HEY! One shot for my friend dimentio charming magician96.…I worked on it when I was given the prompt (and idea) but then Dove came over and yeah…It's always FUN when she's over *heavy sarcasm*
Out behind Castle Bleck, there's a forest, most people think that Castle Bleck is just floating forever in the void, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Castle Bleck sat on a mountain which sat on a land long forgotten in the void. The bridge outside Castle Bleck's entrance led off to a crumbling end, a single misstep and it was over the edge you went.
The Count himself hardly left his castle, and his minions did well to follow his lead. Though with guest running in and out, weaving through the seams of dimensions like thread it wasn't rare to find a wonderer out in the forest, or dangling precariously close to the crumbling end of the bridge.
Today a young vampire queen, sat at the foot of the mountain. Tired of the noise, tired of the yells. Arguing over who won what, who's day it was to do the deed, not that it mattered. Today was a day she had to visit her home, her father would be there any minute. Knowing she should have warned her friends, she looked back at the castle to notice a stray wonderer. Looking closer she found it was a normal tenant of the castle, those his name she did not know, who was wondering dangerously close to the edge of a cliff. "Does he know it's not safe?" Count continuously warned them to never wander too far (not that they ever listened). She had never really met him before, but heard stories from Mimi about him.
He paced along the mountain, thoughts of his old life plagued him, his eyes deceived him, showing him old memories in the present. He wasn't seeing them, he wasn't seeing the cliff, a wrong misstep and down he tumbled, catching dirt, grass and Merlin knows what on the way. Acro watched with wide eyes and frozen blood as he fell down, suddenly the ground dropped from underneath the falling person and his body fell like a puppet whose strings had just been just. The sound of tree branches snapping, breaking, and then a painful thud.
"Acrocantheia-" that was her father, abandoning her crown she ran, surely he wasn't dead. He couldn't be. Acro ran to the trees, looking at the ground, and up in the trees for him. He couldn't have simply disappeared. He couldn't have died from that…could he? The fall had to be at least as tall as the castle at it's tallest tower. A flash of color in the tree caught her sharp, violet bloodshot eyes.
"Father!" she called, "He needs help!" running over she ignored her father's protest.
"A queen does not climb trees!" he shouted at her, Acro held onto branches tightly as she pulled herself up, finding herself with a twisted ankle would not have been good so she abandoned her violet heels, letting them fall to the black earth below. "Acrocantheia, get down here!" her father ordered.
"Almost there." She said, more to herself, there. Spotting the fallen boy she took in his tricky position, a dead branch stuck tightly to the tree trunk and stuck out before spitting into two more branches with black dead leaves blocking the view outside the tree. He laid there in the split, his head right where the branches divided, his arms hanging over either of the two branches. His legs were dangling below, one twisted (obviously broken), resting on the branch directly blow, the other was propped up on the branch, the knee was twisted in such a way it'd be a miracle if he walked again. However he was alive, but only just. His clothes were torn by the branches, a few splinters pierced the skin beneath, but he was breathing. "He needs help." she called to her father who scoffed. Standing on the unsteady branch, Acro held her arms out and traced her feet along the edges of the branch, moving herself closer to the fallen boy. Deeming herself close enough she dropped down, straddling the thin branch that threatened to break the more she moved, "Can you hear me?" she asked, gently taking his shoulder, his head lolled to the side, as if he tried to look at her, he sharply inhaled at the stiff pain in his neck, "No," she shushed, "Stay still." not knowing how she'd explain his injuries to the Count she called down, "We're taking him home father."
"Are you mad child?" he called up.
"Some may say so." she sighed, thinking of the best way to get them both down without further injuring him, or injuring herself. Looking back at the trunk she raised a finger before she shot out at the branch. It broke with a snap, she held the boys head so it wouldn't jostle as she concentrated on slowing their fall. Finally on the ground she stood, after making sure his head wouldn't hit anything when she moved away. "Okay," she brushed herself up as she stood, "Let's go, shall we?"
"You hardly know him and yet you've brought him here?" Acro's mother scolded her, Acro resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"If Count trust him, I do." She replied curtly, her mother paced in front of her scoffing whenever her daughter spoke, as if Acro was the stupidest person she'd met.
"And how do you know Count trust him?" Her mother snapped.
"I don't." Acro didn't miss the beat.
"So for all we know he could be a killer, just like the other one." Her mother scoffed, Acro gripped the arms of her chair, feeling like a stubborn patient in an asylum who was about to go through lobotomy. Feeling she didn't have to go through this, Acro stood up and began to walk out. "And where are you going young lady?"
"I'm going to check on him." she walked out with her head high, once the doors had been closed behind her she discarded her shoes yet again and ran. Through a maze of hallways, down stairs, pass doors, up stairs, left, right, this way, and that Acro made it to her destination. The door was plain, only a small silver handle decorated it while the other doors were magnificently carved from stones and strong wood. Getting the courage to open the door, she grabbed the handle and twisted it, throwing the door open. Inside was completely pitch black, the light from the hallway only went so far in.
"Hello?" she called in, stepping lightly through the door frame.
"It was too bright." his voice startled her.
"Sorry." she apologized, quickly shutting the door and letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.
"It's okay I live in a castle where everything is-"
"Black." Acro held her hands behind her back, "I know…"
"You…" he paused, she could hear him shift and he sharply inhaled, "You're Acro right?"
"Yes?" she answered.
"Mimi and Dimentio talk about you, the former perhaps a bit too much." He said, Acro's cheeks warmed up.
"Ah." she said.
"What happened?" he asked.
"You took a really nasty fall." Acro leaned against the wall, the outline of the room became clearer as she blinked a few times.
"Wow," he said, "And my leg?"
"Broken." she said feeling bad, "I sorta froze when you fell…if I hadn't you probably wouldn't be hurt as much." she frowned.
"It's fine." he said, he sounded as though he had shrugged, but he hissed lightly in pain.
"What's your name anyways?" Acro tilted her head to the side.
"Dimentio56." he answered, sounding in pain.
"You should probably rest-"
"Can you turn on the lights so I can see you?" he asked. Acro frowned, her world didn't have electricity (which drove her insane), but she didn't tell him this, instead she simply started a small fire in the palms of her hands, then moving around the room she lit a few candles. "Interesting." he mused.
"Well," she put the fire out and clasped her hands behind her back again, "I should probably let you rest," he looked sore and bruised, but at least he was awake and well. Exhaustion was clear in his eyes though.
"Can you stay? I don't want that short weird guy to come back and have that thing bite me again." Dimentio56 asked softly. Acro knew he was talking about the kingdom's doctor and his little shadow experiments (or helpers). She nodded, the room was small, having only a bed, a side table, a couch and a chair occupying the small space not even half the size of a room at Castle Bleck. Slowly, Acro (not as graceful as a queen should have been) sat on the couch and tucked her legs up under her.
"Why didn't you just take me back to the Count's?" he asked.
Acro looked at him, her eyes void of emotion, the rest of her body clearly showing her discomfort at being alone with a person who was practically a stranger to her. "Count knows my history," she said softly, "And if I had taken you back I would have been blamed for hurting you."
"I would have defended you." He said, not missing a beat.
"You've been out for a couple of days." she said, "I would have just been sent back here as punishment."
Dimentio56 did not respond right away, "Where is here anyways?"
"Dark Mirror, it's on the Death Plains, about," Acro thought carefully, "Ten dimensions away from Castle Bleck. Twelve if you count Flipside and Flopside." then quietly she added, "And pain away from Hell." she looked at Dimentio56.
"What's your story? Why would Count punish you? He seems awfully protective of you…" Dimentio56 added, "At least from what Mimi says."
Acro sighed, "Let's just say I was kidnapped and the Count saved me…my parents made him one of my guardians."
"How many do you have?" Dimentio56 asked thoroughly confused, Acro laughed softly.
"Only two." she answered, noticing that she was slowly getting more comfortable he asked a few more questions, soon the two were having a full on conversation as though they'd known each other their whole lives. When the kingdom's doctor came Dimentio56 didn't put up as much of a hissy fit as Acro was told he had been doing that entire day.
"That stupid stuff he makes me drink is probably the worst thing I've ever had stuffed in my mouth." Dimentio56 frowned as he downed the taste out with water.
"It'll make your bones heal faster," Acro said as though it were obvious, she sighed, "Hopefully you'll be better by tomorrow."
"Why is that?" Dimentio56 asked, the water only added to the burn the drink caused and he ran his tongue under his teeth to try and scrape the taste off.
"Tomorrow I head back to the Count's and I'm sure they're worried sick about you." Acro said softly.
"Ah." Dimentio56 replied, partially distracted from the foul stinging that followed the burning, "You should probably get some rest too," he said.
"Yeah." Acro nodded standing up, "See you tomorrow."
"Acro!" Icefox tackled Acro (who was now in her signature red and black dingy shirt), "I thought you and Dimentio56 had been kidnapped!" she screamed in Acro's ear.
"Ow." Acro mumbled, Dimentio56 (now healed), laughed at the two girls earning a glare from each of them, Icefox helped Acro stand and went on about how Dimentio panicked when they both just disappeared and how Count nearly had a heart attack. Dimentio56 looked back at the forest from which they emerged from, and strangely, he was thankful he fell off the cliff, because now he had a new friend. He turned back and watched as Icefox dragged Acro back to the castle, Dimentio meeting them halfway and hugging Acro tightly which she returned. Dimentio56 smiled as he walked back to the castle.
Lame ending is laaaaaaame.