"Here is where it all begins." 

Everyone must dream and every great dream begins with a dreamer. Dreams represent aspiration. They convey desire, want, and even hope. But they are disturbing. They are the gateway to our deepest fantasies. Although they can be bone chilling. People dream to give themselves hope. Though not all are good. There are ones that contain less than ideal happenings that would have anybody waking up in a cold sweat. People would call those nightmares. Even then those aren't the reasons why dreams are so alarming.

No. Dreams are alarming because of a special barrier placed between the dreamer and the dream. Sometimes the barrier isn't so clear, most of the time it's like the silver lining behind a cloud. But when there is no barrier, well, that's when the lines really start to blur.

Then there is no definition between fantasy and reality.

~*~

If there was only one word to describe Asuna- it would be dreamer.  It would be near impossible to sit down and count the endless hours Asuna spent fantasizing outside of the real world. Always sitting, hidden, in her own little place of comfort where she could just spend hours watching sunlight reflect off various shades of green. While her body was physically present, her mind was always somewhere else. It was quite a feat what she dreamt of. With her head in the clouds it wasn't hard to imagine a world outside her own. Today was no different as Asuna sat with her back to the grass, feet just barely grazing the edge of the pond, and eyes directed upwards slowly watching the few scattered clouds drift by.

"Do you think supernatural creatures exhist?" Asuna voiced her thoughts.

"Hm?" Another voice answered from across the small circle of water.

Asuna readjusted herself on the ground and laid her hands under her head. Her eyes focused on a small cloud in the shape of a dog. "I mean, don't you think there's more out there than- this?"

Mira cocked an eyebrow and looked up. She placed the book she was reading, Medical herbalism: The Science and Practice of Herbal Medicine, against her lap.

"You know I don't believe fairy tales like that."

"Hmm..." Asuna hummed and closed her eyes. For a moment she just let herself bask in the warmth of the morning sun. It was still early enough that the sun wasn't too high in the sky yet. "But just imagine...wouldn't it be amazing to live in a world where werewolves and maybe even vampires exhisted? Or if people had supernatural powers? Just think about it."

Mira scoffed. "I have and there's nothing in the world that can justify their exhistence." She picked her book back up and flipped to the correct page. "It simply wouldn't coincide with the laws of nature."

Asuna frowned and rolled to her side. She flicked a fallen leaf in the direction of Mira's face. It hit with scary accuracy.

"Humor me."

Mira sighed and flicked the leaf away before speaking. "I'll admit having supernatural powers sounds cool. The ability to do beyond what the average human can do. Elemental control, levitation, even teleportation- the possibilities are endless. But you know what would be really amazing? If we had the power to heal. Now that, my friend, would be a useful power." She paused. Her thoughts seeming to drift off elsewhere. Asuna was about to snap in her face until Mira blinked and continued.

"But don't ask me to comment about the whole werewolves and vampires thing." She visibly shuddered. "My mind isn't quite as imaginative as yours is."

Asuna grinned and let out a chucke. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"You forget I'm studying to be a nurse practitioner. I can't afford to be fantasizing about things like this. Reality is where I live. You might want to join me sometime miss I-wonder-if-werewolves-and-vampires-exhist."

"Says the girl who spends her free time ogling guys." Asuna snickered. "What was his name again? Mr. Oh-he's-so-perfect-and-has-the-looks-of-an-angel?"

Mira tucked her knees in closer and stuck her nose furthur in her book. "Whatever." She murmured and Asuna swore she caught the faint hint of a blush forming on her friend's cheeks.

"And it's Suho." She heard Mira mumble a second later from behind her book.

Asuna laughed and laid back down on the grass. She let her hands run through the soft blades and giggled lightly at how they tickled her palms. A gentle breeze blew by and rustled the trees around them. Asuna felt the light wind on her cheeks and it was a nice welcome to the warming sun. She and Mira were currently enjoying some well deserved free time. It was the weekend which meant no classes, but no classes usually meant endless amounts of homework- at least for one of the two girls. Asuna got away with a rather light homework load compared to Mira. She wouldn't be able to count the endless times she's heard her friend stress to her about her workload. Usually Asuna would spend the weekends at her favorite spot drawing for hours on end in her sketchpad. It wasn't until last year that she suggested Mira join her on her weekend excurions.

Mira wasn't as particulary fond of the forest as Asuna was. Although she loved the vastness and beauty of them she didn't think the idea of sitting in one for an extended period of time was extremely appealing. So it made sense she was skeptical at first. Claiming that she would never be able to get work done and that her grades would surely suffer. But after Asuna's rather persuasive argument, an extra large frozen yogurt topped with the promise of her mother's famous cooking, Mira decided one day spent in the forest wouldn't hurt. Turned out it worked better than Mira thought and it took a while before the smug look on Asuna's face went away.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to stay away." Asuna would always tease.

"Wipe off that look." Mira would retort back, grumbling as they weaved a path to their usual spot. "It doesn't match your childish face."

Today was a rather lax day as Asuna let her sketchbook lay off to the side and she herself lay spread out before the sky. While Mira had only a bit of reading to do for class. Time felt slower than usual as Asuna watched the clouds swirl by. There was a certain calm to the way everything just felt so right at the moment- like the world was in absolute peace. Asuna tilted her head to the side and caught sight of Mira buried nose deep in her reading. Her eyes were darting back and forth rapidly as they took in the information spread out before them.

She frowned. "How can you keep reading that?"

"I actually happen to enjoy this." Mira responded without ever taking her eyes off the page. "It's educational and who knows? I just might end up saving your life one day."

"Yeah." Asuna's nose scrunched in distaste. "But it's boring."

"Anything that's not related to drawing or art to you is boring."

"True." Asuna grinned. "But that's only because nothing else can keep up with my active imagination."

At that statement Mira gave a roll of her eyes and mumbled out something along the lines of "you're hopeless" to which Asuna hummed and smiled a small smile. Asuna crossed her hands behind her head and gently closed her eyes. The trees above her did a nice job of filtering out the harsh rays of sunshine, leaving onl