The battlefield was filled with people and horses running around. It was mostly a total chaos. He rode away and stopped on a small hill, trying to get a good view of the situation. He dismounted and walked farther away, watching the battle going on. His arm was hurting; he had been hit by magic attack.

"Damn Jowstonians... I'm gonna kill every one of them..."

He heard another horse and turned to see who was coming towards him. It was a man dressed in black and white clothes. He had a silver hair. His eyes widened. "Culgan...? What the heck...? Weren't you supposed to be on the other side of the field?"

The older man stopped his horse next to the redhead. "Seed."

"What the heck are you doing here, Culgan!? I thought you were..."

"I could ask you the same thing," the ice-blue-eyed man answered coldly. "Well, my troops were ambushed. I'm trying to gather everyone together, then we'll attack from the side."

Culgan dismounted as well and started to study the younger man's arm. "What's this?"

"Nothing. Small flesh wound. Won't kill me. It's not even bleeding... anymore."

"Alright." The older man sighed. "Where are your men?"

He shrugged. "You tell me. The State bastards had their mages attack us. All I could do was to tell everyone to get the hell out of there before..."

"Wise move."

"Hey, I'm didn't get my rank by sleeping with you, you know!" He shouted angrily.

"No, you did not." Culgan looked a bit amused, but then turned serious. "Seed, control yourself. Go find your men, they're probably waiting somewhere. You know where I'll be."

"Yeah yeah. Dammit, I'm gonna kill that little kid leader of theirs..."

"Seed." The icy eyes caught his fiery ones, and held them in their gaze. "No foolishness. Just go to fight. But no suicide attacks."

"Fine..."

Culgan turned to look at his horse. "I'm going now. Try to do as planned, will you?"

"Yeah..."

The older man turned, drew him closer and gave him a quick but meaningful kiss. Then Culgan mounted his horse and rode away, before he had a chance to say a word.

Some time passed. He managed to gather his troops together, and they were trying to get around some ex-Matilda knights to attack the mercenaries nearby. He could see Culgan father away; his men were attacking one of the mercenary groups.

Then he could see the mage group again, led by a green-clad young man. It was the same group that had attacked his men.

"Culgan!" He yelled, knowing very well that his lover couldn't hear him. "Culgan! Look ou-"

Then his voice died as he saw the silver-haired man fall from his horse.

"No...! Culgan! Culgan...!"

"Seed!" Someone shook the redhead's shoulders. "Wake up!"

The red-haired young man opened his eyes slowly to see a blond man - his roommate - sitting on the edge of his bed. He lifted up a little, trying to make some sense of his surroundings. The small room was unlit; the streetlights cast shadows on the walls.

"Jay. Oh damn..." Seed's head fell back on the pillow. His body felt hot, but deep inside, colder than a midwinter evening.

"It was one of those dreams again, eh?" The other man asked. "You were crying out that name in your sleep. I woke up, and came to see. Oh, you've kicked the sheets down on the floor once again."

"There was a battle," the redhead mumbled. "Culgan fell from his horse. I know he didn't get hurt, but... I was calling him..."

"Your shrink is gonna be thrilled when she hears that," the blond answered quietly.

"Sure will. And keep telling me that dreams are unconscious, and all that crap. If anyone would just tell me why I keep seeing these same dreams every other night, I'd be damn grateful!"

Jay stood up. "Go take a shower and get some more sleep. You won't be able to sleep much tomorrow night."

The younger man covered his face with the pillow. "Yeah, the new job... Hope I can keep it longer than few months this time. Well, I'll be a Security Guard on the nightshift. From now on, I'll be sleeping during the day, when you're not here to wake me up. Oh yay."

"Seed..."

"It's nothing. Open the window before you leave, will ya? I need some fresh air."

"All right."

His roommate did as asked and left, but Seed didn't feel like getting up. He stared at the ceiling, not seeing the shadows that changed shape every time the curtains moved. The light wind was warm, but the redhead couldn't feel anything but the cold inside him. He sighed and closed his eyes, knowing that he wouldn't be able to sleep.

Seed Radford was 25 years old, and had no degree. He had been working in Gregminster City, in a company that manufactured computer parts, until the company had decided to fire half of the people there. He knew Jay from there; the blond man had been designing some computer things for the firm. When they had been fired, the older man had gotten a job offer from here, and he had asked Seed to move with him to L'Renouille City.

The redhead had agreed. He had nothing to do, anyway. So, they shared an apartment with two bedrooms. The rent wasn't that bad, so they were quite pleased.

Jay worked for a software company nowadays. But Seed... He wasn't too good at anything. They had lived here for ten months now, and he had already changed jobs four times.

Nah, it's not that I wasn't good at any job, he thought. I just think they are afraid to have a maniac like me around...

He had trouble sleeping, and he sometimes behaved aggressively. He hated taking orders. Sometimes he was almost suicidal. He had been seeing a psychologist for over five years now, and both the one back in Gregminster and the new one here in L'Renouille were saying the same; he was just too paranoid and should relax.

Relax... yeah. You relax after having the same dreams almost all your life.

The strange dreams had started haunting him when he had been twelve years old. He was actually certain that he had had those dreams before, too, but before that they had not been regular. It was seldom the exact same dream, but they all had several things in common. One of those things was that he was an army commander. Sometimes, he was in a battle, sometimes not. Sometimes he could recognize the places, most of the time not.

But one thing never changed - a silver-haired man named Culgan was always there. A man with ice blue eyes, a few years older than Seed. Of course, the man looked like he was nearly 40, but somehow Seed knew that his appearance was deceiving. It was probably because of the gray hair and the cold exterior - the man was just around his thirties.

And the most disturbing thing was, this Culgan was not only his friend, but also his lover.

Seed wasn't interested in other men that way. He had actually tried it when he had been eighteen years old, not sure if his dreams were trying to tell him something. But he didn't like it. He enjoyed watching women. He could say when a man was good looking, but that was it. He could never imagine having another man as a lover.

Dreams about someone else's life. Bah. I'm just crazy, that's all. Of course, better not say that to my stupid shrink when I see her today, or she'll make me take some medicine...

He would have to go to the city around noon. First, he would visit the employment agency and sign some stupid forms. At 1.30 PM, he would have to go see the psychologist. Then, buy some clothes, as he really needed some new shirts. Then he would just hang around till 7 PM. His new job was from 9 PM to 5 AM, but the guy who had given him the job wanted him there earlier so he could show him how things worked.

He didn't have a Driver's License; he had lost it after far too many speeding tickets. That meant that he would have to take the bus. Not that he had cared. He was used to it. Besides, he didn't like cars, anyway.

He sighed again. He had been right - he couldn't sleep. The alarm clock on the nightstand told him that it was only half past 5 in the morning. Jay would be getting up in about two hours... And Seed would probably be staying awake for those two hours. After the other man would leave at 8.30, maybe he could try sleeping a bit.

Half an hour passed, then he gave up. He got up from the bed and wandered out of the room, not bothering to turn the lights on. He sat down on the sofa, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and stared outside from the window until the sky started turning brighter. Gradually, the sky lightened, until a few sunbeams fell on the floor.

The redhead didn't move; he just sat there and kept his gaze fixed on nothing in particular. He looked like he was half-asleep, or just deep in thoughts.

"Seed? What the heck are you doing?"

The younger man blinked, startled. "Huh...? What?"

Jay shook his head. "You really should sleep more. This is the second time in a week that I've found you here, staring outside. You do that far more often that you would imagine. No, I'm not keeping records, but still..."

"Ack. Just how long have I been here...?"

"Long enough that Sijo Marie has fallen asleep on your lap." Jay pointed at the black cat that was sleeping comfortably on Seed's lap. The cat actually belonged to Jay's girlfriend, but she used to bring her over and leave her to Jay for a couple of days if she was out of town on a business trip. Seed didn't mind. He liked the small thing, and the cat liked him, too. That could not be said about many things in the world.

"Go get some sleep. I'm off to work soon." Jay went to the kitchen to do something. "Oh, Seed? Your laundry is in the bathroom."

"Right..." The red-haired man lay down on the couch carefully so he wouldn't wake up the cat. He didn't understand Jay at all. The blond man did all the laundry. He also cooked, cleaned the apartment once a week and generally took care of everything. Well, Seed couldn't complain. Back when he had been living alone, his apartment had been a total mess, and he had only washed his clothes when there haven't been anything left to wear.

"Want some breakfast?" The older man called from the kitchen.

"No, but thanks anyway. I'll eat it cold." The redhead petted the cat lying next to him, smiling to her as she purred and curled up in a ball.

"You should eat something warm. You never do. It might be good for you."

Seed laughed. "Stop that, will ya? You're not my mother. Damn, Cynthia is gonna get a good house-husband from you..."

"Hey! We've only been together for seven months! It's not that serious yet!" Jay countered from the kitchen door.

"Yes, it's not that serious yet," the younger man mimicked. "You two are meant for each other. You'll stay together, I can bet all the money I have right now on it. You'll get married in the next half a year. Well, if you ever get the courage to propose to her, that is. Of course, I'm sure that she'll do it first."

"Seed!" Jay blushed, looking embarrassed and angry at the same time.

The other man just grinned and threw a pillow at him. The blond man caught it, threw it back and escaped back into the kitchen. The redhead smiled to himself, lay down on the sofa again and closed his eyes.

"Maybe I should..." He drew the younger man closer for a passionate kiss.

"...Seed?" He opened his eyes, then sighed. He had fallen asleep in the library again.

"Ha. At least Lina didn't catch me sleeping here this time," He mumbled to himself, straightening his shirt and leaning back in his chair.

"Speak of the devil," noted a young, dark blond woman from the door. "Culgan, what are you doing here again? It's 6 AM in the morning! I've told you that you need more sleep. And look at you... You spent the night here again, didn't you?"

Culgan smiled to his secretary. Lina was being overprotective, as always. "Are you my secretary or my mother?"

The woman grinned. "I'm happy as your secretary, as you don't talk to your mother that much. Now, you need to stop working all night, or you'll end up like the few guys who..."

"Enough lecturing, thank you, big sister. Just do your job. Do I have any mail? And bring me some coffee. Please?"

Lina laughed. "I'm younger than you, so I can't be your big sister. And I'll stop lecturing when you stop working too late and start sleeping more than 5 hours a night. Really. Go get a life, Culgan. You should go out more. Take a few days off, go find some handsome young man and have fun..."

The silver-haired man smiled. His secretary knew his sexual preference, and it seemed that she had never had any problems with it. Well, maybe the fact that I'm the only male here who doesn't stare at your legs has something to do with it...

He sighed, giving a calm half-smile to the woman. "You're always like that, Lina; acting like my older sister. And I don't have an older sister."

"Hey, someone has to. You don't listen to your sister anyway. By the way, she called yesterday; she wants to have dinner with you today. I told her that you would love to, and that I'd call her back about the time today. So, how about 7 PM?"

"When will you stop that? Always... Ah well. You're going to tell her that 7 PM is fine, even if I say no."

"Indeed." She smiled, then started organizing some books that were lying on the table. "I'll go get that coffee now. Don't work too hard. Oh. Was that a nice dream?"

"Hmm? Oh, that... Well, yes."

"Oh, at least you admit that it was one of those dreams. I heard you whispering his name."

He picked up a few papers from the table, quickly glancing through them. "I thought that you would have learned by now that I always have those dreams."

"Which is exactly why you should go out and have some fun. Yes, I'm going now. Not going to give you an opportunity to defend yourself." Lina laughed softly and left.

He shook his head, then ran his fingers through his short, silvery hair.

He was an attorney, working for Daviaux, Caswell & Associates. He had worked here since graduating from law school, as one of the top 5 students of his class. Culgan Black was his name, and even though his silver hair and calm appearance made him look like he was over forty, he was only around thirty. He was one of the best lawyers the firm had ever had - although he didn't go to court that much, he was the best researcher and strategist there was.

He smiled to the memory of his dream shortly, then picked up his reading glasses from the table and concentrated on the case he had been working with all night. The clients of the law firm were mainly big financial companies, like banks and insurance companies. At the moment, his first priority was a case in which two big companies had ended up fighting with each other over some matter. It was his job to come up with a way to get their client to win.

At some point, Lina returned. Culgan was too busy with law books to even notice until she placed a coffee mug on the table. "Your coffee, sir. And the morning paper is here, too. Can I get you anything else?"

"Yes, please. First, once again, stop calling me, 'sir'. And, stop smiling like that? I get the feeling that you're flirting with me."

The woman laughed. "What if I am? You're the only one of these old morons who doesn't try to get me to... you know."

Culgan smiled. "And you know why, so shut up. Do I have any messages?"

"Yes. Let's see. Lots of unnecessary meetings, so I told them that you're too busy. A few clients wanted to know about something; I'll call them later. And Mr. Belmont dropped by again and wondered why you weren't in your office."

"Because I prefer the library," he replied calmly. "No phones ringing, no one trying to bug me, all the books I need are here, and there's a few more plants here than in my office."

The woman grinned. "If you want plants, talk to your sister. I think she was trying to send you something again..."

"All right. Any other messages?"

"Yes and no. Nothing that interesting, so I took care of them. Then I called your sister. Got her before she left to work; she'll meet you at the White Unicorn restaurant tonight at 7 PM. Better be there. Oh, and... Your mother wrote you again."

Culgan sighed. "Well, anything new? And no, I still don't have time to go visit. But write her a letter, and..."

Lina smiled. "No, nothing new. She's doing fine, your father is doing fine, and Lake Toran looks pretty at this time of the year. They were there for the weekend last week. And I already wrote that letter. It's a short one; it says that you're fine and no, you haven't gotten married yet... blah blah blah. If sir would just sign here... And is it just me or do I talk to your mother more nowadays than you do?"

He couldn't help but to laugh. "What would I do without you, Lina? Well, give me that letter; I'll sign it. And I know. Next time she calls, drag me to the phone or something. I just wish she'd stop asking about my personal life."

"You don't have one, dear," she reminded, shaking her head.

"You're worse than my sister, did you know that?"

"Yes. And how about you put those papers down for a moment and go take a nap on the couch in your office? You need sleep. Go do that, and now - or I'll tell your mother that you're not sleeping."

He shook his head, giving her a tired smile. "That's blackmailing. I'll sue you for it."

"I know." She took the papers away from him and dragged him up from the chair. "Oh, that's surprising. You haven't grown roots yet. You were sitting here when I left last night, am I correct?"

"Maybe," he replied quietly, then sighed. "Alright, you win. I'll go sleep for an hour or so. Find me the files from the Featherstone case, I'll need those later today."

She gave him a glare that was supposed to be angry, but it only made him smile.

"I'm going... Wake me up after an hour. Or 8 AM at the latest."

"I promise," she replied solemnly. "Now, get going! You need more sleep."

He tried to say something, but after she almost pushed him out of the library door, he just walked to his office, closed and locked the door and sat down on the couch.

All right, he thought, smiling to himself. I guess I could use some more sleep. And why not? I know I'll dream of you...