"It's no use, dear. He will not awake".

The lady turned her head to see Jibril the wizard. He was smiling mysteriously.

"Tell me how can I wake him up?"

The wizard smirked.

"Only a kiss of a true love can make him open his eyes".

"I tried but nothing happened".

"Are you sure that your kiss was filled with true and pure love? You were obsessed with him and there were only passion and lust in your heart. This young man can't be awakened by such perverted thoughts of yours".

The lady was getting angry. She stood up and approached the wizard, wishing to bit him up.

"I asked you to make him mine! What have you done?" she shouted at his face.

"I did what you asked me to. He is yours for the whole eternity. You may do what you want to him".

"It's not what I wished!"

"You are a hopeless woman! Now look what you have done! You're older than him for almost 15 years. Now, after your stupid dreams, the King has lost his heir and the Asuka dynasty can disappear! But I owe you. You've done a great work for me. Sayonara!"

With that he turned to leave.

"Wait! What should I do now? How should I live?"

"You may have him. I will tell the King that his son has been killed by a wild bear".

She cried in despair.

The wizard left the place and did as he said. The King and the Queen were almost devoured with misery and sorrow. Their only son was dead and nothing could bring him to live. But they had a daughter left and they wished their little princess to be happy. So one day she married Jibril, the man who tried to save the Prince from the bear. As evidence, he gave Prince's family-ring to the King.

What comes to the lady, after that incident she died from sorrow very soon. She understood that she was pathetic and killed Prince's happiness along with the whole country. So, she couldn't live her life with that sin in her soul and one day she closed her eyes forever.

As for Jibril, he was on the 7th heaven from happiness. He erased The Prince from his way to become the next powerful King of Zaft.

150 years had passed. The Queen Mayu died long ago. She didn't have children, so the only ruler of the country was Jibril. As we all know he was a wizard and he knew how to make his life longer.

When he began drinking a magic potion it made his appearance look like he was not elder than 25 but then it wasn't enough for him. While he managed to keep a young appearance, he could keep his age a secret. In order to protect his throne, he needed to live in different generations. Jibril married princesses and noble women but they didn't have his children as he was futile. But he was a sly man and spread a rumor that his wife had born a baby-boy but passed away while doing so. (Oh, and he was the one who helped his poor wifes to die only to keep his secret)

So, after some time he announced himself as an heir and became a king again. But now he was getting older with every year because after 150 years of drinking the magic potion Jibril's body got used to it and it didn't bring an awaited result anymore. Now he looked like a 50 years old man but he felt that his health was getting worse with every year.

His main dream was to create a potion that would make a person look young and give him an eternal life. That idea came to him when he found a recipe in one of his old wizard books. There was one problem—the components for the potion were very rare and hard to find. To create the potion he needed to make a chemical formula in sharp proportions.

One day he was wandering through the forest searching for some plants for his potion. His black cat was walking next to him when suddenly it rushed ahead and vanished between two tall trees. Jibril was surprised and disappointed at the same time. He loved his cat and couldn't let it go away so easily. So, he ran towards the trees (it was hard to do, remember, he was a very old person…his real age was 175 years) and suddenly found himself in a cave. Jibril looked around. He heard the sound of falling water and went straight ahead. The next thing he saw was an exit covered with water that came from above. He approached it and went through the falling water. When he opened his eyes at the other side of the waterfall he was shocked of what he saw…

"Lunamaria! You are reading again!"A blond young man said with irritation in his voice. "What is it for this time?"

The girl didn't reply, she showed him the face of the book and turned the next page, never leaving her eyes from letters.

""Sleeping Beauty"? Luna, you're 20 already. Stop reading stupid fairy-tales!"

She nodded automatically and continued to read.

"You are hopeless, really?"the boy exhaled after rolling his eyes. "Anyway, the colonel asked you to his office. I think you are going to have another mission against that Jibril guy".

She closed the book with a bang.

"I hate him!" was her reply.

"Who? The colonel or…"

"Jibril, of course! We have been fighting against him for almost 1,5 year and there is still no result. People are suffering from his unlimited power. I wonder who made him a Chairman".

"Not me, be sure. But I wonder too. He is like an alien, who conquered our country. Our division is sure that he is the main reason why this political war broke out. But we have no evidence. Anyway, you should go to the colonel's".

"Thank you, Rei".

"You are welcome" He smiled. "Tell me, what is it so interesting in this book?" The guy pointed at the book in her hands.

"I love this story. When I was little, I've always dreamed about a Prince who would rescue me from dragon and wake me up with a gentle kiss. That's why I adore this book so much".

"I see…well, sleeping beauty, let's go to the colonel La Fraga until he fired you and me for coming late".

And they both went out of the tent.

As it has been expected, she indeed has been sent for a new mission. The meaning of her task was to collect as much information as possible from the native drawers in the mountains. And what surprised her the most, she had to do it not as a soldier but as a tourist. Well, colonel La Fraga was famous for his 'own vision of stars'. But a fact remained a fact: this is her mission and she has to proceed immediately.

The drawlers told her later that something strange was happening. They saw some people coming from the top of the mountains. The drawlers also told her that the trains brought some huge boxes and those people put those boxes in the cargo cars and wend back to the mountains.

The next day after visiting a small town, Luna rented a mountain moped and proceeded to search for any kind of human vestige. Unfortunately, she didn't know where to begin, so all she decided was to keep on searching. During this action she found a waterfall. It wasn't big but it was a real and very beautiful and refreshing waterfall. Luna didn't differ from any other girl. She had a great sense of curiosity. Remembering all the movies she had watched, there was usually some kind of cave behind the falling water. And now, thanks for all curiosity she had in her; the girl began to explore the place that attracted her mind so much.

In fairy-tales, you will always find what you were searching for. In real life it happens very seldom, but Lunamaria believed in fairy-tales and wanted to find what she knew she wanted to find.

The waterfall really had a secret cave. This fact delighted her mood. She carefully, not to get too wet, entered the dark cave and made several steps inside, but to her great surprise, she was standing among tall trees after doing so. Her senses thrilled a little, but being a soldier, she collected herself together and continued to observe the territory.

It was a forest, she mentally noted; very clean and beautiful forest. Thankfully, it wasn't too big, so she made her way straight ahead, hoping to find something unusual. After wandering for some time she saw a silhouette of a palace-like building on the top of the hill. It looked medieval. Lunamaria was very surprised. She hadn't seen medieval castles since her childhood when she went to visit an ancient castle with her parents in France. It is needed to say that the girl liked everything connected to the times of knights, beautiful ladies and of course brave and loyal princes. But, unfortunately for her, she was born at the era of high technological progress and this fact made her upset. She couldn't stand all those dangerous weapons that took away millions of lives because of someone's profit. And what about those poor children whose parents had been killed during those savage terroristic acts at the time of which she had place to live her life?

"There is no other thing that could be more precious than human's life"

It was the motto of her life and she tried her very best not break it. She hated wars and the people who had straight relations with their beginnings. Two weeks ago she went to visit her mother. While driving a car to their family estate, she turned on the radio. There was a song with meaningful lyrics that caught the girl's attention.

Listen to the rain, widow

Listen to the rain

Teardrops of the killed

Seeking their widows

Listen to the wind, orphan

Listen to the wind

The killed are calling their babies

Oh, merciful sovereigns

All your good intentions

Tell me, are they worth

A baby's cry?

Oh, what do they do?

Lord, what do they do?

Is their justice worth

A harmless child's blood?

Every word in the lyrics described all the awful things that could happen during the war. Luna understood that the song could have voiced all her life, everything that she wanted to live for. To protect humans' lives—it was the main intention of her will and mind. All she wanted was to make that political war end. And she had to do it no matter what, even if it could cost her own life.

While she was caring those thoughts in her mind, she didn't notice that she was now standing at the bottom of a hill on the top of which she saw a castle. She looked back and understood that she was standing in the moat (fosse) that was used to separate the castle's walls from the forest.

"There is no way I go back before observing this mysterious place"

With those thoughts she started to climb the grassy surface until reaching her main goal—the huge castle's gates that were opened for her great surprise.

She looked around carefully. An unbearable sense of danger started to tease her inside. She hated this feeling. Her hand moved to her back-bag as for insurance. And as she was searching for something in her bag, a very loud roar shook the ground suddenly. The sound was as loud as an approaching helicopter's. Than the weather suddenly changed from warm and sunny to very windy and there was a feeling like the sun decided to hide itself from the coming danger.

Right above her there was a huge and very ugly lizard-like red dragon with dropping saliva from its opened jaws. Its snake-like eyes were looking at her and it was ready to attack her with its clawed paws and tail any moment.

Luna, in her shocked state, grabbed the first object that she could grope for in her bag and looked at her hand immediately. She was holding a hand-grenade. Without any other back thought she ripped the pin off and threw the grenade at the opened jaws of the monster right at the time when it wanted to clench its fangs into her.

The dragon devoured a little object and roared again. Meanwhile, Luna took her little pistol, which was hidden under her light-pink coloured summer dress, out of a rubber of her white stockings and started to shoot at the disgusting animal trying to destroy its eyes.

After little amount of time she heard a loud sound of explosion and thanks for some miracle, she avoided all the bloody drops and entrails that now could be found everywhere. The only thing that got a little dirty was her white snickers. The dragon's head lay some meters away in the pool of its own blood. The scenery was disgusting and it made the girl sick. The smell was so stinking that Luna tried to summon all her will not to vomit. Leaving this place as quickly as it possible, she headed to the main gates and entered the castle.

Step by step she tried to observe the inside of the castle. Everything was covered with thick layer of dust. The only sources of light were dirty windows, but they didn't help too much, that's why Luna used her electric torch to make her way easier.

Not finding anything interesting on the ground floor, she went upstairs. To her great surprise the castle consisted of 4 floors. It was exhausting to discover every room, not mentioning that every object was dirty and dusty that brought the feeling of total disgust.

Sometimes it was hard to breathe. But what really made Luna mad was a freezing coldness. Her light summer dress with shoulder-straps didn't warm her body at all. She was shivering. As far as the girl knew, old types of such buildings were very hard to heat, but she couldn't understand why it was so deserted here. She remembered the scary dragon outside and it made her stomach flip. Something was really wrong with this place. It reminded her of those haunting houses that she had seed in the horror movies. The memory made her feel even colder than before.

The girl brought back the memory of the true intention why she was here. She had been sent to collect the information about a place where the terrorists could hide, that's why she was observing the castle for the last hour. But if to be honest, it felt like there had been nobody here for who knows how long.

Luna griped all her courage and opened the last door on the 4th floor that she hadn't checked yet.

She stepped inside, entering the brightest room, filled with light from three windows. From the shapes of the room, the girl understood that it must be a tower.

Luna felt easier somehow. She looked around. The first thing that caught her eyes was a large bed with half-transparent red curtains, framed with golden fabric, fixed on 4 wooden columns. The curtains hid the surface of the bed, so Hawke decided to take a look inside. She didn't know why, but something was drawing her. Carefully, her hand took aside one of the curtains.

Her eyes widened in outer surprise when she comprehended what she saw, or even…who…

Right there on a large royal-sized bed laid a handsome young man. His face looked like it was made of pure beeswax. With his eyes closed, Luna guessed that he was sleeping peacefully. His raven hair was a mess, but a narrow golden crown that was worn around his head, made it stay in a right place. That crown…She carried her gaze to the young man's outfit. It looked expensive and…medieval? Well, it wasn't an outfit of a king, but still it resembled more like a prince's. A shining hauberk, a long deep-red cloak with golden clips on the shoulders, a belt with precious stones, black tight leather pants, high brown jack-boots and...a sword in its owner's hands that were lying on his stomach.

This person…he looked so gorgeous. The girl felt a pleasant warmth appearing on her cheeks. She unconsciously sat on the edge of the bed and looked carefully at the sleeping boy once more.

She felt an unbearable feeling to touch him, even if her actions waked him up. Lunamaria gently brushed some strands away from his forehead with her fingers. He had thick and silky hair, she noted.

"Why isn't he awaking?" she thought curiously.

Luna laid her gaze on his chest, which…wasn't moving? Was he dead?

Without a second thought she pressed her ear to his unmoving chest. A contact of her skin with a cold metal of a hauberk sent shivers down her body, but she didn't notice that. She tried to hear the main sound of person's life—the sound of a heartbeat. To her disbelieve his heart wasn't beating at all.

Lunamaria Hawke, the captain of the military forces, panicked. She quickly placed her hands on his shoulders and began to shake, but nothing happened.

"What should I do? Ok, girl, breathe,"she tried to calm herself. "You're a military woman, you must have a cool mind. Let's think. If he is dead, then he must be pale and cold, right?"

With those words she laid her palm on his cheek.

"No" she swallowed hard "he is not cold" was an uneasy confirmation. "His body's as warm as mine. He even has a flush on his face".

She tried to find the main sign of life in his body once more. This time she pressed her ear to the metallic surface tightly, ignoring its coldness, closed her eyes and began to listen very carefully.

She spent some minutes in that position, but nothing changed. And on the 3rd minute she heard a plain but very silent sound. It was his heart beating. Her eyes opened in shock, but she didn't move from the place. In the next 3 minutes the sound repeated. After hearing that, she sat beside the body of a mysterious boy, not believing in what she had just learnt.

"It can't be…His heart beats once in 3 minutes. How is it possible?"

Only now she felt the cold air on her skin. Luna wrapped herself in her arms, trying to get warmer. Oh, if she only knew that she was going to observe such a cold building when the weather is boiling hot outside, she would have worn a fur-coat instead of a light summer-dress. Then she thought that the boy must be lucky for being sleeping and not feeling cold. But she regretted those thoughts. How could he be lucky if he was still alive and couldn't awake? She felt sorry for him.

In order to wake up the boy and not to go insane, she bent her lips closer to his ear and shouted with all strength she had.

The result was the same. He lay still without moving or breathing.

"What should I do? I can't leave him here. Who knows how long he will be sleeping here until someone finds him again".

She bit her lower lip, absorbed in her own deep thoughts.

Determination was the main characteristic of her character. She really wanted to help the strange boy to awake.

A bright idea came to Luna, as she saw her back-bag on the floor. In a minute she was holding a bottle of water, in a second the content of the bottle was pouring on boy's face, wetting his dark hair.

Lunamaria was smiling while doing her reanimation process but her smile began to fade away slowly as she saw that her intentions didn't help.

The next thing she had done was acupuncture. But this method didn't bring any result too.

"Why? I tried to activate all the energy-points on his hands, ears and nose, why does it not working? It always helps me when I'm dead tired or even unconscious".

Her hands fell down from despondency. Oh, how she wanted to bring him to life, to look in his beautiful eyes. Luna knew that he had gorgeous eyes, because the handsome person as he was, couldn't have any other eyes but gorgeous. She wanted to hear his voice. Interesting, was it deep and husky or sweet and soft? The girl could only wonder.

"It's just like in "The Sleeping Beauty". Everyone tried to wake up the Princess Aurora, but she didn't leave the world of her dreams. Only a Prince could save the Princess from that state. He kissed her with a kiss of true, eternal love. But what should I do to wake him up?"

She looked at boy's face sympathetically.

"Maybe…" the girl thought "just maybe…if I do this, there is still hope?"

An uncertainty and concern could be read in her lavender orbs.

"But…do I have a right?" Hesitation filled all her mind for a moment. She once again glanced at the sleeping figure beside her. "If I do this, will you awake?"

She whispered her question in a pleading voice.

It was very hard for her to bring all her courage together. The price was very high. If she did it, she would give the life back to a certain person. She needed to do it in order to save him. Even if she didn't know who he was. Even if it was the first time she met him….she just couldn't resist doing her job: to protect lives. Yes, it wasn't one of those military methods of protecting people from danger but her heart was telling that her intentions were worthwhile.

If only it would awake him…

Closing the distance between their faces, she remembered all her love to the Prince-Charming that she believed would appear some day in her life and would give his heart to her; who would save her from the terrible dragons named "Loneliness" and "Misery"; who would see a beautiful and fragile Princess and not a soldier in her; who would love her and care for her till the very last day of his life. And she would do the same for him: to share her life with him, helping him in every business of his, be his support and a loyal and reliable friend, and of course love him till the day she closes her eyes forever only to be together with him in the whole Eternity.

And when her lips were only in some millimeters from handsome and mysterious boy's mouth, she whispered with determination:

"Please, open your eyes".

When those words left her tongue, she gently pressed her lips to his.

Luna didn't remember when her eyes closed. She didn't remember when her hands placed themselves on his chest. All she remembered was a fastened race of her heartbeat and a whirlpool of butterflies inside her rib cage, when she touched the boy's cashmere and soft lips.

The sensation was so new to her that she didn't notice for how long she stayed in that position. She felt as warmth started spreading through all her body. The feeling was so pleasant. She wasn't cold anymore. She was warmed up by the pure bliss of a magic kiss.

Her eyes opened slowly to look at the boy's face. To her regret, his eyes were closed. It was a face of a sleeping handsome.

"He hasn't awakened…it didn't help. Why am I so helpless? Why can't I wake him up? I'm so stupid".

Hot tears filled her beautiful lavender orbs.

"I have sacrificed my first kiss, believing that it would help. My heart has never felt so miserable in my whole life. I'm so childish. Rey is right, I'm too naïve believing those fairy-tales and dreaming about true and eternal love, the Prince-Charming and happy life. I'm so hopeless…I became a military-woman to have opportunity to save people's lives, but look at me! I can't even help one single boy! Why am I so weak? And why did I give my first kiss to a total stranger, if it didn't help anyway? Father, if only you were here! I'm sure you would deal with this situation and find the right answer…"

She was crying and babbling at the same time.

Little did she know that while she was distracted by her thought of regret, the certain person's eyes flew open like a butterfly's.

He stared at the ceiling of the bed, trying hard to understand where he was. His right hand let go of the sword's handle and reached for his face to rub the dream from each eye away. Only now he noticed that his face and hair were all wet. Why? He didn't remember swimming in a lake that day. And why were his ears, nose and hands burning and pricking occasionally? What could happen to him? He remembered riding a horse in the evening and then a lady came out from the forest and asked him for help. He agreed and took her on the horse and then…she…what did she do? She did something, that's for sure but what exactly? The next thing he remembered was opening his eyes and being at this place. Something was missing between his memories and it felt like a huge dark gap.

Alright, he could think about the details later. Now it was important to find out why he was here and how to get out of this place.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone's sniffs and babblings. He turned his head to the side where the source of the sounds came from and…and…was shocked to see a woman sitting beside him and showing her almost nude body. It WAS a woman…but her hair…it was short and magenta? Never in his life had he met such colour of hair before. She wasn't the lady from earlier. Who was she? Maybe a spy or a bandit? She looked like one of them. Only bandit women could wear such revealing clothes. If she was a bandit, than he had to stop her from harming innocent people! Wasn't he a Prince after all?

With one fast movement he rolled to his right and grabbed the girl by the shoulders, pushing her fragile form beneath himself. Her tearful eyes widened in total shock when she understood what had just happened. Meanwhile, the strange boy pressed a sword to her throat and looked sharply in her glittering orbs.

Luna couldn't move or speak. She still couldn't believe what was happening. How did he wake up? When did he awaken? Why didn't she senesced his presence? All those questions were running through her mind when she felt herself pressed to the very spot where he was lying before. The cold metal on her throat sent shivers down her spine, not because of its coldness but of its sharpness.

She swallowed hard. Was it her end? Was it the way she was going to die? But what about her mission? Didn't she swear to protect people from violence? She couldn't let herself to die! She was on duty! If she was going to be killed but not here and not under current circumstances!

The girl summoned all her braveness and willpower to stare right at the boy's ruby eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn't move. He managed to block her hands under her head and clutched her legs between his. He looked like a wild cat that caught its victim.

When she understood in what position he made her lie, her blood began to boil with anger.

"Who are you and what did you want to do to me?"

"Huh? Why did he ask such stupid questions?"

"If you don't answer, I have nothing left but to kill you!"

"WHAT? Was he insane?"

In order to skip a premature death, Luna licked her suddenly dried lips, and said:

"I…"

The boy showed interest. He arched an elegant raven brow and nodded slightly, ordering her to continue.

"I…" she swallowed "my name is Lunamaria. I'm a tourist and I was just passing by and found this abandoned castle where I found you….umm…sleeping in this room. So, I tried to wake you up and…" she felt really uneasy under his sharp gaze, filled with negative emotions.

"And?"

He asked her, pressing the sword deeper in her tender skin.

"…and…you awakened. That's all. Now, can you please let me go?" she tried to look all innocent and smiled a little bit sheepishly.

"No!"

"No?"

"Who do you think I am to believe in your nonsense? You said you are a "turist" but there is no such occupation!"

"Huh?" she looked at him in disbelieve, "you don't know what a tourist means? Oh" the girl thought for a moment. Perhaps, he had been sleeping for too long to be aware of new popular words. "You see, in the country where I came from, people call wanderers—tourists. I wanted to visit this place so I came here and…well, you know the rest".

"A wanderer?" he grinned haughtily "don't try kidding me. Since when did wanderers travel half-naked? You look more like a wench, who seduces men for money".

"WHAT?" She was unspeakable from what she heard.

"How could you fell so low?" he continued "I despise people like you".

That was the last drop to her calm temper. He was humiliating her despitefully! He called her a wench! How could he? She saved his life and that was his gratitude?

"Let me go, you maniac! How can you treat a girl like this? Where were you behaved? In a wild forest?" she was shouting at his face that expressed total surprise from her sudden outburst. "Just get away from me! You hurt me with that thing!" she pointed at the sword with her gaze. "Take your dirty hands away from me or you'll regret that was born, perverted bandit!"

His eyes widened in shock as he listened to everything the girl was shouting. He immediately let go of her hands, took the sharp edge away from her throat, and slowly stood up from the bed, never leaving his eyes from her.

As she sat up quickly, smoothing her dress and narrowing her eyes at him, he said:

"You don't know who I am, as I can see. I'm Prince Shinn of Zaft, and only dare to compare me with those barbarians once more, and you will never see the next day".

"What's the difference, anyway?" Luna thought rolling her eyes, standing up from the soft surface of the bed. She picked up her back-bag that had fallen on the floor because of the 'fight' earlier, and wore it on her shoulders when suddenly she comprehended the meaning of his words.

"You're…you're a PRINCE? A real Prince?"

He heard a total surprise in her intonation.

"Where did you come from, woman? Haven't you heard of a Zaft Kingdom? My father is the King of that Kingdom".

"I…I" she tried to make up some cheap lie, but she wasn't good in that sphere "I really came from far-far away. But may I ask you a question?"

He crossed his arms on the chest and arched a brow.

"Yes, you may".

She smiled.

"If you're a Prince, than why don't you call me a 'lady' or something else in that style? You must have good manners, if you're a royal blooded".

He smirked.

"Because I can't call a half-naked wench in front of me 'a lady'".

"How…how dare you call me such low names?" she greeted her teeth. "Never in my whole life had I been so humiliated!"

Luna inhaled and exhaled slowly to calm herself down. She went passed him and before exiting the room, said:

"Farewell, Your Highness. I hope we will never meet again".

She walked away and left him standing all alone in the empty room.

"Let it be! I'm not interested, anyway! Whatever!"

He whispered in irritation and looked at the picture, hanging on the wall. It was a portrait of the lady from the day he lost his memory. He was deeply absorbed with his own thoughts.

"What happened the day I met you?"

The warm air embraced the girl with its tender wings when she came out from the abandoned ancient castle. The sight of previous fight made her sick. She had totally forgotten about the killed dragon due to the hard feeling of offence. The stereotype of the "Prince in shining armors" was crashed into millions pieces. And it happened after her first meeting with the real royal heir. Who could think that even princes could have different manners? From what she had seen, the first impression of His Highness was not very high. He was hot tempered, cruel and had not enough knowledge of how to treat a woman! What a selfish type! She had always believed that persons of high society must know the rules of etiquette. Well, it wasn't her business anyway…but…she didn't want to hear someone calling her low names again. Never in her life! She had a pride after all!

While thinking, the girl went down the road. To her surprise she found herself far from the castle's walls. Ah, it's better not to bring back the memories of that mysterious place. Something made her feel uneasy when she tried to think of it. But what made her really confused was the remembrance of a certain young man who appeared to be sleeping and then awakened suddenly. And the reason of his awakening was…urgh!

"Don't think of it! It doesn't count as my first kiss!"

Ah, the memory didn't want to leave her mind.

"How could he say those things? I tried to save his life and what did I get? Why was he so arrogant?"

Luna stopped and looked down at her outfit curiously.

"What made him think that my dress is revealing? It's an ordinary summer dress, without sleeves and just above the knees. I don't see anything wrong about it", she said her thought out loud. Everything seemed so confusing to her.

First of all she appeared in the forest, right after stepping inside the cave! Then it was an abandoned castle and the dragon. Then she found a sleeping prince, just like an innocent princess that had been cast under the spell of some evil wizard. What was going on here? It looked more like a movie to her. And she was one of the main actors.

Anyway, if it was for real or not, she had to do something, anything to find what she was sent for.

"But", she thought, "if anybody sees me and react the same way as the Prince did, than I will have troubles. I should be more careful. It's better not to stand out since I don't know what is going on in this area".

Luna rubbed her chin in a deep thought.

"It's better to hurry until the sun goes down".

2 long hours had passed since she began her wandering, when she heard a sound of running water not far away. It delighted the girl's mood. It was hot outside and she felt sweaty because of the long journey on foot. That's why the next moment she went into the bushes by the road and saw crystal clear waters of the running river. Until that moment the captain couldn't image that she was longing for water so much. Her next action was bending over the river and ladling the cool water in her palm. Never in her life did she drink such delicious liquid. It was pure and couldn't be compared with that at her home.

Hawke exhaled.

"What a loss," Luna gently ladled the water with both her palms and washed her face and neck. The sensation was so refreshing and pleasant. But it couldn't last forever. Lunamaria was a trained soldier with great sense of danger and good hearing. She heard someone's moving in the bushes but didn't show that she was aware of it.

She remained the same position as before except the expression of her beautiful violet eyes that were very concentrated. She felt as someone was approaching her from behind, and when the private space was broken, the girl threw the intruder over her slender shoulder with one swift motion and sent him flying right into the pure waters of the river. The body hit the water surface with a loud splash.

Luna stood up quickly and looked at the person who tried to do the same thing. Ruby eyes glared with anger at lavender orbs.

The person finally managed to stand up and come out of the water all wet and furious.

"It was you," said Luna surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Until this moment, the same thing as you," he answered while twisting his wet hauberk. Well, it is needless to say that not only his upper clothes but everything he was worn in was soaking wet. His messy hair stacked to his face and it made him look both funny and handsome, especially when he took off one of his high jack-boots and tried to pour the water out of it.

Lunamaria was watching his every move with interest. He was so unusual and it scared her a little. When the Prince finished his preparations, he turned to face her. The irritation could be read in his mysterious wine-coloured eyes.

"Don't look at me like this. I'm not a ghost or something."

She stood still, not even dare to blink. Only now she noticed the true colour of his mirrors of soul. It was a mix of red and light brown, but it looked more like red, and the realization of it couldn't summon her calmness again.

He didn't like the shocked expression on her face, so he decided to answer her dumb question.

"I came here to refresh myself when I met a crazy woman who tried to kill me. Well, thank you very much, I'm more than refreshed now".

His sarcastic tone forced her to come out from her stupor. She felt the unbearable urge to speak out everything that she thought of him.

"How could I know that it was you? I thought it was.."

What was she going to say? That she expected him to be a terrorist? He wouldn't believe her anyway.

"Never mind," she breathed out when she noticed an inquiring look on his face. "By the way, your crown has gone to the side".

He touched his head, never breaking the eye contact with her, to make sure that what she was saying was true. Indeed, the crown had slipped on the right side of his head. The Prince put it back on the centre and gave the girl a look.

"If you didn't throw me into the river a while ago, I would have been dry and happy by now".

If only you could see his posture! It was a posture of a real royal member. Even the way he held his head told that he wasn't just an ordinary commoner.

She didn't want to argue. She wasn't in a mood to do so. That's why the girl tried to change the topic.

"Why don't you take off your hauberk? It can get rusty and you can catch a cold".

"I don't need your advice. And by the way, my hauberk will never get rusty because it's made of a special alloy. Our Kingdom is famous for producing high quality armors".

With those words he turned on the hills and headed to leave.

Was that all? She tried to be friendly to him and all he had to show her was indifference?

"Wait!"

When he stopped, Luna came closer to the arrogant Prince and asked:

"Where are you going?"

He turned his head gracefully and looked down at her with his eyebrow arched.

"I'm going back to my family's the royal palace, though, I believe, it has nothing to do with you".

After saying that he turned to leave again, but felt a hand tugging his elbow.

"Do you know this area?"

This time he turned again and answered with growing irritation.

"Of course I know it! I used to swim here and ride my horse. What do you want?"

She looked right into his eyes, which held some mystery in them and couldn't but draw her closer to their master.

"I need to get to the nearest village. Where may I find one?"

"Why do you need to go there?" The Prince crossed his arms on the chest and looked at her sternly.

"What's that question?" She couldn't believe in his stubbornness. Maybe asking him wasn't a good idea from the beginning. "I need a place to stay by! I'm a wanderer! Why are you so pitiless?"

With that outburst she went past him and hid in the bushes.

"If he doesn't want to help me, I will find the village on my own!" It was all that he could hear. Probably, she was on the main road already.

"What an interesting girl" thought the Prince.

OooooO

Lunamaria Hawke was furious. How could one person make all the bad emotions awaken in her? She was a military woman, she couldn't let her guard down. It was dangerous to lose her cool temper, that's why she couldn't afford herself to talk and argue with a certain person.

"Hold on!"

She heard a familiar voice and it made her stop. The owner of the voice came closer to her and went straight ahead. As he passed the girl, he said:

"We're on the same route. I'll walk you to the nearest village, though it's not too far, but if not to cut the corner through the forest, it will be a little troublesome to reach it. Let's go".

Luna was speechless. She didn't expect any help from him since he had that cocky attitude. But somehow she was glad. Maybe he was not that bad after all?

The girl obeyed his order immediately. She followed him carefully but both of them were silent all the way. It was him who began to speak first.