Hey everyone, It's been a while.

Now I know what you're probably thinking; that I have another sort of excuse as for why I have not updated Star Lovers Ꝏ in almost 8 months. Well, you're right; I do have a reason; two reasons actually. So let's break those down here real quick.

First reason, I had to find my own place; my cousin thought she was going to have to sell the house that was originally my grandmother's due to the high monthly payments on the mortgage, so I essentially had to move out and get situated on my own; though granted they had to take the house off the market due to how things are right now, and they're dealing with that, so regardless, I have my own place now, and that was top priority for the beginning of the year.

Once I got settled, the plan WAS to update after I had gotten some concept art drawn up so I could properly describe in writing all the new designs and characters that would be appearing...but things changed from an emotional standpoint.

No more than a few weeks after I moved into my apartment...I abruptly lost my mom.

It just came out of nowhere, and having to plan the funeral and come to terms with everything...it was hard; I barely had any motivation to do anything. Even those first couple of days after her passing, it still didn't feel real; I had just seen her a few days prior, and now someone who was always a part of my life was gone...and it was hard adjusting to that.

Because of that, I've been adapting myself and preparing to do the things I want to do while I have the chance, because you just never know when it's all going to end. Losing my mom really made me realize that. I've been preparing scripts for the game reviews I want to do, had a new PC built so I can finally begin streaming...

And that also applies here. I don't want to leave Star Lovers Ꝏ unfinished; I've spent the past ten years going over the plot in my head, making sure everything was right, I refuse to leave it as an unfinished story; not when I've invested so much mentally into wanting to tell the story I want to tell.

Hence this small detour; a small one-shot to get my writing juices flowing again...and to heal my own soul a little bit as well.

As I take my leave, I hope you all enjoy this piece.

Fear & Comfort

2 AM.

Sonia knew she should be sleeping in preparation for tomorrow, but her mind kept racing; it had almost non-stop for a few days now, and she hadn't been able to get a good night's rest. Regardless, she had powered through because she had a job to do.

Carefully, she made her way down the hall, draped in her long nightshirt and soft slippers before coming to the barely-opened door as she made her way in, a small bed on one side of the room, and a crib at the other.

Sonia wandered over to the crib and gazed down as the snoozing baby resting inside, a bottle next to her half-filled with milk as the small child laid on her stomach clutching a stuffed bunny in her small hands.

She brought her hand down to gently touch the little girl's cheek before running a finger in the small fluff of hair that was the same shade as her own. She soon pulled her hand away and turned her attention to the small bed at the other end of the room.

A small boy was dozed off in his own little dream world, the blanket kicked to the side a bit as a result of his movements. He always had a habit of sleeping restlessly ever since he was born.

Sonia knelt down and fixed the blanket up as the boy shifted before she began to run her fingers gently in his messy reddish-brown hair; a result of her own magenta-colored hair and the shade of brown his father bore.

Making sure the two were still fast asleep, Sonia rose to her feet and made her way to the door, before gazing back at the small children before she gently closed the door, her eyes having a faint hint of worry in them.

Geo stirred in bed as he shifted over, draping his arm across the bed before realizing even in his sleeping stupor, something was missing.

He gently opened his eyes to see the space of the bed that was usually occupied by his wife was empty.

"Sonia?" he murmured before rising himself up and rubbing his eyes, making sure he wasn't imaging things. Sure enough, Sonia wasn't there.

Geo sat up and moved his legs off the bed and slipping his feet into the nearby set of slippers as he got and made his way out of the room.

As he made his way down the hall, he came to the room that was originally his, now occupied by his two children. Gently he opened the door and gazed in, seeing that all was well and they were sleeping soundly, but finding his wife wasn't in there.

He soon came to the stairs and made his way down the small flight into the living room, his eyes darting to the couch, and sure enough, he found Sonia sitting there, staring out absently as if she was in a trance.

"Sonia...it's late...what are you doing up?" he asked with a yawn, but his words yielded no response. Now a bit of worry rushed through him as he made his way towards the couch. "Sonia, hon, talk to me."

"I just...needed some time to think." was her response.

"Sonia, you're scaring me here. What's wrong?" he asked once more, resting his hand atop hers.

"Geo...have you ever been afraid of losing everything; all of it gone in an instant?"

Geo thought back as his wife's words rung true, all his time being Mega Man in his younger years as he was coming out of the shell he hid himself in after his father's disappearance, hesitant to form friendships, afraid he would lose them the same way he had almost lost his father.

"Plenty of times...even when I thought you had broken our Brotherband intently...it almost crushed me inside, but deep down, I knew it couldn't be true and there was something else behind it. Why? What's this all of a sudden?"

"I feel that way right now...like I'm on the verge of losing everything, everyone I cherish…" she spoke up with a trembling voice as if she was on the verge of crying.

"Sonia, tell me what's wrong…"

"I...I'm meeting with my doctor tomorrow...to go over a few treatment options…" she managed to get out.

Options? Treatment? With this, Geo deep down went into panic mode, but he kept his composure. "Sonia, what do you mean treatment? What's wrong?"

"When I went to my check-up last month, we did a full exam, the usual stuff; make sure everything's fine...the results came back...and they want me to come in and start treatments right away…" she struggled to get out.

"Treatments for what?"

"It...it's the same thing Mama had...it's what she died from, Geo…" she replied.

It felt like time had just stopped all around, what felt like hours to them was only mere seconds.

"They have treatments for it now, something they didn't have for her back then. She said we were lucky we caught it, as for how I got it...it turns out it has a less that 22% hereditary rate."

"And you were going to tell me this WHEN?" Geo responded, trying not to overreact. "How long have you know?"

"Four days…"

Geo got up and moved around, trying to get his thoughts in order. "So, do they think the treatments will put an end to it?"

"They've had cases where it has, yes...but I'm scared, Geo. What if it doesn't work for me? These thoughts have been dominating me non-stop; but it doesn't compare to the fear and pain I've been through since finding out. What if it doesn't work, and Sky and Melody lose me the same way I lost my mother?" she cried back, finally letting the tears escape from her eyes.

Geo sat back down and embraced Sonia, holder her close as she cried into his chest, running his hand into her hair to soothe her.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"You've had so much work to do, getting ready for your first trip into space as an actual astronaut...I...I didn't want to damper your moment." she uttered.

"I don't care about that…" he said as he pushed her back to look at her eyes, taking the hand that bore her wedding ring into his as he pushed his ring hand against hers. "Remember our vows? In sickness AND in health. And not even our vows, everything we've been through, Sonia. I have ALWAYS been by your side and you by mine."

"Geo…"

"I want you to listen to me, Sonia...you WILL fight this, because that's what you've been since the moment I met you; a fighter. And if you need a reason to fight, don't fight for me, fight for our kids, fight so they can have their mother around and not be a small memory. "You are going to fight this, Sonia...and you're going to win…"

Sonia carefully raised her hand up to cup his face in her palm, gazing lovingly into his eyes as his hand moved to wipe the tears from her.

"What did I do to deserve someone so compassionate and loving as you?" Sonia asked softly.

"You were there for me at my lowest point when I needed someone...and now, I'm going to do the same and be there for you." Geo could only reply.