One of these mornings, you're gonna rise up singing

You're gonna spread your wings and take the sky

But till that morning, there is nothing can harm you

With your mother standing by.

—Summertime

IX

It was not until much, much later that Samus Aran met the meaning, the rhyme and reason, for her most recent nightmare.

SR388 was much like she remembered it, save for those sick shivering blobs of green floating through the air like cancer.

One of them got into her.

As she was doubled over in pain in her gunship, her last coherent thought was, No, I got into it.

And then there was nothing for a very long time, save for the distant muttering of worried voices, and then pain in her body, rising like a wave to consume her, and then—

—thrumming.

How familiar, her fevered brain thought. The pain was seeping away from her limbs like mud being washed away by rain.

She knew this feeling. And deep in the back of her mind she felt a connection, a snap of recognition, that her subconscious connected to.

When she woke up, the scientists sat down next to her hospital cot and told her that her body had been changed, altered to its very core, but that it had been the only way to save her from the X parasites.

Samus did not speak to them.

From the moment the doctors mentioned Metroid vaccine, she turned her gaze to her hand.

So this was where you were.

Lol I can't count. Last chapter. Thought it was a nice little wrap-up blurb. 200-some words of Fusion goodness.