Born from a comment under a fanart on Reddit, the story captures my view on Adam's ability to capture the hearts of the main trio and the repercussions he has to face for it.
He dreamt of a majestic field, full of flowers. There were strikingly beautiful and mature purple ones, astonishingly large pink-blue ones, energetic white-yellow ones that seem to pop out from everywhere, humongous greyish ones that seem to attract his eyes whenever he'd see them...
Suddenly, he spotted a bright, almost iridescent, blue-white flower. It wasn't the biggest out here, sure, but the colors, shape and form were almost perfect.
'It would look great in my room', a random thought passed by, disappearing further into hazy consciousness.
His hand grasped the white-blue flover by the stem and he gave it a gentle pull.
And the flower... Didn't budge.
The gentle wind made the flower bounce from side to side, up and down.
But he couldn't pull it out.
Other flowers, as if mocking, turned their heads towards him, all bouncing to the wind. Nervous, Adam tried pulling some other flower, but it didn't budge, either. It was as if he did not exist in the same space as them — or, rather, had no *right* to pull them out.
Strange.
Is there someone else, who can?
"They are beautiful, aren't they?"— a sudden voice, girly and sweet, suffocatingly so. He never heard that voice, but he suddenly understood: the woman, owner of that voice, must be the most beautiful in the entire world.
He glanced behind, feeling his breath getting caught in his throat. But there was no one there, just...
A few elegant pink petals fluttered through the wind.
"Nuh-uh, you can't see me~ But I definitely can see you. What a cute boy! Now I see what Mei saw in you~"
Adam, struck by unfamiliar to the point of being uncomfortable, primordial love gulped down, thinking hard on his question. The lucidity of this dreamy... Dream, felt unnatural.
"Who are you? What is this place? What's with these weird flowers? Why can't I pull them out?"
Oh, well, he just shot them all at once. I guess that's for the best, it's not filler dialogue content that would receive no meaningful answers, like in most hoyover~
"What an impatient young man! Don't worry, you are safe here", the voice said, brushing against his ear, and adding in a somehow reluctant tone, "For now, at least."
"What do you mean? Am I not... Dreaming?"
"Oh, you are dreaming alright. But your condition is, how should I say, is rather precarious. To think someone would be able to become such a strong **wedge** in the otherwise perfect little girlfriend group~"
Was that a pun? Adam couldn't be sure. But it felt like one.
"And... How precarious are we talking about?"
"You have no manners, dear. I haven't even answered your first questions! Let's see... I am your ancestor, you could say. From a faraway era~
This place is a dream! But not a usual one — it is affected by imaginary nature of the girls you've got attention from ! And, perhaps, because you've made love to some of them, too... I'm kinda jealous, you know? Oh, well, next one... Flowers! These beautiful flowers are representation of your tastes and, simultaneously, characters of their own, tied to their real life counterparts.
As for the last one... Can you guess, mhm?"
Adam, silently listening before that — more like, immersed in the unknown woman's voice — furrowed his brows. He has to think now, huh?
"Probably... Because... Ah, I remember. My arms are broken!"
And then he felt it. Excruciating pain, burns from his own sword, lightning strikes, broken legs resonated in the dream space, sending cracks across the field, centered on where he stood.
Well, where he fell.
"Oh, pitiful thing... You shouldn't have remembered, forget it! Otherwise, the dream... Oh, well. Your guess is interesting, but nope, not really. Seeing as that we don't have much time, I'll tell you this: you couldn't pull one out because you've never made a choice.
"Gh... What? What choice?"
"Hufufu~ Greedy, are you? But nope, you need to choose. Which one would you pick?"
"I... Don't understand."
"Why are you trying to take them?" — in a more strained and, somehow, colder tone, asked the voice, sending shudders down the Adam's spine.
"Because... They are beautiful! And I like them!"
"But can you take them? Can you nourish them? Picking these flowers is not as easy as it may seem. I cultivated them, you can say, with my entire existence. So being half-hearted won't give you any points, nuh-uh.'
Adam's eyes traveled across the field, where patches of his waking mind seeped through the landscape. Which one? Purple one, which was with him for so long? Grey one, comfy and easy to be close to? The one he just tried to pick first?
Or... Perhaps, the one which had these ethereal pink petals?
"I don't know! I like beautiful things and want to have them just because!"
"I see. Well, then, you should wake up then. Perhaps... We'll see each other again. If you'll stay true to your dedication and be more serious about preparing yourself~"
"What... What do you mean? Hey!"
"Farewell, young man. Oh, I haven't told you my name, have I? How uncouth of me."
The dream, almost entirely broken apart by his own mind, suddenly slowed down. Amidst the monochromatic, distorted view, Adam clearly saw a pink flower, standing proudly, yet, somehow, lonely.
"Elysia. May you find what you seek for beyond the sky".
