A different point of view I

Close to lunch-break, everyone is getting ready to stop when Rose starts to violently seize in her sleep. She trashes around, makes whimpering sounds and hurts both her and everyone around her.

While trying to pin her down so she doesn’t hurt herself anymore, Sher Aka screams, “Stop! Something’s wrong!”

Stopping the horses, Rayla and Scarlet run over to the wagon and Rayla asks, “What’s wr- Rose!? John! What’s happening!?”

“I’m not sure it looks like some kind of seizure…Perhaps she wasn’t doing that well after-”

Scarlet interrupts, “She’s having a nightmare.” 

Walking over to Sher Aka she pushes her to the side and picks up Rose, fixating both her head and arms with her immense strength, “Shh…It’s okay, I’m here, Rose.”

Pointing at a box, she commands, “Give me those. Quick.”

Rayla then quickly gets the box and hands it to her. 

From it, Scarlet pulls out a red handkerchief and holds it to Rose’s nose, “Shh…See, mama is here too. It will be alright, we’re all here for you.”

Slowly over the next five minutes the seizing lessens until it fully stops. Rose, still asleep, is now covered in bruises and scratches and looks quite exhausted.

“What the hell was that Scarlet!?” Rayla yells.

“Shh! She’s sleeping.”

A little quieter Rayla adds, “Go and explain.”

“It’s just nightmares. There is nothing more to it.”

“NOTHING MORE TO-”

“Shh!”

“Nothing more to it? Are you insane, that’s not just a normal nightmare.”

“But it is. The doctors said so themselves.”

Brushing through Rose’s hair Sher Aka interjects, “I have seen this before. Back when I was a slave, some of the women that had been there longer than me had similar seizures in their sleep and sometimes even when they were awake. Even I…Had sometimes woken up with bruises that weren’t there before I went to sleep.”

John adds, “They aren’t normal nightmares but they are common in people with severe trauma…”

“But she didn’t have those before she went to Blaze. I know because I was there every time she went to sleep.”

Scarlet answers, “I was surprised too the first time I saw it. But according to my mom she started having them shortly after she started regressing for long periods of time.”

Sher Aka asks, “And how often does she have these nightmares?”

“Nightmares in general? About every two to three days. The big ones where she starts seizing? Somewhere around once to twice every two weeks.”

“Do you know what the nightmares are about?”

“Not really. When she does remember them and can speak at the time she usually doesn’t tell us about them. I don’t think she knows that we can tell she has nightmares when she sleeps so she tends to try and hide that she had them. The few times she does tell us about it are usually when she wakes up so distraught that she doesn’t even know where she is. She often screams things like ‘Are you really real?’, ‘Please I don’t want to fall asleep again’ or just ‘I’m scared’. Sometimes she also wakes up and just screams for help until she gets so exhausted she passes out again.”

“...”

Letting out a sigh, John asks, “And what did the palace doctors recommend we should do in that case?”

“Basically what Sher Aka was trying to do. Keep her neck and head supported and make sure she doesn’t thrash around too much and hurt herself. You guys would probably need to use a boost to hold her down though.”

“What about calming medicines?”

“The doctors said not to use them unless she has those fits where she just screams for help until she passes out. They said it’s not healthy for her to rely on drugs, the only reason they gave some to us in the first place was because they were genuinely concerned she could get a heart attack or hyperventilate to the point she can’t get enough air anymore. That’s why both me and Miguel have a pillbox of sleeping pills on us. They would probably be too weak on an adult but for Rose these are extremely strong. They can knock her out for two days and she must never take more than one per week.”

“For toxicity reasons?”

“No, because they’re addictive. The more she has the more likely it is that she becomes reliant on them and it will increase her risk of addiction as an adult.”

“I see…Is there a risk that she’ll start seizing again after calming down?”

“The risk is there but it has never happened before. Usually she is too exhausted afterwards. For now she just needs to sleep it off.”

“Alright…”

A few hours after making camp and explaining the situation to the knights and Bloodhounds Rose wakes up again. Currently on the road Sher Aka and John are at the reins.

“Good morning Rose, did you sleep well?” Scarlet asks but Rose doesn’t answer. Instead she just looks at Scarlet with glossed over eyes and a smile while audibly breathing.

Taking out a notebook and pen Miguel watches hawkishly from his corner on what's going to happen next.

Rayla asks, “What’s wrong Rose? Are you still sleepy?”

Looking at Rayla, Rose gives her a smile and then puts her hand in her mouth.

“Uhm…Scarlet?”

“I told you sometimes she goes full baby mode, right?”

“Yeah…”

“There you go, now you get to see it for yourself.”

“Okay…So what now?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“What do we do now? How do we make her go back to normal?”

Giving her a bit of a confused expression Scarlet answers, “There is no ‘going back to normal’. She’s just gonna be like this for a while and we’ll have to take care of her.”

“What’s ‘a while’ like a few hours? Days?”

“I dunno. Could be a few hours, could be days, could be years, could be forever. Like I told you apparently she was like this for most of the time she spent with mom.”

“But then she stopped with that for half a year, right? What’s different?”

“Perhaps…It’s because she feels safe again? She said she resolved the matter with Ifrit so maybe now that she’s not scared anymore she goes back to that mode permanently but I don’t know.”

“Huh…” Taking a look at Rose who doesn’t even seem to understand what is going on, Rayla thinks for a bit and says, “Well…We can’t really adventure with her like this, right?”

“No we can’t. If she stays like this I’ll take her back home, I assume you don’t have a problem with that?”

“Of course not. As long as I can come with you I have no problem with it. If she’s going to be a full on baby she’ll need a stable home and she seems to get along with your family fine.”

Rose then seems to move her arms around randomly. Seeing this Rayla holds one of her hands and says, “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine, oko.”

“Hiyaaaah~”

Later in the day when it’s time to make camp, Sher Aka and John stop the wagon and Sher Aka giddily walks inside to see Rose.

Rose is currently hugging Scarlet when Rayla says, “Yo, we need to talk.”

“Sure, is there a problem?”

Pointing at Rose, Rayla answers, “She’s entered the mental state of a baby. Scarlet says she doesn’t know how long she’ll stay like that but since she’s not scared of the Spirit Kings anymore it might be for a long time.”

John sighs, “Great…So what do w-”

Getting a big smile on her face Sher Aka walks over to Rose, “Could you please let her go Scarlet? I’d like to take care of her.”

“Sure, I need to stretch anyway.”

Sitting down on her knees, Sher Aka picks up Rose and gives her a hug. Looking up at her, Rose gives her a smile and rests her chin on Sher Aka’s shoulder.

A little confused Rayla watches this and continues, “Uhm…So we wanted to talk about taking shifts taking care of her until she goes back to normal again.”

“There is no need. I’ll do it.” Sher Aka answers.

“Alone? Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ll gladly take care of my daughter.”

“Your what now?”

John scoffs, “So she hasn’t told you either, huh? I found out about this today as well.”

Raising one of her eyebrows Rayla asks, “About what?”

“Well, apparently despite Rose having a mother she loves dearly, my dear sister still hasn’t given up on this idea of being Rose’s mom. She apparently convinced her that it’s fine to have two moms and Rose agreed to also have her as her mom.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Rayla says, “So you’re still doing this? Just give up, it’s over. She has a mom already.”

Caressing Rose’s cheek Sher Aka answers in an almost whispery voice, seemingly not even talking to Rayla directly, “I’m not giving up. She is my daughter. Just because she was stolen from me doesn’t mean I’ll give up.”

“Look…I get it, this was hard on you. But think about Rose as well when it-”

“Oh…I’ve been thinking of her every day. Whenever I was sliced up, chopped up, dissolved, eaten, pummeled, betrayed and killed, I only thought of her and the beautiful future we’ll have together.”

Taking on a more compassionate tone Rayla answers, “I understand that she was what you held onto during those times…I think in a way we all did. But you’re not her mother.”

Taking on a crazed smile Sher Aka looks at Rayla and asks, “So…You’ll stand in our way?”

“By the Gods Sher Aka…There is no way to stand in. The way was blocked when her dad took her home.”

Giving her a cold, dead stare, Sher Aka mumbles, “Stop saying it like that…”

“Like what?”

“‘Her dad taking her home’, ‘I’m not her real mother’, ‘It’s over’. I was her mother before that damned bitch ever was! She chose me not her! She was stolen out of my arms by force and her biological bonding instincts got taken advantage off to take her away from me! But now she’s back with me… Don’t treat this like she isn’t my daughter!!!”

Rose then begins to whimper and cry causing Sher Aka to take on a kind face and tone again, “Shh…It’s alright, Rose. I’m sorry your mima got a little too loud. It must have been scary. There, there.”

Shooting one more glare at everyone else she adds, “I am her mother and I won’t give up on her. If you want to make yourself useful, bring me some food that I can give her, if not I’ll do it myself.”