Banshee: Hi everybody. Here's a nice little oneshot for you. I thought it would be good to show another side of Nikki's personality that I don't normally touch on; which is when she's scared and vulnerable. And I wanted to make something that was a little fluffy... So enjoy~!

Disclaimer: I only own my OC and the plot.

"How did I get roped into this?" Nikki thought somberly as she sat with Axel, Roxas, Demyx and Zexion in the castle's living room. Axel got up to put a DVD in the player, and then sat back down beside her.

All of them were wearing their pajamas, not bothering to wear their costumes even though it was Halloween night. A rainstorm had hit Twilight Town, so trick-or-treating was out of the question. To make up for the absence of candy and the thrill of pranks and scares, they decided it would be fun to watch some scary movies; everyone but Nikki.

"Don't worry, babe." He cooed, putting his hand on her hip. "If you get scared, you can hold on to me~. I'll protect you from the big, bad, scary monsters~…"

"Given the choice between you and the monsters, I'll take my chances with the monsters." Nikki deadpanned.

"Aw, babe, that hurt…" Axel pouted.

"So what movie are we watching?" Roxas asked.

"Halloween."

At the title, Nikki's skin paled and her eyes were the size of dinner plates. The movie that terrified her to the deepest depths of her soul was in the DVD player right now, and she heard the dreaded theme music when the menu came on the screen.

"No…" She whimpered. "No, no… anything, anything, but Halloween… I.. I-I can't do this! I'm outta here!"

Nikki was ready to jump out of her seat on the couch and bolt, but Axel wrapped his arms around her torso, preventing her from leaving. She screamed, kicked, and flailed against the hold he had on her, but his superior strength kept her in place.

"Let me go!" She yelled. "I don't want to watch it!"

"It's raining outside so we can't go trick-or-treating, so we agreed we're going to watch some scary movies. We all agreed to it, including you."

"B-But…" Nikki stuttered. "I-I don't like scary movies… Besides, Axel bullied me into it!"

"Oh sure, blame me for everything.." The redhead muttered dejectedly, his arms still wrapped around her. He moved his head to the side to dodge her elbow as it came flying towards him.

She shakily pointed to the television and continued, "Of all the movies you could have picked, why did it have to be this one? You guys know how I feel about that movie!"

"Nikki, it's okay." Roxas tried to be reassuring, sitting on the couch next to her and Axel. "We'll be right here with you. Everything will be fine."

Her response was a little whimper.

…

- 90+ Minutes Later -

…

By the end of the movie, Nikki was white and shaking, holding onto Axel's torso for dear life as she buried her face between his shoulder blades. It was the Rob Zombie remake. At first, she was okay. But as soon as she saw Michael Myers, the one thing she feared more than spiders, she hid behind Axel for the remainder of the movie. All it did was bring back unpleasant memories of her sister's ex-friend who would torture her as a child by forcing her to watch slasher movies and chase her around the house dressed like the killers in the movies. His favorite was Michael Myers.

The man terrified her. When he put on a mask, he was a merciless killer, killing anyone that crossed paths with him; even if they did nothing to deserve it. He even targeted his own younger sister, who did absolutely nothing to him. He stalked his target like a cat, letting them exhaust all their strength by running away while he slowly followed behind them.

"Hey, Nikki.." Roxas whispered, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her; the contact making her flinch. "It's okay. The movie's over now."

"That wasn't so bad." Demyx said.

"You started screaming when you saw the pictures of the dead animals." Zexion stated matter-of-factly. "And you also screamed whenever he killed someone. Oh, and by the way: you scream like a girl."

"Oh, who asked you anyway?" The nocturne huffed, and the shorter Nobody only rolled his eyes in response. Demyx crawled over to the DVD player and took the movie out, putting it back in the case and tossing it back to the pile of scary movies they had planned for the night. He turned around and asked, "Which one should we watch next?"

Nikki shook her head violently. "No… I've had enough.. I-I don't want to watch any more…"

"But Nikki," Axel said. "we've barely started."

"I… I-I can't do it…" She stammered, her head moving side to side as her whole body shook. "I can't…"

It wasn't obvious how scared she was to the others - except maybe Axel, who she was clinging to for dear life - but Roxas could see it. He saw it in the way she shook, and how her face was wet from crying. Axel probably knew it too, since she had her face in his back and that particular spot felt wet.

"Okay, scratch the scary movies." Roxas said, making the rest of them look at him.

"No scary movies?" Demyx exclaimed. "But it's Halloween!"

The young Nobody put his hands up. "Don't get me wrong, I want to watch movies with you guys. But I don't want Nikki to cry the whole time. Maybe we should watch some comedies instead."

"No, Roxas. It's okay." Nikki said, detaching herself from Axel and wiping her face with her sleeve. "Watch your scary movies. I'll just go to bed."

"You sure you want to do that?" Axel asked. "You might have nightmares."

"I'll be fine." She said. "My parents always told me that nightmares aren't real, and that they can't hurt you."

"That's not what Nightmare on Elm Street says…" Demyx murmured fearfully as the brunette got up from the couch, earning a look from both Nikki and the other boys. "What if Freddy Krueger gets you? He'll kill you, and if you die in your dreams you die for real!"

Nikki just ignored him and headed to her room.

…

She saw him and it felt like her heart had stopped. It felt like everything had stopped; her heart, her brain, her muscles and motor functions; everything just stopped dead, like she was a machine and someone had flipped the switch and turned her off.

At first, he didn't see her. He was just standing there in the middle of the street with his gaze fixated on the pavement, almost like a statue. His jumpsuit was covered in caked-on blood splotches, and in his right hand was a large knife that was dripping with blood; no doubt from his latest kill. A mask, which looked like a child's art project, obstructed the view of his face, thought she didn't want to see it anyway. There was no way she wanted to see the face of someone so demented and frightening.

"Run," a voice inside her head screamed. "Don't just stand there! Run away now!"

But she couldn't. She couldn't get her legs to move. It was like they were frozen. She couldn't even scream. All she could do was stand there like a deer in headlights praying to God that he wouldn't see her and go on his way to kill someone else.

Instead of turning away, she saw his head turn so he was looking right at her.

"Oh God no…"

He was so frighteningly calm as he turned to face her fully, kneading the handle of the knife in his hand in an almost anxious or excited manner. Ever so slowly, he started to walk towards her, like a cat stalking its prey.

It was when he started to approach her that she ran. She turned on her heel and ran from him as fast as she could. Running barefoot down the street, she saw a house with an open door and darted for it, briefly looking back to see him a few yards behind her. He was pacing himself, treating this chase like a game of cat and mouse. He may not have 'played with' - or tortured - his victims before killing them, preferring to be fast and easy, but he let them wear themselves out which was equally as cruel.

She darted inside the house, shutting the door and locking it before running up the stairs to search for a room to lock herself in. As she made her way up the stairs, she stopped and looked when he began to beat the door down and force his way in. The wood splintered as his arm broke through. Her face twisted in fear and desperation, she continued up the stairs and went to the room at the end of the hall. She shut the door to the room and locked it, backing away from the doorway and covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming as she heard the door being smashed downstairs. The sound of heavy footsteps followed, and they immediately started up the stairs.

"Somebody… anybody… Help me!" She mentally begged, keeping her hand firmly over her mouth. As she heard the footsteps coming slowly down the hall, she was silently praying that a certain redhead would appear in a dark portal and pull her in, taking her away from this nightmare.

Why the hell was she thinking about that idiot, anyway? What was he, her knight in shining armor? At the moment, she wished he was.

She was unarmed and defenseless. Sure, she could fight, but it wouldn't mean anything. He was so much bigger than her. And this was a man that could not die, for people said that he had the devil inside of him.

The footsteps stopped abruptly, and she found herself screaming when his fist smashed through the door. She immediately ran for the window, fighting to get it open; it was an old window, and didn't slide open easily. She barely had it halfway opened when he broke through the door and threw it aside, striding towards her with the knife clutched firmly in his hand. Deciding to abandon the window, she attempted to go past him by throwing a chair to distract him. But he smacked the chair aside like it was nothing and grabbed her by her hair when she tried to run past him.

"No!" She screamed when he grabbed her hair. "Let me go! Help!"

Hot tears were streaming down her face, panicking as she tried to pry his fingers open to free herself. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and she could feel it ramming against her ribcage as she was running on pure adrenaline. Letting out a mix between a sob and a scream, she found herself crying out for help. It came out before she could stop herself.

"Axel!" She screamed out in desperation. "Axel, help me! Please!"

She cried out the redhead's name over and over again, but there was no answer. There was no one there but her and the man that was about to kill her. He must have gotten irritated with her screaming, for her jerked her backwards, making her wince in pain, silencing her as he raised the knife. The cold metal was jammed into the flesh of her back, making her scream in pain. He retracted the knife quickly and stabbed her again, earning another scream; though this one was weaker compared to the last one.

"Axel!" She cried out again before coughing up blood, gagging when she sensed that metallic taste in her mouth.

She felt the blade being pressed against her neck and she knew it was over. There was a horrible sting as the knife was dragged along her skin, effectively slicing the artery in her neck wide open…

…

Nikki screamed and bolted upright in her bed, sweat beading on her forehead and running down her pale face like little rivers. Her hand darted up to her neck, and she felt relieved when she found the skin unharmed. She curled up into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest as she eyed the darkness around her. Hearing shuffling and then a clattering noise, she panicked and grabbed a blunt object. She turned on the light and saw that her cat had knocked over a stack of books and Momo, who had also been woken up by the noise, was picking them up and restacking them.

Fearing that Michael Myers would be after her again, she carried the blunt object with her as she checked under her bed and in the closet. There was nothing there, but that didn't convince her that she was safe from the mask-wearing terror.

She opened her door and looked out into the hallway, letting out a squeak and retreating back inside when she saw nothing but darkness. Opening the door again, this time with a flashlight, she tiptoed out into the hall, occasionally flinching and looking back in paranoia whenever she heard the smallest noise. She eventually found the door she was looking for; the door marked 'VIII,' and opened it, tiptoeing inside the room and shutting it behind her. Pointing the flashlight around the room, she looked all around to make sure it was safe to go further. When she decided it was safe, she went further into the room and up to the bed, where a mess of red hair was poking out from under the blankets.

"Axel…" Nikki whispered, grabbing the redhead's shoulder through the blanket and shaking him lightly.

Axel groaned and stirred, but he didn't wake up.

She shook him harder. "Axel."

When he still didn't wake up, she cried out in desperation, "AXEL!"

Axel's eyes snapped open at the exclamation and he let out a yelp, and he sat upright in his bed.

"Huh?! What?" He exclaimed, looking around the room. His eyes landed on Nikki, and he calmed down. "Nikki? It's three in the morning. What are you doing up? And why are you so pale?"

When she didn't answer him and looked at him with wide, fearful eyes, he put two and two together.

"You had a nightmare, didn't you?" He asked, and she nodded shamelessly. "Was it bad?" She nodded again.

"He's after me!" She cried, launching herself forward and wrapping her arms around his torso; which caught him off guard a little bit. "He's after me! Don't let him get me! Don't let him get me! I don't want to die!"

"Nikki, calm down. Who's going to get you?"

"Michael Myers!" She said the killer's name like he was the anti-Christ. "He's going to kill me! Don't let him get me! Please, don't let him get me!"

"Michael Myers? He can't get you, Nikki." Axel tried to reassure her. "He's not real."

"He was real when he stabbed me…" Nikki murmured fearfully, remembering the pain when Myers had stabbed her in the back.

"Whatever happened to 'nightmares aren't real, and they can't hurt you?'"

"It doesn't seem that way when you're about to die…"

"Well you're fine now." He said groggily, yawning. "Go back to bed, and I'll see you in a few hours."

As much as he liked having Nikki's arms around him, it was three in the morning and he was tired. He and the other boys had continued watching scary movies when Nikki had left for bed. They finally stopped watching movies and went to bed at midnight after Larxene stormed into the living room and yelled at all of them for waking her up with their screaming and having the television on so loud. Finding a half-asleep Larxene more terrifying than any movie - she was scary enough when she was awake - they did as she 'requested' and stopped their little scary movie night and went off to bed.

When he tried to pry her arms off of him, she only held on tighter and cried out, "NO! I don't want to be alone! He might get me!"

Then she let out the most pathetic sound he had ever heard come out of her mouth. If he had a heart, it would have sunk into his stomach.

"Please, Axel…"

He couldn't believe what he had heard. She was begging him. She was actually begging to stay with him. That never happened before. EVER.

Nikki wasn't the type to beg. She whined, but she never begged for anything. That's when he knew that something was wrong.

The redhead sighed and scooted over. "All right. Climb in. But don't get too comfortable. I don't want you making a habit out of this." He half-joked.

Nikki climbed into Axel's bed and cuddled up to him with her arms still wrapped tightly around his midsection. At first, she was shivering, and she whimpered and cried for a little while. In an effort to calm herself down, she nuzzled her face in his neck, just under his jaw, breathing in the scent that she was so used to by now.

He wasn't wearing any cologne. He probably washed it off before he went to bed. When he wasn't wearing his spicy Axe cologne, he smelled like a campfire. She had gone camping a few times with her family, and the scent of burning wood from the fire was oddly soothing, but she didn't know why; it just was. And his body was so warm, and she was naturally drawn to heat, so she pressed her body as close to his as possible.

As Nikki desperately clung to him, Axel felt a twinge of guilt. He made her watch the movie, and now she was scared out of her mind; to the point where she couldn't even sleep by herself. But now that she was here, laying next to him with his arms around her, she seemed different from when she first came in the room; her eyes wide and full of tears, like a child who had seen a monster in the dark. She had whimpered and cried at first, but after a few minutes she had calmed down and her breathing had become even. Her grip on him had loosened a little, meaning that she had finally let her guard down enough to allow her to relax.

"Hey." He said softly.

".. Hm?" Nikki mumbled sleepily.

"I'm sorry."

Axel couldn't see her face, but he new she was looking at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry I made you watch that movie." He apologized, making sure to be more specific. "I shouldn't have talked you into watching scary movies with us in the first place. It was… insensitive of me to force you into something that you didn't want to do."

At first she didn't say anything. She wasn't mad at him; she would have hit him by now. Instead, he felt her arms tighten around him again as she started crying into his neck.

"I hate it…" He heard her murmur.

"What do you hate?" He asked her.

"I hate being scared… It makes me feel so…" She paused before continuing in a hushed voice, "weak…"

"You? Weak?" Axel couldn't stop himself from letting out a little chuckle. "You're a lot of things, sweetheart. But weak? Not even close." In an effort to help her feel better, he added, "I don't blame you for being afraid of that Myers guy. He's one twisted fucker."

Nikki started laughing a little bit, and he couldn't help but smile. When she laughed, it was infectious.

"Tell you what: I'll stay right here with you, and if he comes by again I'll burn him up nice and crispy for you. How's that sound?"

The brunette smiled. "Sounds good." She paused for a few seconds. "… Thank you.."

"Hm?" Axel blinked. "For what?"

"For being there when I need you.. I don't know why, but… I trust you."

"A horrible decision, really." The redhead joked.

"I'm serious." She growled, though it wasn't very effective due to her grogginess. "If it were anybody else, I never would have showed that side of myself. But, for some reason, when it's you, I don't have a problem baring my soul like that. I feel so… safe with you." She chuckled a little. "It's funny… you're the last person I would have expected to get so close to.."

"I thought the same thing when I first met you." Axel admitted. "It's funny how life works, huh?"

"Yeah…" Nikki agreed, smiling.

…

…

…

"Tell anybody I said that, and I'll castrate you with a rusty kitchen knife. Got it?"

"Don't worry sweetheart, I gotcha."

Sighing contentedly, Nikki nuzzled Axel's neck again and closed her eyes. Keeping one hand on her back, he used his other hand to stroke her hair. He smiled a little at her threat, feeling better now that she was back to her old self; though if he tried to leave her now she would start crying again. She fell asleep rather quickly. She must have been tired. That nightmare she had probably left her mentally exhausted.

It gave him an odd sense of pride that she felt secure enough with him to display the behavior that she had. But he hated seeing it. It was so unlike her. Those wide, frightened eyes, the way she clung to him, the way she cried, and when she was desperate and started begging pathetically; those images made his chest throb in a painful ache. He never wanted to see it again.

"Mmm," He heard her moan in her sleep. "Axel…"

Was she all right? Did she need something? Maybe she was dreaming about him.

Axel listened to see if she would say anything else. His perverted side kicked in and he found himself expecting her to say "Hold me closer," or "Let's make love," or something along those lines. He watched her face, and she scrunched her nose in an adorable fashion. Her eyebrows started twitching, and her face turned red as she frowned.

"Stop grabbing my ass, you pervert…" She muttered in her sleep. "I'll… kill you…"

At her words, Axel smiled.

Yup. She was definitely going to be okay.

…

~ Owari ~

…