Fanciful Angst (Prinxiety Fanfiction)

Chapter Eleven: This Kiss

*Anxiety's POV*

I wasted no time in throwing my covers off and scrambling out of my bed; I nearly fell face-first onto my floor when I tried to get out, but I shook it off and ran towards Princey's room. I'd heard him cry before when Thomas didn't get a part he wanted or when they took a Disney movie off of Netflix, but this was different than those. Those were tears, this was pure weeping. His bone-chilling cries echoed throughout the entire Mind, I was almost surprised it didn't wake anyone else up. It was so ear piercing, I nearly winced. It sounded like a puppy being hit by a car, or a small child losing their parents in a crowd. I didn't know what was wrong, or why he was crying, but I knew one thing: He needed me.

I wasted no time in using the gaudy, golden knocker to announce myself, I practically threw the door open to get to him. My head cocked to the right where Princey was and I raced towards his grand bed where I saw the royal like I had never seen him before: curled up in his red sheets, in a little ball, sobbing violently. He had torn through the fabric of one of his pillows and the popped out seams on his onesie told me he had been gnawing on it. He had managed to shove half of his onesie down his body, and his entire top half was coated with a thin layer of sweat. He was thrashing about, violently trying to get away from whatever monster was plaguing his mind. I had no idea what was happening, until a dead giveaway was staring me right in the face. Literally.

Princey's eyes were wide open. He wasn't sleeping, nor was he having a nightmare. His eyes were bloodshot and laced with fear. I could very well see the terror in his pupils; something was troubling the prince, and I knew exactly what it was. While Princey was familiar with dragon-witches, evil sorcerers, and wicked trolls, this was the type of beast only I was familiar with, having battled it several times before.

This was my demon, now knocking on Princey's door. This was a night terror.

I carefully approached Princey, for fear of startling him; that's the last thing I wanted. I could send him into a panic attack and then I'd never forgive myself for making matters worse. I took a deep breath in and pursed my dry lips together, carefully reaching out and tentatively placing a hand on his shoulder. He was still shaking under my touch and I frowned. I'd never seen him like this before; he looked like a scared little boy instead of a mighty warrior.

"Princey..." I whispered ever so softly, with a slight nudge to his shoulder. I know how these work, I've suffered from them for as long as I can remember. It's easiest to come out of it if you just get a dose of reality. Some sort of sign that tells you what you're seeing and feeling isn't real. Usually though, I just had to suffer through them until I fell back into normal sleep. I wasn't going to make Princey do that. I had nobody back then, but he has me now, and I'm going to help him.

"Princey, you're just having a night terror, it's okay. Nothing is going to hurt you. It's not real. None of this is real." I reassured him, gently trying to brush my hands through his hair. "Just breathe, Princey, you're alright."

Even with my touch and unusually calm voice, Princey was still whimpering and sobbing. It was tearing my heart up to see him like this, I almost wanted to cry with him. I tried following the steps I took in my dream last night, lifting his head up onto my lap to see if that made a difference; seeing if human contact was what he needed to break out of his trance. I frowned when it didn't seem to be working; his body was flailing, his face was contorted into an expression of pain, and his sobs were getting louder by the minute. There had to be something, anything I could do. I bit down on my lip in concentration when something occurred to me.

No...I couldn't do that. It may have worked in my dream, but this was real life.

"Ahhh!" I heard Princey wail while I had it out with my inner dialogue.