunlight shining in from the entrance. She leaned against a wall, and stared at Fayt, as he was the only interesting thing in the room at the moment.

Fayt's been found. That was a relief. "But when will anyone find us?" Nel thought to herself. She sighed. For now, she'll just check how Fayt was doing.

Just at the moment, Fayt's breathing became abnormal. It was growing faster and sounded more painful. Concerned, Nel looked over at his face. It was bright red. She quickly pulled back his front hair and her own, and lowered her head so their foreheads touched. His forehead was at a much higher temperature than her own.

"A fever…" she said with concern. If she didn't do something soon, this could turn into something much worse. Fayt probably had something, but she would have no idea how to use it. For now, all she could do was place ice on his forehead.

Nel left the cave, and grabbed a handful of snow. She pressed it together until it became somewhat hard. After that, she wrapped it around her scarf and returned back inside. She tied the ends of the scarf together, and placed it on Fayt's forehead. She sat back down, but this time much closer to Fayt, as she had to see when she had to replace the snow.

After an hour or so, Fayt's eyes began to open. His vision was blurred, but he could make out a person in the area. "What…? Who…?"

Nel noticed him speak, and looked down at his face. "You're finally awake. How do you feel?"

"Horrible…my forehead is freezing." He tried to sit up, but Nel placed his arm on his chest, gently pushing him back down.

She shook her head. "You have a fever. You need to rest or it'll become worse."

He nodded slightly, as he relaxed his body. He closed his eyes again. "Where are we?"

"I don't know." Nel shook her head. "All I know is that we're in Airyglyph territory."

"I see…" he reached into his pocket, and pulled out his quad scanner. After pressing some buttons, he sighed. "The snow and this cave are blocking my signals. I can't even tell the general area we're in." flipping the scanner close, he placed it on the ground, too tired to put it back in his pocket.

"I need to change this again. I'll be right back." She grabbed her scarf from his forehead and left the cave, soon returning with new snow.

"Thanks, Nel. Sorry, if only I wasn't like this, I could-"

Nel shook her head. "It's fine. Just relax. I'll take care of you."

Fayt gave a weak laugh. Suddenly, his stomach rumbled. "Damn it…"

Nel chuckled. "I have some things. Wait a moment." she opened up a satchel she had hanging from her waist. "Here, let me help you up. I'd rather have you lying down, but that's not healthy while eating." She gently helped the boy sit up. The scarf dropped down into his lap. Nel removed it and placed it to the side.

She placed the fruit into Fayt's hands. Fayt brought it up to his mouth, but it seemed more like he was bending his body forward to reach the fruit. He attempted to take a bite, but he felt so weak, that his jaws weren't strong enough to even break through the fruit's soft skin. He laughed weakly. "Wow…this sucks."

"Fayt…" Nel looked at him sadly. She took the fruit back from him, and took a bite out of it herself. After chewing it for a little while, she placed a hand behind Fayt's head, as she pressed her lips against his.

Fayt's eyes widened and his face turned red. He could feel the contents of the fruit being pushed from Nel's mouth into his own. She pulled her head away; her own face showed a tint of red as well. After chewing the rest of the softened fruit and swallowing it, Fayt turned towards Nel. "Nel, you don't have to-"

"It's fine," she said again, "I don't mind. Or do you mind?"

Fayt smiled embarrassingly, looking down at the ground. "N…no…It's just that, won't you catch my cold?"

Nel shook her head, taking another chunk of fruit into her mouth, chewing it, and fed it to Fayt mouth-to-mouth again. After parting again, she smiled at him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine."

She continued to feed him mouth-to-mouth, both of them somewhat embarrassed. Nel's head was in a conflict her herself during this. She constantly tried to convince herself that she was doing this because of Fayt. It was only because he can't eat by himself, nothing more. However, somewhere in her heart, she knew otherwise. She wanted this. Even if it was just feeding him, she enjoyed it. She enjoyed sensation of Fayt's lips against hers. It came to her as a tingle of joy. As she continued, she tried with all her will to not go further. She tried to stop the desire to push not only food into his mouth, but her tongue as well.

It then hit her. Was she in love? Did she love Fayt? She never felt this way about anyone else. To wish for something such as a passionate kiss with someone; it must have been love. Her heart suddenly pounded harder than before, and her face grew even redder. The pounding was so strong that she could swear Fayt could hear it as well. She stopped feeding him, as she gripped her clothes over her chest.

"Nel?" Fayt asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

Snapping out of the feeling, Nel coughed a bit, like she was trying to clear her throat. "I'm fine, don't worry."

Fayt laughed a little. "That's all you've been saying recently." His face then showed unease again. "This is pretty hard on you, isn't it? You can stop if you'd like."

Nel shook her head. "No, it's okay." She continued to feed him, suppressing the feeling.

"It would never work," Nel thought. He was four years younger than her. Not only that, but he was from a completely different world that she wasn't accustomed to. She would never be able to adjust to his lifestyle. Plus, he already had Sophia, who was a closer age, and also had more in common with the boy. Even Maria would be a better choice than herself. It just wasn't meant to be, whether she wanted it or not. She continued to keep that thought in her head as time went by.

After eating about two of the fruits, Fayt was already full; most likely because of his weakened state. Nel helped him back down, as he closed his eyes, quickly falling back to sleep. Nel went outside with her scarf to grab more snow to place on his forehead.

After a few hours of grabbing snow, Nel smiled on her way back outside. She would normally never have to do something like this, since she could call up a doctor or someone with better medical knowledge than herself. Was this how it felt to be a housewife? Going through all this trouble to take care of your loved one? Once again, she pushed those thoughts back again. "I can't…" After she exited the cave, she looked up into the sky. She could see the sun setting behind a mountain. It was going to be dark soon. She wondered if they would be alright. It would be bad if a storm started up.

Suddenly, a large gust of wind blew by, causing Nel to shiver. "Did I jinx it?" She sighed.

Reentering the cave, she placed the scarf on Fayt's forehead again. She gently slapped his cheek to wake him up. "Fayt," she said, "Wake up."

He didn't wake up. She resorted to shaking his body a little, then shouting his name into his ear, but to no avail. Sighing, she leaned against the wall. The sun's light soon vanished and Nel's vision saw nothing but pitch black. It looks like the moon wasn't planning on coming out this night. The only sound that could be heard was the wind blowing outside. Nel hugged her legs, resting her head on her knees. It was getting very cold due to the lack of sun as well as some of the wind from the storm blowing into the cave.

She looked over at Fayt, or at least where Fayt's body should be. She couldn't see, after all. If he stayed asleep, he most likely would never wake up if it is this cold. She had to either wake him up or warm him up somehow. Closing her eyes, she tried to think of a way. They didn't have any materials, so she couldn't cover him with anything. She couldn't search for materials either, since searching requires the ability to see.

"But at this rate…" she said softly, "Oh…" she suddenly remembered a way, but blushed at the thought of it. "But…" she nodded. "It's only because he'll die. That's all." She took deep breaths to calm herself down.

Slowly, Nel unfastened the buckles on her waist, and eventually stripped herself down so all she was wearing was her panties and her leggings. She felt in front of her, and found Fayt's body. First she folded up her clothes to make a type of pillow for Fayt's head to rest on. Afterwards, she unzipped his vest and took it off. She also pulled up his undershirt. She proceeded to take off some of the armor from his pants so they could be removed, and then unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants half way. She slowly pushed her body against his, and used his vest as a poor replacement for a sheet. Nel wrapped an arm over his chest while the other arm was held close between them. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She could already feel her body slowly warming his up, and in turn she felt warmer than before.

She smiled, closing her eyes. "This isn't as uncomfortable as I…thought…" she said before drifting off to sleep.


Zero: Yay done.

Lynas: Review if you'd like. Seems like fanfiction writers seem to like it a lot.

Zero: 'Course, it makes us feel like we made some people happy instead of feeling like we put up something useless on the net.

Lyans: Whatever, I'm gone.

Zero: Same. Again, please review. : )