Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The castle was silent as the moonlight shined in from a far off window. Everyone was in bed or away for the night already so the sudden noise of a door opening to the castle library would alert all around that someone still lurked around in the night. That would be, if there was anyone else around to hear it.

A shadow of a figure lit only by moonlight made their way across the great room. Books lined the walls as high as an eye could see. Countless tomes of knowledge and stories, most not touched in so long dust and webs covered their bindings. A small reading table in a corner seemed to be the figure's destination as they approached to light a small candle that sat upon it.

Suddenly, as if appearing out of the darkness itself, another figure walked out of another corner of the room towards the table as well.

“It’s rather late to be meeting. You must know that at my age sleep is the most important part of the day.” The second figure spoke, their voice graveled with age and spoken in a tone of near arrogance.

“I know it is and I apologize greatly for it, but you know the importance of this.” The first figure replied, sounding younger than the first but still with a bit of presence to the voice. It also spoke with a sense of urgency and worry.

“I know...I know...it’s been how long now?”

“Ten months….ten months and no change. I have tried everything but it all seems in vain. Please. I ask of you old friend. I do not wish to seemingly come off as such that I want to only use you for your ability, but I do not know who else to turn to.”

The second figure sighed, “I would never think of you that way friend. I know the situation is dire if you wish to have my assistance in this matter. She never did approve of using my methods to help out.”

The first figure laughed a small laugh laced with sadness, “Yeah, It was always better to better oneself and what we can on our own, without..er...outside assistance.”

“So what is it you wish to accomplish?”

“You know what I want. I want her back.” The first person said sternly, voice not wavering in their determination of what they wanted.

“Bringing her back may be a bit hard. It will be possible but it will ultimately be up to her if she will accept this.”

“At this point I am beyond desperate, you know this. This kingdom has already lost so much. Let it not lose more.”

“Alright. I have something that will help. However there will be certain conditions in place to guarantee that this last long enough to do what you want it to do.”

“Yes. Anything.”

“Alright, first you must remove any and all mirrors.”

“What? What does that have to do with this?”

“Trust me my friend, this is all part of it.”

“Alright fine, that may take a little bit to do and accomplish but it will be done, anything else?”

“Yes you must-”

The wind rushed through the window nearby and extinguished the candle upon the table, and with it seemingly the voices. Darkness fell over the room once more as after a little while longer the door opened once more and a figure left the room back into the empty halls of the castle, disappearing down a darkened corridor.”

On another side of the castle on another night not too far after the last a young girl lay sleepless in her bed. She stared at the ceiling of her majestic room with almost cold eyes. All around her lush large bed sat an assortment of plush animals and toys. Everything a small girl or boy would love to play with although most looked as if they have been left unplayed with since being brought in. Near a wall lay a small table adorned with an enormous number of sweets and desserts, all seemingly untouched as well. There also was enough different pretty dresses to cloth a small village, all neatly hung in a row on a bar on the wall.

To the casual observer this room may appear as if it were a museum, where the things inside artifacts of time not to be touched or disturbed in any way. But this was not a museum. This was the bedroom of a small six year old girl. One princess girl of the Kingdom of Hollis to be more exact. And she seemingly cannot sleep during these incredibly late hours of the night, laying on top of her sheets and fancy looking blankets.

The girl had not been able to sleep much in a very long time. No matter how hard she tried she found it difficult to sleep, as if her mind was afraid of where her dreams would take her. Although the days have not been much better. There was a reason everything appeared as untouched as it did, the princess did not feel like dressing up in pretty dresses anymore. Or playing with any toy she would want to anymore. Or even eat the most decadent and sweetest sweets anymore. Her desire to do much else than lay in bed to stare at the ceiling was essentially non existent.

A small cry from nearby brought the princess out of the prison of her mind. She thought it odd. It was late enough that all and any servants should be in bed, and it was much too weak of a cry to be one of the guards outside of her room. She stood from her bed and looked over to where the sound was. It came from a small closet she had in the corner of her room that housed spare linens and such for her room. She did not pay much attention to it for she had no reason to most of the time.

She slowly approached the door and heard the crying behind the door grow louder. It sounded like a small girl, maybe her age, behind the door. The princess reached for the handle and as she turned it the cries seemed to cease. Normally she knew her dad would want her to call the guard at a strange noise in her room in the middle of the night, but something about the cry. It sounded so sad, so helpless that it was not fear that filled her at the sound of it, but a desire to comfort and help whomever it belonged to.

The door opening let some light through slowly from a nearby candelabra and showed the interior of the small closet. It was lined with shelves holding many a linen and spare pillows, all arranged in a neat and tidy way like it was supposed to, except for one thing. Near the end it looked as if a blanket was hastily pulled off of the shelf and then returned in not its original matter. And it seemed to shake a bit, as if it was breathing very slowly.

“Hello there?” The princess asked in a calm demeanor, unafraid of what lurked under the blanket.

The blanket seemed to stiffen and scooch back a bit on the shelf as if trying to hide itself, and remained silent. The princess walked over to the blanket and for the first time in what felt forever, found herself smiling, “You know if you are going to play hide and seek, you really should be a better hider.”

As she finished what she said she reached out and pulled the linen away. What she saw made her drop the sheet and gasp. It was a young girl, about her age but with hair black as the night, dressed in what one would only assume as old rags that were held together by will alone. She was covered in dirt and filth from almost head to toe, as she cowered in fear, eyes locked shut.

The princess waited a moment and just looked upon the other girl. The princess thought of her not with disgust or repulsion, but pity. She reached out and touched the girl's shoulder, causing the other girl to flinch wildly and try to cower away further, backing away as if she was prey caught by a predator.

“Wait...I am not going to hurt you.” The princess cried out as the other girl crawled around the shelf to try to escape the room, “Please wait.”

It must have been something about how she said that because the other girl stopped in her tracks, however she did not turn around and stood there as if ready to accept her punishment.

A long moment of silence passed when the princess walked around to the front of the girl, “What were you doing in the closet?”

Even though she was asked a question the other girl kept her head down and avoided eye contact like the plague and did not answer. The princess reached out once more, but stopped short of touching her when she saw her flinch once more. “Are….are you okay?”

The other girl finally responded with a shake of her head. The princess retracted her hand and looked the girl over now that she had a bit more light on her. She was incredibly dirty alright, so much though that she thought she may require multiple baths to clean. She also notices that she looked quite scrawny, as if she had not eaten in quite the age.

The princess nodded and walked away from the other girl, leaving her in the doorway of the closet. The other girl glanced at the door leading out of the room as if looking for a way to flee but something kept her there. The princess returned a moment later and held out her hand once more.

“Here! You look hungry.” The princess said as the other girl noticed that the princess was holding what appeared to be some sort of sweet cake out to her. “You can have this!”

The other girl looked down at the treat, then looked up to the eyes of the princess. The princess looked into the eyes of the other girl, noticing how deep they were as well as swelling in the area around it from crying so much. A moment passed where neither of them moved when the princess reached out more closer, “It’s a cake! They are really good. Try it!” She offered once more.

The other girl still did not move, if either out of fear or of not knowing what to do she stayed her ground. After a bit the princess took the cake and broke it into two, taking one half to her mouth to eat it and offering the other back to the other girl. “See! It’s really good!”

The other girl slowly started to move and reached outward to the princess's hand, still reluctant to take what was offered. After a moment as if waiting for something bad to happen or some sort of trap to spring she finally reached out and took half of the cake. She held it in her hands for a little longer, as to test the waters if this was okay, then brought it to her face. The other girl inhaled the smell of the cake which immediately caused her mouth to water and her stomach to growl. Then she shoved the whole half in her mouth as if it was the only thing she had to eat in many a moon, which the princess thought based on how she looked might be the case.

“See! Isn’t it good?” the princess asked, to which the other girl did not reply.

“Did you like it?” She asked once more, this time earning a small nod from the dark haired girl.

“Would you like more?” She followed, causing the girl to about to shake her head when both of them heard her stomach growl once more causing her to nod instead.

“Come then! I have much to share and even some juice from apples!” The princess offered as they approached the table covered in desserts. The other girl followed reluctantly but did so regardless, and when they neared the table looked over to the princess then back to the sweets.

“Go ahead.” The princess said, granting the other girl permission to feed herself. The dark haired girl moved to grab something from the table but stopped short of it by a small margin. She then looked over to the princess one more time as if making sure that this was okay and was greeted with a nod. The other girl then took one of the cakes, similar to what was offered to her before, and ate it quickly, almost choking on it. The princess was quick to offer a glass of juice to help relieve that which the other girl accepted happily and gulped down a large amount of the sweet liquid.

“So….why were you in my closet?” The princess asked the other girl after she had eaten a good number of sweets. The other girl did not reply and avoided eye contact when asked. The princess took a seat on the floor next to the dirt covered girl, “Hey...it’s okay you can talk to me...I won’t tell anyone you snuck in here.”

“I….I….” The other girl started, speaking slowly as if both trying to find the words to say and as if they had not spoken in quite some time. “I was hungry….”

“Oh...I see.” The princess replied with a look of one in thought. “Did you sneak in here through my window because you could smell the food here?”

The other girl nodded slightly and nibbled on some hard candy she was currently enjoying but said nothing more in reply.

“Were you scared I might call the guards so you hide in the closet?”

The girl nodded once more and put down the half eaten candy, “I’m...I’m sorry. I can work to pay for this…”

The princess was quick to shake her head, “No. No it is fine I really do not mind sharing. But why were you so hungry? Did you not have food in your home?”

The girl looked saddened and gulped, “No home.”

“What? I thought everyone had a home! What of you parents? Do they not have a home?”

“No...no parents.” the girl replied after a second of silence.

The princess gasped at this news and sat in silence with the other girl for what seemed quite a while before speaking again, “I lost my mom not too long ago. It must be so much worse to lose not only both parents but your home as well.”

The other girl sniffled a bit and the princess scooted over next to the girl and put her arms around her. The girl flinched at the contact initially as if expecting some sort of pain to follow the touch but then when none followed relaxed a bit. The princess hugged the girl more and found herself crying as well.

“We both lost someone we loved. Do you miss them? I miss my mom so much. She was such a great mom.”

The girl shook her head. “I...I can’t really remember them much.”

“That’s terrible!” she moved from a hug to more of a snuggle, “That must be so much worse, not remembering them.”

The girl seemed to accept the affection of the princess but had a look of confusion, as if they had never felt this sort of thing before. They sat for a little bit, both sniffling and letting the occasional tear out when the girl moved her arms around the princess. The other girl closed her eyes and let out a deep breath, so touch starved that her tears intensified fully from the shared hug.

Shortly after the princess let go of the girl with a look of determination on her face, “You will stay here. With me.”

“What?” The other girl asked shocked at the extended offer of kindness.

“You said you did not have a home. We have plenty of beds available and I am sure my dad wouldn’t mind you staying here.”

“I...I don’t know...I don’t belong here.” The girl lamented rubbing her arm.

The princess shook her head, “Why would you ever say that?”

The girl laughed to herself in a sad way, “I am no princess.”

“That does not matter. You will live here.” The princess seemed to decide for both of them.

The girl sat there just staring at the princess for a bit, “Are you sure?”

The princess just nodded once more and the girl couldn’t stop herself from almost knocking her over in a hug, crying harder than ever. “Thank you so much, I don’t think I can ever thank you enough.”

The princess held the girl for a moment before standing and started to walk over to the rack of clothes, “First things first let's get you some clean clothes...um...oh!” The princess stopped and turned back to the girl and did a small curtsy, “I never asked your name friend.”

“My name?” The girl replied, “Oh...it’s Carmilla.”

The princess smiled at Carmilla, “It is so good to meet you Carmilla, I am Princess Laura of Hollis.”

“That’s a long name.”

“Yeah, comes with being a princess.” Laura shrugged.

“How about….Princess Cupcake?” Carmilla suggested.

Laura could not stop herself from letting out a laugh at the suggestion of that name. “Why? Why would you say that?” She asked between laughs.

“You offered me a cupcake, and you are as sweet as one.” Carmilla replied smiling.

Laura found some heat forming on her cheeks and some unsettledness in her stomach at the reason Carmilla gave her. “That’s...that is fine. Thank you Carm.” She said, testing out a nickname of her own.

Carmilla just smiled back and took some night clothes offered to her. She managed to wash some of the dirt off of herself in a washbowl nearby and then climbed in bed with Laura. She stayed near the edge of the bed before she felt herself being pulled to the center and the princess snuggling into her back.

“I do not know what drove you to my closet but whatever it was I am happy for it. I think we are going to be great friends.” Laura yawned at the girl.

“Friends?” Carmilla asked.

“Yes, I assume that is okay?” Laura asked, moving a bit back, scared she thought too much of the other girl.

“Yes. It is more than fine Cupcake.” Carmilla replied scooting back into the hug of Laura.

They said nothing more as they both fell into a sleep, the princess falling into dreams with a smile on her face for the first time in many a moon.