Song: No Way by Fifth Harmony
I know you don't want me anymore by the look on your face
They say when it rains it pours, you can tell by my face
Oh and I know, and you know that we've been here before
I think I know how it should end
We got an audience calling us crazy
We ignore those with opinions of hate
We're not like the rest of them,
Friends with insanity as of lately
Everyone comes with scars but you can love them away
I told you that I wasn't perfect, you told me the same
I think that's why we belong together and unashamed
I told you that I wasn't perfect, no way
When I look in your eyes I see through to my soul
I know the core of you is good, you're my tarnished hero
***

Asher couldn't make sense of the situation when he awoke and found Glacia nestled in his arms. The sight both comforted and unnerved him. Was he dreaming again?

No, this was real. He knew it when he ran his fingers in his hair, and then pulled back. It wasn't in his position to touch her.

She stirred and shifted, the lethargy allowing the usually-light sleeper to stay asleep. She was only half-draped over him, nearly falling off the bed.

Asher sighed as he slowly got off the bed. He felt much better, now able to move and walk about. Carefully so as to not wake her, he carried her and shifted her to a more comfortable position. She turned on her side, smiling as if she were having  good dream.

He was certain she had called someone's name. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to hear who was it. Over the year that they haven't seen each other, had she fallen for someone else..?

The thought made him drive his knuckles into the wall. He was weakened, or else there would have been more damage.

This finally awakened Glacia. She sat up straight, alarmed. "Asher?"

He tried to slow down his breathing, closing his eyes. Then, he started picking up his shirt and was walking away. "I'm sorry I woke you." He didn't even cast a glance behind.

She threw the covers away. "What happened? Where are you going, you're still injured..."

Asher stopped at the door. "Thank you for coming to heal me. I know how much you hate being here, being with me, so I'll make arrangements for you to return to your school."

"Wh—what?" She got off as quickly as she could, stopping his exit by leaning against the doorframe. The girl was persistent with getting her ways when need be.

She read his expression, the anger and heat radiating off him. Then she understood.

"Oh. You don't remember."

"Don't remember what?" He asked impatiently.

Glacia bit the bottom of her lip. The nights before... She thought they had made up. But he was in drowsy state, he didn't remember all of that...

His eyes drifted to the biting lip and he cursed, eyes narrowing. "Don't do that."

Asher tried to push past her. She couldn't really blame him for his rage for she had broken his heart by lying that she had moved on. He came to her ready with a confession that he still held onto their past, and she had chased him away.

"At least stay here. It's your room. I'll go instead."

"No. The other Royalliers can't see you here. If they do, you might never be able to leave this Realm for real. Once you leave, you're deemed a Rogue. The only option is to go back to the mortal world."

Go back to the mortal world. For some reason, Glacia wanted to stay this time. She knew that she still had to push him away, but she couldn't bring herself to. Things were different now that she had nearly lost him.

She gulped. "What I said that day was a mistake."

He raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?"

Don't tell me you've forgotten it too. Glacia gulped. "You know, that I have moved on and changed and I wanted you to leave..."

"Oh, that." His expression was painfully blank.

Anxious, Glacia continued. "You know how we can't be together."

"If you're going to try to tell me the same thing all over again, save it. I got your message already—"

"No. Listen." She stopped his exit, boldly reaching for his shirt and stopping him at the door. She had pushed herself against him, making his face twist temporarily with confusion and something else.

"We can't be together. But still, I couldn't get over you —"

The words made Asher's face erupt with surprise. Then he pressed his lips back into a thin line. Glacia played with her fingers nervously, knowing she couldn't stop now.

"Your heart stopped twice, Asher. I was so afraid I would lose you. That's when I realised I had to tell you that I didn't mean what I said." She took a deep breath.

"The past year has been cruel. Before I met you, everything was great. But after I met you, everything changed. After I met you, I could never be the same."

He was still emotionless. In fact, Asher thought that perhaps life had been worse with him around.

"I don't want to imagine a life without you, Asher Conen. When your heart stopped beating, mine nearly did too. I know the only way for you to survive is for me to be gone, but at least I need you to know that your feelings are reciprocated. Always."

She placed her hands on his chest. "I still like you, Asher. Ten years may as well have passed but I would still feel the same. I've fallen—"

"Don't say things you don't mean." He nearly choked on his words.

"What? No, I mean it all—"

Flames cast behind his eyes, he pressed her too. "Stop confusing me! You're only saying this because you think that I nearly died from you breaking my heart. And now you think you can convince me that you still want me? How could you? I know you wouldn't, I'm not deserving of it anyway..."

Asher had grown up to learn that love meant losing what you had. The heartbreak he had suffered only added fuel to the fire, no wonder he was reacting like that. He really thought that she was lying to him now, that she no longer harbored feelings for him.

"And then you say you need to be gone, but you want to stay with me? None of this makes sense, you know?"

"I did it because I didn't want you to die, Asher! The Vision was so real. I cannot bear to lose you like that, and that's why I had to be apart from you."

Asher flinched. "Stabbing my heart isn't what would kill me. It would be losing you instead."

"You're crazy, Asher Conen." Glacia was in tears now, belting out what she had held inside for so long. "You're always so reckless. You think it makes sense to sacrifice yourself just to be with me?"

"Moments ago, it was you who said you wanted to be with me."

"I want to! But I can't, because that might make me lose you..." She trembled, sinking to her knees. "I'm telling you now that I still like you. So badly that it hurts. And I don't know what to do, because we cannot be together if I want to keep you safe."

He tilted his head aside. "Keep me safe? Glacia, all I ever needed was for you to tell me you want to be with me..."

She shook her head. "There is no future between you and I."

Asher winced at those words, his lips trembling. It hurt more than it would if someone had cut him open. She looked at him as though he had a timer on his head. About to destruct anytime soon. She didn't think of a future with him...

"In that case, don't come to me and tell me that you like me, then." He said. He brought her to her feet, and for a second she thought that he would draw her in. Except he didn't. He stepped past her and slammed the door.

***

Asher could barely have enough time to get to his room before he slammed his fist into a panel, shattering the glass into shards.

He didn't mind the pain that came as it skinned his hands. In fact, he wanted more. Seeing that his virtus made him heal quicker, it could barely cover the internal turmoil he was in.

There was something about Glacia that had drawn him in since the very first day he met her.

He could remember his first encounter with her, more than a year ago. She had brought a snowstorm upon entry of the Realm, unlike anything anyone had seen before. He had sensed the quivering sensation, a weird gut feeling that the new arrival wasn't to be a typical person.

How right he was. When he saw the spill of hair against the white snow, the pale skin bearing the most beautiful combination of features, he felt something different.

He knew that it was the girl that had come to kill him. He knew he should kill her before he got the chance. And yet, he couldn't.

She held so much warmth and strength in her heart. He had no idea how she kept it within her small body. And he had his breath stolen when he locked eyes — the red of her full lips against the pale skin, the curvature and softness, her eyes matched the beautiful shade of her hair. She was easily the most beautiful woman he had met, both inside and out.

He didn't want to admit that he had been entranced since the very beginning. And he felt all the more alarm to push her away. There were so many reasons to avoid her — he knew she would come to carry the dagger in his heart, and he had always pushed people away cruelly.

Still, he had never felt this way before about someone. It made him do strange things — notice the small details, watch her sleep, he never knew he had that capacity in him.

Even if Asher was still breathing, his heart may as well have been gone. It was hers now, and he couldn't do anything about it.

And when she said she didn't want to be with him, she may as well have stabbed him in the heart with a dagger. It was one thing for her to lie that she had moved on, at least he could convince himself that she was happier now.

But he didn't know what to do now that she had revealed that she hadn't changed her mind about him too.

He punched the panel again, anything to made him hurt more on the outside. Blood trickled from the wound, but he did it once more. That panel became a wreck, his sheer force had destroyed it all.

Noah appeared behind him, giving a knowing shake of head. "I thought things were going well, judging from the Sensing I had."

Asher pushed himself off and walked away. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. In fact, he was cold and aloof most of the time. Asher cursed something behind him as he stormed off.

"She still likes you, you know?"

"Doesn't that make it worse?" Asher yelled, not bothering to turn back. Noah had followed him persistently.

"What do you mean?"

"I was foolish. At first, I had hoped for her to still feel for me too. Then we could be together. Yet, I can tell that she'd never want to be with me, all because she's afraid of what will happen to me based on that Vision. In that case, I'd rather her move on, see her happy... But she is in pain."

He stopped now, taking deep breaths. "I'd rather take a knife to the hand than have her hurt a fingernail."

"You're angry at the circumstances that set you apart."

Asher scowled like it was the most obvious thing that he had uttered.

Noah stopped beside Asher, thoughtful. "You wouldn't mind dying if it meant being with her for a while?"

Asher answered this easily. "At first, I didn't intend to keep her around. But I was always putting off letting her go to a mere 'later'. I didn't expect to care for her so deeply. And this past year of not being together... it made me realize that I'd rather die trying to live a happy life with her."

He slammed against the wall. "Then again, it wouldn't be very fair to her either. If she still likes me, and I continue to stay by her side, the feelings would deepen. Can you imagine how she would live after going through all that?"

"Do you really think the girl would want to hurt you?" Noah asked curiously.

"No. But she must have been compelled by some kind of potion or something... either way, it is a Vision. No matter how we try to stop it, I will pass on and she will have some inexplicable link to it."

"What do you intend to do, then?"

Asher gave him a deadly look. "If I knew, I wouldn't be reacting like this."

He limped his way to one of the bars, yelling blindly for drinks to be served. There was no other way to let it all out.

Upon the Crown Prince's arrival, together with the endearing Eros Regiis, many had hovered to their table. Nonetheless, Asher could never look at anyone else the same again. He shouted at them to all go away, and they winced at the brutality of the so-called future King.

Noah settled across, pouring himself whiskey.

"Your worries... they may have already come true. I believe it's too late for the girl to change how she feels already."

Asher huffed. "I'm not taking advice from an Eros Regiis. I know you'd want to influence me down the path of love, even if it's the wrong one."

"I'm telling you as a friend." Noah emphasized. "It is my job to control the feelings of others, but also sense them. I can sense realizations of love, you know?"

Asher didn't quite get the link. He tipped his glass back, then called for another one. The servers watched on worriedly. Asher could hold his liquor well, but surely so much at once would be harmful?

Asher swirled his glass around, thinking of how pathetic he was. "Do you think I should just go to her? Lie that the Vision wasn't going to happen, and make her come to me?"

"You'll die."

"What if it doesn't matter?" Asher laughed quietly to himself. He didn't know what it was about her that made him willing to throw his life away like that.

I'll be happy in the time we have together. Maybe that's enough.

"She'll be hurt after realizing what lie you have told. Then again, she's also hurt now, for she would want to be with you too."

"The world is cruel." Asher whispered, leaning against the countertop.

"It is. So you just have to choose the least painful of options."

Asher continued downing the glasses, so much that Noah had to use a hand to stop him.

"Are you sure that you should be drinking after you've just recovered from your illness?" Noah asked, watching Asher down his glass. The boy was already on his seventh one, signalling for more.

Asher didn't say anything, just sulking by himself.

Noah spoke up. "You weren't there when she came and saw you unconscious. Looked as though she was run over by a train. It's clear she still cares for you, perhaps more than she did a year ago."

Asher breathed hard. His feelings for her had grown this past year of being away from her. There wasn't a single second that he hadn't thought of the girl, despite his best attempts to push her away. He trained so hard in a bid to forget, but that hadn't worked. He would wake up at odd hours trying to reach for her, yelling her name. In a haze, he had mistaken that he had seen her rear view so many times.

Asher had gone to her house in Santorini so many times and willed himself to go in. Written what he would say to her, at least a hundred times over. He was always jumbling the sentences -- Hey Glacia. How have you been? Are you doing fine? I've missed you...

That made Asher put down his glass furiously. It was so forceful that the glass cracked and Noah nearly jumped out of his skin. When he calmed down, Noah sighed. "You two are hopeless at love."

Asher's eyes widened. "So you're advising me to actually do it? Lie to her, and be with her?"

"I can help you with that." Noah knew he'd come to regret this later.

"Still, I just fought with her. I'd highly doubt she'd want to speak with me again. And she's smart, she'd never be convinced that I had gotten over with it so easily."

Noah thought of a plan. He slid off the high chair. "Come with me."

Asher watched him warily. "For what?"

"This tactic worked the last time to bring you together, surely it'd work again to make you two make up." He explained briefly.

Asher rolled his eyes but followed Noah anyway, mostly out of curiosity. He was surprised when Noah had directed him back to the royal quarters.

"Go back to your room and pretend you're sleeping. I'll tell Glacia that you crashed from drinking too much. Don't do anything else, just listen."

"Why--" Before Asher had time to protest, he was pushed to his quarters. He glared but followed suit anyway, too tired to reject the idea.

What could possibly make her reveal her feelings for him?