I Am A Prince

Chapter 7

He woke up suddenly, his eyes open, he couldn't think of why that could be- his heart was pounding against his chest, it was as though his heart was right beside his ears, echoing through his head- his mind empty and simply confused. His eyes strained into the utter darkness, his breathing yet to settle, it was like he couldn't breathe- then realisation hit him-

Death.

This wasn't dead, he had died once before and this time he wasn't dead again, these weren't his walls in the palace he and his sister, lived in. He still felt so tired, but he couldn't go back to sleep, not with his breathing, perhaps his body was reacting to what had happened- the room was dark, he couldn't see anything, yet he heard a shift, from within the room, only increasing his heartbeat.

He wasn't afraid of death, he just rather not have to deal with the consequences of not dying, which was obviously this. His body was settling, he felt weak.

Again, the shifting began, was it Athanasia? No, the footsteps of the person didn't sound like her, they were too heavy, they advanced towards him and before he knew it, there was a hand on his head- he wasn't sure what had happened, but it was like he could breathe properly again. He looked up at the dark figure right at his side.

Those blue eyes- Claude?

"Papa?" he said in a hoarse voice, He didn't get a response, but he swore he heard something when sleep mysteriously took his consciousness and left him in a comfortable state of calmness, pleasant dreams occurring through that mind.

The next time he opened his eyes, he had no sense of panic and confusion, but a sense of calmness. His eyes slowly opened at the sounds of birds chirping, alerting all that it was that night was a bay.

He was in his room unlike the other time he had awoken, where had that been?

Sitting up slowly, he looked around the room to see Athanasia, he snorted, he couldn't help to not after seeing what he saw.

He sighed. He had worried her, had he been asleep for long? She was passed out on the chair, her body slouched back in the chair, chocolate spread all over her mouth, with a book barely staying in place on her lap, ready to fall off, perhaps to run away from her sticky paws that already contaminated the floor book.

He laughed, it was a funny sight. His laughing seemed to have woken her up. "Wa? Huh?" she tiredly sounded out, just as she yawned. Her jewelled eyes blinked, then blinked again, "Ah man! I did it again." She mumbled under her voice.

"Did what again?" he asked in amusement, her eyes snapped to him, widening as their identical blue eyes stared into one another. "A-Athan? You're awake!" she yelped, as though she had seen a ghost, then he saw what he had never thought he would ever see.

Tears... suddenly he felt uncomfortable. He never really dealt with people crying before. She ran over to him... he understood why, her arms were opened wide as she jumped onto his bed, she threw herself at him, hugging him tight, "Athan!" she said happily, her eyes closed as she hugged him tightly. "You're a lot softer than I remember." She mumbled, squeezing 'him' even tighter.

"DID YOU LOSE YOUR BONES?!"

"No, you're just hugging my pillow. I saw you coming and decided I didn't want your germs on me." He responded to her, his arms crossed as he was standing beside the bed, staring at his sister who was staring at him wide-eyed, then she looked to the pillow in her grasp, specks of chocolate on it.

"ATHAN!" she yelled, again reaching for him- whether he liked it or not, she would get that hug and she did, as he hadn't expected her to jump at him from the bed, making them both go down tumbling, "I missed you so much- NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!"