Bittersweet Dreams

Story Notes: I just recently discovered ½ Prince and I am already in love with it. Just thought I would see how this story would be received before I finish it. Also the song that Gui sings briefly is Goodnight, My Angel by Billy Joel. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy. Any suggestions are definitely welcome!

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Xiao Lan leaned heavily against the vertical bar in the bus as she tried to keep her balance through the dizzy spell she was experiencing. Earlier that morning she had decided to go to school even though she had struggled to get out of bed. The night before she had started to feel ill, but she thought that if she pressed through it that she would start feeling better later on in the day. She had quickly come to regret that choice as class after class went by and she struggled to even catch the general idea behind each lesson.

The bus came to a halting stop causing Xiao Lan stumble. She blushed in embarrassment as she accidentally crashed into a stranger. The woman glared at her throughout her apology and Xiao Lan was grateful when she made it down the stairs and onto steady ground. Unfortunately, it still felt as though the ground was moving underneath her. Xiao Lan groaned aloud and covered her for a moment to steady herself. All she had to do was get home and then she would be able to lay down... Yang Ming had thankfully gone over to Zhuo Ling's house to "study" and spend the night. Although it would have been nice not to have to spend the night alone, it was also a far better option than being hounded by her brother to cook dinner when she was feeling like this.

She began the slow process of getting to her family's apartment, and was slightly aware of the glowers she received from passing housewives. While she tried her best to keep her balance she couldn't prevent herself from swaying back and forth as she walked, and she could only presume that they thought she was a drunk. Just one more reason to hurry home she supposed.

Xiao Lan finally spotted her building and thanked the stars that she was familiar enough with the way that she didn't get lost while distracted. She sped up her pace slightly only to stumble as she reached the door. For a moment she allowed herself to take a breath before pushing forward. So close. She promised herself that once she got up the elevator and into the apartment she would immediately lay down. Lay down and let herself settle in for another night of Second Life. Through her dizziness Xiao Lan smiled even as she pressed the button for her floor and leaned against the wall as the elevator began to rise. It would be nice to see everyone and not feel so sick... Among other things the strength that Second Life gave her was something she deeply appreciated. Her character Prince liberated her in many ways and allowed her to respond however she wished. The responsibilities and difficulties that came along the way were nothing in comparison to that.

As she stumbled out of the elevator she fumbled to get her key out so that she could open the door. She dropped them and was horrified when tears started to leak out of her eyes. Her head pounded as she bent down to grab them and could only be grateful that no one saw her in the midst of her weakness. She took a deep breath and unlocked the door and let herself in before closing and leaning against it. The dizziness that she had been fighting all day seemed to be increasing tenfold and she struggled to fight the nausea that came with it. Xiao Lan struggled with herself for a moment, she was so close... She pushed against the hard wood of the door, stumbled into her room, and fell down face first on her bed. There she took a few deep breaths before turning her head so that she could see the Second Life console waiting for her. For a moment she considered not brothering, just letting herself drift off.

Xiao Lan jerked herself out of the stupor she had fallen into. She might not have the strength to get up or even to just get changed out of her school clothes, but she could reach over and get the Second Life console. She wanted to see everyone. No, she needed to see everyone.

With a sigh Xiao Lan felt the slight falling sensation as she fell to sleep and became Prince once again.

When Prince opened his eyes he instantly noticed how empty the courtyard felt where he had last logged out. Usually by the time he normally logged in a good portion of Second Lifes population had already done so. This was something that Prince hadn't particularly thought about aside from eagerly looking forward to going to bed and getting done from the load of homework that he had every night. As it was it was still early to be on in Second Life and Prince groaned as he realized he would be left to his own devices until everyone else began to log on.

Looking around Prince could see a few castle guards that he was pretty sure were just NPC's hired to protect Infinite City while most of its citizens were away. He made another noise of disgruntlement and decided that since everyone was gone away he would just go and train for a bit. Taking a step forward while calling out for Kenshin, Prince was startled when he stumbled. He caught himself easily and kept walking, but he felt a wave of consternation at the event. In Second Life he was strong. Whatever was wrong with him in real life would have no impact on him here Xiao Lan firmly told himself.

Prince spotted a flash of red as Kenshin made his way over to him. A smile spread on his face and he quickly let Kenshin know about his intentions to train for the next few hours until the others logged on.

"Where do you wish to go then?"

"Um..." Prince hadn't actually thought that far along in his plans. Where ever he went it should probably be close by. He supposed that he could call Sunshine as well so they could fly... The thought of it made Prince feel lightheaded.

"Are you alright Prince?"

Prince looked up and realized he had been holding his head in one of his hands. "Yeah perfectly! Sorry just thinking about something... lets just head North and see what we find, eh?"

Kenshin looked slightly dubious about this, but nodded his head anyway. They both stood silently for a moment.

Prince flushed a bit as he realized that Kenshin was waiting for him to start off. "Ah, maybe its better for you to lead Kenshin... everyone knows that am not the best with directions." So that may have been a bit of an understatement and usually Prince wouldn't hesitate to lead (and be corrected), but today... Prince braced himself and started walking behind Kenshin. There was nothing wrong with him, his health and energy stats were fully charged and he was ready to start earning some xp.

Alright so maybe that hadn't been the brightest idea. Kenshin and him had run into some run of the mill monsters that were on the low end for Prince's level. However, that hadn't prevented Prince was getting his ass trashed over and over again. Kenshin had repeatedly needed to intervene before Prince died and lost a level. Prince flopped down on the grass and threw his arm across his eyes to block out the sun. What was wrong with him?

Except that was a question that Prince or Xiao Lan already knew the answer to. His reaction times were down easily by half. He was having a hard time concentrating. And worse yet all he wanted to do was rest. Prince fisted his hand and banged it against the ground. It was ridiculous his body was already resting!Why was his game play being affected? He had all this extra time that she normally wouldn't and it was all being wasted...

Beside him, Kenshin sat quietly staring off into the distance. Prince gradually regained his breath and downed his last health potion. "Your teammates are likely logging on soon." Kenshin quietly reminded Prince. The self-aware NPC had said nothing about Prince's current lack of ability.

"Yeah, I guess we should head back." Prince didn't really want to get up. The idea of walking back to Infinite City right now was almost too much after failing so badly at training.

"Do you... should we call Sunshine to pick us up maybe?" Prince felt even more of a failure for saying that, but with the option available he was almost desperate to take it. Playing Second Life while sick was becoming less and less appealing and if it weren't for seeing his friends Prince knew he would have probably logged off at that moment.

"I have messaged him and he will be here in a few minutes." Kenshin's reply was simple and to the point but caused Prince to look over at his strange friend. The NPC glanced at him and then looked away without a word. Prince sighed and pushed himself up so that he was seated beside the Demon Lord. Somehow he had managed to worry even Kenshin.

"Sorry, I am just off my game today." Kenshin said nothing in return. They waited quietly side by side until the spotted Sunshine's magic carpet in the distance.

As Sunshine shot down on his carpet to meet them Prince remembered that he hadn't wanted to ride on the carpet that day. He stared hard at the carpet, trying to get up the gumption to actually get on after having Sunshine come all the way out. Unlike Kenshin, though, Sunshine had no qualms about not saying anything about Prince's odd behavior.

"What is wrong Prince? Kenshin said that we should get you back to Infinite City right away. Did you have spell placed on you? Did you drink poison? Nothing shows up when I look at your stats. Kenshin, whats wrong with Prince?"

Kenshin was now glaring at Sunshine slightly and Prince felt another blush coming on. He wondered what the normally reserved Kenshin had said when he whispered Sunshine. "Nothing's wrong, I just wasn't feeling well when I logged on and I guess its affecting my game play." Might as well be up front and stop the NPC's from worrying if there was some kind of strange new game virus or something that came from a new patch.

At his words Kenshin's frame seemed to relax slightly and Prince wondered a bit what had been running through the NPC's mind. Sunshine on the other hand began to verbally expound upon his every thought on the matter. Prince didn't pay attention to most of it until Sunshine asked a question. He unfortunately didn't catch most of it and had to ask Sunshine to repeat himself. "Should you be in Second Life when your not feeling well on the other side?"

Prince frowned and rested his chin in his hand as he looked away. "I thought it would be fine," he grumbled a bit before continuing, "Anyway, I just want to see everyone for a bit, as long as I don't do any fighting I don't see how it can affect me." Prince didn't look over to see the critical looks on both Sunshine and Kenshin's faces.

"Are we almost there yet?" While Prince kept telling himself firmly that the nausea wasn't real it certainly felt like it and he wanted desperately to be on firm ground again.

"Yes..." Sunshine seemed to hesitate before continuing, "I will drop us off at the tower so that you don't need to go through any of the crowds." That was an idea that Prince could get behind. That and the fact that not climbing all those stairs was sounding awfully good at the moment. Prince nodded even as he tried to hide a scowl. The way his fever in real life was affecting him even in game play was extremely frustrating. He was supposed to be strong and untouchable here, and it was all being taken away. Prince rubbed at his head, even the headache that she thought she had gotten away from was starting to appear in Second Life.

Sunshine had taken the carpet directly to Prince's room at the top of the tower (the security was only slightly less than that of the crystal room) and as the carpet settled down Prince stumbled off and would have fallen face first on the floor if Kenshin hadn't caught him last second. The NPC was clearly frowning now and Prince once again flushed in embarrassment as he muttered a quick thank you. Kenshin helped Prince stand up and he was frustrated to note that even after the NPC helped him he was leaning towards one side.

"Do you want us to call one of your friends for you?" Kenshin asked with a surprisingly disapproving look as Prince stumbled off to the side of the room to lean against a pillar.

"No, no its fine, I will call them in a minute. Just need to catch my breath." Prince was slowly catching on to the fact that the same symptoms that he had been experiencing in real life were slowly appearing in Second Life. Prince scowled, it was probably something that the programmers had put in the game just to spite people like him.

Suddenly the door crashed open and Gui came running through with his arms spread open wide. "Oh my eternal love! It seemed to be a sweet dream when I saw your handsome visage in the sky as I stood in the courtyard. I ran with haste so that I could bask in your presence. Love! Your highness! Let us embrace and cherish one another till the end of time!" Gui clearly intended to wrap his arms around him and smother him to death if he had the option. Normally, Prince's instant reaction would range anywhere from a simple upper-cut of the jaw (that would send Gui flying) to beating Gui to his last breath. It just depended on his current stress level and the need to relieve it. However, as it was, when Gui's arms came around Prince, instead of the beating that Gui was surely expecting, Prince simply melted into his arms, letting Gui hold him.

Much to Princes amusement this seemed to freeze Gui up almost immediately. "Your Highness?" Gui's muscles lax muscles became tight with tension and Prince simultaneously rolled his eyes while trying to move away since it wasn't as comfortable as he thought it might have been. This however was not successful as Prince could feel his energy fleeing and the strength that he did put into it was not enough to break Gui's frozen embrace.

Prince let his head fall back on Gui's shoulder and sighed. This was bad, he didn't want to give Gui the wrong impression, he really should beat the man up for even attempting to hug him. Prince closed his eyes, "Gui, let me go." He didn't have the energy to do anything more. If he had to maybe he could order Kenshin to take Gui down for him...

Gui seemed to regain function of his limbs and moved away from Prince while still holding him at arms length. "Your highness?" He asked again, before looking over at Sunshine and Kenshin who were still in the room. Gui suddenly had a serious face of concern that reminded Prince more of her professor than the friend she had in Gui. "What is wrong with Prince?" This time he clearly addressed the NPC's while looking back and forth between them and studying Prince.

Sunshine immediately began sputtering on about all of the symptoms that Prince had been showing, but Kenshin interrupted and quickly told Gui what Prince had said earlier. A stormy expression appeared on Gui's face.

"Why did you get on Second Life when you were feeling ill?" Gui asked him seriously. He was being way to serious. Prince liked it better when Gui acted stupid and he could respond normally. He didn't know how to react now with Gui contemplating him so seriously. Prince flushed and shrugged out of Gui's light hold and wandered towards one of the chairs that had been placed in the room before flopping down with the rest of his energy. He muttered something under his breath that he was sure no one else would have been able to hear.

"What was that?" Gui still was so serious and now was kneeing next to her. When did he get over here anyway?

"I said that I just wanted to see everyone, okay?" Prince scowled at Gui before shutting his eyes and rubbing his head. His headache was just getting worse. Suddenly Gui's hand was guiding his own away from his head and Prince blinked wide-eyed as the man got even closer. What was he...?

Gui put his other hand against Prince's forehead and his frown deepened even further. "Prince you have a fever, and a high one at that from what I can feel even in the game."

"Hmm, so?" Prince let his head flop down and rest against Gui's cool hand.

"So if you had read Second Life's rule book or any virtual reality game for that matter you would know that its strongly recommended that you don't play when ill, particularly with a fever."

Prince groaned, "That's a stupid rule, all I want to do is play... is that why they have it set so that your symptoms start showing up in game play? That's a really annoying thing to do..."

Gui shook his head. "No, the reason why they explicitly put that rule in the rule book and even on the package as a warning is because when someone has a fever their mind is impacted as much as the rest of their body. It means that the game itself has very little to no control over what the player feels unless its something that the player is directly interacting with inside the game." Gui trailed off at the look of confusion on Prince's face. "Your not getting any of this are you?" Prince shook his head slightly before wincing at the effect the movement had on his head.

"Why do I feel so awful?" He groaned and moved away from Gui's hand to curl in on himself. He could feel Gui's hand in his hair, petting him gently as he replied. "Your feeling this way cause its what your feeling in real life... Prince you should log off and tell someone that your feeling ill so that they can take care of you." There were mixed emotions in Gui's voice that Prince couldn't find it within himself to try and translate.

"Hmm I don't want to. I am sleeping anyway so I should feel better in the morning when I wake up."

"Your highness, my love, look at me." Gui lifted Prince's chin up so that they were eye to eye. Prince felt the stirring of annoyance, but couldn't will himself to muster anything more. "Listen to me carefully, normally when you are sick your body is able to go in and out of rest as you need to. And you would be able to feel it if you were getting worse and respond even if you were settled down for the night. However when you are in Second Life you are here until you log off, and the only way for your mind to tell you there is something wrong is through the symptoms that you are feeling right now."

Prince twisted his head and curled back into himself. "I'll be fine." He grumbled. He wished that his head would stop pounding, it felt like there a pound of lead inside it, but all the same he wasn't that sick either. Distantly she heard the door open and shut as Sunshine and Kenshin left.

For a moment Prince thought that Gui was giving up before the older man finally spoke with a restrained voice even has his worry clearly carried through. "Prince do you not remember on the news-the cases of individuals from The World having to be hospitalized because they neglected themselves so that they could play?"

Prince didn't bother replying this time, just sighed and tried to breath through the banging in his head. Of course he knew about those cases... his mom and dad had hounded him and his brother about it until the safety measures were put in place that stopped individuals from playing more than 13 hours in a day. Hardly anyone ever came up against that time limit, but it was something that had carried over into Second Life as well. Besides that, he was sick... it wasn't like she was wasting away in her bed like those people had been.

Gui was saying something again, but Prince wasn't really listening. With a gaspshe realized that Gui was picking him up bridal style and was carrying him somewhere. He smacked his chest with as much energy that He could muster. Which honestly wasn't very much, but was grateful when he finally sat her down on the bed that he had hardly touched previously.

"Oh..."she let out a breath of relief as he settled into the soft mattress. Maybe he should start ending and starting game play here... it was very very soft.

Gui was moving away. "Where are you going?" The man stopped and knelt down beside him again. Gui was very nice looking. He smiled at him. "I was trying to contact Wicked... he seems to know you in real life and I thought maybe he could contact someone close to you about your illness."

Even as sick as Prince was feeling at the moment, the idea of Gui willingly contacting Wicked to do something that he couldn't was shocking. "Seriously?" Prince asked wide eyed. Gui nodded but seemed distracted.

"It seems that he is off the game currently... is there anyone else who knows who you are in reality Prince?"

For a moment Prince wasn't sure what to say. Gui had to be really worried to be willing to try contacting Wicked... on the other hand Xiao Lan really didn't want Gui to know that people he knew in real life were the same that knew her. "Um..." he looked away from Gui's worried expression and then back to Gui again. He didn't feel good enough for this... there wasn't anyone around anyway, maybe he should just log off so that Gui would be happy...

"No your highness!" Oh he must have been talking aloud. Suck. "It's important that you have someone there to take care of you!" Gui's concern was coming a crossed in his voice loud and clear now. "Just wait a moment. You have known Lolidragon for the longest out of all of us, if you won't tell me maybe you will tell her." Gui's expression went distant for a moment before focusing back on Prince. "She'll be here in ten minutes."

Prince made a unhappy expression, but there wasn't much he could do in his current position. There didn't seem much of a point to staying logged in and he felt tired anyway. How ridiculous was that? Feeling tired when he was sleeping? Her eyes drooped half closed.

Well if he was staying he might as well be productive. He slowly lifted up her arm and flopped it against Gui's chest. "Hey why don't we practice for the concert while we are waiting or something?" He mumbled. Gui looked at him incredulously in response.

He flopped her arm against him a second time and closed her eyes. "Come on... sing that new song that you have been making so that I can get a feel of it." While he was feeling miserable he might as well make the best of it. Gui was staying silent though, and he tried not to let a pout grow on his face just as Gui finally started to sing.

"Good night my angel, time to close you eyes And save these questions for another day..."

For a few moments Xiao Lan struggled to place where he had heard the song before, since he most definitely had. (So it was definitely not the song that Gui was supposed to be creating...).

"I think I know what you've been asking me I think you know what I've been trying to say"

Prince gave up and allowed himself to just listen to Gui's rich tenor and soothe him into a gentle peace. Though he wasn't actually falling asleep, he thought that if you could sleep in Second Life without logging out that's what he would be doing.

He was jolted out of his semi-rest when the door of the room banged open for the second time that day and Gui's voice immediately stopped. Prince simultaneously grabbed hold of his head and tried to hold it together so it wouldn't fall apart like it felt like it was doing. "What are you thinking?" Lolidragon's angry roar echoed in the room and Prince couldn't help but groan in response.

"Gui said that you won't contact anyone to help you?" Lolidragon seemed to have no compunction against continuing to yell despite Prince's pitiful whimpers. It seemed to suddenly stop however and turned in serious whispers exchanged between Lolidragon and Gui that ended with Gui leaving the room.

"Why haven't you contact anyone yet Prince! I know that you can be stubborn, but being this sick while in Second Life is serious!"

Prince frowned and against his better judgement asked, "Why?"

Lolidragon scowled furiously at her friend, "You didn't read the instruction manual or warnings at all did you?" She got a blank look in return. "Whatever your feeling right now in real life its at least double..." Lolidragon grudgingly told her. "Second Life is made to primarily focus on what you feel in this world... but it can't block out what you feel in reality entirely. That means if you feel this sick here you have got to be seriously sick in real life. Now who can I message? I already tried your brother and Wicked but they are both not on..."

"Hmm they won't be for a while probably, if at all, they are having a guys night and probably getting up to mischief.."

"Who else then?"

Prince felt reluctant to say any thing more... there was no body, but he supposed he should log off so that Gui and Lolidragon wouldn't keep worrying about him... Maybe he could lie and say that he would tell her parents when he woke up from the game. It was admittedly bad timing that they had left for another "honeymoon".

"What about Jing or Yun? They are your friends in real life right?" The pitch of Lolidragon's voice was slowly getting higher.

"Jing is visiting her grandma, and invited Yun along with..." Prince said tiredly.

"And they didn't invite you?" Lolidragon sounds incredulous.

"I wasn't feeling good so I turned Jing down."

There was a clatter as Lolidragon kicked one of the chairs in the room sending it flying into the wall.

"So your telling me that we are waiting on your brother to hopefully log on sometime tonight then?" Lolidragon sounded incredibly frustrated and Prince winced at the distress she was causing her friends. It was time to use her back up... too bad too since even with as bad as she was feeling she was still enjoying their company.

"No no... look I will just log off... I swear I will tell my parents okay?"

"Wait your parents are home! Why didn't you just log off in the first place then! You stupid kid..." Lolidragon was a bit scary when she was upset and Prince decided the best option was for her to log off sooner rather than later.

"Tell Gui I'll be fine."

The instant that Xiao Lan woke up she nearly cried as her head pounded. It had definitely been much much better and less painful in Second Life than here. She whimpered as she curled up in a ball and tried to wait it out. She wished she could just go back, after all there was nothing for her here but the pain.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! :)