[Automatic] (An Aarmau AU)

My dreams that night consisted of black shadows chasing me around the castle. I was helplessly lost in the thousands of halls that all looked the same. I screamed for someone to help me, but it seemed only the shadows could hear me.

That was until I came to a large room which I could only assume was the old throne room. Three golden thrones sat on the far side of the room, and standing right in front of the largest one was Aaron. He was wearing his fathers clothes, and a golden throne was placed over his jet black hair.

The shadows stopped behind me, making it so I couldn't leave. I wanted to run to Aaron, to ask him what was happening. But before I could, a girl with long brown hair and bright blue eyes appeared out of the shadows. She walked over to Aaron, and he put his arm around her waist.

"Aphmau", he said, his voice deeper and muffled. "What are you doing here, crashing our wedding"

I looked around once again and found the entire room was covered in white decorations. People filled the rows of seats that were not there a minute ago. I looked down and found I was wearing the exact same dressed I had picked out for the Royal Ball, but now it was torn to piece.

The shadows came back and started pulling me out of the room. I screamed and thrashed, but their grip would not give. I took one more look at Aaron who's gaze was fixed only on me. He smiled, and I watched as his eyes turned bright red.

Xx

I hit something hard as I woke up, and found I had fallen out of my bed.

I was sweating profusely, and I had pulled all my sheets off the bed when I fell. I tried to escape my tangled prison, but I just ended falling back onto the floor. I'm not sure if it was the stress of the past few days, but I just started crying. I was tired of this feeling of uselessness, I was tired of being alone.

I thought I had finally found someone who would never leave me, I just wanted to not be abandoned for once. I thought Aaron would be the one who stayed, the one who made sure I was never alone again.

He promised, he promised, he promised...

Someone must have heard my loud cried because I heard three sharp knocks at the door. "Aphmau?", a voice I couldn't quite identity said. "Of my Irene are you ok!"

I thought I had locked my door, but apparently not as Katelyn burst in a second later. She quickly saw the mess I had become, lying helplessly on the floor.

"Oh Aphmau", she said, kneeling down next to me. "I'm so sorry"

She helped me untangle my limbs from the blankets, and sent me off to showers while she cleaned up my mess. I was to tired to care, despite waking up no more then ten minutes ago. I peeled off my sweaty pajamas, and hopped into a cold shower.

I'm not sure how long I was in there, but when I came out Katelyn had completely remade my bed and set out a fresh pair of clothes. I silently thanked her and changed in my closet. The clothes she had picked were simple, a light purple sweater and a grey shorts. She had also set out some black shoes and a fresh bandage for my hand.

I walked out and Katelyn was sitting on my bed, look at the door. When she saw me, she held out her arms for a hug, and I quickly ran to take it. I tried not to cry again but failed, because I had been wrong earlier. Even if Aaron did leave me, I still had someone who would always be by my side.

When I had calmed down, Katelyn finally spoke. "We all got the new this morning", she whispered. "They told us while we were at breakfast, and when you didn't show I could only assume-"

She didn't finish, she didn't need to finished. She had wanted to make sure I hadn't left, she had wanted to make sure I was ok. Even though I thought I was alone, I wasn't. I had finally found someone who actually cared, someone who wouldn't leave.