The Way to You

CHAPTER 35: I NEED NO HELP

I need no help: 35

With a loud knock on the door, Lucas entered the King's chamber to search for the greyhead lurking somewhere. He had been searching for her for the past hour. He initially checked the chamber beforehand, but it was empty to his dismay.

After nearly filtering the entire palace with the help of the half-asleep Aslan and Isaac, he finally decided to intrude into the chamber again.

There she was hiding in the closet, scooted to a corner with a couple of dresses squished around her to keep her warm. She was fast asleep and Lucas found it amusing, noticing that she probably must have cried herself to sleep.

Breathing, finally, in relief, feeling that the troubling sting at the side of his chest had been slowly calmed down, he watched her sleep, silently.

When Lucas, after a few minutes, tried to enter the walk-in closet, Ava straight up jolted to her feet, alarmed. Though her shoulders slackened after seeing who it was, she still looked a bit cautious about her surrounding.

Lucas's chest stung yet again when he watched her face being swarmed by the familiar rays of distrust when they focused on him.

Slapping away the uncertainty, Lucas started only for the Queen to cut him off. " Ava- "

" Lucas, I don't want to talk. Just leave. " she sounded too quiet, her voice hoarse as if she had been screaming for the past hour without anyone's notice.

" Hey... It's okay, " he wasn't sure if it was, yet wanted to tell her. " I'm just trying to help- "

" I don't need your help. " she yelled but quickly pressed her hands to her lips. She wanted to stop herself but something didn't help. " Just leave, please. "

The fear etched over Lucas's face when Ava, for the first time, tried to block away his help. He wanted to stay there to try to be of some use but Ava was not giving a thought to the act.

" I said leave. Please- Leave. " she screamed but soon started wheezing when she felt her lungs closed with a choke causing her to stumble on her feet, landing on the ground with a painful gasp for air.

" Hey- Hey, Ava, calm down- Breath out, Ava. You- " Lucas immediately got into action when he noticed her uneven breathing.

He swiftly grabbed her hands to help her, but Ava thrashed in his hold and tried with all her strength to drift away from his touch.

Lucas took a quick breath before engulfing her into a hug by securing both of her hands firmly to her stomach, he closed his eyes and whispered soft nothings and calmly pleaded her to follow him.

" Please... It's okay... It's okay. Breathe in...and out... Everything is okay... You're fine. Breath in, breath out, "

It was of course hard for her to breathe in when her throat was painfully clogged with sobs as her face was awfully drenched by now. She weakly struggled against him, closing her eyes shut while trying to move away with all her might.

But Lucas was strong. He firmly held her close and kept on whispering into her ear and that finally made a move after some agonising minutes.

Ava's mind slowly followed the voice and her chest ever so slowly raised up and down, her painful sobs finally turning to muffled sniffles as she slowly calmed down with her hand on her chest and his on top of hers.

Lucas stayed quiet for who knows how long until he felt her sagging in his hold. He gulped hard before opening his eyes to find her staring at no point without any opposition to his hug as if she had no more strength to fight against his hold. Breathing slowly as ever, she had her head tiredly laid on his chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat that sounded more like a forgotten tune of an old song.