My dream was surrounded by a pure, dark atmosphere. It was an empty realm that lived in my slumber. Suddenly, I appeared within the darkness but my silhouette was illuminated by a ray of light. As I walked, I could hear my footsteps echo through the empty realm. Suddenly and unexpectedly the scenery changed. I now had a white, long cape over me. Its hood was wrapped over my head and there was a tie that made a bow around my neck. The white cape fell over my shoulders like a drape,  flowing all the way to the floor. Swaying with the way that the wind was blowing, it somewhat resembled a ghost. Yet, at the same time it looked elegant. My shoes crunched against the snow-covered ground with every step that I took.

I was walking down an open passage in the snow. Snow covered branches of bare trees surrounded both sides of the passage. Snowflakes that were falling from the sky fell into the ends of my hair that peeked out from underneath my hood. Through the distance, I could spot someone standing farther down the path. As I got closer, I recognized the person. He had familiar black, shaggy hair and a tall, slightly muscular frame. He was wearing a long black trench coat that ended at his knees. Paired with dark, denim jeans and some fancy black dress shoes, he stood there with his back towards me. His hands were in his coat pockets, and he looked up at the sky as he stood still.

" I'd knew you'd eventually come looking for me again," he said in a tone that sounded slightly disappointed.

" Seth...." I said reaching out to his shoulder. He moved it away from me and took a step forward, as if not wanting me to touch him. I heard him let out a sigh. What was wrong with him?

" Seth, what's wrong?" I asked.

" What's right nowadays? I believe that is the real question to be asked."

" What do you mean?" I asked.

He turned around to me, and I saw his soft brown eyes look at me. They looked different now for some reason though. They looked hurt and vulnerable.

" KL, everything that we have ever known is gone."

" I know that Seth," I said.

" Everything's changing. I don't like it."

" Change is a part of life. We just have to adapt to it."

" I know. But I can't get used to the part that all of these changes are changing you," He said. His words lingered on in my head, as if he were saying it a million times over. I felt as though he had just taken a sword and stabbed me through my chest.

" W-w-what?" I asked.

" KL, you're changing."

" How?" I asked, now slightly annoyed with his words.

" Because you're deciding to go off with some strangers that you don't even know. They could even be trying to hurt you and you don't know it because you're being too trusting and too naïve. The old KL would've rationalized it. The old KL would've taken my offer to run away with me and start anew."

" Seth, but you're not understanding that these people can help me start a new life. Since my parents died, I've been trying to find my place. I believe that this is it."

" Well I don't KL. Why are you running around trying to find your place when you know that you belong here with me? Why is it that I've known you for years and because all of these people have powers like you do, you ignore me? Did you ever even stop and think how I felt? I went on this trip for you. I fell off a cliff for you. Now look at where I'm at!" He said. I saw tears brimming in his eyes. At this point in time, I was absolutely speechless. I never really gave much thought to how he felt throughout this whole scenario. I was absolutely disappointed in how selfish of a best friend that I had been to him. Taking advantage of his kindness was never my intention.

" Everything I did was for you, KL," he said in a softer tone. " Because I'm in love with you."

I felt myself gasp. He really just said that. He really meant it. Yet deep down inside of me, there was a part of me that always knew that he had loved me. Not that it would matter now because it was all too late.

He turned around and I saw something drop from his hand and into the snow. He took steps forward, and I went and looked at the object that he dropped. It was a bright red rose, young and full of life. I picked it up and chased after him. " Seth, wait!" He continued to walk forward and the sky began to turn to a dark shade of grey. "Seth!" I screamed. I continued to run, but my footsteps began to feel weighed down, as if I was walking through quicksand. A strong wind began blow me back, and the realm around me turned back to the empty black color. We stayed in the same clothes that we were in in the previous scene.

" Seth!" I screamed. The wind finally slowed down and I was able to finally walk up to him. I went to talk to him, but I was silenced when I noticed that a white door had appeared in front of him. He looked over at me.

" Seth, don't go through there. Please! I have a feeling that nothing good is through there."

He sent me a warm smile. " Don't worry about me KL. I'm finally going to get to do something for myself for once." He said smiling. I didn't know if to be annoyed or to be upset by his words.

" Seth, please. For me. Don't go through there."

He looked deeply into my eyes. " KL, I've been doing what I think is best for you, but now that you've decided to go off with them, you don't need me anymore."

" Seth! I do need you! Please, stay with me! Please!" I ran over to him and wrapped my arms around him. I felt his lips press against my forehead.

" It's a little too late to say that, KL. I was there when you needed me, but you chose to go with Kratos. If you chose to go with him over me, I don't want to be there to see anymore. Your choice said enough."

" Seth, this isn't a matter to be chosen! I had to do what I thought was best for everyone," I said.

" So leaving me behind was best for everyone? KL, I gave you everything that I possibly could. KL, I love you. I love you much, much more than you could ever imagine, and when I realized that you had chose these people over me it was like a slap to my face. I don't want to get hurt because obviously you don't feel the same about me. I am just happy that you're doing what you think is best for you. I wish the best of life for you KL," he said. He took my hand and his lips brushed mine for a swift second. He then backed away. He looked at the rose in my hand. " When you see the roses, think of me." With those words, he turned around, opened the door, and walked through. I ran toward the door, tears streaming down my face, but by the time I reached it, it glowed a bright white light and disappeared. In my dream, I fell to the floor with the rose in my hand. I was crying and crying and my sobs echoed through the empty space. I looked down at my rose and realized that it had turned black. It hadn't withered away, but it just changed color. As I looked around the dark floor, glowing red petals that changed to a black color illuminated it. This was goodbye.

I sat up in my bed as sobs overcame me. I put my head in my hands and cried. This had had to be the worst dream that I had ever had. I felt betrayed, but at the same time I feel like I had betrayed him. Did he really feel that way? Like he had given his everything but only had been slapped in the face in return? I felt horrible, so horrible. How could I be totally oblivious to his feelings? And then he loved me! He had told me that he loved me! How could I make him feel like this?!

As I sat up completely, my abdomen ached from the wounds that I had. When did we get home? How long had I been out? Suddenly, my door creaked open.

"Hey. Can I come in?"

" Yeah," I said, quickly wiping my eyes.

A familiar silhouette approached me.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

A smile plastered over Jagger's face. " I knew what they were planning to do. I escaped my headquarters to come here and warn you, but by the time I arrived it was too late. You had been attacked."

"Why are you still here?"

"Shadow agreed to let me stay. I promise, or else I wouldn't be dressed so comfortably," he said motioning to his black tank and grey sweatpants. "Your boyfriend wasn't too happy about me staying here, but I was. There's no way I'd ever be allowed back to my place if they found out that I was committing treason."

Rubbing my crying eyes, I felt ashamed to be breaking down before this poor boy. Was he telling the truth to me? I got an honest vibe from him, and compared to all of the others from his group, he seemed to be the most level-headed. "For one, he's not my boyfriend. Two, they agreed to let you permanently stay?"

"Well as of now our agreement is just for a few days tops until I can get back on my feet."

"Oh," I said. "How long have I been out?"

" Just the remainder of the day. The attack happened this morning, and then Blondie went and picked you guys up after Shadow shot down Jin and knocked out Nicco. As soon as you got here, your wounds were tended to and your lover boy set you in here to rest."

I glared at him, " He is not my lover boy."

He chuckled, " I know, I know. I'm just teasing." He then continued," Well not that I want to be in your room at this time of night or anything, but I had a weird feeling that I should check on you. Why are you crying?"

" I had a bad dream," I said as I began to sniffle again.

" About what?" He asked.

" About Seth," I said. Tears continued to roll down my face. He sighed and put his hands together on his lap.

" I am so, so sorry KL. About everything. About what you've had to go through. About what I did to Seth. About how you feel so alone."

I sniffled. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled my head close to his chest. I continued to sob, but I couldn't help but think that he smelled so good. Like he smelled really good. What kind of cologne was he wearing?

He brushed his hand through my hair in a soothing way. " Everything's going to work out the way that it was meant to be. I promise. I promise that I will be here for you. If you need someone to confide in or just someone to talk to, I'll be here for you. All you have to do is say the word."

Though it was awkward for a complete stranger to be having such a touching moment with me in the middle of the night, I couldn't help but confide my trust in him. He sounded so sincere and his apology sounded so genuine that I couldn't help it. He was being so nice right now that I felt like I had known him my entire life.

" Thank you," I said softly.

" No problem," he said smiling. As the moonlight shone through my window, it illuminated his emerald eyes. We stayed there like that as I continued to cry, and then I started to fall asleep. He stood up and put me back on the bed. He pulled my blanket over me. " Goodnight Ms. Kiyano," he said.

" Goodnight," I tiredly whispered. He then exited my room, and I started falling back to sleep. As I started to doze off, I looked out of my window and noticed something that wasn't there before. There was a vase on my windowsill, and placed inside of it was a black rose.

© Lightning_Stryker 2015