-Aries POV-

There's no before for me. Just after. After the day. There is no looking back, no before. Just after.

As long as I keep repeating this it will be ok.

Right?

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I woke to the warm smell of tea and a familiar ache in my head. The scent curled around my face like a pair of loving hands, caressing my headaches away like my mother. My mother...

I shook the past away and repeated the words I had come to live by; There's no before for me, just after. They rolled around in my head enough to drive a normal person to insanity. But I was anything but normal.

"Bad one?" Asked a accented voice, interrupting my thoughts. I nodded, and he muttered a curse word in Welsh. "The Londoners won't like that. His much should I ask them for, a few days?"

I shook my head, trying to drown out the searing pain growing in my temples. "No," I groaned, my voice straining to hide the pain I was experiencing. A few days off sounded like heaven, but the lead of the London house would have my head if I took off any more work days. "I've been an 'inconceivable young woman lately, so I must be more prompt or else!'" I finished mimicking the first lady's pompous voice.

"Well, you must be feeling a bit better if you're willing to do her accent again," The boy chuckled, and I forced opened my eyes to see him in this moment. I loved it when he laughed. It lit up his green, deerlike eyes and put a flush in his normally pale cheeks.

I flushed myself, looking away to awkwardly study my surroundings. The room fairly large and mostly bare, safe for a dusty bookshelf and a piano in the corner. A drab grey curtain curled in the breeze from the open window.

The brunette boy followed my gaze and got up with a start. "Here I'll close that for you." He said, grunting as he pushed down on the windowsill. No avail. He was rather scrawny, as most of us were because of poor serve rations to keep us skinny.

"Sagittarius, stop. I'll help yo-" I paused, doubling over as the pain in my head exploded. My vision turned red, and my heartbeat slowed to an unhealthy timing. Tmp...Tmp.....Tmp. My ears were ringing and all I heard was the slow beat of my heart.

And then it was gone as quick as it had come. My vision colored and my ears worked again, as if a switch had been pulled. I tumbled down to the floor in surprise.

Don't think. Nothing behind you, nothing behind you!

"What? What's not behind you!" Sagittarius was screaming, shaking my shoulders, and I realized I had been screeching the words. I took a breath, prayed I wasn't losing my mind, and looked back into his eyes.

I once wrote a poem about them, back when I was first off the streets. Now that I think about it, I might have been a little obsessed. But even now, his deep green eyes drew me in. No, I suppose simply green doesn't cut it. It's the color of grass on a summer day, the feeling of staring into the fathomless night air, with all the light of the stars in the sky.

"Aries?" His hand squeezed mine comfortingly, and I looked away from his eyes blushing. It was hopefully just me that noticed I held on a beat to long. He glanced back up at me. "Do you-"

The door creaked open mid-sentence, and we both stood up, stiff as toy soldiers out of habit. Any child raised without money had learned this from a rather young age, and I doubt any would be able to forget it. The long hours of back pain, the slaps when I was wrong...

My head began pulsing again, as if it were a blinking red light. A warm, tingling sensation came over me, and darkness hung at the edge of my vision. I cursed myself for thinking too much. If I was just a stupid girl, none of this would've happened...

The figure finally stepped through the door. Tall, robust and strawberry blonde, he made a rather handsome figure, I couldn't stop myself from thinking so. His pair of strangely unfocused green eyes glanced over me, and I felt my body heat up, and not just from my headache. But looking down, I knew I had no chance.

He was dressed as a fine gentleman, not in the plain servants clothes we wore. Fine jewelry hung off his wrists, and that's when I saw it. A Lion's head tattoo sat upon his wrist, its mouth deformed so it appeared smirking at me.

The High London mark.

"Master!" I said in a rush, knowing it was improper not to address the house's masters. Sagittarius' eyes widened and we bowed deeply together. The pounding had started again, and the darkness was closing in on my eyesight, but I stayed put as his feet drew close to my face before stopping.

A pale, delicate finger touched the tip of my chin, pulling my face off the ground to stare at his. Only inches away, his eyes bore into me, and the scent of bourbon filled my nose. I felt my face growing red, the headache forgotten.

"S-sir this is rather improper!" I muttered annoyed about how easily he made me stutter. And I never stuttered. But he just smirked a pure white drunk smile and inched closer. The alcohol smell seemed to wrap around me, causing my head to pound like a drum.

"How can I stay away from the most beautiful girl I've seen in this damned castle?" He asked, his light voice triggering my anger. My blush deepened, half from him and half from the blinding pain inside my head.

I growled, a deep, vibrating sound in my throat. He was far closer than any man had come since the incident, and I didn't plan to have it happen again.

"Stop." I hissed, quietly but with enough hate to leave me surprised at myself. However, it didn't faze the man in front of me. He pulled me in closer, his lips smashing into mine.

Time seemed to slow down. He was drunk. He was stupid. And even though it could send me back to the streets, I knew what I needed to do. I pulled back my leg, and kneed him right in the crotch.

He reeled back, our mouths parting, him landing harshly on the floor. His eyes looked back at me, filled with surprise. That was the only thing I saw before I blacked out.

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I woke up with a gasp, the nightmares fleeing from my head. A cool cloth sat upon my head, sweating cold drops down my face. My eyes focused in and then out before finally settling on a point.

I had to cover my mouth to keep from screaming. He was sitting right next to the bed, rocking back and forth in a dusty rocking chair that he must've dragged from another room. I tried to shut my eyes, but his own flicked over to me before I could.

"Don't bother trying, I can tell you're awake." He said, giving me a warm, visibly sober smile. If nothing had happened before, I might've been tempted to smile back. However, out of spite I just frowned.

He chuckled, seeing my expression. "I guess I deserve that." He said, before his expression turned serious. He placed his hand over mine, and continued. "I'm so sorry about last night. I can't remember much, but I know I was drunk and most likely wronged you. However-" he paused, his eyes looking into mine, "-you are the most beautiful girl in this castle. And, as an apology for last night, may I have the honor of taking you dancing?"

My eyes widened in surprise, before I turned away, trying to force myself to be angry. Despite the fact I could hold a grudge for quite some time, I just couldn't find the strength to be mad. It must've been because of my headache. Surely that was all.

I stuck my nose up in the air, trying to imitate some of the snotty, uptight women I had worked for. "I suppose that's quite alright, as long as it goes no further." I replied, keeping my voice tight.

He smiled and squeezed my hand tighter. My insides tingled with excitement and guilt. Sagittarius always squeezed my hand that way. But servant relationships were forbidden, so I had given up hope of our relationship going anywhere years ago. So I wasn't doing anything wrong, was I?

"I'll ask your servant friend to fetch you a dress. In the meantime, get some rest." The blonde said, shattering my thoughts. He had gotten up from the rocking chair and was walking out the doorway.

"Oh, thank you mister... um..." I stopped realizing I didn't know his name. He just let out a good humored chuckle and turned around yo face me.

"Just call me Leo."

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"Sagittarius?" I asked, peeking out behind the wall, "Is this dress okay?"

His warm eyes looked up from the thick book he was reading. "If I can't see it how can I tell?" He laughed, setting the parchment down and turning to me. I blushed a little bit before stepping out. After the incident, I had never worn anything that revealed my arms for fear of what anyone thought.

It wasn't that I was ugly. It was rather that I was too pretty. The one who gave me the scars I had said that pretty hurts. He was right. It does.

"Aries?" Sagittarius prompted, and I shook away the thoughts and stepped out from behind the shadows.

The dress I was in was toe length and autumn yellow in color, and twirled around me when I moved. My shoulders were shown, but my neck was not, thanks to Sagittarius' sewing skills. I glanced back up, wondering what he thought.

"You look beautiful." He smiled, his eyes strangely sad. He walked over and hugged me in a tight embrace, his breath tickling my ear. "Don't let that bitch fool you though, I want you to be safe." He whispered.

"Don't worry!" I said, playfully shoving him away. "I can take care of myself. And he seems nice, so nothing to worry about."

"You sure? This sounds like the same thing that happened last time, before the incident." He asked, raising an eyebrow sarcastically as he put a hand on my shoulder. I felt ice cold inside at his words. Never had I felt uncomfortable around Sagittarius, but that cut like a knife. My eyes hardened and I slapped his hand away more forcefully.

"I'll be fine." I growled, my voice tighter this time. I turned away and gathering up my skirts, strode towards the door. I stopped before I walked out, thinking up a few last words.

Without turning to him, I replied, "Maybe the one I need to be safe from is you."

And I walked out, repeating the words in my head; Don't look back, there's nothing for you there.

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"So, what happened Aries?"

A few hours had passed since my argument with Sagittarius, and I was now swaying in a ballroom, a thousand other couples dancing around Leo and I. The atmosphere was warm and comforting, drowsy with alcohol and sweat that strangely seemed to calm my head. But as soon as he asked, I knew exactly what he was talking about, no questions asked.

However, I just wanted to be a regular girl for a little while longer, do I decided to play dumb. "Hmm?" I asked, hoping if I just answered simple he would drop it.

Leo stumbled a little, his seemingly confident demeanor dropping like a stone in a lake. His face flushed, growing redder than his strawberry blonde hair.

"Leo?" I flushed as well, as if it was contagious. Our steps stopped in the middle of the swirling bodies, as if we were the center of the universe. Silk of every color flowed around my feet from the women around me, the occasional pale arm bumping me. But we stayed still as he leaned in towards my ear, his soft hands pulling away my blonde curls.

"I mean the incident."

Whatever calm had been inside me was gone, and I felt the same icy cold flow through me when anyone mentioned it. My head started beating, as if the word was a switch that could be pulled and darkness tinged my vision.

I had never told my story to anyone but Sagittarius. But I took a deep breath, and let the words flow out of the cage I had put them inside for years past. It was time someone else knew.

It started with a little girl who was simply too pretty. She was an accidental child from a rich businessman and his maid, so she would never know her father. However, anyone could tell that she had money in her blood. Her blonde curls were thick and luxurious without hairspray, her skin a pale creme, and her eyes a warm brown that sat large on her small head. Her mother, a typical maid with thin brown hair and basic features, often said she was carved by angels, and would one day be sent to serve them.

The little girl just laughed and said she would stay in their apartment forever and ever. She left before she was six and never saw her mother again. Stationed in a richer household, she was a beauty maid that would make a good salary until she went 'bad.'

Since it was the only thing she knew, the girl stayed until the day before her nineteenth birthday. That's when it happened. The son of the head of the house had had his eyes set on her since she had come, and expected her to fall easily into his arms just like everything else in his posh life. But he was wrong. He snuck into her room the night before her nineteenth birthday hoping to give her a petty love letter, but instead found her with another servant, clearly intimate. He gabbed a vase of the bookcase and hurled it at the young boy, hitting him in the head and killing him nearly instantly. The blonde girl turned around to see him collapse to the ground, dead. Before she could scream, the rich boy was upon her, a glass shard in his hand.

He looked her straight in the eyes and said, "You're my property, so you better sit still and look pretty for me and only me."

The girl just stayed limp, letting him think she was done fighting. With a sad smile she replied, "I'm afraid I can't."

"Well then pretty hurts." He snarled. And with that he began to slice at her with every ounce of strength in his body. She screamed and screamed, but found herself alone. So she sliced back. Straight in the throat, he dropped back easily.

Screaming and crying, she left that room and never came back. Then the headaches started. Whether it was from the glass that had pierced her head or the painful memories, she would never know. And she knew she could never go back. There's nothing left for her there.

Aries glanced up, her body feeling lighter and more free than it had since the incident. Leo was staring down at her, a look of amazement on his face. He cupped his warm hands around her red cheeks, streaked with tears she hadn't known had fallen, and whispered, "You are the most incredible girl I've met in this entire damned city, pardon my French. Most people would've died during or soon after that, but you've made it! From now on, I'll make sure everything is better."

She hugged him tight, nearly knocking the breath out of him before he could return it. "Thank you." She whispered, "You've set me free."

"And I'll stay by you." He muttered into her hair, "You will be safe."

She smiled, letting the atmosphere calm her one again. "Safe. That's a word I haven't heard truthfully in a while."

"You're not simply just safe with me." He replied, "You've got a home."

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Sagittarius frowned at the tall glass of bourbon in front of him on the bar counter. It was his seventeenth tonight. Reluctantly, he chugged it down, knowing there was no other way he would make it through the night.

"Sagittarius! What's all that for?" Virgo strode up, gesturing to the empty glasses around him with a delicate hand. She plopped down beside him, and he sighed, knowing she wouldn't give it up until she got an answer.

"Aries." He muttered, wincing at her name. Virgo's eyes widened in understanding. Just about everyone except Aries knew he liked her, and not just as a friend.

"There's clearly more than that to the story!" Virgo protested after a minute, realizing she had almost let him off to easy. Sagittarius ran a hand through his auburn hair, letting the alcohol take over his pain.

"Drop it, Virgo." I growled, slamming my hand on the table in front of her. She jumped a little, startled, before turning her gaze to me.

"I expect to know more once you're sober!" She exclaimed, then ran off into the crowd, giggling off wine and whatever else she had drank. Sagittarius watched her run off with sad eyes, felling bad for his temper flare.

Especially since she was right. There was more to his story. What no one knew was that he had the headaches too, coming from a dent in his head where a vase had hit him a few years earlier. Nobody knew that he had thought his girl was dead , and had wandered aimlessly around London for years. Nobody knew the joy he had found when we had seen her again, then the crushing pain when she barely remembered. The restrain he had to put on himself to keep him away.

"Cheers to that." He muttered to himself, raising his eighteenth glass, "Cheers to her happiness, because that's the only thing I wish for."

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Here you have it Jadedragon13! I hope you like it! Please comment any feedback you guys have :)