A/N: Actually, I wanted to do this sometime earlier but it kept slipping my mind. But anyway, I noticed that this archive had a lack of ToD stories, so I decided to contribute one of my own. And I also like the Aden/Sonja pairing so why not? No spoilers here, but if you played to a point where you got a random event that gave you a garland, then maybe you'd realize where this story came from. Enjoy!

. cure for the common cold .

Light rainfall pelted the windows and drenched the glass with water. Aden couldn't exactly figure out if it was just the start of dawn or if the sun had even shown its face since grey clouds had obscured the sky of Fenith Island. With an irritated sigh, Aden buried his face with his clean white blanket. It was only yesterday after Aden had finally returned to Fenith after a tiring day in the mainland doing his usual chores as an Earthmate did he figure out that he was on the verge of a cold. And the last person Aden ever wanted anyone to know about his cold symptoms was his bright-eyed, pink-haired accomplice Sonja.

"Don't worry, Aden!" Sonja had said merrily to him. "I'll keep you company tomorrow!"

Aden almost wanted to strangle himself. The very thought of Sonja coming over made him groan with a mixture of irritation and anger at himself for even getting a case of the cold. His visit with the doctor after the untimely discovery confirmed that Aden's cold would be gone in a few days. In the meantime, Aden had to do his part and rest. However, every minute he spent confined in his bed was eternal torture for the boy, who had grown so used to either holding his Spirit Wand and help cultivate fertile fields for crops or wielding his trusty dual blades and honing his skills against monsters. Every minute was also closer to Aden's main torture for the day; Sonja's visit. Oh, how he wished that she was merely kidding…

Knock, knock!

The knocking noise made Aden let out another irritated groan and slam his face onto his pillow. He flailed about in his bed for a few seconds contemplating whether or not he should get up and open the door or lie in the bed silently and wait out. It was then a question entered Aden's mind; what was worse? A whole day of Sonja or a verbal thrashing from the girl the very next day? And Aden had firsthand experience himself how frighteningly painful Sonja's fury was even if she meant well. He was almost sure that she would lash him out for worsening his cold for going out working in the rainfall.

Knock, knock!

Finally, Aden let out a defeated sigh. He clawed his way out of his bed, as if he was too sick to even walk. The boy wrapped his blanket around his body, and dragged it across the floor, uttering a few sneezes before he finally reached the door. With a painful gulp, Aden turned the latch and opened the door, and the first thing he happened to see was all of his irritation personified into one human girl who he deemed to be too bubbly to even exist in this world. "Too sick to even get up?" Sonja asked. On one arm, she had a frilly pink umbrella that complimented her hair, and on the other was a nicely woven basket with a light blue sheet covering whatever content the basket hid.

Aden offered a forced smile and a weak sneeze as soon as Sonja entered. "Well, thanks for the visit, Sonja…" Aden said. His voice was barely above a whisper, having been numbed by his parched throat. "But you know, I'm fine by myself. There's really no need to-"

"Hey, what's that?" Sonja asked, hovering over to the small table situated next to Aden's bed.

"-Worry about me…" Aden finished. He almost wanted to kick himself for forgetting about hiding the stupid thing. Yet it was too late, Sonja had already found that stupid thing; the stupid thing being cold medicine that the doctor gave to Aden in order for him to get well faster. It remained unopened and was lying right next to his lamp, with Aden being too stubborn about the medicine to force it down his throat. Sonja already had gotten a hold of the silver foil that wrapped the pills, and Aden could already make out what was going to happen next.

"Oh c'mon, Aden!" Sonja said, letting out a quick chuckle. "You still haven't taken a pill?"

Aden tried to reach out and take the pills from Sonja, but it seemed that the cold had dampened his strength, unable even to snatch out cold medicine from a bubbly girl. "I'll take one later!" Aden insisted. "I pretty much remember what the doctor said, thank you very much! No need for constant reminders!"

"No you won't! You're going to forget on purpose!" Sonja retorted. She dashed away for a second with the cold medicine. A feeling of dread had washed over Aden, and the boy flung himself into his bed and tried to hide himself with his blankets. The sound of footsteps made Aden realize that he should just stop fighting; perhaps he could reason with Sonja and find a way to keep the medicine away from him. His imagining of the bitter taste made the boy cringe as he found himself being shaken by Sonja. Her 'encouragement' only made things worse, "Just one pill, Aden! It won't hurt at all!"

"No," Aden said firmly. His voice was muffled with the blankets thrown over him and his face dug deep in his pillow. It didn't stop Sonja from shaking Aden, though. "I don't want to take that medicine!" Aden cried out. For a moment, his friend finally gave up, causing Aden to smirk under the covers. Suddenly, the boy found himself pulled into an upright position. Half shocked by the sudden pull, Aden found a pill getting shoved in his mouth a few seconds later, but the boy refused to swallow it.

"I can't believe you still hate pills after all these years!" Sonja laughed.

Aden clutched onto his blanket as he sent a glare at his friend. It was a rather common glare for close friends, the I-will-kill-you kind of glare. But the girl didn't seem to mind. She was too busy trying to coax her friend into swallowing the pill with jokes and childish promises as if he was a stubborn child. After a few minutes of Aden glaring at Sonja and wondering if she got the message, he simply let out a heavy sigh and reluctantly took the glass of water away from Sonja. With a pout, Aden swallowed the pill, and quickly gulped down the water. He could not erase the bitter taste in his mouth, even if the water was still running through his throat.

Incoherent mumbling and cursing was all that Aden was reduced to as he threw the blankets onto him once more. On the bright side, he didn't feel quite as ill as he was before, and he felt much more refreshed with water running through his throat. He could have sworn he heard Sonja say something, but Aden was too disgruntled and shocked with the taste of the pill to even bother. For a moment, the house was silent, something Aden greatly relished. Grateful for the tranquility, the boy let himself slowly doze off…

Suddenly, giggling fits roused Aden from his slumber. He wasn't quite sure how long he had slept, but a part of him said it was just a mere few seconds before Sonja woke up. This also meant that the girl hadn't given up on him entirely. He threw the blankets off of him, only to be greeted with a flurry of flowers of differing colors, mostly lavender, white, and yellow. Aden swatted away the flowers as if they were annoying flies, and shot a much more menacing glare at Sonja. "What's this supposed to mean!" He asked.

"It's to brighten you up!" Sonja replied. "I just thought this would make your mood a bit brighter!"

Aden swatted away the flowers. "I'm sick, Sonja," He mumbled. "I'm not dying."

Flowers had been scattered across Aden's bed, almost as if he had awoken in a garden. He wasn't exactly surprised that Sonja, of all people, would be the one who left the flowers. After all, those beautiful plants seemed to personify the girl. They were every bit as bright as her. When he finally realized that Sonja was trying to suppress some sort of chuckle, Aden had become suspicious. He stared at her for a few moments, trying to decide if she had lost her mind or was laughing at something. The boy ran his fingers around his face, trying to feel if Sonja did something to him. Then, he ran his fingers through his hair, and felt something soft.

The muffled chuckles turned into silent laughter as soon as Aden caught glimpse of himself in the mirror. A nice garland made from tiny, delicate pink flowers had been placed on his head. "It actually looks good on you, y'know," Sonja commented. She almost sounded sincere, if it wasn't for her laughter blurring whatever sense of sincerity she had on that sentence.

Aden grinned to himself, running his fingers through the garland. He couldn't exactly imagine himself wearing that same garland a week from now. He had at least some sort of dignity in him. But nevertheless, he had come to the conclusion that perhaps he should cherish this little visit. After all, it seemed to be an act of kindness that only Sonja herself would do. The boy found himself laughing at how silly he utterly looked.

It's not that bad, Aden thought to himself. On the outside, Aden still continued to dread the visit, but in the inside, he actually had grown to enjoy her company for the day. The next few days would be nothing more than pure silence anyway. He mind as well appreciate the act of kindness for the day.