A Passionate Shiver

Chapter 4: Cross finally caves

It's been about 3 days since Passion has been living with the host shiver. Horror, Dream, Dust, Nightmare and Killer has all gotten to know Passion's personality a bit better. Passion was rather eccentric, making jokes and and exploring every nook and cranny of the main and nesting cave like an excited pup. It's as if he had never seen half the stuff he was excited about. But everyone knew that there was something seriously wrong with him as well. They knew that he was secretly hurting. For one, he didn't respond to many normal shark behaviors like normal sharks would. When Killer tried playfully nipping him or wrestling with him Passion just clammed up and asked what he was doing. Whenever it was feeding time Passion never ate even when the others insisted on him eating. He avoided his instincts too. When faced with blood that would make any Shark excitedly go into a frenzy he'd almost panic trying to fight against the instinct to devour the food brought. Fish, crabs, cuttlefish and more. So much food yet Passion chose not to eat. Even Horror, who was very territorial and had been icing Passion out at first took notice to the pitiful sight of a shark starving himself and finally loosened up around him. There was always enough food for everyone yet he looked guilty at the mention of him eating.  He constantly had nightmares at night when trying to sleep. He would toss and turn, crying and mumbling something about a G, whatever that was. At least Until Dust sent his little ghost fish to help calm him down or Nightmare woke him up. Finally, he hunted so weirdly. He'd summon a single long, thin bone and use it to try and awkwardly stab the fish. It was a pathetic sight really. He only achieved scaring the fish away. It's as if he's never killed anything in his entire life! It reminded them all of Cross. The stiff posture, lack of shark behaviors and etiquette, the look of amazement as if everything in the ocean was new to him, the guilty yet desperate looks whenever the smallest amount of kindness was shown to him or the relief whenever he woke up and realized he was in a nest, albeit alone. Whenever Passion left the room they would discuss this together. The consensus was that they were able to help Cross act more shark like and accept affection so with time they should be able to help Passion. Cross was the most reserved about this However. Something was clearly eating away at him yet Cross remained tight-lipped about it. Killer had tried to squeeze the truth out of Cross a dozen times already but Cross just won't tell him what was wrong. All he could say was that Passion reminded him of himself a few years ago back when he was new to the shiver. That's it, but Killer knows that there was something more!

There was only one person who Cross will listen to and speak up to. If Nightmare were to ask Cross to spill it then Cross wouldn't deny that from Nightmare whether it be a request or an order. That brings us to now. Killer wanted to help Cross first before he could help Passion. As much as he liked that pretty shark Cross is currently his priority since Passion wasn't officially apart of the shiver. They ALL needed to be on board before they could even think about courting and helping Passion fully. Everyone had to be in the right headspace for this, which is why Killer now swam before Nightmare in his hidden library. Nightmare was reading one of those books again. Killer never understood the appeal of staring at those strange objects all day but since they were important to his boss he tried his best not to knock over any bookshelves with his tail. He was in his small form right now in order to read, which is rare for him to do. He had such a pretty face that was full of wisdom and authority that Killer really needed right now.
"Hello my moon~ I need your help. Cross will pretty much do anything you ask of him! Well I need you to find out why he's been acting so weird ever since Passion came and if he knows anything about why Passion acts like he doesn't know how to shark right."

Nightmare didn't even look up from his book as he answered Killer firmly.
"If Cross isn't sharing then that means he isn't ready to share. Forcing him to confide in us may do the exact opposite of what you want. Do you really want to risk pushing Cross away in your quest for answers?"