Erica

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Although Erica could not see the face of the male before her, a part of her was concerned. She was a very kind and gentle soul after all.

She tried to think of a way alert the stranger of her presence in a way as of not to startle him but before she could, as if sensing her, the man's eyes shot open and looked up at her in a sharp glare.

"Go away." He spoke softly yet very sternly. His tone was sharp and almost threatening.

It startled Erica. She held her hands up in defence trying to show she meant no harm. The man's eyes narrowed once again, a scowl plastered on his face. If it were not for the mask and bad lighting, Erica would have seen it and backed away immediately.

Aleric was in a lot of pain. He had accidentally reopened his wound earlier. It was sending sharp jolts throughout his body. He had tried his hardest to hide it from Walter and Louis not wanting to trouble them and ruin the night that had just begun so he had somehow managed to convince them to split up.

Aleric tried to shift his weight slightly into a more comfortable position but this backfired causing him to hunch forward. Erica did not know what came over her but she was quick to react and shot her arms forward to grab hold of his shoulders.

Before Aleric could protest, Erica guided him over to the bench she was sitting at before. Aleric was too proud to admit it but a part of him was grateful for the help.

Erica kept her distance. She could tell the man before her was wary of her. She did not know what to do. She felt the need to help him more but a large part of her told her that she had done enough. She was planning on leaving the man.

"W... Wait." he rasped out stopping her. He did not plan for his voice to come out in that manner. It betrayed him by showing just how much pain he was in. It showed how vulnerable he was.

Erica turned back to man still keeping her distance. She tilted her head in curiosity as if to ask the reason why he stopped her.

Aleric took a few short breaths before speaking again. "Thank you."

He knew when his gratitude was deserved even if it meant pushing his pride to one side. Erica gave a slight nod in acknowledgement.

There was silence after minus the loud short breaths of the man before her. Erica was about to leave once again when Aleric dropped his head down to gaze at his injured side. That's when she noticed the perspiration building up around his neck.

She knew that whatever was wrong with him was more severe than she originally thought. She could not leave him. She needed to find him help.

She pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to him with the intent of running off to find help right after. Aleric was taken back when he lifted his head to find a delicate hand stretched out before him with a clean white handkerchief.

He took it without thinking knowing exactly why she handed it to him. Before he could thank her once again her heard the all the familiar voices of Walter and Louis approaching. He took his gaze off her for a second to catch a glance of them and when he looked back she was gone.

Erica recognised that voice immediately. She knew it was Walter. Terrified of being caught she ran off as quickly as she could. She felt bad for not saying goodbye to the injured stranger but those thoughts were soon preoccupied with fear.

She felt stupid and was greatly regretting the decision to sneak out. It was this moment where she was so grateful that she had been wearing the ridiculous mask but there were still seeds of doubt planted in her head.

She was very nervous and anxious. Her heart was pouring loudly in her ears and before she knew it, she had ended up right at the meeting spot and almost ran straight into Georgie.

"There you are. Good. Come on, we need to head back." Georgie missed Erica's startled behaviour and made her way back to the estate with the scared girl.

One body plonked himself down beside Aleric on the bench with no sense of personal space, it was Louis. Walter on the other hand stood comfortably before them.

"Oh Al, I've found true love." Louis began. His mood was completely opposite from earlier. He pulled off his mask and had a cheesy love struck smile on his face.

"You should have seen her, she was magnificent." Louis flung an arm over his cousin's shoulders and tried to pull his head towards him to gush about the new woman now occupying his head.

Walter who had been temporarily stuck in his thoughts regarding the blurry figure of a women he had seen earlier with the Prince noticed Aleric wince.

Now fully back to his senses, Walter carefully analysed the Prince before him. To say he was upset when he noticed that Aleric was not okay would be an understatement.

"Louis, let go of him." Walter sighed out. A part of him knew something like this would happen.

Aleric who had been gazing at the handkerchief in his hands looked up at Walter. He knew the man was upset.

"I'm fine Walter. Its nothing serious." He tried to calm his friend who was not buying it.

Louis who had now let go moved back slightly and reached forward to lift up his cousin's arm that was clutching his side. He was met with a stubborn reluctance.

"Aleric, move your hand." Louis tried pulling more. He had never realised until now just how strong his cousin truly was.

"I'm fine Louis." Aleric tried to stop him.

"If you are as fine as you claim to be then move your hand." Walter narrowed his eyes.

Aleric knew he would not be able to win against these two so with a soft breath he relaxed his muscles giving Louis the chance to move his hand away.

Louis gasped when he saw the blood soaking his clothes of the freshly reopened wound. Aleric could not hold it any longer. He had been trying his hardest not to show it in front of them but could not go on. His whole body slouched in pain.

"Flip Aleric. You should have said something!" Walter grumbled and reached forward to help him up. They needed to get this idiot back to the Palace.

"And... R.. Ruin the night?" The pained man rhetorically asked.

"Don't start with that nonsense. I will have you know that I will be reporting this to the King."

"You... Wouldn't... D.. Dare." Aleric heaved out. He did not want his father to hear of this or else they would all be punished especially Walter.

"I have to you idiot." Walter huffed in annoyance. Truth be told he was actually very worried about Aleric. He was beating himself up mentally for not noticing earlier and for helping him sneak out.

"No!" Aleric used what little strength he had left and pushed Walter away.

"I will not... Let you. D.. Don't take away my freedom!" Aleric knew that if his already overly cautious and protective father caught wind of this, he would never let his son out of his sight.

"Arg, you are going to get yourself killed one day I swear." Walter grumbled and took hold of him again. Aleric gave a small smile. He knew that that meant he wouldn't.

"Don't worry Al, you have me to protect you." Louis added in.

"Louis, you can't even kill a fly. I've seen you struggle." Walter rolled his eyes.

"Flies move to quickly okay!" Louis huffed on defence.

Walter chose to ignore him but had a small smile on his face. He truly appreciated these two cousins, he vowed that he would stand by them both no matter what.