Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 Damien is walking into a dark and windy forest. He doesn’t know how he got there. The trees are so loud dancing around. The shivers on his skin make it seem like the wind is pushing and shoving any object it comes in contact with. Confused and numb he turns a corner only to see a shadowy figure. It’s smoky and soft looking, almost like that spell. A shiver comes across his whole body remembering the memories of Dani and… Angela. Damien tries to turn around and run, run until he finds his way out of this forest. Yet, he can’t move. It feels like he’s paralyzed. Somehow, he can still turn his head, moving slowly, he sees the black smoke holding him tightly. No matter how hard he tries to get out of this firm grip, he can’t. Any ounce of movement is returned with ten times the pull back by the creature. This forces him to look directly at this monster.

 Damien wonders if the creature can speak. Testing this question he tries to communicate, “Hello?” he says, voice quiet and shaky. A windy whistle is the only response he got. Until he turned his head to see some smoke pulling off of the soft mist creature and morphed into what seemed like words.

 Everything turns darker. Damien looks up to see clouds darker than the night itself. He was scared. So very scared. Before he could process the words right in front of him, the foggy creature lifts him off the ground. Higher and higher. The wind blows harder. Colder and colder. The creature grew taller. Taller and taller. The misty monster lifts Damien so high they can see eye to eye, revealing the dark creatures ruby red eyes. Damien could feel the smoke loosen its grip on him. More and more. Right when he could finally relax a bit, the creature’s grip completely disappears. The smoky mist dropped him.

 He wakes bolting straight up. Panting, sweating, and cursing. Looking around his room he realizes his state. He thinks, “it’s just a dream.”, his heartbeat slows down a bit, “there’s nothing to worry about.”, he reassures himself. He finds his eyes drifting to the clock on his wall. It’s 5:00 AM. Damien knows he won’t fall asleep again. He knows he doesn’t want to fall asleep again. Damien moves to the side of the bed, hands in his face wondering what to do. His legs are still shaking, quietly he says, “I need fresh air.”, he stands up and gets ready. Putting on his second shirt over his long-sleeved one he opens the door out to the balcony. It’s still a bit dark yet the sun rises making the sky a cool calming light blue.

 The temperature is warmer, “Warmer than that dream” he thinks. He ponders, “How could I feel that dream?”, he puts his hand at the back of his neck and starts leaning on the fence of the balcony, looking over the town. Damien lightly speaks, his voice shaking a bit with uncertainty “Why did that seem so real. To real.” He starts moving back to the balcony door to walk towards the hallway, slowly. Damien grabs his messenger bag from a hook near his bed and walks out his warm bedroom door. Already missing the breeze, Damien walks down the long halls trying to make sure he finds his way out of this palace. Only a month ago he was moved into a room closer to the royal chambers because of his position as the king’s royal adviser. Due to this new arrangement, it’s been harder to find his way around. To be fair, it has always been hard, he’s only used to the former king George’s castle not former king Edgar’s palace.

 The halls are cold compared to the palace rooms due to the windows being tall and skinny, not like the large room windows. Damien shivers a bit because of the cold but keeps walking. He walks straight forward, posture correct and leading. He tries his best to stay quiet, but the clicks of his shoes are to loud for his liking, the long red rug across the hall is telling the shoes to shush though. Although the windows bring some light, the candles are not lit, making the hall dark and eerie. The atmosphere is too dark of despair, making Damien anxious, “This is not a good distraction” he thinks. He arrives at the end of the hallway. The palace guards let him out the door to the living room. Damien stops and looks at one of the guards “If I’m not back when King William and Queen Monica awake, tell them I’m at the village.”, Damien’s delicate and soft voice that just screams ‘I just woke up’ is still commanding to the guard. The tall, towering guard responds, “Of course, my Lord”, his head bows down a bit, like a real bow you would give to royalty.

 Damien walks to the stairs near the living room and tries with all his power not to sit on the cozy furniture with the warm, pleasant fireplace. But he has to remind himself, “It will be warmer outside.” his voice is quiet, so the guards don’t hear him. He keeps walking till he reaches the end of the stairs, there’s another door guarded by royal guards. Once they open it for him, he walks out and feels the same warm breeze from the balcony, he’s in the courtyard. One thing he can always remember about this palace is that the courtyard is not only huge, but it also brings you everywhere. The other doors are home to places like the staff member’s rooms, where he used to live for 3 years. It also brings you to the kitchen, guest rooms, and most importantly, the ballroom, where the thrones are placed. The rest of the rooms are on the second floor or the special laboratory in the second tower attached by a bridge from the second floor. Even being forgetful about the layout, another thing he can always remember is the front door. It’s detailed and engraved with flowers on the pillars next to the door, and with this being a courtyard, there are vines with growing flowers laying on the sides of the door. It seems they are trimmed often so they won’t block the entrance. That, and also because some more guards are seated next to the door.

 Walking to the entrance, one of the guards asks Damien, “Would you like a carriage? The village is a bit far.” Damien, with shock written all over his face, responds with, “No, thank you. I can walk.”, They open the door and let Damien out.

 Still surprised, Damien walks down the entrances stairs, “What did William do?” he sighs, William is always making sure that Damien gets special treatment after he became king. ‘He should use his power for more important things’, Damien thinks, ‘that won’t stop William though’. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, a tiny smile forced itself on Damien’s face, ‘I’m so lucky he’s a dork’, he continues, some light pink appearing on his face. Damien is now on the stone road, “Where do I go?”, though that thought crossed his mind, he knows exactly where he’s going. The former King Edgar’s palace, or King William’s palace, is right near a forest. Long time ago, well, not that long ago, when Will was little, he would run into the forest so far, he would cross the border between King Edgar’s kingdom and King George’s kingdom. Because of this, young William would sneak into the forest to play with Monica. This is also where Damien met Will. William’s crazy escapes made it possible for Damien to be close enough for them to meet. Such a William possibility.

 Though Damien will never admit it, he goes into that forest a lot. What can I say, it brings him great comfort. That’s exactly why he’s going now. He will be taking a different route though, no one wants to risk getting touched by the poison mushrooms that grow near the palace. He’s not as crazy as William.

 There’s a path that goes through the forest, though it’s a long walk because the path is at the very edge of the city, near where the ships dock. ‘Perfect distraction’, Damien thinks, ‘if I get distracted by the shops, which I always do, it will distract me from that dream.’ While thinking this, his mind goes straight to the dream he just tried to forget, and his heart skips a beat. He starts walking fast and moving his head side to side looking at the shops quickly, trying to distract himself again. Jewelry? No, to expensive for his taste. Alcohol? They sell that here? Still, no. Fruit? No. Food? Maybe, he’s not hungry though. Clothes? Damien already has enough of those, so no need. It’s all, no, no, no.

Damien gets indecisive and decides to choose the jewelry store, there’s calming pretty colors on these shiny rocks that you can wear, perfect distraction, right?

Chapter Text

I'm so sorry but there's been some bad news, I lost the documents with the fanfics I've been working on, not much, but it still hurt. Chapters will be very slow. Again, so sorry.