“Mira!” Luci sat up, pushing me off of her. “I don’t want this, what are you doing?!”

It isn’t? What else could she have been asking for…

“What-” I began, getting cut off before I could really say anything.

“I didn’t think you were the type of person to stoop that low. I’m not doing this, Mira. We’re done,” my heart stopped when I heard those words. “It hurts me to say this, and it feels like there’s a hole where my heart should be, but if you’re going to be like this, I don’t have a choice. I don’t want to see you anymore, so hurry up and lea-”

It was her turn to be cut off now. Not by me, but instead by the blood that suddenly splattered around the room. Some of it got on my face, and once I finished wiping my eyes, I could see where it came from. As if it was some kind of divine retribution brought on by Luci’s own words, there was now a literal hole in her chest…

I blinked, and I found myself sitting up in bed. I was breathing heavily as my heart seemed to try to break free from my chest. When I looked down, I was naked, and Luci was the same as she slept peacefully to my side. The memories of last night quickly came back to me, and I was relieved that what just happened was only a dream.

As much as I wanted to stay and watch her sleep, or wake her up and pick up where we left off, I got out of bed and got dressed, having to spend a couple minutes figuring out where my clothes ended up. After that, I found a spare blanket to cover her with and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, prompting her to lightly squirm and say my name in her sleep. I left the room after that, figuring that I wouldn’t be able to if I stayed any longer.

My destination was a balcony at the end of the hallway, figuring that it’d be a decent way to cool off after that nightmare. There aren’t any windows inside, so I had no way to tell what time it was, but it was still dark out when I got to the balcony. When I stepped out, I noticed Vic was already here, leaning against the railing. I decided it’d be best if I didn’t disturb him, so I turned around to leave.

“Mira?” he asked, turning around.

I was too late, it seems. 

“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry, I didn’t realize you were out here.”

“Don’t worry about it. You don’t need to leave just because I’m here. Why don’t you join me instead?” he beckoned for me to join him, returning to his position on the railing.

I did as he asked, and before I knew it I was standing next to him, leaning over the railing. Neither of us spoke for a few minutes, silently gazing off towards the lake I met Tahli by what felt like years ago. The moonlight reflecting off of the water was perhaps one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen since I first woke up in this world.

“Can’t sleep?” Vic asked, breaking the silence. 

“Just had a bad dream… How are you holding up?” 

“Admittedly, not well. I’m trying to be strong for her, but… The love of my life was just kidnapped by some runaway noble girl just so she could try to get some kind of revenge on her family. How about you? She almost took you too, not to mention I spent a lot longer than I should have considering whether I should take her deal or not…” he said, turning to me for my input.

“I guess I’m fine. It probably just hasn’t hit me yet how bad things could’ve turned out for me,” I shrugged. “Also, don’t beat yourself up about it. If Luci was kidnapped I probably wouldn’t even hesitate if I had the choice to get her back just by trading someone I only just met, so I think you’re pretty strong for being able to decide against that as quickly as you did.”

Vic nodded, letting my words sink in for a bit before standing up with a small smile on his face. 

“Thank you for that, I’ll try to go to sleep now,” he turned to head back inside, only taking a few steps before he stopped. “Oh yeah, Mira?”

“Hm?”

“I suggest you and Luci visit the bath before you head to breakfast in the morning,” he said, leaving immediately after. 

I stayed outside for a while longer to let my face cool off, as it felt like it was burning after his last comment. Feeling oddly nostalgic, I ended up losing myself while reminiscing about everything that’s happened so far, and before I knew it, the sky started getting brighter, signalling the dawn of a new day. I went back inside, and laying down on the bed, I didn’t go back to sleep. Rather, I took the time to watch Luci sleep, all while wondering where this life would take me. 

Alpy376

It's been a while, but I'm finally back! Last time, I said I would try to release another chapter that weekend, so the wait would've been around three days... It's been nearly three months now. I ended up being a lot busier than I expected finishing up classes after that for an early graduation, and that happened to be nearly perfectly timed when I had no way to reliably upload from home. I have good news though Even though I couldn't upload, I could still write, and I have a fairly sizable backlog now because of that. In other words, expect a new chapter every Friday at 3:00 p.m CST for the foreseeable future.

 While you're waiting for the next chapter, come join the Discord! You can hang out, talk with others, make new friends, and have an overall fun time! Or, if you'd rather not, you can simply join to ask me any questions you might have about this story or any others I'll be writing in the future. Thanks for reading!