Light and Shadow (Phobos x OC)

Apprivoise

(n) To form a bond with one another: to become known to each other through small moments.

I wanted to form a plan on how to gain my necklace back to pay the debts I owed to Zeroth. I really wanted to, but my motivation seemed to have vanished with my utterly extreme fear of the Prince. I still feared him, I was not stupid. But he was more approachable than I ought him to be. Still, I did not dare to simply go up to him, demanding permission to get my necklace back. Every plan seemed to end with my immediate death, no matter how I twisted it.

I really did not want to die. But not paying my debts would also lead to my death, so maybe the Prince would be more... gentle in killing me? I did not want to imagine it either way.

I turned around in my bed, trying to tune out the snorts of the other maids lying in their beds. It was dark outside and the castle was wrapped in silence. Still, I could not sleep. Hundreds of thoughts seemed to run around in my head, my mind felt like it would explode at any given moment. I clutched it in my hands, trying to tune out my desperate thoughts. When I could not stand them anymore, I got up, still wearing my clothes underneath the thin blanket. It has gotten cold. Cold like the dark walls of the stone castle.

Quietly, I slipped on my slippers and sneaked out of the room. Mindlessly, I wandered around the hallways, greeting the few guards who did not greet me back. Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the huge doors leading to the library. It seemed to have become my coping location. But before I could enter, a loud crash destroyed the silence of the castle. At first, I thought the noise was coming from inside the library, but then the shouting began:

    "Intruders!"

It was only this one word, called again and again. I froze in place, thinking about hiding inside the library. My thoughts turned into mush, my surroundings were getting blurrier and blurrier, the noises muffled. It was not until one of the guards shoved a bucket of water into my trembling arms that my consciousness seemed to come back. He ordered me to help put out the fire that had broken out in the west wing. Without a thought, I obeyed. I ran as fast as I could without bumping into any of the people shuffling around in the hallways. A bit of water splashed out of the bucket, but I did not pay attention to it. People around me were panicking, some even crying. The guards were shoving them out of the way, giving out buckets to the few who still seemed to be in their right minds. I saw Nia's blonde hair, her dark eyes opened wide and fearfully. I wanted to console her, but then I remembered the bucket in my hands. Carefully, I pushed my way through the crowd that was shuffling in the opposite direction.

When I was going around the corner, I saw the beginning of the reason that had the people running away. I coughed when the black smoke was getting far too thick to breathe. Still, I went around the other people trying to extinguish the fire. I knew that one bucket would not be enough. 

Instead of going all the way back to the kitchens to fetch new water, I took a turn and went up a pair of stairs, the smoke following me like ashen hands, holding onto the seam of my darkened dress. I had my red hair tied up, out of fear that the fire would lash onto it. After all, it was the feature my brother loved most about me.

The staircase led to the private chambers of the royal family. Seeing that the bathing room was closer to the fire than the kitchens, I simply hoped that Prince Phobos would not be angry with me using the water of the bathing pool instead. But when I heard a cry of rage nearby, followed by the loud Bang!  of something heavy falling, I forgot about the fire and ran down the hall. The first thing I saw was a pillar and a mop of white-blonde hair. I gasped when I realized that it was Prince Phobos, almost crushed by a pillar, knocked out unconscious. Fearfully I clutched the bucket in my arms when I registered that I was not the only one standing next to the Prince.