A/N: Hi, there! First off, I got the idea to do this story when reading City of Secrets. That scene when Filippo stravagates always makes me giggle! Since there is a dreadful lack of Stravaganza fanfictions, I am happy to do my bit to make up for that. This is just a prologue so it's really short. Be nice!

City of Dreams

Prologue: The Web

"Filippo! Filippo!"

He was dimly aware of someone calling him yet he did not know why. He was also dimly aware that he wanted to be here. Yet the voice that called him was frightened, desperate. Around him was what seemed like a dark cave. His back was against stone and he was unable to move. Ropes intruded into his back. No, not ropes. He was not bound, he was simply stuck fast. He looked around and saw thick silvery white strands woven together. More looks around told him that there was a pattern of the strands and his feet were not touching the ground. Then, it hit him. He was stuck fast to an enormous spider web, stuck right to the centre.

"Filippo!"

The voice was starting to irritate him now, "Yes?" He sighed. Someone appeared beneath him. It was Fabrizio, staring up at him looking terrified,

"Filippo! Hurry before the witch returns! You must flee!"

"Why?" He frowned, confused. What was Fabrizio doing here and why did he want him to leave so badly?

"The witch comes! You must hurry before she ensnares you!"

But then, the singing started and all else mattered nothing. Fabrizio's howl of defeat was ignored as she came. In her black dress, spiders trailing from it and scuttling into the lay of webs on the floor and her spider-web pendant swinging at her neck. He relaxed at the sight of her, seeing none other but her. Her lovely face was turned upwards, smiling at him beneath the brim of her hat. There was the sound of a drawing sword and, with a furious battle cry, Fabrizio hurled himself at her from the side.

He needn't have cried a warning to her. The smile never faltering, she halted her pace, stretched out a hand and caught his chest as the sword was right above his head. Fabrizio was frozen in middair, his eyes widened in shock. Something white was growing at her hand. A web was forming around Fabrizio's frozen form, twisting around his arms and binding him. More were sprouting from the floor and the ceiling, connecting to the web binding the panicking Fabrizio. By the time she had removed her long-nailed hand, he was bound so tightly that only his face was visible through the white, parceled up like a big fly and his sword hanging over his head, useless.

All the time, she never stopped singing. He only had eyes for her. He did not care what happened to Fabrizio. His fate did not matter now. He rose without support from the floor of the cave and floated level with him. It was only then did he realise that he was completely naked from the waist up. But that suited him just fine. For now, she was running her thin hands over his chest, singing in his ear.

Her finger's touch was as light as a spider's legs and, indeed, where her hands touched, spiders formed, scuttling over his body and into the web behind. Her song continued and he closed his eyes lazily. Fabrizio's desperate cries nagged him in his brain, though he could not make out any words. They were nothing but white noise with no meaning,

"Fabrizio," He murmured, sleepily, "be quiet. I wish to hear her songs."

And Fabrizio was at once muted. A small peep around told him that all but Fabrizio's dark eyes were visible now, his mouth invisible. Her hands roamed over his arms and neck now and the feeling of pleasure increased. He never wanted to leave this place and Fabrizio faded from memory as though he had never been.

Then, she tilted his head up on one finger and, opening his eyes, found himself looking head on into hers. Her smile was widening, so her face looked twice as beautiful as before, "Come..." She whispered, "...give it all to me..."

"Yes, witch." He murmered, "I give it all to you."

Their lips touched and pressed together with dreamy passion.

The sun intruded upon his eyelids and, opening his eyes, he could not help but curse. Just another dream. Filippo sat up, sighing. His nightclothes were in disarray though the dream had not been at all active for him. Yet again, he found himself contemplating upon it. he had dreamed of her for nearly a month now, It seems like thirty years, though.

Why, though? He had only seen her once for perhaps a few seconds and he had been terrified of her then. Now, more and more, he felt good whenever he thought of her. When he dreamed of her, they were not nightmares. Whenever he spotted a spider, he would lovingly think of her. The witch that he had met when he had somehow travelled to the world of the Stravanganti.

The noises of Bellona began to stir. The city was awakening. With a sigh, he swung himself off the bed to open the shutters.

A/N: So, how was it?