Dreams
The illusion for your weakened love. This is not what we were made for. Far from the compassion we have known. Far from the love that we have shown. - We Came As Romans
She was free.
Those were the only three words that came to her the second Diego said those six words.
"Come with us. Come with me."
Coming from anyone else, it would have had no meaning or passion to it what so ever. But Diego said it from all his heart had. That's one thing she was sure of.
A lot can change in a lifetime, but in one day, her entire life was suddenly flipped in a new direction. She wanted to believe it was for the better.
Much of what happened that day didn't make much sense at all. Strangely enough, she still didn't quite understand the whole idea of how it all happened.
That very same day she met him, the day her life was turned around, she still remembered the exact image that day on the ship. The last day she'd ever be on it. The crew was her family. Her friends. Everything she had.
That's what they wanted her to believe.
All of those years, they lied to her. They pretended to be who they weren't. It was something she may never understand. But maybe it was better kept that way.
No one had ever been so concerned about her. It made her feel lonely, like there was no one on her side. Even though the crew was right there with her, they never understood her just like she never understood them.
Being on that frozen piece of ice for as long as she could remember really changed her whole perpective. Getting up every morning, tired as hell, just for some stupid drills that neither she nor the rest of the crew members needed. Yet, they did as they were told without question.
Regardless, they were a really good crew. Mostly because of how well they happened to work together and the fact that every mammal on board had his or her own unique ability that could be put to use.
As a pirate crew, she expected her first day on board to go plunder some more less fortunate souls. No. That happened almost never. They weren't much of the plundering type. They'd usually just sing shanties all day. It annoyed the hell out of her.
As the days grew to an end, she would always cry herself to sleep. She kept telling herself that she deserved better. She could have a better life. She really wanted to believe that. But she just couldn't find the strength to see it that way, nor would she ever do anything about it. She was just a lost soul at sea, fortunate enough to find a purpose in life, if that was even considered to be one.
Being miserable on that pirate ship really affected her sleep. She would often get up in the middle of the night. Nightmares were enveloping her dreams and it drove her crazy. Members of the crew would often check up on her whenever she completely screamed her head off as soon as she woke up from those nightmares that she would constantly have with shortness of breath. She had to go through that every night. For the first couple of times, the crew was showing worry for her and for a while, she thought that she was actually cared for.
But of course, she had her hopes up, like always. They eventually got used to it, as if it worked itself into their own dreams.
Lucky bastards.
At least they could get some sleep. That just went to show that they never cared for her. She felt stupid for never realizing it until he showed up.
Despite all the nightmares she got, there was one dream she had one night that she would never forget.
She woke up. All she could see was water. The air bubbles that fizzled in front of her eyes slowly started to clear out so she could see in front of her. She looked up, aware that she was deeply underwater. She tried to swim to the surface, thinking that she could actually survive.
As she used her paws to grasp the water, desperatly attempting to ascend, she quickly gave up. It wasn't because she was out of breath. Something else was with her. It grabbed her and pulled her back down into the depth of what she could imagine was the ocean.
She tried kicking, clawing, anything that could rid her of that creature's grasp. Sadly, it was no use. As she struggled to reach the top where air was waiting for her, the only thing that she was accomplishing was descending farther and farther down beneath the cold ocean.
Looking down below her, she tried to see who or what was dragging down to the depths of the sea.
The funny thing was, though she felt something grab on to her, nothing was there. She was just sinking. She was drowning by force. She wasn't sure how much worse it could get from that.
When she thought as though she was out of oxygen, she felt herself being pulled up and before her was a sun blazing golden saber tooth tiger. It was him. The crazy thing though, was that she had this dream before she first met him. She never told him about this.
Maybe I should.
It was just so crazy. That was the only way she could describe it. It looked exactly like him, too.
As she looked up at him, she saw a look of happiness in his eyes, on his face, everywhere. It was there. Although she never met him before, this saber that she knew nothing about, she smiled back.
Once she did that, his face, the most beautiful face she's ever seen, suddenly turned into a depressing state. It didn't confuse her in the dream itself. It was a dream, after all. That all that happened as she woke up, screaming her head off once again.
That sort of thing would happen to her on a nightly basis. After all those years of depression and misery, she was surprised she managed to last without completely losing it and ending her life.
Just had to fall off the ship.
She was about to do it, too. But that dream she had, the one where he appeared before her. For some reason, it just motivated her to keep going. She never figured it out until that day.
She remembered all of it. She'd never forget the day he appeared and instantly changed her morning had a thick foggy scene when she woke up and got up on deck. One of the crew members woke her up, informing her that they had hostages in range.
Because of her crazy sleep disorder, she was dead tired waking up. Luckily, she's had these sleeping problems long enough to the point that she could hide her exhaustion and pretend that she was wide awake.
As she came outside the ship, she saw the whole crew over the edge of the ship, which told her that the hostages were right there.
Jumping up on the side of the ship to see who their prisoners were, she gazed down at the mammals that she never would have guessed would be in a place such as in the middle of the ocean. She would have just gone back to sleep like she usually did and wait for the captain to scream his head off because she was still tired as hell. But she didn't.
Because he was there.
No sooner would she have expected he would change her life for ever. At the time, she never thought about that dream she had. She really wished she would've thought about it. But she didn't, which was really strange because she would always think about that dream. Ever since she had it, it would come up in her mind whenever she was thinking to herself.
The scary part was that for some reason, she could feel that someday, somehow, she'd see him again and he'd save her. He'll take her away from this hell. She'd think about this every night, making up different possibilities that could happen if she were to see him for real. It really helped her, too. She'd wake up less scared from her nightmares, and even though it was only her imagination, she felt less lonesome.
Looking down, and seeing him on that lower elevated ice platform, she'd never been hooked on to anything like him. She couldn't take her eyes off him. Or at least that's what it should have been like. Unfortunately, living on that pirate ship for almost all of her life really hardened up her heart. Her personality was the same thing as a rock. She really didn't have one, so she really didn't show any facial expressions or any acknowledgment to the golden saber, although she was sure that somewhere inside of her, she went crazy for him the moment she laid eyes on him.
That was the sad truth of it all. Having no feelings for him whatsoever. Yet, he was still trying. He was still trying to convince her that she could have a better life. That she deserved so much more, and he was the key to unlocking it all. His name was Diego. He was the toughest, most warmhearted and good looking saber she had ever seen. He was the only saber she had ever seen. She really didn't remember her own parents. If there was another saber out there that would try to win her over, he might as well give up, because her mind was set.
The best part about him though, was how big of a softy he was. That was the main reason why she chose to join him in the first place. Or her second reason, at least.
Once she agreed to join him, they slowly learned more and more about each other. When ever they were alone, which was hardly ever, considering that everyone in the herd was pretty nosey about their privacy. It really got on both of their nerves. However, she could tell that Diego hated it more than she herself did. The first few times, it was really cute to her seeing him frustrated from the lack of privacy and the constant teasing that was being shot at him. But after a while, it got really old really fast. She started getting frustrated too.
Now she understood Diego's short temper a lot. Before long, she'd probably be the same way. Yet, around her, and her only, his personality was really different. It was something that she really like about him and if she believed in one thing in this world, she had a better life and she had him to thank.
"Don't you ever get tired of that?" Diego asked quietly, making sure no one was eavesdropping on them that third night on the hardly explored island. They just got done with the rest of the herd throwing immature jokes at the two of them. If asked, she wouldn't go into detail on what they said.
It was just stupid. I'll say that much.
Finally getting away from the rest of the herd, she was alone with Diego. She really loved doing this every night. Just the two of them.
"Diego, I hate it just as much as you do." She said with all honesty. Diego had a look that told her "yeah, right".
"Trust me, you don't. I've had to deal with this since the beginning. Now, they found a whole new reason to make fun of me."
"Which is?" She asked, already a hundred percent sure of the answer, but she asked anyways.
They were walking away from the herd as they talked, and she guess Diego thought that at this point, they were far enough away from all of them, so he sat down on the soft grass below. She sat down next to him.
It was at that moment, she realized why Diego sat down. Not because of privacy. Maybe that too, but the real reason was because in front of them, an incredible sight laid before them. The most perfect and most beautiful waterfall she had ever seen was dimly making noise as it came in contact with the river from below, which was where the two of them were sitting. Right at the edge of the river. She could feel the spraying mist that the waterfall was creating. Everything felt so perfect that she was lost in fantasy for a minute or so until Diego answered her question.
"You."
"Huh?" she said, completely forgetting about the conversation they were having a second ago.
"You're the reason why they won't leave me alone."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, it's just that..." she started as she looked back at the waterfall before her.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He asked.
That was new. New for him, at least. That was the first time she'd ever heard him say a word that soft. But that just went to show how much of a softy he really was.
It's cute. It really is.
Not knowing what to say, she noded her head. She really just wanted to stare into the falls for the rest of the night until she got tired.
"Shira. I need to know something." He said sighing.
Hearing him say that really made her nervous. What could he need to know?
"Yes?" she asked, wishing that she would've worded that a little differently.
"Are you..." He started, as if he were hesitating, "are you... happy... here?" He said, looking away. He was really shy with these sort of things. It was just one more thing she loved about him.
"Of course I am. I've always been happier ever since I left the pirates. Why would you think I'm not?" She asked. It was the truth, in fact.
Diego looked behind him to make sure that no one was spying on them. He turned back around and faced her. He looked her directly in the eyes. It was the first time she got a really clear view of his eyes.
My god, they looked amazing!
She always tried to believe that nothing was impossible, but looking into his eyes made her think otherwise. She found it absolutely impossible to look away from those glazing emerald orbs. She felt so uncomfortable, yet so relaxed at the same time, if that was even possible. So many thoughts were zig-zagging through her brain, through her whole body and heart at that moment. Her heart and every muscle and vein in her body was pulsing, she couldn't control herself as she jumped on the golden tiger and started licking his face, purring from pleasure. She didn't know what his reaction was, and she honestly didn't care. She needed to know. She had to know.
She continued licking him until she felt him pull himself away, getting up, turning around to the waterfall, and not saying anything.
Great job, Shira. You really couldn't control yourself.
At that moment, she felt the biggest blush spread across her face. She wasn't sure if he was getting the same thing. Probably not. Why'd he pull away? More importantly, why did she jump on him and do... that?
"I'm sorry. Really. Diego. I didn't mean it. I just couldn't control myself." she said, trying to find and say any excuse she could think of. Sadly, they were all pretty lousy ones.
"Come with us. Come with me." He said as if he were talking to himself.
She was about to say something back until he turned around, facing her with a blush on his face.
"Why did those words make your decision?" He asked with a little bit of demand in those words.
"I don't know, just because? I was at such a loss back at that cove, what was I suppose to... But still, I made the right decision, didn't I?"
Diego looked up at the sparkly skies above him.
"That's what I feel." He said, looking back down at her.
She shook her head, "Diego... there's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" He asked
"Before I knew you... before I ever met you, I had a dream. I was being pulled down into the ocean by something. I'm not sure what it was, but it wouldn't let me swim back up to the surface, and when I was just about out of oxygen, I got pulled up, and when I looked up, I saw-
"Me?" He interrupted.
How'd he know that?! God, nothing makes sense at all!
"I had the same dream, Shira. The same thing. Only one thing was different. Instead of seeing myself, I saw-
"Me?"
"Yeah." He said smiling. It was so beautiful to the tigress. She questioned if there truly was anything about this saber that she didn't like.
She was about to jump on him and repeat the process a second time, but she learned from the first experience and refrained from doing so.
Just then, Diego jumped on her. He doesn't lick her face. In fact, he skipped that whole process and went straight to connecting his lips with hers. He started purring really loudly. She didn't think he really cared about anyone from the herd finding him like this, and honestly, neither did she.
She started to purr loudly with him as she stared into his emerald orbs as he returned the favor into her sapphire orbs.
There was a lot of things the silver tigress still don't understand in life. She figured there was a time and a place for everything. But for now, she'd live life while she could. As best as she could. Not caring about the past, nor about the future. Only here. Only now. Forever and always.
The End