I watched her sleep.

Crouched by her side in the dampened sand and just staring at how her chest rose and fell, noticing little things about her I had never noticed before. The tiniest little freckle underneath her chin. The way her lips seemed childishly round despite her age, yet sweetly determined. How her eyebrows curved in a pleasant arch, almost as if someone had delicately penciled them in. Aria Gracen had a sort of regal aura around her, and it made me smile.

The memories regarding our escape from the collapsing island of the Guardians were nothing a cloudy haze. Everything was blur, a plethora of colors whenever I tried to recall the memory. There were a few instances when my mind would suddenly wander, taking me far, far away and into the depths of my memory. It was in those moments when I would suddenly recall snippets of our escape – how her beautiful pigeon blue eyes had fluttered close in her arms, how I had buried my head in her tangled mass of auburn hair and wept for I believed that she was dead. But no, she was not, and now as I stared at her peacefully sleeping form, I should have known that Aria Gracen would not give in to the clutches of death so easily.

However, I couldn't shake the nagging feeling that gnawed at my heart that she wouldn't wake up from her coma. Ever.

The mere notion of Aria dying after all that we had been though sent my heart lurching and made my stomach twist itself up in little knots. Gently, tenderly, I ran a hand through her vibrant red hair, smoothing out the tangles and picking out some stray twigs and leaves.

You're mine, I wanted to say, but doing so would be pushing the boundary of all that I had learnt, of all of my childhood manners and customs and behavior. I knew, that if my mother could see me now, she would not approve of my feelings toward Aria. She would be horrified, no doubt, that her only child had strayed from the path of perfection and would most likely disown me from the family of Cervus. However, for once, I found that didn't care about what my mother would think of me. I didn't care if she spat and hissed her anger. I didn't care if everyone in my hometown would stare me down with disappointment evident in their eyes, if only Aria awoke.

Feeling the coolness of the nighttime breeze in my hair, tasting the salt in the air, I smiled softly down at Aria's sleeping form and whispered, ever so softly, "You're mine, Aria. And I'm yours, too." The words sent a wave of happiness and ecstasy coursing through my veins, and I imagined my eyes gleaming in the moonlight. Chuckling softly, I continued, "I hope you don't have a boy – or a girl – waiting for you back in Craorag. Otherwise I'm going to fight them for you. After all," I clucked my tongue, feeling slightly foolish to be talking to someone who obviously could not hear me and respond, but I once read in a book tht talking to coma patient generally did help them. In what way, I did not know, but I carried on talking anyways, "After all, they do have the saying, "Finders keepers, losers weepers" for a reason, am I right?"

Aria did not reply, and a small sigh escaped my lips as I dropped my smile. In the distance, I could see the bright, flickering flames of the Guardian's campfires next to where the Harmony was anchored. I had heard rumors of war and the broken treaty, but like the memories of our escape, the Guardians' words were nothing but an indistinct blur to my ears. It was like my mind still hadn't fully grasped the concept of war yet, of battle. Perhaps it was because I was still reeling over the shock of the island's collapse, or perhaps it was the absurdity of it all – the Treaty had not been broken in over a millennium, if my memory did not fail me. Or, most likely, my mind was distracted by my worry over Aria, my desire for Aria, my love for Aria.

After our brief kiss in the woods, I could not help but feel drawn towards the redheaded Zoomancer – like somehow that one kiss and awoken a deep emotion that had been locked away in my heart for so long, too long. I had been so distracted by learning the way of perfection and exquisiteness in the art of hydromancy that I had forgotten what it was like to love, to truly love someone else, in a way that made my heart flutter and my legs grow weak.

I imagined that, if we ever both ever made it out of this mess, I would take her to Aavayoh and build her a lavish mansion, where we both could drink vintage wine on our front porch, looking at the sunset from across the hills, living the royal life...Yet, I knew deep inside my heart and soul that what I dreamed of was impossible – while my family were in the upper class of Aavayoh, they could not afford the luxuries and opulence I wished for. Yet, I couldn't keep from dreaming, so I closed my eyes and willed my soul to take flight into the night, to take my mind away from the horrors of today and into the uncertainty of tomorrow.

~

When I first saw Aria Gracen, I dismissed her as just another competitor. Another competitor that had to perish for me to leave the island of the Guardians alive.

But Fate had its own plans for both of our future.

It was because of Fate that made me save Aria that day on the beach, where it all began. Then through the trials and tears and blood and sweat, I began to see Aria in the different life. At first she was a stranger, then a friend, and eventually my lover whom I would trade for another until the day I died. She was mine and I was hers, and that night on the beach I prayed to the gods in the heavens above. That they would have mercy on us both and help us survive through the impending war. To revive Aria from her dreamless sleep, and grant us both a long and happy life.