The Forgotten

Chapter sixteen: Sneaking Out

I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. I had a nightmare about my father. He found me here at the Dark Guild... His beatings followed by the screaming and yelling of his deep voice. Enyo just watched from the corner, frozen with a smirk on her face. I sit up straight and look around my dark room. I'm still a little shooken up. The dream felt so real. I stand up slowly and walk over to my dresser and pull out trousers and a plain black tunic. It has been approximately 84 days since I had last seen Arthur.

I quickly change and walk out of the room as quietly as possible. I needed some fresh air... I make my way down the steps to the main hall. Only Apollo sat in the corner of the room in a wooden chair in front of the hearth, staring into his metal cup. I freeze in my tracks. If he saw me, he would surely tell Enyo I snuck out. I tip toe to the door and gently rest my hand on the handle.

"I won't tell, Princess," Apollo's grim voice says quietly. My eyes glance over at him as he continued to stare down at the mug. He seemed upset, which I didn't think was possible for him. I open my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I bit my lip and turned back to the door and hesitantly walked out.

The cool February breeze blew through my hair as I stepped off the porch. I close my eyes contently as I take a deep breath in. My lungs filled with the cool air, sending a feeling of refreshment through my whole body. I slowly exhale and open my eyes again to see the endless darkness swallowing the surrounding forrest. I feel a soft hand on my shoulder and I jump. I spin around quickly and see Janus.

"Oh my god, do not ever do that again," I sighed in relief as I turned back to the forrest.

"Why are you outside?" He chuckles, pulling my shoulder towards him so his arm was around me.

"What? I'm a big girl, I can handle myself," I giggle as he squeezes tightly.

"Two is better than one," he says in a serious tone. I turn to him and raise an eyebrow.

"A pickpocket is supposed to protect a warrior?" I felt a smirk break through my lips. Janus stares down at me, narrowing his eyes. We were so close, I could feel the warmth radiating off of his body. There was a moment of silence.

"Alright fine, you win, princess," he pulls his arms off me and crosses them in front of his chest. I turn my back towards him and look back into the darkness. "What's wrong?" he asks in a soft voice. I hesitantly shrug and sigh. I felt his hand on my shoulder, spinning me towards him. I stared down at the ground, not wanting to look him in the eyes. Why was my heart racing?

"You don't want to talk about it...?" Janus takes a step towards me and I shrugged.

"Nothing is wrong, I just remembered something," I look up at him and fake smiled. "Let's go for a walk," I turn my back towards him again and start walking towards the woods.

"We aren't supposed to go outside after dark," he says in a shaky voice and I laugh.

"Well we are already outside," I kept walking away. Janus sighs heavily before running after me, staying close to my side. I don't know why, but I didn't want to look at him. I just stared forward at the endless forrest as we broke through the treeline. I felt the wind brush against my face softly and I took and deep breath in. I close my eyes and for a brief second, I was on the cliff watching the sunset in Arthur's arms. I quickly open my eyes and feel a sudden flush of sadness. I want to be in his arms again... I want to feel his lips on mine. I missed him so much. Why can't I forget him? Janus looks over at me and narrows his eyes.

"Tell me what's wrong, Princess" He says in a deep voice, putting his hands on my shoulders roughly and spinning me towards him. I stare into his eyes solemnly, so many thoughts burning through my mind.

"I need to forget," I mumble and he hesitantly nods, staring into my eyes. He slides his bag off his shoulders and quickly opens it and pulls out a canteen. Janus looks back up at me making a weird face, holding the canteen out for me to grab. Would drinking make me feel better? I hesitantly grab the canteen, still staring into his eyes. I unscrew the cap with a shaky hand, not breaking our eye contact. Janus stared at me with concerned eyes as I tipped my head back and took a few gulps.

"Stop thats a lot," He snatches the canteen from my hands. Some of the alcohol dripped onto my chin and I quickly wipe it away.

"When will it start working?" I stare at him as he takes a small sip from the canteen.

" Well, you drank way too much, so probably very soon," he mumbles as I sit down against a tree behind me. I pull my knees up to my chest and burrow my head. Janus sits down to the right of me and sighs.

"Princess, it's alright..." he mumbles awkwardly and I shake my head vigorously.

"No, its not. Nothing will ever be the same..." I say in a shaky voice. I sigh deeply as I feel his arm slide onto my shoulders and around my neck to pull me in for a hug. I fall against his shoulder and close my eyes in relief.

"I said it will be alright. I promise," Janus was warm. I let out a breath of laughter and smiled.

"You promise?" I pull my head off his chest and narrowed my eyes at him. He hesitantly nods before grabbing the canteen and taking another sip.

Once he put the canteen down, I laid back into his chest. We sat there for a while talking about our life and our past. I felt drunk... and it felt great... I think? I can't really think straight but at least I stopped thinking about Arthur. With the pickpockets hands around me, I felt safe again, as funny as that sounds. I look up from my cupped hands in my lap at Janus who was starring into the empty canteen. I just realized I wasn't listening to a word he was saying.

"- but then he fell into the lake when I went to... grab her and-" he slurred as he tipped the canteen upside down, trying to get the final drops. I pull myself off his warm chest and stand up cautiously, nearly falling back down. "Come back, Princess," Janus says in a groggy voice as I lean my back against the tree.

"Am I awake?" I look down at my blurry hands. Janus laughs.

"No, you are sleeping," he quickly grabs my knees and pulls them. I fall forward onto the grass laughing.  The cool dew of the grass brushed against my warm skin as I rolled over and started sitting up. Janus crawled over to me and pushed me back to the ground. He faked a gasp.

"Did the pick pocket just over power the warrior?" he scoffed playfully. I grinned.

"Was that a challenge?" I stared up at him, his face inches away. Janus smirked. I grabbed his arm and rolled him over so I was on top. He struggled under me for a few seconds and I grinned before he pushed me over and held my hands to the ground. I squirmed under his grip before sighing. "Okay fine, you win this time," I said slowly, staring up at him. Janus didn't move an inch, he just hovered over me, staring down. "Janusssss~" I giggled as he loosened his grip around my hands... I didn't move out from under him. 

But then his lips met mine for a brief and sudden moment. Janus quickly pulled away, as if realizing what he was doing after several seconds and quickly stood up, running his fingers through his fluffy brown hair. I hesitantly sat up and stared at him in confusion as he paced back and forth across the grass in front of me nervously. I think I am dreaming.

"I'm sorry I-" He started but stopped talking as I stood up carefully, trying to keep my balance.

" I- It w-asn't who... wait..." I sputtered as I felt the world spin around me. I grabbed his shoulder for support as I nearly fell. Then, it all went black.