"H-Hey, what's going on?" Inigo whispered, as the black crystal began to shift and shimmer. Small bits of the crystal began to slough off, but just as quickly the missing space was filled in.
"Y... Yarne! Watch out!" Morgan shouted, as the sloughed off pieces shifted in shape... becoming more and more human.
"Gaaargh!" Yarne cried, stumbling backward. A large gash appeared on his chest, the sword cutting through his skin.
"Get him out of there!" Morgan cried, as she pulled out her Elthunder. "They're here."
Owain and Inigo pulled Yarne away from the Simulacra that had appeared from the crystal while everyone else began to engage.
Brady rushed to his fallen friend's side, readying his staff.
"Ain't nothin' serious, thank gods..." Brady muttered as the staff bathed Yarne in a healing light.
"So, like, is this the source of those things?!" Cynthia yelled as she ran her spear through one of them.
"I am unsure... But I believe there now exists a strong correlation between these things and the disappearances," Laurent stated, shooting a blast of fire at one of the Simulacra.
The battle continued on, with no one knowing when it was going to end.
Robin and Nah ran down the hallway, trying avoid breathing in the putrid smelling air. Robin tried to track down the thing he'd saw earlier, but so far he'd had no luck. Before long, they'd found themselves in another room, this one much bigger than the one they'd initially found themselves in. The room housed several statues, each depicting a small child in various positions. There was something off about them, but Robin couldn't quite figure out what.
"Robin... something feels very wrong with this room..." Nah said. She had unconsciously clung to his robe.
"It's... I'm sure it's all in your head, Nah." Try as he might, Robin couldn't stop his voice from shaking a little.
"I hope you're right..." Nah, sensing the shaking in Robin's voice, tried to calm herself down.
That's when they heard the giggling.
It echoed through the room, seeming to come from all directions.
"Who's there?!" Robin shouted, pulling his tome to bear. He felt Nah cling to him even closer, even as she muttered the words "I have to be brave".
Robin took a few uneasy steps toward the center of the room, towards the statue in the middle. He had taken the time to examine the layout of the room, noticing that the statue in the center stood alone, with the rest of the statues surrounding it in a circle, giving in a wide berth. All of the statues were facing the statue in the center, almost as if...
Robin felt his sweat run cold.
"Almost as if they were keeping watch on it."
"More friends to play games with...?"
Robin looked around, trying to identify the source of that voice... it was the same voice that was giggling before. He was sure of that. And what did it mean when it said 'play games'?
"Who are you? Where are we? Why were we brought here?" Robin asked, directing his voice to the statue in front of him.
"Ooh! Are we playing the Questions Game? I love this game!" the voice replied. It sounded like a child, but there was something wrong with how it sounded. Robin's uneasiness had only intensified. "I'm just a bored kid! You're in my house! And... you're here to play with me!"
"No... that doesn't follow," Robin said, trying to quell his unease, "if you could tell us how to get out of here, that would work better."
"Now, why would I do that?" the voice cooed, with a malicious undertone. "You've set me free. I can play more now. Why... would I ever... let you go...?"
In the next moment, Robin and Nah were blown backward by a massive shockwave, as the statue in the center blew apart. Robin stood on his feet quickly, picking up Nah and shielding her as the statues around the central one blew apart as well.
He barely felt the debris impact his back, as even as he grunted in pain, the shrieking that pierced his ears drowned out everything else.
As the wind died down, Robin braved a peek at the room.
They stared back at him.
They stared, with their red eyes, and their dark, misty forms. Only as big as children, they stared, unmoving. There were hundreds of them.
"So... let's play hide and seek! Maybe if you find me, I'll let you go!" the voice echoed around him again.
The giggling punctuated the entire scene, as it faded away. He watched as the staring forms around him moved away from him... or rather, were dragged away. Something invisibly pulled them by their necks, and Robin and Nah were left alone in the room once again.
He felt Nah's hands grip his shirt, and saw her squeezed eyes eke out tears.
"What was that Robin?! What in gods name just happened?!" Nah yelled. Robin wish he had an answer, but he was as lost and (he would reluctantly admit) scared as she was.
"I don't know, but..." he paused, trying to process his thoughts.
"It's hard to be brave like this... I have to be... I thought, when Grima died... I thought everything would be okay again... I had Mother and Father and I'd never have to live like I did before..." she sniffled, her words coming out between short, sharp sobs, "But they disappeared again! I had to put up a brave front, Robin! I had to go back to how I was before! But that... that thing...! It's too much! I... I-I can't..."
Robin stood there, as Nah cried into him. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor half-dragon. She really had been through so much.
"Nah... I'm here. I'm not your Mother or your Father, but I'm here. And until you... we find them again, I'll be here for you. ...For all of you. I'll be your second Father, if you need me to be. So no more crying. Save your tears for the joy you'll feel when we bring them back."
He felt Nah's sobs subsiding, and she simply stood there, looking down at the ground for a few seconds. Finally, she let go of his shirt.
"You know," she said with a sniff. "What you said... that was pretty amazing." She smiled.
Robin returned the smile, before turning back towards the room and to the three doorways beyond it.
"For now, let's find ourselves an unruly child."
A/N: After the introduction to the Trinkets, it was only natural that I introduce the things living inside of them: the Nightmares. Our mysterious antagonist lady seems to be having a lot of fun toying with our heroes (read: I'm having a lot of fun toying with our heroes).
These were my thought processes with Nah's characterization in this chapter: she's a girl who was forced to put on a brave and serious front because of the bad future, and that's why she acts the way she does in game. After Grima's defeat, she allowed her self to be more honest and open, and became more and more like her mother (though not to that degree). When the Shepherds disappeared, she forced herself to put on a brave front again, but her walls were broken down too much, and her brave front cracked under the pressure of the Nightmare.
Does that make sense? I hope so. It's 2AM and I'm up updating this thing again for some god forsaken reason.
Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter. Please leave some more reviews, and stay tuned for the next 'un.
