Not All Who Wander Are Alone

(Note: Takes place after Season 2.)

The great, magnificient, fantastical, orbble juice powered, nautical themed star-ship Star Nomad sailed away through space away from the snowy planet. Such a luxurious ship was certainly a proper reward for the ones who had saved the entire galaxy from Lord Dominator. At the moment, the heroic owners of this imaginative star ship were currently aboard and in the cabin that they shared.

"ACHOO! ACHOO!"

Sylvia the Zbornak flinched in response to the explosive sneezing of the little Star Nomad on the bed before her.

"You just HAD to go ice skating, didn't you?" Sylvia remarked with a role of her eyes.

Wander sniffled as he sat shivering beneath the cover, his nose dripping as he said through clogged sinuses, "You'b bink they'b have a sign or somebing if the ice was thin."

"That planet was only just restored not to long ago," Sylvia explained with her arms folded impatiently, "There hasn't exactly been much time to-."

Sylvia's lecture was interrupted by a series of loud, pained coughs from Wander. The Star Nomad fell onto his side and curled up into a fetal position as he continued to cough.

"Wander!" Sylvia shouted out in concern as he ran to his side. When his bout of coughing finally ended, she felt his forehead and pulled her hand back in shock. "Oh, grop! You're burning up!" she exclaimed.

Wander let out a moan, and Sylvia quickly raced out of the cabin at top speed.

"This better not be like the last time he was sick," Sylvia muttered under he breath.

She swiftly returned holding a tray laden with a carton of orange juice, a pitcher of water, a thermometer, and a folded towel soaked in cold water. Sylvia set the tray down on the night table next to Wander's bed, and then gently rolled Wander onto his back so she could remove his magic hat and place the cold compress onto his forehead.

"It's gonna be okay, buddy," Sylvia said softly, looking at her frail looking, feverous friend, "You'll get well in no time." She then adopted a sterner tone of voice and said, "But don't you forget what you learned the last time you were sick. The universe won't end without you. Just rest and get well."

"Uh-huh. . ." Wander muttered, and smiled weakly at Sylvia, "It never hurts to let someone help. . ."

And so, for one week, Sylvia essentially played nurse maid for Wander. Sylvia found it hard to get much sleep, not because Wander was being particularly annoying or needy. If anything, Wander was unnervingly quiet during this time. All Wander did was cough, moan, and occasionally roll around in his bed. Sylvia would have to force herself to lay herself down in her own circular bed and get some sleep. The logical part of her brain told her that she needed to rest so she could be alert enough to take care of Wander, but she would only be able to get around 4 hours of sleep a night before her worried woke her up and brought her back to Wander's bedside.

Sylvia was beyond thankful that the week of cold compresses, getting Wander to sip diluted orange juice, and the occasionally steamy bath seemed to be working; as Wander's fever was steadily breaking. However, the severe lack of hearing Wander's cheerful voice and seeing his massive smile pained Sylvia something fierce. Seeing her best friend, the one she cared about more than anybody else, in such a sorry state was eating away at her in the most heart wrenching of ways.

It was on the seventh day that Wander finally became well enough to speak, and it was after Sylvia had given him some soup, looking into his eyes, and felt his forehead.

"I told ya you'd get better in no time," she said with a smile, a sense of relief soothing her own heart as she said this.

Wander closed his eyes and rested his head on his pillow. The smile Sylvia had grown to know and love finally returned to his face, and he muttered warmly, "Thank you, Ma. . ."

Sylvia's jaw dropped, and she felt as though her eyes had grown as large as Commander Peepers'. "W-what did you-? Did you just-?" she stammered out.

Wander suddenly sat up in bed, no longer smiling and just as wide-eyed as Sylvia. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He then reached over, grabbed his hat off of the night table, and pulled down over his head.

As Sylvia stared at the hidden Star Nomad, her first thought was to pull the hat off of him and demand that they talk about this. But she immediately dismissed the idea. She couldn't do that to him. Instead, she sighed and walked over to her own bed, jumping onto it and lying flat on the cushion, not even bothering to pull her tail in.

"Where the florp did that come from?" she thought to herself as she laid there. Confused thoughts buzzed within her mind, and due to the fact that she had gotten minimal sleep all week, she was unable to sort it all out. So, she ended up drifting off to sleep.

Sylvia awoke fully refreshed, the exhaustion built up over the course of a week finally dispelled. However, the events that had happened right before she resigned herself to sleep came back to the forefront of her mind immediately. She huffed as she thought it through, her strong sense of logic and common sense piecing it all together, with a certain memory acting as the keystone.

"The helper seeks to help because he knows what it is to be helpless."

Sylvia sighed, and she rolled over and got to her feet. Wander was no longer hiding under his hat, and was sleeping not quite restfully. He was wordlessly muttering in his sleep, and he appeared to be hugging himself as well.

Sylvia walked over to him and shook his gently, "Wander, wake up. Open you eyes."

Wander's eyes blinked open and he looked up at his friend. He smiled, but something about it seemed slightly forced.

"G'mornin', Sylvia!" Wander said with his normal good cheer, "Looks like I'm finally over this thing! Thanks to you, Sylvia!"

Sylvia gave a nervous smile back, and she opened her arms, naturally expecting another one of Wander's hugs. However, much to her dismay, Wander let out a nervous laugh and jumped out of bed, brushing past her and towards the door.

Sylvia's heart sank as she thought, "Wander's never turned down a hug from me before. . ."

"So, uh, boy am I hungry!" Wander said giddily, "I guess sitting in bed for a week does that to ya, huh?"

"Wander," Sylvia said tentatively.

Wander continued to move towards the door with intention of going to the ship's galley and said, "Yeah, so how about we make a galaxy sized omelet-."

"Wait," Sylvia said as she grabbed him with her prehensile tail, pulling him back into their cabin.

Wander gulped and said nervously, "Uh. . .something wrong?"

Sylvia lowered her head and sighed, "Look. . . . we gotta talk about. . . last night."

Wander blinked, and he laughed loudly and as he tried to squeeze out of Sylvia's tail, "Ooh boy! Yeah, I didn't know what that was, Syl! Being sick made me all loopy and stuff! Crazy, wasn't I?"

Sylvia looked at Wander and said, "You were helpless again, wen't you?"

Wander said nothing as he looked back up at her.

Seeing this as an invitation to move on, Sylvia continued, "I don't know what happened to you. . .before we met, and I was never exactly sure where you came from- But I'm not gonna make you talk about it! But, well, I think I finally understand that part of you I saw in that crystal cave."

Sylvia moved her face closer to Wander and asked, "You've got lots of friends, and you're good at making them. . .but what you really want is family, right?"

Wander grimaced, and he became rather interested in the floor.

"Wander, look at me," Sylvia urged as she gently lifted Wander's chin with her hand.

Wander shifted nervously in the grip of Sylvia's tail.

"C'mon, buddy. You know you can tell me anything," Sylvia said, taking the calm tone she used whenever Wander was freaking out about something, "So, am I right about what you've always wanted?"

". . . . . Yeah. . . ." Wander finally said in a quiet voice, then he took a big breath and stammered out quickly, "And then I got sick and I couldn't do anything or help anyone or help myself and everything was bad but then you were there and you stayed there and you did everything for me and I never had a mom and I didn't know what it was like so naturally I guessed it was something like that so that's why I called you that but now I just don't know anymoooore!"

To Wander's credit, he didn't start crying after saying all this. And to Sylvia's credit, she listened to Wander's fast forwarded monologue with a sympathetic look rather than an annoyed look. Nevertheless, Sylvia nodded and said, "Well, okay then. I guess it's time we got a few things straight."

Wander looked up at her in confusion as she gently placed him back on the ground and freed him from her tail.

Sylvia breathed in and out, then she said, "Okay. Better pull this bandage off quick." She then patted her chest and said, "First off, I am not, have not been, nor will I ever be anyone's mother. I am not the nurturing motherly type. At all. I'm nowhere near patient enough for that. Caring for that puffball Sweetie for a couple of hours: just a one time thing. Anything other than that: no way."

Wander hung his head in disappointment. "Sure. . .I get it, Sylv," he said sadly.

"So get over here and give your big sister a hug, Wander."

Wander's head jerked up as he beheld Sylvia holding her arms out and smiling warmly at him. He stared at her as if in a daze, not entirely sure if he heard right.

"Well," Sylvia said, still smiling, "Come on little bro, get over her and let me give ya the good stuff."

Wander cracked a huge smile and clasped his hands together as he squealed with delight. He then dived right into the Zbornak's embrace, and the pair shared a hug that seemed to be a whole lot more meaningful than any of the many, many other hugs they had before.

As Sylvia hugged him, the beginnings of a plan were forming in her mind. It was something she felt she needed to do, as a matter of principle at the very least. But, it would take some time to do, so she filed that plan away in her brain and said, "So, what was that you were saying about a galaxy sized omelet?"

Several weeks had passed since Wander's illness and the subsequent events, and great progress had been made in restoring the galaxy to it's former glory, or perhaps even a greater glory. The pair had visited several planets, bringing refugees back to their newly restored homes. In addition, new ships and space stations had arrived in the restored galaxy to bring order to the many planetary nations. It was during this time that Sylvia made contact with the bureaucracy to make a special surprise for Wander.

And so, the Star Nomad docked at one particular space station, the CC Cracken. It was a large, tall structure that was vaguely umbrella shaped. The pair entered the station, and Sylvia handed off a list of supplies that their star ship needed to one of the silver, box-shaped robots that ran the station. After finalizing the payment, Sylvia suggested that they check out the restaurant onboard, which Wander agreed with whole heartedly.

Wander was working on a rather huge pile of spaghetti while Sylvia was finishing off a slice of jellyfish pie, when the Zbornak smiled sheepishly and said, "Uh. . .Wander. . .I. . .uh. . .I need to. . .um. . . It's been five months. . ."

Wander slurped up a mouthful of noodles and said with a smile, "Ah-ah-ah! Say no more, Sylv. Just go, take your time, no one else needs to know."

Sylvia smiled and nodded, and she quickly got up and walked away from the table. However, she quickly found the robot waiter that served then, a tall, cigar shaped robot with thin arms and legs and one single eye in its body, and she told him, "Bring my little bro an large ice cream sundae when he's done with his pasta. I'll be back by the time he's finished."

The robot nodded, and Sylvia briskly walked over to the entrance to the restaurant. However, before leaving, she lowered her head towards a decorative potted plant and said, "Remember, you better keep your eye on him."

Out of the dirt popped Commander Peepers, who turned his eye to her and said, "You're not only wasting my time, your wasting your free favor from me. Nothing's gonna happen to him here."

"Can't be too careful these days," Sylvia replied seriously, "Just keep that eye of yours peeled and focused on Wander, or else I'll peel it for ya."

"Fine, fine, whatever," Peepers said with a role of his eye, "As long as you remember that after this, we're even. No more free favors for defeating Lord Dominator."

"I know, I know, but now I gotta run. Bye," Sylvia said, and she dashed off towards one of the space station's many elevators.

As she rode the elevator car upwards, Sylvia took a moment to consider her feelings about the high ranking Watchdog. As much as she hated to admit it, she'd grown rather fond of the intelligent little villain, and he appeared to feel the same way judging by the fact that the pair would occasionally meet in secret to gripe about the latest hairbrained or boneheaded thing Wander or Hater had done. Sylvia would never forget that fateful battle royale over Wander's 'ring of invincibility' when she realized that she'd found someone that actually understood what is was like to have a best friend who wasn't exactly the sharpest of blades.

They'd very nearly ended up hugging it out right in the middle of a battlefield.

Nevertheless, the result of that day was multiple team-ups and saves between them, and Sylvia would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy those little adventures between the two of them. Peepers was certainly no Wander, not even close, no comparison whatsoever. But still, she didn't exactly hate the Watchdog anymore.

"Wander would be so happy if we actually became friends," Sylvia thought with a smile. However, she decided it would be best to keep that issue under wraps for now. She already had one big surprise for her little brother at the moment.

The long elevator ride finally ended, and Sylvia stepped out onto the correct floor, quickly found the correct office, spoke to the correct alien, and then filled out all of the correct forms. The white furred, red haired, anthropomorphic cat with the horn in the middle of her head smiled as she slid one final form across the desk to the Zbornak.

"Here you go, all you have to do is sign this and it'll be official," she said, "Although, as someone who's worked her for a while and done this for so many people, I should give you one little warning."

Sylvia looked quizzically at the alien and asked, "What do you mean, 'warning'?"

The lady alien chuckled and said, "He is going to give you the tightest hug you have ever had in your life!"

Sylvia smiled back and said, "Huh. Well, don't worry about that. Wander's been a hugger since the day I first met him. I'm pretty sure I can handle that."

Sylvia then twirled the pen in her fingers, and then she confidently signed her name on the form.

"Alright, that's that!" the uni-cat said sunnily, "Congratulations, Ms. Sylvia."

"Thank you Ms. Fausticorn," Sylvia replied with just as much joy.

When Sylvia returned to the restaurant, she discovered that her estimate was right on target. Wander was just finishing up his sundae, and was in the process of licking the hot fudge out of the dish. Sylvia had to laugh at this as she made her way back to the table.

Wander put the dish back down and said, "Hey, Sylvia. How'd it go- oh wait, no-no-no, we don't talk about that. Sorry, forget I said that."

As Wander waved his hands defensively, Sylvia smiled and said, "Actually, Wander, I've got a confession to make. I wasn't using. . .that is, it hasn't been five months. I just used it as an excuse so I could finish getting this!"

Sylvia took an official looking certificate out from behind he back and handed it to Wander. He stared at it in confusion at first, then he began to read it slowly. His eyes widened in amazement, and his jaw nearly hit the table.

"Wander," Sylvia said softly, "About a month ago, when we agreed to become siblings, I wanted it to be more than just words. More than just a cute little promise." Sylvia clasped her hands over her heart and said with all the sincerity she could muster, "Wander, without you, I'd still be a lonely, friendless, heartless bounty hunter. You've helped me see the universe in a way I never would have without you. You've helped me appreciate how beautiful it all is and. . .and . . ."

Sylvia had to pause, as her voice was beginning to crack. She hated herself for getting all choked up at this point, but there was nothing she could do to stop the tears that were falling from her eyes. ". . .and I. . .I care about you Wander. I care about you more than anybody else. I want to be your family. I want us to be family. And of course we can, and probably already were. Blood of the covenant's thicker than water of the womb and all that stuff. But family is proud of family, and they should make sure everyone knows they're family. So I went ahead and made it official. You're not just my best friend, Wander. You're my brother, and I love you. Sure, I know I've said that several times before, and. . .well. . .I guess you'll be hearing it plenty more from now on."

The look of pure joy on Wander's face in indescribable, especially with the tears of joy running down his cheeks. He didn't even both with his squealing this time around, and instead simply tackled Sylvia in the tightest, most emotional hug Sylvia had ever gotten in her entire life.

"Wosh, guess Fausticorn's warning was right," Sylvia thought as he felt Wander squeeze her like a sponge.

"Thank you. . ." Wander said through his tears of joy, "Thank you. . sis. I love you too."

Sylvia's own tears flowed freely, and he retaliated against Wander's squeezing by holding his fury body as close to her as she could.

Meanwhile, still peeking out of the plant pot, Commander Peepers shed a single tear and said, "Aw that's. . .that's beautiful."

After an eventful rest of the day of fun, hugs, and musical numbers, the time for sleep had finally arrived. However, as the galaxy trotting pair lay in their cabin aboard the Star Nomad, Wander lying in his bed and Sylvia curled up on her bed, peaceful slumber had let to truly arrive.

Sylvia was feeling anxious, worried even. It took the silent contemplation one could only had in a darkened room upon one's bed for the gravity of the situation to finally sink in for her. She was a big sister now, and that meant a big responsibility. It was honestly quite strange. On the surface level, nothing really changed. Sylvia and Wander would continue to travel through the galaxy together, helping anyone who needed help and thwarting villains as usual; and Sylvia, naturally, would look out for Wander, protecting him and reigning him in (or at least attempting to) whenever he went to far. And yet, everything somehow felt different to Sylvia as she tried and failed to rest on the soft cushion beneath her.

"I think I'm finally seeing. . .how much he means to me. . ." Sylvia thought wistfully.

The Zbornak felt a little more proud to be by Wander's side now, but she also felt strange sense of constant concern for him. It finally began to hit her just how devastated she would be if anything happened to him. Technically, it was less of a realization and more of a reminder.

Naturally, she had kept this a secret from Wander, but Sylvia kept having the occasional nightmare about their adventure aboard the late Captain Tim's derelict spaceship for a solid month after the fact. For several, horrible, agonizing minutes, Sylvia had been fully convinced that Wander, her best buddy, was dead. Murdered by a depraved monster; his lifeless, decomposing body shoved in a cocoon to be devoured later; only to be discovered by her. Seeing what she believed to Wander's liquified remains in the cocoon had caused her physical pain. It was a horrifying type of torture that stabbed deep into her heart and her mind like white hot knives that sent down onto the floor, writhing with anguish. She still remembered screaming out to heavens, begging for a reason why this had happened, why it couldn't it have been her instead. She would have traded her life for his in a heartbeat if she could've. But instead, she found herself forced into a universe without Wander. Then her grief gave into rage and a desire to avenge him, which then gave way into despair as she gathered up all the strength she had to try and hold herself together. To try and live on for his sake.

Thank the heavens that she managed to spot Wander through the escape pod window because she didn't think she'd have lasted for very long without him.

What greatly disturbed Sylvia tonight was that she had believed Wander to have been lost two more times after that. Next was the giant worm, although a sense of denial and residual anger at that flarpin' hat prevented her from descending into the same agonized state she'd been in the spaceship. And last was when Lord Dominator's ship exploded, with both Wander and the villain still inside. She hadn't screamed or wept uncontrollably then, but perhaps it had still been just as bad, or maybe worse. Sylvia had gone fully numb upon seeing the ship explode. It felt as if the very concept of happiness had died along with Wander at that moment. In spite of the countless alien creatures gathered around her, Sylvia felt utterly alone. She had absolutely nothing at the point. The universe was saved, but what was the point? Wander was gone.

Sylvia blinked back tears as one, undeniable fact became crystal clear to her. Now that the two of them knew where they stood, now that they were a family, Sylvia also knew for certain that if anything happened to Wander, if she lost him, her heart would shatter.

"Wander," she muttered to herself, for no reason other than to hear his name.

"Yeah, Sylv?"

Sylvia blinked and raised her head in surprise. Sure enough, Wander was looking her way with one eye open, still awake and with a smile on her face.

Sylvia very nearly just told Wander that it was nothing and to go back to sleep, but instead of that, she said, "I . . . I promise. . . I promise to always take care of you, Wander. To keep you safe. I'll be here for as long as you need me. No matter what."

Wander gave her a thumbs up and said, "Hey, I'm here for you too, sis."

Sylvia grinned at him and said, "I know, bro. Now go to sleep, you don't wanna be all cranky in the morning."

"Cranky? Who me? Never..."

"Ha-ha. Goodnight, Wander."

As the pair finally settled down to sleep, Sylvia's anxiety began to fade. She finally understood. When you love someone, there is a kind of risk of being hurt, and you often are taking a chance. But the things you get in return; purpose, companionship, hope; are most definitely worth it.