"I was just checking on him, calm down- Get your hands off me!"
"What the hell were you doing in his tent!? I told you to stay away from him." I hear a growl and quickly sit up. Being woken up by yelling was not the best way to wake up at all. I slowly crawl towards the opening of the tent to see if I can figure out what was going on. I shiver a bit feeling the cold air hit me and blow my hair back a little.
to my surprise Mathias and Peter's friend were fighting. Mathias had the guy by the collar of his shirt lifting him slightly off the ground!
"If I see you even look at him one more time, I will kill you... I don't trust you at all and so far you have not given me any reason to trust you." he growled and spoke in a low tone. I noticed Mathias's eyes were bright red, course he was mad.
"whatever, fine. Calm the hell down though." He pushes Mathias away from him and glares at him.
I watch Peter step in between them. "Enough… can you just go get some water from the well?" Peter asks his friend. I bet he was just trying to separate the two of them.
Mathias huffs watching the other leave, "He needs to stay away from Lukas...I don't trust him. You even told me last night for some reason you can't read his thoughts." he said crossing his arms eyes still glowing red.
"I..listen I know you don't trust easily, but I would trust him with my life… just give him a chance." Peter begs, "I promise he has no ill intention with Lukas."
"I am not allowing some strange vampire I don't trust near Lukas! So you either keep him away or I kill him. Those are your options. You're lucky I'm even giving you any…" I quickly scoot back into the tent when I saw him starting to walk back over.
I lay down and shut my eyes pretending to sleep, though my heart was pounding so I doubt he will believe it. I hear him quietly walk in to the tent and sit beside me, his armor clanking loudly. I feel him running his fingers through my hair, "I know you heard all that, I saw you peeking through the tent. You're not very sneaky…" He smirks.
I sigh slowly sitting up, "What was it all about anyways?" I ask as he wraps his arms around me. I lean against his chest, ignoring the cold armor as usual.
"...He went in your tent when no one was around, he was only there for a few minutes I assume since all he was doing when I walked back in was looking down at you." I hear the anger in the tone of his voice and it worried me a bit, especially considering a stranger was watching me sleep.
"S-So...he didn't do anything right?" I ask turning around to look at him, brushing some hair out of my face with my fingers.
"No, I don't think so…" He sighs holding me close. "But I want you to stay with me at all times from now on… even when I feed. I'll just have you look away." I grew tense hearing that, while he feeds?
"I can feel you tensing up, you alright?" He asks placing his index and middle finger under my chin to lift my head up so I was looking at him.
"I..um..well… I never told you but, back at the castle I had seen you feed once before." I say softly, glancing away.
I can feel his mood change, "I told you not to go looking for me while I feed ...I didn't want you seeing that!" he growled a bit.
"I didn't mean to- honestly I didn't know you went to go eat! I just happened to walk in on you drinking from a deer." as the memory flashed in my head I flinch.
He sighed looking away, "Fine, I believe you. Just next time don't stay and watch."
I nod, "Alright, I won't. Can we get out of the tent now? I rather not sleep all day." I let out a small laugh in hope of lightening the mood.
He chuckles, "Yes, but remember to stay by me at all times." He warned me.
Though I was kind of annoyed with that rule, I agreed. "I will, I promise." I'm not some child, I can take care of myself I thought to myself.
He sighed, "You know I'm doing this to keep you safe…" he tells me as he helps me out of the tent. He holds my hand gently as he lightly pulls me out, once again the cold air hitting me.
"I know, and I am grateful for you always keeping me safe, I suppose it is just annoying I can't protect myself yet…" I look away not wanting him to see how much that bothered me.
He leans over and kisses me, "You'll get stronger as time passes...I know you will."
"What If I don't?" it is definitely a fear of mine that if I can't even learn to protect myself how can I protect my brother.
"Then I will continue to protect you, both you and your brother." He said as if reading my mind. "But I do believe that you will grow stronger…" He said as he leads me to the center of the village. "Come on, Peter said there is a feast in honor of your arrival." He looks back and smiles at me.
I looked at him a bit surprised and confused. "My arrival…? I didn't know they knew I was royalty."
He nods, "It seems word has spread about you, which also makes it even more dangerous in the forest…." he muttered the last part to himself as if he is already trying to figure out what to do about that.
"I'll be fine, as long as you're around." I smile holding his hand trying to reassure him.
He chuckles, "We still need to be careful, come on." He leads me to the center of the village where a large table was set and a bunch of food was placed.
"woah…" I blush a bit hearing Mathias laugh at me. "Quiet! I've never seen so much food before…" I walk over and sit down in one of the seats.
Of course Mathias sits beside me, I notice Peter sat on the other side. I haven't really been able to talk with him much so that's good he is sitting next to me now. I was about to speak but he seemed to have read my mind, literally.
"I know, you must have a lot of questions huh? Considering, I knew these guys since they were human." He smiles, "I'll tell you whatever you want to know." he said as he goes to grab some food but a lady smacked his hand and scolds him.
"Wait for the prince to grab his first, manners peter!" She huffed sitting down afterwards as peter pouts rubbing his hand though I doubt it hurt.
I smile a bit, "Thank you… maybe you could tell me-" I was cut off by Mathias tugging on my arm and ordered me to eat first.
I huff and listened to him of course, which Peter seemed to find amusing. "He wasn't always this pushy and grumpy. Honestly he was one of the most happy and cheerful guys I knew."
"I know, people keep saying that…. Wish I could have actually seen it." I mutter as I cut up a piece of meat so I could eat it.
"He wants you to but-" I hear a growl and look over seeing Mathias giving Peter a dirty look.
"stay out of my head…" He growled once more almost like he was warning him.
I frown, "Mathias, there's no reason for that."
He looked away then got up, "I'm going to feed, you're safe here so you don't have to come with me." he mumbled then walked off not even giving me a chance to respond.
"So much for staying with you at all times…" I mutter looking down at my plate slightly annoyed.
"He's just frustrated with himself, he hates when he gets mad in front of you though it's often he still hates it. He wants to be the person you are constantly hearing about again but it's hard ...considering…." I look over at Peter understanding what he meant.
"I know…. He just doesn't have to keep running off like that." I jump a bit when someone sits down in Mathias's seat and puts their arm around me. I didn't like it one bit.
I looked over and saw Peter's friend, the one who fought with Mathias earlier. "Hey there, sorry for waking you earlier. But I mean ...your friend was out of line."
I move his arm off of me, "Considering you were in my tent without permission I don't think so, he's very protective. So I would assume you were out of line in that case." I huff looking away.
He groans, "I told him I was just checking on you, that's all. You don't mind right?" he asks leaning towards me.
"I do actually, I don't know you so I rather you don't go in my tent while I'm sleeping. You may also want to move away from me before he gets back unless you want to cause another fight." I noticed his eyes flash purple for a second, it was hard to notice but I saw it.
I watch him mumble under his breath as he gets up, "I'll have a talk with him later then maybe we can figure this out…" for some reason I didn't like how he said that.
"Romeo … don't get mad, really it's not a big deal." Peter gets up to follow his friend who walked off.
So that was his name, I sigh as I continued to eat. It was quiet around the table Some villagers kept staring at me which made me a bit uncomfortable. As I try to ignore them and continue eating a little girl walks up to me, she had a blank stare. "Um...Hello." I say to her as I look down at her.
"You're going to die, the bad man who can control the snow is gonna hurt you bad and kill you…. The knight will try to save you but fail." The girl was quickly picked up by her mother.
"I-I am very sorry your majesty… she gets like this sometimes. Please enjoy your meal…" the lady ran off like she was in a hurry.
I couldn't even think about eating right now, I was confused, and scared. Why would she say that? Who's the bad guy that controls snow? Did the knight she mean Mathias? It seems now no one was looking at me anymore, which worried me even more. I set my fork down ignoring the loud clank it made and got up, I wanted Mathias right now. I Ieft the table and went searching for him, even though I know I shouldn't. I call out his name a few times, but he doesn't come. I look around, I had walked down a dirt path thinking he went this way. For some reason it felt like my body was moving on it's own. I push through some leaves and branches until I reach an opening. I look around but saw no one.
"Hello!? Anyone here?" I call out in hopes someone was here, anyone….
"Lukas!" my whole body froze for a moment, that sounded like Emil! I started running, I didn't know where I was going I just assumed where his voice came from. I hear him again and change direction. Where is he!?
"Emil!? Emil where are you!?" I cry out running some more frantically looking for him. I push a few branches and leaves out of my way so they wouldn't hit my face.
"Lukas, he's hurting me!" I run faster pushing past leaves and branches some scratching my face a bit since I didn't want to waste anymore time.
"Emil I'm almost there! Just hang on!" I finally made it to a smaller opening, it felt strange here for some reason. I lost all logical thoughts though when I saw my baby brother lying on the ground, his back towards me. "Emil!" I run over but trip over something landing right behind him. I crawl over and hold Emil in my arms.
"I got you… you're okay now-" I gasp once I turned him around. This wasn't Emil ...his eyes, he had no eyes! Suddenly I was pinned down and couldn't get up.
"Lukas help!" His mouth wasn't moving when he spoke….
I did the first thing that came to mind, called for Mathias again in hope he can hear me. "Mathias!" I scream in panic.
Whatever creature that was pinning me down covered my mouth with it's hand, what was this thing!? I squirm trying to get free. I scream against its hand, where was Mathias!? I heard leaves rustling, he must be coming!
I was about to calm down until I saw it was some lady, some lady with huge breasts. As inappropriate it is to look I couldn't help it they were huge! She looks down, "I am sorry...but my brother needs your blood I apologize for doing this to get you here. But he's scary!" I watch her kneel down beside me causing me to panic even more. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you... but after I take your blood, my little brother Ivan will be able to track you anywhere you go so I suppose that's worse…" she muttered sadly.
I froze, Ivan? That's who her brother is!? Before I could do anything it all went black.
I feel someone shaking me awake, my eyes quickly open and I scream trying to push whoever it was away. Maybe it was that creature or girl. "No! Get away!" They grab my hands stopping me but I continue to squirm and scream.
"Lukas! Damn it…" I gasp suddenly being pulled close, I felt a familiar cold feeling. I stop screaming and looked up to see Mathias and it wasn't that creature either. I feel tears pouring down my face once I saw him. "Lukas...what the hell happened?" He wipes my face and continues to hold me close.
I notice looking behind him Peter, Tino, Berwald and even Romeo had come looking for me as well. "I-I'm sorry…. You're going to be mad at me, you'll push me away once I tell you.." I sob even more realizing I was probably right.
"No I won't, just tell me...please I need to know what happened." I lean against him enjoying the feeling of him against me while I can knowing it won't last after this.
I explained to him what had happened from when I left the table to him finding me. Course he didn't look happy at all, he was practically fuming. "I-I'm sorry-"
"You're an idiot!" He screams at me, which he's never done before. He pushes me away like I knew he would. I winced hitting the ground hard. "How could you- we are all screwed now! I can't believe you would even think your brother was out here! Of course it was a trick, and now he can track you everywhere!" I watch him get up.
"M-Mathias I-" He quickly cut me off.
"Don't, I keep trying to keep you safe but you do stupid shit like this! How am I supposed to fix this!? Times like these I wish I was given different soulmate-" He quickly stopped.
I stared at him in disbelief as tears kept pouring down my face. "Mathias!" Tino shouted at him as he quickly walks over to me. "What are you thinking saying that!? I don't care how mad you are! That was uncalled for." He growled his eyes flashing blue.
I look down, my whole body trembling. It physically hurt hearing him say that to me. "Bet if it was the princess you wouldn't have said that…" I spoke softly.
"Lukas-" it was my turn to cut him off now.
"No, it's true! I'm positive you would never talk to her the way you speak to me!" I notice the sun going down but what I didn't notice yet was it was a red moon tonight showing the beginning of a new month. "If you want another soulmate fine, I hate you!" I screamed glaring at him.
Suddenly everything turned red, and to my surprise the red string attached to me and Mathias started to untie. Mathias looked just as shocked, "What…" just as quickly as it came it went away. "...It's gone…" he whispers softly to himself as he stared at his hand as if not knowing what to do now.
"Isn't that what you wanted anyways?" I spoke, the pain I was feeling showing in my voice.
"No-Lukas… I-I swear I didn't-I didn't mean it…." He tried walking over to me but Tino stood in between us.
"I think you two should stay away from each other for a little bit...to calm down." Mathias glared at him then huffed.
"Fine." He turned and walked away, only glancing back once.
Once he left I broke down crying again, the moon got rid of our string…. Does that mean we aren't soulmates anymore? I didn't know, I've never heard of anything like this happening before. I feel Tino wrap his arms around me, whispering comforting words but it didn't help.
"H-He said it himself….he sometimes wishes he had a different soulmate." I wipe my eyes trying to get rid of the tears.
"I know...but he didn't mean it Lukas, he was just mad-"
"He's always just mad! I do anything he gets upset or mad, it's-it's like I'm not good enough for him! I just don't know what to do anymore...I love him so much ...but I have doubts he loves me.." Tino frowns and continues to comfort me.
"Lukas….He does love you, more than you know. You've changed him a lot, he used to be worse than this after what happened. If you leave him, I don't know what he would do…" I look away, I'm always hearing this and it's all the same stuff.
"He's always running off or pushing me away Tino, sure there are moments he's okay but the rest….'
"I know, I know…. But please, I'm begging you as his friend to give him one more chance. He needs you as much as you need him." Tino looked desperate, "I promise ...I'll take you to get your brother myself if it doesn't work out between you two."
I look down, "Fine… but what can I do now? The spell took the string away, are we even soulmates anymore?"
"You don't need some damn spell to know you love him, I know that for a fact. So get up and go find him." He ordered me and helped me up.
I wipe away the last of the tears and nod, "Okay…" I start heading down the path he had went.
I look around for him, after what happened I wasn't too excited about walking around alone. What I don't understand is how she found me, they didn't know we were here. Why am I even looking for him? He's probably miles away with his speed, I'm probably just looking around for nothing. I sigh as I look around some more then to my surprise I spot him sitting on a rock.
"Mathias…?" I call out his name quietly in case it was that creature again.
I watch him slowly turn around, once he saw me he looked down. "Didn't think you'd want to see me anymore… I mean you don't have to now, we aren't soulmates anymore." He raises his hand that had the string on it like mine.
I look away, "It wasn't the string that made me love you Mathias…. It has nothing to do with who you fall in love with. Even without it I still love you."
"After all I said to you back there? How can you possibly still love me?" I glance away and noticed dents in a few trees he must have been hitting them.
"Because, I do ...you are still my soulmate, no matter what some string says. Even if you don't love me back." I look down after saying that.
It got quiet, then I hear his armor clank and he started walking over. I was suddenly pulled in to a hug, a tight one at that. "I do love you, more than anything, I'm sorry if I made you feel like I don't. Just don't leave me, please." He begged, which I've never seen him do before.
"Mathias, I-I don't want to keep going in this circle with you. Fighting then making up, it's not funny anymore." I wipe a few tears that begin to fall away. "I'm already worried about my brother I can't- I physically can't take this anymore with you." I feel him tense up then pull away slightly.
"I'll change I really will- I promise just please… don't go." I notice tears in his eyes. Have I ever seen him cry before?
I raise my hand to wipe a single tear away that began to fall down his face. "Once more, that is all I'm doing. One more time and that's it, if we end up fighting like this again I'm done." I said sternly. "I am new to this forest you know that, I didn't expect a creature to be able to mimic my brother."
"I know, I-I know… listen I even thought of a way to make sure he can't follow you through your blood." He wipes my face a bit more getting rid of the last of the tears. "But we can do it another time. Right now I want to hold you."
I lean against him shutting my eyes, "Mathias, I… you know I love you." I feel his strong arms wrap around me once more.
It goes quiet for a moment until finally I hear him. "I love you too, more than anything." He whispered then kissed the top of my head.
I smile but quickly shut my eyes suddenly seeing a bright red light, once it dulled I open my eyes slightly and gasp seeing the string had returned. I smile happily and without thinking kissed Mathias on the lips. I hear him chuckle against the kiss then finally kissed back. I laugh a bit when he picks me up bridal style and carried me.
"We should get back to the others, after what happened I rather not have everyone separated." He said as I nod in agreement, clinging to him even more.
As we make our way back I notice the group finally, I quickly get down and ran to hug Tino. "Thank you…"
He laughs hugging me back, "Course! Anytime."
I glance over at the others and noticed something. "Peter, where is your red string or- have you found your soulmate!?" I ask curiously.
I see him blush a bit and look away, I see Romeo chuckling. It seemed Mathias put it together though. "Hold on, are you telling me the reason you've trusted him so much is because it's him!? Then why can't you read his mind?"
Romeo grinned, "The special gift you get when accepting your soulmate. He hates it."
"Only because if you are in danger and can't speak, I won't know what you're thinking!" He huffed angrily.
Tino gasps running over to his son, "He is your soulmate that is so cute!" He hugs him and kisses the top of his head. "My baby is all grown up!" He couldn't stop smiling and I could tell.
I glance at Mathias, he didn't notice he was distracted by the others around us. I'm going to have my guard up around him for a while, though we've made up his anger issues aren't just going to disappear. I really hope once he can stop Ivan from tracking me he won't be as stressed. That may possibly help with his anger at the moment. I look down at my hand that has the string around my finger, I follow it and stared at the end around Mathias's finger. My soul mate.
A/N: sooo it's been a while! I have gotten bored around quarantine and thought why not bring this story back? I just have to get used to writing again. So hope you don't mind. Here you go the long waited next chapter!