Earth and Shadow (read desc)

Dead Boy

Nightmare looked into my eyes for a moment. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, all I knew was that I would try to help him if he needed me. I looked back into his gaze. I really liked his eyes. They looked almost like gems, beautiful and strong.
Then the next thing I knew he was kissing me.
My eyes widened with surprise, it was so unexpected at first I didn't know what to think. It was like my brain was melting through my shoes, becoming a puddle on the ground. Then I closed my eyes and kissed back.
Pretty quickly though, Nightmare pulled away. He looked away from me, blush plain on his cheeks even in the dim lighting.
I felt my face heat up too, but I still smiled at him.
After a moment he looked back at me and gave a embarrassed smile. I giggled.
"Your a little embarrassed, it's cute."
He, of course, went pinker from the embarrassment. I giggled more at his expression.
"Oh my god Nightmare you're so pink" Blaise said, hiding a smile behind a hand.
"It's true."
He had no idea how to respond to that, so he looked away and wrapped himself in his wings, trying to preserve some dignity. After a moment I realized I had probably gone a bit too far.
"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to Nightmare."
"I-It's fine."
Blaise giggled, "The first chance I get I'm telling everyone I know. I ship you two."
"Your not doing that," I said. He looked embarrassed enough as it is, I couldn't imagine how bad he'd feel if more people teased him.
Nightmare glared at her. Suddenly a small shadow THING came up from the ground and launched Blaise into some trees.
"Ow. HEY!"
It vanished just as quickly as it appeared. I giggled, trying to hide it.
She climbed out of the tree, sticks poking through her hair.
"Oh come on-"
"Your not telling everyone. It's embarrassing."
She grumbled and crossed her arms.
"I can tell whoever I want."
With a flick of his fingers Blaise went soaring into the branches again. She spat out leaves and shouted, annoyed.
"Where the hell are those things coming from!?"
I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. Nightmare smiled at me, seeing my joy. Then Blaise fluttered out of the tree and glared at him.
"You should be careful with that stuff, dead boy, you can break some ribs with that."
He raised a eyebrow at her.
"Did you just call me dead boy?"
"I don't know, DID I? Cause I mean your technically dead, and now that I think about it that's a good na-" She was thrown into the tree a third time. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. By the time I settled down Blaise managed to climb down again.
"Alright, THATS IT."
"Your basically asking for it," I reminded her.
"Yeah but he doesn't have to CHUCK ME IN A TREE."
"Welllll...," Then I saw something crawling on Blaise's arm. I went up to her and it crawled onto my finger, "Awwwwe it's a spider."
Her eyes widened. She jumped back, "AHH what the-." Nightmare laughed.
"SHHH! You'll frighten the poor thing."
"I don't care if I frighten it that thing is frightening ME."
"Why? spiders are harmless," I looked at her again, "By the way there's another one on your shoulder."
She screamed and scrambled, hastily brushing herself off. Nightmare laughed even harder, wheezing. However, as she flailed around, she accidentally stepped on it. I froze.
"Did you just.."
"Oh crud."
"You'd better run," Nightmare suggested. And run she did. But before she could get far a thick root sprouted from the ground, wrapping around her ankle. Very quickly roots erupted from the ground, wrapping around her until she was immobilized. Nightmare wasn't smiling now. He watched, suddenly alert. But I wasn't worried about him, at least not at the moment.
"Never," I made the roots squeeze tighter, "And I mean NEVER hurt or kill a innocent creature." I felt myself losing control, succumbing to my own darkness. It looked as if everything was happening to another person. I never hesitated, not for an instance.
"L-let me g-go." She struggled in vain, trying to break free. But she couldn't move.
I squeezed her tighter, constricting the roots. "As long as you don't hurt anything that's an animal again." She choked, the roots around her chest and neck too tight to breathe. Suddenly Nightmare put a hand on my shoulder, speaking softly.
"Hey, I know how you feel about animals and plants, but your hurting Blaise. Can you put her down?"
Suddenly everything snapped back into place. I dropped her, the roots unravelling and going back to their place in the earth.
"Blaise I'm so sorry! I..."
She rubbed her throat, on her hands and knees.
"W-what even was that..?"
I sighed, "It's complicated, but to summarize a few years ago I got possessed by dark magic, and when something or someone I care about get's hurt.. Well, that happens."
Nightmare rubbed my cheek, looking worried.
"Who did that to you?"
"I went into the dark lands, and they found out I wasn't who I said I was. And well, they possessed me. When it first happened Clove and Clover locked me in my room because I was basically going insane."
"Wow... Something tells me we should get that darkness out of you. It doesn't sound healthy."
"Trust me, I've tried many many many times, It never works and it almost kills me every time."
"Maybe I can-" Blaise started to say.
"No. You have light magic. It'll hurt you."
"I'm fine guys," I insisted, but they didn't listen.
"I might be able to try and get it out. My magic is completely dark. I already have too much for my own good, so it won't affect me if I take it from you and put it into my own body."
"There's a complication with that, the magic there is not like your magic. It's completely different."
"I still want to try for your sake. You almost squeezed the life out of Blaise after all."
"Is having two different types of dark magic good for you Nightmare?" Blaise asked.
"We'll see." I could tell even he was doubting his plan, but he was hiding his worry for my sake. I sighed.
"I don't want to hurt you.."
"You won't, it's fine."
Blaise coughed, "'I'll be safe, don't you worry' gets kidnapped."
Nightmare glared at her.
"I didn't expect to get kidnapped."
"Oh sorry, then how about 'Yeah let me just rip out my soul real quick and give it to a stranger'. Seriously dude you keep taking unnecessary risks for nothing."
"So?"
"It's dangerous."
"Blaise kind of has a point Nightmare, I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Yeah but I've taken 'unnecessary risks' as you might say but am I dead? In a coma? Doomed to be in my crystal forever? No. I'm well aware of the risks and possible outcomes and the fact I'm still here means my gut was correct, and I made the right decision."
I sighed. I hated this idea. I was pretty sure it wasn't going to work. But Nightmare was stubborn, and there was no convincing him otherwise.
"Fine... But the second I think your getting hurt I'm calling it off."
"Alright, this might feel weird." He rested a hand on my chest and closed his eyes. His hand glowed softly and I could feel as his magic probed the darkness. It felt... Tingly. Because my darkness was in my heart, it left me with a dull ache in my chest. His hand started feeling cold as ice.
Suddenly it latched on. I gasped, my eyes turning completely black as the two dark magics started rivalling one another. A tiny bit of shadow got drawn out, but not near enough to make a difference. Nightmare closed his eyes and concentrated, going slow so as to not make any mistakes or hurt me. I could already tell things were going wrong, however.
Blaise watched us attentively, anxious in case something went wrong.
Because barely anything was happening, Nightmare probed the darkness a little more. Suddenly I felt a sickening wave as my darkness tried to defend itself, going back within me and lashing out at Nightmare. The shadows turned darker, swirling around and back into me.
Nightmare cursed and with a last ditch effort tried to take all of the darkness at once while also simultaneously trying to make it so it wouldn't hurt as much, but I could feel it. It was like something was ripping my body in half. I couldn't help it, I screamed in pain.
Instantly Nightmare stopped, and everything went back in place with a loud snap. He held me close, which I was grateful for, because without his support I would have fallen.
I panted and hugged back, going back to normal.
"Are you ok..?"
I nodded, "Y-yeah.."
"I'm really, really, really sorry. I-I thought it would work..." I could tell he was being honest. He looked so guilty, so worried, it made me feel guilty too. I tried to comfort him a little.
"It's fine, I'm o-okay."
"No, your not." He looked into my eyes, concerned. Just then Blaise piped up.
"Well that was terrifying."
"S-sorry..."
"No it's ok, no need to apologize. I think the real culprit here is Nightmare since he took ANOTHER UNNECCESARY RISK."
"I thought it would work!" He said defensively.
"Oh sure I thought my electric toothbrush would work this morning but did it?? Hmm??"
I said, "You do realize I'm not a toothbrush right?"
"No but you might as well be one, according to how often this fails to work." She patted me on the head good naturedly, then she turned to Scratch, "Hmm I'm surprised Scratch is still sleeping after that fiasco. Let me try to wake him up."
She went over to him the yelled in his ear, "WAKE UP YOU DUMBASS IM WORRIED."
Instantly he sat bolt upright, "OW WHAT THE HELL-"
She smiled sweetly, "Aw good morning Scratch, how was your sleep?"
"Yeah cause the best way to wake someone up who's hurt.." I mumbled.
Scratch hugged his gut. "I was having a good dream too. And I almost never get good dreams," he complained.
"Too bad snowflake, you've been asleep for HOURS."
He sighed and yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Where are we anyways?"
"Eh somewhere outside the demon realm."
"That's not very helpful."
"Well it's dark, and we don't know where we are. Hmm and it seems to be getting a bit cold for my taste. Wanna cuddle?"
Scratch blushed, "Sure I guess."
Blaise sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He in turn wrapped his wings around her like a blanket. She smiled.
"Aren't you glad I woke you up? You would have missed out on cuddles."
He smiled back at her, "I mean, it wasn't fun waking up, but this kind of makes up for it."
"Good." She snuggled against him a bit more. He held her in his arms as they cuddled. I'm not going to lie, I felt a bit jealous. They looked so adorable together it made me wish that Nightmare would do the same too. I glanced over at him. He was looking at them half heartedly, curious and a little sad. I wonder if he was thinking the same thing?
Blaise mumbled, "I'm going to sleep dummy... Keep watch if those two won't."
"Ok babe, have a good sleep," he whispered. He kissed her on the forehead and she smiled, closing her eyes. He hummed gently while she slept, still cuddling her.
Nightmare looked at me, and I looked at him. He looked pretty awkward, but I smiled at him.
"Want to maybe..?"
"Do what?"
"I don't know, um, cuddle?" He rubbed the back of his neck embarrassed. I giggled and held his hand.
"I would love to."
We sat down, and I rested against Nightmares chest. He wrapped his wings around me and hugged me.
"I'll keep watch," He said quietly.
I nodded and yawned, exhausted. "Alright..."
I shut my eyes and soon drifted off to sleep, slipping into my waking dreams.