Aria stood in a forest, her just barely seeing the trees that surrounded her. 'Where am I?' She wondered, she looked around, only seeing more and more trees. Aria decided to walk around. Taking just a few steps forward, her legs began to feel weak. Her knees buckled and she found herself shivering, from both fear and the cold of the night. She soon heard the low growls, getting louder and louder in volume.

Soon enough, she saw wolves creeping toward her. Aria was surrounded and she had no way of escaping them. She could see their eyes seemingly glowing in the darkened atmosphere around her. They bared their teeth at her and she could only seem to brace herself from the impact when they jumped, intent on tearing her to shreds.

Aria opened her eyes, her heart pounding and she could only be relieved it was just a dream. She looked to her left to see the dark outline of Monster, with the bookmark just sticking out. Aria suddenly remembered her decision made just a few hours ago. She sat up and picked up .Monster.

The man was fighting his way against the wind, his flame of hope not giving up, after countless hours of looking for his beloved. 'Where could she have gone' He thought, sorrowfully.

Aria carefully caressed the book's cover, and gently crept out of bed. 'I could just be gone for a few days, maybe they'll break of the betrothal.' Aria shook her head sadly, 'Like that will ever happen.' She thought. She began tiptoeing over to her dresser, purposely staying away from the weak spots in the floor. Aria chose a dark cloak and slipped it over her same clothes from yesterday and picked up her bag. She then slowly walked toward the front door, taking careful steps at a time.

'Now for the hardest part...' Aria slowly unlocked the door, freezing every time the door emitted a creak as she opened it slowly. She slipped outside and started walking to the stable where her horse stood, asleep.'I'm sorry Father.' Guilt appeared on her face as she shook her horse awake.

Minutes later, a galloping could be heard faintly as a shadowed figure on a horse rode into the dark covering of trees.

When Aria thought she had gone far enough, she slowed to a stop and let her horse rest a bit as she observed her surroundings. She was in front of multiple paths. All of them looked menacing and at the sight of them, her horse began to nervously stomp.

"Shh Jasper, It's okay." Aria soothed, giving a soft pat on his neck. She tugged on his reins, gently.

"Come on boy, we have to choose a path."

"Err, should I just choose one randomly?" Aria closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." She opened her eyes, and looked where her finger pointed. The path she picked, seemed more gloom, and darker than the rest, if you heard closely you might be able to hear and see the crackling of thunder and lightning.

'Just my luck.' Aria reluctantly got back on Jasper's back and tried to coax him to walk toward the ominous path. Jasper still continued to walk around in circles and stomp his hooves. Aria sighed in frustration and got off the horse. She decided to try and pull the horse along with her as the horse was practically being dragged along with her as she ventured off into the unknown.

After a couple minutes of trying to pull Jasper along, she gave up and decided to tie Jasper to a tree branch. She continued walking and felt even more scared without Jasper.

'Maybe there's a town up ahead I could go to.' Aria pondered.

Aria suddenly felt a raindrop on her hand and looked up to see the rain suddenly come down on her, seemingly pouring buckets on her. 'The book!' Aria remembered, quickening her pace and soon running, trying to shield her bag from the rain.

She saw the blanket of trees open up to a large castle, which seemed more ominous than the path she took. Aria ignored the coiling of uneasiness in her stomach, and dashed to the arched entrance.

Aria leaned against the wall, catching her breath, she gazed at her surroundings as thunder roared. Up close, the castle was dull, with cracks in the stone, it seemed like one touch of a finger would make the whole place crumble. Not taking the chance of someone living here, Aria knocked. She stood there for about a minute, before knocking again, still no answer.

'Maybe it is abandoned." She inquired. Aria took hold of the door handle and pulled. The door slowly opened up, showing the girl what it had to offer. What she saw was a throne room which looked quite menacing from the shadows that danced across the ground as the fire that sat behind one lone throne flickered. Aria slowly closed the large door and took a few steps forward before she heard voices. She froze in fright, drawing up conclusions about what would happen if she made herself known to the owners of the voices. She began to slowly walk toward where the voices came from.

"...Master's time is coming to an end soon."

"He has only a week, doesn't he?"

"I believe so."

Aria froze. Was someone gonna die? She couldn't be sure. But at those words, she couldn't help but feel bad. She was trespassing and someone was going to die! Aria turned back to head out when-

"Who are you?"

She froze, feeling fear engulf her mind, filling her thoughts with multiple scenarios of her possible brutal end soon to come. Pictures of a knife plunging into her body, images of being tortured with no end, scenarios of her slit throat and crimson liquid staining the floor. As those thoughts entered her mind, she could feel tears prickle her eyes, thoughts soon replaced with speakings of her ambition to not perish.

Aria turned around slowly, her entire body shaking, her eyes shut and her nonexistent gaze directed toward the floor. "Who are you?" The voice demanded, dark and husky, full of... anger? Hate? Confusion? She didn't know.

"Oi. Look at me when I ask you something." The voice spoke again, now filled with irritation. Tentatively, Aria opened her right eye and peered out at the owner of the voice.

The owner of the voice was indeed a man, wearing a cat mask and a dark blue coat with a fur collar. He towered over Aria as he repeated the previous question, "Who are you?" The man demanded once again, his voice evident of impatience and irritation.

"I-I'm A-Aria, Sir" said Aria inl replied, her voice shaky and her doe eyes now fully open, full of curiosity and fear.

"Aria, huh?" The man chuckled, testing out her name as he stared down at said girl. The man turned and looked over at the servants, their faces turning pale. "Is there any explanation for a girl in the castle?" The man asked, his voice sounded deadly and sharp, holding authority and power.

"S-she stumbled into the castle on her own account, sir." A servant stammered.

The servants were all deathly pale, shaking so badly they could barely stand. They bowed in shame, waiting for their punishments, waiting for pain, waiting for death, even.

"YOU-"

"Wait!" Aria called out.

"What?" The masked man turned to the girl with venom in his voice.

Aria flinched and began to regret her decision of provoking him. But she wasn't gonna back down from him. Not yet, at least. "L-leave them alone. They didn't do anything. I was the one who intruded. Let me take their punishment." Aria said, preparing herself to be struck. But it never came. Aria let out a small squeak as she was suddenly swung over the man's shoulder. The ride over his shoulder wasn't the smoothest, every step he took made Aria bounce. The corridors seemed to go forever. Feeling anxious, she began smothering him with questions.

"Are we there yet?" She piped.

"No," The man growled.

"..."

"..."

"Are we there yet?"

`"No." His eye twitched.

"..."

"..."

"...What about now?"

"No, we are not there yet. In fact, we haven't even been walking for minutes yet." He spoke, gritting his teeth as he was now almost stomping down the hall, with a small murderous intent burning within him.

"...Oh." Aria acknowledged as she looked up at the still quivering and pale servants, who are only a couple dozen steps away from her. The darkened hallways seemed to go on for miles, each footstep echoed throughout. Aria tried to strike up a conversation, "How long have you lived in this castle?" She bantered.

"My whole life," He grunted.

"Can I get the name of the person who's allowing me to stay?"

"...Naruto." He whispered.

"Do you ever get lonely?" Aria asked.

The footsteps came to a stop, and Aria was lazily tossed off his shoulder. This clearly wasn't the best question to ask.

"Do you ever just shut up?" Naruto growled, thoroughly irritated.

Aria didn't answer, her thoughts echoing in her mind, reminding her of her idiot decisions she had made. 'Why did I get myself into this? I'm probably gonna die on the spot now. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What's Father gonna think? Though, it won't matter anyways. He hates me. I'll just die alone, rotting in a dungeon or stabbed in the heart.'

Aria was staring down at her hands, her eyes glassy and on the verge of tears that had built up over the course of a couple minutes. 'I-I don't want to die!' She let a small whimper escape her gritted teeth.

Naruto heard the small sound and looked over at Aria, 'Hn. How pitiful.'He silently remarked, staring down at Aria.

"...Why? Why am I so stupid? I'm so pathetic." Aria muttered to herself, a tear finally escaping and rolling down her cheek.

"...Oi. Stop crying." Naruto commanded, beginning to panic as he saw the girl begin to break down, tears escaping through her tightly shut eyes.

Aria's tears seemed to multiply, soon creating a large stain on the floor. Naruto began panicking, he didn't know how to comfort a girl, at all! He awkwardly patted the girl on the shoulder. "It will be... alright?" He soothed, and he guided her away from the small puddle of tears, stopping at a door. Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key. Upon sliding the key into the lock, a small click was heard. Naruto opened the door, revealing a dungeon the size of a small study. He ushered Aria inside and closed the door the moment she stepped foot inside, her soon enveloped in darkness.