A/N: The last chapter was a bit on the long side. But it did have quite the depth to it. Especially how bold Patrick was putting his friends on the line. Then there's that one prisoner he's looking for. Let's see what'll happen...later on.

Aria belongs to my friend Koyukiy.

Chapter 66: Sick Daze

A Week has passed since Amanda and Sonta left Vale.

Afterwards, Selena and Patrick returned to Beacon Academy, but in different directions. The next week has been really quiet. Patrick hasn't even heard from Ivan ever since that visit.

Now the weekend has come once more.

Teams PASM and CPER, except for Rayla, are waiting in the empty cafeteria. Marlene is laying her head on the table groaning tiresome. "Where's breakfast?"

"Yeah, it's 8 in the morning, Rayla should have had Breakfast ready by now." Selena says.

"Where is she, anyways? We have seen her all morning, and she's usually up early." Peter asks.

While they waited, the doors opened. They all look and are surprised. Rayla is walking in, only she looks a bit pale, half asleep, her hair a mess, and is still wearing her pajamas with her maids' apron over it. Rayla dazedly stumbles through the cafeteria, everyone takes notice of Rayla's odd behavior.

When Rayla reaches a table next to everyone, that's when she collapses onto it. Seeing this alerts everyone. Aria makes the approach and feels her forehead. "Oh no! Rayla has a fever! She's really burning up"

Everyone carries Rayla back to her dorm. They lay her in bed and watch as she sleeps in a sweety moaning slumber. "How did this happen?" Clawdia asks. "This is claw-ful."

"I didn't even think maids could get sick." Selena says. Everyone stares at Selena as if she said something clueless. Selena notices all eyes on her and shrugs her shoulders. "Well, Plumette and Lumiere never got sick when they were taking care of me."

Marlene thinks as she looks at Rayla. "I'm no doctor, but I think this is only a minor fever. A full day of rest should be all she needs."

Earnest speaks. "Earnest, I'm pretty sure she is in no shape to make breakfast." Patrick says, arms crossed.

Just then, Rayla sits up with her eyes open. Seeing her really startles everyone. "Rayla? We thought you were asleep." Selena says.

"It's not that easy to fall asleep, especially when you have people talk so loudly." Rayla tries to get out of bed, but Marlene stops her.

"Rayla, you shouldn't get up. You need to rest." Marlene says.

"I don't have time to rest, I have a ton of chores to do." Rayla then stands up. "I have to make breakfast, do the laundry." Rayla then suddenly feels dizzy and starts losing balance. "Pre...pare...lunch."

Rayla then collapses once more, but Peter catches her and lays her back in bed. "You're not doing anything today. You need to rest." Marlene tells her.

"Marlene's right. Mew can't take care of others if mew can't take care of mew-rself." Clawdia says. "Mew've always helped us out, let us do the same. We'll handle mew-r chores."

"Okay...I keep a chore list inside an instruction black book in the bottom drawer." On that, Rayla immediately falls asleep. Marlene lays a cover over her. Clawdia opens the drawer, searching it until she finds the black book.

Everyone takes a look at the list and is surprised to see how long it is:

Make Breakfast
Sweep the Dorm
Polish Weapons
Prepare Lunch
Do Laundry
Make tea for the Student Council
Assist Mistress Rin with organizing
Massage Therapy with Mistress Marlene

The list goes on. "Man, this sure is a long list." Selena says.

"I know. I had no idea how much we depended on Rayla." Clawdia says.

"I know we promised Rayla we'd do it, but this is gonna take forever." Peter says.

"It should be fine as long as we divide the work." Marlene says. Saying that suddenly has Marlene's stomach grumbling. "...Maybe starting with some breakfast."

Aria raises her hand. "I can handle breakfast." Everyone turns their eyes onto Aria, and she suddenly feels uncomfortable. "Uh...I-I mean...B-b-back home, I used to help m-my brother with the cooking."

Everyone then returns to the cafeteria. Aria does her work in the kitchen putting together a breakfast meal for everyone. Clawdia goes with Aria to help her out with the mixtures. Everyone else waits for Aria to finish making breakfast. Once she is done, both Aria and Clawdia serve it to their teams. And then they feast upon it.

"Aria, this is really good." Selena says. Everyone else agrees with their own compliments on Aria's cooking, and a nod in Earnest's case.

Aria nervously twirls her hair in her finger. "I-I-It's nothing. Really."

After everyone eats, Selena goes over the list. "Now, about this list. I believe all we need to do is divide up the work among ourselves. So...who can do what?"

Clawdia looks over Selena's shoulder at the list. "I believe I can handle weapon polishing. How hard can it be?"

Patrick and Earnest has a doubtful look in their expressions. Earnest then turns to Patrick. 'MAYBE I'LL TAG ALONG TO MAKE SURE NOTHING GOES WRONG.' Patrick nods in agreement.

Aria raises her hand. "I-I uh...C-can do the laundry."

"I can make tea for the Student Council." Selena says. "The only question is who can help them out with the organizing?"

Nobody says anything, then eventually they all turn their attention to Patrick, who takes notice that all eyes are on him. Patrick then growls in annoyance. "I swear, you all are just as bad as Instructor Kirei."

With all the chores divided up, everyone goes their separate ways. While Aria is handling the laundry, Marlene decides to treat Rayla's illness. Since Rayla's sleeping, she just mostly tries to bring her temperature down.

Earnest and Clawdia are out on the courtyard. Earnest is setting down all the weapons wielded by Teams PASM and CPER while Clawdia is reading the instructions on how to polish them. "'The First Step for Master Pet-rick's Bowblades is to soak them in soap water, wash them with rubbing salt, then rinse them off with fresh water and wipe them dry immediately. Mistress Selena's must be carefully wiped with soap and sponge then rinsed, then apply a light coating of wax to restore shine. Mistress Marlene's pistols must first be emptied of bullets and dust then salt rubbed and fresh water rinsed and air dried.' Good grief, this is list is claw-fully long. I don't know how Rayla handles this."

Earnest looks at the list over Clawdia's shoulder. He then gets her attention to speak. 'MAYBE WE SHOULD GET THE OTHERS TO HELP OUT?'

"Don't be silly, Earnest. If Rayla can handle it, I'm sure we can too." Clawdia then picks up Selena's staff. "Mew start off with Marlene's guns and I'll handle Selena's staff. How hard can it be?" Clawdia starts washing the staff as the instructions say, only she wasn't as careful as she should be and ends up pushing the trigger that causes the scythe to pop out. Clawdia shouts as she recoils back from shock and the staff goes spinning off of her hands until the scythe impales into the ground.

Seeing this, Earnest can't help but facepalm and mouth: 'We're doomed.'

Meanwhile, Selena is using the kitchen to prepare tea for the Student Council. While everyone else struggles with their chore tasks, Selena seems to have no problem at all. With everything set, she starts making her way to the student council. When she arrives, she sees the student council are having a meeting. But Rin signals for her to come in seeing the tea tray.

"Mr. Aki told us you were coming instead of Miss Rayla." Rin says. Selena only nervously laughs as she sets the tray down on the table. "Thank you, Miss Sherry. If you have time, I'm sure Mr. Aki would appreciate some assistance."

Selena does as Rin suggests. She goes into the back room. She finds the place is really packed with disorganized supplies. About only roughly half are cleaned up and organized. It doesn't take long for Selena to locate Patrick, who is reaching up for a large box. "Hey there, Patrick." Patrick takes notice of Selena in surprise, and that's when he loses his balance struggling to hold up the large box, and then falls with the box crushed on top of him. Concerned, Selena rushes over to him. "Oh dear, are you all right?"

Selena waits for an answer. Instead, Patrick pushes the piles of books, papers, and the box off of him and sits up while groaning in annoyance. "I really hate this chore." Selena can only laugh nervously in response.

Meanwhile, Marlene is walking through the hallway with a tray of tea and sliced apples. Marlene walks into the bedroom to find Rayla's already awake. "Oh, good. You're awake." Marlene approaches and sets the tray on Rayla's lap. "I brought you some sliced apples and tea."

Rayla manages a smile in her illness. "Thank you, Mistress Marlene."

Rayla dines in on the apples, and after a couple of bites, she sips on some tea. Marlene smiles seeing this. "Looks like you're starting to get your appetite back."

"Maybe a little." Rayla says. "How are things going with my chores?"

"Oh, it's going great. Can't be any better." Marlene says with a cheerful smile.

Just her luck, the window shatters as an arrow pierces onto the wall across the room, startling both Marlene and Rayla. "MY BAD!" Clawdia shouts.

This sudden turn of events has Rayla worried, she even starts to get out of bed. "Maybe I should..." The second Rayla's on her feet, she's suddenly very dizzy. Marlene grabs hold of Rayla and forces her back to bed.

"Rayla, no. You need to rest." Marlene says. "Don't worry about a thing, we have everything under control."

"Are you sure?" Rayla asks as she starts to doze off. "Cause...I can just...take a...short..." In no time at all, Rayla falls asleep.

Marlene sighs in relief. Just then, Aria opens the door and walks in with baskets of folded laundry. "Lundary's done." Aria sets the baskets down by the beds. She then looks over the chore list, wondering what to do next. "Hmm...Oh. Marlene?" Aria turns to Marlene. "You ready for your massage therapy?"

Marlene swallows hard. "Oh boy..."

With the Student Council work done, Patrick and Selena decided to move to separate chores. Patrick's gonna handle the window washing while Selena works on preparing lunch for everyone. The table is overflowing with all kinds of ingredients while she's looking over Rayla's recipe book. "Hmm...Okay, so it's just a teaspoon of sugar." Selena pours in the ingredient but then realizes what it is as she pours it in. "Ah! I think that was salt. Hmm...It'll probably make it taste bitter. Maybe I add a little more sugar." Selena starts pouring in some sugar from the bag, only the bag rips further open, and a lot of sugar gets poured in. Selena screams in surprise as she pulls the bag back. "Oh, that's a lot of sugar. Now it's too sweet. Better add some more salt to counteract the sugar." Selena does as she says and adds some more salt.

Selena carefully observes the dish she's putting together. "Hmm...You know, this dish might not be so good. All it is a lot of salt and sugar." Selena then gets an idea and starts pouring in a bunch of ingredients she's calling out. "Maybe add a squirt of ketchup. A little bit of mayo, and some mustard. Then add some garlic, oregano, rosemary, olive oil." Selena becomes excited as she pours in more random ingredients, eventually ending with her shouting a cheer: "I love cooking."

Marlene is now going through her massage therapy. She waits laying flat on a table in the training room while Aria is looking over a book titled 'Massages for dimwits.' "Uh, Aria. Have you ever given massages to anyone?"

"N-no, not really." Aria closed the book and showed it to Marlene. "But I-I-I did pick up this book. Don't worry, Marlene. When I have my mind set on something, I-I learn thoroughly and follow through." Aria then cracks her knuckles. "R-Ready?"

Marlene nervously says. "Y-yes." Aria then begins her massage work on Marlene. Marlene at first does a bracing recoil, but then suddenly calms down as she instead feels relaxed pleasure. "Oh...Yeah, that feels nice. And here I almost thought-" Marlene then suddenly lets out a painful yell as Aria presses hard on her spine.

Aria then sees this and suddenly becomes nervous. "Wha...I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..." Aria lets out nervous exclaims as she looks back and forth around her. "Uh...M-m-maybe if I..." Aria then does a different kind of press on Marlene's back, and it only once again hurts her. "Oh no. Th-th-that's not...I-I'm sorry." Aria then picks up the book and burns through the pages nervously. "I-I must have missed a session. Or m-m-maybe there's something...Oh. This should work." Aria then does a hard rub on the spine from neck to waist. Marlene only reacts painfully to it. Aria stops her massage work and even steps away from Marlene. "I-I-I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to-"

Marlene then gets off the table. She straightens her spine, which results in cracking and Marlene groans in pain. "It's fine." Marlene says as she gently rubs her back. "I think I'll just wait for Rayla to get better."

While Selena's handling the cooking, Patrick is taking care of washing the windows. He has decided to do it by walking on them with his Gravity Dust-loaded Braces. He keeps the bucket tied around his waist and has it dangling just in front of him. With each window he cleans he walks onto the next one and works on it. While working on one of the windows, he notices a pair of hands wiping on the window. Patrick looks down to see Earnest working on the windows as well. What surprises him is that he's floating midair doing it, then feels around to notice some line. He then uses the mop to tap onto the air by Earnest's feet to hear metal. "Do you really need to show off that much?" Patrick asks. Earnest gives Patrick the look and points at Patrick's Leg Braces. "Fair point." Patrick then moves on to the next window and comes to a surprise when he finds a broken window. "What the? A Broken window? Where did this come from?"

Earnest rolls his eyes and shakes his head, then mouths 'Clawdia'.

When they were both down with washing windows, Patrick figured Selena must have the food ready, and they decided to head towards the cafeteria. Only when everyone arrived, they were rather displeased with what they are seeing: A large pot of purple mush.

"Uh..." Is all any of them can get out.

Selena looks confused at the sight of their expressions. "Is something the matter?"

"Uh...Sherry. Not to be rude or anything...but is this food?" Marlene asks.

"Of course it's food. It's something I put together for us to have." Selena claps her hands together as she smiles. "And I think it turned out really well. Can you believe this is the first time I ever cooked?"

"Oh, I believe it." Patrick says, distastefully.

"Sherry, while we do a-paw-ciate the effort...But maybe we can order takeout instead?" Clawdia says nervously.

Selena throws in an upset look and humphs. "You people just have no sense of taste. I'll prove to you that I what cooked here is delicious." Just like that, Selena takes a spoonful of her meal and eats it, only afterwards her expression turns sour with a moan she's trying to hold back.

"Well? How is it?" Aria asks.

Selena tries her best to hold back the bitterness she feels from the taste as she tries to stay positive. "Why it's...it's got a unique flavor...I can tell feel my taste buds tingling...It's like nothing I've ever tasted before." Selena then takes another spoonful and swallows it, only to have her bitter expression harden even further.

Patrick shook his head seeing this. "Just stop. Don't torment yourself like this." Selena doesn't listen. Instead, she takes one more bite, and the overwhelming disgust and bitterness causes Selena to faint. Everyone looks at her with concern, while Patrick just shakes it off. "I warned her."

After throwing out Selena's "Creation", everyone just decides to order pizza. Aria decided to make some soup for Rayla to have. While they are waiting for the food, they decide to chat about how the chores are going and then go over what is left on the list. There isn't too much left, but they know it's going to be a lot to handle since they aren't experienced.

Once the food has arrived, they dine in. Aria eats once she's done making the soup, and Clawdia and Marlene offer to deliver the soup to Rayla. When they pay the visit, they find Rayla still sleeping, only more steady. Marlene decides to check on her fever.

"How is she doing?" Clawdia asks.

"Her fever's gone down." Marlene takes the cloth, drips it in a bowl of water then rests it on Rayla's forehead. "A full night's rest and she should be just fine."

Clawdia smiles. "That's paw-some." Clawdia sets the soup on the nightstand by Rayla's bed, and Marlene leaves a note for her.

Meanwhile, everyone is working on the bathhouses. Peter, Earnest, and Patrick are working on the Man's Room while Selena and Aria are going on the girls, and Marlene and Clawdia join in after visiting Rayla. While cleaning, Peter feels disappointed. "Cleaning bathhouses really stinks."

"For once, I agree with the idiot." Patrick says. "But it's on Rayla's chore list, so quit complaining."

"I'm just saying, it would be a lot more interesting if we were cleaning the girl's bathhouse." Hearing that causes Patrick to snap his neck.

"Oh shut it, you stupid pervert!" Patrick growls at him.

"Hey, man, what's your problem?" Peter asks.

"My problem? My problem?!" Patrick smashes his mop against Peter's head, which knocks down the big guy. "Your idiotic attitude is my problem!" Patrick then starts mocking Peter. "'Oh, I'm Peter! A blundering idiot who has no respect for any women by hitting on them for their pretty faces and gorgeous bodies.'" Patrick then aggressively resumes moping the floor. "Why a sicko like you exists in this world I'll never understand!"

Earnest can only watch the two, and then rolls his eyes as he shakes his head, then resumes mopping afterwards.

Once the bathhouses are done, everyone is left exhausted. Since it was nighttime, they all decided to turn in. When they all turn in, they discuss how the day went while they sleep. "Geez. It was such a long day of chores." Peter says.

"I agree. To think Rayla does it all by herself." Clawdia sits up and looks at the sleeping Rayla. "I had no idea we've depended on her this much." Earnest sends a text to Clawdia and she reads it: 'What amazes me is how she gets through it all without being exhausted.' "Yeah, now that I think about it. Maybe today was all of her exhausting catching up and she collapsed from it." Clawdia groans troublesome. "How Claw-ful."

Meanwhile, Patrick, Selena, and Marlene have their own discussion about the day. "I hope Rayla gets better soon. I don't think I can do any of that tomorrow."

"Yeah. My body still aches from today." Marlene says.

"You sure it's not from the message therapy Aria gave yea?" Patrick asks.

"Don't remind me." Marlene painfully says.

Everyone sleeps for the night, their exhaustion helps them get a good night's sleep. By sunrise, everyone is still asleep, even early birds like Selena and Patrick. There was a knock on the door of Team PASM's dorm. Patrick hears the knocking and tiresomely gets up. He answers the door to see Clawdia.

"What is it, Clawdia?" Patrick asks, half-awake.

"Oh? Mew all still asleep?" Clawdia asks as she looks past him to see Selena and Marlene are still in bed. "I was wondering if mew've seen Rayla."

"We haven't...Why?" Patrick asks.

"I woke up to find her bed empty." Clawdia says. "Peter says he'll look around and I asked Earnest to find Aria and see if she knows.

Even half asleep, Patrick can see the problem there. "Did you really send Earnest to go and ask someone who doesn't even know what he's saying, and without a translator?"

Clawdia realizes it. "Oops..." She then nervously laughs. "I-I didn't think about that."

Meanwhile...

Earnest is right in front of Aria at her dorm. He is going on with his sign language, then tries putting together some charades. Earnest is trying to ask her where Rayla is, and Aria's brain is burning itself out trying to figure out what he's saying. "U-uh...Wh-what is it? The G-g-Grimm are here? Faunus Revolution? A B-b-bomb in the school? Little Jimmy stuck in a well?" Aria starts to go into a panic. "I-I'm sorry! I don't know what you're trying to tell me!"

Then her head becomes steamed from overload as Aria collapses from mental overload. Earnest can only facepalm in defeat.

"I'll go collect Aria and Earnest, why don't you and the girls search around with Peter?" Patrick asks.

"Good idea." Clawdia says.

Patrick heads for Aria's dorm. He finds Aria fainted and Earnest explaining what happened. Patrick tells Earnest it's not his fault nor Aria's, but Clawdia's for not thinking clearly. By then, Earnest and Patrick had received a text from Peter. He says that he's found Rayla in the cafeteria and they should come quickly.

And so they did.

Patrick carries the fainted Aria as he and Earnest hurries to the cafeteria. When they arrive, everyone is already there and is astonished. Before them is a table filled with a large breakfast, and Rayla is setting a stack of pancakes among them. She then turns to everyone and offers a smile. "Welcome, everyone. I have prepared you breakfast."

Nobody questions it, they just dine in on the breakfast. Rayla does join in once everyone settles in. "Rayla, this is delicious. We really missed mew'r cooking." Clawdia says, and Rayla responds with a smile.

"H-how are you feeling?" Aria asks.

"I feel right as rain, thanks to all of you. Especially Mistress Marlene." Rayla faces Marlene and offers her a bow.

"Well, we're glad you're feeling better again, Rayla." Selena says.

"Yeah, doing your chores was really hard. It's amazing you do them all by yourself." Peter says.

'EVEN CLAWDIA THINKS YOU FELL ILL DUE TO ALL THE EXHAUSTION YOU'VE HAD CATCHING UP TO YOU.'

Rayla offers a smile chuckle before answering. "I suppose Mistress Clawdia might be correct on that, Master Earnest."

"Look, Rayla. We understand it is mew'r duty to serve, but mew're only one purr-son." Clawdia says. "If mew have a ton of chores, please come to us for help. It would be claw-ful if mew got sick again."

"Clawdia's right. You're more than our maid or teammate. You're our friend." Selena says. "You've always helped us out, you should have us be able to return the favor."

"I'm not making any promises." Patrick says coldly, which earns him a knee slam from Selena.

"Fair enough, Mistress Selena." Rayla says.

Everyone spends their morning dining in on Rayla's breakfast. As they eat, Rayla looks at everyone all around her, and smiling as she realizes how lucky she is to have Teams PASM and CPER in her life.