The white sunlight was streaming through the windows. Tree branches outside, like long witch fingers extending to the sky. The sunlight was swirling. Swimming.

Somewhere, Tetsu's voice. Humming. 

A feeling of a weightless heaviness. My hands were on the blanket, soft, but my skin somehow couldn't feel it. The blanket was soft, but they didn't drink that in all the way. No fine details. Slowly, my fingertips started to twitch. I closed my eyes. My legs felt so heavy, the same thing. My skin wasn't drinking in the softness of the blanket. Weightless. Floating. Tenseness. My arms wanted to tightly wrap me. 

"Ya-da, ya-da, Sana..." Tetsu's voice. Sana, I don't want that, Sana don't do it. His voice somewhere. "Ya-da..." This last word, so sad, quiet. All so gentle. 

I was trembling. Felt like an asthma attack. Was I having an asthma attack? A heart attack? Was I cold? My shoulders were shaking. My hands pressed to my chest. I must be cold. Were we outside? For me to be cold. The light. It was streaming into the room. 

The blanket was growing around me. Warm. I must be warm now, but I must be cold. Trembling. So cold. So tired. No breaths. Gasp for breath. Get the air. Eat the sunlight. It will make me warm. 

I was moving. More warmness. Tightness around my chest. Warmth on top of my head. Warmth on my back. Floating. 

"I've got you now. It's alright, Sana. You're alright. I called the nurse. I pressed the button. It's going to be alright." Little kissing noises. Wetness on my forehead. Like wet butterfly wings. "You're not-" Gasping for air. He was. "You're not alone. You're not alone. I'm here. I'm here." 

So light, but so heavy. Can't move my body. Floating, but so weighed down. So tight. So tight, that it's trembling. So cold. My eyes closed. Darkness, but the sunlight made it brown. Wetness under my eyes.

"Oh- you're crying! No, no..." Whispered words. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Wetness on my forehead. "You haven't cried before... You must be in pain. It's okay. I'll get you some medicine. You don't have to feel pain anymore. I'm here. You're safe. I'll protect you. You won't feel pain anymore. I love you. Don't cry."

I was moving again, now the warmness was on my side. Held in the air. Pressure holding me to the warmth. My eyes rolled upwards, behind my eyelids. A blurry feeling, numbness entering my atmosphere, upwards. All numbness. All of me. The feeling from my hands and legs. All of me.

"Don't cry, baby. You're okay. You're okay. You're here with me. Oh, don't cry. Don't cry." Wetness on my forehead. Warmth on top of my head. My atmosphere started to swing back and forth. Something inside liked that. My heart.

"My darling," the barest of whispers, "my darling, you're fine. We're at home. This is our bed. It's summertime. There's birds singing outside. The beach is outside. The rolling waves. We're going to the beach. We'll be in the water. There's going to be whales, like Cetus. We're going to watch the whales."

"Whales," I whispered back. 

A gasp. "Yes, whales. So pretty. They're going to jump into the clouds, and dance in the sky. Your favorite story, it's real. There's whales in the stars, my darling. They're up there."

"Up there."

"Yes." A small laugh, almost a sob. "Yes, they're dancing up there. Disturbing the stars."

"Oh."

"Don't cry. You're okay." More wetness on my forehead. "It's like the ocean is in the air. They're swimming. Do you see them? The sparkling stars? The whales are made out of stars now. They turning into stars. Do you see them? How pretty they are? They're smiling."

"Oh."

"We're dancing. Together. Everyone is dancing. Do you hear the music? The whales are singing. They're singing among the stars. Even the clouds are made of stars, clouds of stars. So many. Glittering above us, all around us."

"Pretty."

"Yes! So pretty. Do you see it? I love you."

"-Love you..."

"Oh-!" The voice was breaking. Come back. "Oh- Sa- Sana... I love you."

"Love."

"Love." The tightness around me increased, this warm tightness, against my cold tightness. Like a war, warm and cold. Was it cold up here in the sky? Were the clouds this warmness? "Love." The voice repeated. 

"Love." I couldn't say it. I was choking. Too much wetness in my throat.

In the stars, watching above me, I saw the whales. Glittering, with every movement. In front of me, Tetsu was made of stars. His smile, sparkling on his face. I looked down, and I was wearing a dress made of swirling stars. I lifted my violin to my collarbone. My bow, a string of stars. We were floating, darkness underneath us, weightless. I began to play a melody, and Tetsu twirled with me, his own dress of stars swirling with him like a galaxy, his hands around my waist, so warm, his laugh from somewhere. He was my universe of stars. My everything. As I watched, he became an aurora. An aurora borealis of stars. The colors extended, filling the atmosphere, sweeping away the darkness. I became colors. Shining out, filling everything. The whales above us were singing. Singing star songs full of a universe of colors.