Zorome's eyes widened as he saw the condition his friends were in and he felt his stomach churn. Both Miku and Hiro appeared to be asleep with their eyes closed. They were breathing loud, harsh breaths that he could hear from his spot by the door. Both of them looked extremely and horribly pale, with sweat dripping down their cheeks and plastering their hair to their foreheads. Zero Two wasn't in the room at that moment, which didn't surprise Zorome for some reason. He was too focused on his sick teammates to even care at that moment. 

They look so terrible... Zorome thought as he stared at the two of them from the crack in the doorway. The sound of their wheezing breaths was horrible and it almost seemed like he could smell the sickness coming from the room. I hope Ikuno can find something soon. It sucks to see them like this. 

"Peeping tom," A high voice said from behind him, causing Zorome to jump and bang his head into the door. He whirled around and saw that Zero Two was standing behind him now, leaning toward him with her hands behind her back.

"Damnit, why did you sneak up on me?" Zorome grumbled, rubbing his head where he'd hit it against the door. He glared at the pink-haired girl. 

Zero Two leaned back until she was standing at her full height again, smiling. "It was so easy! You were so invested in spying on my Darling and Miku that you didn't see it coming! What are you doing here, anyway?" She asked. 

"I was just looking," Zorome told her honestly. "I wanted to see how they're doing, okay?" He turned and peeked in through the gap in the door, relieved that him banging his head didn't wake either of them up. 

"You were staring at Miku, weren't you?" Zero Two said with a devious smile on her face. She giggled.

Zorome's cheeks flushed. "I-I wasn't- I mean-"

"Yeah, yeah," Zero Two made a dismissive gesture with her hand. There was laughter in her voice. "Don't deny it, little perv. I know what you were doing! Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." She winked at him. 

"Where were you?" Zorome questioned her. 

"I went to bring their empty plates back," Zero Two informed him. "I finally got both of them to eat a little something. Anyway, I think you should go before someone catches you here. I won't tattle."

"Yeah, sure, okay," Zorome agreed before quickly exiting the hallway. He walked at a brisk pace before he finally reached the boys' wing and let out a sigh of relief, leaning against the wall by the bedroom door. 

"Hey, Zorome, what's up?" Futoshi appeared from the bedroom. "Mitsuru and I were just putting some fresh bedding onto the bunks. Ichigo and the other girls want us to bathe now so that they can go bathe in the lake after."

"Sounds good to me," Zorome said. "I just got finished everything I needed to do anyway." 

***

It felt nice to lie down on his bed with fresh bedding, though Zorome couldn't sleep that night for the first while. He couldn't help but continuously think about how Miku looked when he had seen her. 

I should've asked Zero Two how she was doing...maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked. Especially if they were eating. He thought to himself. He shifted restlessly in his bed for a while before falling asleep at last.

Zorome was on the battlefield in the FranXX with Miku, though he couldn't see any enemies around. The other mechs were standing in a circle around him, each one giving his FranXX, Argentea, a pitiful look. 

"Hey? What's going on?" Zorome demanded. He frowned when he realized his communication wasn't working. He moved the controls and realized that Argentea was not moving along with his movements. Then he looked at Miku and realized why. 

Miku was slouched over, no longer in the position she was normally in when she piloted the FranXX. She was at an angle with half her body on the platform and half on the ground. 

"Miku, you okay?" Panic started to throb in Zorome's chest. This was like the time she had been hurt by the Klaxosaurs and knocked out. "Miku?" He asked. His voice was quivering with fear. 

"Check on her," Ichigo's voice said from where Delphinium was standing in front of Argentea. 

Zorome turned his communication on properly now. "What happened?" He asked. "I don't remember..."

"I said to check on her," Ichigo repeated herself in a brisk tone.

Zorome hopped out of his seat and went to crouch near Miku's head, lifting the hood from her face. "Miku?" He asked softly, anxiously. 

She didn't reply.

Gently, Zorome grabbed Miku and turned her over onto her back. He set her gently down back on her platform. His eyes widened when he saw her face and he let out a cry of horror.

Miku's skin was pale and her eyes were dark. They flickered a bit for a moment.

"Zorome..." She gasped out weakly. "I feel...I don't think I can move...help me..."

Zorome woke up and sat up straight, his heart thundering within his chest. He gulped in a few breaths of air, relieved to find himself safely in his bed.  It was just a dream...good. Just a dream. 

Beads of sweat were rolling off Zorome's forehead, dripping onto his clean bedsheets, which he was gripping tightly between his fingers. His hair was completely wet from the sweat and he was breathing as though he had just been in a battle. He forced himself to calm down before wiping the sweat off his head and lying down.

Damnit, I got it all over my clean bedsheets. They're gonna smell like sweat until we wash more bedding. Zorome grumbled internally. He pushed his blanket away from him and rolled over onto his side, looking out the window. It was a dark and cloudy night. 

If that had been real...well, I'm just glad it wasn't. Zorome thought, feeling sick as he remembered the ghastly sight in his dream. As hard as he tried, however, he was unable to get the image of Miku weakly pleading for help out of his mind.