Ariel crawled my way after the fight was over and asked me if I was alright. I was still really shaken and hadn't even realized I was human again when I sort of nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little dazed..." Then I noticed something. She looked really worried. Did it really matter to her that I was ok? She should be more worried about herself. I looked her over and noticed her limping with every step she took toward me. "Are you okay?" I surprised myself with my concerned tone, "You're limping!"

She was probably a little surprised herself, I usually can't get a sentence out without studdering at least a couple of words, "It's no big deal, I just twisted my ankle is all. I'll be okay, nothing that I can't just walk off." I shook my head disapprovingly, "Maybe we should wrap it." I guess she didn't see any need to argue with a stubborn person like me, so I wrapped her ankle up.

We built a fire and surveyed everyone's injuries. Gray's were the worst by far even though he wouldn't show it. Seeing Ariel go off in a corner to sleep I followed. I switched back to being a foxcoon, curled up and was dozing pretty quickly.

Next thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a field. "I was just in a cave," I thought aloud. It was a beautiful field with wildflowers of every color growing all over the place. The sun was just setting, creating what I thought was the most perfect place in the world to be. If only my brother were here to see it I thought. Then I heard rustling in the grass behind me. I jerked my head around and quickly asked, "Who's there!?" "It's just me," a sweet, gentle voice from my childhood answered. "A-Alex?" I was almost speechless. "You were very brave today Asuka," my brother sat down beside me and pulled me so that my head was on his shoulder, "I'm proud of you." He began stroking my hair and asked me, "Are you glad you have friends now?" "Y-yes, very glad," I was still shocked to be seeing him again, "But I miss you." "I know you do, I miss you too," he closed his eyes and sighed, "You need to move on Asuka. You can't depend on me to be there for you always." "But Alex, this is so nice," I was panicing now, afraid he'd leave me again, "You're my brother, I need you!" "But Asuka," he stopped stroking my hair and turned me toward him, "You're 16 now, you're on your way to Harmony, and you're making friends that can be there for you right now. I can't be there now." "What do you mean?" I asked, a bit confused. "I'm only here..." his voice trailed off like he was thinking, "Maybe it was a bad idea for me to be here with you now." "No! Please don't go again Alex! Not yet!" I felt the tears rushing to my eyes. He looked at me gently, like he did when I was younger and had had a bad day at school, with his big soft brown eyes. He sighed, grinned, then said, "Ok, just a couple more minutes."

He stroked my hair a little bit longer. Alex was always more like a mother to me since I had never truly met my mother since she died soon after I was born. In fact he was also like a father too since he left us in his own depression to fend for ourselves. "I love you Asuka," he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes and said, "I love you too," I reached to hug him, but when I did all I felt was cold rock. I opened my eyes to see my lovely wildflower field gone, only a big cave surrounding me. I sighed, then tried to go back to sleep in hopes that I'd have that exact bittersweet dream again. But instead, I tossed and turned the rest of the night.

Continue?
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I figured since everyone's been telling the age of their characters I'd incorporate that in my post. And Alex is about 21. Their father left them when Asuka was 4 and Alex was 9, so he was able to take care of her through most of her childhood. Alex left for war when he was 17, making Asuka 12 when she started living on her own. I'll post her pic eventually!