Dreaming The Dream

It was a journey of several hours on one of the few magnetic trains that still worked on the route to Remshys. When I arrived it was already night, the huge moon behind the city confirmed it. The city still had a strong barrier still functional and its anti-aircraft turrets were still operational, it still had inhabitants, so this city that was close to the front became the logistic center for our army, from here ammunition and food were sent to the troops at the front, using the train mentioned above. The city was located in the uppermost part of the lower half, outside the mainland, between the sky and the sea. 

The view was simply beautiful, and majestic, contrary to the hell into which this godless kingdom was plunged. The streets were still clean, the light crystals were working, people were living in the houses, blacksmiths were hammering metal, guards were patrolling, the last vestiges of an era that was almost extinct. Memories of calm fill this place, now inhabited mostly by warriors taking a rest before continuing their long journey. I had come to this city for two reasons, the first was to recover from my wounds suffered at the front, since the city was relatively safe it was a good place for worn-out troops to rest for a while before continuing, the other reason is that I received a letter from someone who found out I was coming here and wanted to see me.

It took me quite a while to find the inn they had reserved for me previously, it was in the outer part of the city, hard to get to and even harder to find, but the place was nice, as with the rest of the city. The place had been paid for in advance so they would not ask any questions about me. But despite my wounds, I had no time to rest yet, with my uniform still on I picked up my messenger bag and my walking cane to help me walk and returned back to the city.

On the other side of town, there was a path leading to a really big tree. It was just a work of art, nothing particularly strange in these lands. But that was not my destination. But the road itself, because it was here where they were waiting for me.

A silhouette hid in one of the trees when she noticed me walking by, but she confirmed my identity and then came out to wait for me impatiently. It was Nanami, who despite trying to hide her identity, her silhouette gave away her identity. Her clothes were black and relatively simple but still adorned to reflect her potion. It was actually her sleeping clothes, she didn't even have sandals on, a sign of the importance for her to come no matter what.

"Late! You were ten minutes late!"

"Sorry, I'm so sorry, the cane really slowed down my walk."
"But look on the bright side, I came prepared this time and brought you my sneakers"

"Footwear of the earth!"
"For me? Thank you so much!"
"I always wanted to see what it felt like to wear them!"
"It was worth escaping from the city palace today!"

"Well, I think they'll be too big for you, but you can keep them"
"It's not like I have much time to wear them anyway"
"I also brought you this army cape, it will help cover you up, plus the Atlanteans are less likely to stare at you with it."

"Oh, using the contempt of these people against the common soldiers to help me hide!"
"Well done Cesar! Very clever of you!" she said patting my head.

"And Well?"
"Where do you want to go today?"
"There aren't exactly many places with few people in this city"

"Oh!"
"Don't worry, there's a kiosk up ahead."
"I asked The White Banisher to keep an eye on it and scare the other people away"
"We should have a moment of privacy there, what do you think?"

"After you my dear"

"Oh what a gentlemanly husband I have"
"You still behave like a man even though you can barely move around"
"Let me repay your kindness by helping you walk"

She tried to put my hand on her shoulder to help me, but due to her size it was much more difficult to walk than it already was, but even so, I supported it and said nothing, enduring the pain that I suffered from being in the position I was in. But just as she had said, a little further ahead there was a kiosk much more illuminated than the others, in it there was a table and a couple of benches, so when I got there I could finally rest.

"So, well, did you manage to bring it?"
"What do you have for me this time?" said the girl in front of me impatiently.

"Well, no such luck this time,"
"I tried to search everywhere, even among the things abandoned by the others, but it was really hard."
"In the end, I found another guy, he was a sniper, but he had lost a couple of things in his last mission"
"I managed to trade him one of them in exchange for a watch I had found before"
"Sorry I couldn't find anything better but this is all I could get"

I said as I put the book on the table.

"The happy prince?"

"It's a children's story, I'm sorry it's not very long"
"But look, each page has a big drawing!"
"Besides, this one contains the whole story, unlike the manga who are in volumes"

"Well, since it's so short, how about reading it together?"
"You don't mind, do you?"

She came to my side with the book and we both began to read it, one page each. Nanami had improved a lot with her studies in other languages because now she could read the book without any difficulty.

The story of the happy prince told about how a swallow stopped to rest on a statue of gold and precious jewels as eyes that was in the middle of a village, he was adored by everyone in the village, because the prince always smiled, never cried, the prince was looking down on everyone, as it was the tallest structure in the city. The state had been created in honor of the happy Prince, who lived in the Mansion of Carelessness, where the pain is not allowed to enter, where happiness was the only thing he ever knew. But when the little bird was there under the statue, drops of water began to fall on it, but it was not rain that was falling, but tears, because for at night the happy prince cried inconsolably. The little creature asked the statue why it was crying, to which he replied that it was the happy Prince, where during his life he saw the happy life in his castle, but now that he was outside he could see the real misery in which its inhabitants of his city lived, although now his heart is made of lead, the only thing he did was cry. Near the square lived an old weaver woman, with a starving child to whom she could only give water because she had no money for anything else. The prince, full of compassion for them, asked the swallow to take the jewel from his sword and give it to them, the bird, seeing the sadness of the statue, agreed and did exactly as he was asked. The next day, the statue asked the swallow for another assignment, this time to a poor worker, who in winter had no money for coal and hunger had exhausted him, but he continued to work for his employer. This time he no longer had any jewels to give, except for the rubies in his eyes, so he asked to pluck one to give to the weary worker, and as such the bird agreed, for she wanted to make the prince happy. The next order came soon after as well, a ragged girl from a poor family selling matches was to be beaten by her father, as she had dropped them in the mud and they had become useless. The prince asked his messenger to pluck out the other eye and give it to the girl. The swallow agreed, but sadly, for now, the prince had been blinded by the loss of his eyes. The swallow faithful to the prince began to fly around the city to tell the statue everything he could see, trying to replace the lost eyes. The bird told him how the rich rulers held banquets in their palaces while orphaned children lived under bridges, hugging each other for warmth in the cold of winter. The prince crying once again asked his faithful companion to tear off his gold sheets and give them to the poor, the swallow immediately set to work and worked all night, distributing the gold sheet by sheet of the statue, until it lost its golden color, that night the poor sang that they would eat bread. The swallow continued to accompany her lover after that, because she promised him that they would stay together forever, until one day, when the winter cold had no compassion for the poor creature, she froze to death while giving the prince a kiss as her farewell gift.  A sound broke the silence of that night, a rustling sound, the prince's leaden heart had been broken. The next day the mayor found the swallow and wondering where the bird could have come from he looked up and looked at the statue. Now a ragged beggar, because he had lost his golden color and his jewelry. The mayor of the city thought that an ugly statue had lost its purpose for existing, so he had the statue melted down to build one in honor of himself.  While smelting the stake, the smiths could not destroy the lead core, no matter how hot the flames got. So they threw it in the garbage, where the dead swallow was also located. Not long after God gave a test to one of his best angels, exam, the angel was to bring the two most beautiful things he could find in that city. The angel went on his search, which did not last long, he brought back the leaden heart and the dead swallow. God congratulate him greatly for his work, because he had chosen well, in the garden of Paradise this little bird will sing forever, and the Happy Prince will praise forever in the Golden City, where the two of them will be together forever.

Nanami closed the book and hugged it, and without saying anything, she snuggled her head against my chest. I couldn't say anything either.

"Do you think you could be the swallow in my story?" she asked slowly.

"I am your faithful companion, I will accompany you to the end of your story, no matter what it is"

"Thank you, my love"
"I hope my ending is at least a little happier if your god can forgive me of the sins against him done by my family"

"Being together is already the greatest happiness I could imagine, he will surely understand"

After a while, we gathered our things and set out to walk some more. We walked around the outside of the city, where most of the common human soldiers were, those who had never seen Nanami, those who would not recognize her. They were trading things, and among them, I saw a chocolate bar, a rather strange object in these lands. I did not hesitate for a second to exchange my gun for the chocolate, because its rarity was worth it, and I immediately gave it to the girl who accompanied me. She didn't hesitate to call me an idiot either, I simply replied that if at least trading a gun was worth a little happiness I wouldn't hesitate to give any and all of them. When we arrived at our new destination, a lookout tower from where we could see the port of the city, the little girl broke the chocolate and shared it with me.

"This place is so beautiful"
"So full of color, so full of tranquility"
"Of peace"
"...."
"It is ironic that if it were not for the war I would never have had the opportunity to leave the Palace in the clouds and experience the beauty of the world."
"Or meet you, my love"
"I would have simply been locked in my room and forced to have children non-stop for all my life, just like the breeder my father wanted me to be"

....

....

"Tell me"
"Would you still love me if I had a different body?"
"If I was a normal girl from your world, taller, less just a pair of boobs walking and more like a real person"
"..."
"Would you still be with me?" she asked looking me in the face.

"Nothing would have changed, I would still love you whatever your shape is"
"I still would have come to you that day"
"I would have kept you company, kept saying yes to your confession"
"...."
"But if you had been a normal girl ...."
"Would you have behaved differently with me?"
"Would you have seen me as just an average guy if everyone in the palace treated you like a normal girl?"
"Would you be just another Atlantean who despises ordinary men?"
"What would separate me from the rest?"

....

....

"I do not know"
"The two of us were not destined to meet in the course of our lives, even less love each other"
"Things just worked out this way and it was a surprise for both of us"
"...."
"Maybe the only good thing about this tragedy, this hell"
"The only thing I am thankful for the people of Atlantis"
"Is that it gave me the opportunity to meet you,  Darling"
"And I wouldn't hesitate to go through it all over again if in this way I would meet you again"

We stayed hugging each other at the top of that tower for much longer. We talked about everything we had been through when we were apart, catching up with each other. Until midnight came, it was time for Nanami to return to her room before anyone noticed her absence. This time we took the most direct way, passing through the middle of the city because by this time there were very few people, mostly regular human soldiers sleeping in the streets, as they did not find any place to welcome them even though the houses were mostly empty.

When I got to the outer wall I had to help the little girl so she could sneak back inside the castle. I took a couple of stones and threw them at the guards near where Nanami had to pass to get to her room. Once I accomplished my goal of attracting attention the guards started to run towards me, I started to run too, but with my wounds and needing the help of a cane to move I didn't get very far and it didn't take long for them to capture me. I was taken to the castle prison, the same one where higher up in a tower Nanami was supposed to be, but I was happy with my fate, knowing that I had helped her. I didn't spend much time there either, because shortly after my capture I met The White Banisher, who used his authority to take me in his custody and took me back to the city, he had helped me once again,  I was so happy for that day and even invited him for a beer in a bar he found.

....

.....

....

....

"Darling, are you okay?"
"Do you need  some more medicine?"
"You are crying again"

Tamamo's voice roused me from my sleep. It was still dark and I could see the goddess doing her thing again as I saw the massive amount of moonlight through the windows that were filling the room when it should have been a new moon. She was worried about me again, she had been hugging me while Momo went to the kitchen to make me tea.

"Yes, don't worry"
"These are not tears of sadness this time."
"They are of happiness"
"Because today's dream had reminded me of something I treasured very much"