Dreams come true

The night after Zidane's return, Garnet went to bed feeling the happiest woman on Gaia. He was back. He was back! The the man she loved so much, the man who she assumed dead for more than a year, , the man for whom she cried every single night without exception, was - against all the odds - back at her side. She had never been so happy in her whole life.

And when the night fell over Alexandria, Garnet jumped onto the bed, exhausted. It has been a really long, busy day, and the neverending stream of diverse emotions that ran through her heart during the past hours didn't help.

Zidane was staying at the castle, in a bedroom near hers. After the commotion they caused before, with the queen rushing through the crowd onto the stage as soon as she saw him, there were no objections - aside from Steiner but well, Steiner never changes - when she asked the maids to prepare a room for him, despite their concern. No one knew who he was, but judging by their queen's reactions and words, everyone inferred he was someone important.

And so, Garnet's birthday ended as she fell asleep, still wearing a wide smile that refused to leave her face.

.

Garnet woke up in the middle of the night, startled and confused. Her still sleepy, cloudy mind began to flash though all the events that happened hours before. But everything felt so... distant. Was her subconscious fooling her? The memories felt rushed, vague, as if it was just a-

Tears ran down her cheeks as she realized that everything was a dream. The same dream she had had hundreds of times during the last year. A dream where Zidane comes back and says that he loves her and embraces her and she is so happy and...

No. This time it felt so realshe was reluctant to believe it was just another dream. No, it couldn't be. Zidane was back, he was sleeping in his room, probably snoring as usual... Yes, he was there. He had to be there.

Right?

Still, that spike won't leave her mind, regardless her efforts on believing the opposite. It wouldn't be the first time that she has a dream of that kind and wakes up thinking it's real. Actually, happened quite often, and broke her heart every time.

There was just one way to confirm whether it was real or just a delusion,

Not wasting a second, she jumped out of her bed and ran toward the door, eager to prove her own mind wrong. Running through the hallways as quietly as she could, she finally reached the room where Zidane was supposed to be staying.

Lingering at the door, she gazed inside the room. Moonlight hit the edge of the bed, but she couldn't see if Zidane was on there. A sudden feeling of apprehension took over her heart. It couldn't be...

"Zidane?" She called, but there was no response.

She took a step inside the room, and called again.

"Zid? Are you here?"

...But again, nobody answered.

Apprehension. Fear. Disbelief. Tears falling.

It cant't be it cant't be it cant't be it can-

"Dag?"

Garnet was about to turn back when she heard a voice calling her.

"...Zidane? Is it you?" Her eyes light up, heart pounding.

He sat up, observing her with a confused, yet concerned expression on his face. "Dag, are you crying? What's wrong?"

"Zidane-!"

She darted across the room and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms arround his neck. He received her into his arms as well, embracing her tightly, slightly dazed by her unexpected behaviour. He felt his shoulder wet with her tears, and she was trembling.

"It's okay, Dag. I'm here." He said softly, his hand caressing her back slowly. They remained in comfortable silence, deeply embracing each other, her breath returned to normal.

"You better?" He asked, wiping the remaining tears from her face.

She looked up at him with a weak smile. "Yes... Thank you."

He chuckled.

"So tell me what happened. Was it a nightmare?"

She shook her head. "No, it wasn't. It was... quite the opposite, actually. A really good dream..."

"I dreamed with you. With us, in fact. So... when I woke up, I thought that what happened today wasn't real..." Tears approached her eyes again, and her voice trembled. "I was really scared, Zidane. If... if you weren't here, I just couldn't-"

But she could not finish the sentence, as he cut her words with a soft, gentle kiss.

"I know, I know. But I'm here, right?" He said with grin, and she returned a wan smile. "Don't worry over it, Dag. Now go get some sleep, you'll feel much better tomorrow. Your head may be such a mess right now, after all what happened today."

"I... I don't want to sleep. I'm scared..." She buried her face on his chest, like trying to dive deeper into his embrace. "What if I am still dreaming? What if I wake up tomorrow and this was really just a dream?"

She felt his arms tighten arround her, holding her strongly, yet softly.

"Don't think about it, Dagger, please. Look, I'm back, I'm real and I'm with you. I know it was so sudden and it's kinda hard for you to believe it after all this time, but this is not a dream, not this time." He smiled and kissed her forehead gently. "Not anymore."

"But still..."

"Hey, wanna sleep with me?"

Startled, Garnet looked into his cerulean eyes, and took a few seconds to process his question. She had heard that phrase several times during their travels, followed by a mischievous grin, and of course every time she always rejected him firmly, hoping it was just a joke.

In those situations, she would hit or ignore him, but this time was different. She noticed that, unlike the other times, there was no second intentions beneath his words, or any sign of lust in his eyes at all.

Just a warm, honestly worried look.

"...Please."

She replied with the brightest, happiest smile in the whole Gaia.