You and Nightmare were best friends. With her unique soul, Nightmare always found it easy to talk to her. They were both outcasts, in a way. After her untimely death, Nightmare ate one of his apples from the tree he and his brother guarded, becoming...
The bullies were aggressive. They attacked Nightmare without mercy. He was used to this, of course, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.
No one ever tried to help him and he'd stopped expecting them to. But she caught him by surprise. She caught them all by surprise.
Nightmare had seen her sometimes, but never actually spoken to her. She was always alone and extremely quiet. She would wear a grey sweater that was almost too big for her, covering most of her features, except for her long (H/C) hair that fell around her shoulders. She was always carrying a book around with her; Nightmare had never seen her without one.
Her mind was always calm, like a blank slate. Nightmare could barely sense her emotions through this slate, and sometimes he wondered if she was emotionless. Regardless, he enjoyed the quiet calmness that was her mind. Whenever he was upset, he would find her and hook onto her calm. Her calmness would make him calm and it would make everything a little more bearable.
"Leave him alone," she said. Her mind was still calm, but the look on her face meant business.
"What are you going to say if I say no?" the oldest bully said.
"What are you going to do if I keep asking you?" she countered. They moved forward, away from Nightmare and began surrounding her.
"I'm glad you asked."
Oh no.
"H-hey! Don't hurt her!" Nightmare exclaimed.
"Shut up," said the one nearest to him as he kicked Nightmare.
"That's it!" she shrieked, tossing her latest book onto the ground.
That calm blank slate cracked, letting her rage get through. The next few minutes were a blur, but it ended with the bullies running away. She was breathing heavily, then she looked up at the sky and closed her eyes. Nightmare could feel the cracks smoothing over as if they were never there.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, bending down.
"I-I'm fine," he replied. "That... that was kind of terrifying."
"Sorry," she said, using healing magic on his wounds. "I'm (Y/N), by the way."
"I'm Nightmare."
"I know. You're kinda one of the guardians of this tree." She sat down next to him.
"Why did you help me? Even though you know I guard the negative feelings?" Nightmare asked.
"Because I can," she said, jokingly, before adding seriously, "and also because I know what it's like to be treated like that, and it's not right."
"What do you mean?"
(Y/N) raised her hands to her chest and her soul appeared. It was a kind of soul Nightmare had never seen before. Half of it was white and the other half was black. On each half, a small dot of the opposite colour was in a corner. (Picture not mine. Please don't sue me.)
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