"There are … two." Guthrie scratched his fingers through blond, short hair. "This better not be the favour, Lena. I can't look after a dog."

"Ah, no, this is …" I stumbled over my words. Guth had appeared out of nowhere behind me and I had been completely immersed into my own world until then. With two dogs splitting me in two, one pulling me forwards enthusiastically, and one dragging me backwards less so, I was having trouble walking beside Guthrie as he stepped into line. "Let's sit down," I said. "I'm tired."

We perched ourselves onto the nearest bench. He took one of the leads from me and tried to stop Pepsi from sprinting off into the distance. I tried to think about how I could bring up the fact that I had a boyfriend casually. I didn't want to cause a fuss, and fussing was what Guthrie did best. The best I could do was to just blurt it out.

"This is Pepsi, Levi's dog."

"Who?"

"My boyfriend," I replied. Was that casual? How quickly could I move off from this conversation without it seeming forced. Guthrie hadn't replied. After several seconds, I had to look up. I caught his eyes and he looked away.

"Oh," he said, forcing his eyes to look back again. They darted around looking everywhere except from me.

"He's away so I'm looking after the dog at the minute."

" … How long have you known him?"

"To be honest, not long." I decided to move on – Guthrie seemed to be enjoying this discussion as much as I was. "Anyway, the favour I need to ask of you is to take a look at our dishwasher. Mum has made dinner for you, too."

"Ah, I see. Okay. That's fine. I'll take a look." He fumbled with his thumbs, twisting the lead between his fingers. "How is your mum?"

"She's good."

"Good."

"And … you're happy? With your boyfriend, I mean."

"Well, yeah. Yeah, I'm happy."

"Good."

Wow, this meeting had gone down like a led balloon.

He seemed like he had more to ask. He did query some things such as 'did Kurt know?', to which the answer was no. The rest of our chat flittered around the subject and we were doing pretty well at forgetting the whole thing until Levi himself called me. I felt like not answering, but I hadn't spoken to him in so long I was getting withdrawal symptoms. So, awkwardly, I excused myself and slid my finger across the screen to answer the call.

"Hi," I said, probably more timidly than usual.

"Did you take the chicken out of the freezer? It needs using." The roll of my eyes was greater than the path of an orbiting satellite. It didn't go unnoticed by Guthrie – of course it didn't.

"Yes mum."

"How have you been?"

"If you're asking if I have washed the pots yet, that's a no." There was a grunt and I couldn't tell if he was annoyed that I was failing in my domestic role or if he was tutting at my attitude.

"That's not what I asked," grunted Levi and a million things zipped through my head that I wasn't about to tell him and because I was so preoccupied considering those things I was hiding from him (like getting kicked out the café, Ema, my home falling to pieces and my bank account empty, the lecturer at Annie's university …), I wasn't able to reply for a few seconds. Guthrie was chewing his nails beside me waiting for the phone call to end and I decided to add that to my list of things bothering me. "Lena?"

"Ah, no, I'm fine, yeah. Um, possibly getting a cold. I've had a sore throat these past few days."

"Probably because of all your dirty habits," he sighed like the world was sat on his shoulders. I picked up on the tension in his voice and wondered for the first time why he had called me.

"How about on your end?"

"I've got a meeting with some entrepreneur tomorrow. He's running part of the course."

"Well, good luck."

"Don't need it, but thanks." He sighed again and I didn't need to ask him why. It was his worst nightmare, stuck at work all day everyday. He wouldn't be living it up in the hotel room, nor would he spend time drinking with co-workers in the evening. He'd literally spend every moment waiting to go home, itching to get back into his usual routine and away from work.

"Are you missing me?" I teased, hoping to lighten the conversation. There was a snort which came out as a crackle of noise across the line.

"Remember the other day when you tripped over your shoes and fell face first into the carpet?" He asked and I was immediately pouting, even though he couldn't see. I could imagine he knew anyway. "I miss that." I flared red as a lantern and subconsciously twisted away from Guthrie who was still sat beside me.

"Isn't that a bit sadistic?"

"And remember when you laughed so hard you cried at that video of a pug eating a butterfly?" I definitely could and it was still just as funny in my imagination. "I miss that."

"What's with you? You're being nice. It's weird."

"Just bored in this hotel room, I guess. I have one more thing, anyway. Then I'll hang up."

"Go on then."

"Excited?"
"Eager to get rid of you," I huffed.

"Remember when you kissed my neck?" He said, voice just above a whisper so that I had to strain my ear against the speaker (and the throbbing of my heart) to hear. "I miss that." I put a hand over my face because it was impossible to hide the blush now and I didn't have the composure to cover it up. "I'll call again," Levi hummed, a trace of a bounce in his tone. "See you."

The line went dead.

I slipped the phone back into my bag, cheeks a roaring red and I wouldn't be able to look at Guthrie for a full minute, I was sure. Was he teasing me? The memory was still raw and alive in my head and he'd brought it back to the front of my brain with embarrassing clarity. If he had mentioned that back in our little apartment, I'd have shot back some sort of comment. Whispering something like that on the phone whilst I was in public? I couldn't get rid of the shiver down my spine. It wasn't even that big a thing, it was just a first. The first time we had flirted on the phone and it was new and interesting and I couldn't help but get all excited over it like a school girl.

One step at a time, I thought. One step forwards at a time.

"Was that …?" Guthrie asked. I was fanning air at my face and trying to stop grinning like a fool.

"Yeah, Levi." I giggled to myself and took a deep, heaving breath. "Sorry."

"No, it's … fine."

"Well, anyway! Our food will be ready soon, let's head back to my house."

"Okay," said Guthrie. He sounded forlorn and I wondered if he was upset that I had hidden something like this from him … or maybe another hunch that I had was correct.

…

KURT-

"So … you're meeting with some private doctor today?" The suspicion in Luann's voice was prickling my spine with her glaring eyes, even though she was miles away on the other end of the phone. "A woman?"

"Is that what you're worried about?" I groaned, exasperated. There was a click of her tongue and a short drumming of her long fingernails on the receiver.

"And you think she can help you with your feinting? Don't you think you're anorexic?"

"Anorexic?"

"That thing with low blood … stuff … iron or, erh,"

"Anaemic?"

"Yeah that."

"Maybe," I lied. She didn't know about all the dreams, the flashbacks, the nightmares, the panic attacks in broad daylight – panic attacks like the one I had this morning. And I wasn't about to tell her. "I'm just going to talk with her, anyway. If she sounds like a crack, I can just leave it at that."

"You should go see a real doctor."

The frightening thing was, I was agreeing with her. After the episode I had whilst walking through the school corridor this morning at work … I was scared it would happen again. I was lucky that the staff toilets had been close by. Next time, it could happen when I was with my friends, in front of a class of kids – anywhere! What terrified me the most though, was being alone during these episodes. When I had feinted the morning that Luann was sleeping in my room, I had been calmed even a little bit by the knowledge that she wasn't far away. Right now, she, the person who was closest to me, was farthest. Away on some business trip, it meant that my apartment was unusually empty. It was scary.

"We'll see how this goes. Anyway, how's the training course going?" The response was simply a sigh. "Is it that bad?"

"Just boring. I'm calling you now because we have a short break before our afternoon session. I'm just sat in the hotel room. Bored. I'm guessing you're on dinner break?"

"Yeah, and I have planning time afterwards so I'm not too busy. Have you met anyone new on the course?"

"A few. It's mostly our company so I know them all."

"Already had dinner with them all?" I quipped. She snorted.

"All but one and believe me, I'm trying."

"Turn on your feminine charm."

"Tried that. I think he has a girlfriend. They weren't doing well until recently. He used to ignore his phone and was always irritated but yesterday I caught him texting her and smiling."

"What's wrong with that?"

"You don't know the guy. He always looks like he put a winning lottery ticket in a card for a relative he doesn't even like."

"A very specific simile."

"Simi-what?"

"Never mind. I won't support you breaking up a couple though. You've always seen quite a few guys on dates and as much as that both worries and pisses me off, I'm there for you. Not if you start breaking up couples, though."

"Survival of the fittest," she replied nonchalantly. She was growing more despicable by the day, reflected in her desperation for money. For hospital money. She seemed to think that the only way she could keep her mother in good care was to flirt her way into power and into a relationship with a man with a full wallet. Apparently, she had some sort of conscience that forbid her from constantly taking my money, but she could take it from other guy's. My student bank account was thankful for that.

"I'll get off now. I only have ten more minutes left of my dinner. Call me again if you need anything."

"Pff. What would I need from you?"

"You're right. What would you need? Silly me." I hung up and maybe I was still on edge from this morning because that wasn't like me. It was a bit too sharp of a comment and I hadn't even realised I was feeling irritated until I hung up with a grunt. Honestly, this stress was taking its toll.

This morning was the last straw.

On my way to the staff room, I had suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side, a stabbing pain. It began as a small burn and accelerated into a white-hot searing flame pounding me. I staggered down the corridor, which was thankfully empty, pushing open the door to the toilets with the arm that wasn't clutching my side in pain. Appendicitus? I wondered. God, it hurt. It was then that I felt it, the dizziness, the feeling of me separating again from reality. I locked the door to a cubicle and desperately tried to regain my senses. I was fading so far away. Things were blurring, I couldn't stand up because my legs wouldn't stay under me. I hadn't realised an attack was coming until I found myself choking on air, unable to breathe in the small space. My breaths were short, far too short. I wasn't getting enough oxygen. Please, nobody come in. I wanted to phone someone desperately and my fingers even lingered on the handset in my pocket. A heart attack? Was this a heart attack? But the darkness in the corners of my vision stole what remained of my consciousness and the cold floor sent an unwelcome shiver along my skin.

I'm going to die. I'm really going to die. The warmth of my blood only provided devastating contrast from the cold floor. I gagged, choked, coughed, and thankfully dragged in another breath of air. I was going to die. There was a knife in my ribs and I was bleeding to death. I tried to shout, I really tried. I spluttered syllables through the pain because my life really did depend on it. Murky footsteps in my vision and hearing, beside me, then walking away. My killer. And in that moment, I knew that it was also Luann's killer - I was ignited with fury, pulling myself off the floor to look up through a fading vision to see the bastard.

"F-ff... fuck … y... ou." I grunted. Whoever it was didn't turn around, and I no longer had the strength to think.

I woke up on the toilet floor. I cried into shaking hands, for too many reasons to place one cause. I was fucked up, I was scared, I was alone. And I didn't even have the courage to pull myself up from the ground, nor the courage to die.

…

"You're not alone," the woman named Hanji Zoe replied after I had explained to her my situation. It was odd; the pressure of keeping all this to myself for so long had released everything like opening the flood gates. I had told her, a stranger, the full story after she had given one or two probing questions. It had just spilled out of me. "The reason I'm researching all this is for my friend who I think suffers in the same way as you. We caught on when he was babbling nonsense and feinting – two things that were very much unlike him. I can't explain to you how odd it is … you'd know if you met him. But he was in such a bad way, I mean, he is in such a bad way …"

"Then what are you saying this is?" I asked, intrigued. There was someone else. There was somebody else!

"The way he explained it to me is that it appears to be a past life, a sort of reincarnation. He re-lives this other world in dreams, nightmares, flashback sort of things. It causes a lot of stress on him."

"Then does he … remember the dreams?"

"My cousin remembers everything detail for detail. Levi – uh, my friend – he seems a bit less sure. Things are hazy."

"I don't remember much at all. When I come round, everything disappears."

"Hmm, is that so?" She murmured. "Well, by any chance, do you feel like you recognise me?" I frowned and concentrated hard, but I had no recollection of her face.

"No, I don't think so."

"Hmm." She said again and slipped back into her own imaginations. My impression of her so far was friendly, but a bit mad. Not dangerously mad – no, I was happy to continue seeing her if she felt like she had something to offer in helping me – but a kind of eccentric personality. At the least, what she had given me so far was useful. There were at least two other people she had mentioned with these visions, and at least one of those two was suffering like I was. I wanted to meet him, but Hanji insisted to stay away for now. She said that she wanted to hear the stories from two unrelated people. If it was a psychological disorder, the words of one could change the thoughts of another. If our stories matched up without meeting, that would provide solid evidence.

Another reality?

Wow. I didn't really believe in it but at the same time, I was fascinated by the thought. It linked a lot of the events in my life together so that they made sense. One thing was for sure – I'd be seeing Hanji Zoe again.

…

LUANN-

A company dinner. Nine pm meeting in the hotel restaurant. I had outdone myself this time: black, slick dress hugging my hips tightly, a lace pattern running down both sleeves and across the neck, revealing a bit of flesh in a less obvious manner. Quite discrete, but sexy. I was fishing for a big shark tonight. Natural make-up, a bit of gold hanging at my chest and a slither of colour on my eyes.

I briefly curled my lip; when had I gotten to this point? But with a flash of powder across my cheeks, I forgot. Because when you got as low as I was, you'd do anything to crawl your way back up. I'd flirt with a few men I wasn't really interest in if they had on an expensive suit. It was like an arranged marriage, but I was arranging it myself. Instead of my parents selecting a good catch – solid future, good wealth, good looks – I was doing it. What was wrong with that? Was I feeling guilty because I didn't have any feelings for these guys? Or was it because I was dating so many men so briefly? I didn't care if other women called me a slag. There was something else churning in my gut on nights like this, but he was far away and I had resigned myself not to care anyway.

That's right. I had decided this. I wasn't going back now.

I slipped into the seat across from Levi Ackerman, prime position for attention. He looked great, as usual. Dark eyes, dark hair, a sort of couldn't-care-less expression and an aura of calmness in every situation. Stoic. Strong. Quite short, but the expensive watch on his wrist made up for that. Every twitch of his eyebrows signalled that he would rather be anywhere else. One twitch at the manager's entrance, one at the menu, and one when I sat opposite him. He would be a hard catch, but tonight I was changing tactics. I wasn't that cheap, sexy woman any more. I was going to chat; to charm; to seduce.

Because my mother was ill and the doctors wanted to give up on her, that was why. You don't get anywhere in this world without money.

…

I got him drunk. He seemed up for it any way. He opened up to me after a few minutes of basic chit-chat. He wasn't about to sit and ignore me for two hours – a good sign. He avoided speaking about himself, but I filled in the gaps any way. I kept offering to fill his glass, and he started off giving a shrug, then nodded, and by the end of the dinner he was tipping his glass to me for a refill. I kept steady on my own drink. He became more friendly as the night went on and I decided my change of tactics had been a good one. He liked straight people – people without hidden intentions, people who didn't small talk. If I could pretend to be that way, he would open up. We even got talking about something I was interest in knowing.

"You said you don't have any family. Have you got anyone waiting for you at home?"

"Yeah, I do." He replied and I swear he swallowed a smirk.

"A girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Do you live together then?"

"She stays at my apartment sometimes."

"How long have you two been together?"

"Pfft …" He swirled his glass and rested his chin on one hand. "Kinda years."

"Really?!" This was honestly a shock. No wonder my advances had been given the cold shoulder.

"Welll," he slurred. It was about time! He'd made his way through so many bottles, I wondered if he'd ever get drunk. "I knew her before I knew her. A looong time ago."

"Oh, so you have known her a while?"

"Mmm," he nodded. He seemed to lose focus for a second. "She doesn't know, though."

"Hey, you two!" Someone called from further down the table. I hadn't noticed, but most of the people had left by now and headed to the bar. The manager and a few others were left and had already stood to leave as they called. "We're going to the bar. Are you coming?"

"What do you think, Levi?" I asked. Levi thought about it and scowled into his drink. With a sigh, he downed the remaining liquid in his glass.

"I'm going to my room." He stood up, the chair knocking from under him as he staggered to stand straight. Oops, he was far gone. Too far. I hadn't wanted this.

"Hey, hey, hey." I quickly moved to his side of the table and took him by the arm to steady him. "Shall I walk you up?"

"'mm fine."

"I'll walk you to your room. You might not get there in this state."

"Mm ... okay." He caved, letting me slide an arm around him, scoot in close enough to smell which body spray he had used and allow him to place one drunken hand on my waist.

The countdown began.

AN-

ITS HEEEERREEEEEE, NEW CHAPPPTEEERRR

Enjoy and review! Dun dun duuh, the drama mounts.