According To The Muses {UTAPRI}

10: Her Fantastic Dream (Part 1)

I slowly opened my eyes and sat up from my laying position. I looked to my left and noticed a little furball at my side. Cecil, the cat anyway, had rolled up into a ball and was sleeping soundly. I pat the sleepy feline and he purred in his sleep. I then noticed the rain. It was dark outside still, and it was pouring heavily. Since I didn't have a watch I didn't know exactly what time it was. I poked out a hand and let the raindrops fall into it. Then I just stuck my entire arm out of the pavilion. The sensation was satisfying.

After a minute I brought my arm back in and sat back leaning against the pillar. I ran my wet hand through my hair and don't flinch when the cold water on my arm hits the side of my face. I shut my eyes again and breathed out a sigh, "I can't go out in this rain now."

"Beautiful..." I turned to my left and hold in a scream. "Ah, what's wrong? Hime-sama?"

Sitting at the other end of the seat of this pavilion, watching me, a dark-haired male sat, legs crossed and arms folded. But not the one I would have been expecting to see at this point, if at all... "Prince Kiyavelli?"

He seemed to lightly blush, "You said my name. That makes me so happy."

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, "How can you still be~" It is then that I noticed that it wasn't raining around me anymore. "Huh? But the rain?"

"What do you mean?" Prince Kiya asked. His dark blue eyes caught my startled gaze and wouldn't let it go. He then raised his eyebrows as if he understood what I was asking finally. "Oh. I bet this must be a shock to you. When you fainted, you didn't disappear like Cecil-san said you would, so one of us looked after you until you were able to cross back into your own world. I was the one that decided to do so. I did need to take responsibility..." He told me. He continued in his naturally soft tone of voice, "I just lost you a moment ago. But you came back quite quickly. You must be stuck between the different realities."

"Between realities?" I asked not immediately following him.

"My reality...and your own." He said with an all-knowing tone, "It must be hard. Traveling back and forth and all...I'm just glad you came back to see me..." He smiled lightly, "You're confused, I can tell. But how should I start to explain..." Prince Kiyavelli pondered for a moment. "Ah, I guess I should hurry, or you might fade away before I finish." The smile he wore turned sad, "Well, just like you have friends in your reality that look like us, we had someone in our reality that looked like you. But she's long gone now...But then you came, in her place. We spent time together off and on, us and the princes together. I loved adventuring around with you."

Prince Kiya seemed lost within his memories. He sounded like he knew me for years. But I didn't remember him at all. "Adventuring?"

"We were young. You may not remember I guess." He told me, scooting over closer. "But I do. I especially remember the memory of when we searched the Central Kingdom castle for this rare crystal gem, and you got lost. You were crying when Otoyan and I found you...You bawled right up until the time you had to go..."

"Crystal gem?" After hearing his stories my eyes widened in realization, "Wait? The crystal of light?!" He nodded. I vaguely remembered dreaming about something like what he described when I was younger. "No way...that was a dream."

"Dream?" Prince Kiya shook his head, "It was certainly not a dream. None of that was, and none of this is. You're just having a hard time remembering, but the memories are still there. I'm sure of it." He pointed to my heart. Our gazes locked on each other and before I knew it, Prince Kiya held me in another strong embrace. "I have to hug you." He said slowly, "Otherwise, I might accidentally kiss you."