Chapter 37: Ruling Alone

May woke up and sat up. She looked next to her and saw that Drew was already out of bed somewhere. She crawled to the edge of the bed, hanging her legs off.

And then she suddenly felt dizzy. Her head hurts this morning and she doesn't know why. She held her hand up to her forehead.

Hot. She feels hot. She brought her arm down and coughed into it. No. She can't be sick.

The door opened and Drew entered their room. He walked to May. "Morning."

"Morning…" May said drowsily and with a scratchy throat.

Drew looked at May in confusion. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'm fine." May answered, struggling to stand up.

When she stood up, she immediately fell back down. Drew had quickly caught her in his arms and he slowly lowered her onto the bed.

He bent down to May's level and placed his hand on her forehead. He gasped. "May, you have a fever." He pulled his hand back.

"N-no. I can't have a fever." May said.

Drew stood up straight. "As much as you want to believe that, you do have a fever."

May looked up at Drew. "But Drew...I can't be sick. I have a Kingdom to run."

"I'm sure I can handle today by myself."

"But-" May cut herself off. She frowned and looked down.

Drew kneeled down and looked up into May's eyes. "Listen...I know that you want to keep your promise of always ruling together with me. But you can't work in this condition. Just leave ruling today to me. Okay? Or actually until you feel well enough."

May didn't respond.

"I want to keep my promise too. I'm going to take care of you in sickness and in health." Drew took May's hand. "Please don't worry about ruling for a few days, so you can get better."

After a moment, May gave a small smile. "Okay, Drew."

Drew stood up. "Lay down and get some more rest. I'll bring a nurse here to check on you."

May laid down on Drew's spot on the bed.

"Uhh...I don't think so." Drew said.

May smiled and giggled a little. She scooted over to her side of the bed against the wall.

Drew smiled. "Much better." He crawled up on the bed and tucked May in. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay, Drew."

Drew got out of bed and left the room.

May stared up at the ceiling. ("Will Drew really be okay ruling on his own?") she thought. ("He hadn't been a royal for a whole year yet. Is he really going to be fine?")

In five minutes, Drew returned with a nurse from the infirmary. They walked to the bed.

The nurse took out a thermometer and May opened her mouth, so the nurse could put it in. May closed her mouth.

After a minute, the thermometer started beeping. The nurse took it out of May's mouth and checked the temperature.

"101 degrees." The nurse said. She looked at Drew. "Your Majesty, I'll give Queen May some medicine to get rid of the fever. You should probably head to the Throne Room."

Drew looked at May and saw a frown on her face. He looked back at the nurse. "I'll give her the medicine. It'll be fine if I'm late by a few minutes."

"As you wish, Your Majesty." The Nurse reached into her bag and took out a bottle of medicine and a medicine cup and handed them to Drew. "Make sure she takes 20 milliliters of this medicine each day until her fever goes down."

"Okay." Drew said.

"I'll take my leave now." She faced May. "I hope you feel better soon, Queen May." She said before leaving the room.

Drew looked at May. "So, ready for your medicine?" He asked, unscrewing the cap of the bottle.

"Umm...medicine and I...aren't really...friends with each other." May said.

Drew chuckled. He poured the appropriate amount of medicine into the cup. "I don't get along with medicine either, but you have to take it."

"I know…"

Drew placed the bottle on the nightstand. He looked at May. "Do you want water?"

"Mm hm." May nodded.

Drew grabbed the grip of his sword. "Teleport." He said. A water bottle from the kitchen teleported to May.

May sat up and took the water bottle. Drew released his sword and carefully climbed into bed, being careful to not spill the medicine in the cup. He handed the cup to May.

"Drink it slowly. There's no rush." Drew said.

May smiled at Drew and started drinking small sips from the cup. After each sip she drank some water, swallowing the terrible taste of medicine down her throat.

After a minute, she finished the whole thing and handed the cup back to Drew. Drew got off of the bed and placed the cup on the nightstand. He looked at May.

"I guess I better go rule a Kingdom now." Drew said.

May laid back down, tucking herself in. "But...are you sure you can handle it alone?"

Drew smiled. "I've learned about ruling from the best teacher ever." May smiled. "I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Well...if you need help with anything, please come and tell me, okay?"

"I wouldn't want to disturb you when you need to rest."

"But Drew-"

"Don't worry about it." Drew cut May off. "I'll have Kiara with me too. She'll help me if I need it."

"Well...okay then. I appreciate that you're still taking your job really seriously without me."

"I'm devoted to being King. I won't let you down."

May smiled. "Thanks, Drew. And remember...it's not possible for you to ever let me down."

"I'll keep that in mind. Be back later." Drew left the room to the Throne Room.

Drew is in the Throne Room with Kiara, dealing with the problems of some civilians. However...everyone is talking to him all at once.

"King Drew, there's a Pokémon Poacher in the city that I'm from."

"A thief has been stealing in my town."

"A wild Salamence has been attacking my city."

"For some unknown reason, our hot springs are dried up."

"Please come to my town, there's a Lapras that needs help."

"Everyone, one at a time." Drew said.

"Wow, it's not so good without May, huh?" Kiara asked.

"It's a bit more stressful, but I have to rule alone for a few days. I can do it."

Drew stood up. "Everyone, make a line."

The civilians all formed a single-file line.

"Okay. First problem."

"There's a thief in Oldale Town." Civilian 1 said. "He steals from us every day and no one could catch him."

"Alright. There should be guards already there, but I'll send more. We'll catch that thief. He won't be causing any more trouble for you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The civilian walked to the doors to leave.

Drew looked at Kiara. "Do me a favor. Can you bring Dahlia here?"

"Why?"

"So I can send her to the Captain and tell him about the guard situation."

"But I can do that." Kiara said.

"You're okay with that?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well...you're the Princess, so I didn't want to tell you to do anything when the servants should take care of it."

"Oh. Well, I'm perfectly fine with assisting you."

"Thanks, Kiara. When I'm done with these people, I'll send you to the Captain." Drew faced forward. "Next."

"Your Majesty, there's a sick Lapras on the beaches of Slateport City." Civilian 2 said. "He refuses to let anyone help him."

"Drew, I could heal him in no time at all." Kiara said.

Drew looked at Kiara. "Sounds good. If you want to, go there real quick and help him."

Kiara nodded and then pulled out her scepter. She teleported herself to Slateport City. Drew faced forward.

"The Lapras will be fine."

"Thank you so much, Your Majesty." The civilian left the room.

"There's a Pokémon Poacher in LaRousse City." Civilian 3 said.

"LaRousse?" Drew questioned. The person nodded. ("Pokémon Poachers could be dangerous. I better make sure that my parents are safe.")

"Okay. More guards will be arriving there to deal with that poacher soon." Drew said.

The person soon left and the next one spoke. "The hot springs in Lavaridge Town are all dried up."

"Strange. I'll see to it that the royal guards find out the problem and fix it."

That person soon left and civilian 5 spoke. "There's a wild Salamence that attacks Lilycove City."

"For no reason?" Drew asked.

"Exactly. We have no idea why it does that."

"Okay then. I think I need to handle this situation on my own. The situation will be taken care of."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The person left.

At that moment, Kiara appeared next to Drew. Drew looked at her. "The Lapras is back with his family." Kiara said.

"Great. Now I need you to go tell the Captain to send more guards to Oldale Town to catch a thief, LaRousse City to catch a poacher, and Lavaridge Town to find out why the hot springs stopped working." Drew said.

"I'm on it. What are you going to do while I do that?"

"There's a Salamence on a rampage. I have to take care of that without the guards. It's too dangerous."

"Then won't it be too dangerous for you?"

"I have magic, right?"

Kiara smiled. "Right. Take care." Kiara teleported herself to the guard chambers.

Before Drew could teleport himself, someone entered the Throne Room. "Bradley?" Drew questioned.

"Hey, King Drew." Bradley said. He walked to the appropriate distance from the thrones.

"What brings you here?" Drew asked.

"I'm just here to see you know who."

"Oh. You just missed her. But she'll be back soon. She's doing a little favor for me."

"Oh really? Where's Queen May? Don't you two always rule together?" Bradley asked.

"She's sick in bed, so it'll just be me for a few days."

"I hope she's okay…"

"Bradley…" Drew said suspiciously.

"What? I just care about her."

Drew just stared at Bradley sternly.

"As a friend. Chill out, Drew."

Drew rolled his eyes and then walked down the stairs. "I have something I need to do, so I'll leave you here to wait for Kiara."

"Okay."

Drew pulled out his sword and teleported himself to Lilycove City.

Drew is tired. He's never known that ruling alone can be so much more tiring. He really owes it to May a lot that she's always there to rule by his side, because she makes everything seem less stressful.

Drew has also been visiting their room every now and then to check on how May is doing and to make sure that she's eating whatever food the chefs make.

It's now nighttime and Drew walked inside their room after a long day of ruling. Every problem was fixed and now he's just looking forward to making sure his wife is alright.

Drew crawled up on the bed and May looked at him. "How are you feeling?" Drew asked.

May smiled. "Fine. Thanks to you."

Drew smiled back. "That's good."

"How have you been holding up with ruling alone?"

"It's been harder than I thought. I never knew that ruling with you can have so much impact on me physically and emotionally than ruling by myself."

"Was it really that much harder without me?"

Drew nodded. "Yeah. But I handled every problem."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there. But I'm glad you're able to rule on your own for the time being."

"Me too. Just stay in bed for a few more days, and I'm sure you'll be able to rule again."

"Thank you for still taking care of me even though you had problems to solve." May said.

Drew reached over and took May's right hand. He rubbed his thumb over her wedding ring. "This ring is a symbol of all those promises I made to you. I'm not about to go break one."

May blushed and smiled.

"No matter what problems the people have, I'll always see you as my priority." Drew said. May's blush deepened. "Get well soon." He released May's hand and she brought it to her side. Drew laid down and tucked them both in.

May looked at Drew. "I'm proud of you, Drew."

Drew looked at May and smiled. "I just remembered everything you taught me about ruling, and I was able to solve everyone's problems. And also, I know that you believed in me, so I pushed forward."

May smiled and looked up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes. "Besides marrying me to become King, I knew that you would be perfect for the job. No one is more devoted to anything than you are to being King."

"And that's not the only thing I'm devoted to."

May opened her eyes and turned her head.

Drew smiled. "I'm also devoted to you."

May blushed. Drew leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Good night, my Queen." Drew said, looking up and closing his eyes.

"Good night...my King."