Once again, Jade found himself lounging in a makeshift rest area, in avoidance of another tiresome discussion. He smiled ruefully as he rested his arm across his forehead, shielding his gaze from the dim fonlit lamp hanging from the cavern ceiling as he lay on the thin mattress. It has been, what? A decade since he last felt like this. Shivering from the cold he was normally able to withstand, limbs feeling like lead, body numb due to some unknown virus or the like. Despite his penchant for overworking himself, he rarely fell ill, if at all. He did know his limits, and knew how to backpedal for a bit if he sensed himself approaching that point of no return.

He was about to drift off to sleep when the makeshift door creaked open. Cracking an eye open, he saw Guy shuffle towards him and take a seat on the bed next to him. He mentally braced himself for the nagging that was sure to come, considering he had no confidence in Saphir's ability to keep his mouth shut.

"Jade, are you sick?"

And so, it starts. "Saphir is exaggerating."

"Dr. Gneiss? What does he... Oh." Jade could sense a knowing look coming from him as a realization dawned on him. "So that's why he was throwing all those looks at you. No, I exited the room shortly after you did, so, no, he did not say anything. Though I guess you're going to say that it's only a matter of time, huh?"

"Indeed. Besides, I've told you before that I've been frail as a child. That shouldn't surprise you, shouldn't it?"

"Right. And if I had one gald for each time you said stuff like that with a straight face, I'd be richer than His Majesty." Guy tossed a blanket over Jade, who mentally thanked him for the action. "Seriously, Jade. I know what I felt back when I tried to heal you in the airship. There was something... different about your fonons. Like they were tainted or something."

Jade lowered his arm slightly to give Guy an appraising glance. "Oh?"

"I thought you'd eventually come clean about it on your own, so I didn't say anything." Guy smiled ruefully as he folded his hands. "But tell me, am I too optimistic to hope for that?"

"Would it have made a difference if I told you?"

"Hell it would!" Guy's brows creased into an unamused glare. "We could've seen a doctor or gotten some med—"

"—both of which are things we don't have the time for," Jade said tonelessly. "Do name a doctor on Kimlascan soil that would see a supposed dead man, if not someone on the run from the Kimlascan army."

"I won't pry about the specifics, but could you at least see a doctor once this is all over?"

"...Perhaps."

"Good." Guy's stern expression softened into a smile. " And... Jade. Don't push yourself too hard. You have friends you could rely on, you know? If not me, then His Majesty, Anise, Natalia, or heck, even Dist, err... Dr. Gneiss. So whatever comes next after Ortion Cavern... we're here, OK?"

Jade chuckled. "Given my track record, shouldn't you be trusting me less and chatisizing me more?"

"Maybe, but I'd like to believe in the Jade that pulled us through many difficult situations before. As for the latter, I'll be leaving the chewing out and screaming to His Majesty."

An odd sense of deja vu washed over him as Guy rose from the bed, giving him the briefest of smiles before leaving the room. No sooner than Guy left did the door swing open for Peony to thunder in.

Peony wasted no time in throwing a punch at Jade's face as he sat up to greet him, nearly knocking him flat back on the bed.

"Jade! What the hell?"

"I'd like to ask you the same question myself." His jaw ached slightly with each word he spoke, though nothing seemed to be broken when he raised a hand to his cheek.

"You better be playing a really cruel joke on Saphir, or—"

"If I was not," Jade's steely gaze met Peony's equally cool one, "then what are you going to do?"

"What am I—" Peony unfurled his balled fist, though his gaze still blazed with fury as he looked down on Jade. "But Jade, it can't be true... Miasma toxicosis... I thought Luke..."

"...Got rid of the miasma?" Jade raised a brow at him, the pain along his jaw slowly becoming a distant memory. "Yes, he did."

"Then it's a joke. I'd like to know what you told Saphir such that you had him in tears when he told us what has been eating at him since we arrived here."

Jade lay back on the bed, sheets creasing as he rolled over to his side. "It's not."

"What...?" Jade could imagine Peony's face draining of color as the other finally took him seriously. "But when?"

Jade's glasses caught the glare coming from the small lamp in the room as he stared blankly at the cavern wall. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Disbelief echoed in Peony's tone. "Then... how? I thought you guys weren't affected by the worst of the miasma back then!"

"The fonslot seal." Jade pulled himself into a sitting position, resting his hands lightly over the thin blanket covering his lap. "Typically, miasma-tainted fonons would be able to exit one's body through the fonslots they came through, but this minor inconvenience made it troublesome for them to exit back in the day, I suppose." As if to emphasize his statement, a hacking cough overtook him. As he made a futile attempt to downplay the worst of it, he felt a hand gently stroke his back in an attempt to ease his cough—the same hand that struck him a few moments ago.

Peony spoke as his cough subsided, laying a hand gently over his shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was irrelevant." Jade shrugged off Peony's hand. "And I was uncertain about it until recently."

"Irrelevant?" Jade felt Peony stiffen next to him. "Uncertain? Even so, you should've said something! You shouldn't have pushed yourself too hard! We should've stayed in the settlement so you could reco—"

"And what?" A dry laugh escaped Jade as he closed his eyes. "Wait for someone to save what's left of Malkuth while we played house?"

"At what cost?" Peony said quietly as he took a seat on Jade's bed. "Losing you in a battle that may be a farce?"

"You grossly underestimate me, Your Majesty."

"Right," Peony said, letting out a half-hearted chuckle. "How am I supposed to believe that, especially when you look like you could drop dead any moment?"

Jade averted his gaze. "...I just need to rest for a while."

"Then what? Are we just going to waltz into Baticul with Natalia in tow as some sort of giant 'fuck you'?"

"That is, in fact, the plan."

Peony lapsed into silence at his words, clearly astonished by his acknowledgement. "...What?"

"We will be taking an underground passage into the city. However, there is a high possibility that its entrance to the city might be guarded, and as such, we will be needing a distraction, preferably in a form that will not endanger much of your allies. With that said, I will be responsible for the said distraction, while a small party makes their way to the castle—"

"You idiot!" Peony spat out, grabbing him by his collar. "Are you forgetting that you're not on this alone? You're sick! Heck, you're not supposed to be doing any kind of fighting!"

"You are forgetting that the plan I proposed is the most practical." Jade made no movement to resist the other, settling for giving Peony a cold stare. "Lose at most one man for the liberation of Malkuth. Minimal losses—"

"Damn it, Jade!" Peony roughly shoved him back on the bed, causing it to creak loudly. "You're not just 'any' man! Again, have you given any thought to how we would feel if you died?"

"You speak as if favoritism is a luxury you could afford."

"You're my friend! I can't just let you—"

"How amusing," Jade said, eyes boring into Peony's. "Weren't you quick to sentence Luke to his death back in the day?"

"I—" Peony froze momentarily, hurt evident on his face. "There was no choice back then! As for this situation now, there are clearly other—" Pausing once more and taking note of Jade's no-nonsense glare, he let out a defeated sigh. "...Very well. Then promise me."

"Promise you?"

"That you'll come back alive."

"I cannot promise that."

"Hmph. Then I order you to."

Jade's lips curled into an amused smile at Peony's childish remark. "I can assure you that I do not harbor a hidden desire to die as much as you like to imply." Even though there was no known cure for his disease.

"Good." A feeble smile crossed Peony's lips, clearly barely believing him.

Silence hung between the two of them as Jade lay down once more, closing his eyes as he feigned sleep in hopes of driving the other away with his inattention. Of course, it was too good to last for an eternity—or to expect that the other would take the hint and leave—as Peony eventually broke it not a moment too soon. "Oh, I almost forgot—Anise left a glass of water for you at around the same time I came in. She says she'll be back with some fried rice once we're done talking."

Jade cracked an eye open. "I suppose it would be rude of me to reject her kind hospitality."

"Since when were you ever not rude?"

"Heh." Dragging himself out of bed, he staggered towards the table and took the indicated glass. A small grin escaped him as he sighted the note beneath the glass, which bore the message "Don't push yourself, Colonel!" and a small doodle of a smiling Anise with Tokunaga.

Taking a generous sip of the refreshing liquid and setting the glass back on the table, he took a step forward towards the door—

—And felt nothing but air when he did so.

He reflexively clutched the table top as he felt his knee give way, limbs unresponsive to his mind's call for movement. It was careless of him, he thought as his vision started to swim. Someone spiked the glass with a paralysis tonic, and on top of it, a sleep potion, but who—

"Sorry." Peony said, footsteps growing louder as Jade felt his fingers growing numb, arm dropping uselessly to his side as he completely sank to the ground. "We'll take care of things from here."

His head felt heavy as he attempted to raise his gaze to Peony, who knelt in front of him. Normally, a person would have felt confused or betrayed at such an act, but no such feeling came to Jade—just the bitter taste of regret at his carelessness. Inwardly, he cursed himself for his carelessness brought about that blasted entity known as trust.

"...Why?" Jade asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he struggled to maintain eye contact with Peony, head pounding at the effort.

"You don't have to worry anymore." A strong arm wrapped itself around his shoulders, pulling him close to Peony. As his head rested helplessly against the crook of Peony's neck, he found himself consumed by the illogical desire to lose himself in the other's embrace. An unfamiliar, yet strangely comfortable warmth enveloped him, strong and inviting against his mind's call for consciousness. It was a battle that his logical side was slowly losing, powerless against the liquid that coursed through his body as he found his mind sinking into the tempting darkness. "You... focus... better... cure..."

Peony's voice sounded distant as his warmth continued to overwhelm Jade, the only certain feeling that his body felt as the drink went through its course. It was the last thing he felt before he finally gave in to the darkness, unsure if he could trust the others to accomplish what they have set out to do.

Peony swallowed the lump in his throat as Jade fell limp against his chest, heart slowly but surely beating against his. Internally, he reasoned that the whole thing was necessary. No matter how much the other reasoned, letting Jade hold off the Kimlascan army at Baticul was the equivalent of sending him to his death, considering the stage in which his disease has progressed, if Saphir's words were anything to go by. Perhaps another day, it may have been not the equivalent of a death sentence. However, the man once known as the Necromancer has definitely seen better days—pale, cold to the touch, coughing like an aged man on his deathbed—one did not need to be a rocket scientist to tell that.

Still, if there was one thing Peony was certain about, he was not about to let Jade join the sea of corpses that dotted the afterlife. And when he was certain about something, he would do anything within his means to defend that certainty, even if he would be hated by some for his decision.

After all, it was nigh impossible to please everyone, and he was more than willing to bear the burden of resentment that came with any decision he made.

"Thank you for everything, Jade." He lifted his eyes heavenward as he hugged Jade's unconscious form once more, trying to will his guilt away with the words he could not say earlier. "My dearest best friend."