I look over to see Color swimming over. I feel the grip tighten on my hand from Nightmare. I glance to him to see his eye was narrowing at Color. He glances at me curiously.

"Who is he and why is he calling you?"He asks

"Nobody, I'll handle him."I say

"I'll go back to hunting."He says, swimming off

I go over to Color and frown.

"Color, get lost. I have a new group now."I say

"Is he who you're into instead of me? A freak?! Come on, even you aren't crazy enough to go that low!"He snaps, going to grab my hand

I slap his hand away.

"He is not a freak! I don't have to tell you anything! Especially after what the pod you took me into did to me!"I growl

He looks at me in shock.

"But I could be better than him!"He insists

"No, you are incapable of that."I say, then take off

I quickly lost him amongst the coral reefs, then slip into the rift back home. I shut the boulder behind me and get right to work. I set the books in a pile in the corner of Nightmare's space for his reading pleasure. I lay one of the biggest blankets down for him to be on and have the rest curl around like a nest for him to stay in warm in. I set the pillows where he usually rests his head on his arm. I left the clothes in a neat little pile by the books.Then I just left the tablecloth bag of food tied up with a note for him to EAT for Poseidon's sake!

I slip away to my room, laying in bed with the sea bunnies hopping about, listening for activity. I hear Horror yawn as he woke up and then the boulder shifting open. Chatter of all my friends flooded in, Dust and Error chatting, then Dream cheering about another successful trip with Cross, etc.

"I got dinner...."Nightmare says tiredly as the boulder shuts behind him

"Oh you sure did! Bout time you decided to feed yourself!"Horror says

"Finally you listened to us! I'm so happy, Nightmare!"Dream says

"What?"He asks

"Look at how cozy your space is! And you have plenty of food for the time you starved yourself!"Dream says

I hear thuds of Nightmare tossing the food he collected aside. Then silence

"I...didn't do this."Nightmare says

"I guess someone took your health concerns into their own hands! Which I'm certainly not complaining about!"Dream says

"Huh...."Nightmare says

"Go enjoy your room!"Dream says, then passes my room and giggles

I hear silence in return.

"Hey, Cross? Did you ever meet a sea lion on your travels with Killer and Dust?"Nightmare asks instead

"Umm, no. Not that I can remember. Killer might've but he doesn't talk about the past....He lives in the now, ya know? Why do ya ask?"Cross replies

"A seal was calling for him when I met up with him earlier. And the seal was still searching for him when I came back from hunting...He didn't seem happy with the seal."He says

"Oh...Huh. They must have really done something then if just seeing them upsets him."Cross says

"Yeah..."Nightmare says

I turn over in bed, shutting my eyes. I slowly slipped asleep until I was shaken awake suddenly yet gently. I glance up to see Nightmare peeking over my shoulder at me. His frown was visible to me, a sharp tooth peeking out of his mouth.

"You lied to me."He says

"Hmm?"I hum, playing sleepy and clueless

"That bag wasn't for the winter. Why'd you give all that to me?"He asks

I chuckle.

"Why wouldn't I? I can hear your hunger from my room at this point. And you've done a lot for us, it makes sense to return the favor. If you weren't going to take care of yourself, someone had to."I say, turning to him

I see that he was wearing the loose shirt that I got him for resting. And he looks good in it too. He has a blanket wrapped around him that he grips tightly onto.

"So....Could I join you?"He says

I pause silently and see him glancing away, his cheeks glowing.

"Sure."I say

He leaps into my bed, pulling me close. The blanket wraps around us and his tentacles wiggle eagerly. He rests his head on mine and I smile as we doze off. I hold him closer as I do so.

When I woke up, I find Nightmare missing from beside me and there was now a small lump under the blanket in his spot. I lift the blanket curiously and smile, trying not to coo. There was a mer-octopus smaller than my hand with violet tentacles or fins shining dimly along with pearly white bones. The little guy was peacefully sleeping.

I guess he snook in to look for some warmth.....

I shift over to the side of the bed to change my shirt from yesterday's, then see a sea bunny hop closer to the little guy. He started to wake up from the bunny's nudging. I scoop him up gently to keep the sea bunny from disturbing him.

"Sssh, ssssh, go back to sleep...You're safe and nobody will hurt you."I say softly

He didn't listen, shifting more.

"Killsy...?"He says softly, rubbing his eyes sleepily

I recognized his voice though. It's Nightmare's. But I got hit in the soul hard with the nickname. Killsy! He called me Killsy! It feels so nice and I got a sense that I missed that name....Even though I've never been called it.

He sees me and quickly woke up, backing up. Then he looks down at himself with his beautiful purple eyes.

"No! Nonononono! I knew I shouldn't have done this! I can't be this! I can't be weak!"He tells himself

"Nightmare...?"I say

He looks up at me, tears in his eyes.

"Don't look at me! I can't be like this! I have to be strong so I can protect everyone!"He snaps

He looked so precious and adorable, yet was stressing himself out so much. He's nearly paranoid and ashamed of his smaller form. I wipe his tears away gently, feeling my soul beat a bit quicker.

"I'm not going to look away from you. Nothing is wrong with you. But if you keep worrying like this you'll have a panic attack."I tell him, rubbing his cheek gently with a finger

His face glows a bright purple when I said that, his eyes twinkling. It grew when I smiled at him. He certainly has taken a liking to me. I dunno why he would though...But given how uneasy he is, I don't say a word of it. I set him in my lap and he settled down.

"I can't lose everyone again..."He mumbles, looking down

I pull him closer to me gently.

"Nobody's going anywhere."I say

He looks up at me. I realize what I said and how soft I sounded.

I'm letting my guard down around him...I swore I'd never do that.....But it's different here...He's different...

"Who was that sea lion, Killer?"He asks

I froze.

Of course Color had to be brought up.....

"He doesn't matter. Do you feel better?"I ask

He nods.

In the blink of an eye he was back to his gigantic form, shifting off of my lap. He looks at me with this stern gaze, as if trying to figure me out. I look away, frowning.

"I........I'm going out."I say, leaving my room

I slip out and shut the door to the cave shut. I swim higher and off until I couldn't even see the rift that it's in anymore. I swim closer to the surface and climb onto a rock, thinking. My mind trails back to the pod Color brought me into....Back when he was my most trusted friend...

"Come on, Killer! You'll love them! They'll provide us security and we could be happy! You won't regret it I promise!"He had said

It turned out to be the biggest mistake I've ever made......One that I can't come back from. That we never came back from.

All it took was for the pod to run low on food one winter for them to turn on me. They looked to me as their food....

"Hey! Let go of me!"I snapped

"Oh relax, Killer. Quit fighting and just make it easier for all of us. You should've known this was coming."One of them said as they closed in on me

CrrrrRACK!

I remember screaming out in pain and crying, trying to fight them off of me but there were too many of them. They proceeded to tear me apart as I sturggled, biting off pieces of me and all Color did was watch it happen.

It was that point that I started planning my escape from that hell. Color apologized repeatedly but it didn't make a difference. He could say that word all he wants but it wouldn't change a thing. It happened, he did nothing, there's no coming back from that for us. Trust broken as far as I can see or care. I proceeded to steal, fight, rob anything and any market just to get by. I didn't trust anyone so I was on my own. Color would follow or bust me, trying to fix things but it just made things worse. Then I bumped into Cross and Dust and I found some security wandering with them....

I look in the water, looking at the tear marks on my face, forever reminding me of what happened as well as the scars on my body. I feel them softly and feel my hands tremble, turning into fists.

Never again.

I swore to myself that I'll never drop my guard to allow that to happen again. I can't go back on that now. And yet....With this new pod....I am....But they're different. I can trust them...They take care of me....But winter is coming....

"Killer!"Two voices yell

I shake my head, snapping out of my head. I see Color rise above the water, climbing closer to me.

"I've been looking for you everywhere! Please come back! We can still fix this, can't we?"He says

I don't even look at him, letting out a growl to keep him away.

"Killer! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked! Please come back before something happens to you!"Nightmare calls to me

I smile a bit, seeing him rise above the water to reach me. He reaches up, gently feeling my cheek. The sun was slowly setting. His cheeks glow brightly.

"What did he do to you, Killer?"Color snaps

Nightmare looks at him and narrows his eyes.

"I asked about you."He says with disgust

"Killer, please! I know it was wrong but it's behind us! It's no biggie! Just come back with me and it will all be better."Color says, reaching to me

A tentacle snatches his hand and yanks it down.

"You keep your hands off of him."He growls

I look at Nightmare and smile.

"I'm not leaving him at your mercy this winter!"Color snaps

"Then leave. You've never helped in the winter anyway."I say

He looks at me in shock, knowing exactly what I meant. I hop down to join Nightmare's side. He wraps an arm around me protectively.

"Something tells me I don't wanna know what he means by that. Scram. All you've done is get on our nerves."Nightmare snaps

"I will make it up to you, Killer. One day....You'll see."He says, then swims away

I look up at Nightmare. He looks at me and smiles a bit. His tentacles feel down my body and tail as if checking for wounds. He feels my old scars and his eye shrinks a bit at the recognition of them. He doesn't say anything, but frowns. He pulls me close to him and I grip his back, unsure where this is going.

"Nobody will hurt you again, Killer."He growls

I smile, hugging him close. He looks at me again.

"You're beautiful in this sunset...."He says

I feel my face burn, then shake my head.

"The sunset is beautiful, you mean."I say

"I know what I said, Killer."He says

"I know what I am and am not. It's been made very clear to me."I say, looking down

"Well maybe I just have to make it clear to you that your previous source is wrong."He says with a grin and a twinkle in his eye

"Why? Why do you look at me like that? Spend so much time and effort on me? I'm nothing special...."I say

His cheeks burn brightly.

"Killer....You are anything but nothing to me."He says

He lifts my chin up and I stare deep into his eye, looking for any clue to signal trouble or a red flag. But there was nothing in his words or his gaze that set off a red flag. He held me gently, his gaze simply pleaing for me to believe him.

"Stop...."I mutter

He frowns.

"I can't change the truth, Killer. I'm simply acting accordingly."He says, then he checks my soul

He sees the target shape of it and tensed.

"Has your soul....Always been like that?"He asks

"No.."I say, glancing away

"Killer, please give me a chance to work my way back to your trusted circle. Let me prove my words true."He says

I look at him again.

He keeps making this sound so familiar...As if we've met before or it's a reconnection...Work his way back? He's certainly something different...But he has been nothing but good to me...He hasn't hurt me or let me get in trouble like Color...He cares about me...I can give him a chance.

"O-Okay, I'll give you a chance. No promises though...."I say

He nods.

"No promises needed."He says, leading me back to our cave with a smile

I smile as well, hopeful at least for the moment as we enter the home.

TBC