Karu was permitted to bid me a brief farewell under AEGIS' watchful eye, promising to be back before too long, but was at severe risk of infection with burns covering a third of her body, and sought proper treatment before she turned for the worse.

She'd proposed I go with her for recovery as well, but unlike her, I didn't have unlimited access to a regenerator, only with special consent provided by a superior, which I doubted Cosette would agree to, considering. When she proposed that perhaps her cousin Alphard was again in need of medical treatment, I laughed, but told her to just go.

My wrist was shattered, painfully so, but apparently during my unconsciousness, AEGIS had opened it up and reset the bones, quickly becoming something of a professional doctor with all the times she'd had to treat me and her capacity for quickly learning anything documented sufficiently on the 'net. It sucked, but I'd live, and the rest of my wounds weren't much to worry about.

And so she left in a plain black driverless taxi, and I went back into my bed. Despite my injuries not being critical, they still took a lot out of me, and I fell back asleep almost immediately.

I was gently stirred awake to see AEGIS' smiling face, happier than she'd looked the whole time Karu was here, with another plate of food.

"Good morning, Athan. Thought you probably should sleep all day," she said, gingerly pulling me upright and sitting next to me on the bed. "You really were out, though. I've been here for a while, changing and checking your bandages and you slept right through it."

Her voice sounded concerned but you wouldn't tell by her smile.

"Aaah," she said, and held a forkful of rice towards my face.

"I can eat on my own," I promised.

She shook her head. "You're pretty beat to hell, Athan. Karu really didn't hold back on you, and it shows. You've slept almost two days in the last three, and taking care of you is the least I can do. And besides, last time I made this for you, you didn't eat the peppers, so I cut them up a lot smaller and seasoned it a little more. You need to eat your veggies too, so...aaaahh!"

I sighed but opened my mouth. It was better than last time, but I didn't really have much of a chance to say so as she spoon-fed me the whole plate, one patient bite at a time.

"I'm glad you liked it better," she said, standing up and collecting the dirty plate. "I'll be back tonight. Any opinion on what you want for dinner?"

I shook my head. Anything was fine.

"Okay. You get some rest and take care."

She laid me back down gently as ever and slipped out.

This time I had a bit of time to reflect before sleep took me. I noticed they'd somehow gotten rid of Tem, and a quick peek around the room with my senses confirmed she wasn't just invisible. I also made a mental note to ask Lia about how I could do that next time she swung by, I'd been wondering for awhile, but had been more invested in using the seemingly-new ability than understanding it.

And then I felt a little bad. AEGIS had come in here and taken care of me just like she had been all last week. I thought I'd made some progress while Karu was here towards recovery, but I guess whatever steps I'd made, I lost again by recklessly accepting that fight and getting my ass completely beat. I was back to carefully-worded walls of words, avoided gazes, and being spoon-fed for the time being.

I sighed and fell further back into the pillow. It was probably redundant to think, but I didn't like being broken.

I woke up to the door opening quietly, only just having drifted off, and Lia poked her head in. "Awake?" she asked, sounding a little incredulous, before taking her gaze quickly off my face. "That's no good," she frowned. "You need your rest."

I'd just heard from AEGIS I'd slept for most of the last three days. How much more rest could I need?

I mean I was tired, so she wasn't wrong, but still. I tried to stir, but my side where Karu had booted me ached and Lia rushed to my side to examine it as I flinched.

"Tsk, you've got bruised ribs, Athan, you need a few days at least. Please stop trying to move." She watched my chest rise and fall with some concern. "Can you take a deep breath?"

I did, feeling it catch in my throat a little, and my side felt like it was crushing me as my lungs expanded, I gasped and lost most of the breath, taking shallow, panting breaths from the pain. She frowned.

"This on top of your wrist, which was just starting to mend," she tutted. "You really are an idiot. What were you thinking, going along with her?"

I mean, she'd driven us, hadn't she? But I didn't say that. She was right, I was an idiot. All I could do would be to sit here and endure my convalescence with patience. I sighed shallowly and closed my eyes, which she seemed to take as a sign either of my agreement, or that she was hurting me and needed to change the subject. Either way, she moved on instantly.

"So what was up with Karu getting all creepy on you, huh? And that little gem of jealousy in the car ride? I never thought she had a side to her like that, that was a riot to watch, wasn't it? Too bad AEGIS stopped our fun before we really got anywhere, but man, was that unexpected." She giggled, and I realized my sister was kind of a callous ass for laughing at Karu's feelings and considering arguing with them 'fun', but I also knew that of everyone else, Lia also probably got on with Karu best...so maybe as her only real friend in the group, she had the privilege of giving her a little shit?

"Still, I don't know about her. I mean, I've been with AEGIS awhile now, so it would feel wrong to be on anyone's side but hers, but we've done nothing but fight recently. She practically threw Karu out on her ass, and the girl just accepted it with her standard stoicism...I don't know what happened, but Karu chooses the weirdest things to fight over or not. Like, she'll go jets-out over some stupid inane thing, but when it comes to fighting over you, she just lets AEGIS have her way? If it were me, I'd be showing AEGIS a little rocket diplomacy, if you know what I mean."

She blinked and smiled, presumably at her own little turn of phrase and then blinked again and looked at my face reflexively, smile gone. "Uh, I meant if it were a boy I liked. Not you, obviously."

"But still," she said, right back to prattling and avoiding my gaze again. "She did come all the way out here, for you presumably. Didn't say much to anyone else but share a few pleasantries. Before she came in here and saw you, she looked like she was on the warpath about something, and she did make those insinuations about how her 'own mental state wasn't the paragon of aptitude', or whatever." Lia's choice in words was spot-on Karu, but her vocal imitation wasn't nearly so convincing.

"I guess with Saga out of the picture, everyone just smells blood in the water. You're in deep trouble, bro, and this is about the one place I am not going to even try to help you at all. I mean...I guess I would if you absolutely needed it, but this is just girls, not life or death. Just try not to make a mess and hurt all my new friends, okay? You're a smart guy, you can pick someone you like, right?"

She changed topics again after that, spoke to me for about an hour about the latest she'd progressed in Kingdom Blade and then left the room with the same fake smile she'd been wearing when she entered.

Dinner came and went without much event, AEGIS taking me to the bathroom and making me go and wash my hands before she fed me. I put up with it quietly distracted; obedient. Then the lights were off and I found a hard time sleeping after doing nothing all day.

I couldn't move onto my side without crushing my ribs, or my other side without crushing my wrist. I felt trapped exactly where I lay in a little card house of pain, and if I moved, it fell down and crushed me.

Lia's airy words hadn't been intended to carry any substance, but they'd stuck in my brain. Pick a girl I liked, and stop hurting all my friends. Was it really as simple as that?

That night I had strange dreams, maybe because I kept moving back towards consciousness every time I breathed too deeply and my chest hurt. I dreamt that AEGIS, Karu, and Saga were all vying for my attention in various games, like the Athan Olympics. But in addition to them, Tem, Steffie, Cosette, even Lia was there with her game-face on, determined not to lose her brother to anyone who couldn't beat her.

"If I win, you have to become my secret lover, and stop making trouble in the barracks," Cosette said, blowing me a kiss as she entered the stadium, draped in a flag bearing the XPCA insignia, a shield with a sword vertical on it, surrounded by stars.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"If I win, you have to make more trouble in the barracks!" Tem shouted excitedly.

"It amuses me that children would suppose they begin to stand a chance," Karu said to herself, but loudly enough for others to hear. "I am already personally acquainted with all of Ashton's preferences."

"If that's all it takes to win, nobody's beating me," Lia grinned. Her flag bore the familiar Black Shark I'd seen on the sides of each of my teammate's helmets every day.

"I-I...I will try my best!" Steffie shouted her consideration into the wall of boasts from her wheelchair.

As expected from a dream, the games were nonsensical and shifted without apparent narrative or reason. Bets were being placed by the participants on themselves, there was some subplot about a missing dog, nobody could fit into their jetpacks but Karu, who seemed exasperated, someone popping out of theirs as soon as she moved to help someone else in.

And then was the high dive. I thought Saga was standing on the platform, but I heard someone speak and realized it was AEGIS up there, saying words I couldn't understand. She jumped into the water, and I felt it splash on me, felt it creeping up my legs, as warm as her body.

The rising water stopped at my waist and as it sloshed around, I had the vague sensation of needing to get up and pee. I blinked the last sleep out of my eyes and was back in my room. I felt very tired and heavy, the dream of last night in all of its weirdness doing little to provide the reset I needed to face another day of quiet recovery.

I tried to move my legs to get up and pee, but they didn't, no, wouldn't budge. They were weirdly heavy and hot. And something was. Was. Was?

My brain didn't get any further.

I gasped and my half-open sleepy eyes rolled into my head. I didn't know what was going on, but I felt like my body was being wrapped in heaven. I lifted the blankets a little and looked down at my legs, and found out that no, it wasn't heaven down there, it was AEGIS, and it wasn't my whole body being wrapped in it, just a small part of it.

"'Oo'd 'onmin'" she said. I wanted to shove her off, or yell, or...something. I felt like I should have. I should have, right? That's what any person would do in this scenario?

I saw a plate of food sitting on a chair by the door. Hash browns and sliced fruit and a glass of milk. Somehow seeing this ordinary detail made the entire scene so much more surreal.

I wanted to kick AEGIS away or yell at her or anything, but looking down and seeing her two eyes, almost glowing in the dark under my blanket, as she put her everything into going at me with abandon, the only thoughts which could penetrate my mind were words like 'wet' and 'warm' and that this felt very, very good.

She began to hum, some tune which was only vaguely familiar to my unawake and startled brain, and the vibrations from her voice only amplified my feelings, while heightening the unreality of the situation. Now she was a maid who whistled while she worked.

I writhed, both in a vain measure to express some modicum of discomfort with the situation, but also because it felt like nerve endings I didn't even know I had were being sucked right out of my body, but when I did, my chest and/or arm hurt amazingly. With my good arm I reached down to her head, maybe to push her off? But all I could manage was getting a loose grip on one of her ponytails as my hand twitched spasmodically under her assault.

Her tempo increased even faster, and whatever was going on down there...she did something else which seemed to involve a lot more suction and twisting, and I felt my legs shuddering and my hand seemed to push her head down of its own accord even as I tried to warn her that she should be doing the opposite of that, but she seemed utterly content with her position as my back arched and I groaned, even with my side screaming at me.

She sat there for long moments, holding it down and making indecent noises with her inability to breathe before finally surfacing and gasping in a lungful of air. Both of us just laid there catching our breath for a minute before she slipped back out of the covers and the bed and brought me breakfast.

"I'm sorry, shouldn't speak with my mouth full," she teased. "So good morning, officially."

My brain was still exploding little fireworks in front of my eyes and I laid there limp as a used sock. This seemed to make her giggle for some reason, and sat down next to me, sitting me upright like usual, propping me gently against the wall and waiting for me to rejoin my senses.

After a couple of minutes of...I mean, just basking in radiance, basically, I came somewhat back down to earth, still feeling my face glowing. I turned to her and blinked slowly.

"Aaah," she said. Her lips looked so soft and shiny.

"Aaah," I echoed, and got a strawberry for my trouble.

She fed me in relative silence for the next fifteen minutes like this, and with my brain scattered as it was, I found it impossible to chew on both thoughts and food. She wore the same serene, subservient smile I'd grown so used to, looking like, in no way had anything untoward happened in this room just minutes ago. Finally, the food was done and she stood, laid me back down, and turned to go.

"Any requests for lunch?" she asked.

I shook my head. Anything was fine.

"You know, if there's anything you want, anything at all, it really is my pleasure to do it for you."

Her words before today had been 'make it for you', but even without the hint, I understood the insinuation well enough.

She smiled, gave a short bow, which was new, and left the room, pleased with herself beyond reason.

My mind drifted back over Lia's words. With Saga gone, there was blood in the water. Now AEGIS had engineered it so Karu was gone, and that meant I wasn't even in the boat anymore. Amazing how fast these girls moved when they sensed an opening. Amazing, and terrifying.

I wondered if AEGIS was always like this. Her nurturing side was definitely something I saw a lot of when we lived together and she was just a holo, but if she had a body, would she have been physically attacking me like this? I guess there was a time for a while there when she had a body and I was living in the workshop with her, Karu out in the old Bunker, Saga off by the mines. Lia was around, but that seemed like no obstacle at all, especially considering Lia was still around and that was apparently no obstacle at all…

I realized with a belly-flop of my stomach what might have changed all of this, and the answer was, of course, me. AEGIS had been content to be a good friend, helping, reassuring, nurturing, and then Karu had flown in and slept with me. She'd done the patient, respectful bit, and gotten burned before, because I was a jackass and Karu was...free-spirited, let's call it. Now she was probably having flashbacks, taking care of me this past week without any indication of appreciation or affection, and Karu swoops in and steals a fight and a kiss. No wonder she'd flipped out.

I wondered how I could be so stupid. Like Lia said, I needed to just pick someone and be happy and stop hurting all of my friends. Was AEGIS even smiling because she was happy, or because she'd managed to win for the time being, doing things Karu's way? Even if this did grow into a relationship, wouldn't it be crippled from the outset if it started because she felt forced into it?

Maybe I should just pick Tem, I thought, sullenly. Nobody would see it coming, not even she herself, and everyone would finally realize I was such damaged goods they'd stop chasing me. Instead of these jealous fights with everyone unable to get along, I'd get looks from them which plainly would read 'thank God I dodged that bullet,' as Tem sat in my lap, licking my face or whatever the hell she considered a healthy relationship.

Honestly, even I wasn't quite that self-sacrificing, but it did seem like an option. I guess the same effect could be better achieved by going after Lia, actually. Invent a sister complex and scare everyone off. She might actually be into that if I let her know it was a scheme. A little social engineering, some trickery and outsmarting people...right up her alley, though it'd all come absolutely crashing down if we were ever expected to...kiss or something. Ick.

I was reminded of my dream and wondered why my subconscious had lumped Steffie and Cosette in with the others. Like, yeah, they were cute girls and I was friendly with them...probably a lot less friendly with Cosette given my recent absence, but...still too weird.

I'd moved from productive thinking to idle fantasies and tried to work my way back. Karu and AEGIS were currently locked in a deathmatch here, and the least I could do is take it seriously. So what were my thoughts?

They were both nice, in their own ways, but so were lots of girls. Nice wasn't really a useful descriptor anyway, nice was what you said about someone when you didn't have anything else to say. Nice was like, the default, bare-minimum of someone you'd even consider dating. Nobody thinks, 'gee, I should date so-and-so, they're not nice at all.'

I realized I was avoiding my own question and buried my face in my hands.

I tried to force myself to sit and think, but my brain grew fuzzier the more I forced it to work, like this was one question it absolutely refused to answer. It was infuriating, but then again, I already knew I didn't have an answer, because otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here trying to force one out of myself. Whenever I found a train of thought and chased it down, I mostly just invariably reached the conclusion that I was garbage and had done shit things to these people.

I realized I was covered in cold sweat and ached. Gingerly, I got to my feet and headed for the shower, the one place I'd managed to keep AEGIS from following me for the past week, and carefully disrobed, letting the water run hot while I wrapped a bag around my cast and taped it up to keep it dry. I caught a glimpse of my side in the mirror and damn, Karu really hadn't held back on that one. Small bruises and cuts all over, some purple and blue on my throat, which was really great looking, like my neck was some tropical flower in bloom.

I sighed and stepped into the shower, closing the sliding door of smoked glass behind me, and feeling my body loosen as the water hit me, immediately. Weird thing to have in a hotel, a sliding shower door, but this place was small and homey, some random mom-and-pop shop rather than a chain, and so plenty of things were a little weird. I wondered how they viewed the four of us taking semi-permanent residence in two rooms. Maybe this was a huge windfall for them? Or maybe they were worried we were crazy fugitives.

The truth was a little of both, I guessed.

I was just struggling to get my good arm clean, having no other arm to wash it with when I heard what sounded like something in the other room. I tensed and froze, not sure if I should announce myself, or pull out my swords, when through the smokey glass, I saw a figure approach, definitely female and definitely naked. The curtain of red behind her made it obvious who it was even through the glass, but she cracked the door a little to peek in on me and reveal her yellow eyes and mischievous smile before talking to me anyway.

"Hey," she said. "I'm going to help you wash your back, okay?"

Though she phrased it as such, it wasn't a question. She didn't wait for a response before opening the door and joining me in the hot water.