Blood-Red Night

"Ameena? What are you doing here? You shouldn't be out so late, it's dangerous..."

I didn't say anything. I heard voices and all I could see was red.

"It's okay... Don't cry... You're a good boy... Good boy..." Was that a kid's voice?

When I opened my eyes, I was lying on something soft and felt really warm. I sat up, slowly because of my spinning head and looked around the room. I was in a spare bedroom in the castle. The castle? Wasn't I just in the forest? Then it came back to me, the dizziness and passing out on the way to the castle. I rubbed my head and considered going back to bed, my eyes drooped. They shot open as I heard a soft moan and turned to my side to see a sleeping Ace. Wait, sleeping? In my bed? With me?

As if on cue, Ace opened his eyes. He still looked groggy and I assumed he was still half asleep as he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down, wrapping his arm around me.

"Ace!" I squeaked.

"Sshh... I just want to enjoy this until Peter comes in..." My cheeks were burning, but I didn't feel uncomfortable. Ace was really warm and it was tempting to just fall asleep again in his arms. I closed my eyes again and let myself enjoy it.

"Ameena..." Peter called softly as he cracked open the door. Then he saw Ace and all hell broke loose. Peter was ready to blow Ace's head off and he would have, had Ameena not been so close to him. "Get away from her, you filthy knight!"

Ace sat up, slowly to keep Ameena from waking, hands up. "Sshh... She's asleep..."

"I don't care if she's asleep just get away from her, you sick pervert! Taking advantage of her in her sleep, you should be ashamed!" Peter shouted.

I was feeling oddly cold. The warmth that was wrapped around me while I was sleeping had disappeared and my hand searched for it. I soon found it and laid down on it again. Unknown to me, I had actually just moved to lean against Ace's side. Peter was frozen with shock and looked like he wanted to murder someone. Ace smiled and put an arm around me again. He was obviously satisfied with the situation.

"You- Don't you dare get cocky! I'm gonna shoot your head off one of these days!"

"Be quiet on your way out." Ace said, taunting Peter with his victory. Peter had to grind his teeth and slammed the door behind him.

After a few more minutes, I finally forced myself into wakefulness. Apparently at a very awkward time because not only was I laying up against him, but I had woken up just when he was going to kiss me and instinct mad me shove him away. Smooth...real smooth...

Ace wasn't phased by it or if he was he was good at hiding it because he just stood up and held out his hand to help me up. I took the hand hesitantly and he led me to the audience hall where I would be able to find my way. Despite the odd morning, I felt at ease.

"Ameena, I'm sorry, but I have to go do a job for Julius today. I'll be back later tonight." Ace said as he left. My sense of ease left me when he told me he had a job, but I didn't know why. As he left, I had the urge to cling on to him and stop him from going.

I spent the next few hours wandering the castle, but I couldn't shake this feeling. Every corner of the castle stirred memories sleeping somewhere within me, refusing to wake. Peter found me somewhere around midday and wouldn't leave me alone. He kept asking me what was wrong and when I finally got him to drop it, he started bringing up weird moments of when I lived in the castle, which led to how much I was like my mother, which led to how beautiful my mother was. Blah, blah, blah... It wasn't like I wasn't interested, but it didn't seem important right now.

Before I knew it, the sun had gone down and I found myself waiting outside the castle anxiously. Shouldn't he be back by now? What kind of job was it that took this long? What should I do?

Yes, I realize I'm crazy. I wasn't thinking when I suddenly ran off into the forest after Ace. He was probably just lost somewhere. My anxiety grew as I got deeper into the woods and the sky turned even darker. How long had I been searching? It must be quite a few hours now... Where could he be?

I felt like I was on the verge of tears. I made my way into a clearing and I froze at what I saw. In the clearing was Ace, but encircling him was at least a dozen bodies. Ace was splattered with their blood and it drenched his sword, dripping off and soaking into the blood-stained grass around him. I dropped to my knees, while Ace stared at me with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Ameena... What-? You shouldn't hav-" expression changed as he watched me and I touched my hand to my cheek to find tears running down my face. He turned his face away from me, but I caught a glimpse of what looked like pain in his eyes. It was then that I realized what he must think, that because I saw him this way I was afraid of him or I hated him.

"You should go back to-" I stumbled and shook as I got to my feet, not hesitating as I ran up to him and wrap my arms around him in a tight embrace. I bury my face in his chest as the tears kept streaking down my face. Ace returned my embrace, but much more lightly as if I might shatter if he touched me...or he might stain me with his hands.

"Stupid.." I said, the sound being muffled by his chest.

"What?"

I raised my head to look up at him. "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! You're so stupid! You never told me anything! You run off to who knows where to do who knows what and leave me all alone, I was worried!" I yelled between sobs.

"But I thought... I didn't want you to see me like this... covered in blood..."

"You think I care about that? I don't care about that, I just want you to come back safe. I told you once before, didn't I? Ace isn't a bad person, he's a good boy." I said softly, wrapping my arms around his neck like I had when I was little and petting the hair at the back of his head. It took me until now to remember that dream.

Ace finally returned the pressure of my embrace and we stayed like that until we had both calmed down again. When we returned that night, both of us covered in blood and dirt, Peter threw a fit, but we just looked at each other and smiled. There were some things Peter could never know because he would never understand...