In Sickness and In Health

A/N: This is the revised version of “ In sickness and in Health”. I absolutely hated the first version! It was my first fanfic and it personally thought it sucked. The whole thing with Hiltz was dumb. Hopefully this will be better. Please review, no flames.

In Sickness and in Health: Chapter 1

Raven kneeled next a small stream close to his home that afternoon. He had to retrieve some water for Reese, who was again in his care. After the destruction of the Deathsaurer, he and Reese had parted ways. It was only a few weeks later that Raven found Reese in an abandoned cave. She was very pale and she had lost a lot of weight. It was very clear that she was sick. She was reluctant to go with him, but there was little she could do, seeing she was too weak to fight him.

Once the canteen was filled, Raven set back toward his home. He left shadow there to watch over Specula and Reese just to make sure they didn’t try to leave. When he returned, Reese was still lying on the bed, looking sicker than before. Specula was lying next to Shadow, watching her master. Raven never really liked that organoid. It had a peculiar look to her and that made her look suspicious.


Raven sat on a stool next to the bed and poured some of the water from the canteen into a cup and leaned in toward Reese. He placed his gloved hand on the back of her neck and lifted her head so she could drink. She moaned weakly when he placed the cup to her lips. It was a protest to pull the cup away. Raven refused and almost forced the cup closer to her lips.


“ Stop being difficult,” Raven said softly. Reese sighed and finally took a sip of water. She only took two sips but Raven made her drink the whole cup.


“ Thanks,” Reese murmured. It was the only thing she had said all day. She didn’t feel like talking much because her throat was in sheer pain. Every time she swallowed it felt like she was swallowing daggers.

That night, Raven sat on the roof gazing at the stars as he usually did when Shadow came trotting up. “ How is she?” he asked. Shadow roared a ‘Not so good’ and Raven nodded. “ She is much worse than last time. I’ve never seen anyone this sick before.”

Just then, Raven had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was very strange. He began to think about Reese and he was suddenly filled with worry. He jolted up from the floor and dashed down the stairs. He bolted into the room where Reese was resting and walked over to her. Raven placed a hand on her forehead and his eyes widened. Her temperature had rose dramatically. He had to do something to lower her temperature, and fast. He raced to the bathroom and filled a bowl with ice-cold water and grabbed a washcloth. Once beside Reese, he placed the now wet washcloth on her forehead. That wasn’t going to work though, he need to do something else. He removed the covers from her and reached for the zipper on her bodysuit.


“ Reese is going to kill me for this,” Raven thought. Just as Raven was about to pull the zipper down, he felt Reese’s hand grab his.

“ What the hell are you doing, Raven?” Reese asked fiercely.

“ I had to get your temperature down,” Raven said defensively.


“ And unzipping my shirt was going to do that?” Reese said with a smirk.


“ Shut up. Just be grateful I took you in.”

Reese paused for a moment and replied, “ I am grateful. Thank you.”


Raven was sort of shocked that Reese had thanked him. Reese had been reluctant to show any emotion toward him really, that was until the battle with the Deathsaurer. When they had met the Dark Kaiser, Reese had been by his side when he was knocked over by Shadow. When the actual battle with the Deathsaurer began, Reese had cried. She cried because she didn’t want him to die.


“ I really mean it, Raven,” Reese said again. “ I never thought you would be so kind to me after everything I’ve done to you.”


It was true. Reese had never been very kind to him. Hell, she tried to stab him once. But he would be damned if he was just going to let her die. The war ending must have made him go soft. Raven looked down at her and felt an odd, fluttering feeling in his stomach.

“ R-raven?” Reese asked. “ What are you looking at?”

Raven shook his head and he could feel his face turn red. Imagine, eighteen and still blushing. “ N-n-othing,” he stuttered. His face was so red that he swore the roots of his hair were red. Reese blushed too, but not as bad as Raven. Once he regained his composure, he asked, “ You want something to eat?”

“ I guess, but I don’t know if I trust your cooking,” Reese said jokingly.


“ Hey! Would you rather go fend for yourself out there?”


“ Alright, alright. What’s on the menu?”


“ ……..Soup,” Raven said. Reese sighed; soup would have to do. Raven left the room and in a matter of minutes he was back with a cup of soup. He sat next to Reese on the bed and held out a spoon.

“ Lie back,” Raven said.


“ Are you going to feed me?” Reese asked with a raised eyebrow.

“ You’re still too weak.”

“ Raven, I’m not an invalid. I am perfectly capable of feeding myself.”

Raven growled and did not let Reese talk after that. Reese scowled, but let Raven feed her. It was funny to have Raven, one of the most feared zoid pilots on Zi, feeding her.


“ You understand, if you tell anyone about this I will kill you,” Raven threatened with a light smile on his face. It was a genuine smile, not the usual smirk that she would receive. Reesund und herself smiling back.


Raven sat the empty cup on the nightstand and left to go sit by the window. He stared outside for a moment, and then looked back at Reese. She had fallen asleep and she was almost falling off the bed. Raven quietly stood up and walked over to Reese. He placed her in the middle of the bed and he could not help but gaze at her.


“ Stupid Raven,” Raven thought. Before he walked away, he looked at her one more time. He decided he should stay, just in case something happened to her. He pulled the stool closer to the bed and sat down. His head began to nod to the side and he soon fell asleep.


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It was still early in the morning when Reese woke up. She immediately saw Raven on the stool. He looked extremely uncomfortable. His neck would be very sore when he finally woke up.

“ Raven,” Reese said weakly. That was just enough to wake him up.

“ Hm,” He replied tiredly.

“ Come here. That looks very uncomfortable,” she said patting the empty side of the bed. Raven gazed at her in disbelief. “ Don’t worry. I won’t bite.”


Raven shrugged mildly and crawled onto the bed. It was much more comfortable than that stool. Raven looked over at Reese who, oddly enough, looked back. It was an expression neither of them had seen on each other’s faces before. It was a loving gaze. Raven suddenly felt a light touch on his hand. He looked down to find Reese’s hand on his. For some reason, he did not mind.

They found each other moving closer to one another. What was going to happen next seemed inevitable. Their lips crashed onto each other’s in a very passionate kiss. Reese laced her fingers through Raven’s hair and pulled them closer together, if that was at all possible. Raven rolled himself on top of Reese, causing her to gasp around their kiss. A few heated moments later, they shied out of their kiss. They both had a look of ‘what did I just do’ on their face. Raven rolled quickly off of her and rubbed his eyes.

“ Raven?” Reese asked, still out of breath from their kiss. Raven did not reply, instead he walked out of the room, leaving Reese completely stunned.

A/N: What did you think? I personally think it was much better than the original. I made Raven so mean in that one. Please review and tell what you think. I’ll have chapter two up soon!

~Hayla~