By all rights, he should still be unconscious. Should have been. Wasn't. Carter tossed and turned, frowning as he cracked open an olive-green eye. There was something wrong with lying there in bed. It didn't help that a glance at the clock revealed it was 4 o'clock -- AM? PM? He wasn't so sure. Instead, he settled for groaning and burying his face under the covers. He felt empty, aching and hollow. Did he lose something? He closed his eyes and tried to think, huddling into a ball under the covers. Yes, he did: his snowglobes. He had a craving for that melody, that bittersweet melody that haunted the corners of his mind. There was something about the song that made him feel soothed and at peace, even if it did make him feel sad. Those eyes...

Those blue eyes that were hard, scowling as the ice princess sneered at those before her. She was mocking them. Belittling them for their foolishness, their attacks doing nothing to pierce her cold icy shell. But they were wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong -- it wasn't HER they should have been attacking. The treasures that they were bidden to place down, the separation -- THAT was their target. The crunch of shattering glass was nothing in comparison to her screams, her screams of rage and fury as she reached out to strike back, her dancers whirling about her in an attempt to save THEIR princess, THEIR lady as she fell --

Carter jolted awake, gasping for air. She was dead. Gone. He had one of her eyes as proof. Could she still see him through there? That would be rather unsettling. He better keep it hidden, stashed away with his senshi phone so that her dancers couldn't track him down and extract vengeance for taking part in defeating her. Was he any better than the negaverse for doing so? It was just self-defense, right?

"CARRRRRTERRRRRRRRR!"

The boy looked up as his sister came running towards him, unceremoniously jumping up and onto his bed to give him a hug. "I thought you were gonna die! Mike called dibs on your room first which wasn't fair 'cause I have a smaller room than him and it's not fair! I want your room! But I'm glad you're okay, I was makin sure you didn't die 'cause then that way I could get your room first 'cause I'm in here and are you okay? You don't look good bro! Look! See? I was drawing you a picture while waiting for you to wake up! Wait here! I'll be right back!"

The little girl took off running, leaving Carter to gasp and try to reclaim air into his squished lungs. He groaned and slowly sat up, wincing and lying back down after his head began to pound viciously. Getting up now was a bad idea -- even if he WAS a senshi, the fever was still sapping too much from him. At least he wasn't alone -- the mess of crayons and paper strewn about his floor said as much, in addition to the fact that someone was considerate enough to clean his room for him.

Wait. What?

Carter stared in disbelief. Someone had snuck into his room and restored it to order, picking up his carelessly strewn about piles of clothes (folding? Hanging up? What strange concepts!) and dumping them all into a laundry basket before filing his clothes away. He sighed again -- it seemed as if he needed to figure out where everything was again.

The soft thump thump of small feet announced his little sister's return. She immediately rushed to his bedside and shoved something pink and fuzzy at him. He could recognize it as one of his sister's plushie dolls, but which one? "This is Miss Fuzzlehooves the Bright!" She announced, "She's a unicorn an' unicorns bring good luck and heal people! She'll heal you right up, yep yep!"

"Uh, thanks 'Issa?" Carter mumbled, closing his eyes. "But I'm kind of tired now, so --"

"Tired? Oooh! Wait right here!" And off she went again. Carter opened his eyes to stare, then with a shrug he threw one arm over the plush. He couldn't complain -- it was soft, and even if his left arm still felt cold...

He awoke moments later to the feeling of something else being shoved under his arm. "This is Browny," he heard his sister whisper, "He'll carry you and make sure you're not tired any more. I gotta be reeeeeal quiet now so you can get some sleep, 'cause otherwise mom'll stick me in time out for making too much noice. Browny? You be good and carry my brother so he's not tired, okay? And Miss Fuzzlehooves? You make sure my brother gets allll better, okay? Okay!"

Carter opened his eyes, blinking at the mass of plush-fur that was right in front of his face. The stuffed toy was one of his sister's larger ones, complete with a strange strawberry scent. He sighed. It didn't appear that there was any way he could get out of this, but... He couldn't help but to grin at his six-year old sister's belief. A unicorn to make him feel better? A horse to make sure he wasn't tired? He was touched.

Still smiling, Carter drifted off into sleep, the craving for the sad melody gone and replaced by the scent of a strawberry field.