Zen held you so tightly you would not have been able to get away from him, even if you tried. But you didn't try. In fact, you likely were holding him just as closely. I'm here. I'm with him. You took in the way he smelled, as you felt his arms around you, his warm breath on against the skin of your neck. An eternity came and went while you were in his arms and it was still not long enough. Eventually, however, he broke the silence.

"Princess, please…" he begged again. You knew he wanted answers that you didn't have for him.

"I… I don't know" you managed to breathed out. He pulled you away and looked into your eyes as if he was trying to peer into your soul. It felt like he could see the deepest corners of your mind with those crimson eyes.

"You don't know..." he said, repeating your words. "You don't know?" He looked down and ran his hand through his hair, moving it out of his face in exasperation. He looked at the ceiling as he held his hair back and it was a beautiful sight. You could never get tired of staring at him. But then you saw him press his lips, anger in his expression. A fist landed on the floor loudly, making you jump away from him. "How can you not know MC?" he demanded "You took off like a thief without saying goodbye, disappeared for days, no calls, no texts…" He gasped in frustration, the words just coming out of him like a trainwreck. "I didn't even know if you were alive!" he grabbed your arms and looked like he was about to shake you but he stopped himself. Instead, he got up and paced around the room, looking away from you. "I haven't slept in two days…" he said, covering his eyes with his right hand and leaning the left against a wall.

"Zen, I… I don't know what is going on" you said, trying to defend yourself. "I didn't want to leave you, I never want to leave you… I-I don't even know how this is even happening, you're… " you stopped, the words too painful to say aloud - you're not supposed to be real…

"I'm... what MC…" Zen asks, turning around to look at you as he leaned his head against the wall behind him. "Just… just tell me the truth." He says. "I can handle it. Is it another man?"

"No!" you jumped immediately.

"Then what is it?!" He demands "did I not meet your expectations? Do you not love me?"

"No… no" You say, still kneeling on the floor. If this was a dream it was starting to turn into a nightmare. "I... think I love you too much" You admit quietly.

Zen looks at you incredulously. "Then why Princess. Why did you leave? I… I can handle anything. If you had to be gone for days, weeks, years… I… I would wait for you, but you can't just leave me hanging, I'll die of worry. I won't eat, I won't sleep, I can't … work with me, please, MC, just... tell me what happened."

You take a deep breath. You don't want to admit the truth, you don't want to hurt him even more. I'm losing my mind. You look at him again, those pleading crimson eyes. You take a deep breath and you just… tell him. You tell him about your life. You tell him you met him through a game app and that he is not real. You tell him about how you passed out in the woods and suddenly you were here and you believed it was a dream, in fact, part of you still thinks this is a dream. You're not at all sure that you're awake right now but this feels too real, he feels too real. You tell him about waking up sick in the hill after, about going to the hospital, about the concussion, about hearing his voice, going home and after a few days you just… you just woke up in his bed. Tears were constantly streaming down your cheeks as you tell him this story. It feels like you're talking absolute nonsense while he just stares at you, not saying a word. The rational part of your brain cannot process that you are seeing him, it keeps telling you that you must be dreaming. He's too perfect to be real. Too beautiful. A mistake from God.

"Maybe I've just fucking lost it " you say exasperated, wiping away your tears with the back of your hand. "Maybe the concussion is giving me delusions…" you add, almost laughing between tears at the irony of your situation. "I finally dream of you, I finally see you, and you're angry at me for something I have no control over and that it probably means I'm having a psychotic episode"

Suddenly you realize Zen is staring at you wide-eyed in disbelief. He probably thinks you've lost it. Your own delusion thinks you're crazy. The thought makes you gasp in a half laugh about how ridiculous the situation feels. You bend over your knees and rest your head on your clenched fists. This isn't fair. Am I really so lonely that I've fallen in love with a figment of my imagination? A few moments later, he walks over to you and kneels next to you again, taking one of your clenched fists and smoothing your fingers. You put your hands in his and look up at him. He stands and brings you to your feet. He puts your hand up to his heart, showing you it is beating, showing you that he is breathing.

"Do you believe me when I tell you I have dreams that come true?" he finally says. You nod and he continues. "Why would I not believe you when you tell me this is a dream for you? I have dreamt we were in different dimensions before. Multiple times. I was starting to believe those dreams were real and I would never meet you… but you're here now. This is not a dream for me, I have never had a dream where I could touch you. I have seen you through a glass and I wasn't able to reach out to you or even call out to you." he says, taking a deep breath. "Maybe your dreams are stronger than mine and they bring you here to me, to my reality." he says, caressing your cheek and wiping away a tear. "I think I like your dreams better" he says, taking your hand up to his lips and placing a kiss on your palm. He is so beautiful as he stands in front of you, comforting you with his simple words. Words that discreetly said he loved you beyond any reality, beyond existence itself. You move your hand away from his lips and reached up to him, putting your arm around his neck and pulling him to you. You pressed your lips against his and he parted them for you. He embraced you, leaning down closer to reach inside you with his tongue. You played with it, tasted him, bit his lips. It satisfied your thirst, it fed your soul. His hands slid down to the crack of your back, supporting you as he leaned down over you more and more, until you basically rested in his arms. An intoxicating need spread through your body and it could only be satisfied by him. Whether it was your sexual hunger or his you could not tell but it overwhelmed you, it took over any rational thought you had.

Fade to black. Again, if you want to read without fade to black, go to AO3.

He laid down on the bed, positioning himself behind you and wrapped his arms around you, tracing your body with his. He placed small kissed on your neck, on your shoulder. He caressed your arms, your torso, your breasts, with just the lightest touch of fingers. You basked in the glory of it

" ...Are you going to disappear again when you fall asleep?" Zen asked with a resigned tone of his voice. You dared not answer - you knew once you woke up he would be gone from your life again and you would be gone from his. Your silence, however, answered the question for him. "Then… I guess we should make the best of the time you have here" he said, caressing your back.

His eyes were closed and after a while of caressing you his arms laid still over you. You felt his breath even out as he held you tightly. He's fallen asleep - You realized. He must have really been exhausted, not sleeping for days, worrying about me. Guilt inundated your conscience Was it selfish of me to wish I was here? If I leave him I will hurt him. How can I possibly stay here?