A couple weeks passed and good news actually arrived. Although it wasn't much, it was better than what had happened the previous days.
Kaya's fever had stopped rising. The strongest medicines started to have a bit of an effect instead of none at all.

Cookie lay next to or on her each night and each naptime, keeping her company in her sleep. There was not a time, however, that she slept peacefully and without a nightmare. If anything, they were made worse by her fever. If Cookie was lying on her, then the kitten was usually flung towards the foot of the bed or onto the floor. When she wasn't, she was woken up by Kaya's quick and sudden, and sometimes panicked, movements.

One night, Kaya woke up, gasping for air and with tears in her eyes from her fevered nightmare. She brought her knees to her head and curled her tail around her legs. Cookie had not been awaken by this. She had decided the top of her dresser the previous night.

Outside was lightening; no matter how long or short her nightmares seemed, she always woke at dawn or near dawn. Her eyes moved over to her window, watching the sunrise. It wasn't much since clouds covered the sky, but it was something.

It was about 7:30 a.m. by the time she got out of bed, her legs weak from lack of use. She was dizzy for a second, holding onto the arm of a nearby chair, and then looked outside once again. Their backyard was pretty big in Kaya's point of view; she never cared to compare or to other houses. The four trees in the yard, that had not been cut down when the monster section of town had been built, were healthy at the peak of summer. The bushes flourished and the new flowers had bloomed earlier in the summer. Now, it sparkled from the dew that had settled and speckled on the petals and leaves and grass.

Kaya had never bothered to take in the beauty of the early morning, but now it took her breath away.

She was startled when her door opened, although quietly. She turned around and was met with a...surprise. Standing in the doorway was Cypress' girlfriend.

"Um, hi Kaya," Jenny said as casually as she could, although Kaya could hear the hint of aggressiveness in her voice.

"Who set you up to do this?" Kaya asked, getting straight to the root of her possibly-future-sister-in-law's arrival.

"It...was mine actually." Kaya stared, dumbfounded. All trace of the anger she heard from Cypress' girlfriend was suddenly gone. "I decided to start being a better girlfriend to your brother, and to do that I have to gain your trust."

"Pft, you could never gain my trust," Kaya replied and Jenny's face dropped. "'Sides, I never said you couldn't be Cypress' girlfriend," she added.

"But...wait," Jenny said, confused about what she said.

"I won't and haven't gotten in the way of you two, so why start ten years after I first found out? Now, uh, please leave, standing up and talking at the same time is starting to wear me out," Kaya said, setting a skeletal hand on her forehead.

"Oh, right. Are you feeling better then? And I should probably take your temperature."

"I guess I am if I managed to get out of bed. And, no. You don't have to do that. Someone else'll do it when they come check on me."

"Well, why not get that hassle over now?"

"Thanks, but getting my temperature taken by a person I have bad history with isn't exactly pleasing," she said, sitting on her bed and turning into her human form without choice.

"Right, forgot. Er, get well soon?" Jenny said, exiting.

Kaya sighed. "Yeah, sure." She got back under the covers and tried to get some more sleep before anyone else came in.

She woke to the sound of voices outside her door. Did they already come in? She thought. Why didn't I hear them? I must've been too deep in sleep. Well, too deep in a nightmare.

"BUT, BROTHER. WILL SHE BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT? WILL HER SOUL-"

"we have to take the risk," she heard her father say. "i did and i'm fine."

"As fine as you can be," her uncle muttered under his breath.

"hey!" Kaya watched the door open and her father and uncle come into her room. They were both surprised to see her upright in bed, although still looking a little dreary.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID, BROTHER!"

"me?!"

"YES, SANS, YOU. YOU'RE THE ONE WHO STARTED TALKING OUTSIDE THE DOOR INSTEAD OF IN THE HALL LIKE A CIVILIZED PERSON!"

"Ok, please stop fighting before you get me a bigger headache than normal," she said, yawning, and got out of bed. "So what is the risk that you have to take and what do I have to do?" She had reached Sans and Papyrus by now and stood with one hand grasping the door.

"ya mean you'll do it? without any objections? guess this'll be easier than we intended, bro," Sans said after a small nod from Kaya, rubbing the back of his skull.

"AWW. AND WE HAD THE PERFECT PLAN TO GET YOU TO AGREE. IT INVOLVED UNDYNE."

"S-surely Undyne would be unnecessary if only you two are...um, were, outside my door."

"...SANS WAS PLANNING TO USE ME TO WAKE UNDYNE."

Kaya gasped. "Dad!" she chastised her father.

"And what do you have to say for yourself, Sans?" A voice said behind Sans and Uncle Papyrus and Kaya saw a large shadowy figure appear behind them when the hallway lights were turned on. She shrieked and fell backwards, hitting her head on something. Her mom and dad came to her side and helped her up. Kaya rubbed the back of her skull, felt nothing out of place, and thanked her parents.

"I'm sorry, child," Toriel said, standing in the doorway with the others packed out in the hall. When Kaya was sick, her parents allowed the others to stay at their house to keep in touch and to stay updated on her healing. "I did not mean to scare you."

"It's fine, Ms. Toriel. Eh?" she said when she was picked up and put onto Uncle Papyrus' shoulders.

"THERE YOU GO, SICK KAYA. A NICE SEAT ON THE GREAT PAPYRUS' STRONG SHOULDERS." Kaya leaned backwards, trusting her uncle to hold onto her legs and not let her fall, in order to not hit her head on the top of the door frame. She remained like that for a while, focusing on nothing and letting her long hair dangle down. "YOUNG KAYA," Papyrus said, getting her out of her head. "PLEASE GET OUT OF THAT POSITION. YOUR HAIR IS TICKLING MY LEGS."

"Oh, yeah." She heaved herself up, her uncle's hands grabbing firmly on her legs so she doesn't fall or end up slipping off.

"THANK YOU. SEE SANS. SHE ACTUALLY DOES WHAT I ASK OF HER."

"what does that have anythin' to do with what we're doin'?" Sans replied. "'sides, she's not 'spose to be completely like me. she's not a clone."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?"

"'Cause I don't look like my dad, Uncle Papyrus," Kaya replied. Papyrus remained speechless afterward.

They had been walking toward the front door while speaking. Now they all gathered outside.

"So," Toriel said. "Where are we going?"

"it'll take a few trips, but you guys'll see soon enough."

"It'll take longer 'cause I can't help," Kaya whispered.

"BUT YOU WILL BE HELPFUL," Papyrus whispered back, which confused her.

"alright, bro, i'll take you and Kaya there first," her father said and placed his hand on Uncle Papyrus' shoulder. She saw his eye engage and felt the intense cold of teleportation. When they appeared at their destination not a half second later, she cried out and shivered violently. The cold took a toll on her HP, which was already lowered slightly because of the sickness. Her shaking hands lost their grip and she fell backwards, colliding with the back of Papyrus' battle armor. She stared at the spinning ground below her, everything distorted and blurry. She heard her father and uncle cry out her name and start talking in panicked tones, but she didn't catch any of it.

Kaya felt herself being placed on something, and watched her father's white outline disappear. Her eyelids had lowered, and her heart pounded in the hushed silence she was in. She lay on the surface for a few moments and then started to notice something.

Another skeleton was appearing beside Uncle Papyrus' outline, slowly become clearer than everything else, which was fading to black.