—&(^#[email protected]#-=[;>>].;;’’;’>?/][&*%@+—

Sofia sucked in a deep breath to try and cool her mind, but the ache remained regardless of what she tried to do.

—”:@&@$,.;[]{}]&@!_)*$)[email protected]&^+_%++—

“Carajo…”

Testing today had been worse than normal. The Synthetic Cognizant Stabilizer had been a failure. An awful, awful, awful failure.

—)(||(}{{HE—(}L{P{#$))@)!*@$_#()*(&!><—

Sofia bit down on her pillow and buried her forehead into her ice pack. She did everything she could to suppress a few tears from escaping her eyes.

“Carajo carajo carajo carajo…”

She would feel better. She had to. She had to give it time. She couldn’t give up now.

—>|@)(&%__>?>:”|{P_#+_)#)=-=];;.3—

She breathed deep. She breathed and felt her heartbeat. She breathed and felt a searing flare across her mind that the ice pack couldn’t temper.

It didn’t help, and because of the medicine she’d taken beforehand, they couldn’t give her any pain relievers.

“Mamá…” She whispered.

She curled up and willed herself to either sleep or die, whatever got rid of this awful headache faster, until a familiar noise cut through the heartbeat in her ears.

The chime of piano keys, soft, yet piercing, the only sound in this dark, dreadful room.

Her eyes fluttered open, staring at the dark wall by her bed. Her brain howled, burning up in an inferno until the song drummed through her ears.

Note by note, bar by bar, Sofia’s breathing eased, and the ache thundering from her forehead into the back of her neck dulled until she could stand to roll onto her back. The pain shifted, but the piano playing grew louder and more complex, smothering the fire burning in her head.

“Sofia?” She heard a voice that, by now, was pleasantly familiar.

“Play some more, please…” She asked, the pain having sunk into her stomach.

The piano kept going, and slowly Sofia forced herself to her feet. She knew the way to the bathroom even with the lights off – having had to race in there more than once as a side effect of the constant medication she was under.

It wasn’t pleasant, but if a small bout of diarrhea was the last of her pain, she was okay with that. At least the switch to guitar helped cover up the uglier noises…

She exited the bathroom, adjusting her soft, white cotton shirt and pants, and after a few breaths to try and fill her lungs with air, to pump some energy into her heart, she called out to her digitized helper: “Ayudante, light on.”

The room’s lights flickered on, and Sofia leaned against the wall, letting her vision normalize as she stared at the girl sitting on her couch. Slowly she walked over, her eyes fluttering, until she collapsed next to her visitor.

“It was bad today, huh?” The girl asked, leaning forward to get a better look at Sofia’s haggard face, and Sofia gave a small nod.

“It was so bad. Thanks, Mel.” Sofia finally turned to smile at the silver-haired girl resting next to her, her fingers still curled to play an air guitar. “You have great timing.”

“I’m getting better at feeling you through every freaking person on campus.” Melodica admitted with a little smile. “Lemme keep playing, you look like you need a little more.”

“It’s alright, really…”

But the guitar part of Rope was already filling the room, and Sofia sat back to bask in the cooling relief the music poured over her mind.

She picked up the remote control and turned on the television, channel surfing until she found a Matrix marathon to fill the room with some more noise now that she could stand it.

“Thanks.” Sofia murmured, reaching her hand over to hover over Melodica’s shoulder, which took a moment to solidify for Sofia to squeeze. “I thought I was going to die today.”

“What was today’s experiment?”

“They wanted to give the SCS a try.” Sofia groaned. “They thought it might help get my PPA stabilized.”

“Made it worse?”

“So much worse.” Sofia sighed loudly. “They had me on Cozitomine, too, which means no painkillers for another two hours.”

“Good thing I’m aallll natural!” Melodica grinned, jamming quietly enough for the two of them to talk.

Sofia barely managed a shrug of agreement. She still didn’t feel great, but she wasn’t about to complain to the person turning her day from wretched to merely rough.

Melodica played, her eyes closed, enjoying the music by herself as Sofia tried to regain some energy. The two sat side-by-side, utterly relaxed, utterly divorced from how busy it was beyond her room…

And then Sofia opened her eyes and sighed. “Okay. Alright, I think I’m good. I think…” She rolled her upper-body forward and rubbed the scar on her head, wincing at the phantom pains. “I think… I wanna play some Mario Kart.”

“Hell yes!” Melodica threw her arms up with a grin. “Can we play online?” She hopped up to her feet, quickly heading over to the entertainment center to grab controllers and change the TV input.

“Trying to break your losing streak?” Sofia asked with a cocky little grin. “I’ve had all the time in the world to get good.”

Melodica blew a rude raspberry at her and sat down by her side again, handing over a controller.

The game loaded up and Melodica contemplated her options on the character select screen before picking Daisy, while Sofia settled on her usual choice of Metal Peach in the Red B Dasher.

“How do you like your new look, by the way?” Sofia asked, glancing over at Melodica in her school uniform. As Sofia stared, a feeling of nostalgia washed over her, and a pang of homesickness hit her already tender belly.

“Oh, it’s great!” Melodica beamed, kicking her feet. “I mean, I’ll be honest, I miss my tail, but Taz and I were buying smoothies yesterday and nobody knew.” Melodica’s smile grew wider. “They thought I was her friend, even asked what classes I was taking!”

“Demonios, I want a smoothie now.” Sofia groaned. “So, is Taz more like a friend to you? How’s your relationship work?”

“Y’know, I never thought too hard about it.” Melodica mumbled, sticking her tongue out in concentration as the first race began. “I was always her tulpa, her my creator, it was never weird until people started telling me I was different, and then I started wanting to… be something else.”

“And she’s anchoring you.” Sofia said, and after a moment’s hesitation, Melodica nodded.

“Yeah. Yeah she kinda is, but…” Melodica paused, staring at the screen, not even flinching as she hit a banana peel in her distraction. “I… don’t know. I came from her, but she’s not really my mom; I love her, but in a not-weird way, but we’re still related somehow, so, I guess sister.”

“That’s cool, I can’t argue with that.” Sofia rubbed the air where Melodica’s hair was. “I miss my brother, and my whole family, so, y’know, don’t start resenting the people you care about. You never know when something’ll put some distance between you.”

Things fell quiet for a bit, the two focusing on the screen, giving the illusion of concentration. Melodica was stuck hoping for a bullet bill or a blue shell, while Sofia planned to take a risky drift around a cliff corner to overtake 1st place.

“Y’know, this talk about siblings, smoothies, and you in my old school uniform?” Sofia said with a small, sad smile. “Really makes me miss home…”

Melodica was quiet, guilty for a moment. “I’m sorry, Sofi. Maybe you can introduce me to your family next time they visit?”

“I’d like that, but my doctors might get super miffed you’re in here doing what they—”

—*&@$><]—

“A-aa-ah…” Sofia winced, her head aching, like a cramp tightening just underneath her scar.

On screen, Daisy came to a complete stop before being thrown off a cliff, and Sofia tried to keep the lead amidst the pain, until slow, soothing guitar sounds drifted off of Melodica’s fingertips, the tulpa smiling where she sat as Sofia settled again.

She didn’t know how the music put her damaged mind at peace, but she didn’t question it; all she knew, and all she cared about, was figuring out some way to thank Melodica with more than wiping her all over a digital race track.