The sweet lilac behind the cold cyan

Chapter 3

Nightmare was following the black and white soldier a little uneasy. He hadn't said a word since he took him away from the others and they were alone in the giant corridor. Even if he was in danger with him Nightmare couldn't escape him since he didn't know where he was exactly in the castle.

"It can be confusing at first being here. I mean it's a pretty big place and well the old you quite liked the maze aspect of it. But I swear you're gonna love it!" Said the knight with a gentle smile, perhaps he wasn't in danger after all.

"You've been here for a long time? I mean how long has it been since the old me or future me brought you here ?" Curiously asked the guardian.

He wanted to know them more if this weird version of him that replace him for years got close to these people then he could do it too. He could be friends with them just like he did with Killer!

"Not as long as the others, I guess you could say I'm the youngest here. It's been three years not so long ago, a month precisely."

"Killer said that I save all of you. Is that true?" If he saved someone then he wasn't as bad as the villager said he was. His smile rose when the knight nodded to his question.

"Yes, I can't speak for the others since it's their story but before you saved me I was alone in a horrible place, everything was blank and there was nothing around just me and my madness. Then you came into my world and you took me in, you didn't even know me but it didn't matter to you. For that, I will always be grateful to you, I'm your knight my king so just ask and I'll be there."

Nightmare's smile grew bigger when Cross was talking, he felt loved so much that he didn't know if he really deserve it. It looked like with time he finally found people that wanted him near them. It felt so good to be loved by someone else than his brother or mother.

Cross continued his visit of the castle, it was really big and just like the knight said, a maze. There was a lot of bathrooms and empty rooms, Cross said nobody used them but that when they needed a new room to stock thing or just keep them busy well they just took one of the empty ones. It appeared that Dust was a kind of alchemist and had a lab where he could make potions. There was also an infirmary for when they got hurt on missions.

When Cross told him that their job was to keep the balance between Negativity and Positivity Nightmare was surprised and scared for his mother. It was she who keep the balance in order, they just had to keep her safe since in her tree form she couldn't defend the apples. But if his soul was one of the apples and the balance was broken what happened to her? He hoped she would be okay by the time he came back to her.

"Cross do you know wh-why I'm covered with this weird black goo? It's pretty scary and I-I don't know what it is..."

Cross almost fell on his scarf, not waiting for this question at all. Did that mean that Nightmare wasn't all goopy since the beginning? Scary? how did the guardian was feeling right now? And if he wasn't used to the goop then how did he get it?

"No, I don't I-we thought that you always had that on you, that it was a normal thing. Is it painful? I don't know how to take it off since it doesn't go away with water!" The knight was starting to panic a little did he miss something? His king...Was he hurt all this time and he failed to notice it?

"No!"Exclaimed Nightmare when he sensed the negativity from Cross. "I mean a little in the back where those things came from but...It's okay I guess?"

As he was speaking one of his tentacles rose to pet Cross's head as if it was saying that the knight didn't need to worry. Cross smiled a little and grabbed the appendage before he started petting it to calm himself. He looked at Nightmare with a sorry look wondering if he should be happy that the guardian had changed so much. There was no way that his king allowed those affection manifestations before and Cross was pretty sure that Killer was aware of that and enjoyed it as much as possible while it lasted.