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Master and Servant bound by a contract shared a special bond. Seeing the same dreams wasn’t anything extraordinary, that’s just how it was. Astolfo quickly learned that this rule still applied even when his master was no longer living in the same world as him.
Of course it applied. If Sieg was still able to supply him with magical energy, then it meant that the connection was still there.
And yet, the first shared dream after being separated still surprised him. That’s it, only surprised – but at the same time surprised so badly that it left him speechless for a while after waking up. He wasn’t sure how to handle it.
Those were only dreams though. There was no magical way of them meeting again, so… he had to settle for that. It was better than nothing.
***
“Seems like another bad dream…” Astolfo muttered to himself, waking up with tears in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away – it wasn’t anything new to him.
Of course it wasn’t. Even now, when he was unable to do anything, he cared about Sieg. Seeing his nightmares was only making Astolfo’s desire to comfort him stronger… and served as a sad reminder of how badly he missed him.
“Well, I guess it can’t be helped,” he sighed, getting up from his bed and hoping the next dream would be more pleasant. From time to time, a more happy one would happen too, letting him hope that his life on the other side wasn’t so miserable after all.
It was certainly lonely though.
“It’s good to have friends after all…”
“What are you talking about, Rider? To be honest… What are you even doing here?” Caules asked, entering the room without even knocking on the door.
“Me? I’m visiting!” Astolfo grinned, drawing the curtains. “You look surprised. Fiore didn’t tell you? I told her in advance I’m going to stop by for a few days… She seemed pretty happy to see me, you know? It’s been a few years since the war ended and we haven’t seen each other since then…”
“I didn’t even expect you to stick around for so long…” Caules said, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “Weren’t you supposed to be traveling the world?”
“That’s what I’m doing! But a little break won’t hurt anyone, right? I wanted to visit old friends and see how you are doing,” he explained. “I’m not going to cause Fiore any problems, don’t worry, brother.”
“I’m not your brother, Rider!”
“No need to call me Rider, Caules. The war is long since over, and I’m not really a Rider anymore. Just call me Astolfo! We’re friends now,” Astolfo said cheerfully. “Aren’t you on vacation too? Let’s hang out!”
“You haven’t changed one bit since then…” Caules just sighed. “But I guess I can’t really complain. You were always on our side after all.”
“I just was on the side Master was on, but if you put it like this, I was never against you?”
“Oh, so it’s like this? You tell me to call you by your name, but Sieg is still ‘Master’, huh?” The glasses-wearing boy decided to attack him from the other side.
“W-What are you-“
“If you want me to move on, you should first do it yourself, Rider,” he said, attempting to leave, but turning to him one last time. “Fiore told me to call you for breakfast.”
“Tell her I’ll be there soon…”
When Caules left, he just sighed and began changing his clothes. It was easy for him to say this… He could probably say that he and Sieg were really close, but they never went past calling each other ‘Rider’ and ‘Master’. Everything happened too fast, and then it was too late. Of course, it would be nice to fix that, to hold his hand again…
Astolfo smacked his cheeks with both hands and shook his head, trying to chase those thoughts away. There was no use thinking about it.
***
“I’m not quite sure about it, Astolfo-san…” Laeticia said during their phone call. She was the one to explain cell phones to him and teach him how to use one. “But if you’re able to see Sieg-san’s dreams… maybe it also goes the other way?”
“You mean… as in Sieg seeing my dreams?” Astolfo frowned, not sure if he liked that idea. “I dream about a lot of silly stuff that sometimes doesn’t even make sense… If he really sees that, he must think I’m out of my mind…”
“But isn’t there also a chance he finds it entertaining?” She giggled. “Sieg-san must be really bored out there… I’m sure your silly dreams would make him feel better.”
“You think so!?” His mood instantly changed, a wide smile appearing on his face. “If it was true, then I wouldn’t mind showing him even the most ridiculous ones! To be honest, my conscious thoughts might sometimes be even more ridiculous than my dreams… Nobody lacks reason more than me, after all.”
“I think you’re a very entertaining person, Astolfo-san. I’m sure Sieg-san thinks so too.”
“Thanks, Laeticia! I can always count on you when it comes to getting advice…”
“I wish I could help you more,” she suddenly sounded a bit sad. “You miss him, right?”
“Well, of course, but that can’t be helped!” Astolfo tried to laugh it off, but he knew he couldn’t fool her. “I’m his Servant after all. We went through a lot together.”
“You don’t have to hide it from me, Astolfo-san. I already had to deal with one person trying to deny she loved Sieg…”
“I’m not trying to deny anything, Laeticia. I’m perfectly aware of the fact that I love him, and I wish I could see him again, but to make that wish come true I would have to organize a whole new Holy Grail War, you know. I may lack reason, but not to this extent,” he said, laughing at his own words. “I guess I’ll just stick around for a while longer! Traveling sure is fun!”
“If you say so, Astolfo-san…”
***
This time something seemed different. The dream he saw didn’t resemble the abstract creations of his mind, neither did it look like something Sieg would usually dream about…
Though the biggest difference was the fact that he was aware it wasn’t reality, but rather a dreamland. He had a feeling he’d seen that place before…but not like this. He remembered it from after he woke up – those memories were incomplete and blurry, as if he’d watched a movie he didn’t really remember anymore. Right now, it was different. He felt as if he really was there.
He found himself in a middle of a field full of blue flowers. The flower petals seemed to be everywhere, floating through the night sky despite there being no wind. The air was crystal clear, and the only source of light were stars.
Even though Astolfo felt like he had seen that place before, he had no clue where he was or what he should do… but something at the back of his mind was telling him there was no time to be standing there idly.
So he started walking. Without any goal in mind, without knowing if he’d ever reach something, he walked through the field of flowers, breathing in their sweet smell… that seemed somewhat familiar. He walked, and walked… Hoping he’d find the final line before waking up.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he stopped, spotting something in the distance. Something that made his heart skip a beat.
If his eyes weren’t lying to him… it was a dragon. A very familiar dragon. He was ready to leap towards him, but…
Just when he was about to start running, the dream ended.
He woke up crying again, but more than sad, he was simply disappointed.
***
“You don’t need magecraft to learn how to control your dreams, Ri… Astolfo,” Fiore told him on the phone. It was a really useful device… “I’m still new to many things that normal people know a lot about, but I’m pretty sure there’s a phenomenon known as ‘lucid dream’…”
“Eeeh? So it wasn’t any kind of magic? And here I thought it was actually important…” Astolfo sighed with disappointment.
“Wait, I haven’t said that what you experienced was a lucid dream. Actually, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, it doesn’t occur just like that… so it’s highly possible that it really was connected to Sieg in some way,” the girl explained.
“You know, Fiore, modern world is freaking interesting, but it’s hard to learn and understand everything…” he replied. “Isn’t is a good thing I have so much time? Anyway! Even if that dream was connected to Master, don’t Servants and Masters just share dreams, not the dream reality?”
“I can’t really answer this… It’s true that I used to be a Master, but it was a long time ago, Astolfo. It’s not like I managed to discover every little detail about how a relationship like this works. I don’t want to give you false hope, but at the same time… maybe you should believe in miracles, Astolfo?” Fiore said warmly, actually doing what she said she didn’t want to do… Giving him hope.
“Believing in impossible is my specialty!” He couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “Even if the chance is very faint, I’ll take it. Who else if not me, right? I should’ve known it! Me and worrying about logic? Really?”
“You really want to see him… am I right?”
“You bet I do!” Astolfo stated firmly. “Even if it’s impossible in reality, I’m going to make it happen one way or another. Both because I don’t want him to be lonely anymore… and because of my own selfish reasons. How does it sound?”
“Good enough. Just do what you are best at,” Fiore replied.
“You know, this isn’t really comforting. There aren’t many things I’m good at,” he sighed, but then smiled again. “Thanks, I guess.”
***
The next time he found himself in that bizarre dreamland he quickly got rid of his confusion. Without thinking much or hesitating, he began running, as if to save time. He couldn’t afford to waste it after all, he could wake up at any moment.
He was running at full speed, yet the scenery didn’t seem to change much… as much as he was trying to stay patient, patience wasn’t his strong side.
Please… Even if only for a moment, and only in a dream… Just let me see him. I don’t have any other wishes.
Finally, after a really long time, he was greeted by the same sight as the last time. A lonely dragon, seemingly waiting for something in the distance. Astolfo couldn’t define that warm feeling in his chest, but this time he wasn’t about to let himself stay overwhelmed by it. Instead of stopping, he picked up his pace, feeling a smile creep onto his face.
This time I’ll do it.
The dragon didn’t move from his place, and aside from the slight movement of his wings he was completely still, waiting. Astolfo kind of wished he was waiting for him… and maybe he was?
If so, then the waiting time was over. He didn’t stop until he basically crashed into the dragon’s leg, spreading his arms, as if trying to embrace it, even though it was impossible.
“You idiot…” He muttered through tears, quietly at first, but then exploded. “You idiot! Total, absolute idiot! They say I’m an idiot, and they’re right, but you’re an even worse idiot!”
There was some sound from the dragon, and a moment later Astolfo felt something large touch his back.
A wing. It was his wing, as if he was trying to return the awkward embrace between a human-like being and a giant lizard. Astolfo found that thought quite hilarious, so instead of continuing his scolding, he started laughing. It was a dream, and dreams were fleeting. He wasn’t about to waste time on something for what he already scolded Sieg in the past.
“ I missed you, Master,” he said instead. “I know this isn’t reality, but I’m still happy to see you.”
His form might’ve changed, but he was still the same person. A homunculus, a dragon… It never really mattered to Astolfo. He wasn’t someone who cared about small details after all. All that mattered to him was that he cared about his Master, be it during the Holy Grail War or now.
To him, Sieg was simply a person.
He couldn’t understand what a dragon murmur could mean, but somehow he felt like he understood what Sieg wanted to say. I’m happy to see you too.
“You know, Master, I have a lot of things I want to talk to you about!” Astolfo exclaimed, grinning to himself, since his companion couldn’t see his face anyway. “A lot has happened during those few years. I traveled the world, like I promised. You know, modern times are actually pretty cool! I wish I could show you all the things I’ve seen so far.”
Another sound, encouraging him to continue.
“I made friends with Laeticia, Fiore and Caules… Saw a lot of different places, tried to help a lot of different people… Sometimes I fail, but that’s just how I am, right?” He laughed. “I’ve never been particularly useful after all.”
Sieg didn’t agree with that statement, and it just made Astolfo even happier. He hadn’t changed one bit.
“I knew I would eventually find a way to see you again, Master! Even if this is only a dream, and we’ll both wake up soon… It’s good enough,” Astlolfo laughed again, kind of on the verge of tears, kind of wanting to just continue on giggling for absolutely no reason. “I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay here though. There’s no telling when we’ll wake up, right? I have so much to tell you, but I don’t know how much time we have…”
He could feel he wasn’t the only one afraid of that.
“Don’t worry though, I’ll come back! If I did it once, I’ll surely be able to do it twice!” He said enthusiastically. “There’s no such thing as impossible for me after all!”
Not after he finally got there. ‘Impossible’ sounded fake as hell.
***
After that, Astolfo couldn’t repeat his achievement for a while.
And then, he suddenly could again, without any warning.
It must’ve been a few weeks of fleeting nightmares before he ‘woke up’ in that full of blue flowers dreamland once more. It was the same as the last time, but… at the same time, it was different. During his first two visits there he was wearing his armor, but now it was his old casual outfit, the one he was wearing in Trifas, during the Holy Grail War. Also…
This time he didn’t have to look for anything and run around like a lunatic. When he came to, he was lying on the ground, a dragon sitting nearby.
“…hello,” he said, already smiling. “Seems like I made it again, Master! Sorry it took me so long!”
Sieg answered something, and Astoldo could only assume it meant ‘don’t worry about it’ or something along those lines. He stood up from the ground to approach the dragon again, his affectionate nature telling him to do so, but then… Sieg lowered his head to Astolfo’s level, nudging at him gently.
“M-Master…” He stuttered out before throwing himself at him, trying to hug him by putting his arms around his neck, but apparently they were too short.
He still remembered how at the beginning Sieg had no idea how to respond to a hug, what to do with his arms, and even how to feel about it. He also remembered their last ‘real’ meeting, and the last time they actually touched. Sieg no longer had the problem with hugging him back, just like right now he had no problems initiating contact first.
Astolfo was really proud of him.
There wasn’t much to do in a place like that. Everywhere, no matter which way they turned, was just a field of blue flowers, with no changes. Instead of going anywhere, they sat down on the ground, Astoflo curled up against Sieg’s side. It turned out dragons were really warm to the touch… but maybe it shouldn’t had been surprising.
“You know, and people still mistake me for a girl sometimes! It’s still rather funny!” He continued to talk about silly things, since he was the only one that could talk, and even if he weren’t, he would probably still be the one to talk more. “Remember when it happened with Ruler?”
A murmur as a response. Astolfo could feel the vibrations that ran through Sieg’s entire body, even though the sound was relatively quiet.
“Right, her reaction was hilarious!” He laughed, recalling Jeanne’s shocked face. “She was a pretty nice person, wasn’t she? A bit too strict, but I still liked her! If we had more time to hang out, I’m sure we’d become good friends! I wonder how she’s doing right now, wherever she is…”
Astolfo sighed, wondering if bringing up Jeanne and the Holy Grail War was even a good idea, but Sieg didn’t seem to mind. Maybe he actually felt better with this topic? His life in that world wasn’t long, and the war was almost all he knew.
“Now that I think about it, we got to meet a lot of pretty cool people! Siegfried was one of them for sure,” Astolfo continued. “And Karna! I know we were the ones to defeat him, but he seemed like a good guy…I wish he had been on our side!”
Sieg seemed to agree with him about that, or at least he thought so.
“You know, Master… I wish we could talk normally,” he muttered. “Even if I’m pretty sure I understand you, I could still be wrong, right? And… it would be nice to just hear your voice.”
No answer.
“Well, apparently in the modern world there are stories about humans turned into animals or monster that could only be turned back by a princess or prince’s kiss!” Astolfo laughed again, trying to turn it into a joke. There was no reason to add Sieg things to worry about. “Technically I’m a prince, so maybe this could work. Wanna try?”
He wasn’t serious when he said that. It was mostly just to lighten the atmosphere up a bit, but-
Sieg raised his head from the ground and turned to him the best he could, trying to poke at him with his nose, as if allowing him to turn that random idea into reality.
“W-Woah, are you sure?! I’m not a typical fairytale prince, so I’ll probably be useless even at this…”
You’re not useless, Rider. That’s probably what he wanted to say.
To be honest, Astolfo wasn’t sure if he really wanted to do that. He loved Sieg, so a kiss would be nice, but on the other hand, his Master was always clueless when it came to something like that.
“You know, Master… It cannot be a kiss from just any prince… It has to be a true love’s kiss!” He exclaimed, moving closer and putting his hands on Sieg’s face, ready to push him away. “I know it may sound like a strange idea to you, but-“
Sieg’s eyes were telling him he truly didn’t understand, and also something else.
That despite not understanding, he still had those feelings he couldn’t name.
“…arguing with you was always useless. You do whatever you want anyway,” Astolfo sighed.
He stood up from the ground and, closing his eyes, he placed a short kiss on the dragon’s nose, then made a few steps back, a little scared of opening his eyes again to be met with a disappointment.
But nothing resembling a disappointment came. After a moment of standing there in silence, he was pulled into a gentle embrace by someone taller than him, but probably no stronger.
“Looks like your idea worked after all, Rider.” The familiar voice didn’t require him to open his eyes to recognize its owner.
“Astolfo,” he said, so quietly that it almost didn’t sounds like him, raising his hands to wrap them around that person. “I’m just Astolfo, one of the Twelve Paladins of Charlemagne, not Rider anymore. Use my name.”
“Sorry, Astolfo,” Sieg replied, the tone of his voice calm and gentle like always. “Then… You have to call me by my name too. Not Master.”
“Sieg,” he muttered, as if testing the sound of it. He squeezed the homunculus tighter and repeated it once again. “Sieg… I can’t believe it actually worked… The fairytales were lying!”
He didn’t want to let go. He already did that once and even though he had no choice back then, it was a painful goodbye anyway.
“Why do you think they were lying…?” Sieg asked, clearly not connecting the dots again.
“Because they were! True love’s kiss, of course… Looks like it was a lie,” Astolfo laughed, finally opening his eyes and pulling away to look at his companion. “Maybe it’s just because it’s a dream world and we can actually do whatever we want! What do you think?”
He looked exactly like Astolfo remembered him. Brown hair, pretty face, kind, red eyes…
“I don’t know much about fairytales, but maybe they were right?” He asked, staring back at him.
“W-What? There’s no way-“
“What does ‘true love’ even mean? Is it so easy to tell where is applies and where not?” Sieg continued. “I had a lot of time to think about different things, but… you can’t learn about something by only thinking about it. And in the end, I think there’s still a lot I don’t understand… but I know you’re very important to me, Astolfo.”
He could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks, knowing that he could believe those words. Sieg wasn’t one to tell lies, mostly because he simply couldn’t see any reason for that… That was a trait both of them shared.
“But I’m not sure if this is that ‘true love’ you were talking about…”
“If you don’t know, then I’m surely not going to tell you!” Astolfo grinned at his confused face, putting his hands on Sieg’s cheeks. “Your feelings are only your own. Though I can tell you about myself!”
He smiled widely, moving his face closer and pressing another short kiss to Sieg’s cheek. Showing affection openly was a part of him after all.
“Because I, Astolfo, definitely love you!”
For the first time in a really long while Sieg showed him a shy smile, and he decided that confessing his feelings was a fair price for that.
***
“You seem to be in an awfully good mood, Astolfo-san,” Laeticia pointed out, sipping her coffee. They weren’t meeting all that often, but sometimes he would drop by to spend time with a friend and just hang out.
“Well, lately I’ve been having some pretty good dreams!” He replied, grinning at her and stuffing some cake into his mouth.
“Good dreams…” She repeated to herself, as if thinking what could that mean. “Oh, is it related to what you told me a while ago? About Sieg-san? Wait, don’t tell me that you-“
“Seems like the Master-Servant bond is really special after all,” he hummed happily. “I had no idea sharing dreams could mean we also share the dream world! Doesn’t it seem like a wild idea? Meeting someone in a dream! Ah, but you know, it’s not like I’m asleep in that dream. I can actually do whatever I want!”
“You mean like… a lucid dream?”
“Fiore actually said the same thing, but I don’t think that’s it,” Astolfo said. “It doesn’t even feel like a dream. It’s pretty real to me, Laeticia. And I can talk to Sieg like this!”
“Sieg…? Oh, so you really met him…” Laeticia smiled at him. “Since you’re calling him by his name now… Seems like you talked some things through.”
“Ahaha, maybe! Seeing him again after such a long time sure is nice, and we can talk as much as we want… until we wake up, at least.”
“At least like this, you can keep him company, right?”
His hand froze in the air for a moment as he stared at his friend, finally just taking another bite out of the cake. She was right. Sieg was all alone there, and only Astolfo could do anything about it. He didn’t want Sieg to be lonely, of course! That’s why he was so strongly opposed to his plan of saving the world at the end of the war. It was a terrible fate, and he never wished for something like that for a person he wanted to protect so badly. And yet… he couldn’t do a thing.
Sometimes he really thought he was just a pathetic excuse of a Servant.
“It’s not like you to be overthinking things like this, Astolfo-san,” Laeticia said, bringing him back to reality. “I know you’d prefer to just go there and save him, but don’t you think that even something small like this counts?”
“Maybe! You know that coming to logical conclusions isn’t really my thing either!” He laughed in response. “I wish you could meet him too though! So we could all spend some time together. We never really had the time to do so.”
“As long as you two are happy, I’m fine,” she said. “It was mostly Jeanne who interacted with you anyway.”
“Does it really matter? Also, don’t think I couldn’t recognize when it was you and when it was Ruler, it was actually pretty easy to tell you apart. She’s much more of a prim and proper lady than you!”
“Eh? You think so? Jeanne is really nice…”
“She’s nice, but too strict! She’s the one person in the group who needs to get drunk to do something funny!”
“I don’t really want to imagine a drunk Jeanne d’Arc…”
***
The next time Astolfo visited the dreamland happened not long after that meeting with Laeticia. Maybe all the talking about the old days was the reason why his surroundings resembled the city of Trifas so much. He didn’t wake up in the town though… He could see as much without even getting up - he found himself on a meadow nearby, and just like before, he wasn’t alone.
“Looks familiar, doesn’t it?” Sieg asked. He was sitting pretty close to him, so close that Astolfo could easily reach for his hand if he wanted to.
And that’s what he did.
“Maybe a little,” he replied, sitting up too. “My memory isn’t good enough to remember everything, but… It looks like we’re finally not in the middle of nowhere!”
“Astolfo…?”
“Come on, let’s go for a walk!” Not wasting time, he stood up from the ground, then tried to pull the confused Sieg up too. “It’ll be fun to visit a more lively place once in a while, right?”
“I guess you’re right…” Sieg said, letting Astolfo have his way. Even when they were both back to their feet, he didn’t let go of his hand and allowed the Servant to pull him towards the city.
“Of course I’m right! At least in this case, haha… Actually, I’m pretty often wrong… But I probably shouldn’t admit it just like this!” Astolfo talked cheerfully. “Though you already got to learn how unreliable I am, right?”
“I said it before, but I don’t think you’re unreliable,” Sieg stated, apparently deciding that instead of being pulled along, he preferred to walk with him side by side. He picked up his pace for a moment and caught up to him… still not letting go of his hand though, as they walked down one of the streets. “I owe you my life, Astolfo... If it hadn’t been for you, my life wouldn’t have even started.”
The streets weren’t empty like the flower field they’d usually see. They were filled with life, street vendors, running children, stray animals appearing from time to time… Voices surrounding them from all sides. And even thought they knew it was all their imagination and memory, it felt real, for a moment letting them dream of a real world.
“That’s one of the reasons why I’m unreliable. I was serving someone else back then, remember?”
“It doesn’t matter. To me, you were the best companion I could ask for,” he said, squeezing Astolfo’s hand tighter. “If there’s anyone I could always count on, it’s you.”
“What about Ruler then?”
“Do you think she believed in me the way you did?”
“Huh?” Astolfo turned his face to Sieg abruptly, stopping and making him stop as well. He didn’t expect Sieg to ever say those words. “But… didn’t she-“
“You know… Even if I don’t look like this, I’m rather stubborn,” Sieg said, looking him in the eyes. “I would have done what I had wanted to do no matter what. I know Ruler was worried about me, but… so were you, right?”
“Of course I was!”
“And yet, you chose to believe in me instead of trying to persuade me out of this.”
“Because… you’re stubborn and would’ve done that anyway! I wanted to at least show you… that I’m always on your side!” Astolfo exclaimed, out of other ideas what to say, feeling a little flustered. “Of course I wanted the best for you, but… I think I didn’t want you to know the feeling of nobody believing in you, or something like that… I don’t know! I don’t think much before doing something!”
To his surprise, his outburst was greeted with a quiet laughter. He couldn’t recall if he ever heard Sieg laugh before, but it was such a precious sound that he instantly began wanting to hear more of it.
“That’s what I meant,” Sieg said, still sounding a bit amused. “I count always count on you, even when it came to something like that.”
“…it looks like your reason evaporated just like mine,” he replied, unable to stop himself from smiling. “Seems like I had bad influence on you, but I also couldn’t ask for a better Master. Also, we should probably keep going, we’re standing in the middle of a street.”
“You’re right. Some kids seem to be staring at us… Are we really that interesting?”
“We’re holding hands, maybe that’s the reason?”
“I’d sooner say it’s because for a moment it must’ve looked like we were arguing…”
“Nonsense! Let’s go!”
And so, Astolfo started pulling him along once again, and once again he caught up to him in a moment. Sieg didn’t protest when he stopped by some old lady’s stand to buy flowers, or when he tried to stick one of them into Sieg’s hair. When Astolfo chased some stray cat and failed to catch it, he only laughed. He seemed to be enjoying himself, and if it was the truth, then Astolfo was happy, too.
That dream seemed to last much longer than any of the previous ones. He didn’t know how much time they spent there, and even if it still felt like ‘not enough’, the bright day was beginning to fade into a peaceful evening.
“Hey, isn’t that the place where we met Mordred back then?” Astolfo pointed at some restaurant’s window. “Looks very similar!”
“It really does… It might be the same place, but I’m not sure. It’s been a while after all. Want to go inside and check it?” Sieg asked, ready to direct his steps there.
“There’s no need to, what if we meet Mordred again?” It was impossible, of course, but Astolfo really wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet Saber of Red again. “They sure were an interesting person though! Pretty unique, right?”
“Not more than you… But they did save us a few times, despite being supposed to be our enemy,” Sieg said. “Seems like nobody in that war actually knew what they were supposed to do.”
“Especially us. We almost got killed so many times,” Astolfo laughed, letting go of his hand and running a bit ahead. If he remembered it correctly, they should be near a square with a fountain in the middle. The dream would surely come to an end soon, and it was a good place to say goodbye to it…
But when he finally left the alley from which they came, he stopped, instead of running ahead like he normally would. Somebody already took the spot by the fountain – two young girls sitting next to each other.
“What’s wrong, Astolfo?” Sieg asked, catching up to him, so Astolfo pointed at the couple. They were really close and looked as if they were about to kiss… “Oh… We should probably stay quiet the-“
“Get a room, you two!” Astolfo shouted before Sieg could even finish his sentence, making him jump in surprise. The girls by the fountain had an even better reaction – one of them nearly fell into the water. The other quickly stood up, took her hand and began dragging her in the opposite direction than the one they came from.
Astolfo just laughed and finally allowed himself to run towards the abandoned fountain, only to quickly jump onto its edge. He could sense Sieg hurrying after him, as he began balancing on the brink, trying not to fall into the water.
“Why did you do that?” He asked, clearly confused, walking around the fountain to keep up with him.
“They looked like someone who didn’t want anyone to see, so I let them know we’re here. I think it was the right thing to do!” Astolfo replied cheerfully. “I can understand that! While I want everyone to know how much I love you, there are some things I want to share only with you.”
Smiling gently, he extended his hand to Sieg, and when he took it without hesitation he pulled him up, so they were both standing on the rather narrow piece of marble.
“I could’ve pulled you into the water. Do you really trust me that much?”
“I do. Besides… It’s just water. We went through worse things together.”
“True,” Astolfo giggled, holding Sieg’s hands and taking a step back while trying not to fall off. “Now it’s your time to guide me.”
“One step more to the right then,” a quiet reply. “Be careful, if it’s too much to the right, you’ll fall in…”
“I trust you too,” he said, taking another step without really paying attention to what he was doing. The surface under his feet still felt solid, and Sieg was holding his hands tightly… His Master’s face was telling Astolfo that he was more worried than he himself though, so he decided to let go of one of his hands and turn around, to face the direction in which he was going.
And that was a mistake. He instantly wobbled on his feet, already feeling himself sway towards the basin, but… without even doing anything, he was saved from that fate by a pair of hands, catching him on the last possible moment and pulling into an embrace.
“I told you to be careful,” Sieg muttered, holding him close.
“It’s okay, even if I fell, it’s only a dream…” He said, but received no reaction. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around the other boy’s back. “Sieg? Is everything okay?”
“As okay as it can be, I think…”
“This doesn’t really answer the question, you know?”
“I know, but… I just thought that I’m really, really happy to have you.”
That did it for Astolfo. He somehow managed to manipulate them both to sit down on the edge of the fountain without letting go of each other, and then… he spoke again.
“I’ll find a way to save you.”
“Huh?”
“Even if it takes me hundreds of years, I will find a way!” He exclaimed firmly, raising his head to look Sieg in the eyes. “If… If you’re willing to wait for me, I’ll make these dreams come true somehow, I promise you! So we can meet again in the real world…”
Sieg seemed to smile at his words. “I’ll wait then. It’s not like I have anything else to do… But waiting for someone seems a bit less lonely than doing nothing. I’ll wait for you as long as I’ll have to.”
“Thank you… I won’t let you down, I promise.” Once again he felt like crying, but yet again he decided to smile. He instinctively leaned closer, so their foreheads were nearly touching.
“Hey… Astolfo. Can I try that thing you interrupted those girls before? It’s one of those things you want to share only with me, right..?” Sieg asked, once more proving that he had no shame, but… it’s not like Astolfo had much of it either.
“Only if you want it too,” he replied. “Only if I’m the one you want to share it with…”
“You are,” a short answer, and then…
…their lips met, and it was a short and chaste kiss, but at the same time it felt so good, as if just that one kiss changed the order of their worlds, turning the dream into reality instead.
“Is that good enough?” Astolfo asked, not even trying to hide his smile. ”Not disappointed?”
“Do I look disappointed to you?” Sieg said, receiving a giggle as an answer. “I… think I love you, too.”
“Seems like now I will have to try even harder! I can’t make you wait too long, that would be very unfairytale-like, so… I’ll do my best as your Servant once again. And not only as a Servant,” he stated, already sensing that the dreamland was falling apart, like it always was by the end of their meetings… So he had to say it before it was over. “Because before anything… I’m someone who loves you, you know?”’
He didn’t hear the answer, but it was most likely ‘I know’.
***
Waking up with tears in his eyes was something normal for him.
Waking up with a heart full of hope was the thing that changed.