Fever Dreams
Part One
Story By
Ami Meitsu
“Mark, come here!” Trelania snapped as she followed Mark
down the hallway toward the bridge.
“No! I’m fine!” Mark told her.
“No you’re not! You’re sick!”
“No I’m not!”
“Yes you are!” Trelania said as she pulled him back with
her power.
“I hate you…” Mark muttered as she dragged him into his
bedroom.
“Don’t hate me! I’m doing this for your own good!”
“This is what the idiot gets for being stubborn” Invidia
said as she came into the room.
“Hey!” Mark and Trelania snapped at her.
“I just call them as I see them” Invidia told them as she
left.
“What was that about?” Misako asked when she stuck her head
in the door.
“Nothing, Misako come here and help me, I need you to keep
your father in bed, even if you have to sit on him!”
“Cool!” Misako exclaimed as she jumped on top of Mark.
“Okay…” Trelania muttered as she left.
“Wait you can’t…leave me with her…”
“Too late!” Misako said.
“I…Uh…never mind” Mark sighed, until Misako got bored he
was stuck and that would probably take a while…
“You know this is kinda boring…” Misako told him after a
few minutes “I’m gonna go see what Akira’s doing.”
‘Thank you god!’ Mark thought as he got up and headed back to the bridge.
“Mark? I thought you were sick.” Nova said as he entered.
“No, I’m fine” Mark told her as he took his post.
“Really?”
“Yes, just let me get done, please?”
“Okay” Nova backed off; it was really no use arguing with
him, and could never figure out why Trelania bothered…
Speaking of Trelania, she was on her way to see Mark but
all she found was Misako rifling through some of his work! “Misako where’s your
father?” she asked.
“I dunno, I got bored watching him so I left, and when I
came back he was gone, I figure it’s no use chasing him, if he doesn’t wanna
listen than give up, let him do what he wants…”
“But…” Trelania sighed, she was right, it was no use trying
to tell him what to do, she’d been doing that for
almost a week! ‘She’s right; he can get better on his own!’
And he did. After a couple days Mark looked and felt much
better, but just because he was better didn’t mean that everyone was happy…
“You sure you’re okay?” Arty asked Invidia as they headed
down the hall, Invidia hadn’t been looking all that well these past couple
days.
“I’m fine!” Invidia snapped “I just… I have allergies
okay?!”
“No you don’t.”
“You don’t know how my body works!”
“Well…actually…”
“Don’t go there!” Invidia snapped before she walked off.
“Okay…” Arty muttered, he kind of hoped that she was right,
they were planning to land on Iscandar soon, okay most of it was for repairs
but he still wanted to enjoy the time he had there…
2 Days later: Iscandar
“Yes! Vacation!”
“Misako it’s not a vacation” Trelania told her.
“Oh” Misako sighed, her mother could find away to take the
fun out of anything.
“Well we should go, let’s leave the engine crew to the repairs
and take some time off.” Mark said as he put his hand on Trelania’s shoulder
and moved closer to her “And have some time alone” he
whispered before he left.
“You know, I don’t know why he’d wanna be alone with you
anyway, you’re a freak” Invidia said as she approached them.
“No one asked you” Trelania told her.
“Yeah, Yeah” Invidia told her.
“You okay?” Misako asked “you look tired…”
“I’m fine!” Invidia snapped.
“Sorry…”
Invidia glared at her, then walked off she was tired of
everyone asking her if she was okay-she felt fine…most of the time. ‘So what
if I’ve been acting a little weird? It’s no big deal! I’m fine! Really…’
‘God I hate this world!’ Junior thought as he trudged down the hallway of the palace, he had just
come back from a huge battle with this other federation and for the first time
in forever the IDF lost… and it had taken a toll on him and the fleet. ‘I’m
worthless as a stand-in captain! I might as well be a janitor! At least they
don’t battle!’ Junior kept brooding as he headed into his room and flopped
on the bed.
“Junior? Can I come in?” Alex asked as he knocked on the door.
“I guess…” Junior told him.
“Look I know your upset but everyone looses a battle
sometimes” Alex told him.
“Yeah, yeah, you always say that… But you know I’m no use!”
Alex sighed, this had taken a serious toll on his self
esteem, and he didn’t know what to say, so he just left. ‘I’ll figure
something out…I know I can turn him around…’ Alex continued to think, but
was too engrossed in his thoughts to notice anything in the hallway, eventually
he ran into something.
“Hey watch it!”
“Huh?” he looked down and found Invidia on the floor in
front of him.
“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Invidia said as she put
her hand to her head, for some reason she had this massive headache that just
wouldn’t go away.
“I’m sorry” Alex said as he tried to help her up.
Invidia pushed his hand away “Don’t touch me.” She growled.
“Okay…” Alex backed off; even he knew that it was better to
leave her alone when she was mad.
“Why are you here anyway?”
“Well if you must know I’m trying to cheer up my son, he’s
lost some self-esteem from the battle…”
‘So he’s depressed…I can help with that…’
“Well….see ya?” Alex walked off and as soon as he was out of sight Invidia
headed into Junior’s room.
“Hey kid…” Invidia started when she came in.
“What do you want?” Junior asked.
“I’m just here to talk” Invidia approached him “I hear that
you’re useless…”
“Well I’ve been thinking and…”
“I know now you know that the fleet’s
useless under your command…You can’t fight and they all look down on you
now…” Invidia moved up so that her head was close with his. “Your fighting is
pa…Pa” she sneezed.
“Okay gross” Junior pushed her back
“And it’s not gonna work, I’ve thought about it and it was just a simple
mistake…”
“A mistake that drove the fleet to their doom, you’re a
pathetic little sap, admit it” she sneezed again and shook her head.
“Okay, one, back off I don’t want your germs, and two give
up, I understand the mistake and I know what I did wrong, so give up you can’t
crush me.”
“You just wait, I’ll figure it out…” she trailed off at the
end and put her hand to her head again.
“You okay?” Junior asked.
“Yes!” Invidia snapped. She had been doing that a lot
lately.
“All right then” Junior muttered.
Invidia turned her head away from him and left the room. ‘I’m
sick and tired of everyone trying to find something wrong with me!’ she
thought as she walked through one of the palace’s many dens, where Derek was
reading.
“Hey Invidia…” he started.
“Don’t talk to me” Invidia muttered as she walked by.
“But I’ve been wanting to; you’ve been acting really
weird.”
“No I haven’t!”
“You know you’d feel better if you talked about it!” Derek
grabbed her wrist.
“Let me go!” Invidia snapped as she tried to jerk her arm
away form Derek.
“No I wanna talk to you! You’ve been acting really weird,
there’s something wrong!” Derek told her as he pulled her back, but he may have
pulled a little too hard…
Invidia fell back and landed squarely in his lap. “Hey!”
she said to him.
Derek looked at her, he eyes were somewhat glassy and there
was something different about her face. “Hmm” he mused as he ran his finger
across her cheek. “What’s on your face?” He rubbed his index finger and thumb together, then wiped the rest of it off her face with
a cloth he had and studied it. “Make up?”
“Let me go!” Invidia snapped, she
had to get up before he realized that she had been using the make up to darken
her complexion and hide the fact that her face was starting to look pale.
Derek ignored her and continued to look at her face “Your
face is paler that usual…” he stated, then he put his hand to her forehead “And
you’re burning up-you’re sick!”
“No I’m not!” Invidia hissed, but in the back of her mind
she knew that he was right, she was hot, tired and miserable half the time, her
head hurt and she just couldn’t take it anymore! She tried a couple more times
to get out of his grasp, but she couldn’t she was too weak, so she gave up and
leaned into him while grabbing his shirt.
‘It’s cute but kinda creepy…’ Derek thought as she clung to him, it was like she needed
him.
She looked up at him; her eyes had such a wanting look in
them.
‘Poor thing…I can’t even imagine how she feels…’
“Uh, Derek?”
“Huh?” Derek looked up and found Nova standing in the
doorway; she was wearing her white nurse’s uniform and boots.
“Why is she clinging to you?” Nova asked as she looked at
Invidia.
“She’s sick” Derek stated simply. “Can you take her?”
“No, I’m sorry but I told Alex I’d help with the wounded
IDF troops from the battle.”
“All right then, where’s Arty?”
“He’s helping Alex with the cadets he said he’d be gone all
day” Invidia told him.
“Zordar?”
“He was bored so he went with Arty” Invidia stated as she
leaned closer to Derek.
“So can you take care of her?” Nova asked.
“Me? Well…I…”
“Please?” Invidia asked as she looked up at him.
‘How can I say no to that?’ Derek thought, then he looked at
Nova “I guess I could-for a little while.”
“Thanks” Nova said before she left.
“All right then, I guess the first thing to do would be to
put you to bed” Derek told Invidia as he stood up, being careful not to drop
her.
‘He’s so kind and gentle…he actually wants to help me?’ Invidia thought.
‘She’s so cute when she’s clingy…’ Derek thought as they came into her room and placed her on
the bed.
“What are you..?”
“You need to rest; it’ll help you get better.”
“But I can’t sleep! I’m hot and it’s just gonna make it
worse!” Invidia whined.
“No it won’t.”
“Yes it will! I don’t sleep well when I’m hot, unless…”
Invidia pondered for a minute then she stood up with her back turned to Derek.
“Take my dress off.”
“What?!”
“Just do it, I won’t try anything,
trust me.”
‘Why does she…wait!’ Derek sighed but did what she asked and unzipped her dress.
It fell to the floor and Invidia turned around, she was left in her slip, and
it did help a little. Derek picked her up again, put her back on her bed and
made a move to leave.
“Derek?” Invidia looked at him.
“Huh?”
“Stay with me…Please?”
“I guess” Derek sat on the bed and she laid
down with her head in his lap, startling him. ‘You know I think she just
wants company…’ he thought as he began running his fingers through her
hair.
‘Just like father used too…’ Invidia thought as she began to fall asleep.
After a couple minutes Derek picked her up again and moved
her, he knew she’d be mad when she got up but if she was gonna let him take
care of her he needed some things.
He was right though, a couple minutes later Invidia woke up
and she wasn’t happy. She looked around, but Derek was nowhere to be seen. ‘Damn
it! How could he do this to me? I need him…’
“Aw, what’s wrong?” Derek asked as he re-entered the room.
“Oh now you’re back!”
“I had to go; now lay down would ya?”
“Fine” Invidia muttered and obliged.
“Good girl” Derek told her as he placed a bowl of ice water
on the desk in the room, he took a cloth out of it and rung it out, then he
went over and tried to place it on Invidia’s head.
She pushed it away “What are you doing?”
“Stop it! It’ll make your fever go down.”
Invidia sighed and let him rub her forehead with it; it did
make her feel better…
After he stopped he looked at her again, her eyes were
still a little glassy, and she looked so pathetic and needy, it was cute… “All
right you stay here for a minute, I‘ll be right back.”
“Okay…” Invidia would believe it when she saw it, and after
about 6 minutes she started having serious doubts. ‘He’s not…’
“I know that look, I told you I’d come back.” Derek said as
he went over and placed a tray across her lap.
“What’s this?”
“Leek soup, you need to eat something, and Nova told me
that it helps.”
“I don’t really…” Invidia was cut off by Derek shoving the
spoon in her mouth.
“Just eat it.”
“Hey…I like it.”
“See?”
Invidia nodded and continued eating, she liked being waited
on it was nice, just like back in the Comet Empire, Derek got her whatever she
asked for and did whatever she told him too, it was cool!
After while she stopped and Derek placed the tray off to
the side and sat on the bed again.
“You still don’t look good…” he said.
“I know, I’m tired and hot, I look horrible and I’m just
miserable all the time! It…it sucks!” Invidia said as she began to cry.
“Come on it’s not that bad…”
“Yes it is! You don’t understand! I don’t get sick and when
I do it’s just horrible!”
“No, Princess, don’t think that way…it’s fine, everyone
gets sick…”
Invidia just cried harder, he wasn’t helping…
“Come on Princess, don’t be like that” Derek said as he
started rubbing her back…you see, when Setsuna was little that’s how he used to
make her stop crying, and if that didn’t work then he’d tickle her, but he
didn’t think he’d have to go that far with Invidia.
Invidia looked up at him.
“There we go, now calm down, it’s no big deal…”
‘He’s right…’ Invidia thought
as she got up and moved into his arms.
Derek smiled at her gently and hugged her, then he kissed her head.
Invidia smiled and cuddled up to him, he was so warm and
loving…
But all of that was changed in an instant.
“Okay show me the girl…”
“Huh?” Invidia looked up and screamed as Doctor Sane came
into the room. She buried her head into Derek’s shoulder, she hated him so
much! She didn’t know why but he creeped her out-a lot.
“Invidia it’s all right, I called him up here to look at
you.”
“No!”
‘She’s like a little kid…’ Derek thought.
“But I just wanna…never mind” Doctor Sane sighed, he wasn’t
gonna bother, he never bothered with her before; she punched him out last time!
“It’s all right, gimme the thermometer” Derek pointed to
his left hand.
“Okay…” he handed it over and Derek gently pushed Invidia
off of him.
“You trust me, right?”
Invidia nodded and let him stick it in her mouth.
“Good girl.”
“I don’t know why she trusts you but okay…” Sane said
before he left.
After a couple minutes Derek took the thermometer and read
it “102?” he looked at Invidia “No wonder you’re so miserable.”
“Eh…” Invidia muttered, then she
fell asleep.
‘I’ll let her sleep for awhile…she looks so cute and
peaceful’ With that thought he left, Arty
would be back soon and he figure he might as well tell him what went on.
TO BE CONTINUED….