"You left these outside."

It had passed some time since Anemone had heard a voice, since that crisis she had sat at Cattleya's side, never once letting go of her hand, as she waited for the news to be delivered to the others, then hopefully someone would tell her.

When Lycoris had walked in the room carrying the bouquet of flowers she had taken along for the same woman that was sleeping in this bed.

Somehow none of them were ruined.

"Amaryllis went to look if she could fetch a vase for them."

"That's so very nice of her." but Lycoris shook her head. "Anything for Cattleya."

The musician left the flowers on the nightstand next to the bed for the time being, as they fell in a comfortable silence for a moment, only broken from the sounds of the machines the redhead was attached to, and her ragged breath and small whines.

"Freesia's dad says this crisis could repeat again, also that for this reason it would be best if someone stayed here with her when it happened. Your presence calmed her down."

That she had noticed, just… why her specifically?

"Why me?"

Why did she call her name out of everyone she knew?

This had to be a fortunate coincidence.

"Well the hypothesis is that in her broken state of mind, she may have been relieving some kind of memory that could have involved you."

Yes, that could have been possible.

"We've been told it's a normal thing that who is suffering from this illness may recall even long distant memories, because their brain is in such a fragile state they can't control what they think well enough." or not at all even.

It just happened.

"At least it helped… for the time being." yes, but for how long?

Lycoris came over to sit on the other side of the bed, placing a hand on Cattleya's other arm, leaving gentle caresses.

"It hurts…" she whispered.

It hurt seeing her like this, she was so damn pale she may as well blend in with the sheets.

The only bit of color was her cheeks, red with fever.

Hardly anything good.

"I know…" Anemone reached to grab a cloth, dipping it into the bucket of water the nurses left there, and wiped Cattleya's face with it.

She didn't even stir one bit.

"When that night I saved her from those girls in red, I thought that her face and body, all bruised and bloody, had to be the worst I'd seen her but… somehow this doesn't even compare to that…"

Somehow this was so much worse.

And neither thing was good.

"I have… a theory about something, since you mentioned the assault." Anemone listened as Lycoris mused, leaving the cold cloth on Cattleya's forehead for the time being.

Hoping it'd give her some kind of relief.

"You see, I told you since early age I always protected her, and at first, I couldn't understand why she'd call your name instead of mine, before I was told it might have been entirely unintentional." perhaps she was even a little jealous.

"When Freesia's dad mentioned the memories, I realized there's a difference in the way we've protected her, between you and me." Lycoris came to take the redhead's free hand.

"And it's that unlike me, you have saved her life before. I have reason to believe she was calling you because she must have remembered that, somehow." even if subconsciously. "She remembered you as her savior."

"I can see that, even if it's just an hypothesis." Anemone mused. "She could have called anyone, or no one at all. It's a wonder she could even speak."

"She must be so scared…"

"I don't doubt it, I would be too if I were her." Lycoris squeezed Cattleya's hand. "I mean, we are already scared to lose her, imagine being in her shoes."

"She probably can't even process what is happening well enough…" that sentence meant more than one thing.

A part of it was because of the virus that was fragmenting her mind so she couldn't understand what was going on. And the other…

Her issues with expressing and understanding emotion must not have been helpful, at all.

"I would just love to talk to her, tell her everything will be fine, to not worry about a thing but… it'd be a lie." there was a small sniff as Lycoris wiped her eyes, feeling tears coming.

"She consoled me so many times, when we were kids, she always knew what to do or say, while I…"

"You're here for her, that's what matters." Anemone interjected.

It was the only thing that mattered.

"I just hope our affection will give her the strength to fight for her life."

Lycoris nodded. "Right."

The two fell back to a comfortable silence, though neither made a move to leave Cattleya's side, they couldn't, they didn't want to.

Until…

"She cares about you, you know?" it was the musician that broke it again. "When she was recovering from the assault she'd ask about you all the time."

"She was more worried about you than for herself, even though she was in a lot more pain." she supposed it was a way to distract herself, still…

"It's unusual of her to talk so much about someone, as you know she's pretty taciturn but she can talk a lot about something she cares about. When that happens we try to encourage her even further, because it is nice to see her happy for once."

That was when they understood that Cattleya might have been harboring feelings stronger than just friendship, even back then.

And when she had been willing to say the truth about her condition, they knew their supposition was true, because she'd never say something as important to her to keep hidden to someone she doesn't trust entirely.

"She's a very kind person. It's unfair she had to go through so much." and even now it was still unfair, Anemone thought.

Why did fate have to be so cruel to good people?

"She spent her entire life with society making her feel like she's a weight, for a condition she never had control over. She lived like she always had to prove something…" because there was no other way for her to live, if not like this.

If she didn't want to be treated like a problem.

"That's why I swore to protect her, besides the fact I don't want to lose people close to me anymore, and so do Freesia and Amaryllis. Cattleya may show herself as strong and cold, but as you can see she's a very fragile person." in both senses.

Both physically and mentally.

"I saw you kiss her before." ah so that's where the conversation was heading towards.

Anemone felt her cheeks grow hot for some reason.

"I'd say I didn't mean it but…"

"Don't worry, we know." Lycoris cut her off. "We all know about your feelings for her."

Which, if Anemone loved Cattleya, and Lycoris knew well it was the opposite way too, then…

"Why haven't you told her?"

The answer was simple.

"Well, perhaps because I also mean to protect her, in a way." that meant protecting her from her own feelings.

"You see, ever since I heard your music, I've been attracted to the beautiful and mysterious S21, she enchanted me with her voice like I was under a spell. My dream was to one day speak to her, maybe ask for an autograph, but I got so much more than I ever imagined."

In the end she may as well end up thanking Gerbera for that.

"But as you said, she's a fragile person, and especially after that assault I held back because I didn't want her to think I was using her weakness, or that I was playing with her own feelings, even though mine only grew stronger since then." Anemone's hand went to leave a gentle caress to Cattleya's cheek.

It was still burning…

"I would have never thought I'd find myself praying for someone I care about to survive this damn virus another time." right, there had been Lily too…

"But now it makes me wish I hadn't been such a coward." because she may never get to know now…

"I would have been okay even if she rejected me, I just… I didn't want to hurt her."

And now she was hurting for a whole other reason, that probably was way more painful than anything she would have said.

"She doesn't deserve it…" now it was her turn to be on the verge of tears, as she stared at Cattleya's bandaged arm.

"She doesn't deserve any of this…"

A stray tear fell on the redhead's hand, who knew if she had felt it?

"She doesn't, but… what she does deserve is someone that loves her."

With a sniff, Anemone wiped her eyes. "Thanks…"

"And here we are supposed to support you and the others, while you're here consoling me." she felt so damn pathetic.

All because she didn't have the courage to say those three words to Cattleya and face the consequences.

She must be offended that she didn't think to treat her like any other person in this case, exactly the opposite of what Anemone meant to do.

She'd been so stupid…

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Still…

"Do you think she could have loved me?"

What should she say? Lycoris thought.

Should she just confess in Cattleya's place? What if she didn't want that? What if it was wrong and they misunderstood her feelings towards Anemone?

No, they didn't misunderstand, she was sure, but… should she just waste all the efforts she made to write that song for her she was trying so hard to? It had been the main thing she'd been thinking about before this happened.

But what if Anemone never got to know?

What should she do?

Should she just… ruin it?

"The concept of love is hard for her to understand." it wasn't her that answered, but rather Amaryllis that entered the room, after finally finding the vase for the flowers.

"But it doesn't mean it's impossible." thank goodness she knew what to say, as always.

That gave a response vague enough to be encouraging but didn't ruin things for Cattleya.

After all, they all wished she'd recover, to hear her sing all her love for Anemone.

They still hoped.

Because there was all they could do.

Someone came to wrap an arm around Anemone's shoulders for comfort, Rose knew she needed it, she had entered after Amaryllis, and Freesia trailed behind them.

"How is she doing?" she asked, a useless question really.

"She hasn't moved ever since she fell asleep. She only whines sometimes but that's it." Anemone replied, still holding her hand, refusing to let go of it.

Afraid that if she did that she'd slip away in the embrace of death.

"Dad says that as long as she's resting it's positive, it's worse if she's awake and alert, until her brain stabilizes." if it ever did. "We have been lucky, these crises can last hours, but if they don't repeat then it's encouraging."

So best to hope they won't.

"And if possible it'd be best if someone stayed with her even at night."

"We can take turns, we did the same when Lily was in the same situation." Rose said, though Lily's case had been more mild.

But there wouldn't be a problem to do it again for Cattleya, especially since she needed them so much.

Anemone in particular.

"Also White has called." Amaryllis added as she fixed the flowers in the vase.

"She did, besides asking how Cattleya's doing, she says she has delayed as long as possible, but next week we need to deal with the media, she called in advance so we may prepare ourselves, mentally."

"Huh, how nice…" Lycoris gave a bitter laugh.

Even if they knew that time had to come, eventually.

To deal with the possibility of the band breaking apart.

But honestly it was hardly the worst thing that could happen.

"Have you already made a decision?" Anemone asked, probably she shouldn't have, but they must have thought about all the possibilities during this week.

"Yes, we did." Freesia replied.

They did in fact take one, it had been easier than expected.

There was only one option after all.