***LEN MIRRIA***

The first time Rin chanted my spell, I am already connected to her. Though, she can't hear me because she's conscious, but I can hear her quite well from where I am (which was still the Sanctuary, in front of Meiko, kneeling and wearing the stuffy coat)

When Rin sang, I was glad I gave her that spell since I get to hear her sing.

That spell I taught her would allow the connection to connect despite being awake. I can't say anything to her at the time being but at least, I am watching (more like listening) over her.

Rin's voice is soft and melodic, and somehow, there was a feeling of nostalgia.

After her solo, she started sounding unwell.

Is she losing control?

"Rin! Can you hear me? Rin!" I call but no response. She's still conscious and I can't reach her.

I open my eyes, severing the connection and look up at Meiko.

"Let me pass through Rin's dream deeper. I think she's losing control of her ability."

Meiko nods and holds her sword tighter. The droplets of water that was suspended in the air started to vibrate until it burst into smaller drops of water, dripping on the floor and forming a magic circle below me. She chants a spell and it starts to lighten, emitting different hues of blue.

"I can only send you there for a short time. Hasten!" she exclaims. Her expression is strained but she stood her ground.

I close my eyes again, searching for the connection to Rin. When I found it, I open my eyes and before me is a scenery of vast blue sky and ocean. This is Rin's dream world.

I start to call for her, but she's not there. There is only the sound of waves and wind and that's that.

I click my tongue in annoyance.

"Who are you?" a soft voice asks.

I turn and see a little girl with black hair and brown eyes. Is this Rin? But she's just a child.

I smile, "I am Len. Are you Rin?"

She looks up at me and stares back at my eyes, "Yes, I am but at the moment I am not."

Riddles? Is she fond of riddles?

The girl keeps staring at me, nonchalantly and blankly.

"Then, are you fine now, Rin? You were kind of in a panic a while ago which made me come here to see you. And, I was hoping that once you see me, you'll be quite surprised and giddy since you've been fussing about when you can see me and – here I am – appearing handsomely in your dream!" I exclaim, mimicking an entertainer of a circus – jolly and comical. I was hoping it can lighten her mood a bit.

But she doesn't bat her eyes. She just stares at me and she smiles – not the cute kind of smile but the creepy kind. "Ahh, I see," shivers went to my spine and in reflex, I hold the hilt of my sword. "You're him. You're my knight, aren't you?" I flinch. My gut feel sends warning signals, that this girl is dangerous. "Did you come here to enter a contract with me?" and her brown eyes then turned to bright red.

I unsheathe my sword and hold it towards her. A witch!

"Who are you?!"

She hugs her small body and gives a laugh, "I am RIN, of course! And no one else. Anyone who calls themselves Rin other than me is a dead person. A ghost. A machine. A thing. A broken toy," then her expression softens, her hands fall to her side and slumped her shoulders forward, "Why does everyone ask me the same question? Even you, who are fated to be with me forever and always," She fervently shivers as she mutters something, which slowly became a chant of "Forever and always. Forever and always. Forever and always. FOREVER AND ALWAYS!"

A spell was casted around the dream and I was petrified. I click my tongue yet again and try to nullify the spell.

"Come now, dear!" the girl walks towards me, every step forward, her image changes as she grows from a black haired child to a blonde, short haired teenager. As she is in front of me, her face comes close to mine. She is kind of a beauty, a dangerous kind of beauty. She is very pale, her lips are red at first glance but at the closer look, it is because of blood from her lips which comes from cuts which I believe she did, her lashes are long and her eyes are the color of blood.

She touches my cheeks and she is cold.

"Ahh, this is what I've been waiting for so long. You're the one who can give me back what I once have. You're the only one who can help me," she coos. Then from my cheeks to my lips, her touch just simply gives me shivers and disgust.

"Now, to seal the contract…" she grins and was about to do the seal but I had finally broken free from her spell and I jump away her at the same time, slashing her face. She cries and shouts. It is rude to do that to a lady but – that criterion doesn't apply to witches.

"Stay away from me, witch."

She scowls at me before looking quite hurt, "You too? Why won't you accept me? WHY?!" then she falls on her knees and starts to cry. "Why? Why? Why? Why?!" her sobbing dies down and she stares at me, blankly like she did before attacking me, her hair fading back to black.

"I won't stop, Allen."

I click my tongue and try to slash her. But she had already disappeared and faded with the sound of the waves.

When I come back to my own consciousness, Meiko is giving such a pained and frightened expression. I go to her and shakes her, she is somewhat frozen, her eyes are blank as she remembers something.

She comes back to reality and she looks at me, her eyes dark. She picks her sword which she had let go when she somewhat had a vision, her hand, as I notice, is shaking. Then she glares at me. Is it anger? Fear?

"Meiko?"

"You…" her lips shiver and she slaps her face in such a force (to my surprise), she takes a deep breath and puts her sword back to her sheath. She looks at me indifferently and turns away, "I'm sorry Len. I cannot help you with this ceremony anymore," her voice finally calms.

"Why?"

She looks back but gives me a glare. Her look doesn't faze me. Something is wrong, that I know. I went to the dream of my enchantress only to find a witch waiting for me. Who wouldn't be wary of that? But I need this.

"I still need to enter a contract with an enchantress."

"You can't," her voice is low and dangerous. "Your enchantress is already a witch. You can't do that anymore."

"No. I still can. Rin – my enchantress, she was not that witch. She is something different."

Meiko clicks her tongue, "Don't you understand? Or don't you know who you just met?" she touches her forehead and taps her foot in agitation, "That was a witch called Rillianne. And like all witches, she's crazy. No, she may be the craziest and the most dangerous of them all.

"She targets different enchantresses and tries to pull them to insanity and eats their soul. If she's in your enchantress's dream, then, it can only mean one thing…"

I feel like I'm bare naked and cold air passes through me.

"…she's gone, Len."

I lie down in my bed and cover my eyes with my arms.

Today was a long day and it kinda drained me, both physically and emotionally.

Usually, when I'm this tired, that voice would come and tell me how pathetic I am but now, I can only hear someone calling my name and calling me a stupid narcissist.

A smile appears in my lips.

She's still alive.

***RIN KAGAMINE***

I open my eyes, feeling a bit dizzy. I sit on my bed and groan at my headache.

"Rin?" Dad enters my room without knocking, worry is obvious in his face as he paces towards my bed. "Are you feeling fine now?"

I nod. Though I'm still feeling light-headed, the world seems to be turning and my ears give occasional ringing now and then, it's better than earlier.

I look at Dad and I'm in the guilt-lane again.

When I fainted at the contest, Miki seemed to call my Dad. So when I opened my eyes to find the always worrying green eyes of Dad, I knew that he knew that I've broken my promise not to sing again.

"Dad, I…"

"Don't be sorry," he starts to pat my head which is down. "I know of the contest. I just didn't stop you because I know how much you love singing. So much that you would try to keep it a secret."

I look up at him, surprised at the sudden revelation. Before I could ask how he know of it he continues, "I mean, I'm a light sleeper. Even the soft voice of singing practicing every night is enough to wake me." I gasp and he gives a smile, "Your singing is wonderful, Rin." My eyes feel watery in an instant. "Now. Can I cook you something? Any requests for the great chef of the Kagamine Clan?" he asks and puffs his chest proudly.

I wince and giggle at the same time. Dad isn't the greatest chef, heck, he doesn't know how to cook. But I guess he is trying. "Then, I'll just get something easy to eat. Like a porridge perhaps? With oranges on the side?"

"Got it," he stands up and ruffles my hair, I pout as he did that, "Now get to sleep princess. You need to rest."

I nod and salute at him. He laughs at the gesture but he sighs as he closes the door.

I don't want to sleep. But my head feels like mush.

So I keep on chanting the spell Len taught me to pass the time. And sometimes, call him stupid when the redundancy of words wears me.

And then, I grow tired, bored and thirsty.

I reach for the water bottle that is usually on my study table but it is empty. I groan and feel thirstier than earlier. I stand up from my bed, and with the water bottle on my hand, went downstairs for a drink.

The way down isn't easy. I would bump to the door and on the stairs' railings. When I stood up from my bed, I was feeling a bit fine but now, my world is turning upside down and I badly want to throw.

Reaching the kitchen, I run to the sink and did my thing. I wipe my mouth and sit on the chair for a bit. This feeling sucks.

I notice the mess that Dad made in the kitchen. The stove is still on, a pot on it, cooking something that does not smell nice at all. But on the counter, there is already nicely peeled oranges put in a white plastic plate. I smile at Dad's handiwork and try to look for the creator of such mess.

I hear Dad's voice, talking to someone. He is at his lab that was just a door away from the kitchen.

"Yes. It is shining again when I checked it earlier."

The conversation made me raise a brow.

"I don't know if we can do anything about this anymore. This is fate working its magic, Mir. Your brother is already calling her."

Call? Who?

"What? Are you serious? I've promised both of them to keep her from going back."

Crap. I'm getting dizzier. Maybe I should go back upstairs now.

I went to the dispenser and fill the bottle, closing it when it is full. I immediately retrace my steps slowly back to my room.

"Miriam, Rin herself, told me that she doesn't want to go back there!" Dad's voice is rather loud and agitated.

I halt. Me? Doesn't want to go back? Where?

I rest myself on the railings and listen.

What are Dad and Miriam talking about? I can't hear her voice, then, are they talking via phone?

"Listen here. Don't you care what happens to her? She said she lost it there. If she was to go back, she doesn't know if she can still be herself," it's been a long time since I've heard Dad raise his voice. Is the matter really that troublesome?

My head starts to spin again. I decide to stop eavesdropping and go back to my initial mission: to go up.

I take a step and the environment changes. I blink and look around me. A dark room with things covered with cloths. Boxes stacked neatly. The smell of dust is in the air and it is cold.

Odd, why am I in our attic? Wasn't I just in the kitchen? And the head splitting headache is mysteriously gone. Did I fainted and sleep-walked here?

It is dark, the lights are off but something is emitting a strange white light. Something that is covered like anything else in the room and is placed at the very corner.

In curiosity, I went to it and remove the cloth. The light disappears, like it doesn't want to be caught lighting up at all. The darkness fills the room and I open the only window in the room to let the moonlight give me visuals. After opening the window, I keep my eyes on the dark to let it be used to the darkness. When I see everything again, I went back to the mirror.

I gasp as I see the mirror that would usually appear in my dreams. An antique mirror with magical symbols on its frame. For a bit, I thought it was a different mirror. Just something quite similar to my mirror but it isn't. There is the same swirls and familiar unknown writings on the frame, the same scratched old mirror, the same size and same feel. It is the one from my dreams.

Questions of why it is here and how come I dream of this mirror almost every night are in my head. But I'm too awed to try to find answers for them. My reflection tells me so, my mouth is open and my eyes wide.

I touch the mirror and the familiar surface made my heart start to beat fast. Excitement, wonder and fear, all in one.

If this mirror exists, then is my dream guy real too? Len? And the horror girl?

I pull my hand to my chest and shake my head.

No, this can't be true. I may still be dreaming a new dream.

I slap my cheeks so hard I called myself stupid for doing so.

I feel pain. This is real. This is not a dream.

A melody starts to play from it. I yelp and step back, trying to hide from the mirror. But it just plays a song – a wonderful melody. I feel warm and nostalgic, like in my dreams. I go closer to it one more time and listen. I hum with it and a glow appears in the mirror. The source of light earlier.

I yelp again and hug my knees.

The glow disappears but the melody keeps on playing, enchanting me to sing with it.

I stand up and bite my cheeks. The urge to hum with it is strong, in curiosity of what might happen next. Will I finally see my dream guy? Or will that girl appear? Or will I know who Len really is?

Excitement. Wanting. Longing. Desire. And fear.

I want to see that guy. But I don't want that girl to appear.

And Len…

I wish he could be here to tell me that it's fine.

Eij siu non lario.

I repeat the spell three times and my heart calms.

I look at the mirror again, determined to find out the mysteries behind it.

I hum with the song and the glow appears. I continue and the glow grows bigger and bigger, as if it likes the sound of my voice and wants to hear more of it. As soon as the whole mirror is glowing, I stop humming.

I wait for something to happen but it just glows. It didn't disappear anymore, like it opened up to me and befriended me or something.

I touch the surface again and the coldness that it usually was feels so warm. I giggle at the feeling.

"Rin?" I hear Dad call, "Where are you?"

"I'm in the attic! Come here Dad. There's something amazing in here!" I happily shout, my hand still on the mirror.

"In the attic?" his voice doesn't sound too happy, "Rin! Don't touch anything!"

My happiness level dropped to zero. Dad isn't pleased. I try to pull my hand but I seem to be stuck. I pull again and again, but it doesn't move. "Dad, I'm stuck," the words seem to be a statement of fact rather than of emergency as it leaves my mouth.

I hear Dad's footsteps as he goes up and hear him curse loudly.

Then I feel like something's pulling me. I look back at the mirror to find out my hand to my arm is gone inside the mirror. Panic starts to rush to my head, "Dad!" I shrieked.

The mirror then pulls me faster as if it knew that it would lose me if Dad appears.

The doors open, Dad runs towards me who is already half-submerged in the mirror. I extend my other hand to him but the mirror does a one hard pull and I am gone.

***LEN MIRRIA***

The connection is forcibly cut.

I curse and immediately prepare to go out my house to do a visit to a rather difficult pair.

It is a long walk so I use Josephine, a white, strong-willed steed that only listens to me. I saddle her as fast as I can and went to that certain man's house. I cover my face with a hood and on I go.

I dread at the journey since I need to pass by the town's commercial and business districts which is always full of people. Because of how I look, I usually get the stares from the people. Light blonde hair and royal blue eyes. Such is the distinguished look of royalties of the old kingdom which was overthrown years ago. And because I have these characteristics, I am usually the talk of the town whenever I pass through. And I don't like these talks.

Upon passing through these districts, I lower my hood, enough to hide my hair and to make me see the road. Like always, the place is bustling with crowds, rich people and merchants usually.

As I reach the end of the business district comes the crossroads, north is to the palace, east is the harbor and west is the Underbridge District. The cross road is centered by a huge circle which is the town's center where events are usually hold.

I pulled Josephine's reins navigating her to the harbor.

The road towards there is dark and damp. These are the streets where pirates and smugglers usually stay and just thinking about that makes me disgusted at this town's system.

By the corner, I click my tongue in annoyance as I see a little girl being crowded by people shouting the price that they can pay to gain reins over the girl.

Josephine stops walking and neighs loudly. I step down Josephine and touch her mane before walking towards the crowd.

The girl, who might be at the age of 6 or 7, has black hair and brown eyes. She has a fair complexion not for the scratches and bruises that are on her. Her hands are tied with a thick rope, her wrists bleeding because of it and the other end of the rope is tied at the bidder's waist.

"One hundred gold!" a man beside me shouts.

I look at the girl once again. Why would someone bid a large amount such as one hundred gold to a frail child?

"One hundred fifty gold!" another man in a gruff voice shouted.

The bidder looks agitated, "One hundred fifty gold. Going once, going twice!" He looks around and frowns. He pulls the rope hard making the girl fall down on her knees. "We have here a phoenix, people. It couldn't be only a one hundred and fifty gold, right?"

A phoenix?

The man pulls the rope again, telling the girl to turn to phoenix. The girl does as she's told, her hands appear to burn in an orange fire then it went up to whole body. The fire is soft and weak, not like the one which I know of. When the fire disappears, a bird bigger than the bidder appeared, it's wings tied by the rope which seems to be a magic item.

The phoenix tries to break free of its bind, struggling to free its wings but it grows tired and becomes a little girl again.

The bidding goes higher to the bidder's delight.

I can't handle this garbage anymore. I hold the hilt of my sword and chanted a spell of release. The first and second seals are released, evident as two intricate silver dragon heads appear on the sheath. I pull my sword and red fire blazes on the blade.

The crowd stares at me, unsure of what's about to happen.

I dash forward and severed the magical rope which keeps the phoenix prisoner. Fires from my blade crackles and roars as it slice the rope cleanly. As the rope is cut, the child transforms into a phoenix and flies away. This made the bidder angry.

He wields his own sword. I swing my sword and close the seals. The dragon heads disappears from the sheath and the fires extinguishes.

The bidder attacks me, so do a few men who bid but the fight is easy. I am trained because I have something to accomplish and they are a just men who wields the sword because they have one.

I dodge at their clumsy attacks and I slice them like paper, neatly in two halves. As soon as the mob is down to half, most of them decided that they've met someone they shouldn't have and tails between their legs, run off. I let them run away except for the bidder.

I made sure he'd be cut to bits by bits before I burn his corpse together with the ones I just killed.

A/N:

Domo~ Kuro'Usagi here!

Dear Reader,

If you had already read my other story entitled, "Neo-Child" and have come this far in this new story of mine - I guess there's no need to explain it further.

This story, "The Dreamer and the Cursed" is "Neo-Child"s rewritten version. Dun-dun-dun-duuuunn!

Though, Neo-Child is a small child of mine and it isn't polished well, dear new readers, you can also read Neo-Child. (Caution"You may read spoilers since that story is this story's base afterall.) It depends upon you.

BUT! In this story, I added and changed some few things to make the development more interesting, so patron readers, you can also read this story to see what's different and if this one is better or nah.

And so - welcome to "The Dreamer and the Cursed". I hope you'll enjoy this story.

P.S:

Though, it's still too early in the story, I would like to ask you readers suggestions on the following scenes/topic:

- Date

- Jealousy Outbursts

As all characters aren't introduced yet, you can also suggest characters that would act your suggested scene/ you can just vaguely put "male goes like this and female goes like that" if you don't have any idea who would act who.

This would greatly help me.

Thank you very much.