Judith's eyes shot open as she suddenly awoke. She took a quick glance around the room, trying to remember where she'd fallen asleep. She was lying on a soft feather mattress, surrounded by walls made of a familiar grey stone. There was an oddly shaped dresser at the foot of the bed and a simple three-legged table off to the side, both made of wood and whitewashed. There was also a small wooden stool pushed up against the side of the bed; it seemed oddly out of place. On impulse she reached out and touched it, discovering that it was still warm; it had recently been occupied. Her bedsheets fell into her lap, revealing that she was dressed in a young girl's sleeping outfit. That's odd, where did I get...

On the far side of the room was a wooden door, painted the same shade of blue that she could see in the sky through the two large windows; her favourite color. She could see the rooftops of several other buildings below, indicating that she was at the top of a hill. All of the buildings were made of the same grey stone as the walls of her room.

Wait, my room? Judith puzzled to herself before having a stroke of recognition. Yes, I remember now! My feather bed, these windows, the white furniture, the beautiful blue door...this is my room, in my house, on top of Temza Hill. But what am I doing here...?

Her mind struggled to piece together what was going when the door creaked open, permitting a man to enter. As he came into view Judith gasped at the depths of the despair she could see in his eyes. His shoulders drooped and his back slumped, as though the weight of the entire world pushed down on him with every step. His eyes had dark rings circling them, indicating he hadn't slept properly in days. Judging by the wrinkles and stains in his clothing he likely hadn't changed in as many days either.

However, all of these things were but fleeting thoughts in Judith's mind, because the most disturbing thing of all about the man wasn't his appearance. It was the fact that this man was supposed to be dead.

"Father?" Judith barely managed to whisper as her heart lodged itself in her throat.

The man's head immediately swiveled to look at her. She watched as the despair was swept from his eyes, replaced by powerful feelings of hope and relief.

"Judith! You're awake! Praise the Goddess!" He rushed to the side of the bed and wrapped his arms around her, holding onto her as though he was afraid she'd disappear if he let go. Caught by surprise, Judith simply sat there, numbly trying to figure out what was happening. I don't know what's going on here, but...why does it all feel so familiar...?

After a few moments of embracing her father put his hand to her forehead. "Yes, the fever seems to have broken," he said with relief filling his voice, then sat down on the stool. "I was so worried. You've been asleep for days."

Judith just stared blankly at him. Asleep for days? Was this really her father? No, that was impossible, her father was definitely dead. There was no way he could be alive, and there was no way they could be sitting in this room. What was going on here? She tried to remember where she had fallen asleep when a sudden sharp pain lanced through her skull, preventing her from thinking about anything except how much her head hurt. Then Judith heard a familiar voice speak.

"Daddy, I had a bad dream," it said, almost a whine. The voice seemed to come from everywhere in the room at once, echoing off the walls. It reminded Judith of her own voice, only much younger.

"Oh, dear heart, my little Judy," her father replied as he gently stroked her waist-length blue hair, "you've been very sick. How do you feel now?"

It felt like her brain was trying to burst through her skull. Judith couldn't remember a time when her head had ever hurt so much. Actually, she couldn't really seem to remember anything at all...

"My head hurts," the little voice echoed her thoughts aloud. Wincing through another burst of pain, Judith reached around to touch the back of her head and discovered a large bump forming at the base of her skull. "Right here," the voice said, just as she touched it.

What happened to me, how did I...Judith struggled again to figure out what was going on, but everything seemed so fuzzy; everything except the pain, so excruciating that it muddled her thoughts, keeping her from recalling anything.

"It's all right, my dear Judith, it's all right," her father's voice was so soft and reassuring, she had the sudden feeling that everything was going to be all right. She knew her father would protect and look after her. Nothing bad could happen as long as he was here.

"Do you remember anything about what happened?"

"No, I can't...ah!" She fell forward into her father's arms as another burst of pain caused spots of pain to swim through her vision. She closed her eyes in an attempt to shut out the agony coursing through her skull, but it wouldn't stop. Instead it became worse and started to spread downward, filling her entire body.

Then she did remember. The sudden recollection brought tears to her eyes as it all rushed back at once. A meadow, filled with pretty yellow flowers...

"Daddy, I picked some flowers for you to take with you on your trip, but I lost them somewhere. I'm sorry." Judith was certain now that the little voice was hers, from when she was a child. She could remember saying those exact words. But that was so many years ago...

Her entire body shook as she sobbed uncontrollably against her father's chest, just like she had when she was a little girl. Part of the reason was the pain coming from her head, slowly filling her entire body, and part of it was because she had lost her father's present. She'd spent so long picking the most beautiful flowers she could find, and now she wasn't even sure where she'd left them...

"It's all right, I'm here, I won't ever leave you," her father soothed, but she could no longer feel him stroking her hair to comfort her. "It's all right, Judy, you're safe here..." He continued, but his voice sounded much softer, as though it were coming from farther away. Judith forced her eyes open to look at him.

Slowly, ever so slowly, her father seemed to be falling away from her. An inky blackness seemed to grow behind him, swallowing him up as he slowly drifted away, seemingly unaware of it himself. His voice became gradually softer as he fell farther and farther into the dark void. If he disappeared into that darkness, Judith was sure she would never see him again.

"Daddy, no! Please, don't leave me! Don't leave me alone!" Judith cried, reaching out desperately for her father as his figure started to fade from view.

"It's okay, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere," she heard his voice say, so soft she could barely hear it. Panicking, she threw herself from the bed to try and reach him.

Hands suddenly sprung up around her, grabbing hold of her arms and legs, pulling her away from the disappearing figure of her father. She screamed and clawed at them, trying to reach his fading image as it slowly disappeared into the endless blackness. He seemed so close, she could almost feel him; if she could only reach a bit farther...

"Daddy, no!" An anguished scream escaped her lips as her father disappeared completely into the darkness, leaving no trace he had ever been.

She was alone.

The ring of hands continued to grab at her, their ice-cold grip pulling her downward. She wasn't sure what was down there, but suddenly she discovered that she didn't care. Her father was gone, taken from her forever; what did she have left in the world?

He's gone forever. There's no one left for me now. Nobody left to care what happens to me, whether I live or die. There's no reason for me to stay here.

It all felt so meaningless now; was there any point in continuing with her life if it was void of all purpose? Was a pointless existence still worth having?

No, she thought to herself as a single tear fell down her cheek; a single tear that represented everything she would leave behind as she embraced the darkness in her own soul, never to return.

She closed her eyes and let the hands claim her, the coldness of the fingers spreading through her entire body, pulling her ever farther downward into the black abyss of her own sadness, her body slowly going numb as she gave up her will to live...

It was just before she became completely lost in her grief that she felt a soft, gentle warmth on her face. Curious, she opened her eyes and saw in the darkness above a tiny speck of light. It was only a small little thing at first, but she watched as it grew. It was slow in the beginning, but within moments it had doubled its size, then again.

The hands tightened their grip on her, pulling harder, with more urgency.

Go away, Judith thought toward the light. The darkness below seemed so comforting in it's nothingness, beckoning to her. Leave me alone, like everyone else.

But the light continued to expand despite her protests. It seemed to be reaching down to her, pulling her away from the black despair that had been so close to claiming her forever, a darkness which was forced to retreat from the ever-growing luminescence above.

Then she heard a voice come from within the light. It sounded very familiar, for some reason.

"I'm here, Judith," it said.

The hands suddenly released their grip on Judith's body, seemingly repulsed by the tender kindness that suffused the voice.

I know this voice, but from where? Instinctively she knew she could trust the owner of the voice, though she couldn't have said why. Something in the way it spoke to her made her feel safe, warm...it was suddenly very important to her that she remember who the voice belonged to.

"I'm here," the voice reassured her again, causing the hands to retreat even further into the still-shrinking void. "I'm not going anywhere."

She impulsively reached out to the light and gripped it, finding it solid beneath her fingers. She felt the weight of her own sadness fall away, the cold hands of despair banished back into the disappearing blackness from whence they'd come, slowly being replaced by the warm light that was beginning to suffuse everything around her.

Taking a firm grasp of the light in her hand, Judith pulled herself to her feet. As she stared upward, the light exploded outward in a rainbow of color. It filled her vision, finally driving away the last vestiges of the darkness, sadness, loneliness, and despair that plagued her soul. She was filled with a comforting warmth, and the knowledge that she was no longer alone.

"Wake up, Judith," the voice whispered gently.

She did.

Yuri was surprised as Judith's eyes snapped open; he hadn't actually expected her to wake up just because he told her to. Her muscles tensed up under the comforting arm he'd put around her shoulders as she woke fully, wondering what was going on. Slowly she turned her head upward and met Yuri's eyes in the darkness.

"Hello Yuri," she whispered, a smile working its way onto her face. Her muscles relaxed again as she brought herself back to reality. "Looking for a little midnight fun?"

Her tone was teasing, but Yuri realized it was an attempt to cover up the distress in her voice - which failed.

"You looked like you were having a bad dream," Yuri replied, putting on a lighthearted grin in an attempt to play along. "Either that or a really good one. You were rolling around and talking so much I had to do something before you either woke everyone else up or bashed your head in on the wall."

Yuri saw a flash of hurt in Judith's eyes and heard a brief gasp escape her lips before she broke eye contact, her muscles tensing up again. His cheerful look vanished, replaced with worry. "I'm sorry, what did I say?" He started to apologize but Judith shushed him.

"No, it's not your fault, it's just..." Judith trailed off. She was silent a moment before she shook her head and responded, "you're right, I was just having a bad dream. I'm fine." Yet she remained completely motionless, allowing no trace trace of emotion to cross her face as she became lost in thought.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yuri finally asked, his arm still draped around her shoulders for support. It was obvious something about her dream was upsetting Judith terribly, but she didn't usually want to talk about herself very often. Still, it was worth a try, and it never hurt to ask.

But Judith just continued to stare off into space, seemingly oblivious that he'd even said anything. Taking her silence as a no, Yuri was about to leave her alone when she spoke.

"While I was growing up, my dad would frequently leave the village for days or weeks at a time," she began quietly. "While he was gone the neighbors helped to look after me. Every time he got back he'd tell me how much he'd missed me, how he thought of me every day he was gone, and so on. While he was home he wouldn't leave me alone; kept trying to make up for all the time he lost while he was gone." She allowed herself a small wistful chuckle before continuing.

"One spring, when I was six, I went out into the fields to pick him some flowers as a going-away present for one of these trips he was taking. I was hoping he could look at them while he was gone and think of me. I picked some of the big yellow ones that grew everywhere; just dandelions, nothing special really. Then I found some purple ones that I'd never seen before. I didn't know what they were, but I wanted my dad's present to be special, so I picked some of them too."

Judith was silent a moment before continuing. "On the way back home, I started feeling very dizzy and tired. I tried to sit down but lost my balance and fell. I hit the back of my head on a rock, right here." She reached around and touched the back of her head, near the base of her skull. "It knocked me unconscious.

"It turns out the purple flowers were nightdragons, and their pollen has a poisonous effect on Krityans. Normally they didn't grow in the fields near our village so I'd never learned how dangerous they were. Somehow this one patch had managed to work its way in during the spring thaw. I was the first one to discover it.

"Luckily someone from the village found me not too long after I fell and rushed me home, otherwise I'd have died out there in the field. I was unconscious with a fever for six days. Dad said there were several times he didn't think I'd ever open my eyes again."

Judith paused again, trying to collect herself as she relived the memories in her mind. After a few minutes Yuri wasn't sure if she was going to continue, but he didn't want to push her. Eventually she went on, her voice trembling.

"After I got better, Dad decided he'd start taking me with him whenever he left. I would never be alone again, he said, because he would always..." She couldn't finish the thought.

Another long silence. Yuri looked down at Judith under his arm, seeing her more vulnerable than ever before as she battled to deal with emotions that she had been suppressing for years.

She tries to be strong in battle because she despises the weakness she feels inside. The thought came to him, though he couldn't have said why.

Finally Judith heaved out a huge sigh to calm herself down. "I'm sorry Yuri," she said apologetically as she turned away from him, "I'm babbling on like a twelve year old girl and keeping you awake in the middle of the night. I don't know even know why I'm telling you this, it has nothing to do with you." She tried to sound confident, but he could hear the shakiness in her voice.

"I was already awake anyway," he replied casually, dismissing her worry with a wave of his hand. "Besides, it most certainly does have something to do with me."

Judith skeptically raised an eyebrow at him, incredulity splashed on her face.

"What kind of guild would Brave Vesperia be if it couldn't be counted on to take care of it's own members?" He flashed her one of his winning smiles.

Judith stared up into his eyes for a moment, then smiled and turned away again. "I guess you're right," she said. "Who would want to stay in a guild that didn't care, right?"

"Exactly."

"Then in that case," she said as she shifted herself under his arm, "...can I ask you for one more favor?"

"Anything."

"Stay with me," she whispered, leaning against him. "Just until I fall asleep again. Ba'ul's asleep and...I don't want to be alone right now." She barely got the last few words out before her voice was choked up with emotion.

"Of course," he replied, holding her tightly. "That's what friends are for."

"Friends? Yes, I suppose..." Judith's voice was so quiet Yuri wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear or not, so he pretended he didn't. "It's been so long since I had friends. I wonder if I remember how..."

It was only a few minutes before her breathing fell into the slow, rhythmic pattern of sleep. However, it was much longer than that before Yuri moved from his place against the wall.

What can I say, I'm a Judith fan ..

Similar to the last Vesperia work I did, this little short is going to eventually be part of a larger work that covers most of the game. So Judith looks like a sissy because this is one of the warm fuzzy sections. I just really needed to get it out of my head before I lost it and it stands well enough on it's own to warrant its own release.

Only my second attempt ever at writing trippy dream sequences, which I'm really bad at. Thus why I made myself write one! So if this one seems kind of lame, uh...sorry!

Thanks to the people who favourited my other story, hope you like this one too. :) Reviews are yay!

Ciao,

-JB