A/N: Thank you so much M0n0chr0meHue for all the reviews. You other readers ought to thank her.

Anyway, this chapter is pretty intense too, though there is some fluff at the beginning and very end. No music terms, though a few French terms; all of them are endearments. Please favorite or story alert or review.

She woke up to his irritatingly wide smile and her demands to let out of bed were met with a poke on the nose. "You've got pneumonia."

Aly rolled her eyes. "So that's a no?"

"Yep." He leaned in so close to her that she was once more glad that he had such good dental hygiene. "And guess what else the doctor said?"

He found this way too amusing. "That you'll catch it if you remain in my breathing space?"

"You have to remain in bed until you're well, which will be at least a week."

"So, I'm assuming you'll spend that time cleaning my spoiled bed sheets."

"Not at all, ma belle. He said it would be perfectly fine to mooch around the house a little—certainly enough to use the restroom. Meanwhile, I have been assigned to keep you here, in your rooms, until the doctor says you can leave."

She stuck her hand out, pushing his face away from hers, giving herself breathing room. "Great, I get sick and this is my punishment? Being talked to death? It isn't fair."

"Breaking the fourth wall again, ma belle?"

"Shut up." She looked up at Gino suddenly, fighting from losing herself in his eyes. "What...What day is it?"

"Saturday. You woke up a little yesterday, enough to eat anyway, but you don't seem to remember it."

She stared at him. "Saturday?"

"Yep."

Then she remembered. She sat up, croaking, "Bucket."

Gino didn't need to be told more than once. He ran off into her bathroom and returned nearly a moment later. Just in time. He watched in concern as she wretched.

"What did you feed me yesterday?"

He passed her a wet cloth, which she used to clean her face. "Chicken. Here's some water."

She took the glass and grimaced. "Chicken. Well, I guess it could be worse. Thanks."

"Anytime, ma belle."

She glared. "Would you mind?"

"I could call you something else. What about, hm...mon ange, mon chante, or maybe, mon coeur?"

She snorted. "I have a better idea. What about mon chou?"

"Why? What does it mean?"

"My cabbage."

Gino left her sleeping form after having a sudden urge to play his cello. It had been awhile;as the Knight of Three he was busy, without much time for Aly, let only music. It wasn't far from her rooms to his, but it was far enough to meet someone he didn't want to.

"Sir Weinberg."

Gino bowed. "Prince Schneizel."

"Do you know what's happened to the Lady Aly? I haven't seen her in court recently."

"She's sick."

"Is she? I'm sorry to hear it."

Gino said nothing.

"Is there a chance I could visit her?"

"No."

"No? Sir Weinberg, I know you and Lady Aly are close, but I daresay you are not in charge of who visits her."

"Your highness would be correct, but I wish to keep her stress down to as little as possible while she's sick."

Prince Schneizel's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying the Lady Aly finds my presence stressful?"

"I'm sure she finds your presence extremely pleasant, but your presence would bring her to think about more unpleasant subjects."

"And your presence does not."

"I've gotten quite good at distracting her."

"So you are coddling her?"

Gino shrugged. "I don't have many chances, so I'm trying to take advantage of this one, even if it comes back to haunt me."

"Sir Weinberg, walk with me." Prince Schneizel started walking in the direction of Aly's rooms. Gino had little choice but to follow the prince, hate and anger slowly rising in him. The prince stopped at a rare window in the palace hall. "Tell me, Sir Weinberg, man to man, what would you do for the Lady Aly."

Gino eyed him warily. "Whatever she wanted."

The prince smiled. "But surely, you couldn't do whatever she wanted."

"I could die trying."

"Could you give her this?" Prince Schneizel gestured around at the palace.

"Probably not."

The prince smiled. "I could."

Gino regarded him for a minute before letting out a laugh—all the stranger because it was Aly who laughed wryly, but as much as he pretended otherwise, the royal court had corrupted him. "If you think she would want to be your queen or mistress and have command over all of this," he gestured wildly, "you are sadly mistaken."

"Oh?"

"Aly is a idealist who realizes her goals aren't attainable but will try to the best of her ability to fulfill them."

"Like you?"

"No." Gino shook his head. "I'm much to selfish."

"Tell me if I'm wrong, but if the Lady Aly was an Empress of Britannia, couldn't she use her power to fulfill her goals. It is no secret that I am one of the more likely candidates to become the next Emperor."

"I wish Aly were here to make some veiled remark about how presumptuous that sounded." Prince Schneizel let out a small laugh, at which Gino narrowed his eyes. "But even if she could, her goals wouldn't really be fulfilled. Peace and equality and justice forced on people will not be truly fulfilling her goals."

"But given free-will, there will always be people who don't respect those ideals."

"Maybe so, but it will be their choice."

On her third conscience day after collapsing at her mother's altar, she came to a sudden realization. "You've gotten a lot better."

"I know. I'm great aren't I."Gino turned his head upwards, smugly. Then, as he processed what she said, he looked back down, surprised. "I have? At what?"

She grinned. "Distracting me, changing the subject, etc."

"I have? Great! Now what did you say you wanted for lunch?"

"I didn't."

"Oh." His bright smile flickered only slightly, but now she was sure of his facade. "Well what would you like?"

"No."

"No?" She didn't answer. "So, you're ready to tell me why I found you at your mother's altar in the rain?"

"Gino, I—I can handle it."

"Sure." He sat down on her bed, and she glared from underneath the covers.

"Off."

"Why?"

She struggled to find an answer; all she knew is that she didn't want to involve Gino in this. "It, it is not decent."

He rolled his eyes. "And since when has it mattered to us what was decent?"

She tried a different tactic. "So Gino...what are your feelings about sex out of wedlock?"

He instantly erupted into red and jumped off the bed. "What!"

"Now that we have that settled-"

"What? I-"

"Can you go get my father?"

He focused back on her, instead of determinedly staring holes in the foot of her bed. "What?"

"My father; can you get him?"

His face was suddenly remorseful. "I guess you wouldn't know. The Emperor sent him on a diplomatic trip to the Chinese Federation, just after your father stopped in Saturday morning."

Aly's face seemed to ice over. "So that's how it is, is it?"

"What is?" He was worried.

She ignored him. "How am I not surprised?" She had risen, sitting straight up in the bed, her mind obviously focused on something far away.

"Um...Even I can't pretend I have any idea what you're talking about."

Now realizing he was there, she turned toward Gino. "Gino, I promise I'm not going down without a fight."

"What? No, you don't have to fight. Just tell me what you're on about. What did the Emperor say?"

She arched an eyebrow. "No, I can't. As much as I want to, I can't."

"But I can help, whatever you're doing. I want to help."

She smiled. "I'm sure you do Gino, but—well, you have heard about the mess in Japan. After Shinjiku and Clovis, and what happened only last night, when that Zero character rescued the Japanese pilot from the Britannians. You know as well as I that very soon you'll be sent out to quell any kind of rebellion."

"Yes, but until then-"

"No. I can't. I don't even know how you would help, and besides, I would not want to drag you down with me."

"Down? What do you mean? Not-"

"Well, I may actually die, but not any time soon and that's not what I'm talking about."

"Die?"

"There's always that danger here, and even more so for you."

"True, but-"

"But wait." She reached out and cupped his face with one of her small, delicate hands. "I've got to...to pick the lesser of two evils, and I wouldn't have you tainted."

He backed away from the bed, from her hand, from her, and laughed. "Oh, that's rich, coming from you. You, who gets upset when I flirt or say something even mildly none angelic. Not taint me. I see how it is with you and your goddamn pride!"

Her returning smile was icy. "Yes. I guess I've always planned to martyr. I've always wondered what exactly it entails; now I will get to see if I'm right."

"And pray, what exactly are you going to use in this saintly battle of yours? Your family doesn't have money or property. The only thing you've got in the eyes of the court-"

"I plan on being nameless martyr, Gino. Not some saint. I'm not going to garner the fury of God. I'm going to use the things I've got in the eyes of the court: my brains and my body."

Gino's eyes flashed. "No."

She stood up on the bed, hands on hips in defiance. "No? And who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do? My father? The Damned Emperor? Some definitive model of patriarchy?"

"No. A friend."

"A...A friend?"

"Yes, a friend. And Aly, you've got several true friends, who would never turn you in, which is more than most people at court have, even if they trade mindless garble with dozens of others. You've got me, for a start, for longest, and you've got Anya, and Ito-san, Lloyd and Cecile! And did you know that Nonette, the Knight of Nine, even helped us look for you the other day."

Aly smiled genuinely, beautifully, and flopped back down onto the bed, patting a place beside her for Gino. "We're stupid."

He joined her, spread eagle on the big bed. "Yep. The biggest idiots in the world. I'm used to that label though."

She grinned, "Yeah, I guess so." She found his fingers, interlacing hers with his.

He turned his head to see her. "I'm a little surprised you turned out as the self sacrificing sort."

"Oh?"

"Hey, I rescued you when you were little. Shy and quiet and, dare I say it, scared. All your fire was completely hidden. I was expecting I would have to be rescuing you forever, your personal white knight."

She laughed. "That didn't last long, did it?"

"No. After that you were forever after me to stop coming to your defence, that you could defend yourself, with words, not actions."

"But I was always grateful."

"Hm...When it really counted." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Why did you think I became a knight?"

"You...you said for justice, so you could do good."

He rolled to his side toward her, grinning. "Admittedly, that is part of it—already one of us is conceited and I wouldn't want to spoil your selflessness—but once you wouldn't let me always be your personal knight, I decided to start serving as the world's knight."

She blushed. "I myself still think you joined it because of your little boy obsession with weapons and superheroes."

Shrugging, he said, "And you may be right, with that. I was a lot less conscience of my thoughts when I was turning sixteen."

"Fine words from only a seventeen year old. You were sixteen last year."

He poked her nose. "But I'll be eighteen in just a few months."

"And completely insufferable."

"But you'll still love me."

She wrinkled her nose. "I suppose I won't have much of a choice."

"Nope." He leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.

She smiled wickedly. "Is that all you have in you today?"

He grinned, before descending down upon her lips, her own meeting his in a glorious battle. Coming up to breathe, he whispered by her ear, "Would you like to know the answer to your question from earlier?"

And she knew exactly what question he meant. "Only if you want me to kick you where the sun doesn't shine."

A/N: So I hope you guys enjoyed that. Please review and stuff. If you want to check out my tumblr its .com or my Schneizel RP account: .com

I hope to get at least two chapters out during July, and hopefully two out in August too.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions.