[-]

  "Ow, ow, Jiyong, ow." Dara muttered lowly to herself, rubbing her wrist where the masked hooded black figure had dragged her across the whole street back to the mansion. 

  Kwon Jiyong turned around and pulled down his mask, hardly hiding his anger. 

  "Don't you know how dangerous it is for you to just run off and start wandering around?" Jiyong said loudly, "You don't even know the place!"

  "I had a friend with me-" Dara opened to retort, slightly unnerved by the intimidating air around the Ice Lord, which she had became unfamiliar to. 

  "How long have you been here for you to be calling people friends?" Jiyong hisses, annoyance burning his insides. 

  There had been rumours going around about Dara being his concubine and muse. Blood related relative, even. He knows of the number of foes he had out there who can easily taken advantage of gullible girl as a negotiation pawn against him.  

  A bigger part of him hates the sight of her being this close to someone other than himself, but he just couldn't figure out why, and that's what that is fuelling his the most of his frustration. 

  "Look Dara-" Jiyong began agitatedly. She just don't get it doesn't she? That wherever lala-land she thinks she came from, well that place no longer exist and she has to accept it that things doesn't work the same way as how she thinks it does, and it can and probably will kill her and the people around her. 

  Jiyong freezes however, at the sight of the mini troublemaker staring intently at his face, her brows knitted tightly together as she inched her nose closer and closer.

  "You're bleeding!" Dara exclaimed. 

  Jiyong sighed in frustration, cupping his forehead in his hand. Was she even listening to him the whole while?? 

  He kicked a wall when Dara ran off to get medicine. 

  Why the hell am I so pissed off? Jiyong curses under his breath.

  "How did that happen?" Dara asked, insisting for the ice lord to sit down.  Jiyong isn't used to the tone of concern in her voice. He isn't used to the tone of concern in anyone's voice.

  "Maybe because I'm distracted in the middle of trying to kill some bandits with the news of how you had miraculously went missing." Jiyong scowled, and Dara smiled sheepishly, dabbing the cotton at the side of his cheek, where there is a short, thin streak of blood. 

  "You don't have to be so worked up, I can-" Dara began, but almost immediately regretted even opening because the Ice Lord flew into a rage again.

  "Is this a no big deal to you, Dara?" Jiyong started again, withholding his face from the girl's cotton wool, "Are you aware of the number of scum out there that could want your life because they think you're someone that I-" Jiyong stopped abruptly amidst his fury, suddenly finding his tongue tied. 

  That feeling returned. That same feeling of short breathlessness had erupted within the depths of Dara's stomach again as she held her breath, waiting for his next words.

  "Someone that I-" Jiyong mumbled, feeling cornered by both himself and Dara who's looking at him with her eyes round. "That I care about." He sighs in defeat, and seeing the look in Dara's questioning eyes, he protested, " Like a sister- a friend- I-" 

  "Oh." Dara said, blinking away, dabbing the cotton back into the bottle again. 
 
  He said like a sister. For a moment when the words 'someone I care about' slipped out of his mouth, I actually thought... What were you even expecting, Dara? It's not like you even belong here, it's not like you'll even be here for long. This is exactly the kind of absurd situation where people travel overseas for a trip or a holiday and think that they fell for someone before eventually having to return to their own places and lives. 

  This is unrealistic.

  Jiyong curses himself inwardly. What the hell? Sister? 

  "I'll be careful." Dara said almost cheerily, interrupting Jiyong who's opening his mouth to speak. "The same goes for you! Stop messing your face up, you're not even good looking to begin with." She said loudly with an estranged laugh as she got up. Somehow, she felt that she needs to fleed from the scene/

[Dara]

  Okay, so we have some soul searching to do here. 

  First of all, do you even remember who you are?

  "Yes, I am Park Dara, I am born in 1990, December 12, in Busan, South Korea, and I have the most dangerous and lethal best friend on earth, aka Park Bom." I recited to myself, downing the third cup of soju down my throat. Great, Dara, you're even resorting to alcoholism now, which according to the previously mentioned Most Dangerous Best Friend I have, is the best medicine on earth for feelings which you don't know what it is.

  That's right, I don't even know myself now.

  "Aishhh!" I raked my hair in frustration, drinking straight from the bottle. "This is the 23rd century, Dara!!" As if time travel alone is not absurd enough, you're telling me now that I could possibly have- have- incoherent thoughts about men who were born 300 years after my existence??

  Throwing aside the absurdity of it all, somehow- somehow, it stings. It stings when the words "like a sister, a friend" slipped from his mouth. But then, what should he expect me to be? I am just a random stranger, lunatic even, that barged into his life, yelling about being from another universe.

  Why is it that somehow, with him, I forgot about my longing for home? It feels as if while I'm running around, finding a miracle to teleport back, as long as this man is standing there, failures aren't that disappointing and no harm will come after me? 

  I downed my first bottle, then a second. I didn't knew this thing tasted this good. Bom would love this.

  So what is this misery that's worse than the bitter aftertaste of the liquor? The Ice Lord had looked after me well. Am I mistaking his kindness for something else? Am I mistaking my own reliance and attachment  for something else? 

  "Must be." 

  Eh? Why did I said that out loud? It's supposed to be quietly acknowledged in my head. Hold on, it's taking me a little long to blink.

  I've been voicing whatever that's in my head out loud. Test.

  "Test."

  See? I hiccoughed and got up, swaying unstably on the spot. Whoa, I almost toppled over. Psh, what is wrong with this chair? Is it trying to kill me? I picked up the soju and held it to my mouth. It's empty. 

  Got to get some more.

[-]

  Dara staggered into the yard, her hands rubbing her eyes in attempt to clear her vision.

  "Stop...spinning! Show yourself, kitchen!" She mumbled, her outstretched index finger pointing to several directions which she could no longer recognise before deciding on one.

  Keeping her footsteps as quiet as she could, Dara crept into the dark kitchen. She closed its doors gently, not wanting to wake the maidens whom she's sure that would be mortified to see the state she's in. Why is it so dark? Dara pressed her palm to her temples as she let out another hiccough. Grabbing the lit candle from the tabletop, Dara began her excavation, snopping around pulling several drawers and cabinets open in search of wine. 

  "Eyy, why do they keep papers in the kitchen! Dangerous..." Dara muttered to herself, tossing the scrolls of parchments back into the compartments. Nope, no lucks with the cabinets. No harm trying the kitchen counter tops too. Maybe they have some leftover liquor there.

  Dara turned around groggily and the orange, flickering light from the flame shone on a face.

  "WHOA, YOU SCARED ME, ARIEL." Dara complained loudly, almost losing her balance if not for the hand that slithered behind her back, which went unnoticed in her intoxicated state.

  "What the hell is Ariel?" The face asked, raising a brow. "And what are you doing barging into people's rooms at midnight?"

  Dara wriggled herself free from the support. "This is the kitchen!" She slurred, hiccoughing happily, "I like Soju. You're Ariel, the mermaidd princesssss, becuase your hair is reddd."

  "You're smashed." Jiyong said, pressing his lips together. "Pass me the candle, you'll hurt yourself."

  He reaches for the candle, which Dara held on defensively, her vision cloudly as the red haired man zoomed in and out of focus. 

  "Dara, let go!" Jiyong swears loudly, snatching the burning hot candle away from the girl's grasp, the molten wx dripping all over his hand in the process. "God, Dara." He mutters, frowning at the surprising strength of the girl who seem to be a weak as a duckling while flinging his scalded palm in the air.

  "You!" Dara gasped, pointing at Jiyong's face suddenly as she advanced towards the bewilded young general, cornering him to the edge of the table. "You're Jiyongggggg."

  The Ice Lord wanted to slap himself. There's so much things he have to do, like to worry about how he could be killed on a daily basis, or to come up with tactics to stop the Taeyangs from trying to invade Dal from the Fire City, or to deal with this new gang of bandits in the city, the Masquerade. But now he's been stuck here for almost a month, babysitting an extremely hyperactive, eccentric alien (or ancestor. She doesn't belong in this world, not at least this time, anyway) who never fails to get herself almost killed everytime. Being drunk was a new situation, but he hates it already.

  "You're Jiyong..." Dara mumbles, her head falling foward with a small thud onto Jiyong's chest, who tensed up. Dara hiccoughs again, getting drowsy.

  "You know, back in my home, we have skyscrapers that are this tall-" Dara flings her hand in the air to gesture the height of those buildings. As usual, Jiyong didn't understand the alien tongue that she is speaking in, but listened to her anyway. 

  "I'm scared, Jiyonggg."

  Jiyong glances down at the sleepy girl. "About what?"

  "I'm scared that- that one day, I wouldn't want to go home anymore." 

  Jiyong have always knew that one day, Dara would probably be back to the land or place or universe where she claimed to have came from. But the impossibility of the situation and the circumstances had allowed him to think that it wouldn't be easy to, and it would take a while for her to figure out the way to do so. She had longed to go back so much,  why is she scared to now?

  "I might've found the way to go back, Jiyong." Dara mumbled, her mind hazy with the dim thought of Soo Hyuk's suggestion. "Then you wouldn't have to take care of mee, your burdensome sister and friend, anymore." Dara chuckled softly, her eyes already closed. Even in this state, she felt that small ache in her chest as she said that.

  Jiyong didn't answer her. 

  "Then you'll have to clean up your wounds by yourself, okay?" Dara rambled on, her voice getting quieter and quieter.

  "That's not a big deal." Jiyong uttered. Is cleaning up wounds the only concern she has before going? "Is it dangerous? Your world?" Jiyong asked, feeling a little ridiculous for using a different term to coin her home.

  "Nah, we have policemen and guards and everything." 

  "Then you won't need me anymore." Jiyong heard himself say before he coul stop it.

  Dara stirred feebly in his arms.

  "Why wouldn't I need you anymore?" She said rhetorically, as her mind spins off into darkness.

[Dara]

  There's an earthquake going on in my head.

  I sat up groggily, and the sight of Jisoo tidying up the bookcase in my room loomed into view. Evidences of my solo party last night had been erased. They must've cleaned it up before I got up.

  "You were drunk last night, Miss Dara." Jisoo smiled.

  Wrong. I was knocked out drunk.

  I remebered going for more drinks, and nothing else afterwards, but I just can't shake off the feeling of doing something wrong. I mean, the last time I got drunk, I ended up flunging my undergarments down the apartment and then almost 3 metres under the river.

  I suppose it is safe to stick with the reassuring assumption that I had somehow decided to go to bed instead of getting more drinks.

  "It's time to wake up, miss." Jisoo chirped, sweeping the corners of the room now. "The King is visiting, although we should try not to be seen." 

  "The King?" I asked, shocked. What is the ruler of the kingdom doing in the boarder city so far from the capital? Has it got something to do with Jiyong? He is one of the King's son afterall.

  "He's coming with the fifth prince, I heard. So the rumours must be true." Jisoo said with a small twinkle in her eyes.

  "What rumours?" I asked omniously.

  "That the King is planning to marry the Ice Lord with the Pyul Kingdom's Princess!"