YOU WERE THERE TOO

Alexander's action didn't surprise me as much as I thought it would. Rather, it was the complete opposite. My body seemed to remember his touch, like it was part of mine, and his actions warmed my heart.

"I thought I lost you, Penelope," he finally spoke, "I can't lose you. Never." His face was still buried in my palms, but I could feel the relief in his words.

I had this strange feeling to comfort him, to tell him he would never lose me, but I couldn't. Not when I was still planning on escaping from him. The only thing I could do was stroke his hair lightly.

"What happened, Penelope?" He looked up at me through his lashes. It was rare for men to have lashes this long, but it wasn't surprising since it was Alexander's. This being breaks all the extents to men's perfection. "I told you to stay behind me, but the next second, you were gone." The emotion he once had in his voice was gone.

"Rogues attacked from behind. You were occupied, so I thought of hiding," I said, trying to remember everything in the order they happened. "But they were everywhere, and there was no place to hide."

Memories of me running came in flashes in my head, including some vague memories that I could not remember. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them, Alexander was staring at me. His blue eyes had turned golden. He was annoyed, I could feel it.

That familair emotion brought back a memory of a beautiful field, a memory I didn't know I had until now. And then I saw it. The green field, the feel of the air against my skin, the chills... I turned to the golden eyes, the same one I was peering into.

I grew pale, and my lips started trembling in disbelief, like a child that was beaten mercilessly by rain. On impulse, I quickly pulled my hands away from him, stunning him, but he didn't react. He still held my gaze.

"You... Y-you're him," I said shakily, one of my quavering hands flying to cover my mouth. "How? Why?"

His brows creased slightly in confusion. "I don't understand you, Penelope." The sincerity in his voice made my hand drop from my mouth.

He was the stranger from my dream in the prison cell. How is it possible that he was in my dream? And how could I forget?

I pulled my hair in agony as all the memory that weren't there before, rushed into my head, all at once. "Your golden eyes... The beautiful lady with red hair..." I continued, my pupils dilating.

Everything I thought I forgot hit me like a tidal wave. The pain, the injury, the cave... The beautiful lady that I thought was a dream.

I covered my eyes with my palm, like doing that would block all the memories.

"What lady, Penelope?" Alexander held my hand and I squirmed at his touch. The memory that flooded my head drove me insane. "Hey! Look at me, Penelope. Look at me!"

His command calmed my brain, and I looked at him.

"Breathe, Penelope."

I didn't realize I'd been holding my breathe until he told me to. I exhaled sharply, feeling my nerves calm.

When I completely calmed, Alexander said, "Tell me everything, Penelope."

My cold hands brushed my cheeks as I tried to gather my thoughts. "I saw you in my dream when I was locked up in a dungeon, on Damian's orders." His jaw tightened at my words, but he didn't utter a word. "There was a beautiful lady too, and we were on a field. I couldn't meet her in the dream cause you stopped me, and you were angry in my dream."

His golden eyes changed back, and he kept quiet for a while, pondering on my words. "Is that why you were panicking?"

"No," I breathed. "I met her again. In a... A cave."

"A cave?"

I nodded. "The one I crawled into when the Rogues injured me."

I suddenly remembered my injury, and I pulled up my sheets to check my leg. There wasn't any injury anymore, not even scars of the claw mark, which was weird given the depth of the injury.

Alexander didn't react to anything I said. He just kept staring at me. "There wasn't any cave when I found you, Penelope. You were injured beside a building, about to be attacked by Rogues. I killed them. And I healed you."

I held my head in confusion. "No, no, no, there was a cave," I retorted, remembering everything vividly. "And the beautiful lady was there. She healed my wounds, the one the Rogues inflicted on me," I said matter of factedly.

Alexander kept quiet again. "What did she look like, Penelope?"

I pursed my lips as I tried to remember every detail of the woman's face. "Long red hair, sharp green, enchanting eyes, full lips. She was also wearing this really beautiful yellow gown, with designs of different flowers. She's very beautiful, but strange too," I said, and Alexander's eyes narrowed.

"How strange?"

My hands balled into fists at the memory of the things she did. "She had abilities like you Alexander."

His voice grew serious, "What abilities?"

"She healed me with her blood." He froze when he heard me. "And she took me to a place... Uhm.. she called it Eternity and... Infinity."

Alexander held my shoulders, his expression turning cold. "Describe this place, Penelope."

His sudden reaction was disturbing. Still, I said, "It was filled with different flowers. There was a fountain too, and the moon, it was full. Bright. Blinding, if you look at it for a while."

His hands dropped from my shoulders, and his cold gaze relaxed, until I said, "You were there too, Alexander."