Brook couldn’t help but feel dread. Despite the constant reassurance that she was going to be alright, Brook was scared to death. The star damn we- She meant, the affini reading a book and sitting in front of her on a park picnic table seemed kind enough. They didn’t really restrict her much nor forced their will upon her. That is… It was part of their deal of sorts. One that Brook didn’t know if she had much choice in. A deal where she’d resign her name and freedom, to become this Affini’s pet in exchange for a softer and gentler d- Brook didn’t even want to think about it. Oh star, what had she done?! She resigned herself to these things simply from fear alone. No. She clenched her fist. It was for Lily’s sake. Protect her one and only friend left. That’s all there was to it.

 

Her collar beeped a yellow light warning the girl from her heightened levels of anxiety. But she couldn’t really do much about this. The thought alone of being subdued, to have something implanted in her- 

 

“Brook dear. Thinking such heavy thoughts will only end in getting more xenodrugs in you, you know?” The Affini spoke. 

 

Narsilia Tilian, Second Bloom was her name. And her voice felt like sweet honey pouring into Brook’s ears. She didn’t know why that was. Her head turned to the right trying to avoid eye contact while doing her best to calm down.

Brook Tilian, First Floret. as she was now so ceremoniously named, still couldn’t escape her fears and doubts running through her mind. Her first regrets were to ever join the police academy. The thoughts coming right after was the decision to join the rebels and flee Brypso. “S-Sorry… T-things… I-I just need time to process things I guess.” The girls fidgeted her fingers on the affini companion dress she wore while dwelling in her thoughts. 

 

“Well I’m glad that you’re at least more openly talkative with me now. I would have been very saddened if I needed to break a few promises to get the leaves flowing between us.” Narsilia admitted as she placed her left hand of vines on the table while the right slowly closed the book to give more of her attention to Brook. “I’d like to keep my promises to you, my floret, but know there’s still a set schedule you’ll eventually have to meet.” 

 

Brook looked the other way, refusing to accept the gesture of kindness as she tried to find a point of distraction to escape the Affini’s words. Her eyes trailed over the park only to see a strange duo walking towards them. The tears threatened to swell in her eyes completely subsided as she turned to look at Narsilia in disbelief? A question? Her eyes told of her worrying plea to excuse herself from the woman’s watchful gaze.

 

“Go ahead little one, she is the reason as to why I brought you here. Plus… I trust in you Brook. I know you won’t run away from me.” A soft smile formed on Narsilia’s face as her head leaned on her left hand to enjoy watching the two Terrans reunite yet again. 

 

Brook didn’t wait a second longer. She quickly jumped off from the bench and took a few running steps towards Lily before her whole body froze in goosebumps. She stuttered a breath as she was reminded of something. The deal the two struck had much more than just a few clauses in it. She reluctantly turned her body with an embarrassed yet slightly awkward expression as she gave Narsilia a bow and a quiet ‘Thank you.’ before quickly turning around again with red cheeks to run to her friend. 

 

Brook could swear she heard a satisfied rumble coming from behind her; however, she decided that for the sake of her sanity, it was better to disregard it to focus on the one she so frantically ran to. 

 

 

Lily squinted again as the smaller figure started to get larger somehow. Or was it getting closer? Suddenly it collapsed right in front of Lily’s chair letting the girl’s eyes focus up on the shape directly. 

 

Brook… Lily’s thoughts began to clear up slightly as her whole reality caved in around her. That scattered focus fighting against the warmth to give her friend at least a noticeable reaction. Registering her in that washed up mind for a moment before it all folded in on itself again as the warmth washed the feelings. Lily gave off a weak smile. She saw Brook’s lips moving but the words were hard to register right. “Mnnh… Brhooook…” The girl finally voiced out glad to see her friend again.

 

“L-Lily by the stars… They let you be out and about in that state?!” Brook asked, concerned to see that disconnected smile stare her down. 

 

“As long as I’m here to take care of her she is perfectly safe.” Nurse Garcia chimed in to reassure Brook, while giving Lily’s head a gentle pat to enlist a pleasant purr out of the sedated terran.

 

“Oh so what, you're her owner now?!” Brook said standing up, ready to confront an Affini all to defend her friend. 

 

“Miss Brook, I am not her owner nor her nanny, however due to the fact that the one she claims to be her owner is absent it is up to the medical staff to treat their patients right.” The Affini woman said leaning in to stare down the fleeting confidence Brook showed. 

 

“W-wha? W-wait s… She’s already owned by someone?!” 

 

The Nurse produced her datapad from within the flurry of her vines and leaves before pressing a few buttons and hitting play on the recording. 

 

‘ “Slwhe-y…” , “Hmmm? What was that dear?” , “Silwey… A-Anul.. F-twelfth b-bloomhhh…” , “Little one… How did you come across that name?” , “I-I’mmm… already sshiilwey’sh… p-ph…..” ‘ 

 

Lily couldn’t help but blush hearing that again. Wow… did Affini record everything? Was she crying again? She definitely felt a burning glow from her eyes to her cheeks.

 

Garcia clicked the stop button and stored her datapad back underneath the foliage before continuing. “Now… While little Lily *Pines* here most certainly isn’t in our registry on being anyone’s pet, I cannot say what kind of dealings people have between each other in their personal time, as I'm sure you're aware.” She chimed, giving a questioning look wondering if Brook was thoroughly satisfied with the answer. 

 

Brook stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Hearing that hoarse and ruined voice from her friend almost induced a stream of tears. However the Terran persevered as she tried her best to calm down. Her friend was right here. She could just ask her, right? 

 

“Lily…” Brook kneeled down to look up at Lily with a sort of pleading expression on her face. Lily couldn’t really react however as her apathetic mind tried it’s best to at least follow the words. “P-Please… s-say it ain’t so.” The girl begged hoping that at least her friend would be free from all of this. 

 

Lily simply looked at her with a soft smile. What was she thinking? Oh yeah… not really much. But those words struck her in the heart. And she had to… she had to… she… She didn’t know what she was thinking. There was a really pretty girl in front of her. How could she miss that before? Her left hand slowly rose up. But quickly fell back down as warmth eagerly spread through her. Soon however a vine snaked through the implant lifting her arm up to Brook. 

 

Lily didn’t care how her hand moved on it’s own; all she cared about was feeling her friend’s cheek cupped in her hand as she gave a soft dazed smile. Was she happy? Probably. There was no telling but her body sure showed it. She thinks. Was she thinking? She really wasn’t. Her lips slowly parted as three simple words left her, completely subconsciously.

 

“I lovvv youuuuhhh...”

 

Silence. For a moment in time everything was tone deaf around them. Or was it that Lily only had ears for what Brook might say? Garcia sure was quiet, slowly swaying in the simulated wind. Brook on the other hand, as she was right in front of her, managed to go through so many emotional states before losing strength in her legs collapsing on her rear, completely defeated. Her cheeks turned pink in an instant as she couldn’t tear her eyes away from that glassy happy look Lily in turn returned. It was very noticeable that something stirred inside of Brook, so noticeable in fact that even Lily saw it as she tilted her head wondering if her friend was alright. 

 

Someone cleared their throat. Lily was instantly pulled out of her scattered thoughts now focusing up on the Affini above. “I’m sure you and Lily have much to discuss. How about you introduce Lily to your new owner?” Garcia offered a vine to Brook for her to stand up, but the girl still blankly stared into that disconnected expression Lily wore, completely trapped in her own bubble. “Right… Well perhaps once your mind clears up.”

 

The Affini slowly wrapped her vines around Brook and lifted her up into the air like a ragdoll. Garcia slowly walked up to the park bench and deposited the girl back in her former seat before extending her vines, offering them to Narsilia.

 

The two entwined their vines and quickly began conversing in Affini which if it wasn’t blatantly obvious neither Brook, nor the drugged out Lily could decipher what they meant. 

 

The two simply sat in silence sitting beside one another. Lily with her hands on the table and still in her wheelchair while tears slowly trickled down into the leafy mosaic below and Brook who couldn’t help but fidget her companion clothes between her fingers. The two girls kept glancing at each other and often quickly looked away whenever their eyes met. Lily with her detached feelings simply swam in the ocean of floaty thoughts seemingly developing a crush over and over again as the drugs made her thoughts poof out of existence the next second. The other girl however had another storm raging inside her. She found Lily’s docile expression… She’d rather not finish that sentence. So much so her heart kept stirring as she thought about herself in that image. Thought about herself beside Lily all drugged off of their minds with not a care in the world. How would it… feel even? Her mind kept cooking in this loop of thoughts before her collar beeped yellow again. ‘Crap…’

 

“Brook? Everything alright?” Narsilia instantly chimed with her sweet tone leaving the girl a shivering mess at the picnic table. 

 

Brook tried to answer but as she did a hand was extended to her from Lily. “you looook sssstressed...” She said in a happy tone and a warm dazed smile, just wanting to help out. 

 

Brook couldn’t bring herself to be sad at that moment. That offered hand just felt so reassuring that her own rose up to meet it almost subconsciously as she looked into Lily’s eyes and her disconnected ones gazed back. 

 

“T-thank you… Lily… You look- different… I-In a positive way, I mean!” The girl corrected herself instantly not wanting to come off as rude.

 

Lily’s head tilted. Different? In a positive way? What might that mean? Lily looked down at herself in confusion not really noticing anything different about herself. She was still looking very much like a flower patch, was that supposed to be the difference? What was she looking for again? Think brain, think! Brook said something but the thought felt so fleeting in the moment that it felt like no amount of reminding would bring it back. She looked at her very broken form for some… arbitrary reason instead of looking up at Brook. Her head rose up to give her friend a confused look, a question shaping her expression wondering what the other meant. 

 

“I-I mean… I-I wanted to say you look positively different. You look well… You look right. Somehow feeling exactly as you were meant to from the start...” Brook stumbled through her words, struggling to find a way to express herself correctly.

 

Oh. It didn’t need a 2 + 2 equation for Lily’s neurons to click the puzzle together. Her gender. Her visual appearance! The memory of seeing her reflection that fateful day in the mirror finished marble. Her- She looked down again. This time with a knowing conviction to try and see past the many roots and vines of her implants. She… well there was a chest there. Only now did Lily realize that it was rather… bigger than what she had expected it to be. Or rather only now did it occur to her it was bigger. Her skin appeared softer, and the overall shape of her body - while bruised and battered by the rebels - looked rather curved, slim but well rounded.

 

Was this what xenodrugs could do for her?! Have her completely change in that bit of time without even letting her notice how drastic the changes were. Was this just another way the Affini Compact showed its power? Was this the longest string of thoughts she had in the fleeting blissful euphoria of realizing how positively her body changed for the better despite the world of hurt she was going through?!

 

Yes. The answer to all of those was a blatant yes.

 

But her look... it was so *her!* How could it not be? Her body was simply the living proof of the positive change in her. But wait! What about her face? What about… She looked around in her daze looking for anything that was reflective, and wouldn’t you know it - a mirror was offered to her at the call of a buzzer.

The affini were so useful… so kind. She thought, focusing her eyes a little on the small rounded shape of the reflective surface. What stared back at her was barely recognisable. Yet very familiar. Staggeringly so. It was her eyes, her long hair(I’ll be it with a bit more volume), but the complexion, the shape; it felt foreign. Like something familiar yet not her, yet something so desirable to her mind she could only stare in bliss wishing to be the woman in the mirror. Soft cheeks, well rounded head with pretty and full lips. The only reason Lily even recognised the reflection as being hers was the fact that it had the same kind of mosaic leaf patterns on each of its cheeks. Would she even have noticed this if it wasn’t for someone to mention she noticeably changed? How many times had she seen her reflection in the past and never seemed it out of place or different?

 

Brook was warily observing from the side wondering what might be going through her friend's head. Her expression questioning if Lily really never noticed the changes happened. Obviously the fears and worry began to swell up again, causing another threatening beep to sound out from her collar. 

 

Lily’s gaze turned to Brook to study the expression plastered on her face. With a simple deduction her lips flew open to speak. “Scared?” A perfectly clear voice rang from Lily, which she definitely didn’t know where it came from, voicing Brook’s thoughts out loud. It even scared Lily in a way, wondering how such a thing surfaced. Was this her speaking or something she had no control over?

 

Brook's eyes widened in shock from her friend's lucid word, before voicing out a whimper and closing her eyes. Tears began to stream down her face, unable to calm down.

 

“H-heyyy.. I.. I wash scared toooo…” Lily’s words became slightly more lucid despite the far off stare she had on her. “B-but being... re- reassured by others ish nice” The girl struggled greatly to bring those words out.

 

Brook didn’t know what to do. Tears began flooding her face despite the flurry of warm emotions. “I-I’m s-sor sorry Lily…” She whimpered out. “I-I wish I never would have joined the rebels… L-Look what they did to you!”

 

Oh she was sad. Sad about what? For her? Lily’s mind raced through the jelly trying to comprehend the words. Was it that bad they were together again? Lily felt the good memories flood back to her. The time they spent in the academy, the field work they did together, remembering Brook even stepped down to office work to be with her. The brief time they interacted on the ship. “Yyou saved meee” Lily didn’t even finishing the memory backtracking before saying what she should have said at the beginning. “That’s aaall that matters.” She added feeling slightly spent under the weight of the chemical blanket in her body.

 

“She’s right, you know” Narsilia spoke, turning her attention to the pair. “This little one wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your bravery.” The affini’s vines began to sway towards the pair giving both Terrans a hair ruffling.

 

Brook turned her head away hiding her expression of embarrassment and fluster, while Lily simply murmured, feeling at least something pleasant in the last few days. Her eyes were still affixed to Brook trying to decide what emotion swelled in her friend’s head. 

 

“Thank you.” Lily added to the flurry of emotions in Brook’s head, happy to see the girl wear such a blush.

 

“You two seem to be *very* close. Got something adorable blooming between you two~?” Garcia asked, leaning on her vines expecting to hear the story.

 

Brook seemed to be reluctant to share. Her hand that held Lily’s gently rubbed away at those bound fingers in a nervous fidget, giving Lily an excuse to just tune out and feel how the warmth in them radiated outwards. She sure was spent… sure seemed that way. Thoughts began to get sluggish making it harder to keep them for longer than three seconds. The radiating warmth of her digits began to wash over her leaving Lily in a dazed state, seemingly suspended in place staring blankly at Brook with a dumb smile. 

 

“H-How much o-of this w-will she remember?” Brook asked, glancing between the three. Was there something to be kept secret from her? Something she didn’t have to know? Know what? Oh… Brook was here. That’s nice. Lily felt nice.

 

“Hmmm… If the readings are right the implants were redosing her just now.” The nurse spoke. ‘Re- redosing.’ echoed in Lily’s mind. Why was that so funny? She cracked into a short fit of giggles, instantly forgetting what she was giggling about. 

 

“We-” Brook began still slightly hesitant, still staring at Lily praying to the stars her friend will never remember this. “We were colleagues. Friends even. Good friends I think. A-at one point she felt like family to me...” Her fidgety fingers kept pulling strands out of her clothes. “We met at the police academy and well he- I mean she seemed really nice. We sort of kicked it off as a crime fighting duo, said we’d finish college and find a job together.” Brook paused looking up at Lily.

 

Eh? Was she crying again? Cheeks definitely felt tingly with implants springing to life. Was Brook sad because of her? No, surely not. What was she talking about again? Lily’s thoughts were in disarray. Moment to moment nothing seemed to latch on except the emotions on Brook’s face. ‘Eh… just smile.’ One thought bloomed above all others giving Lily’s disconnected face a joyous emotion of happiness. Brook is here. I’m happy...

 

In some way that spurred the other girl on as she stuttered to find words. “I-I-I think I was s-stupid then… for never saying how I felt… How I think we both felt. I-I think I’m still stupid now…” Brook whimpered out the last bit as her hands came up to wipe her eyes. “We were a team in the field as well a-and when she got suspended from active duty, I stepped down as well… j-just to be by her side.” Another whimper escaped Brook, cursing herself for letting it all pan out the way it did. “S-She’s just been there for me. A-and I tried to do the same for her. Look at me now… I failed her… I failed the one person I wanted to protect...” Brook cried out letting her tears stream down her face with no end in sight. Of course the collar around her neck began to beep a warning red. 

 

There were just too many emotions Brook could not handle simply spilling out, right in front of the one she cared so much about. The one who was clearly not even present at the conversation for everything she knew.

 

Narsilia simply smiled, tapping away at her datapad to cancel the collar’s automatic discharge. “Brook. You failed no one. As far as I’m concerned you did the right thing. You saved your friend and surrendered peacefully. It is with that reason I am being so lenient with you. I would like to make this process as easy as possible.” The Affini’s warm smile never faltered as their honest gaze kept eye contact with Brook whilst explaining. “Would you trust us that we have your safety and wellbeing in the best of our interests?” 

 

Brook looked back to her friend, hesitant on what to say. There was no escaping this, did they really have her best interest in mind? What about her education? Could she finish studying even when confined to this affini? Her… *owner* of all things. The content smile Lily wore gave Brook strength. Taking in a deep breath. “Fine… b-but I would like to stay by her side.” she said, looking up at Narsilia before frantically adding. “A-at least t-till I know she’ll be safe!” 

 

The Affini gave a satisfying light chuckle, waving her vine dismissing the topic. “So many demands from someone who thinks they’re a prisoner. But alright, I’ll allow it. Simply because you’re just too adorable to say no to. Brook, promise me however, that you’ll take your prescriptions yourself today.” 

 

Brook clenched her free hand tightly before, to the Affini’s surprise, giving a nod. 

 

“Good girl. Now I think it is time we head back to our home. I’m sure Lily here needs to rest up as well.” Narsilia announced, slowly standing up.

 

Brook hoped she could stay by Lily’s side for just a little longer. Her reassuring hold on her hand felt like something she always needed. However, despite her collar going back to green, Narsilia word was final and Brook wasn’t stupid enough to find out what would happen if she defied her. Brook gave a nod with no objections as she stood up, pleasantly surprising her new owner again. 

 

Right before she left Brook stepped next to Lily and kneeled down. Their eyes met and before Lily could even process a word, Brook leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek whispering a gentle “I love you too” before walking away hurrying to Narsilia’s side. 

 

‘Stars… that felt... bliss’ Lily’s thoughts scrambled having that lingering feeling melt her consciousness completely away again.