Hayden woke up with a start. He glanced at the clock by his bed. It was 1 in the morning. But he knew something was wrong. He walked outside and sat in his porch only to see Beatrix sitting on hers. "Hey," he said with a smile.
"You couldn't sleep either." She replied.
"Yeah," he lied. He had felt something wasn't right. Maybe it had to do with Beatrix being out. He walked over to her side and sat down beside her. "What are you thinking about?" He asked, seeing the distress in her eyes.
"I dunno. This whole situation. You and Shian confessing. I really don't know." She shook her head. She looked into his eyes, hers were shining in the moonlight. He thought she looked beautiful.
"I want you to know that I will like you forever, whether it is out of love or friendship depends." He said. He pushed a strand of hair out of her face and smiled.
"I want to like you too. But your my friend. It doesn't feel right. I do like you I think. But this is all so confusing." She confessed. He saw that this was troubling her and decided to do something about it. He hugged her.
"It'll be okay in the end, Beatrice." He said. She looked surprised at that. Probably that he used her real name.
"Hayden, I think I do like you." She said with a smile.
"Do you want to dance?" Hayden suggested, "It's just us and the moonlight. Nobody will know."
"Ok," she laughed. He adored that laugh. It made his insides go all warm and fuzzy. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the middle of the clearing. He put his arms around her waist and her arms were around his neck. They moved slowly across the clearing. He smiled down to her and she blushed and looked down at their feet. He put his hand through her hair. "I really like you Hayden." She said with a blush.
"I do too." He replied. His insides were smiling. He picked her up and twirled her around. It was surprisingly easy. Probably the strength powers.
"I better go back to bed." She said, breaking away from their dance.
"Sleep well." He said to her. He gave her a quick smile as she ran to her cabin. She looked back at him and gave him a bright wide smile.
"I love you, Beatrix." He whispered as she closed the door to her cabin. He walked over to his and laid down in his bed. He pushed his head back on the pillow. She really likes me, he thought. And with that, he fell into a dream.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hayden's Dream~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beatrix was tied to a pole over a small fire. "Hayden!" She yelled to him.
"Beatrix!" He yelled back. He tried to run over to her, but he seemed to be chained to a wall.
"Oh you two. So innocent. So young. So undeserving of your powers." A tall, blond woman said. She was wearing an elegant dress and was surprisingly beautiful. But something abut her was.....evil.
"Who are you?" He screamed.
"I am your enemy. Your nightmare. Your dream crusher. You don't deserve to be happy. You deserve to live in pain and distress for your whole life. I will rule Palasia and you can't stop me!" She screamed. With that, the fire became bigger, he could see Beatrix trying to control it, die it down. The fire was turning green and she couldn't control it anymore. Her whole body erupted into flame.
"Beatrice!" He screamed. He started sobbing.
"Green fire. The only fire that can defeat her. And it did." The woman said.
"You witch!" He screamed. He cried and could do nothing to stop it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Back to Real Life~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hayden woke with a start and took a sharp breath. He looked at his clock. 6. I should wake up, he thought. He got out of bed and out on the outfits they had provided him, exactly what he was made to wear yesterday. He walked outside of his cabin to see a large table. Shian, Sadie, and to his relief, Beatrix was sitting at the table eating breakfast.
"Beatrix!" He exclaimed. He ran over and hugged her.
"What was that for?" She whispered to him.
"You don't even know how happy I am to see you." He said with a smile.
"What?" Beatrix asked again.
"I'll explain later." He replied. He sat down and saw Sadie and Shian staring at him.
"What, I'm not allowed to hug my friend?" Hayden asked playfully.
"You aren't but..." Sadie started. She didn't finish, but gave both Beatrix and Hayden skeptical looks. Hayden and Beatrix looked at each other and laughed.
"We need to start training this morning." Shian said.
"Ok, sounds good to me." Hayden said, sharing a glance at Beatrix. She smiled.
"Okay, you need to explain this," Sadie said, waving in their direction.
"Fine." Beatrix said.
"I promised it would be kept a secret." Hayden interjected.
"Tell me." Sadie pressed.
"Well," Beatrix said, "Hayden and I couldn't sleep last night and we talked."
"There's more to it." Shian said. Wow, Hayden thought. Even he's getting into it.
"We danced." Beatrix started, "And I said that I do like Hayden as well."