There is a phenomenon which I like to refer to as a "bubble of alternate reality." It isn't a very common phenomenon, but it does happen. It is the occurrence in which two people who hardly know each other are, by some outside situation, forced together for several hours a day and for at least multiple days in a row without breaking. My research has concluded that, under these conditions, even two people who have never met may form a bond that normally takes years to develop. However, there is a catch: every bubble will eventually pop. In fact, if the timespan is too large and the bubble is therefore stable for a long time, the effects of the bubble disappear, as the people inside of it may wander around the dome as they choose with the knowledge that they will have to face the consequences of any bonds they form with the other. I therefore propose that an essential part of this dreamlike reality is, in fact, the waking up. Yet nobody thinks of waking up while they're still inside of a dream.
It was the day after Pearl had accidentally brought back her old habit of murmuring while she trained, that the spirit medium and I sat on the grass by the river before the day's work. I'd suggested doing something to ease her nerves before we began, so she was teaching me how to make flower crowns. I wasn't very good at the practice, being rather uncoordinated with my hands, but I tried my best. Tiny white flowers adorned Pearl's head and were tied together with her small, nimble hands while mine were accidentally crushed due to over-handling.
"You can't retie the knots so many times," the girl said, looking up from her own work to mine. "You'll break the stems."
"I'm trying," I sighed. "But my knots never turn out right the first time."
"Are you sure you aren't just being a perfectionist?" Pearl asked with a smile.
*Do do do DO, do do do…*
We paused and then both laughed at the overly-loud ringtone disrupting our quiet conversation, but even as I picked the phone up there was a premonition of awkwardness and insecurity.
"Hello?" I asked, already recognizing the number on the screen. Pearl motioned to me and I turned on speakerphone so she could hear.
"Hi, Apollo! 'Tis I, the mighty lawyer Nick!" came a badly disguised female voice. Pearl giggled and I rolled my eyes.
"Hi, Ms. Fey. I take it the trial went well?" I asked.
Even without being able to see her, I could practically hear the girl jumping up and down in excitement. "Uh-huh! We're on our way back right now! We'll be home by tonight!"
Pearl and I both blinked, startled.
"Tonight?" I asked. "Isn't the train ride a lot longer than that…?"
"Yea, well, Nick sorta lost my phone and we only just found it—"
"I did not lose her phone," another voice interrupted. "It was in her purse the whole time."
"This is my conversation, Nick!" Ms. Fey pouted. Pearl and I looked at each other and snickered.
"Let me talk to my employee," Mr. Wright sighed, and his voice became louder (presumably because he was now holding the phone). "Hello, Apollo."
"Hi, Mr. Wright. You guys are on your way back?"
"Yep, we got everything taken care of. Sorry it took longer than expected; we couldn't update you because Maya misplaced her phone and we didn't have mine with me," he responded.
"It's fine," I replied, and then paused and looked at Pearl. She tried to smile, but there was an uneasiness in both of our eyes that was immediately recognizable. "So, um… you'll be back at your office by tonight?"
"Actually, we're coming over to Kurain Village, first," he replied. "We were hoping to brief you on everything that went down, if that's okay with you."
"We have the BEST story for you!" Maya added with a squeal.
"U-um, yea, of course," I replied quickly. Pearl nudged me as if to say 'where are your manners?'
"Oh, right. Would you like us to take you out to dinner?" I added. "Seeing how you've been gone for two weeks and all."
"We'd love to share a meal with you, but you don't have to pay," Mr. Wright said kindly. Then he laughed and added, "I'll make Maya do it to make up for earlier."
"Hey!" an angry voice insisted. "You can't blame me for making that assumption about the real culprit! Even you agreed for a while!"
"It sounds like you've got a lot to tell us," I said, smiling uneasily. "So we'll see you…?"
"Expect us by 7:00," Mr. Wright said. "I look forward to seeing you!" Then he hung up.
I put my phone away and looked at Pearl. The entire atmosphere around us seemed to have suddenly changed on a dime. It was almost the middle of the day, but it felt as though we had just been at some bizarre slumber party in the middle of the night, and the sun was beginning to rise.
"So…" Pearl said awkwardly, looking down at the flower crown in her hands. "I guess this is our last training session together." There was an obvious, unhidden sadness in her voice.
"Yea…" I said. "I guess so."
There was an awkward silence which words couldn't describe. The dinner later that night was something to look forward to, without a doubt, but it was also something to fear. We would be dining in the company of Mr. Wright and Ms. Fey, but not only as the successors to those mentioned. We would also, by this point, be dining as good friends of each other, which if we were both entirely honest with ourselves, would probably be somewhat difficult to explain. Furthermore, the literal sunset tonight would mark the metaphorical sunrise from the odd dreamlike state we'd only just become aware of. With Ms. Fey back in Kurain Village and Mr. Wright only a driving distance away, the reality that had become so familiar so quickly simply could not exist. Pearl would be nervous around her cousin, there was just no changing that, and I would, should the need arise, be at the beck-and-call of Mr. Wright. Neither bad things in their own right, but what was to become of the accidentally formed "fourth friendship" of the square made up by two lawyers and two spirit mediums? Pearl and I didn't have to stop seeing each other entirely… did we?
"Um… Mr. Apollo?"
I blinked, unsure of how long I'd been staring at my companion while lost in thought. "Y-yes?"
Pearl hesitated. "I… I don't blame you if you don't want to, but… j-just because Mystic Maya and Nick are coming back… that doesn't mean we can't still spend time together, r-right?"
She bit her lip nervously and I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled awkwardly back. "I didn't want to be the one to say it, but yea, I don't want to stop hanging out with you."
Pearl smiled at me with only a trace of the shyness she'd used to bear all the time. "Me neither."
"So…" I said, a grin spreading across my face. "I'm sure Ms. Fey will be impressed by the fact that you were able to train without mumbling at all."
Pearl squeaked and hid her face. "Y-you can't tell her I did that! I messed up yesterday! What if I mess up again today?" She stood up and stamped her foot. "Aw, now I'm really nervous and I'll definitely mess up!"
I laughed. "Come on, you'll be fine."
"Uh-huh," she said in an I-don't-believe-you voice. "So what about you? Are you going to show your research to Mr. Wright?"
"What? Pfff. It's all spirit medium stuff, he's not going to be interested in that." I smirked and rolled my eyes.
"He's dating a spirit medium, why wouldn't he be interested in spirit medium stuff?!" she exclaimed.
"This again? So far, you've given me a total of zero reasons that even imply that those two are dating," I laughed.
"Well, I thought of one," she said triumphantly. "I happen to know that they've gone out to dinner together multiple times."
"So?"
"So they've gone on dates! Multiple times! That means they're dating!"
I scoffed. "Just because they go out to eat together doesn't make it a date. We're going out to eat tonight," I pointed out.
"Yea, but not alone," she argued. I hesitated and fingered my badge unconsciously.
"Well, we've done that, too…" I pointed out.
Pearl paused. "Okay, yea, but that's different."
I shook my head. "You've really got to find better evidence to back up your claims."
"Pshhh," she scoffed, readjusting her white robe. "Just wait until tonight. Then you'll see." She started setting up for our final training session and I stuck my tongue out at her behind her back.
"I know you're sticking your tongue out!" she said as she lit a candle.
"How?!" I cried.
"Spirit mediums have eyes on the backs of our heads! It's how I know when Nick is looking at another girl," she giggled confidently.
"You do not," I retorted.
"Wanna check?" she teased, turning around momentarily to waggle her eyebrows teasingly.
"Just get on with your training," I said, "before it gets dark."
"Hmph," Pearl fake-pouted, crossing her arms together and finishing the set-up.
There is a phenomenon, albeit a very rare one, in which two people trapped inside of a bubble of alternate reality do not, in fact, run away from each other out of sheer embarrassment the instant the bubble is popped. I've termed this phenomenon the "D.I.R." occurrence in case I ever have to write about it in some form of paperwork: D.I.R. standing for "dreams impacting reality." For I've found that, in rare instances, people wake up from dreams filled not only with wishful thinking and unfounded optimism, but with a determination to let the dreamlike state they've awakened from spur them on into actually working to make their visions a reality. When this happens, the magic of the alternate reality bubble is transformed into a stretch of hard work, but with tangible results: lawyers get their badges, pieces of literature get written, and friendships become lasting.
A word to the wise: this is not an easy result to achieve. But the rewards?
They're well worth it.
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(Long A/Ns incoming: YAY FOR ANGST THAT TURNS INTO FLUFF BECAUSE I CAN'T KEEP ANYTHING ANGSTY TO SAVE MY LIFE X'D! Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed, and there's still the bonus chapter to look forward to so be on the lookout for that! ^O^ Oh, and fun fact about this chapter; the whole 'bubble of alternate reality' thing is 100% based on something that really happened to me. To make a long story short, me and one of my friend's friends who I hardly knew were forced to work tech together for a show, and we got SUPER close in a super short amount of time. Thankfully we've had a happy non-ending, though, like in the fic~) (Also when I wrote Phoenix saying "let me talk to my employee" I legitimately got mad at him; I was staring at my word document like "Phoenix why are you like this STOP ACTING SO PROFESSIONAL APOLLO IS BASICALLY YOUR SON AND YOU KNOW IT")
(Response A/N: AAAAAAAH I SAW YOUR REVIEW AND I WAS SO EXCITED TO POST THIS CHAPTER ASDFGHJKL! X3 Not to be a tease, but I have a feeling you'll like the next chapter, hehehe :3) (Well, first of all, see how you like this ending + the bonus chapter, haha XD But cuz I like you, I will admit that a sequel has been considered and your words do motivate me to possibly give it a try… Also APOLLO BETTER GET BACK TO THE USA IN AA7 BECAUSE I LITERALLY CRIED AT THE END OF SoJ DESPITE IT HAVING BEEN MY FIRST AA GAME AND NOT BEING SUPER FAMILIAR WITH ANY OF THE CHARACTERS!) (Awww, that is a super big honor! I'm so glad you've enjoyed the story so much! :'O Your reviews have been the highlight of the past couple days, tbh, ESPECIALLY the long-winded ones ;P And yea, you can call me Candy, that's a super cute nickname hehe -^^- I'm gonna continue calling you Red even if you use a different name when you get your account, if that's okay, since he's awesome and you're awesome so the name fits~)