AN: Well, well, well! I got another silver star! (blushes) wow... I feel happy! THANK YOU ARCANA PEEPS!

Well I have another story. This one is about Marin. I've noticed that people who aren't Marin fans accuse her of being shallow, and wishy washy... but I think she's an interesting character... SOOOOOO I'm writing another one of my "unusual vingettes" about her. ENJOY

Dreams Do Come True

Many people have dreams, or so I've been told. I believe it's true. No person can go through life without ambition... if one does, it's not a life at all. Seriously, what kind of person has no dream? I know that I wouldn't be able to live another day without my dreams... without my hopes. My goals. I have many of them, you know... dreams I mean.

What? Oh, you think I'm an airhead. Figures...

I notice that many people, usually shallow people, judge one another by first glance. When you look at me, you see a young girl with her head in the clouds... you see an idiot... you see a dreamer.

But that's not all I am.

Oh no, you have to look deeper then the surface.

True... I'll be the first to admit, I am a dreamer. But I'm no idiot. My dreams aren't just about marriage and beauty and a family and happiness... those, to me at least, are illusions... one that a girl like me has yet to posess.

My dreams, my friends, are about freedom.

Freedom from what, you ask?

Oh goodness... I never told you about my predicament, did I?

I'm trapped. I'm a... a bird with clipped wings. Stuck in a cage, and forced to appear happy for the sake of a homely little village by the seashore. It's not that I'm unhappy... it's just that there's someplace I'd rather be.

You see the footsteps trailing in the sand behind me? I dreamed once, that I walked around the island, and as I circled, I began to walk higher and higher... and as I gained altitude I sprouted angel wings... and soon, oh let me close my eyes... just let me savor the feeling of this memory... I flew away, over the ocean... away from my gilded cage.

But of course, that was only a dream.

Dreams aren't realities.

What?

You don't believe that dreams can come true?

Oh my friend, you mustn't think that!

Dreams do come true... it just takes time!

When I was naeive... just a child... about six or seven, I dreamt of having the most beautiful shell necklace in the whole village. I longed for it so badly... and on my tenth birthday, while I was walking across the shore, my toe stubbed something, and it began to bleed. I remember falling to the sand with a thump, holding my injured toe, trying to shield it from the stinging sands. But to no avail, it burned like the fires of the sun.

I turned to the side, glaring through childish tears at whatever caused me to harm my toe. But slowly, the tears drifted away with the wafting breeze, and a small smile claimed my lips, defeating the contempt that reigned over them prior. I scurried over to the small object on my knees, ignoring the pinching, burning feeling in my foot, and sat down beside it. I dug it up with my hands and held it up to the sunlight.

And suddenly what had caused my pain, became my pleasure. There in my hands was what I had been dreaming of. A small sea shell, no bigger then my palm, was my treasure. It was pink mixed with the gentlest violet, and a hint of blue on the inside. A small, crude hole had already worked its way through the top. I smiled with delight then, and took the string out of the top of my dress, undoing the fabric, making me look positively indecent. I tied the string through the shell's hole and placed it around my neck.

I smiled for a very long time after that.

I still wear the necklace today. Do you see what I mean? It's beautiful.

It was my dream come true.

I do have dreams about marriage as well... I dream about that sometimes.

I had a dream once, that I was walking along the shore, and there was a strange wind blowing... carrying the scent of pine... of the forest. I stopped as my hair whipped around me, and looked behind me. Nothing was there. I walked a little further and there, lying unconscious on the sand, was a man. I rushed to his side and picked his head up, brushing his golden bangs aside.

God, I swear I can still smell him...

He was a little older then me, if not my own age. His body had cuts on them, and his chest was bared. I ran my hands over his face, lingering on his lips. I whispered in his ear.

"Please? Wake up... for me? For us?"

And he did.

His eyes were the brightest blue... blue as the sky that I longed to fly away in...

He sat up slowly and took my face in his hands. His lips, surprisingly soft, brushed against mine. He ran his hands across my back, and flipped me over gently, laying me on the sand with him on top of me.

I'm not going to mention much more of that dream. But you can guess where it led to.

Anyway...

THAT dream hasn't come true yet. I have a feeling it might not.

But, there's always hope.

Goodness, it's cold. Do you feel the wind? No? It's blowing differently today...

Something's coming.

Something's going to happen.

Do you see that over there?

It looks like a person!

Ha! As I said before...

Dreams do come true...

Sometimes.