The cold steel of the midnight shard glistened in Sunny's hands as he used it to steady himself, placing a hand on his face, hysterical laughter erupted from Sunny's lips as tears fell from his eyes. Despite his laughter, his eyes continued to burn with fresh hatred as he began to speak.
"Cassie, do you even believe the bullshit you're saying? You and I both know it was a done deal since you decided to ask me, and to make it worse you have the gall to stare me in the eyes and give me excuses!? If you were going to do that why apologise!"
Turning to Nephis, Sunny's eyes blazed once more. The crooked smile disappeared from his face as he closed the distance between the two, despite their height difference Nephis couldn't help but feel she was being looked down on.
"I begged you; I pleaded with you. I was ready to stay there as long as it meant staying with you. And what do you do, you enslave me and then abandon me like I'm scum!?" Pausing to take a breathe, Nephis eyes wavered as she failed to match Sunny's resolve. Sunny took a step backwards, and another until he was seated on Nephis bed again.
"No, wait. It isn't just you two who are odious good for nothing scum, I'm one of you too! What type of fool am I, offering my trust to someone just because they saved my life only to abandon me whenever things became difficult. I'm as big of a fool as the hero! No, an even bigger one!"
Nephis didn't know who he was referencing, and quite frankly she didn't care. Sunny's words continued to tear daggers through her heart as she watched him analyse them with hatred filling his gaze. His grip around the midnight shard tightened as he pointed it at Cassie.
"Cassie, I swear on my dead parents. I will find a way to make you regret ever meeting me!" He roared, killing her wasn't enough. He needed to make her suffer just as she made him, he almost forgot who and what he was thousands of times throughout his journey. And here he was standing before his slavers.
Moving in between Cassie and Sunny, Nephis stood between them with her sword readied at her side, prepared for the worst. She could no longer continue to endure the onslaught in silence as her heart guided her lips, flowing with the emotion she kept pent up the past two years.
"We didn't have a much better choice! If I stayed with you, I could have died! Before I allowed myself to risk my life out of necessity, but in that moment, I had a perfect way to ensure my safety and yours! Because I knew you'd survive!"
These words only served to enrage Sunny further. However, his tone came out calm and tranquil, hiding his emotions with almost trained skill. "Firstly, it's Sunless. Only my friends call me Sunny. Secondly, I was just a commodity to you! Immediately the option of throwing me away came, and you had no easy way out like you always did, you threw me away without looking back!"
Leaping from the bed, Sunny closed the distance between he and Nephis and shoved grabbed her by the shirt. "There wasn't a 'It's just the dream realm' out of those conniving malevolent lips of yours, all that I heard were excuses. 'If you follow me, you'll never be a slave!' Since when did I teach you how to lie so well!"
Sunny felt like slitting her throat right there, but he knew he wasn't strong enough to do it as easily as he would have liked. Shoving her backwards, Sunny turned around and looked in the air aimlessly. Soon after, he let out a sigh and turned around, walking out the room with venom marking his steps.
Turning around once more, he glanced at Cassie with poorly hidden malice "Remember Cassie, I will kill you. I will make you suffer like I did before you die, whether Nephis likes it or not. And you...Nephis or should I say master? You'll get what you deserve soon."
Nephis typically would not have taken such a blatant threat, but it was Sunny. How could she hurt Sunny more than she already had. Nephis wanted to run after him, beg him to forgive her however she knew that might end her in an early grave.
Silent steps soon made their way back into the room, Cassie had been stunned into silence and frozen against the wall farthest from Sunny as he made his presence known again. "I just remembered, I don't have a house and I'm fucking poor. So, if you don't mind master I'll be borrowing your guest room."
The way he used master instead of her name killed a part of Nephis she didn't know she had. Pure venom filled his tone, replacing the once barely concealed affection that lingered in his lips as he spoke of her. Regret filled Nephis mind once more as she quickly burnt it to a crisp, regardless of how sad she was, she couldn't change the past.
It was currently nighttime, Cassie had begrudgingly been forced home by Nephis, she had refused to leave for hours out of fear of Nephis life only being given slight solace through the bond that she and Sunny shared. Not the emotional kind.
Nephis was currently sitting in her bed staring at the ceiling, Sunny was only one room away. She could almost hear the silent ruffling of the floors as Sunny shifted around his room, she had no idea what he was doing. If he wanted to, she was quite sure he could burst into her room and attempt to take her life.
'He's planning something' Nephis thought to herself. All things being equal, there wasn't much she could do about that. Invading his mind and removing all ideas of hatred from his very being would be too far for her even to stomach, her recent argument with Sunny had her reflecting on how different she was to the people she intended to kill.
Similar or not, they would die anyway.
Nephis felt her eyes growing heavy as unconsciousness attempted to claim her, thankfully due to her ascension dreams could welcome her with open arms. But she was quite sure she was going to get nightmares.
As her eyes flickered open once more, a figure stood above her. Nephis body shot into action as her muscles tensed readying herself for combat, however, a cool palm pressed itself against her mouth pinning her to the bed. The blade of a stiletto brushed past her skin lightly careful not to draw any blood.
"If you move, attempt to resist or activate your aspect I will slit your throat." The voice was familiar, it was Sunny. Although she couldn't see him in the darkness, she was quite sure he could see her, suppressing the anguish from bubbling into her eyes, Nephis allowed her mask of indifference to fall over her face as she waited for Sunny's next action.
Out of the corner of her eye, a gigantic figure made its presence known. It appeared like a horse except something far from it, it's canines were as sharp and long as a wolves and it had three devilish horns protruding from it's skull. Placing a finger onto his lips, Sunny let out a silent hushing motion before Nephis found unconsciousness claiming her forcefully.
Her eyes snapped open as she saw herself in an open field, looking upwards, the calming rays of sunlight beat against her skin as Nephis took in her new environment. She knew what she was experiencing was a dream, however the environment was too peaceful to ignore.
Before she could continue to bask in the sunlight, a horn ripped through the very fabric of reality before tugging it's head upwards, shattering the dream without any hesitation. There stood Sunny, riding on top of the dark destrier with an indifferent expression on his face.
Leaping off it, Sunny made his way towards Nephis, looking downwards for a moment. All that was beneath them was the void and fragments of memories that could quickly coagulate and form into dreams if not for Nightmare's influence.
Pointing backwards, Sunny spared Nightmare a glance before turning to Nephis "Do you know what that is?" he asked, his tone remaining passive. "I don't, I assume it has something to do with controlling dreams. An echo?" Sunny nodded in reply and stared at her.
"Do you want to know how I got him? Well, it doesn't matter I'll tell you anyways. As you've noticed, he can manipulate dreams, but he can also create nightmares. I was forced to live the lives of several different men and women, and die at this creatures hands, hundreds of times, thousands even!" Sunny's voice was tainted with the trauma from the harrowing experience. Nephis outstretched a hand to hold him however Sunny recoiled away from her.
"And the only thing I could think of each time I died to this bastard...was how much easier it would have been knowing my friend didn't abandon me." Nephis eyes watered, her lip trembling slightly as she wiped away a tear before it fell from her eyes. It was clear Sunny wasn't done so she let him speak.
"That's why I'll make it clear now. You actually did me a favour!" A fake smile plastered itself across his face as he outstretched his hand and took Nephis in his own. Shaking her hand vigorously. "You showed me what it's like to have people care for you, save your life and give you a sense of purpose."
His grip on her hand slowly grew tighter as his smile became more sickening "And then you took it all away, you fulfilled my dreams and then tore them from me when I was nearing my happiest. So, it's only fair if I do the same to you, no?"
Sunny's head cocked to the side as he waited for a response, and Nephis gave him one. Her voice sounded panicked, and guilt stricken as she spoke. "Sunny, I know we hurt you-" her words were cut off by Sunny's enraged snarl "It's Sunless. Now continue."
Nephis stared at him wide eyed for a moment before proceeding. "There is no need for us to continue to hurt each other more than we already have, wouldn't it be better for the two of us to just go our separate ways?"
A low laugh escaped Sunny's lips once more. He pulled his hand away from Nephis own roughly as he wiped it across his shirt. Staring at her as though she said the sky was raining blood. "Better? Why would you miss out on a temporary ally. I'll help you reach your goals, master. Because I want to see the look on your face when I rip everything away from you, just like you did to me!"
Sunny's voice grew so loud that he shook the ground beneath them as he stared at Nephis, his eyes flashing red with rage as he continued to stare at her. "If you think just because I loved you at one point, you'll end up any different than the long line of people who attempted to ruin me..."
"You never really knew me in the first place then."