Disclaimer – ½ Prince and all of the characters—aside from my OC's—belong to Yu Wo

"I can't believe he fainted, that light-weight," Wei Bo muttered.

"Leave him be, he didn't do it voluntarily," Xiu Chen reprimanded quietly.

"No one else fainted."

"Give him a few good punches and he'll probably wake up," suggested a voice I hadn't heard in quite some time. Prince must have returned from the Eastern Continent at last. I wondered if he'd been able to fight in the battle, after all.

"Try it!" Lolidragon urged in a very eager tone. Didn't she ever lay off? She'd been annoying me since the moment we first met, and I was quite tired of it. In fact, I'd passed "tired" a very long time ago.

"WHA! PLEASE, WAIT, YOUR HIGHNESS!" Gui yelled, and there was quite a bit of stomping and the sound of people rushing about.

Thin arms suddenly wrapped protectively around my head, and Jiū angrily ordered, "DON'T YOU DARE HIT HIM!"

"Okay, fine! But he better wake up soon, I'm getting bored," Prince grumbled, his boots retreating a few steps back from where he'd advanced to beat me into awareness. Several relieved sighs sounded out in the silence afterward. Prince was probably the only person I knew who would immediately resort to punching when waking someone up. Already having known Jiū was beside me, I hadn't been worried.

"Was it really so bad up there on the wall?" Ugly Wolf asked.

There was a sharp, metallic clanking of armor as someone else moved. "No, not really," Wicked answered. "I hadn't thought so, anyway. It wasn't any worse than it was everywhere else."

"Maybe the reason is low blood pressure. He never eats, after all," Doll said.

"Is that even possible in a game?" Yu Lian wondered. "It's not like eating is really necessary, as long as you drink potions."

"It is necessary!" Doll and Prince both corrected her at once. I nearly laughed at their indignation, but stayed mute and instead lifted a hand to rub at my tired-feeling eyes.

"Shhh! He's awake!" Xiu Chen exclaimed.

I didn't bother to tell her I'd actually been awake for quite some time, listening to their conversation. I slowly blinked upward at the mass of faces wearing varying levels of curiosity, annoyance, and worry as they looked down at me. A cool hand was placed to my forehead and I glanced toward its owner. "Are you okay?" Jiū asked slowly, eyes wide with anxiety.

"Not particularly," I mumbled, not making any effort to sit up just yet. I was too dizzy. It seemed as though I'd been moved into the tower while I was unconscious, so at least I wasn't laying on the ground outside.

"Sheesh, Twig. Always causing problems whenever you can, huh?" Wei Bo grumbled, flopping himself down onto the stone floor to sit beside me.

"I could say the same to you," I replied, smiling slightly. "I can't begin to count the times you've started arguments with me about incredibly pointless things."

"You do, too!" he countered, punching my arm.

Putting on a serious air, I grabbed his shoulder and used it to sit up. He looked somewhat reluctant to allow me to do so, but let me, anyway. "Of course," I said thoughtfully, fighting to keep my face straight as I settled myself into an upright position and attempted to quell the wooziness which came with it. "It is my duty as your older brother to pick on you at every opportunity. Just as it is your duty as my younger brother to be irritating to no end, with which you are doing a very thorough job. What else are siblings for but fighting with one another for the amusement of the initiator?"

Wei Bo's mouth dropped open in outrage.

"What, am I wrong about your motives?" I asked, giving in to a tiny smirk. Before he had a chance to retaliate, I looked upward toward Prince. It seemed that Gui's frequent romps of hysteria over Prince's absence were finally at an end. Probably to be replaced with his equally irritating romps of joy over Prince's presence…

"Welcome back."

"Thanks," he replied, smiling hesitantly.

"Aeolus," Yu Lian called. I looked at her instead. "Thank you for agreeing to fight, though you were so against it," she said stiffly. "I hadn't known this would, um, happen."

I stared at her a moment, not really caring anymore that I'd fainted. As long as I wouldn't be forced to fight again in the future.

"Neither had I," I replied, and ran my eyes over the other people standing around me for whatever reason. The Odd Squad, a few members of Dark Phantom, two women I could vaguely remember seeing somewhere at some point, both of whom seeming to be completely occupied with staring at Prince, two men I'd never seen before, two people I'd seen at X University—Jing and Yun Fei, or something along those lines—and my team… minus one.

"Where's Dib?" I inquired, turning my head around in case he was behind me for some reason. A blank wall returned my searching with stony silence. I turned back toward the others, feeling somewhat afraid. "He didn't die, right?" The respawn point had been deactivated, I remembered, meaning he'd be in a different city if that was the case.

"No, he's just outside," Avila answered and I smiled in relief at the news. "He said he wanted to help fix the city gate, so he didn't come in with us."

"Speaking of the gate," Yu Lian said, turning away and yanking a somewhat frightened-looking Prince along behind herself, "you have plenty of things to do other than stand around. As do the rest of you!" she snapped. "Just because the battle is over doesn't mean you can relax!"

Gui gave me one last tiny glance before running off to follow his teammates. "Don't forget to talk to Yu Lian about what I said earlier," I reminded, staring after his retreating back. A brief wave of his hand was all I received in response.

I felt a bit jealous when he slipped up to Prince's side, smiling happily at the elf and seeming as though he'd barely even heard me. I'd gotten used to having Gui there with me so often over the past month. Now that Prince was back and Yu Lian had them focusing all the closer on Infinite City's affairs, I doubted Gui would have much time for me anymore. But I tried to ignore the loneliness. I'd been living without Gui for over a decade, I supposed I could do so again. It wasn't as though I'd never see him again, anyway.

Slowly rising to my feet, still using the reluctant Wei Bo as my support, I looked toward the open doorway, wondering what Dib was doing. Jiū gave my hand a squeeze and I questioningly glanced down at her. "I should go help the rebuilding of the gate, too," she said, sighing slightly. Her silvery eyes darted between mine. "In the mean time, I think you should talk to Dib. I'm worried about him."

I nodded hesitantly, relieved that she'd suggested it. I'd been wanting to, but I wasn't sure how she would feel about my doing so. Dib had barely even looked at me—or anyone else, for that matter—since he'd spoken to Jiū and I. Perhaps he was just trying to distance himself for her and my comfort, but it was making me increasingly uneasy. I'd already seen enough of the explosive aftermath of bottling up feelings for too long, and didn't want it to happen all over again.

I wasn't sure what I'd say to him, or if it would really help the situation, but I didn't want to leave him to sort things out on his own, either. With all that had happened, I still wanted to be there for him if he needed me.

We made our way outside and walked toward the northern gate where a large group of players were working to restore the wrecked area to how it had been before the battle. Carefully stepping over a large, splintered beam and countless bits of brick, I came to a halt, watching Dib as he worked alongside the others. His normally lively persona was completely subdued, a vacant look in his eyes, which had rarely been without an amused gleam.

Taking a beep breath, I walked toward him as the rest of my team went to join in with the workers. Dib gave me one surprised look before quickening his pace while he dropped a large broken brick in a pile to one side and hurried back to the gate to get another. I wordlessly observed as he proceeded to walk back and forth several times, and I wondered when he was going to stop. If he was going to stop.

"You could at least help clear the rubble," he finally muttered when he walked past me for what had to be the fiftieth time, "instead of just standing there."

I fell into step beside him and obediently picked up several bits of rock. "Could we go somewhere to talk?" I asked quietly, turning to head back to the rubble pile.

His progress faltered for a moment, but he continued immediately, staring down at the ground. Once he'd thrown his armload onto the rubble pile, he briefly stopped. "I've had enough of talking," he whispered, turning to go back to the gate again.

I didn't follow, but stayed where he'd left me, staring hard at the mound of shattered rock. Carefully placing what I'd been carrying onto the pile, I moved out of the way of the other people who were working, and went back to watching Dib's repetitive movements.

"Has our friendship become one-sided on my part?" I finally questioned, feeling deeply hurt that he seemed to want nothing to do with me anymore. I'd never dared to assume that he'd be completely fine in such a short amount of time, but I'd thought that I'd always be the one he'd confide in whenever something was bothering him, no matter what. It was like he'd given up on me in my entirety, not just on a romantic level. But I was determined not to be pushed aside, even if my efforts made him angry.

"Al, you know that's not it," he replied, shooting me a thoroughly miserable stare before tossing his armload of rocks onto the pile and coming to stand beside me at last. "I told you I wouldn't be bothering you with this anymore. Stop prying, and just leave me alone."

Crouching down, I looked him in the eye for a long moment, then held out my hand. He didn't move to take it. "Please… come with me?" I begged, stretching my hand out further. "Please?"

"Why can't we speak here?" he asked, completely ignoring my hand and keeping his eyes locked with mine.

"There are other people here," I explained.

"Shouldn't that be a good thing?" he continued softly, his eyes narrowing slightly. "What if we go somewhere alone and I can't hold myself back? What'll you do then?"

"I'll punch you or something, I suppose," I answered seriously and he smiled in disbelief, laughing lightly.

Several silent moments passed and his little hand slipped into mine at last. With relief, I took him up in my arms and stretched my wings to each side, shaking them out and lifting us into the air, over the city and into the sky. We flew for nearly an hour, no particular destination in mind, nor did we speak to one another to decide on a place. It didn't matter where we went. It had never mattered to us, I supposed.

I let us down to a large oak tree and settled onto one of its wide branches, surrounded by the bright green leaves and warm air, sunlight filtering down on us. I seated myself several feet out on the bough, facing the thick trunk, while Dib leaned against it, staring out toward the leafy dome over our heads. He sighed, smiling nostalgically. "This place reminds me of where you and I first met in-game."

"You're right," I breathed, looking about myself properly. It did seem quite similar, though we were nowhere near Sun City and there were no angry bears in sight, thankfully. And this forest was more open and airy than that dense, dark wood where we'd met.

"Do you remember where we first met in real life?" he asked hopefully, staring intently at me as he rested his head on the tree trunk and relaxed himself.

"The office," I replied slowly, wondering why he'd asked something so obvious.

Confusion swirled up when he wordlessly shook his head. I waited a moment to see if he would explain, but he didn't say anything more, seemingly wanting me to remember on my own.

We'd met before he was hired, then? My entire life prior to my high school graduation was ruled out straight away; I'd been tutored at home with hand-picked, scholarly-type angry, old geezers, who my father thought were more qualified for the job—in other words, more under his control at such a close proximity—than teachers at schools.

Directly after that came my four years at the university my father had chosen for me. But I'd never befriended anyone there; everyone in my classes seemed to hate me for some unknown reason, so I'd left them alone. Their distance had allowed me more focus on my studies, so I hadn't really cared, anyway.

I paused while I continued rolling those years over in my mind. Now that I thought about it, there'd been one person who'd attempted to speak to me on numerous occasions during the first two years. He'd been so annoying, never seeming to hear my dismissals and ambushing me in the library, in classrooms, and in random spots around the campus. He and I had never exchanged names, and I couldn't even remember what he looked like, but he seemed like the most likely person.

Frowning in displeasure, I looked back to Dib. "Six years ago," I started and he laughed, a happy smile finally on his face. "That relentlessly irritating person from my economics class who wouldn't leave me alone no matter how many times and ways I asked?"

"We were in more than just economics together, you know. And I was not irritating, you jerk," he digressed, suddenly glaring at me and crossing his arms. The similarities to the Sun City wood were growing, I thought with a tiny grin. "I was only trying to befriend you, and my persistence to include you in the class just so happened to be as deep as your stubbornness to be by yourself."

I stared at him a moment. "You were irritating," I repeated, shaking my head at his denial.

Afterward, I paused again and returned his glare with more fury than he'd given me. "You jerk!"

"Don't talk like me," Dib ordered, but I ignored him.

"Now I can't believe even more that you didn't tell me who you were when we first met in-game. I'd thought knowing each other for a few months before you told me was cruel of you, yet you and I have known each other for six years, and you still kept it from me for so long."

"Would you still have agreed to be my teammate if I'd told you?" he asked quietly and I fell silent, seeing his point. Knowing how I'd been back then, I most definitely would not have agreed. It was the fact that he was someone new and different that drew out my curiosity and interest, leading to my consent for his company.

If he'd told me, I would have left him. He was someone my father knew, after all, and keeping Second Life from my father had been one of my top priorities at the time. I'd thought Dib was someone my father would never have known, eliminating that particular threat and allowing me to relax.

"Exactly," Dib said into the stillness that had built up. "I didn't want you to feel any more uncomfortable around me than you already did, so…" He shrugged and I looked away, not really knowing what I was supposed to say in return. The conversation had gone in an entirely different direction than I'd thought it was going to go, and I needed time to catch up with all of the new discoveries.

Taking a deep breath, I glanced at him again. "I'm–"

"Don't apologize," he interrupted, leaning on the trunk again and staring past me toward the leafy ends of the tree branches. "Stop being so nice to me."

"You want me to be mean?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow in bemusement.

"Yes… and no," he muttered. "I want you to be indifferent… but I want all of your affection. I want you to leave me alone, but I want you to always be with me… I want you to be happy with your fiancée, but I don't want to let you go… Full of contradictions, as usual," he said softly.

"I don't know what to do anymore, Al," he whispered. "I hate this indecisiveness. I've never really held back very much before, and now I'm suddenly required to draw a line somewhere, but I never know how much is too much. I feel guilty simply looking at you, not knowing if I accidentally looked for too long.

"This would be so much easier," he suddenly snapped, "if Jiū wasn't such a damn kind person. If she was mean and horrible, I wouldn't feel guilty in the slightest if I tried to steal you away. But, but she's so…"

"Not horrible at all," I quietly ended for him and he nodded, looking extremely angry at the fact.

His anger abruptly plummeted back into sadness. "I feel like such a terrible person whenever I get jealous and think badly of her after she's been so tolerant toward me." He sighed deeply, and finally turned back to me after staring at the wall of leaves for so long. "Why's everything have to be so complicated? Why'd it have to be you, of all people?"

I wordlessly watched as his eyes closed, spilling tears down his face. The urge to comfort him was rising up again. "Dib," I called, but he made no sign that he'd heard me. I scooted myself closer to him on the branch and put a hand on his head, slowly running my fingers through his curly hair. "I-is there anything I can do? If there's something, please, tell me, I'll do it if I can…"

Dib leaned forward and pulled himself against me, shaking his head. "No, there's nothing you can do," he answered. "Everything you haven't given me and I want from you isn't mine to take. Even if you did give some of the things out of pity for my situation with no feelings involved, I'd only hate you for it. Just knowing that you care for me in some way makes me happy to a certain extent," he murmured, chuckling slightly.

He sighed again. "I think I just need a break from you and everything else. I can't stand being around you guys every single day."

"…Does that mean you're not coming to the wedding?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't want to force him to come if he'd only be miserable the whole time, but it would still have meant a lot to me if he'd chosen to do so.

"I don't know," he replied. "Gimme some time to think about it."

"Okay." Wrapping my arms around him, I hugged him tightly, gazing vacantly at the tree trunk behind him and wishing there was some way to make everyone happy. It seemed no matter the scenario, someone was going to wind up getting hurt.

Nearly ten minutes later, Dib leaned backward and looked up at me. "Goodbye for now."

My arms suddenly didn't have anyone in them. I stared down at the rough tree branch where he'd just been sitting, unsettled at his abrupt logout. His break from me had started much sooner than I'd been expecting.

Feeling thoroughly confused at how I was supposed to handle everything, I stood up, walked to the edge of the bough, jumped off and flew back toward Infinite City. There was little of the night left to spend, and I still had one other person I wanted to speak to before I woke up. If I could find him, anyway.

An hour later, I landed inside the walls of the central tower and strode inside, glancing about the large, dim hall. There were many people bustling about, but not the person I wanted. "Prince, where are you?"

"Yu Lian-dàsăo is dragging me around the city to get me up to speed on things…" he replied, sounding very grumpy. "Why?"

"I want to ask you something," I said, walking back outside, smiling at his suddenly hopeful tone and its unspoken screams for a rescue from the terrifying magician. "Could you spare a moment?"

The elf was silent for a long while, and I was starting to wonder if he was going to answer. "No," he replied at last. "She's glaring at me for just PMing someone while I'm supposed to be paying attention to whatever it is she's talking about."

"I see," I murmured. "Well, I'll ask you over a PM, then, so I don't interrupt your tour. I was wondering if you were going to attend my wedding? It's next weekend. Jiū invited the whole Odd Squad, and also a few members of Dark Phantom."

He was silent for even longer this time, not that I hadn't been expecting it. Even without being told, I could see many reasons why he would refuse.

"I, um, don't know… I think I might, er, be… busy. Yes, in fact I think I'm very busy. Very, very busy. Can't avoid it."

"Really? You're not able to spare even a few hours?" I pressed in amusement at his reluctance.

"Nope," he promptly refused.

"And why not?"

"I said I'm busy!" he snapped. "Geeze, you and Gui are both so annoying!"

"You're too afraid to come even with Wicked and Wu Qing there as your excuse?" I asked, ignoring his little remark. "They both already have the information, you could just attend with them, since it wouldn't be strange of you to accompany them.

"And speaking of Gui Wen, it's not like he'll notice who you are and cause a scene, you know. He's gone this long as your professor without recognizing you, I highly doubt he will even if you attend, Feng Lan."

Prince made an incomprehensible sputtery noise at me, then fell silent again. Yu Lian was probably doing something unspeakably horrible to him for not paying attention to whatever it was they were doing.

Smirking, I walked away from the tower toward the northern gate to find Jiū, hoping the week would pass by quickly.