Claustrophobia: Fear of tight or confined spaces. 

You know that moment when in a quick second, everything gets so confusing, it almost feels as if you weren't there a few seconds ago. Well, that's how I felt when I walked into the kitchen to find Axel no where in sight. 

It took seconds before I heard mumbling coming from Axel's study table and my head snapped towards the direction. 

The first person I noticed was Ignis, standing right in front of Axel and covering his smaller frame. 

They were both in front of the wide screen of Axel's large monitor as they looked down on the rectangular device in Ignis's hand. 

First, Ignis's birthday surprise had been ruined even before it started. None of the two men looked bothered about that and hence, the confusion came in. 

"You ruined the surpr_"

"We need to leave" Axel said, cutting me off "Now"

Whatever it was that bothered them looked very serious. I could've mistaken it for one of the silly pranks Ignis pulled on me during Axel's absence but I had never seen both men with frowns evident on their faces. 

At least, Ignis. 

"Why?" Lux asked as we approached them. Ignis glanced up from the screen and gave me the most disturbing look before it erased the next second. 

What it meant was a mystery to me. I couldn't interpret it or understand the emotion that flashed across his face but I had never seen him give me or anyone such a look. 

It wasn't bad, neither was it good but it gave me a feeling I wasn't going to like what could happen. 

"They're on their way here"

"Who?" I asked out of curiosity. By then, I was probably the most scarred and most confused being in the room with no idea what was going on. 

"The palace guards" Ignis said before both boys sprinted towards the elevator, leaving both Lux and I confused on a spot. "Come on, they'll be here in a minute"

With absolutely no idea of what dangers could happen in the next few minutes, I ran towards them regardless. 

My heartbeats had increased the moment I was right next to them in the elevator. I had never felt so much fear ever since Axel pushed me into the river leading to Bellum. 

It was okay to get scarred, but it only made sense if you had the tiniest idea of what was coming for you. 

In between the three gods of Anel in an elevator could've been enough protection against any kind of harm but the gods themselves didn't look so safe either. 

I heard a buzz before the machine slowly moved upwards. Our way to the surface was quiet. The only thing I could hear and feel was the vibration coming from the metal box. 

Besides that was my rapid heartbeats. 

"Can I know what's going on?"

"The palace guards are on their way here" Axel replied a little too sharp for my liking "They know you're here"

I guess it's far better to fear the unknown cause as soon as those words left his lips, I felt my breaths increase with fear. 

Caeli. 

My fingers shot up to my temples the moment I heard it. More of felt it. 

I could remembered it more than I remembered my own name. The soothing calm voice at the back of my head. It happened to make me feel comfortable in some cases but that was when I'd learned to get used to it. Eight years ago. 

It gave me an odd feeling of satisfaction, a feeling I was safe even when everything around me called out danger. 

The only problem was that, it was the first time it came with pain. 

I had felt headaches before then but none could be compared to the pain spreading through my head. 

My fingers were directly on the bulging veins of my temple, pressing it down as an effort to reduce the pain. 

It only made the vessel increase, as if irritated by my actions. The constant thumps of my pulse could me felt beneath my fingers as it rang through my head repeatedly. 

Caeli. 

The second call came with a sudden increase of my body temperature. I felt the heat come come from within, deep inside me and in a second, my entire body felt like it was on fire. 

It only seemed to increase with every passing second and the intensity was of burning flames. 

I could feel the sweat dripping off my forehead like the rain off the edge of a roof. The rate was a million times faster than an average human being, dripping on the floor with loud drops. 

"Caeli, stop it" I heard Lux say. It was as if it came from a distance, so was the other voices I heard after that and probably every sound besides the whispers in my head. 

Caeli. 

I attached my sweaty palms to my ears in an attempt to block the whispers but then it came again, repeatedly. 

Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli Caeli. 

It felt like a thousand whispers in my head, all in the same voice, one tone. 

Whoever was communicating with me was alarmed and it became more obvious as every second passed. It became faster, louder and the heat engulfing me only seemed to intensify as if it was a warning. 

She's here. 

I passed out. 

.~*~.~*~.~*~.

The reflection of the sun blinded my vision the moment my eyelids separated. Closing my eyes from the effect of it's brightness, I slowly moved my body to a more comfortable side of the bed. 

My hands, which were formerly by my side, found their way to my head and rubbed my eyes to reduce the blurriness. The little tears in my eyes smudged my cheeks as my fingers brushed past them. 

It took a few seconds, maybe minutes, to figure out I didn't pass out on a bed. 

Regaining my consciousness fully, I sprang up, raising the sheets along with me. 

Luckily, I wasn't in a cold cell with chains around my wrists and ankles like I had imagined Anel's prisons to be but what I woke up to was far worse. 

The white sheets, cream colored curtains, dirty plain cream walls, chipped brown wooden table, dusty floors. 

I was at home. 

Not the asylum, the house I lived for eight years before I was taken away for a crime I didn't commit. The house I'd been called possessed, demonic. The house my parents we're murdered in cold blood. 

The memories rushed into my mind and took me back to the old days when I stayed locked up in the room with no access to the public. It felt like I went sixteen years back when I was still a little eight year old girl, living the life she was forced to live. 

It was the same way I left it years ago, the only difference was that the walls we're dusty. 

If I wasn't seeing it with my own two eyes, I could've said the house had been reconstructed and sold. 

I guess they didn't forget about me so easily and thought the house was haunted. 

The only difference was that the floor and walls were dusty. 

"The girl is awake" I heard someone say from the door. I snapped my head at the direction to see a woman leaning on the door. 

The first thing I noticed about her was her accent. Thick African accent, didn't know the particular place in the continent but that accent sure was African. 

She was about my height with white pale skin, similar to mine, alomost like the color of paper.

She had a long purple skirt on that reached her ankles and black shiny boots covering her feet. Her blue sweater was oversized, covering a portion of her slender fingers and slim neck. Her sleek black hair was put up in a messy bun at the back of her head and dark eyes scanning me head to toe. 

"Caeli!" Ignis said from behind her, running towards me. He plopped down on my bed and gave me a poke on my nose. 

For a reason I wasn't quite sure of. 

"Do you feel better now?" I heard the calm voice of Axel beside me who could've only gotten there so fast through teleportation. He placed his fingers on my forehead for a few seconds before withrawing his hands and folding them beside him. 

Lux was the last to walk in and no, he didn't come towards my bed at all. Just a small nod and his normal rigid emotionless face. 

His presence was enough to make me feel better. Not that I had this crush on him, I just felt safe around him. 

Okay, that's weird. 

I broke our eyes contact before it got a million times weirder than it got. Besides, Ignis already threw me a silly wink. 

"Yeah, I feel a lot better_"

I didn't complete my sentence before Ignis cut me off. 

"Girl, you should've seen what happened in there. I'd pay to watch it if I wasn't right there beside you. Of course, that's if Lux isn't so stingy with his earth currency but don't you worry darling, I'd steal it to watch you do that. Anyways, it was like the beast in you suddenly unleashed itself and man, you were on fire. Your birthmarks were glowing bright green and with your eyes shut, girl, don't let me get started on how hot you looked. You know what? We're getting married tomorrow_"

"Silence!"

The lady said, cutting Ignis off immediately. 

Ignis was caught by surprise, turning his head to see who dared interrupt him "You need some manners a_"

It didn't take a second before Ignis, right before my eyes, turned into a bird.