Jay shook his head when Seed dragged himself into the kitchen. It was almost eight in the morning, and the blonde was making some breakfast. "You look terrible. Haven't slept at all this morning?"

The redhead yawned and sat down. "Not much. Tried to, but..."

"Well, here." Jay put some hot tea and a sandwich on the table in front of the younger man, who stared blankly at the morning newspaper lying on the other side of the table. "Eat something, and go to sleep."

Seed took a bite from the sandwich. He stared at the front page of the newspaper some more, then turned to look at his friend. "Jay?"

"Yes?"

"Do you... believe in reincarnation and that stuff?"

The older man stopped what he was doing and turned around. "I don't know... Maybe, sort of. Why do you ask? You aren't usually interested in things like that."

The redhead sighed. "Well... I was in the library yesterday before I went to work. I just... Well, checked something random... Lawson said something that made me think. Anyway. There was this thing about the Dunan Unification Wars that kinda scares me."

Jay sat down at the table. "What about those? Hmm... I remember those from the History classes back in school. Some wars between Highland and Jowston City-state. Both are part of United States of Toran nowadays, but..."

"Yup, those wars..." Seed rested his elbows on the table. "Well, you see... I found out that... Highland..."

He paused for a second and took a deep breath. "During those wars, the Kingdom of Highland had two generals... named Culgan and Seed."

The blonde raised an eyebrow, looking surprised. "Those two from your dreams?"

"Exactly. The wars... Remember all those battles in my dreams? I checked... the places... and all the names in my dreams match, too! Yeah, I know it sounds crazy. I'm almost glad I'm going to see that stupid shrink today. But still. Is something like this even possible? I mean..."

"I don't know..." Jay stared at his friend, thinking. "In theory, I guess it's possible. But I know you. You've never read about those things before, have you?"

"Never. Didn't even remember that Jowston thing. It has been mentioned in my dreams a few times, but hey, I never remember such things..."

The older man got up and moved some dirty dishes from the table to the sink. "Can't say much. Honestly, it's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard of. Well, easiest explanation is that you're General Seed born again... but it doesn't make sense, does it? And you don't believe in that stuff."

Seed stared at his hands. "Nope. Could there be some... logical explanation? Like... well, my mother likes history. Maybe she read some things to me when I was very little. I don't remember her doing so, but... I once heard there was a study on a subject like that..."

Jay smiled a bit. "This thing really bothers you, eh? I've heard about that study, too. It could be possible. Or it could be some other reason... Ask Lawson when you see her. She might know."

"Maybe..."

"Not maybe. Tell her everything, and ask what could be the reason for this. Don't worry, psychologists don't believe in reincarnation stuff. She'll find you a logical explanation."

"Fine..." Seed got up slowly. "Oh. Before you tell Cynthia about this and she asks, no, the books in the library didn't say anything about those Highland generals being lovers. They were friends, but..."

The blonde laughed. "I think I'll keep my mouth shut for now."

"Better that way."

"Well, I'm off to work in a few minutes, so I won't be here to make noise." Jay patted his friend's shoulder. "You sleep for a couple of hours. You need some rest."

"Yeah yeah..." Seed nodded slightly and wandered into his bedroom.

Around 2 PM that afternoon he entered the Medical Center where Lawson worked. He wasn't in the mood to talk with the woman, but... Maybe she'd have an answer for him.

He sat down to wait near Lawson's office and stared at the door. His mind was full of questions, but he knew that no one could give him an answer that would explain the whole thing. He had also started wondering about another thing - if he was Seed, where was Culgan?

Not that I'd really care... Most likely, there isn't a Culgan. Because there is no way that I have anything to do with that General Seed...

He glanced at the clock - it was 2 PM. He got up and knocked on the door.

"Come in," called a soft female voice.

The redhead opened the door and stepped inside, determined to ask Lawson a few dozen questions that could not be answered. But once he was inside, he stopped and stared.

The woman inside wasn't Lawson. She was a petite Asian woman, whose age Seed couldn't guess. She gave him a friendly smile and nodded at the chair. "Please, sit down. Seed Radford, I presume?"

The red-haired man blinked. "Who... the heck are you? Where's Lawson?"

The woman smiled again. "Ah, yes. My name is Michelle Kanzaki. Anne had to take some time off from work, so I'm taking care of her patients while she's away. She'll be away for a few months, from what I know."

Seed remained standing, but closed the door behind him slowly. "So, where did she go?"

"As I said... leave of absence. She'll be back eventually. For now, you'll have to talk to me."

"Right." The wine-brown-eyed man looked at the dark-haired woman. "What if I say I don't want to? I don't like talking about myself to strangers."

Michelle gave him yet another smile. "I've read your file already. Anne's note says you might be a hard one... Well, you don't have to trust me if you don't want to. But if something is bothering you, you might want to tell me about it."

Seed glared at her. "Oh, nothing's wrong. I just found out that I probably lived a thousand years ago as someone else... But I think you have enough nutcases to tell you that. Good day." He turned to leave.

"Seed, wait."

The man turned slowly. "What?"

"I'm not telling you that you can't go, but before you do, would you wait a moment? Anne left me something that I was supposed to give you." The petite woman walked to the desk and took an envelope that was lying on the table. "Here."

"Okay, what's that?"

The woman shrugged. "I have no idea. She just left me a message saying that I am to give this envelope to you. That's all I know."

"Fine..." The redhead took the envelope, folded it and stuffed it into his coat pocket. "Sorry, but right now, I don't feel like talking to someone I don't know. I'll be back next week."

"I understand. Well, see you next week, then."

The red-haired man took a deep breath and left the room, another question added to the pile of mysteries. Why on earth had Lawson taken leave of absence all of a sudden? It was none of his business, but he couldn't help but wonder.

Seed left the Medical Center and headed to the central area of the city, thinking about what to do. He would go and eat something at his favorite cafe, and then probably just sit there for some time.

Fencing lesson at five... Then I can go to take a nap on the sofa in the locker room at work. Frank should be there at 8 to show me the monitor room things... Whatever. At least I should be there this time.

He stopped, took out the envelope from his pocket and opened it. There was a note inside that said, "Hello Seed. Unfortunately I had to take some time off. If you need to talk to me, I'm doing some freelance work for the Highland Society of Paranormal Phenomenon. Anyway, do me a favor and call the number I wrote on the other side of this note."

He turned the note around; there was a phone number written on the piece of paper.

Lawson sure is weird. Well whatever. I might as well try to find out what this is...

He stuffed the note back into his pocket and continued walking towards his destination.

Lina was writing something on her computer, and didn't bother to turn her gaze from the screen as he stopped by her desk. He thanked the young lawyer, taking the files and piling them neatly next to the woman's keyboard.

"How was court?"

"As usual. I gave them some clever facts about why my clients did what they did and why things should worked that way. The opposite side's herd of lawyers stared at me in disbelief since they obviously hadn't checked all the facts there are in this case. So I have to say, that went pretty well."

The woman looked at the pile of folders. "And what are these, then?"

Culgan picked up one folder. "Oh, this is the excuse they came up with during the coffee break. They need more time, so they got all these and claimed that they have new material and must study it before we continue."

"Ah, so once again your tactics beat theirs. So. What am I supposed to do to these?"

The silver-haired man shrugged. "Got a fireplace?"

Lina smirked. "No, but I think you do have one. That's irrelevant stuff, I see."

"Oh, if you want, you can still check them in case they have made any new notes that I missed. I checked through every folder already, and noticed that I read through these old cases when making my strategies a few weeks back. I must say, if the opposite side is using these cases for their defense, they'll soon notice they are working for my benefit."

The dark-blond woman laughed. "All right. I can see that the case progressed better than you expected today, since you're in such a good mood and almost bragging about how good your court strategies are."

The man gave her a half-smile. "But every lawyer in this town who's ever seen me in court admits that my strategies don't fail."

"That's why Daviaux and Company makes sure that you stay in this firm. Well, I'm glad you're having a good day. How about taking the rest of the day off while you're at it?"

"You're my secretary. You don't have the rights to give me days off just like that."

Lina slapped his hand gently. "Oh, you've worked enough. I'm sure the bosses wouldn't mind."

The ice-blue-eyed man shook his head. "No thanks. Do I have any messages?"

"A couple of calls. I left the notes on your desk. Feel free to call them back. You don't do that very often, anyway, since you're always hiding in the library and leaving all calls to me..."

Culgan was already opening the door of his office. "Thank you, Lina. I'm not here if anyone asks, by the way."

"Of course not. What am I supposed to do to those folders?"

The man grinned slightly. "I already told you. Burn them."

Lina shook her head as she watched her boss vanish into the office.

Half an hour later, he was back to work. He'd called to a few of his clients earlier, and was now checking through a case he was going to refer in court sometime later, scribbling notes to his notepad while reading.

He was totally concentrated on the work when the phone rang. "...Mind not scaring me...?" He mumbled to himself. A little reminder of the reason why I prefer working in the library.

He picked up the phone, making a mental note to move back to the library as soon as he got things done here. "That you, Lina?"

"Working hard?" His secretary's voice asked. "Anyway. There's a call for you..."

Culgan sighed, putting down the notepad. "What have I told you? I don't take calls unless it's an important client. And I'm not waiting for a call from clients today."

"It's your mother."

The silver-haired man closed his eyes. "Darn it. Tell her that I'm not here. Say that I'm in the library. Anything. I don't feel like talking to her."

"Too late," she replied. "And don't forget that you promised I didn't have to do this anymore and that you'd talk to her the next time she calls. You're here, you're available and you haven't talked to her for ages, so I'm not gonna start lying. Connecting now."

He sighed when he heard a silent click as Lina switched to the other call, and then he heard a female voice that reminded him of his sister's voice, but that he hadn't heard for a long time.

"Culgan?"

Hi, mom. "Yes?"

The voice on the phone sounded a bit relieved now. "It's really you, for once. Do you know how many times I've tried to call you? I'm your mother, and if I want to know how you're doing, I have to either call your sister or talk to your secretary..."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, mother. I'm just very busy usually... And I prefer working in the library. I don't have a phone there."

"Well, you could call sometime."

"No thanks. Might be that you're not the one who answers the phone."

"Culgan... Can't you and your father stop that? I know you don't get along very well, but..."

And I just remembered why I like to avoid talking to my mother. "We've been through this before. He doesn't accept some things in me, and he's the one who stopped talking. I have nothing to say. Can we please talk about something else?"

The woman on the other end sighed. "I'm sorry... Well, how are you doing? Sara said that you were riding with the kids the other day... I called her earlier."

"I was. They're well, as always. And I'm fine, too. But if you that's all you wanted to know, you might just as well talked to my secretary."

"It's not. I'm worried about you. Sara says you work too much, and still aren't dating anyone or... such. Are you going to spend the rest of your life being married to that law firm?"

Culgan smiled to himself. No, mom, I'm married to my dreams. "Mostly, yes. Why? Is there a problem? Does dad want to see me get married with some pretty girl and have ten children? Oh sorry, I forgot. He does."

His mother sighed again. "Now you're starting with that subject. I know your father doesn't take it very well that you're... But..."

"Never mind. I'm doing fine, and I'm not working any more than I was last time we talked. And yes, I still live alone and am not even planning on finding anyone. I don't need a relationship."

"I just want you to be happy, Culgan..."

"I know. And I'm satisfied with my life. You don't have to worry." The silver-haired man shook his head and switched the phone to his other hand, starting to sketch a small picture of a familiar-looking redhead on his notepad.

Guess it's better if I don't mention I decided to start seeing a shrink...

He smiled to the sketch, listening to his mother rant about random things for some time, and answered something once in a while. Finally she was finished, and after convincing her that he really was fine and healthy, he put the phone away.

Mothers. Wonder if they're all like that? Overly worried...

He hit the print button on his computer, and after printing a few documents he needed, he picked up the folders and his notepad and left the office. He stopped outside the door, behind the woman who was typing a letter.

"Lina?"

"Yes?"

The man gave her the usual calm half-smile. "Next time, just tell her that I'm in the library and can't be reached."

He finished reading a newspaper and folded it, looking out from the window. His eyes stopped on a payphone across the street, and he remembered the phone number he was carrying with him. Curious, he took it from his pocket and looked at it.

Only one way to find out what this is...

He got up and walked to the corner of the cafe, knowing that there was a phone there. He looked at the note, shrugged and dialed the number. A few seconds passed, then someone answered the phone.

"Daviaux, Caswell and Associates, Mr. Black's office," said a female voice.

Seed blinked. "Er... Who is this?"

There was a silence, then the voice said, "I'm Mr. Black's secretary. Why?"

"Yeah, sure. But, I meant... Sorry if this sounds weird, but... Where am I calling? What was the firm again?"

The person's voice on the other end didn't seem to mind the fact that Seed sounded a bit uncertain. "Daviaux, Caswell and Associates, the second largest law company in L'Renouille."

The red-haired man blinked again. "The heck? You mean... Daviaux and Caswell..."

"Yes, them. Can I help you with anything?" The female voice asked.

"Oh, actually not. I... Funny, really. I got this phone number from... someone I know. She told me to call... But I really don't see the point in that. You see, I work there; I'm a security guard."

"Ah, is that so?" The voice sounded a bit amused. "Well, maybe this is somewhat odd, then. Anyway, if you need a lawyer, you should go ask Mr. Phelps. He'll arrange you a meeting with one of the company lawyers."

Seed smiled to himself. "Yeah, I guess so. Well, thanks anyway. I don't need legal help right now, but if I ever do, I'll have to remember that. Thanks again." He hung up and stared at the phone. He looked at the note again and shook his head, then returned to where he had been sitting before.

Why on earth did Lawson give me the phone number of someone who works in the same company as I do? I don't need a lawyer. She should know where I work, anyway... Hmm. Well, maybe it was supposed to be another number, and she gave me the wrong one... Whatever.

He looked out of the window again and sighed.

Fencing lesson soon... Then, work. My life is boring. But then again, it could be worse, so I shouldn't complain. I have a life, at least. I have an apartment, I have Jay and Cynthia, and I have a job... and a hobby. It's not like something really important is missing from my life.

But deep inside, he knew he was missing something.

It was almost 7 PM when Seed got to work. He greeted the guard in the entrance hall - it was Nancy, one of the few female guards. Knowing that Frank wouldn't show up for an hour, he headed to the personnel area. The locker room was empty. He changed into his guard uniform, lay down on the old sofa and stared at the ceiling, his thoughts wandering a little.

Before he knew it, he had closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, into an amusing dream about the other Seed and Culgan having a snowball fight.

He was awakened when someone was poking him gently. He was a bit sleepy, so he just mumbled something and didn't open his eyes.

"So, you got bored waiting for me?" Frank's voice asked. "I know it's 8.20, but I got delayed..."

Seed forced his eyes open and looked at his partner. "Nah, I've been here since seven... But you're still late."

The older man smiled. "I know. As I said, got delayed. Had to call my ex-wife, and that ended up being a long phone call. See, my youngest kid called me earlier and said that their step-father was mean to him, so..."

"Ack, family problems." The redhead sat up. "Glad I don't have a family... Can't say the same about problems, though."

"Oh, everyone's got those." The other guard started getting changed. "I used to drink, but thanks to the people here and my doctor, I don't do that anymore. Now my worst problem is my ex-wife. So, what's your worst problem at the moment?"

Seed looked at him. "Really want to know?"

"You don't have to tell if you don't want to."

"Doesn't matter. First of all, you are a problem. I've known you for about a week, and I'm beginning to like you. That's not like me at all." The younger man grinned. "But, my real problem is that I have certain dreams every other night, and have to talk to a shrink because of them. Until now, the shrink hasn't figured out what causes the dreams."

"That's got to be annoying. Have to hope you find the cause one day. At least I know what - or who - causes most of my problems..." Frank got his uniform on. "Well, we have half an hour. Shall we go to the wonderful world of monitors?"

Seed laughed. "You make it sound like staring at the screens was actually fun."

The two went to the main security room and chatted with the guard there while Frank showed the younger guard how things were done until their shift started.

The night was quiet. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except when Seed's shift was almost over. Dave the administrator showed up carrying some books and CDs as always - and a huge bouquet of flowers. The red-haired guard raised an eyebrow, grinned and went to open the door for him. "Morning, computer guy. So, what's that?"

The younger man smiled shyly. "Morning, Mr. Radford... Erh, this? A... uh, gift to one of the secretaries. I'm gonna leave these on her desk."

"Oh, but that's sweet... Hope you have a card on them, otherwise she won't know who they're from," Seed noted while he closed the door.

"I... think there is one... Anyway, I'll go update the database now... See you again."

The redhead watched as the young man got into the elevator. He smiled to himself - that was new to him. Jay had bought Cynthia flowers once or twice, but this was something he hadn't seen before.

Marco came to work fifteen minutes later. He had already changed into his uniform, so he kicked Seed's chair playfully. "Morning, Seed," he greeted. "Time to go home..."

The redhead smiled. "That'd be nice, I'm dead tired."

He got up and went to change clothes. Frank's replacement had also arrived, and the older man was also in the locker room. Seed chatted with him for a few minutes before Frank left.

The redhead glanced at the clock. He had fifteen minutes to get to the bus stop, but that wouldn't be a problem, since it usually took him only around five minutes to get there. He took his bag and headed to the entrance hall.

"So, did anything interesting happen last night?" Marco asked when the other guard entered the hall.

"Naw, silent as usual. Dave came in just before you did, though, carrying a flower bouquet. That was for one of the secretaries, I think..."

The dark-haired man grinned. "That's nice. I don't think even the lawyers here buy flowers... Then again, they're all workaholics. They don't probably buy flowers for anyone, anyway... And they have their secretaries to buy birthday presents and all that for their families for them."

"Probably," Seed answered with a smirk.

"Yep. Oh, look, the first workaholic of the day is here." Marco nodded at the monitor in front of him; Seed could hear the doorbell ringing.

"I'll open it on my way out. Enjoy your shift!" The redhead laughed as the other guard gave him a mock glare.

Seed walked over to the glass doors and pushed a button to open them. He turned his head to glance at Marco and stepped outside the door... just to bump into the man who was coming in. The other dropped a paper bag and a folder he had been carrying.

"Ack, sorry about that." The young guard knelt down, picked the items up from the floor and stood up to hand them to their owner.

His eyes met the other man's eyes, and then he felt like his heart had stopped.

Then again, I was home almost all day yesterday. It's not that. But the sad truth is, I only stop by here to sleep...

The silver-haired man picked up his mail from the floor by the door, and discarded it on the living room table. He left his briefcase by the computer at the other end of the room. He'd have rather stayed to work at the office, but Lina had started to nag about him working too much and not getting enough sleep once again, and finally had made him to leave for home.

Nothing she said would stop him from continuing his work here, though. That was exactly what he was planning on doing, after getting a quick shower and fixing himself something to eat.

He got off his clothes and went for the shower. He wasn't in a hurry, so he stayed there for a long time, giving himself a moment to relax.

After the shower he got clean clothes, and occupied the kitchen for a half an hour. Then he moved to the living room, and decided to check the mail before getting to work.

Most of it was normal letters. There were also some work-related things, but he stopped on a single envelope. It had a familiar logo on it, and the text under the logo indicated it was from the medical center where he had met the psychologist a couple of days ago.

But why would Ms. Lawson send me a letter instead of getting a nurse to call Lina? Weird...

He opened the envelope, only to find a simple business card inside. It had some writing on it; he had to pick up his reading glasses to see what it said.

"Sorry for this unusual way of contacting you, Mr. Black, but I've taken some time off. If you still need to talk to a psychologist, Ms. Michelle Kanzaki is taking care of my patients at the moment, so you might want to contact her. She also knows where I am if you need to talk to me. But, Culgan... I wrote a phone number on the other side of this card. You might want to try it."

He flipped the card and found the phone number. The area code indicated that the number belonged to someone in the L'Renouille area.

Interesting. Wonder what this is about. But, doesn't hurt to try... Maybe one of her patients needs legal advice or something. He shrugged and picked up the phone, leaning back on the couch. He read the number again from the card and made the call.

A woman's voice answered the phone. "Yes?"

Culgan stopped to think for a moment. "Good evening. My name is Culgan Black. I got this number from Anne Lawson..."

The woman went silent. "Lawson? Oh, that's... Wait a minute, that's... Can I check something?"

She covered the receiver and called for someone whose name was Jay or something. Then she asked about Lawson, and a man's voice identified her, and said something that he couldn't hear.

Then she was back. "Er... What did you say your name was?"

"Culgan Black. I work for Daviaux, Caswell and Associates. That's a law firm. I figured that since Ms. Lawson wanted me to call you, you know her, and need a lawyer..."

"I don't know her, but I know someone who does. Could you give me a moment again?" She covered the receiver again, and said to the man who was there, "It's someone named Culgan. He's a lawyer. Knows Lawson, and got the number from her..."

Culgan listened carefully, and heard the man answering something about Seed being at work and wondering if they should call him.

Seed?

"Oh, well, you know, the one who you're trying to reach isn't home, so, could you call again tomorrow? Sometime during the day. Oh and could I get your number, just in case?"

"Hmm? All right. I can do that. I'll call again tomorrow." He gave the woman his cell phone number, then put the phone away.

What the hell was that about? Why did Lawson want me to call that person? And who is this Seed?

For a short moment, he thought of dialing the number again, but decided against it. He could always do that tomorrow. It was getting late, anyway, and he didn't want to disturb people he didn't know.

He gave up on trying to sleep sometime after 4 AM. His plans on working hadn't gone very well last night, as the thought of that phone call distracted him. Finally, he had decided that it really was just someone in need of a lawyer and decided to tell Lina to call this person tomorrow.

It still bothered him, and kept him from sleeping too well. Finally he did succeed in falling asleep for a few hours, only to spend those few hours dreaming of his redhead.

He got up from his bed and got dressed. He didn't bother to make coffee; he could pick up some breakfast from Jeffrey's place. He checked through his briefcase and filled it with random folders he'd need in his work today. He left the apartment, got his car and drove to the city.

Traffic was easy at this hour. He left the car outside Daviaux, Caswell and Associates like always when coming to work this early, and crossed the street. He entered the cafe and was greeted by Adrian's smile. There were no other customers at the moment. "Morning, Culgan."

The silver-haired man stared at the young man for a while, then returned the smile. "Oh, at least someone got some last night. Good morning, Adrian. Where's Jeff?"

"In the kitchen... Aw, does that mean you didn't?"

"Since when did he get any? You're forgetting that our dear friend here lives in celibacy. Still not up for a threesome?"

Culgan smiled to the older man who had stepped out of the kitchen. "Morning to you too, Jeffrey. And thank you for the offer, but no. I think you two can do things just fine without me there. Got any breakfast, or do I have to go find another cafe?"

Jeffrey grinned. "And you think I'd let my best customer run away? Not a chance. Sit down. You'll get something in a minute..."

"Best? I'd say the only customer, at least right now. But I could use a cup of strong coffee. Got any?"

The older man answered his question by handing over a cup. "Oh, you're too predictable. There you go. What do you want for breakfast? And are you eating here or taking the food with you?"

"I'll eat later. As for what to eat... Surprise me." The silver-haired man took the cup and moved to sit next to a nearby table. He took a folder from his briefcase and started reading a document while waiting for the food.

Adrian stopped by the table ten minutes later, holding a paper bag. "Here you go. Jeff said he tried some new sandwiches there... Hope you like. I'll put the stuff on your bill as usual."

Culgan nodded, smiling. "Oh, I will. Thank you."

He took the bag from the younger man, then picked up his briefcase and the folder he'd been studying. Then he exited the cafe and crossed the street.

It gave him some trouble to use his ID card with his hands full, but he managed to do so and also to ring the doorbell. The security guard opened the door a moment later, and he stepped in.

He didn't get far; someone who was leaving the building walked straight to him and made him drop the folder and the bag where the food was. Before he had time to pick his things up, the other mumbled an apology, got the folder and handed it to him.

At that moment, their eyes met.

He felt as if time stopped as he stared into the other man's wine-brown eyes. Those eyes stared back to his, and straight into his heart.

Finally, he got some kind of control over himself. His voice came out as a silent, but steady whisper.

"Seed."