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  His heart almost stopped when he sees her shoes on the bridge. 

  She's insane.

  Jiyong dived into the river without hesitation and pry his way to the bottom. There she was, floating gently at the base, her back softly thudding against the river bed. Jiyong could feel his insides burn alive. It was a kind of fear he had never felt before in his entire existence.

  He fished her small frame up from the bottom and tore through the surface into the fresh air. He was coughing for air, but she wasn't, and it leaves him mortified. He carries her in his arms before setting her down on her bridge, his hands shaking badly. He needs help. Where are the people? Why is there no one here to help him? Jiyong looked around frantically, bringing his trembling hands to hover over her pale, cold face as if she's so delicate that she'll break if he touches her. No, she can't be gone. 

  "God." Jiyong gasped, slamming his forearm on the ground beside her before burying his face in it, shaking badly. "Please.. Don't."

  She was as still as ghostly lake. 

  "Dara, please. Wake up."

  She's so pale, so cold. 

  "I'm begging you, Dara." Jiyong said hoarsely, pulling her bloodless lips apart to before pressing his mouth on hers to send some air into her system.

  He remembers how his mother looked like when they brought him to see her that night those assasins took her life. She was equally pale and cold.

  "No." 

  She isn't responding. She isn't moving.

  "I'm begging you, Dara." Jiyong pleaded futily. He hasn't felt this afraid or destroyed in his life.

  She isn't breathing.

  "Stay with me."

  There's so much that he didn't tell her. She was always the one that expresses herself, the one that hugs him and tells him that he is going to be okay. She's always the one that says she likes him. The one that didn't stop despite his unresponsive stance. The one that didn't give up on him no matter how ed up he can be. He realised he was such a bastard. There's so much that he didn't tell her. 

  "I love you." Jiyong whispered, holding her body close to himself. Its too late. What's the use of him telling her only now that she's gone. No, she's not gone. She can't be gone.

  "Please." He didn't realise he's crying as tears got mingled with the water that's dripping from his scarlet colored hair. He rocks her slightly, burying his face in her shoulder. I love you. I love you. I love you. Come back now. "Dara..." He calls out her name.

  There was a small squeeze on his arm where her hand lays and Jiyong pulled her away from him, his fleeting eyes scanning her face in alarm. 

  "Dara-"

  She coughed, splurting water from as she collapsed limply onto Jiyong, who caught her. There was a searing pain in her chest as she struggled to open her eyes. Her eyelids fought against the bright sunlight of the outside world.

  She made a choice back there. Was this her choice?

  Her eyelids succeeded in fluttering open weakly and her vision was filled up immediately by a man hovering over her, his face scribbled with blind hope and fear as water dripped down from his chin. 

  It was. This was her choice.

  Jiyong gaped at Dara in utter confusion and disbelief as her trembling lips pulled into a small smile. Dara lifted her pale hand to cup his cheek and he stiffened, his shaking gaze following her eyes as she grazed his tears away with the pad of her thumb. 

  "Hi." She whispered,

  "Hey. Hey hey hey." Jiyong muttered, his voice hoarse and trembling as he gathered her in his arms, clutching a fistful of her wet clothes. He held her so tight that she found it hard to breathe. "You are crazy, Dara. I thought you're gone." 

  Dara's smile faltered. Slowly, she pulled herself away from Jiyong. The sudden movement surprised him and he clutched onto her harder.

  "I got home, Jiyong."

  The Ice Lord blinked. What is she talking about? She was here all along.

  "The moment that my head stopped thinking, I heard Bom. She was telling me to wake up. I couldn't see, but I heard her. And I heard doctors.. physicians in our world." Dara explained in a thin voice, by now giving up all attempts of making Jiyong release her. He's simply too strong against her pitiful resistance.

  Jiyong swallowed, his eyes wide. No. He refuse to accept it. She was here, all along. He was holding her. Trying to resuscitate her. She must be hallucinating.

  "Some part of me is still there, Jiyong. In the 21st century. See, I'm physically at both places, but I can't be here and there at the same time. All these while that I'm here, I must be living like a dead over there..." Dara whispered, her chest clenching at the thought of Bom's feelings. I'm sorry, Bommie.

  "That's impossible." Jiyong murmured flatly.

  "I heard you too, Jiyong. But I'm supposed to dead, right?" Dara asked gently. Jiyong flinched, but remained silent, his eyes demanding for the confirmation that he dreads.

  "You said you love me." 

  With that the last part of Jiyong's fear was corroded away to be replaced by a new one. A new one thats much less painful, but equally suffocating.

  She's telling the truth.

  Dara has found a way to go home.

  There was a feeling of emptiness as every negative and positive emotions left his chest in a rush, flushing straight to his fingertips and out of his body as he slowly pulled away from her. He surveyed her eyes with his own ones, as if he would be able to find a life saving rope to hold on to. As if her eyes would tell him that he wouldn't ever have to go through that fear of never seeing her again.

  "Why did you come back then?" Jiyong asked. 

  Dara dropped her gaze to the ground. Why did she come back? Sure she couldn't bear that raw pain in his voice as he begged her to come back. Sure she had wanted him to stop hurting, and sure she was lured back by that confession that she had so long been waiting for. But was she being logical? This doesn't change the fact that this man, Kwon Jiyong, is a prince in this era, this time, that will soon be married to the Princess of another nation. This doesn't change the fact that she has a part to play in the massacre that took place in this city that took away the lives of so many innocents because she had trusted the wrong person. This doesn't change the fact that at least in this universe, in this dimension, their chances of being together is still as faraway as a star in the night sky. This doesn't change the fact she will be hurting as long as she stays in this world.

  But she looks at his face, that crazed elation that flashed past as she splurted out the water burning in her lungs, that moment that her heart had truely started to beat again as he aggresively pulled her into his arms, that tremble in his voice when he told her he thought that she's gone. Her heart clenched in a mixture of emotion as she stared at his face. He is in pain because of her. His eyes are growing more anxious as she remained speechless. Dara softened. Whatever the pain that may come, whatever guilt she needs to hold on to by remaining here; Jiyong is worth it. Jiyong is worth all of it.

  This is why she stayed.

  "To tell you that I love you too." Dara murmured.

  Jiyong blinked, his lips parting slightly in shock as an amazing feeling overwhelmed him.

  "Then stay." He requested.

  Dara nodded.

  A flush of relief washed over Jiyong's face as he grabbed her cheeks in his hands.

  "God, I am crazy for you, Park Dara." He muttered, taking her lips to his. 

  "Father."

  The King looked up from his scrolls to see his second son who had entered his chambers. The aged man ignored the young one's greeting with a heavy exhale and went back to his parchments of national affairs.

  The Crown Prince's face twitched and he took some steps forward. He is used to this. Used to the old man ignoring him. Used to the old man looking down on him. Used to the whole world looking at him as an inferior. 

  "Father, Jiyong had failed in defending the Fire City. Our army and civilians had suffered great losses." Taeil reported in a tight voice. It has been days since the attack, but the King had not taken any actions to those responsible. 

  "We will retaliate against the Taeyangs. But we cannot-"

  "I am talking about Jiyong, Father." The Crown Prince cut the King off, his head bowed. "He should be exiled from the Fire City for reflection for his incompetence." 

  The King set his scrolls on the table, his brows furrowed. The Crown Prince is making it obvious. He had always knew that as a child, Taeil had an inferiority complex as compared to his hyung, Seunghyun and his other brothers. He knows that he is determined and desperate to prove himself worthy, by ascending the throne. But he isn't ready yet. And out of all the people, he himself knows that best. Why is he so eager to take over the Fire City to fulfil his coronation criteria when he isn't prepared to lead yet?

  "I do not plan to have Jiyong exiled." The King sighed. 

  The Crown Prince's head snapped up, his gaze burning with disbelief. Is the old man really going to defend Kwon Jiyong even with the kind of tragedy he is responsible for?

  "Father-"

  "Why did you not tell me the situation in the Fire City even though you knew?"  The King asked suddenly. The Crown Prince gaped as his hand started to shake. This.. isn't real.. How could he have known that he knew?

  "A musuri overheard you and your mother that night." The King said, his voice laced with fury. "She reported what she heard to me when she learned that her entire family in the Fire City was slaughtered that night."

  The Crown Prince, shaking badly, fell onto his knees as he shifted himself closer to his father, mortified.

  "Forgive me, father, forgive me..." He pleaded in an unstable voice.

  The King looked down at his son with disappointment. "I'll rethink about your coronation, as well as your position as my heir, Taeil. Because of you and your mother's scheming ways, hundreds died when they could be saved."

  With that the King turned around back to his work, leaving the distraught Crown Prince on the ground, shaking his head repeatedly and trembling. No. He cannot lose this position. It's all that's left for him now. He can't lose it. That Old Man is just using this reason to side-step him. These are all excuses! He just wants to pass that position to Kwon Jiyong! He was always his favorite! It used to be Seunghyun Hyung but it had became him after hyung died. Why? How is Kwon Jiyong better than him? Why is he always ignored eve though they all know what hes capable of?  Why is it that he is never good enough compared to the others?

  His mind in a blind haze of hatred and fury, he reached for a bronze figurine erected on the cabinet table. He will never be compared to Jiyong again. Jiyong will never threaten his throne again! 

  Gripping the ornament tight, he struck it down on the back of the King's head in a crazed desperation. The King fell on the ground with a muffled yell, his wrinkled eyes huge with shock at his son's assault.

  The Crown Prince continued to advance on his father, his eyes wild with anger and momental insanity as he pointed his weapon at his wounded father's eyes. "This position is mine... " He growled through his teeth. His father watched on with horror at the monster his son had become. "It's mine!" He shrieked, hammering down the bronze repeatedly.

  When he straightened up, the metallic brown instrument was stained a dark, crimson red, and the King lay motionless on the ground, dead.

  "I am the King of Dal now." Taeil whispered.