Phanes

Title: Phanes
Author: Laie / Blue Aether / Tessalia
Comments: I hope you like this very first chapter! It's my first time publishing something here, although I read many of the fics published here. I hope you enjoy the story and, if you would be so kind, I'd love to read your comments ^^

~~~~ Chapter 01

Phanes, as a prince, was not supposed to be doing this kind of thing. In fact, right then, he should have been studying Economics or something like that, not going around the castle searching for the Captain of the Guards, who also happened to be his usual bodyguard. But he had been bored in class, and Styx, his bodyguard's temporary substitute, was no fun either. The water sprite did his job very well, he was sure, but he was not his bodyguard! He wanted Ares, and even if the man was also usually a silent shadow following him. When they were together in the reading room or in the garden, Ares and he talked a lot, and they had a lot of fun. And right now, he could do with a bit of fun. He glanced behind himself and saw Styx sighing and rolling his eyes. He stuck his tongue out (maturely, of course! He was a NOT-childish prince) and walked faster, hoping to leave Styx behind. But that was impossible, he knew –having tried it hundreds of times before–, because for some reason his bodyguards were all the Elite of the Guards, the Immortals, and were said to be the strongest men alive.

One would have never thought that a sweet looking water sprite such as Styx could take on five men, but Phanes had seen him do it in the training grounds thousand of times. He opened the door that lead to the training grounds slightly, taking a peek. No Ares. He pouted again, running a hand through his gold hair, which always made him the centre of the attention in a country were everyone was either black-haired or a redhead.

‘Are you going to give up already and go to class?’ said Styx, sighing exasperatedly.

‘Not until I find Ares!’ was Phanes’ answer, and he headed for the Room of Meetings, in the other side of the palace. He crossed many rooms with walls completely covered by paintings of black haired kings and queens, and his feet seemed to sink in the soft red carpets that covered all the floors of the castle. He slowed a bit, almost afraid of running when the eyes of his ancestors were looking down at him. It was silly of him, he knew, but he had always thought that they were able to look through their paintings, that somehow they still had a part of themselves here among the living thanks to their portraits. He looked at the floor, blushing. He knew he was behaving like a child, and that was why he was too ashamed to look at the portraits any longer, but he really needed to see Ares, to feel his calming presence around him. He had had another of those horrible bad feelings, as though someone had been observing him inside his rooms, and what he had seen when he had turned to look at the wall behind himself… he shuddered just from the memory. He was glad he had not screamed nor panicked, but he felt shaken and unsafe and the horrible feeling wouldn’t go away.

‘I thought you wanted to find Ares?’ asked Styx, amused. It was then that Phanes realised he had stopped right in the middle of one of the corridors. Blushing madly and letting his soft golden bangs cover his face, he resumed walking once more, keeping his eyes trained on the floor.

After what felt like forever, he and Styx arrived at the Room of Meetings. He bit his lip nervously. He had wanted to come here, but now that he was here, and that he could hear Ares’ voice on the other side of the door, he felt relaxed and safe once again. He sat back against the wall right next to the door, closing his eyes.

‘You do some odd things, prince’ sighed Styx, but there was a note of affection in his voice. Phanes looked at him, having to blink back tears that wanted to spill at having found comfort after his almost panic attack.

‘I’m sorry, Styx…’ he whispered and hid his face in his arms.

‘Don’t be’ was Styx’s reply, and he felt the bodyguard’s hands running through his hair, trying to calm him. ‘I only left you alone in your room for five minutes; just enough time for you to change…what did you see in that time?’

Phanes shuddered and had to bite his tongue to keep his panic under control. He did not want to remember it, he really didn’t…

Sensing his prince’s change of mood, Styx quickly diverted the conversation towards another topic.

‘Ares is going to kill me if you sit here on the floor any longer, prince’ he said, smiling slightly. He was pretty sure that talking about the Head of the prince’s bodyguards was going to be a safe topic with Phanes.

‘He.will.not!’ pouted Phanes, lifting his head to pout at Styx. ‘Ares is a good person, he’s not evil at all!’

Styx rolled his eyes, but refrained of making a comment about how Ares was a “good person” with Phanes only. He still hurt from that time when he had dared to leave Phanes alone while he went to the bathroom.

‘What is going on here?’ asked a dark voice suddenly. The door was open now, and Ares was looking from Phanes to Styx with an arched eyebrow.

‘Our little prince here refused to study or do anything else until he had seen you, Captain’ was Styx’s reply, smirking slightly at Phanes’ flushed face.

‘Is that so?’ Ares asked, and Phanes nodded quickly, looking down at his golden slippers. He was so red he was sure his face resembled a tomato. He couldn’t look at Ares right now…

‘I saw… I saw another of those… of those portraits with glistering eyes that looked so real that…’ he shuddered. He had been buttoning his soft white silk tunic, happily humming to himself when he had felt someone watching him. That was impossible, because he knew that nobody could enter his room without going through the doors; his father was so overprotective of him that he had given him a room without windows or balcony, so there was just one big oak door, guarded by his loyal bodyguards.

He had laughed at his own silliness, and had turned, convinced that there would be nothing odd in the big painting of the ancient gods that adorned one of the walls. But he had been so, so wrong. The eyes of Catalonia herself, the most important goddess of the ancient religion, had been glistering and looking at him, dark eyes roaming the expanse of his exposed chest. He had run out of the room and into the hallways outside so fast in his whole life. He did not want to return there, ever.

‘Calm down’ soothed Ares, kneeling down beside him and drawing him into his embrace, while Styx ran soothing hands through his hair again. His shoulders shook with suppressed sobs, but he was too scared, to freaked out to even cry.

Unknown to him, Ares’ eyes locked with Styx’s over his head, and something seemed to pass through them.