Chapter 6: Going Up From a Fever

Ed carefully stirred a bowl of chicken soup and peppered in a few chopped onions and carrots, giving it another stir before setting the porcelain bowl onto a breakfast tray gently. He silently thanked Edd for preparing most—if not all—of the soup for him; he never was quite a culinary expert like his best friend was, if the train wreck that was Ponce de la Ed was any indication.

Ed had no idea why serving warm soup to a feverish Sarah was a good idea, so Edd had taken the liberty to inform him about the perks of chicken soup. Though it would be more accurate to say Edd had jabbered on about dehydration and calcium while Ed had no clue what he was talking about.

Ah, whatever. If Edd says soup for Sarah is a good idea, then soup for Sarah is a good idea. He's not the smartest kid ever for nothing, after all.

Being extra delicate with Sarah's meal, Ed gently tiptoed up the stairs and walked right in front of his baby sister's bedroom door. Ed tried to knock on the door, but since both of his arms was occupied with holding up the breakfast tray, he can't knock the door without having the tray's content slide off to one side and eventually spill onto the floor. He could simply support the entire thing with one arm only, but it would still have the same risk, only about twice as likely to happen. Ed prefers keeping his baby sister relatively calm and relaxed, not having her cleaning up what was his mess.

A simple solution popped to his head and he would have slapped himself if he can. Monster Mash fizzled into existence and lightly rapped the door with its knuckles, speaking in Ed's voice, "Baby sister? Big brother is here to give soup and replenish your health bar!"

Sarah gave a faint sigh tinged with annoyance, "Come in Ed."

Monster Mash gently opened the door and fizzled back out of existence, allowing Ed to sidle into the pink bedroom. Sarah was on her phone, flicking through videos and photos boredly, sending yearning looks out of her window whenever Jimmy's voice could be heard from the cul-de-sac.

"Just set the tray there," Sarah said, gesturing at her bed offhandedly.

Setting the tray with the soup over her legs, Ed grabbed a chair and seated himself in it, a patient smile on his face.

At first, Sarah noticed Ed's prolonged presence but thought nothing of it, being too sick to force him out and being accustomed to his behavior to really care. The silence was nice at least, despite the occasional exclamation from their peers floating in from outside every now and then. Sarah had set down her phone and sipped a spoonful of the chicken soup, while Ed had fidgeted around in his chair, glancing out of the window occasionally.

Sarah had finally finished the chicken soup and returned to staring at her phone, head propped up on one arm. Her fever had left her alone for the time being, but she didn't even want to remove her legs from the cover of her blanket. Everything from the waist down felt like jelly, impaled with pins and needles whenever she even shifts them to the left or right.

She hated it. The fever was so infuriating; it left her feeling helpless and fragile, like a delicate porcelain doll that has to be cared for even if a slight puff of wind even blew past her. It made her blood boil, more so than when Ed had smothered and coddled her when he tries to act like an older brother.

Sarah felt her fever start to make a comeback, but it was more like it came in waves of intensity, intensifying and dying in rhythm. It was odd for sure, but nothing unbearable, so she had tolerated it for now. But what was odder was Ed's sustained presence in her room.

Normally, whenever she came down with some sort of illness—be it a cold, a fever or even occasional influenza—Ed would often come into her room, invited or not, and tried his best to alleviate the boredom of being bedridden, badly. He tried to feed her his own take on chicken soup (that just gave her food poisoning on top of her sickness to recover from), bad jokes that required a few years of comic book knowledge to get the punchline, or even trying to lull her to sleep with one of his comic book that he had lining his pockets (why Ed thought Marlene of the Deep was a good bedtime story was beyond her).

But instead of doing anything listed above, Ed had served food that's doesn't double as a biohazard and had stayed silent by her bedside, doing nothing besides fidgeting in his chair every few minutes and shooting glances to the outside world. It irritated her for some reason; while nearly everything Ed does irks her, she was more annoyed in a more, healthy way, to put it.

Whenever she gets annoyed, if the wrong thing was said or done, it was usually enough to launch her straight into a destructive temper tantrum that can last for hours to even days. But right now, she was far calmer than she usually is when she's annoyed.

But that doesn't detract from the edge in her tone one bit.

"Why are you still here?"

Ed flinched but relaxed; with how silent Sarah had been, he hadn't expected her to suddenly speak. Then again, this is Sarah, so she's not going to stay quiet forever.

"If you need anything else, I could get it for you."

"Why?! Just because I'm stuck in bed, doesn't mean I'm useless! I can help myself—" Just then, her voice decided to tear itself up with sandpaper and Sarah coughed into a napkin roughly, ejecting phlegm and saliva out into the fabric weakly.

"I hate this..." Sarah murmured unhappily. She laid back on the pillow with a heavy sigh and shut her eyes for a few seconds, feeling heat swirling throughout her body like a river. Sarah cracked her eyes, and much to her displeasure, Ed was hovering over her bed with a dopey yet somewhat infuriating smile.

"Get lost, I don't feel like yelling today," Sarah said bluntly.

"What do you want me to get you?"

"Peace and quiet. And you can give me that by making like a tree and leave." Sarah rolled on her side and tried to face away from her overbearing brother. Even without looking behind her, Ed still hovered over her, smile still on his face.

"What's the point of being here? I'm going to get better without your help." It was a rhetorical question that wasn't meant to be answered, but Ed had provided an answer regardless.

"I'm being a big brother, and you're sick, and big brothers are meant to help their little sisters get better."

Sarah felt her anger bubbling and ground her teeth angrily; was he implying that she can't recover by herself?!

"I don't need your help, you ape!" Sarah shouted, and immediately regretted it as her voice abandoned her, leaving her throat as a scratchy mess. In a quieter voice, she murmured, "I never needed your help in getting better and I never will. I can recover by myself."

"I want to help. Big brothers are supposed to be there for their sister, to help them get up when they fall down," Ed said with a wise tone in his voice. An uncommon event of Ed displaying emotional wisdom being displayed right in her room, Sarah turned around to face her brother with eyes dilated wide.

"I want to help you get better. People say you're strong by allowing others to help you, and I believe that a lot. So can you please let me do my job as a big brother?"

And there it was, the first cracks in her icy fortress. The ice wasn't going to melt all at once; it will be a marathon of combined efforts from two siblings to get it to fully thaw, but it will be a journey that they don't have to go alone. Strings of unbreakable bonds that were once strained between Ed and Sarah has begun to reform, and just for that moment, Sarah felt her fever disappear.

"...I...Okay." Ed's mini-speech had touched her heart a little bit if she had the heart to admit right there and then. She hated being helped; to her, help equals you're weak, you're incapable of doing things yourself. She wouldn't let anyone assist her with even the most difficult of things if she can help it, that she'll do everything by herself. Even when it comes to Jimmy, Sarah was still hesitant to allow him to help her.

But if Ed was right, then it wouldn't be that bad to get help. Honestly, he does have point in saying that she's strong in letting him help her; it would be mentally easier to go it alone to her.

"Can you, uh, shut the blinds for me? It's getting a little too bright for my liking," Sarah requested awkwardly, and her heart clenched for a moment. It felt like she was holding her breath from the nonexistent tension, and when she finished speaking, her heartbeat felt like it was wobbling. Asking for help feels stressful for some reason.

"Okay, baby sister."

Sarah blinked. That was, both hard and easy at the same time, both stressful and soothing. While she doesn't expect mental poisoning from allowing Ed to assist her, she does expect to feel degraded, insignificant and small. The feeling gave her a surprising but pleasant sensation in her heart, and Sarah started to take a brighter outlook on her brother.

She heard a gentle click coming from the foot of her bed, and craned her head up to see the fan had been turned on and oscillating left and right. It sends gentle cooling breeze up to her body, but Sarah grew curious; how did the fan got turned on? While she didn't have her eyes in front of her bed or Ed, she has a fairly acute hearing, and Sarah was sure she didn't even hear any footsteps that lead to the fan.

Maybe the fever was getting to her? Because she swore she also saw an armored gray arm withdrawing behind Ed in a puff of green mist. Ugh, she needs to sleep or else the fever will push her off the deep end.

"Lummox—I mean, Ed, can you give me some time to, sleep on things? I'm getting a little woozy and some peace and quiet might do me some good."

Ed gave her a gentle nod and rise out of his chair, closing the windows, shutting the blinds and leaving her alone in her bedroom with only a cool shade and the white noise of the fan as her companions.

Sarah felt a gentle smile curled her lips, and she grew more comfortable in her bedroom despite the burning fever coursing through her body. She felt her consciousness slowly drifting to sleep, lulled by the quiet whirring of the fan.

Sarah felt at peace and warmth blossomed inside her heart. Ed was always so nice and kind, and she couldn't believe she had the brains (or rather the lack of brains) to push him away. What the heck was wrong with her?

A heavy knot of guilt dragged her stomach down like an anchor and the warmth in her room wasn't so comforting anymore.

Sarah turned around gruffly and puffed a warm puff of air out of her mouth. What's the use in feeling bad for things that she did in the past? It's in the past and not the future, and she prefers to live in the present.

Eyelids drooping and shutting close, Sarah allowed her consciousness to float off into the peacefulness of her subconscious's expanse.

The stillness of the room was almost reminiscent of a graveyard, quiet, desolate and cold. A gentle scarlet mist that streamed outwards from the resting Sarah's body like a bloody stream adds to the eerie ambiance quite a bit, and an indistinct figure feminine in shape wrapped its arms around the resting redhead protectively.

"Hmm..." Rolf tapped the side of his head thoughtfully. Sarah has a fever? And she just suddenly develops one when the arrow got out? There's something he's forgetting...something about family blood.

Then again, Rolf relaxed ever so slightly, it could simply be a simple fever and nothing more than that, he's probably just blowing it out of proportions.

He heard a light knock coming from his bedroom door and allowed the person outside in with a simple, "Enter."

The door creaked open, and Edd entered his bedroom with a quiet, "Pardon my intrusion," Rolf nodded invitingly at Edd and beckons him to sit down on a chair just across his bed.

Making himself comfortable, Edd immediately asked the first question, "Have you send out the letter yet?"

"Yes, but we shouldn't expect a response back soon," Rolf answered back and elaborate further, "The Old Country is...secluded, to say the least. Rolf's people are a rather secretive group and aren't exactly the most welcoming towards new strangers. That's not to say we absolutely detest outsiders, merely wary of those among our ranks. We don't want a—how do Americans say it—wolf's in sheeps' clothing."

"Hmm, makes sense, your people are simply trying to prevent their secret about Stands from getting out to unsavory ears." Edd nodded.

"We have more secrets than just Stands and Arrows, but for now, you're right."

The intellectual preteen frowned at the statement and shelved it away, asking another question, "You said the Old Country is secluded, and it shows. I had researched about it to figure out more about the arrow's history or your own cultures on my own whim, yet there's no information about the Old Country whatsoever! With the amount of information—or lack thereof—if it wasn't for the fact you have proven to be trustworthy, I would have trouble taking your words at face value."

Rolf steepled his fingers together and an expression resembling that of thoughtfulness settled on his face, "Rolf admits, the Old Country is a bit of a misnomer, he apologizes. A more accurate term would be a collection of villages descending from the same people with the same general principles and cultures. As the son of a shepherd has said before, we are rather...reclusive. We try to make as little contact with the outside world as possible, not only because we're trying to keep our secrets to ourselves, but also because it's, well, simply convenient at that point. We have a peaceful, self-sustaining community, no need to interact with the outside world, with many resources like lakes, mines, forests and farms at our disposal. Turning our Old Country into a first world country would be an extreme hassle."

"If so, then why move to the Americas?"

"Change of environment?" Rolf suggested sardonically, "Rolf doesn't know, honestly, you may need to inquire that question with Papa and Nano himself."

Edd made a tight frown; he's getting more questions than he does answers.

"How many Stand users do you think we'll need to deal with once our spring break draws to a close?"

"No idea," Rolf answered flatly, "If we're lucky, we might be able to recover the arrow before our fellow students discover the arrow and prick themselves."

"What are the odds of that?" in a very un-Edd-like manner, the capped boy huffed in annoyance, and dread weight his stomach down.

It would be the very first time in years he would dread school.

Eddy hummed an off-tune ditty under his breath. It was around 6 p.m. when the sun started to dip towards the western end of the sky. A dull orange glow took over the sky's hue, cricket's chirps became the ambient noise and the cool wind gently whipped against his face. All in all, a great peaceful end to what was a relatively uneventful day.

The small Stand user hummed cheerfully and twirled a small quarter on his index finger. And to top it all off, he founded a quarter abandoned by the roadside when he decided to take a small stroll down the street just to take in the fresh air. An uneventful day, but one he didn't mind all that much. It was definitely better than playing nurse to Sarah of all people, god was he glad he managed to sneak out when Ed and Edd were preparing that soup.

Eddy nodded his head rhythmically to the chirping and shoved the quarter back into his pockets because god knows he does not want to lose even a single penny from his wallet.

"Hey, dork!"

Eddy slowly came to a halt and sent the bicycling jock an uninterested but wary glance. Ever since Smooth Criminal became his to command, what was once his rival who had, well, everything he wanted became just some dude on a bike. Not intimidating at all.

"What?"

Honestly dude, get it over and done with. It's probably gonna be a string of insults and jabs at his height as usual.

"Where are you going, the Candy Store?"

Or he could be nice and be curious about what he's doing for once—

"Is it to drool on the window as usual?"

Groan. Figures.

"Get lost, mind your own beeswax, Jocky." Eddy huffed. If it was any other day, he would have been warier and frightened of Kevin's presence alone, but honestly, he's more irate than anything. God, he never noticed how often Kevin had taunted him on a daily basis when he's not riding his bike. Doesn't the prick has anything else to do? Is taunting him really that enjoyable of a pastime or something?

The red-capped boy turned a red hue in color, "Why should I listen to you?"

"Because you don't know what I can do to you."

"Yeah right, like what, scam me again for the hundredth time? Let's see what you can do, Dorky!"

Eddy rolled his eyes but couldn't crush the grin curling his lips. Oh man, he was waiting all his life for this, no way in high hell was he going to pass this chance up when Kevin literally asked for it.

"Smooth Criminal," Eddy whispered under his breath, and the golden humanoid spirit appeared by his side. Oblivious to Smooth Criminal's presence, Kevin kept on smiling like a loon and god was Eddy eager to wipe that smug smile off his face.

"Ka-ching!" With a single firm punch enough to get the bike moving but not actually damage it, Smooth Criminal swiftly struck the front of Kevin's bike with its knuckles and launched bike away from Eddy at a moderate pace, turning the smug smirk on Kevin's smile into a expression of bewilderment as his beloved two-wheeled vehicle moved seemingly on its own volition.

"Whoa—ahh!"

Eddy watched with a grin wide enough to put the Cheshire Cat to shame as the bike rolled away from his position, away and farther away and Eddy could still see the grimace of sheer confusion and anger on Kevin's face, even as he clattered into a pile as his dumb bike lost momentum.

An intense feeling of satisfaction swelled up inside his gut like a balloon and Eddy zoomed away to the Candy Store with Smooth Criminal's legs manifested over his own like some kind of robotic exoskeleton. Messing with Kevin with his Stand is one thing, but running away faster than he could ever achieve with his dumb bike was the scrumptious cherry on top. No wonder Kevin screwed with him so often, it feels freaking amazing.

Pushing the door of the Candy Store open, Eddy came back out with a jawbreaker in his hand. He frowned, Ed and Edd could use a jawbreaker, god knows they need one when they've been tending to Sarah all afternoon. Whatever, their loss.

Jack's Notes

Ho hum, would ya look at that...

Sorry for the short chapter, this one is less action and more world building, so there's not a lot of Ed shenanigans that's going on. Hope you still like it though, next chapter will have an Ed, Edd 'n Eddy-like situation hopefully and the chapter after that should be whatever you vote for.

On that note, good Christ you people like Ed shenanigans don't you?

Until next time!