It's nice to have a friend.

I visited every two weeks after that. We'd spend the weekend reading books and showing each other spells we'd learned - back when our styles weren't so drastically different. We were all alone, your tutor often gone to run some errands - I'd learned from you it meant failing at making people believe in the Goddess. It had become a routine for everyone, and as weird as it was to the whole school, we'd started being closer there, too. I would make the professors sigh, we'd argue playfully in the middle of classes we were too good to follow, and you would actually take notes when needed.

I didn't hide my glances anymore.

You looked at me, too, more than often ; there was complicity, as annoying as it was for the whole world, as mad as it made 1989, as tiring it was for everyone back at the Daylight Palace - because I talked about you. In my letters to my parents, on the other side of the Daylight Kingdom, to my mentors when they asked about my life out of courtesy.

(I didn't care about their opinion, nor about the fact that none of them actually wanted to hear about me.)

 (And I liked it, not holding back my emotions for once. You'd made me discover a whole part of me I didn't know, the one the world had told me to throw away. The one you liked most about me.)

From then, I think your house was my favorite place inside the realm. There was nature, wilderness, unpaved paths and you. There was adventure, the scent of rain, our laughs. There was the old stone house right before the forest, the one we would fix up whenever needed to sleep there.

Do you remember the day we went to visit the swamp? We were bored, and the snowmen we'd built on the hill near your house had since long melted, replaced by the scent of newly bloomed flowers and fresh buds all around. We'd looked up every species of flower we'd found, but diversity wasn't a word often used to describe the flora in the Snake queendom.

"How about we visit the swamp?' You'd asked me, grinning from ear to ear. With me, you could, and you never held yourself back - and every time I admired the way your eyes narrowed and a dimple found its way down your left cheek as your face colored with the slightest shade of pink. I don't know if you knew I'd accept or if you were just bluffing, but your coal eyes ignited as I said yes.

We waited nightfall to enter the woods - you found it thrilling, and I was okay with whatever you liked. The trees blocked any light the usual clouds let pass, standing menacingly three times our height ; you laughed at it all, assuring me no lantern was needed as you knew the forest like the back of your hand. We'd walked past dark leaves and large roots, shoes covered in mud as we stepped on rare chunks of grass. The more we went into the forest, the harder it was to go on without thorns scraping at our feet. We went our way silently, your hand brushing mine as you turned back to make sure I could keep up. It took about 20 minutes to get to the swamp, and when we did your arms were covered in cuts and bruises from your sleeveless shirt. It didn't bother you ; not a lot of things did. I was wearing a white one, long-sleeved ; the cloth fancied at the Palace had turned into a mess of soil and cuts after an evening of fun. I liked it better this way.

(This time spent with you was worth a few reprimands.) (Time spent with you was worth everything.)

There was fog, so thick we could barely see our own feet, so you'd slowed down your pace to match mine. The mess of roots and soil had turned to mud our feet drowned in. And right next to us was a body of water, darker than the night sky, deeper even than your eyes of fire.

"Here you go."

Your voice was of but a whisper, unusually soft as you told me :

"Legends say it's here that the last King fell to shield the world from the Cursed Ring."

I knew about that story : you'd told me all about it a million times. It was in this lake turned gray that the only King of the Tayrealm had died because of the Snake Ring — a cursed artifact of obsidian and poison forged by the Elder Woodvale Witch, whom cast a spell on it as to make its bearer unbelievably stronger, but also drained of all their positive emotions. It was said it was her who'd created all 10 Legendary Artifacts, as well as the Crown of the Realm.

(You consumed those stories as a fire would a book. I listened to it all as I did to the sound of tranquil flames.)

I could've sworn the ancient lake was an abyss, wouldn't it have been for the rare glints of moonlight reflected in troubled waters. I tried not to think about the creatures crawling underneath. And I looked over at you, and you smiled, eyes locked on the black hole as if it would reveal all of your Land's secrets.

And I saw you. Saw your slight smile as you admired the river of coal that matched your eyes, as you saw reflections of a past I couldn't comprehend. I saw your hair cupping your face in the messiest yet gentlest of ways, mud and scratches and leaves all of the same. I saw the dead Land come alive as you wore it all over your body, proudly and effortlessly and it felt like you were whole.

And there wasn't any noise, only us and us alone in the heart of the Corrupted Land. And I swear right there and then my breathing stopped and my heart skipped a hundred beats as you just were and I studied you.

And it felt like eternity.

And I thought maybe living forever wasn't such a bad thing. And I thought I would do anything if it meant staying with you like this.

(I had all your answers in the palm of my hand.)

You took your eyes off the swamp and turned to look at me, and I breathed in and out again. You looked at me and my heart beat, and you gave me my life back as I realized only a few seconds had passed.

(The answers slipped away from my fingers.)

"It's getting cold," you'd said. 

I hadn't even noticed my own shivers. You approached me and I still couldn't take my gaze off you. Your fingers entwined with mine, and you smiled to me :

"Let's go back home."

(Maybe you'll find them one day lying by the swamp.)

We went back to the house of stone past midnight — home, you'd called it, and I realized it fitted this place more than any other I'd ever set foot in.

(This time, I was the one who didn't say a word the whole way there.)

And I still remember how your eyes reflected the candles' soft glow when we laid in bed, when you looked at me and whispered so softly :

"Lover?"

Your voice was so quiet I thought I'd dreamed it. But I looked at you, so vulnerable, letting your facade crumble away in front of me, and I knew it was real.

"Yes?"

I heard the tiny crack in your voice as you asked :

"We're friends, right?"

"Of course we are," I heard myself answer, the words escaping my mouth before I could even think of it.

Then you smiled gently, and my thoughts stopped as I smiled back.

(It's nice to have a friend.)

A/N: Finally, the first part is done ! And that's supposed to be the easy one...
Hoping I'll be inspired after that.