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In 1998, the scientific community officially acknowledged the possibility of parallel universes. Wildest Dreams "Do you see the lion?" Sage opened his eyes, looking up at the sky. He angled his head a little to see the cloud from Sai's viewpoint. "Oh, now I do. Looks like the marble ones in front of the British Embassy." "Yeah..." Sai put his hands behind his head. "Hey, Rowen." Sai nudged the blue haired archer, lying on his back with an open fantasy paperback over his face. "do you see anything?" Rowen removed his book, one deep blue eye squinting at Sai with an expression of tolerant irritation. "Not anymore.. ya woke me up." He sighed. "She was cute, too." "Oh, c'mon, Rowen," Sai knew full well Rowen had been wide awake the whole time. "You're the best at this.. what do you see?" Rowen stared up at the perfect sky strewn with clouds. The sky looked like blown glass, with an etched moon palely visible beyond the raveling bits of cotton cloud. "There's a dragon," he said suddenly, lifting his arm and pointing. "See it? There's the wings and the head and the tail kinda curls up and back... and it's even got somebody ridin' it." "You've been reading too much Anne McCaffery." Sage teased, but he smiled up at Rowen's cloud-dragon. The three of them simultaneously took a long slow breath and then let it out in utter contentment. They were sprawled comfortably in the grass on their backs, in a field that lay like undulating green velvet to the foot of a small forested mountain, some distance away. The field was usually used for soccer, but it was too early yet for that, and no stripes marred the perfect grass. A few yards from them, on an asphalt court, Kento and Ryou were playing one-on-one, slamming the ball into goals that had long since been netless. the sound of their friendly banter and the ptang, ptang of the bouncing ball came over to the other three, muted and sleepy-sounding in the wind. Sai watched a clouds' shadow crawl over the mountain, across the treetops, and down the field. It crept over the three of them, and only Rowen did not shudder in the coolness that came with the brief absence of light. The shadow slithered away past buildings in the distance, and the sunlight streamed over them again. "Guys?" Sai said softly. "Do you ever get the feeling that.. while we're here... we're somewhere else?" He felt Rowen and Sage's attention shift to him. "How do you mean?" Sage asked. "Well," Sai rolled over on his stomach, plucking a few blades of grass. "Like that, somewhere else, we exist in a different way... that there are people we know and things we do and a way that we are.. but aren't." "What?" Rowen frowned thoughtfully. "Like without our armor?" Sai shook his head, his nimble fingers plaiting the strands of grass. "No, it's beyond our armor. Beyond what we do- it's... it's like a mirror world. One where we're reflected and can see but can't touch." A moment of quiet. The wind rushed across the field, carrying the sound of Ryou's laughter. Then Rowen said, "I am far too utterly content to deal with metaphysical stuff righ' now." Sai smiled at him. "I think I know what you mean, Sai." Sage reached over and took the braid of grass from Sai's hands, sliding it contemplatively around his fingers. "I think I've felt it before. Sometimes.. just as I wake up... or before I fall asleep..." Sai watched Sage's hands wind the bit of grass around one finger, like a ring. "Me too," Rowen admitted in a sigh. Sage let go of the grass, letting it uncoil from his fingers like a startled snake. "What brought this up, anyway?" "Nothing...." Sai rested his head on folded arms, staring at a tiny flower inches from his nose. There were millions of the little weed in the field, surely, and elsewhere, but he'd never looked at just one. It had translucent white petals painted with almost invisible pink veins. Sai lifted his head slightly. Surely no one ever saw those hairline bits of color, what purpose could they serve? Then it suddenly occurred to him- what if he was the only person to ever look at such an insignificant thing so closely? What if millions and millions of flowers were all made with such detail simply because he, for one moment, was gazing at one of them? It made him feel dizzy and slightly euphoric to think of it. For a second he believed anything was possible. "Just that," he added softly, "Just then... I thought it touched us. Someone saw us and knew us... and we knew them, as well as we know each other." "Hummm," was Sage's comment. "You know, Sai... I think you're absolutely right." Rowen twisted on his side, leaning up on one elbow. "Hey.. it's a good day to wonder. "
Elsewhere, a young woman gave one last glance over the empty green field behind the Alumni Building, smiling faintly at nothing that was there. She finished what she was writing, capped her turquoise ink pen, and tucked everything into her backpack. "Yeah, Rowen... it is." She walked away. ~owari~ by Tenshi no Korin
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