T/W attempted assault. Please take care reading <3 

Three years earlier

Nyx Knight was a bad influence. 

Every report card her parents received shared that delightful tidbit in some euphemistic form. 

'Nyx is a talented student but tends to disrupt the class. Nyx can sometimes encourage other students to break the rules,' or her favourite, 'Miss Knight, would be a more successful student if she focused more on her studies and less on her peers.'

All total bullshit.

Any time her parents questioned her, she gave the same answers. "I don't even talk in class, and I don't know why that teacher always picks on me."

Despite their generally understanding nature, by her final year, they confronted her with exasperation.

"Seriously, hun. What are you doing? Your grades are perfect, so why are all the teachers saying you are causing trouble in the class?" her dad said opposite her at the dining table, a furrow between his brows.

"Your teacher said that the other honour students in your class are flunking," her mother added.

Nyx swallowed her mouthful of toast and rubbed the crumbs off her fingers with a frown. "I swear, I'm just doing the work, Dad. It's not my fault the other kids aren't doing well."

Ever the softie, her father gave up the lame attempt at an intervention while her mother held firm for a moment longer. "Then why are the ones failing always sitting next to you?" she said, leaning against the marble counter.

Withholding a grumble, Nyx tilted her head at her mother's tightly folded arms."How is that my fault?" She slotted her final piece of crust between her teeth before muttering under her breath, "I'm glad they're failing." 

Her mother clicked her tongue and threw a dishtowel at her daughter's lap. "I heard that, Nyx. Tell me the truth."

The truth? I wish... 

She couldn't tell her mother she had a strange ability to see souls or that said ability made the situation at hand entirely 'her fault'. Nor could she mention she was capable of manipulating anyone to be the worst version of themselves with a simple touch of her hand.

"They're honestly dickheads, mum. They don't deserve all the special treatment they get."

"Nyx!"

She got up from the table and put her plate in the sink as she defended herself.

"What? They're bullies and get away with it because they're smart. You should hear them in class. It's like they enjoy making everyone else feel stupid. One of them, Declan, told a girl her reason for being 'slutty' is that her dad abandoned her. In class, in front of the teacher, and he didn't even get written up for it."

"He actually called her slutty?"

"Daniel-"

"Yes! Verbatim."

Her father cast his wife a withering look before telling Nyx to head off to school.

"Daniel, we aren't finished-"

"Kathryn, darling. She's done nothing wrong. Just let her be. There are only a few more days of the year left anyway."

"Don't Kathryn darling me-"

Nyx rushed from the room as she heard her mother's resolve crumbling. She did not need to listen to their healthy, loving relationship and sloppy make-up kisses.

Scooping up her school bag, she slipped out the door and headed to school. Living a twenty-minutes walk from school had its perks, and Nyx enjoyed the crisp morning air against her warm cheeks.

Despite her slight embarrassment from her parent's ample love, Nyx wished for a relationship like theirs one day. They weren't her biological parents, but their love for her and each other was strong enough to rid any anxieties about being an adoptee. They didn't have any biological children; as Kathryn explained, they fell in love the moment they saw her in the hospital, and that was enough for them.

Nyx loved them right back with equal vigour, only making their attachment grow. Their extended family told Nyx at every opportunity that she made Daniel and Kathryn's souls brighter. Or, 'They are better people because of you, darlin'. 

Nyx wanted to tell those people, namely, her aunt and uncle, that her parents' souls' were wholly good and nothing she did would ever change that. At the time, she didn't know why or how she knew it. Nyx knew the state of their souls like she knew her sexual orientation. When she realised she could manipulate those same souls if she wanted— well, that was a different story. 

Lost in her thoughts, Nyx didn't notice the subtle shift in the air as she strolled down a familiar alleyway, now five minutes from school. Her nose wrinkled from a rotten egg and smoke cloud she unknowingly walked through.

"Christ, that stinks."

"Oh, he isn't gonna help you," a grating voice spoke into her ear.

She jolted away from the person, back hitting the bricked walls of the old apartment complex. The bag over her shoulder dropped into her hand and rattled as the lunch box hit the concrete. Her heart raced from the jump scare but evened when she saw the man's appearance. 

 His manky brown hair slicked over a conspicuous bald patch, and greasy sweats hung off his wiry frame. He looked frail enough to be knocked over by a stiff wind. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused," he replied with a sneer. Nyx wanted to melt further into the brick walls as his breath fanned her face. 

Rotten.

She sidestepped towards the street when his gnarled hand gripped her elbow. "Leaving so soon? I just got here, princess. Let's have some fun."

"I'm eighteen."

He looked at least fifty.

"Legal."

Nyx shuddered as his tongue poked out, creating a glistening slug path across his thin lips.

"I'm leaving."

"No." The man's word sounded final as he pulled her with unnatural strength into his body. Her bag dropped completely with a thud as she tried to fight against his grip.

A scream attempted to rip from her throat, but his sweating palm pressed across her mouth, stifling it. The man spun her dizzyingly fast into the opposite wall, and his boney body pressed the length of hers. Her eye's squeezed shut as her school uniform was hoisted over her hips, displaying her cotton underwear. Her screams remained muffled in his vicelike grip while the other slipped beneath the elastic waistband.

Time seemed to stand still as Nyx squirmed against the monster. She felt a creeping evil trailing through his spindly fingers to her flesh, and she reached for it with her thoughts. Unlike the assholes in her class, and every other person she came across in her short life, this freak had no redeeming light in his soul. 

Nothing. 

Its inky blackness felt hungry and tenacious, drenching his internal visage. It felt like peeling a stubborn scab from an old wound. Nyx held the evil in her mind before envisioning it turning to uncorrupted goodness. She reasoned that someone pure and good wouldn't mindlessly assault someone in an alleyway.

It's a gamble, but anything is better than this, though. 

When the black stain transformed into slightly blemished white, she slapped it back inside the creep with a painful effort. His clammy fingers stopped their trail into her underwear, and the man behind her moaned. 

It wasn't a sexual sound; instead, the low groan quickly became a full-body wail as the man dropped to his knees and slapped the earth. Nyx took a moment to pull her skirt down and sprint as fast as she could out of the alleyway, bag: long forgotten. 

She briefly heard the man begging, "Please, Master, take me back. Take me back!"

No one responded, but Nyx couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. She sprinted the rest of the way to school, ignoring the judgemental looks of her classmates and locked herself in the nearest toilets to cry. 

~~~

A/N

Sorry, I told a lie; this was a short chapter too. But from now on, I swear they're longer...

Also, prepare for occasional time jumps moving forward. Next chapter, I 'age Nyx up' a few times. Just cause :)

<3 K