Arthur continued to stroll away from the cottage without a backward glance. It is certainly a beautiful day, he thought to himself as he swung the basket back and forth. His eyes spotted a tiny light coming from a patch of flowers a couple of yards away.

He changed direction and headed for the lights, smiling. When he reached them, he stooped down and immediately the little balls of light danced around him.

"It has been awhile," he stated quietly as he looked around the clearing. He spotted more pixies as they started to float toward him. "How have you been? I have been doing very well, thank you," he continued on with his conversation as if his company were human. I had a pleasant dream though. In my dreams I am not alone." He sighed, beginning to frown. "Ha! I sound like a love-stricken girl. Well I am not," he reasoned as the fairies twinkled in agreement. A couple of minutes passed by silently as Arthur picked some of the various blossoms from the dense ground and added them to his basket.

He sighed again gaining his friend's attention. "Ok, maybe I am. Bloody hell, you would deny it too if the one in your dream was a tall, annoying, obnoxious, loud, sad excuse for a man. A bloody man! Stupid, insufferable git." He said louder, getting redder by the second. The small pixies all swarmed around his shoulders and when he looked up, he was joined by a couple of gnomes and a unicorn.

He smiled in greeting as they settled around him. "How are you?" he asked the newcomers, receiving nods and grins. "That is good. I was just about to talk about my dream. Would you like to hear about it?" he asked, contradicting his earlier outburst. The gnomes nodded happily and the unicorn licked the side of his face.

"That tickles," he laughed batting his companion away. "Anyway, in my dream I was walking around, just like now, until a man came. We talked and that's when I knew that I have seen him before. Once upon a dream," he chuckled at last line, "Yup, once upon a dream."

"What was he like?" one of the gnomes asked. Arthur blushed when he realized, yet again, that he was talking about a man.

"Well, to be honest, he was handsome, and nice, and…overall bloody perfect," he replied trying to get rid of the heat in his cheeks. He got up, stretching his legs and walked over to the side of the clearing and saw the clear, blue waters of the lake, shimmering as the wind around him picked up.

He walked toward it and took his shoes off, sticking his feet in the water. He finally began to relax, letting his mind wander as the pixies, gnomes, and unicorn joined him. He started to sing a tune he heard often in his dreams, softly at first, but after a couple of minutes it got louder and louder. He added words and sang over and over until he was sure he memorized it.

The song drifted throughout the forest into the ears of a passerby. The man stopped his horse, straining his neck to try to find out where the song was coming from. "Do you hear that, Matthew?" The stranger, a prince known as Alfred the Heroic asked his horse as more of the music came forth.

He suddenly left his horse in haste and started to follow the sound. The leaves were crushed underneath his feet and the birds scattered from overhead, but he didn't notice anything except for the music. He eventually reached the edge of the trees, and pushed aside the branches to try to catch a glimpse of whoever was singing.

Arthur was just about to sing the next verse when the bushes rustled and the watching stranger stepped out. Silence settled down in the clearing, thick and heavy, like fog in the morning.

"W-what…" Arthur stuttered when he could find his voice. "Who are you?" he asked with anger in his voice. Alfred stepped forward slowly causing the other to step back.

"I didn't mean to frighten you. But I heard someone singing and when I followed it, I found you," the newcomer said smiling, his sky-blue eyes sparkling and his sandy blond falling over his eyes except for one piece sticking straight up in the middle. Arthur took this moment to look over the newcomer. His well-shaped face, with his sky blue eyes, flowed into a tall and lanky but well built body.

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Go away," he growled, backing away to a space in the trees guaranteeing a quick get away. "You're not meant to be here." Arthur tried to keep his voice laced with anger, but every time he looked up into Alfred's face all his fury was swept away, and instead replaced with a strong sense of curiosity. He wanted to claw the little git's eyes out for disrupting his peaceful walk, but decided against it because it would be considered "impolite."

Alfred didn't seem to be fazed by Arthur's rudeness and took it as an invitation instead. "So, you were the one singing! Wow, you have an awesome voice." He continued on, all the while coming closer to the bewildered Arthur. The stranger didn't seem to notice his presence was aggravating and went on talking. "What are you doing in a place like this? Who are you? I have never met anybody in the woods here, do you live nearby?"

The barrage of questions seemed to bring Arthur out of his stupor and into a defensive mode. "You shouldn't be the one asking questions, I should. Why are you here? You shouldn't be here. You should leave. Now." Arthur said pointing a finger at him accusingly. Alfred just looked at him while quirking an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"W-Why what?"

"Why should I leave?"

Arthur just looked at the newcomer and huffed, "You should leave because I am not allowed to talk to strangers, and you sir are a stranger." He crossed his arms waiting for the other to move, but when he didn't, Arthur sighed and uncrossed his arms. "Fine. It would be better if I leave anyways."

"Wait!" was all Arthur heard from his guest when he felt him grab his wrist. As soon as he felt contact, it was like electricity flowed into his wrist and the sparks made his whole insides turn upside down. Neither of them seemed to move for a moment, as if trying to comprehend what just happened. Alfred finally let go, leaving tingles in his wake and proceed to look up at Arthur.

"Emerald green met sky blue and all Arthur could whisper was "but I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." Alfred seemed to smile at that, his eyes crinkling from the size.

"But we have met before. Just like you were singing earlier: once upon a dream." Arthur stood, dumbfound at the stranger's response. Instead of leaving like he knew he was supposed to, he lingered entranced by the other's eyes. Even though his glasses hindered Arthur's sight of them, they looked so familiar. Maybe its true, Arthur thought, maybe I had met him in my dreams.

Alfred started to relax when he realized that the other wasn't leaving. He started to talk about the most random things, the sky, and the weather, even his horse who had now joined them and started to nip at Arthur's shoulder.

They continued talked, even as the sun crossed the sky and started to dip towards the horizon. "I know this is a little late, but I was wondering what your name was?" the stranger asked, slightly leaning forward. Arthur was about to answer when he realized what the question was. He didn't know his name because he was a stranger.

He suddenly got up causing the other to fall back. "I have to go now," Arthur said quickly turning around. He heard the other scramble up and call out to him, but he ignored it. Just as he was about to walk past the trees, something closed his wrist once again startling him, causing him to trip and bring down whoever grabbed, which was evidently the stranger.

Before he could get up again, the taller man crawled up straddling his hips and pinned his shoulders to the forest floor. "Please just wait one minute," he said trying to stop Arthur's struggles.

The other finally stopped trying to get away and instead looked up with a glared. "What?" he snapped. "Let me go, you wanker!" The other seemed unfazed by Arthur's apparent fury.

"I want to see you again. Please. When can we meet? Where?" He asked. The desperation in his voice caused Arthur to speak without thinking.

"This evening," he blurted out, inwardly cursing himself, "At the cottage in the glen." With that being said, the stranger finally loosened his grip and Arthur was able to slip away. He ran as fast as he could, hardly believing what he had just done.

You should be very proud of me! I actually uploaded this at a reasonable time! This chapter was fun to do because I got to do Arthur in his regular personality, being an impolite Brit. I admit that Alfred isn't very Alfred, but I am happy at how he turned out. I am also happy to say that I now have an editor, who probably wants to wring my neck out. She has helped me improve my writing so now it's only slightly disgusting as opposed to downright horrifying. Please read and review and also I hope you recommend this to your friends because then I become more popular…..haha just kidding. But seriously recommend so more people read and if they do then I might just continue with this whole series. YAY! Anyways enjoy.

Editor: Moonlight-is-Innocence (Hope I got it right)

~Maple