The setting was a dark room with dirty walls and a musty smell to it. A window was open and a breeze made the curtains in front of it flutter. But there was nothing to be jovial about as Ryuko watched as a shadow slowly engulfed her father's frame that was standing against a wall. She watched as he trembled, eyes darting around for an escape. The enemy hadn't so much as said a word, but the intention of her arrival was very clear.

A giggle broke the silence, and the girl sighed loudly, exaggeratedly. "You have what I want," she said, raising a large blade and aiming it at his heart. "And I'm here to get it."

Get out of there, Ryuko screamed internally. Don't just stand there. Make a run for it, dad! She felt frustration so strongly that she wished she could somehow materialize in her dream and push her father to safety. Anything to get him out of Nui's grasp.

But, like every time before, she couldn't do anything but watch.

Nui began to chuckle, her shoulders shaking as a deep and guttural sound emerged from her dainty mouth. A sound that didn't suit the girl who dressed like a twelve year old. "Oh, this is going to be sweet," she said. She paused dramatically, thickening the tension in the air. "Tell me, where's the purple scissor blade?" And this time she pressed the blade against Ryuko's father's chest, enough to make him wince.

"You'll have to try harder than that," he said. And he was feigning toughness, Ryuko could tell. She heard his voice waver, saw him break eye contact with Nui. If only she was there with him…

"Wrong answer!" Nui chirped as she stabbed her father deeply with her weapon. Ryuko's father cried out as his legs shook violently underneath him. He reached for the blade that pierced his chest but there was not enough strength in him to even clasp his hands around the weapon. He crumpled to the floor, jerking and wheezing. Nui slowly pulled the blade out of his chest and stood before him, studying her victim.

She then reached into her pink frilly purse and pulled out a pale pink handkerchief with patterned hearts. She wiped the blood off of her blade with it, coolly staring at it. She turned, momentarily bored as she looked around his room. Then suddenly something caught her eye. She walked up to a desk and saw a photo sitting on it. The photo was of Ryuko's father and Ryuko. It had been taken a year ago. Ryuko felt her heart plummet as she watched Nui pick up the photo. A sly smile spread across Nui's face as she turned back to her father.

"You have a daughter, don't you, Isshin?"

Ryuko's father said nothing as he shook his head weakly. Ryuko could see the panic in his eyes and it broke her heart.

"Tell me where the scissor blade is or I'll slit her throat and send her to heaven with you."

It was so bizarre seeing this pink-clad girl with a giant pink bow in her coiled hair spout such vicious threats. It was one of many things to hate about Nui. In fact, Ryuko could write a tell-all book about the millions of things to hate about the bitch if she really felt like it. But she'd never feel like it because thinking about her was torture in and of itself.

Ryuko's father let out a gut wrenching sob as he told Nui the whereabouts of the blade. Nui was clearly delighted as she actually twirled around in her joy. To Ryuko's disgust, the girl skipped away to obtain the blade and then returned. What happened next happened so fast that it was almost as though black magic had caused it. Nui stabbed Ryuko's' father in his heart with the purple blade...his own blade...and the man didn't even gasp this time as his head fell and he died.

With her job now done, Nui wrenched the purple blade out of the man's heart. She held it in front of herself for a moment, marveling at it. Ryuko felt herself tremble with rage as she watched the girl walk out of the building with a bounce in her step, humming along to some stupid jingle as she swung both blades around like they were toys.

After Ryuko woke up from her dream, she lay on her bed staring hard at the ceiling. She felt her heart thumping in her chest and placed a hand over it, feeling her eyes water with hot tears.

Her father's heart was no longer beating. He was dead. Gone. And that vile bitch had taken his life as though it was nothing more than a game to her. As though that outcome was something worth celebrating.

All over a scissor blade. A weapon.

A fucking object.

Ryuko's face hardened as tears rolled down the sides of her face. An object...soulless...if anything, it was Nui who should be stabbed in such a way, as though she meant nothing to anyone. She was nothing but an annoyance. Something that existed solely for the purpose of pissing people off. A bully. A menace. A...a...devil. That's what she was. The devil.

And, like the devil, some people just begged to be taught a very valuable lesson.