Note: Before you start making any harsh remarks, the author is not attempting to rewrite the myths of Eros and Psyche here, but rather, recreate it into a much simpler edition. The author is fully aware of the actual myth but she decided that once in a while, the world does deserve an innocent, happy version of the god of love's love.

One-shot for the story between Psyche and Eros, in Psyche's POV.

Lyrics from Death Cab For Cutie.

Dreams In May

Love of mine, some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark
No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark

When I was small, I loved to dream.

I would sit by the serene lake in the forest near the palace, admire the nature surrounding me, dream and completely feel at ease.

I would dream about rainbows, I would dream about the winds. With life as a princess, my days ahead were never going to be relaxed. I would dream about ponies, I would dream about dolphins. Better enjoy time now before I do not have time to anymore.

One day as I was sitting by the lake again, I noticed an angelic-looking boy of my age staring my way in awe.

My mother had used to tell me, before she died in war, that I was beautiful and that I would always be. 'Dear Psyche, my beau,' she said. 'You could have gone out there dressing shabbily without makeup, and you would still have lads looking your way, you're too beautiful for anyone to resist.'

I didn't want to brag but in a way, from how people always looked at me no matter the plight I was in, she was right. But none of the lads had characters charming enough for me. They all dreamt of destroying, they all dreamt of hatred. I distanced myself away from them as much as I could. Since then, I had preferred solitude.

I had no idea how this angel managed to find my secret corner. No one had ever came here but me. It was my secret haven. Though the fact that he was here, hinted that he might have been a nature lover too; a potential lover I've been waiting for all my life. Or maybe he had come to hunt in this forest, which was prohibited for anyone to hunt in and maybe he was just shocked to have been caught by the royal princess herself.

The refined young lad made his way over with a lovely smile on his face and his strides confident. Usually when boys approached, I would turn away but there was something so special about him that made me stayed and watched, anticipating to feel his presence next to me.

He stopped in front of me and bowed. In an elegant voice that made my skin tingle with love, he said, 'May I grace myself with your company, my highness?'

'Of course,' I managed to say without choking on my own voice. As a princess, I have been taught to speak in confidence and never let my voice quaver. This had been a first for me in a long time. I was glad that my ministers were not around to witness the misconduct.

He sat down next to me, close enough for me to catch a whiff of his sweet scent of rose, but far enough for us not to touch by accident. It was a romantic kind of smell, in an attractive masculine way.

Oh how I longed for his touch. His skin was softly illuminated by the morning sun. His lips a perfect curve on his face. His eyes were of a divine shade of blue and they sparkled like the shimmering waters in the lake.

'Princess Psyche,' he said as I caught my breath. He had a sexy French accent that I simply could not resist. 'A penny for your thoughts?'

He reminded me of beautiful love. All of the exhilarations that I had chosen to abstain. From the simplest of all love between old couples, to the love as daring and sacrificial as the radiant Sun who died every night to let the Moon breathe.

Still, I managed to maintain my cool.

'Do I know you, stranger?'

A smile played on his lips, his gaze enigmatic. 'Maybe.'

'I do not know you, young sir.'

I was getting mystified by this stranger. He felt familiar in an intimate sort of way, as if he was from my personal world of fantasy itself, the pleasures personified. He's the warm feeling under the blankets at night, the sweet taste of strawberries as they exploded across my tongue in thousands of sensations, the comfort of waves against my feet.

He leaned over but I was too intrigued to push him away. 'My name is Eros. Do you know me, young one?'

Eros… It sounded familiar, like I should know him indeed. However, I shook my head. I do not like the way he had called me "young one" like I was too immature to understand the world. I was the princess, my teachers had taught me all there was to know!

He chuckled, a sound as melodious as dancing wind chimes, 'You have much to learn, Princess Psyche. You will find out one day.' We sat there in silence for a while, looking out at the fishes in the lake. When I turned to look at my angel again, it was as though he had already flown away, to a beautiful place he truly belonged.

That night, by the dinner table, I sat next to my father. He asked about my day and I gushed in excitement to him. 'I met a beautiful angel called Eros!'

He raised an eyebrow, 'Eros? The god of Love?'

'I am sorry, my lord? I do not understand.'

'God of Love, my darling. Maybe you are in luck. Or not. Ah, it will be young love, I see.'

I still had no idea what was he talking about.

The next day, I went back to my usual spot in the forest and found Eros sitting where he was yesterday, as if he had never left. He smiled when he saw me.

'Do you know who I am now, Princess Psyche?'

'You are the god. My father says Eros is the god.'

Eros tried very hard not to laugh, 'My dear, but there is more than one god in the world. I am the one in charge of love.'

'You do not look like any sort of god.'

'Do I? What sort of gods have you seen before then?'

I stared at him and he laughed his wind chimes laugh again. I found myself longing for more of that delightful sound.

'I, my dear, am the god of Love,' he said. 'I can show you what I can do.'

Eros plucked a golden apple out of mid-air. He handed the apple to me, gesturing for me to eat it.

Magic. Any magician can do that, so I thought until I took a bite, expecting to sink my teeth into paint and beautiful Eros could do that lovely laugh again. On the contrary, however, the apple was the juiciest thing I had ever tasted. I could only imagine myself flying away to a beautiful place, just like Eros did yesterday.

'All the best things only come from Olympus, my homeland, where all the gods lived,' he explained. With a wave of his hand, the seeds of my apple shot into his hands. Eros bent down and planted the seeds into the earth. He closed his eyes and mumbled an incantation. Soon after, I witnessed a seedling sprouting out of the grass; an actual time-lapse in live action.

'What did you do?' I gasped.

'Come over here, Psyche. This apple tree would be growing for you and me, so it needs your magic to keep it growing.'

'I don't think I have magic.'

Eros took my hand and led me over. 'Magic is only something I said to make it easier for you to understand. But honestly, I'm starting to think you might be too intelligent for simple words. So now, sweetheart, you have to ask Persephone to help you with this. She is the goddess of spring. This kind of magic is getting lost in the world but it still works, as long as the goddess is not gone. You can try. Persephone is everywhere here.'

I stroked the tree sapling and said, 'Persephone.'

Eros shushed me to be quiet because prayers to the gods are preferred to be kept soft.

I closed my eyes, fingers still stroking its bark, praying, 'Persephone, let this apple tree grow. Let anyone who loves apples taste the juiciness of the one I had just eaten.'

Opening my eyes, I looked in awe as the apple tree slowly shot up. There was a bright smile on Eros' face. 'Persephone likes you,' he said, but what beamed me up the most was the sentence he declared after that. 'And Psyche, I like you too.'

He planted a kiss on my cheek and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. I was left all alone in the forest with a magical apple tree and flushed red skin. So this is what love felt like. His kiss was much sweeter than the golden apple. He liked me too!

Every day, I would go back to the apple tree to find Eros waiting there for me. We would have a golden apple each from the tree, we would talk and we would laugh. Each time before he left, he never failed to kiss me on my lips before disappearing in a flash.

I would tell him all of my dreams and his eyes would look at me with pride, and he would tell me how much he loved how my dreams were so unique unlike the others on Earth. He would tell me happy things going on around the world, stories of his homeland and how the world could be saved with people like me who had dreams this beautiful.

Soon, I found myself looking forward to every session I get to be with him. I was on cloud nine whenever I was with Eros. I cannot fix the hour or the spot or the look or the words which lay the foundation that led me to fall so deeply under the spell of this beautiful creature who was Love himself. It was all so magical. Young love, my father had said. While everyone else was busy spending their childhood with all the craziness they could try, I was experimenting with love, with Love himself.

In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me,
"Son, fear is the heart of love."
So I never went back

The day before my twelfth birthday, I met Eros as usual. However, I noticed him wearing a disappointed expression on his face. He was entirely glum, even though that did not do much harm to his beautiful appearance.

I wanted to cheer him up so I said, 'It's my birthday tomorrow!' but that had only made him lower his head further.

'My dear Psyche, I...' His voice was hollow. 'I want you to understand that I cannot be with you anymore.'

I smirked, trying to hide the terror rushing in. 'What are you talking about, Eros? We will be together, always and forever. Everything will be okay.'

He held his head between his hands and sighed, 'Things are not as simple as you think, Psyche. I have fallen in love with you, which had caused me to spend excessive time being with you. I ended up neglecting what I should do. The amount of Hate in this world is rising without me. People in the world are hating too much. There has to be a balance, I need to be out there or else Love will be gone once and for all. All of the divinities presiding Love including my mother and I will disappear! The council of the gods are forbidding me to see you anymore. I came today to say goodbye.'

I refused to accept it, I wanted to believe that he was just joking and wanted to give me a surprise tomorrow, but I knew Eros would not break such a heart-shattering news to me as a joke.

I fell to my knees but Eros caught me before I reached the ground. He picked me up in his arms, growing into a full sized beautiful angel, completed with majestic white wings. 'I am sorry it is all real and that reality happens because this is Earth. Live on, I hope we could meet again someday. I will miss you...'

I should have been bewildered that I am seeing the full Eros, wings and all. Instead, I sobbed pitifully and Eros looked at me with regret in his eyes. 'I will miss you more than you ever know.'

We were wet with tears. We hugged and had the longest kiss we ever had. He was warm, and his breath smelt of sweet peppermints and roses. Before he left, he flew me around the city for until he had to go. Gently, he set me back down next to the apple tree and took flight among the winds. Just like that, he was gone.

The next day, I had the most miserable birthday ever. Nothing could cheer me up. My sisters came and asked me what was wrong so I sobbed into their dresses and told them Eros was gone. They gave me a confused look and told me that they bet Eros will come back soon because he had already been gone for so long. They tried to assure me Love still does exist but I did not think they would ever understand what I was talking about. Nobody but Eros and I knew about our love in this kingdom.

Still, every day, I went back to the apple tree to wait for him. The apple tree was starting to wither without him around and the sight brought tears to my eyes. When it was time to leave, I would sob harder because he still did not appear.

My Eros was busy saving the world with Love. I should be happy for him and the world, but why was I still so upset?

Time passed. Slowly, I began to understand the cruelty of reality. I will never see Eros again. War happens because of hatred and jealousy. I learnt a lot, just like Eros had said that I would find out one day.

I did my own research, and learned more about Olympus. I tried looking for a way to get back to Eros' side. Once in a while, I laid out offerings for Lord Zeus, Lady Athena, Lady Aphrodite, and basically every god and goddess I had learnt of, praying for peace and love, praying to be happy, praying for a signal that Eros would soon be returned to my side.

As I grew up, my duties became heavier as a princess. The chances I get to go back to the withered apple tree lessened, but my belief for Eros and Olympus never wavered.

You and me have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
'Cause we'll hold each other soon
In the blackest of rooms

On my eighteenth birthday, suitors came from all over the world but none of them caught my attention. I thought I would get over Eros because I thought that it was young love. Now, I knew it was true love.

A banquet was arranged for me to go around and meet the princes. All of them were handsome but no one could have ever been as beautiful as Eros. They all speak well, but none had that perfect French accent Eros did. Everyone was polite, but nobody compares to how happy Eros could make me feel.

After a while, I got sick of the atmosphere. I excused myself and went to the restroom. I was so angry with myself. Why must I make things so difficult for myself by comparing everyone with Eros? It is impossible to find anyone as exquisite as my Eros. However, it had been many years that I had gone without him, why is it so hard to get him out of my mind? I washed my face fiercely, ruining my makeup in the process.

'Oh dear, Psyche, don't do that,' a voice from behind me said. My head darted up in alarm. The voice was clearly male and I was sure I went into the right toilet. I spun around quickly and found myself face to face with one of the suitors.

He was a prince from Thessaly and he disgusted me because I noticed that he enjoyed touching his own buttocks. A definite no-go for a partner.

'Go away,' I growled. 'Leave me alone.'

'Such a fierce little beauty, aren't you?' He smirked and stroked my face, his fingers slowly moving down to my chest. I tried to fight back but he was too strong. He gripped both my hands tightly in one of his.

'I see the gossips about your indestructible beauty is true. That destroyed makeup can't even affect your grace one bit. I am so attracted now despite seeing you at your worse. Don't be shy, we'll have a good time.'

'Leave. Me. Alone, prince of Thessaly. Or I shall call on my guards.'

With a swift motion, he muffled me with toilet paper and shoved me into an empty cubicle, slamming it shut behind him. The noise echoed around the vacant lavatory. 'You are mine now, Psyche.'

I clenched my fist. Closing my eyes, I called on Artemis, the patron of virgin girls. Midway through my prayer, the suitor ripped off my dress and touched me.

No, before his hands could even touch my skin, a silver arrow quick as lightning pierced through his hands, pulling him off me. He slammed against the door, wailing like an ogre.

Nearby, a shimmering beautiful young lady who was no doubt, much more beautiful than me, stood with a silver bow in her hand. 'Are you alright?'

Oh dear gods, do all gods' voices sound so perfect? I knew she was the goddess Artemis without needing to have made her acquaintance before. She emitted the powerful aura of an Olympian and she was enwrapped in a pale halo of silver and green.

Artemis was dressed in a moonlight-silver tight-suit, her hair held up with a gorgeous crown of flower-wreath. Her eyes were shining bright as the Moon. Next to her, a deer with a snowy coat stared cautiously at the prince now lying motionless on the floor. I nodded and quickly set to cover myself up, spitting toilet paper into the latrine.

'Oh!' Her hand flew to her mouth. 'Eros will be so pissed!' Before I could react, she waved her hand, and my dress and makeup rearranged itself. My mouth was free of the toilet paper taste and she turned and disappeared, quicker than how Eros did years ago. As goddess of the hunt, I figured she would be no doubt faster than the god of love.

'That's not surprising… Not surprising at all.' I shivered on the floor, reassuring myself. I had a love story with the god of love. The goddess of the hunt came to my rescue. 'It's all part of life, everyone would experience this at some part in their life…'

A few lonely minutes being in a daze on the ground, my cubicle suddenly started shaking violently.

'Earthquake!' Voices from outside yelled.

I struggled to pick myself up and managed to make it out. I panicked to see everything in a havoc. What greeted my eyes was a place that was quickly turning into a wasted landfill. Pillars fell, tables crashed, people getting stuck under heavy fallen objects, you named it, it happened.

'Psyche!' My father called from not far away. Before I could shout back, I noticed that his eyes wide with shock, focusing on something behind me.

I turned, facing a huge wave of water, several metres taller than me. Lord Poseidon, NO—

As it crashed down on me, I felt hands gently tugging me away to safety. With much effort, I opened my eyes to see what it was. They were girls with pretty smiles, guiding me through the currents. One of them waved at me. Nymphs.

'We're naiads!' They had an underwater voice. 'Don't you worry, you're safe now.' I had read that naiads were the female spirits who presided over freshwater bodies. These must be the naiads of the lake near the palace.

They kept tugging on my hands and soon the currents got stronger. I had an extremely difficult time trying to hold my breath.

Just when I thought I could not hold it anymore, I was thrusted into the arms of somebody warm. Wings folded over me protectively and the angel blew air upon me, and my wet clothes, hair and skin dried up instantly. I inhaled deeply, taking in the familiar scent of roses. 'Eros, I missed you so so much.'

Eros' grin was wide. 'And I just cannot explain how glad I am to finally have you back in my arms, I loved you forever, Psyche!'

'Do not leave me anymore…'

'I will not, promise! In fact, I bring good news. All the gods and goddesses liked you, and so the council had decreed. You're coming back with me to be my wife, whether you liked it or not,' Eros winked.

'Like it? I loved it, Eros! I love you I love you I love you…'

I never thought I could have been anymore happier than this.

If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the No's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark