I.

Madoka thrashed in her nightmare like a drowning woman. When that did not stop her twisting stomach, she flailed her arms uselessly. Her body felt like it was being plunged endlessly into an abyss. Her throat was gagged by bile. Any small opening within was immediately filled with drowning. She wanted to scream for the only one she could think of.

But the heavy weight pressed against her stomach again, like a boot to her gut. Like a stone tied to her ankle. She sunk deeper into despair. A flash of green slammed against her terrified eyes, which she realized were wide open, but the blinding sensation was gone in an instant. A sliver of consciousness seized her. The stinging sensation felt like her cheeks were being ripped to shreds.

Like the day she was nearly eaten by that World Bear. Like the day she was falling into the mountain dragon's portal. Like when… Her heart jumped to her mouth and she knew she puked it out. The taste was like blood gurgling in her throat. Like when the Prince stabbed her.

In the moment she woke, she saw herself in the princess's Shared Vision. Terror struck her. Madoka was white as snow, lying motionless on a bed, unable to tell Audrey that she loved her. The brief connection vanished and the darkness came back to her with its claws out. She knew she was sick, but she could not recall the last time she has ever been sick. If this was her first time, then she hoped she never would get sick again. What kind of goddess, if whoever thought she was that, gets sick?

The spinning in her head suddenly slowed to a stop. But Madoka did not have time to worry about that. Something was emerging in the darkness that covered her eyes. A blurry face? A small white light was hovering before her. It was a tiny, pure crystal no larger than her finger. She had to consciously remember she could lift her arm. It felt weightless and beyond her control, as if it was completely detached and floating away from her body. Will this crystal cure her? The moment she touched it, she felt her world begin to rapidly spin her body back into a whirlpool.

The air became thick, invading her nostrils with something murky. Something heat and muggy, like muddy fingers digging in them. Every inch of her skin felt slick, like she was bathed in sticky, gooey sauce. The tangy taste of something metallic and grimy filled her mouth. A torrential wave of pain wrangled her neck, tightening. The world around her felt much more real now, and Madoka realized that she was lying in a pool of mysterious liquid. The taste brought horror, penetrating her tongue and forcing itself down her throat.

Blood.

She spat it out, but more flooded in and splashed all over her. She tried to lift herself again, only to realize that she was caked in mud and… Her vision barely outlined the shapes piled up in front of her. The ground beneath quaked, sending a tidal wave of gooey chunks to splash all over her. Madoka was tossed aside in the current of blood, only to resurface with stinging eyes. The sensation made her gag, but also wiped her to witness the horror she was lying in.

Bodies. Piled up high like bloated haystacks. Most seemed like they were torn apart, still decaying and contributing to the current of blood generously out of whatever grisly remains that could leak. Pieces of flesh and bone rolled down each haystack, splashing in the lake. Madoka tried to scream, but a mouthful of the horrid liquid pushed down her throat and gagged her.

"Mother," something cried out from behind the shapes, its voice a bellowing volcano.

The blood river she was half submerged in boiled, but Madoka was too weak to even move. A great shadow towered over the piles of bodies further ahead, something she could not recognize or even understand. It did not seem to notice her as she managed to sit up on all fours.

The silhouette of its monstrous jiggling form had a myriad of arm-like appendages protruding out of its sides, waving around like a branch swaying in wild winds or like a child throwing a tantrum. It was far too skinny and tinier than the rest of its gore-stained and putrid form, yet one of the arms was lifting a smaller shadow easily like a skewer piercing through piece of meat.

"Why do you forsake Us?" The beast roared. Its fat body vibrated and undulated as it let loose its frustrations upon the figure in its grasp. A piece of its victim flung off straight to Madoka. The roaring withered into a chilling, childlike cry. More partially armored pieces of flesh and rocks from the cavern she was in, creating more chaos inside the room.

Madoka did not hear whatever else the monster was saying. Her eyes were focused on the piece of flesh that floated downstream right to her. It was a chunk of brain and face, clinging to a fragment of a skull. A singular eye dangled out of the eye socket, split into ribbons. But she saw the color of its iris. She knew this eye. It was her own eye. And she knew who it belonged to.

She screamed.

Madoka jolted awake, but found that she could not move. She felt the world shaking her head at the shoulders, though she was lying flat. Her head swam. She did not know which was worse; Either seeing everything split into distorted versions of themselves or shutting her eyes close to experience the nausea of the war boiling under her skull. She eventually chose to drown in the raging heat in blackness, but the fight to survive this sickness restored itself.

When she could not take it anymore, she flailed. Her pale hands clawed the air and found something soft, stopping her pathetic wails. She finally dared to look at what her hand hit. Audrey's reddened eyes looked down at her. That abandoned look was the one she had on so many times whenever Madoka was hurt.

"A-Audrey, am I… useless?" Madoka's throat burned as she forced the words out and flaked the air like ashes. "I can't even stand up to work."

"Madoka," Audrey chuckled bitterly, wiping a tear with her free hand. "I think you of all people get to have a few sick days."

"Days…" Madoka's voice was barely a whisper.

"Hang in there," Audrey's eyes shifted away from her for a moment. Her voice sounded like it was mountains away from her.

The feeling of hopelessness and reliance that struck the maid when she turned crushed her. It should not have cut her deep, but the pain was real. Just like that nightmare. Every moment in that dark cavern, from the stickiness to the horror, painted her in goosebumps. She was stained. The memory of that severed eye that was once hers. Another realization struck her, but before she could fully come to her senses her body retched. The princess immediately looked back to her, fading quickly.

"Don't go," Madoka thrusted her arm out, but it was useless. The darkness had wrapped itself around her neck once again.

Madoka found herself in the middle of swinging something heavy. An axe. The thing she just cleaved was unrecognizable, but there was more of it ahead fighting adventurers. Sparks of flame drifted in the air like loose petals, illuminating a cave ahead in an orange haze. Familiar shadows twisted high in the air. Black roots. A familiar yet alien feeling surged from its maw. That magic meant Audrey was inside there. When she tried to use her Shared Vision, she realized that it was dark on the princess's side.

"No!" She screamed desperately.

Madoka took off running. She did not know whether she was in control of herself in this hellish nightmare or not, but even the version of herself in this dream knew to get back to Her Highness immediately. Her head throbbed. This nightmare must be depicting something. A premonition. She remembered every detail within the cavern. The gore that had sent her stomach reeling. Her weakened state. What exactly happened here? Her body did not stop to think over this, thankfully.

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Something urged her, but she did not know what it was. She swung her axe. Wall or shadow, creature or person. None would stop her.

Black roots shattered like glass. Footsteps were chasing after her, but Madoka barreled through the destroyed vines and kept swinging. She could not see anything through the princess's eye. Was she too late to save her? A dawning horror crushed her breathing. Her mind pulsated, swelling and rocking against her skull as she dashed through more black roots.

Roaring boomed through the cavern. Louder than her heart's thunderous beating. More evil than the strange low and guttural gurgling of those shadowy creatures chasing her. The light of the cavern bobbed, then she heard it. Madoka's vision clouded over, then she found herself choking in the pool of blood once again.

The shadow of that great beast was throwing its limbs around. Attached to it, either in a hand or skewered by its appendage, was a thin and skinny body. Blood poured out of it and its bones cracked as the monster savagely slammed it against the cavern walls repeatedly.

The princess? Madoka struggled to sneak closer, avoiding the purple iris staring at her from that twisted gore.

"Mother, mother, mother," the monster alternated between screaming and whimpering. "Why do you forsake Us?"

She vaguely recalled someone in the pile of bodies. Whatever was left of his face twisted in a sly grin. To her horror, he swung his mace against a metal shield. The clanging immediately drew the attention of the huge abomination, who still held onto the body. It was unrecognizeable, but Madoka froze in terror.

Why did that adventurer do that? She did not even have the time to curse him when the beast immediately lashed out a tentacle straight towards her. Pain shot through her gut. Madoka felt herself being lifted off the ground. Kind gods, save me! She screamed, struggling to pry herself from the tentacle. Thousands of tiny hairs stuck out of it, like insect legs, wrapping around her and filling her wounds with violent stinging. Her ribs were cracking under the constrictions.

But here, there were no kind gods. There was only the slow, inevitable pull to the grotesque, castle-sized creature's face. Boils, bursting with a foul smelling puss and red spikes, spread across its flabby skin like a valley of flowers. A rotten cloud escaped one of its orifaces, smothering her with a suffocating oppression. This was the end of her journey. This was the end of House Dalion, was it not?

It was saying something, but she could not hear it. It was throwing her around like an abused toy, but she felt no pain.

She was losing parts of herself. As the beast was winding up another swing to crush her completely, she saw a red thought-shard flinging itself straight at her. The magic stabbed inside her chest, or what was left of it, and immediately made her see clearly.

A vision inside a nightmare? Madoka's consciousness suddenly pierced through the chaos. No wonder why she did not die completely here. Instead, a voice called her name from within. It was Audrey's!

"I'm going to do it!" She screamed. Madoka could not speak, but in her mind she screamed and begged Audrey not to.

As she dangled inside the monster's grip, she saw its form again. It was a massive slug-like entity, with multiple limbs slithering out of its sides like grotesque branches of a fat tree trunk. Red eyes dotted along its skin, staring in random directions. Two of them, however, were staring at her with pure hatred. Its maw was open, and Madoka realized it was preparing to eat her.

"You. Do. Not. Belong. To. Our. Mother!"

Something glinted way below it. The princess!

To her horror, she was in a worse state than the body this monster was destroying before it captured it. Audrey was staring right up her, covered in blood. No, she was missing her legs and half her face. Yet, by some miracle, her blue eye was locked onto her. Time seemed to slow down, when she reached into her own Core and pulled with all of her might.

All Madoka could do in the nightmare was scream violently in protest.

The battered remnants of the princess was still sitting against the monster's flabby body as Madoka was flung around once again, but inside her fist was the ominous and unmistakable magic. That glowing Red String sent her vision into a spiral. It burst from her chest's Core like a long centipede, wriggling as if it was seemingly trying to escape her hands. Audrey had already pulled a strange dagger from somewhere and to her desperate horror— she cut.

Her vision went black, though the glare of the unknown crimson magic quickly invaded into her eyes one last time before she lost all consciousness.

Then, all of the pain and suffering Madoka did not realize she was going through instantly vanished. Clarity rained upon her as a cold sheen of sweat skimmed across her skin. She felt herself all over, but that took tremendous effort. Her arms were clammy and her body was riddled with goosebumps.

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Madoka was freezing and melting at the same time, but something annoyingly soft pressed itself into her side. She was too weak; lying in between gentleness and sickness. Suspended in a drop between hellish darkness and blinding heaven. A body was next to her. Alive. Steady. A chest that was rising and falling, no doubt racked with exhaustion and worry.

Worry that she gave her.

The relief that she was out of that terrible darkness washed over her. That memory of seeing her pale self through Audrey was truly terrifying and the wounds inflicted on her made Madoka nauseous. She could not decipher what that nightmare actually was. It felt too real to be just a simple dream. She also could not recall ever being sick. Not since she was a child. If the previous dreams were from the Witch, or her mother who was corrupted by those Black Roots, then who sent this vision?

It was then when she noticed where she was. Tilting her head to look out a nearby window made her world feel like it was crashing. She was still sick, but it did not feel like she was plunging back into that hellish nightmare. After the dizziness subsided, she managed to peer over the sleeping princess to the night sky outside. Thousands of tiny lights dotted the cliffs, twinkling as if a constellation fell right on top of the mountainside.

Torches bobbed in the night, sending wisps of smoke into the air. Her own chest rose and fell, ragged, but her breath also fogged and moved in the stillness. Peaceful thoughts of animals passed through her head, unaware of the drama that had happened in this room. The lump stirred, bumping into her. The movement sent a shock wave through her system, and her vision became full of white needles darting in and out the threads of her eyes.

She was afraid to drift off into sleep. She did not want to ever see those nightmares again. Yet, her body felt it all. The pain of her bones being broken, the flesh ripping off of her, and the last sight of her princess in that… Madoka's mouth and throat clogged, and she retched. Luckily, there was a bucket right beside the bed, which everything that ejected out of her inconveniently missed and splattered all over the ground.

The lump beside her instantly reanimated from its slumber, tumbling on the floor opposite to her.

"Madoka!" Audrey's voice cracked.

She sounded like she had been crying for a long time, but the maid hacked up more bile. The goo plopped into the bucket. Madoka groaned. Curse this sickness! A web of green strands cloaked her. The shadow of the princess standing over her became illuminated her.

"A-Audrey," Madoka croaked. That part of the floor was dirty!

The girl was too busy clutching her Substance talisman and breathing heavily into it. She did not notice the slosh pooled around her feet. She did not even flinch when Madoka could not stop herself from coughing on her. More green light enveloped her, but this time, her mind felt more clear. Audrey stumbled forward, collapsing on the bed. The maid wanted to move, to scream, to do anything to stop being a burden. Yet the green strands of magic she was entangled in kept her in place, like a thousand vines restricting her. Then, the princess's magic vanished and tiredness overwhelmed her.

When Madoka woke up, it was still dark. Yet, she knew that the world's time had moved while she was asleep. A small candlelight flickered against the walls, sending the shape of a long shadow huddled over a desk. A strange pang of nostalgia hit her. Was she not bedridden for many nights during the last Spring and Summer? And who was helping her all those months?

The rustling of pages flipping fluttered across the air softly while Madoka lay silently. The smell of her sickness was cleaned, indicating that another full day had gone by. She could not even let out an audible groan.

A small bolt of Knotting magic zigzagged above her head, humming as it solidified into a tiny metal rod with a sharpened tip in the princess's hand. Audrey concentrated for a moment as she looked at it, then looked satisfied with her work. She made a pen, Madoka realized her mind had already known what it was. The girl was brilliant as always. The ink and feather they carried around in the storage talisman had probably run out. The stinging feeling in her mind was significantly less severe, so she stirred slightly.

Audrey immediately noticed, springing up and dropping the magic. The chair she was sitting on scraped the floor as she excitedly bounced over to Madoka's bedside.

"You're awake!" Audrey's voice was also hoarse. Only the kind gods knew how hard she cried for her. "And you look less sick now!"

"And you're noisy," Madoka heard herself croak, but she instantly melted into more tears.

Audrey looked shocked over the maid's sudden retort. Then she broke down, her glossy eyes immediately became flooded with tears. When she collapsed and threw herself into her arms, Madoka knew she was crying from sheer relief this time. When the sniffling stopped, she realized a lot of her strength had already returned to her like an old friend. She never wanted to feel sick again.

"How long have I— How many sick days did I use?" Madoka ventured. She has not been sick recently, so she had little experience in it. An incredulous look spread across Audrey's face and then she burst into a fit of laughter, interspersed with hiccups from crying.

"Does it matter? You're alive!" Audrey exclaimed, then ducked her head down after a stern glare from Madoka and lowered her voice. "Two days. You thrashed about like a flopping fish for two days."

"T-Two," Madoka sucked in a sharp breath. That was a lot of days wasted. Then she registered what Audrey said about what she did. "Thrashed?"

"Oh yeah," the princess flailed her arms around to show what mortifying things she did, but immediately returned to her grapple around Madoka's waist and nuzzled her head in her armpit. "You look a lot better than you did back then."

"W-Where are we?" Madoka looked around. She could guess she was in an inn of sorts, judging by the odd circular window that reached from the floor to the small alcove's ceiling.

"Eheh," Audrey chuckled sheepishly. "We're uh, in Lady Theonys's house. D-Don't look at me like that! She said she never uses her home. You know how cold CEOs— er— Guild Masters are. They never stick around in one place, so when you went all like, 'Blegh!' all over her desk, she immediately had me drag you straight here. Free house for us. You're really heavy, Madoka! I felt like I was going to phase straight through the cliff side's floor."

Madoka took a moment to process all the things the strange princess said, until she landed on the last comment on her weight. She frowned, feeling uncomfortable about Audrey's observation. Perhaps it was because she was sick, or a subtle indignation over her not doing it on purpose in the first place. Who pretends to be sick anyways? Madoka refrained from shaking her head. She knew that pretending was exactly what a certain someone would use to escape duties.

"S-Sorry," Madoka murmured. "I made you worry and take care of me for so long."

Then she coughed. Audrey immediately withdrew herself from her and scrambled to her feet to look at Madoka. The worry on her princess's face hurt her probably more than she knew.

"Madoka, I love you," Audrey blurted. She flinched momentarily, but did not look away. She steeled herself, thinking of what to say. It was Madoka who looked away first, to hide that her jaw was probably hanging so low in surprise that it could rest on the pillow as she sat upright. The seriousness in Her Highness's voice made her regret apologizing for some reason. "If I did not take care of you, then who would?"

"Mm," Madoka bit her lips.

The declaration of love rang out in her head, causing the lingering pounding feeling to evaporate from her skull instantly. The princess's eyes never left her during her internal struggle, constantly scanning for anything wrong. She suddenly realized that this was probably how it felt when she fussed over Audrey.

"They said that Substance magic doesn't heal sickness and I don't know enough about it," she admitted. "I— I felt down that I couldn't make you feel better, but I— Oh, who cares about all of that! You're alive, Madoka! You— No, I was so scared I—"

The girl dove back into Madoka's arms.

"A-Apologies— I probably messed up all of our stay's plans," Madoka finally wrapped her arms around Her worriedness in a flimsy attempt to soothing her.

"Huh?" Audrey pulled away. "Plans? What plans? Whose plans? How's plans? Where plans?"

"Er," Madoka held onto a small thread of memories from before her world toppled over as she recovered from the barrage of questions. "We were supposed to see the Living District and…"

"What?" Audrey had clearly forgotten all about any planning. It was then Madoka realized she must have holed up with her for the entire duration of her sickness and desperately needed to release her stored up energy from sitting still for so long. Madoka groaned, and the lights upstairs in Her Airheadedness's mind flickered on again. "R-Right, I'll keep you under observation for the rest of this day and then we'll think about looking around out there."

"Out there," Madoka mused.

She worried that others might look down on them after all the trouble they caused in Gladeban. She did not get the chance to guage the survivors of the ordeal. There was a large crowd of adventurers and people associated with the Guild out hunting the Cel'Row, but that was not the entire city. Maybe she should not be so eager in heading outside, though there was a strange twinge of restlessness residing inside of her now that she was no longer pale. So, she directed her attention to the books that the princess knocked over in her haste with a raised eyebrow.

"Nae waaah, you're not seriously considering cleaning when you can barely move," Audrey whined. "I'll clean 'em, I'll clean!"

Madoka learned she was right. She could barely move her arms. It was like her body lost its will to move. How frustrating. At least her deepened frown caused the girl to immediately start picking everything up.

"I realized there was something fundamentally different about your sickness," Audrey said after the mess was cleared off the floor. Now, it was on the desk she was sitting next to. "You remember how I messed everything up the last time I tried to heal it with those green thingies. Like back that Inn Maid… Gorgia. Or whoever that was."

The princess snorted bitterly, while Madoka could only hold her hand to reassure her. There was something about that strange maid that held a shadow over Audrey— beyond what she typical would react about failing to cure a stranger. After all, she had healed people both good and bad without any real emotions.

"I remember what the man told you," Madoka recalled that strange man. Faragor, the man they picked those flowers for. "Failing would only mean standing by and ignoring the suffering."

"I know, I know," Audrey sighed, then her face darkened even more. "I guess. There's something else I was getting to. Are you ready to hear about this theory I have? Or do you wanna rest?"

The question, framed as consideration, was clearly a warning. A premonition settled on her. What she was going to say was a lot more serious than everything from before. Madoka thought about it while wriggling the numbness out of her arms. She found she could move them easily now, so she propped herself up. The princess nodded. That conspiratorial look never left her face.

"You looked like hell, of course," Audrey switched to English. Madoka's ears instantly registered the language of the gods, which had never happened before. "The glowing manas left your aura temporarily, and when they did you'd wake up screaming. You were… seeing things in your dreams, weren't you?"

Madoka breathed out a long sigh. It seemed like they were both beginning to stumble into a darkness she was not ready for. She nodded despite the reluctance of remembering those vivid nightmares. Closing her eyes instantly brought them back. The sight of Audrey in that bloody corpse-like state made her flinch.

"I think… I think you were seeing the future," Audrey spoke quietly and tentatively, as if bringing up the word Madoka was thinking of would instantly plunge her back into that dark world. "And whatever you saw was definitely not good."

"Mm," Madoka could barely muster anything about the revelation. "Can we not change them?"

Audrey looked away, covering her eyes. She was crying! Madoka's heart sank, but the pain of her sorrow hurt more than the prophecies she saw. She was not able to even get up and comfort Her Highness. After a quiet moment, Audrey wiped her face with her sleeve and faced her. She pointed her finger to her glossy purple eye.

"Maybe it's because you have my eye in you," Audrey said softly. "We've changed your fate after the prophecy happened, remember?"

"Do you still have them?" Madoka's head and heart were both racing, but her voice was just as quiet.

The sun was spilling through the clouds, casting a sliver of light over the princess's blue eye and leaving her violet eye in the shadow. Fitting. Audrey has not been sick in a very long time. Or had she been suffering this whole time and remained silent about it? Worry filled Madoka's mind as Audrey pursed her lips. They had probably talked about the prophecies before, but she could not remember.

"No," she finally admitted. "I haven't since we left the Palace."

Madoka looked at her up and down. No sign of a lie on her expression. Would she hide the truth to her? She had not asked about what the prophecies were about.

"Maybe it's Mom's, er, Gechick's way of warning us," Audrey sighed. "I thought that it was the last of the original Elise's powers, which fizzled out. But turns out, it still latched onto you. Y-You don't have to tell me how I die in them. I…"

Silence fell between them like a knife. The princess was probably reeling on the edge of finality and fate. But she had a weak smile on her face, even if her eyes showed fear over whatever Madoka's expression had on for her. Fate. How cold.

"Maybe," Madoka carried on, softening her voice and turning away. She could not wipe the grim feeling and sense of unreality settling on her skin. "Even if they happen, I can change your fate after it does. Like you changed mine. Maybe it doesn't have to be that way."

"That way," Audrey sighed, then she laughed bitterly. "Tell me, is this how it feels to have the ending spoiled? My ending… I should have never told you…"

"Audrey," Madoka managed to scoot her legs to the side of the bed. The action made the princess snap out of her self-deprecation. "Didn't I say I will always be with you? Even to the very end."

"D-Don't stand up," Audrey hugged her. Her body was shaking and a warm, wet stain bloomed on Madoka's shoulder. "I— I'm sorry. Between this and your sickness, I'm just a little overwhelmed. Get some rest, I'll—"

She breathed in deeply and her arms suddenly went slack. Madoka could not stand on her own anyways, so she felt helpless. Audrey wrapped her arms around her and laid her down gently. Then she reluctantly returned back to the desk, scratching the paper with her pen.

Madoka could not move at all without great effort nor did she feel tired at all so she was trapped in a cushy prison. Audrey did not speak for a long time, lost in her thoughts. The lights in her eyes were dim, even with the sunlight now high in the morning sky. This inevitable situation was something they had to prepare for. After all, she did not stand a chance against that monster inside it either.

She felt a pair of eyes on her, and she suddenly felt sheepish. Madoka was caught still awake. Could she be blamed? It was broad daylight, after all.

"You're not asleep?" Audrey asked, breaking the silence.

Madoka shook her head, but the movement sent a dizzying jolt through her vision. The princess groaned, but did not command Madoka to do anything. It was a silent allowance of her nosiness. Instead, rose her hands up off the desk. In her left hand, she held the talisman she had made. It was the same one she said she carved from her time back in Gladeban. She breathed deeply and soon the gentle green magical Substance strands began to materialize in her breath.

The web of Substance magic floated before Her Highness, then splashed into sparks when it fell and came into contact with the tome on the desk. Audrey studied the remnants of the web, which dissolved into fog. She frowned and tried again with the same results. Whatever she was attempting had obviously

"What are you trying to do?"

"O-Oh, you're still awake?" Audrey looked like a child caught in the act of something troublesome. "I looking for a way to heal the sickness. We—" she started speaking in English again. "—We can't be getting sick. What if it happens during crucial moments?"

"That's true," Madoka mused. Audrey's face was etched with exhaustion and worry. "Audrey…"

"I— I can't," Audrey started again. The pen she crafted with Knotting magic shattered and things around the room began to shudder violently. She was running herself thin because of Madoka. "I don't want to know what that was! I can't give up on you! On me!"

Madoka felt the bed slip out from under her, tumbling to the ground. The bed was floating up about a head off the ground. She grunted as waves of disorientation rolled through her again. Then she summoned her voice and let out her desperate yell. This troublesome girl was going to kill her first if she keeps spiraling like this!

"Audrey!"

Everything in the room instantly settled back on the ground in heaps and thuds. A pair of feet rushed over to her side and knelt down. Tears splotched the wooden floorboards as she felt hands lift her up with surprising strength. Muffled, indiscernible whispers murmured in her ears, but she knew what the girl was saying.

"It's alright," Madoka finally said as she was placed back onto the bed. She knew the princess was stronger than she look, but she still felt awkward in her arms. "You need to rest first."

A pair of mismatched eyes looked at her silently, shimmering in the morning light.

"With…" Madoka looked away, embarrassed over what she was about to say next. "With me."

When she looked back to see Audrey's reaction, she realized that the girl had already returned back to her ball form and curled up on top of her.

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