"Aurea..." Fennel spoke, her voice seemed a bit distant, as if it were wrapped around the sun that was disappearing below the sea.

"Hm?" The woman replied, looking towards Fennel once more.

"Do you ever..." she paused, her eyes softening as if she was recollecting a joyful memory. "Do you ever wonder what will come of the next day?"

"What do you mean? Like think of the future?" Juniper questioned, she was very confused by the question the other had imposed on her. It seemed as if she was only trying to piece words together into something that made sense.

"Kind of..." Fennel leaned back, holding onto the railing to keep her body from completely tipping backwards. "But...I mean more like...what if you don't see tomorrow?"

"I don't understand..."

"Well, what if we never really wake up?" she began to explain, "What if we are just always sleeping and the days we have just repeat, but we think time is moving but in actuality, tomorrow never comes..."

"That sounds like some strange variation of a Limbo of dreaming..." Aurea commented.

"A Limbo of dreaming?" Fennel questioned, completely confused by what the other meant.

The brunette nodded. "Yes," she began, "essentially it sounds to me as if you are talking about being trapped between worlds, similar to Limbo where you aren't in Hell, but you aren't in Heaven. To me, it seems a little more Hell-like by the way I am thinking about it..."

"What do you mean?" she pressed further, still not quite wrapping her mind around it.

"When you wake up, you die." Juniper stated simply. "It's similar to when you leave Limbo, it's decided as to whether you go to Heaven, or you are damned to Hell."

"It sounds so dark when you put it that way..." Fennel commented, looking back at the sea below, her eyes losing the shine they had before.

Aurea looked at her for a moment, then instantly felt guilt dripping throughout her soul, "Oh, goodness," she quickly stated and turned completely to Fennel. "I didn't mean it as to be a bad thought! Euh...what do you think regarding it?"

Fennel looked back up at the professor. She bit her lip, thinking of how to form her words, "I'm not entirely sure..." she began, "With the fact that I am constantly studying dreams of pokemon, it just makes me think about it. Are we dreaming right now? Is this really a true reality, or are we merely in some trance that makes us think we are? Do we really have dreams, or are they fabricated from this trance like state?" Fennel looked back towards the water, "Maybe I just think about it too much...the actual 'dreams' that we have are just transient, but who says life isn't the same?"

"That's..." Juniper stopped herself from speaking. Partially, she couldn't find the words to respond to Fennel's statement, the other was that she never had seen Fennel act like this before.

"It's okay if you don't know what to say..." she continued, "I don't want to burden you with the thought of all of this 'challenging reality' idea. I just think about it a lot...and..." she pushed herself up on the railing once more, leaning her body out to get a better look at the vast sea, "I never have really shared it with anyone before."

Did Fennel really feel this way about everything? Juniper was taken back a bit at the thought. She never could have guessed that her friend of many years had held such...twisted concepts in her head so long, it almost made Aurea feel as if she almost didn't know the true her. Could it be that the happy-go-lucky, dream obsessed scientist was actually serious about something so deep? Juniper tried to shake the thought from her head, this just didn't seem like the real Fennel, she almost couldn't believe it was real.

"How long have you thought about this?" the professor finally asked.

The scientist didn't look back at her this time. "Ever since Musharna's mist blew up the Dreamyard."

The other blinked, had it really been that long? "Well..." Juniper tried to search for the words to change the subject, she was tired of seeing Fennel in such a solemn mood, it was unnatural and she hated not seeing Fennel with joy on her face.

"Don't worry about it." Fennel interrupted her thoughts, looking back at Juniper slightly, a calm smile on her face, "I guess I am just thinking aloud again." She turned back to the ocean and cried in joy, "Oh, look! There are some Frillish over there!" She leaned her body further over the railing, her eyes shimmering as she tried to get a better look, "Aren't they just beautifu-"

Time froze.

Fennel felt her grip slip from the railing as her body fell forward. Her eyes widened as she felt adrenaline begin to pump through her body. Her mind was scrambled, her heart felt heavy, beating fast as if trying to escape her chest, her breath was short and practically disappearing.

"Fennel!" Juniper cried, throwing her body to the railing and grasping over the edge. She couldn't let Fennel fall, she was simply too close, her life was right there and the professor couldn't let it just escape.

Her fingertips extended and brushed Fennel's soft skin.

Just to irritate the masses: I am going on a quick hiatus in order to study for exams.