Voice of a Nightmare: 37
Days passed at ease and Ava found herself getting comfortable around Lydia and her son's girlfriend, Hikarina, who was, of course, nothing but so sweet.
The dinners weren't awkward further as Albert Acton, the great adventurer began reciting his childhood stories of how he fought with fantasy creatures and bad people, who tried to kidnap his beautiful wife while Lydia tried her best to stop her old husband from making her blush. The audience was, of course, his grandchildren along with the Queen.
Austin was the carbon copy of his Grandfather as he had been roaming around with a paper sword even in the mid of the dining table whenever his Grandfather came up with a made-up story of how he and his wife lived in the woods for a year trying to find their lost son, Finian, who was caught by a bear and raised by a beautiful guerilla.
Finian made no expression when Austin and Alaia bugged him with questions if he remembered his foster guarilla mother and bear father to which Albert came up with another story that the guarilla was a witch and erased Finian's memories with a wand.
Ava was laughing after days though it was subtle and only audible to the man beside her on the dinner table, trying his best to focus on the food and not roll his eyes at his Grandpa's craziness.
But Ava's constant giggles at the oldy's foolishness prompted Lucas to go along as he was soon found smiling and chuckling often focusing only on the happy and giggly Queen.
Aslan, who had no idea why he was forced again into the Royal family's dinner table, rolled his eyes seeing the King's whipped smile looking at the Queen but still, he also couldn't help tugging up his lips into a small crescent of smile seeing them happy.
" You should be happy often... The happiness looks good on you, " Lucas leaned down to whisper into Ava's ears as she chuckled with a tilt of her head to the side, her eyes playfully asking him: ' Huh? '
" Aww, sweethearts! You should get a room for yourself if you can't stop yourself, Your Majesty, " Hikarina sucked in a loud laugh as she caught the King and Queen talking with each other in hushed whispers often throwing cheeky smiles.
Ava quickly pulled away from the King's side and acted like she wasn't at the table with them and focused her attention on Lucas's tiny cousin, who just came back from running to his mother to take a bite from her egg salad.
" Ms Irwin, please! " Lucas whined suddenly catching one of Ava's hands startling her in the middle as almost all of their eyes were on them and continued: " Let me have some moment. "
" You can sure do it in your bedroom, King Aston. " Her playful remark gifted a smile to the King though the Queen had to try her best to stop the heat rushing up to her cheeks as she quickly yanked her hand away from the King's grasp with a small glare.
#
Entering the chamber after a few hours, Lucas found the Queen already snuggled to the King sized bed in the middle, tucked up neatly, ready to fall asleep in a blink.
But, surely, the Queen wasn't asleep yet as she wanted a tall King to come to bed as soon as possible to swim into the land of dreams.
Lately, they had been sleeping in the same chamber for a while since Ava didn't want to be alone from the night she apologised. Being alone in the enormous chamber didn't help but made her shiver whenever she tried to close her eyes to sleep.
Of course, the first time when in full consciousness, Ava was ready to push the King out of the chamber because of her eradicating heartbeat and the slow tension that started to build up as Ava felt completely weirded out but the creepy silence of the room forced her to the King's side anyway.
Who's Lucas to deny the request when the Queen showed him her iconic puppy eyes with a small pout?
Obviously, he agreed to stay by her side for the nights and Ava hadn't felt this safe in a while, of course, only after the first few nights. She didn't know if it was because of knowing that their Knights must be around to secure them or just the presence of the particular man around her alone.
Clearing his throat with a cough, Lucas snickered to earn her attention. " So, someone became bold today, huh? "
Throwing her eyes open, Ava whisked her head to the side finding him handsomely leaning on the door wrapped in a soft-looking sweater matching with some sweatpants.
Lucas chuckled and proceeded to his side of the bed where he plopped down with a loud sigh and quickly killed the lights off earning a surprised yelp from the Queen.
As expected, Lucas soon felt the bed sink in because of the physical movement of the small body that suddenly moved much closer to him. Ava scooted back to his side still facing the wall to not break the silent treatment when she felt Lucas's arms circling the pillow that was on her side and soon enough, she was pulled closer to his side even more as he hugged the _pillow_ with a bright smile.
" We both know she was just teasing, Ms Queen... " Lucas breathed into her hair, barely hiding the smile that adorned his face after Ava's loud yelp. " Let this innocent man off the hook, will you? " he husked maintaining a safe distance between their limbs, letting her have the access to move if she wills.
But Ava stayed put with an eye roll as she husked something back with gritted teeth.
" Don't you dare huggy me to sleep, Mr, I'm angry and I'll bite you. " said Ava while her fingertips slowly graced the sleeve of his loose sweater.
Lucas, pretending to be offended, sucked in a loud gasp as he then rolled over to his side of the bed leaving the pillow and the Queen to themselves mumbling about how he was just playing along and nothing else.
Ava sneaked a tiny chuckle before making herself comfortable as she slowly sank into the darkness feeling the warmth of the man and letting the dreams invade her mind, finally.
Lucas, on the other side, was listening to Ava soundly falling asleep and smiled before covering her with the comforter after making sure she was asleep. He had made it a habit to let her sleep first and listened to the calm beats of the heart he adored in the last few nights.
" And I'd do anything to make your day bright with serotonin boost or at least with blood rush... " mumbled he before slowly falling into his own dreamland where the monotonous voice of a magical song was calling him into, before mumbling a small: " Sleep tight, Gorgeous. "
#
In the mid of the dusky night, the silent King's chamber resonated with the twitching whimpers from the bed. A harsh intake of breath filled the void as the cold wind that swept past the bed made him shiver to the bones.
Lucas twitched, grabbing on the sheets. His eyes were closed, tighter than ever, meaning he was still asleep. But his tightly chapped lips often let some whimpers escape them as he sucked a harsh breath again.
The monotonous voice of the song which once felt like a melody now rang like a song of a deadly siren, dragging Lucas into the darkness.
' It was a long night...without the warmth when I died from coldness. ' Lucas stilled listening to the male voice sending him chills all over his body. Yet, the deep voice continued with no halt. ' Good for you, I never had the chance to experience the warmth. '
The voice was barely a whisper that felt surreal when it husked right near his ear presenting him with a flight of shivers.
' B—but...but I...I need you— Why don't you feel the same at least once? '
He could only see a man screaming before a rock, his voice breaking with the loud echoing sobs with the pain of something moving through his veins. The sight was vague and became more and more unpleasant as an ear-piercing growl lept out of the man.
Lucas was whimpering more, shuffling on the bed to peacefully take a breath but it was hard. Very hard because of something brutally heavy lying over his chest, or more specifically right over his heart.
Lucas could see the night shadowy figures moving here and there in the bloody battle waiting for the right time to devour the life of the sighters to quench their gore thirst when he heard her cry out behind him.
' Eh— Elias, Elias, give me a chance, please— '
Lucas turned around to notice a vague figure of a woman running toward him.
Everything happened within a blink.
Lucas could see the strikers started aiming at the woman.
Lucas would say that he had a choice but, still, he chose to jump between her and the arrow that straight up pierced the wail of the night. He thought he was going to die instantly by the dangerous intrusion but instead of feeling the pain, he felt relief. He felt relieved to be off from the horrible life and—
' N—No... No, I'm sorry, I can't... '
The King's body dangerously twitched when he heard a male's heartbreaking sobs far away as if it was coming out of a pond along with the tremendous shower of rain followed by a murderous thunder that shook the ground.
Gasping for air, Lucas could do nothing other than that even though he was fighting a scream that troubled out of his dry throat.
However, Lucas kept on hearing his deep voice, exhausted, yet trudging out with a choke.
' I, Adonis Delano, is in the hands of— '
Ava, on the verge of jolting out of her unsatisfied slumber, rolled over to the other side of the bed and stirred when she graced something so cold. Her heavy eyelids slowly creased a gap to be met with the dark space when the distant and incoherent noise crept closer and closer—
Ava's eyes finally noticed the shifting body of the man beside her when his chest gave a jolt for the man to take a heavy breath which probably didn't help his state as he continued to shift to the side with both of his legs twitching, terribly.
By an unknown speed that washed away her tiredness, Ava was wide awake scooting closer to the King on her knees and her hands instantly made their way to his face which was soaked wet with sweat but also with tears which were flowing down from his cheeks drenching his already ragged pillow.
" Lu— Lucas, hey... Hey— " Ava, of course, the panicked maiden she was, didn't understand he was having a nightmare and couldn't possibly hear her among all the other creepiest voices echoing around his head.
She clumsily got out of bed and to his side to bring the lights to life while she somehow pressed a call to the intercom of their Knights on the nearby table. But she didn't really respond to Aslan's question of what was going on when the lights came to life.
The sight she caught made her tremble to the knees. Lucas's tear-streamed face wasn't a good choice of object to see in the middle of the night.
She shakily brought her hands to his forehead to wipe the sweat. But her hands were terribly shaking making it harder.
" Calm down, calm down. Don't panic... don't panic. He...he is— He is just dreaming or something, calm down. " she talked to herself for a brief minute to stop her racing heart from exploding into a puddle of blood.
Because who expected a sudden turn in the peaceful night? Definitely, it wasn't her.
" Lucas... Lucas, please, open your eyes. It's... it is just a bad dream. Open your eyes, " she gulped hard trying to sound clear while gently combing his hair and squeezing his hands. She just hoped that it could help his selfless state as how it always did to her.
Xavier, her brother always calmed her with soothing words whenever she had nightmares.
" It's just a dream... Wake up. " she said but it was barely a whisper as her eyes travelled down to his chest which was raising up and down with short breaths while her thoughts raced somewhere. " But what if...what if he's getting panic attacks...like–like I do? What's triggering this...? My God bro... Lucas—Lucus, please...please, wake up! " she choked a fearful cry as Lucas's body twitched again but this time his face turned so pale that Ava freaked out yet managed to choke out: " Wake up, Lucas, I got you. "
Followed by a faint whimper, Lucas's chest slowly sank as his hands gently loosened the tight grip he still had on the bedsheets. Ava hurriedly stood up and grabbed his face, slightly slapping his cheek to wake him up.
" Hey— Lu— Lucas, wake up, yeah, wake up. Do you hear me? "
Lucas's eyes fluttered open with a pool of tears streaming down his face when he finally recognised who got his back.
" Eh— Ava..."
" Yes, yes, it's me. You're fine, I got you. It was just a— " Before she could finish, she was pulled into an unexpected hug only to be hit with his warm— No, burning chest.
His entire body was completely clammy when his arms desperately pulled her close to his body. Ava heard a choked whimper echo out of the King's lips, his chest dangerously twisting hard.
Ava was worried. Even after a few seconds, he was hot as hell, burning like a furnace taking enough breaths from her neck in deep silence where his head buried into.
Though she wanted to pull away and make sure he was fine, she stayed put awkwardly patting his back for comfort when she felt the door of the chamber being pushed open followed by hurried footsteps.
Only now, Ava remembered calling their Knights, who she thought could probably reach them only after five minutes but, of course, she knew Aslan and what in the world he could do if it was for the King.
But every possible thought about anything flew away from her mind when the footsteps stopped, followed by the loud panting.
" Your Majesty— " Isaac tried to talk while struggling to calm down his heart that was probably on the verge of exploding because of racing up to the 4th storey of the huge palace after nearly jumping down from a 6-storeyed building to reach faster when woken up from a deep slumber out of nowhere by a zombie-like-looking Aslan.
Even though he had no idea how this guy got into his already locked bedroom, he was left with no breath to ponder about any of that.
It was, of course, not Isaac's idea to jump down from the 4th floor of the Palace of Darius but Aslan's, who had nothing but the thought of the King and Queen at the moment.
Therefore, Isaac had no choice but to jump right after his annoying brainless colleague, who immediately galloped towards the castle, possibly terrifying the crew that was doing their night duty peacefully.
Aslan, taking enough breaths to calm his racing chest had his eyes only on the tight hands that were wrapped around the Queen and the clammy head of the King buried on the nook of her neck. Ava was back facing the Knights which stopped them from seeing her reaction.
Though he could pinpoint that it was something wrong only with the King, he couldn't stand the thought of Ava being uncomfortable. He freaking knew how wild the lady could go in case of panic attacks.
Only now, probably, worn out from the shock that it was Aslan that appeared out of nowhere inside his room a few minutes ago, Isaac nudged Aslan's shoulder and walked towards the Queen.
The Knights gently helped her out of Lucas's —almost bone-crushing— hug and felt the King's body plopping down on the bed. He looked exhausted and extremely sick when he was forced into the bed. He whined when Ava moved an inch away from his reach and squeezed the fingers that were about to slip out of his hands.
" She's not going anywhere... Sleep, " Aslan gently whispered before freeing her fingers from his grip which eventually loosened when the words settled in.
" Your Majesty... Why don't you go and rest for a while in your study? " Aslan suggested adjusting the blanket over the King's body while Ava stood on the side staring at them.
She was simply quiet and had no intention to move away from the spot yet when Aslan turned to look at her, she gulped.
" Eh... I... "
" It's okay, go and rest. " Isaac nudged her out of the room to which after a long delay, Ava walked along with a last stare directed at the King.
The next day, no one talked about last night's event as Lucas acted like it didn't happen in the first place.
However, Ava's mind had the perfect imprint of the King's broken state that hardly tried to fade away from her memory even after a week that she came to despise the very thought of nightmares.
But Ava would never know that it was what gifted her a new role to play in her life.
The role of playing a protector.
To be continued
DhiraDhi_Writes