Hello, everyone! Thank you for deciding to read this story. It is my first story, so any criticism is appreciated! It was inspired by the song "Magnet" by Ryuusei-P. It was hard to fit this into the summary, but it's possible that the rating might go up later. Additionally, though the original song is in Japanese, the lyrics, for the purpose of this story, are the translated English lines.

Ah, and this takes place in a kingdom named Alar(I wonder where that name came from? xD)

'I want you to tell me

That you don't think this is a mistake

...

You are everything in the world to me...'

"Sleeping on the job again, Kirkland?" Arthur jolted up from his slouching position at his desk with a start, seeing crisp, icy blue eyes leering down at him. Obnoxious, wonderful blue eyes that could only ever belong to the absolutely infuriating Francis Bonnefoy. Arthur wearily drew himself up fully from his desk, looking down at the documents he had wrinkled when he had fallen asleep. Judging by the bleak darkness outside the window and the faint glow of house lights far away, it was probably late at night. The lantern on his desk flickered miserably, as if reflecting his mood.

"What do you want?" he asked tiredly, picking up his pen and struggling to find where he had left off. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Francis today. Well, truly, he was never in the mood to deal with Francis, but today was not one of his better days when he could tolerate him.

"Don't disrespect the author," Francis said coldly. "Are you suggesting that her work is so dreadful that you weren't able to keep your eyes open?" Francis shook a finger at him condescendingly, and for once, Arthur knew he had nothing to say in his defense.

"I just..." Arthur sighed, slumping into his chair again. He was distracted, he was anxious, and he knew why. He knew that he had that dream, again, that plagued him almost every night. That song...'You are everything in the world to me...'

It was like grasping at particles of dust, hoping to find substance, hoping to catch something, but it would always float away, tauntingly out of reach, and when it was caught it revealed itself to be absolutely nothing at all. The dream taunted him, teased him, and he could never remember any of it for more than a minute afterwards.

"Francis, have you...do you go to concerts often?"

"I do have quite a taste in music, yes. I've seen anything from Sopora to Truzan. 'Tis wonderful, no? Truzan's vocals certainly have improved over the last couple of years, especially in his 'Esparza'..."

"There's this...song, I keep..." Arthur rubbed his temple in frustration. "It...it has this melody that..." What was it again? And what were the lyrics? Why could he ever only remember three lines of it? It felt so familiar, yet so distant...Surely it must be something popular, something that would have caught Arthur's attention. He wasn't terribly fond of music as most young people were nowadays, but occasionally he'd indulge in a small music festival or two when he had the time.

Francis frowned, tilting his head. "I would be pleased to discuss anything with you during non-working hours, but you, my dear friend, need to straighten your tie and get back to work. Aren't you always calling yourself the...ah, yes, that wonderful term. Gentleman?"

"I know how to do my job, frog!" Arthur spat, shooing away Francis while writing notes. Why on earth did he believe for a second that Francis would ever be of use to him? Indeed, he had been of...a particular use to him five years ago, until he had proven he was more trouble and sorrow than he was worth.

"Whatever you say, Kirkland..." Francis smiled as he left the room, whistling.

"Nowhere in Alar will you find that kind of temper..." Francis made sure to let Arthur hear his final taunt before he closed the door quietly behind him.

It took Arthur over seven hours to finish editing the rest of the novel. For the first time in his life, it was excruciating and unbelievably tedious to trudge through the entire piece, and Arthur counted down the pages as he covered the helpless white with endless red. The characters moved absolutely nowhere at all, the plot didn't seem to move forward even if a hot iron was pressed to it, and most unbelievable was the amount of careless spelling and grammar errors that the author's own child could have probably fixed. He was given a two day vacation for his trouble, though Arthur didn't know how he could possibly rid himself of thoughts of that horrible novel. But he wasn't so broken as to not even try. No, he knew how to clear his head. And taking a stroll through the countryside was just one of those ways. No annoying frogs to disturb him, a cool breeze...

'I want you to kiss me

I want you to remake me

I want to drown in this moment of captivation'

Arthur's eyes widened as he stumbled on the path, catching himself. The lyrics...the song, it just...did he hear it from somewhere? Or was he hallucinating again?

That song...he'd always had dreams about it, but he'd never actually heard it while he was awake. Perhaps someone was singing it? But he seemed to be the only person on the mountain trail that day, and he couldn't even see a bird or squirrel on any tree.

He never understood why he'd only dream about that song. Sometimes he'd have other dreams, but he'd never remember them. Only the song. And it drove him insane. Especially recently, since the song had begun nestling itself into his thoughts in the daytime. Usually he'd just brush it off as 'just a dream,' but as of late, he had started to have an emotional reaction to the song. He felt his heart wrench in pain and felt as if...as if it had more meaning. Which dreams, of course, never did.

Already, he had forgotten the lyrics from yesterday's dream. And now, what he had just heard...it was already fading away. He'd resorted to writing the lyrics down, but just when he went to write them, he'd always forget the exact line.

"Moment of...captivation," Arthur murmured. He began humming, and singing, whatever was left, just the remnants, anything, any part of it...

He wasn't very good at singing, and he knew it. What he didn't know, however, was why he'd throw his pride away just to sing this stupid, infuriating song that had such a strong hold on him that he was going insane from thinking about it.

He was more than irritated. He couldn't let this song affect his life and his work. It was just some sick fabrication of his imagination; nothing more. So why could he never forget it? It was high time he went to a psychiatrist.

Although, he couldn't risk the psychiatrist diagnosing him of something else, something deeper hidden within him that he'd struggled not to tell anyone. That his visits to Francis five years ago had almost exposed. How Francis' knowing smile had caused his heart to turn in disgust. But he had wanted him anyway, and he was punished for that want.

Was he already near the peak of the hill? How far had he walked? It was getting dark; he knew he should go back soon. He turned back, and the lights of the city glittered against the dull sway of the trees, unnatural, monstrous, bright lights that hurt Arthur's eyes to look at.

'Every moment, it's harder to restrain myself

...

There is no chance in our reality

If we touch, I know we can never go back...

And that's just fine...'

"That song...again..." Arthur groaned, clutching his head. He didn't care anymore. He didn't want to know, he didn't want to hear it, he didn't want it to make him feel like this, and he didn't want his heart to throb so much it suffocated him...

As Arthur tripped over a tree root and stumbled over the cliff, a sharp scream ripped through the night as the sway of the trees muffled it, almost as if they were sorry for him.