“Could

                You

                                Ever

                                                Love

                                                                Me…?”

                You found yourself sat in the middle of a field of long, golden grass. The wind danced around you to a melody you were somehow familiar yet alien to. Your eyes moved in panorama, taking in the scene in front of you very carefully. You were no longer hovering in the middle of the lake in the park with JR, but instead you were now sat with the Sun hanging in the blue sky above you in an unknown field stretching on for as far as your eyes could see. How strange...
                Butterflies fluttered from one blooming flower to another, their graceful movements entrancing you. They seemed to be creating patterns, dancing along to the melody of the wind. Before you had even noticed, they had surrounded you, fluttering in a circular motion, their speed gradually increasing. Pushing yourself up, you rose to your feet. Unsure of what the butterflies were doing, you continued to watch silently, waiting, for what, you did not know.
                Suddenly, one butterfly broke free of the circle and approached you. You held your hands out and the butterfly landing gently within them.
                “We beseech you, please, save our King,” you frowned. “Please, please save our King,” then your eyes widened as the realisation dawned upon you. In your hand was not a butterfly but it was in fact a fairy. She was so quaint, standing in the palms of your hand, her own hands clasped together, head bowed in a desperate prayer. Carefully, you lifted your hands up to your eye level, examining the little fairy closer. Her peach dress was made of dried flower petals, sewn together by silk string and wrapped in a flower stem. There was something so elegant about her that you almost wished that you could be a fairy too.
                “For centuries, the goblins have burnt our homes, tainting the fields mercilessly with bloodshed and destroying all in their path. If the goblin prince is victorious, it will be the end of us all. Please, will you save our King?” she asked you.
                “I-I don’t know if I can.”
                “But you must!” she pleaded, falling to her knees. “The fairy clan will cease to exist if the Elf King is not saved. You must save him,” the little fairy told you, her voice shaking as she did so.
                “Save him from what exactly?” You asked the little fairy, tilting your head to one side.
                “I am forbidden to say anymore,” She rose to her feet, looking up at you with a determined gaze, “But when the time is right, you will know what to do. Please, please save our King.”
                Before you had a chance to question the little fairy any further, she had jumped out of your hand, reuniting herself with the rest of the fairies. They seemed to be flying faster and faster and faster, their fluttering hypnotising you, so much so that you had not even noticed that you were no longer standing in the field anymore…

                Shaking yourself out from your trance-like state, your eyes flicked left then right. Where were you now? You seemed to be standing in the middle of a cobbled road, rows of buildings either side of said road but something was not quite right. Empty market stalls along the pavement were barren, spider webs adorning window corners, the wooden window shutters rattling in a light breeze, the sound of which echoing on through the darkened night. This place was uninhabited…so then why did you feel like you were being watched?
                Hugging yourself, you took a tentative step forward. It was then that you heard a hissing sound from behind you. You felt yourself freeze up. It would seem that your instincts had been correct. You were not alone.
                “Elffff Queeeeenn…” there was a low rumble as the voice from behind you broke into harsh laughter. “You pathhhhhetic huuuumannnnn. You willllllll diiiiiie…weeeee willlllllll kill you...and whennnnn we are donnnnnne, we willlll…kill…the Kinnnnnnng!” The laughter transformed into an evil cackle, resonating all around, mocking and taunting you as you stood there, too terrified to breathe. “He musssssssssssst diiiiiiie…the goblinnnnnssss willlllllll rule…onccce…morrrrre!”                 The laughter seemed to grow in volume before you realised that there were many more voices involved. You were surrounded. The goblins were surrounding you, exploiting your vulnerability and fear. They were poking fun at you, toying with you like a predator would toy with its prey before destroying it. That fact in itself did nothing to comfort you.
                “Your Kinnnnnnng wonnnnn’t save you herrrrre. No onnnnnnnne can saaaaaaaave you nowwww!” You felt movement from behind you and immediately spun round, a scream escaping you as you did so-

 Your eyes snapped wide open and you found yourself gasping for air.
                “It’s alright. I’m right here,” JR’s sweet voice seemed to instantly calm you and for that, you were mostly grateful.
                “Wh-what…”
                “It was just a dream,” He was holding you in his arms, your hair gently whilst wearing a worried expression upon his face. “It was all just a bad dream.”
                “It seemed so…real…” You took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself.
                “What…did you dream about?” he asked carefully, unsure if he was allowed to ask you such a question.
                “…Fairies and...goblins…” you told him, noticing how he tensed up at the mention of the goblins. “Are fairies real in your world, JR?” you asked, trying to distract him from thoughts of the goblins.
                "They are,” he replied, after a long pause. “Did the fairies speak to you in your dream?” You nodded. “I see…”
                “How did you know they spoke to me?” you asked him curiously, noticing how he was trying to find a way to answer the question in a way in which you would understand.
                “To have a fairy appear in your dream is rare, so when a fairy does appear in your dream, it signifies the beginning of an end. To have a fairy speak to you in your dream is even rarer.” You waited for him to continue and when he did not, you asked him, “And what does a fairy speaking to you in your dream mean?” His grip on you seemed to tighten.
                “When a fairy speaks to you in your dream, it is a warning of what is to come in your future.” There was silence between you both as you continued laying there in his arms, both of you lost in your own thoughts.
                If what JR said was true, if the words of the fairy in your dream was a warning then it was a bad omen. She had asked you to save JR yet had not disclosed from what. You could only assume she meant the goblins as it was the most obvious answer, but nothing about the situation was obvious or predictable in the slightest. When the time is right, you will know what to do. Those were the words she had spoken to you, but they were just riddles which you could not solve. All you were sure about was the danger that both you and JR were in, him especially.
                All this time, you had been so guarded, you had failed to realise what JR was enduring. He was here, in your world, trying to accomplish a task greater than you had come to realise and all you cared about was your own life when his was apparently hanging in the balance. His survival was not just a selfish whim, he had said it himself that he had a greater burden to bear. There was a whole other world waiting for his return, to create a more peaceful kingdom. It was a lot of responsibility for one person, especially for someone so young.
                When you looked up at JR, you noticed the look in his eyes and saw reflected back a panicked little boy, frightened out of his wits. Your heart sank. How could you have been this selfish? JR was walking blindly in the dark, he was trying to grip tightly on to any physical surface but all he was grasping was thin air.  He was alone in this fight and he had come to you, asking for your help. Yes, he had been trying to convince you of marriage, but right now, that was not the issue. The issue was how you could help JR to survive and succeed against the goblin prince. Even now, you were not sure if you could manage this, after all, it would be much easier to just wrap yourself in a blanket and hide in your bed forever, but how could you abandon him at this point?
                “I’m scared JR,” you began, your voice shaking a little. “I’ve never been this scared before my entire life, I really think it’s important that you know that.” He nodded, taking your hand into his and gently squeezing it in reassurance. “But if you need my help, then-then I should at least try…” In one swift movement, he had pulled you into a strong embrace, burying his head in your shoulder. “JR…”
                “Thank you.”
                “Don’t thank me just yet,” you told him, whilst trying to tame your pounding heart. “There’s a lot I’m still clueless about and-and as for you wanting me to be your Queen…”
                “Do not worry. I will not mention it again for now. It is enough to know that you have made the decision to help me try to fulfil the legend of my people. Thank you.”
                There was something about what he had just said which began to bother you, but you could not quite figure out what that was…

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                You woke the next morning, a dull headache greeting you. Groaning, you rubbed your head and forced open your eyes, instantly noticing the sunlight dancing around you. It was captivating, watching the speckles of dust floating gracefully, weaving in and out of the sun beams, or perhaps things just seemed so much more mysterious now having been introduced to ideas and notions from a magical world…
                Magic, elves, goblins, fairies, other worlds-everything was real, it was all possible. Things which you had only ever read in manga or seen in movies seemed to be happening to you right now and it was alarming, but not as alarming as the reality of it all. You had been chosen to be Queen, you had been chosen and apparently there was nothing you could do about it. Up until now, you had fought the idea as much as you could, but now, you were not so sure you had it in you to keep fighting.
                JR had run you down; he had worn his heart on his sleeve, left himself vulnerable in front of you by revealing his deepest, darkest fears and somehow, that had pulled at your heart strings, making it difficult for you to resist. You were weak in front of him now, alarmingly so. Even so, your emotions were still very much conflicted. Was this just pity or did you actually have feelings for him? It was somehow becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what was real and what was not, yet somehow whenever you were with him, you felt safe, you felt at ease. Maybe you were just refusing to accept the truth, or maybe you did not feel ready for it just yet, whatever the truth may be….then suddenly in that moment, it dawned upon you; you had offered to help JR, but to what extent were you willing to do so?
                You rose from where you had been sat and approached the window in front of you. Events began to slowly flood back into your mind. As you stared out of the window, you found yourself breaking out from the hypnotic state in which you had been in. You could see the greying, cloudless sky in front of you and just below you, evergreen tree tops, stretching on for as far as your eyes could see. Where were you right now? The last thing you remembered vividly was hovering above the lake, wrapped in JR's arms. Had you fallen asleep like that and then had you been carried-here? Question after question tumbled in your mind and you were so absorbed in your thoughts that you did not hear the door open. 
                "The view is breath taking, is it not?" you heard a gentle, familiar voice ask you.
                "JR..." you heard yourself whisper, your heart immediately beginning to pound hard against your chest. "H-how did-where are we?" you managed to coherently ask, after the initial stammer.
                "We are safe here," JR said as he approached you, not entirely answering your question. “Did you sleep well, despite the nightmare?”
                “The nightmare…” you repeated, frowning a little.
                "The fairies in your dreams, do you remember them?" You thought hard and an image flashed in your mind of a dainty, pink fairy, as small as a butterfly.
                "Yes...I do..." you replied, feeling very confused.
                "Fairies like that live in your world as well as mine and even here, they serve the Elven Royalty of Aranthi," JR began. "The ones in your world sensed my presence and came to me last night after you had fallen asleep in my arms,” at that, he blushed a little, as did you.
                “It would seem that in your world, the fairies inhabit the woods and forests, having forged a mutual friendship with the trees. Neither are friends of the goblins, which is why the goblins will not venture this way. Fighting against them is a hazardous endeavour for anyone. Although they are much more ruthless, even the goblins are smart enough to know not to antagonise forces out of their control. Essentially, the forest provided us with shelter, with the aid of the fairies last night. They had created this tree house a long time ago in anticipation for our arrival…" JR trailed off, noticing your perplexed look.
                "Fairies? There are fairies, here?" you could not wrap your mind around anything JR was telling you and it was beginning to make you feel anxious and nauseous. You groaned, edging back to the safety of the bed you had been asleep in. Before you had even reached it though, you felt JR's warm arms fling themselves around you, holding you tightly.
                "I'm sorry,” he whispered, burying his head in your shoulder. “There is a lot which you do not know about and I am trying to help, I really am, but maybe…maybe I’m just doing it wrong…” he sighed in defeat and you felt a pang of guilt. It was true. He was trying to explain things but it was all so alien to you that every new piece of information he revealed to you served only to confuse you further.
                “I know you’re trying, but this is really a lot for me to take in,” you gently tried explaining to him, resisting the urge to touch his head and comfort him.
                “Tell me what to do…tell me how I can make this easier for you…” he asked wearily. “I do not know what else to do…” his grip tightened and your heart sank.
                “I don’t know…” was your reply. You instantly regretted it the moment you said it, but it was an honest answer.
                You felt as lost as he did at this point, yet somehow you still had the choice to walk away from all this. JR did not have that choice. The only choice he had was to fight until the very end and here he was, trying to do exactly that, but his strength was fading substantially. There was something about him which seemed to have diminished since the first time you had met him and you could not place what it was. Perhaps it was his energy, his strength, his warming smile…something was missing and it was frustrating you now trying to deduce what that was. In the end, you had no choice but to ask him, “JR, last night I told you I would help you, so-is there anything I can do, right now?”
                There was no response straight away, nor did you expect there to be one, but after a while, you heard him whisper to you, “Can we stay like this, just for a little while longer, please?” It was such a simple request and seeing as you were both already stood there, pressed against one another, it did not require much more effort, so you complied.
                “Okay,” you replied, touching his arm gently in reassurance. “Okay, and then afterwards, we will try to figure this all out so it’s less confusing for both of us.” He lifted his head from your shoulder and looked at you with teary eyes.
                “Thank you,” he earnestly whispered, closing the gap between you before gently kissing you on your forehead. “Thank you, for trying…”

                In that moment, there was a vivid, green glow which entered the open window. Your eyes followed the spherical light as it flew in circles around the room before gently landing in JR's open hands. Eyes wide, you watched as the glow unfurled itself and revealed a tiny fairy, her gaze sharp and expression determined. She bowed in respect before standing again, her tiny little hands tightly clenched by her side.
                "Your Majesty," she began. "It is time."