Authour's note: This chapter's pretty short, compared to the last few. I'm suffering major motivation issues. I'll keep writing, but if I feel that the quality is going down because I'm not motivated, then I'll stop and take a break. Just a heads up.

Night 10

Need some time alone

Need to think

About fuzzy feeling inside me

It's like I'm flying

"That was so blunt and tactless and stupid! I can't believe I acted like that last night!"

"Nina, calm down- Kurt doesn't give a damn, and nobody else was there, so it doesn't matter!"

"It matters to me! And why the heck did you go all parent-y at us? How is it your business whether we were kissing or not?"

"Kurt's my cousin!"

"And he's my-"

Kurt looked up. Nina seemed frozen, unable to decide what exactly Kurt was. Finally, she threw her hands in the air. "I don't even know!" she said. Kurt found himself smiling. "Don't you dare laugh at me." Nina told him.

"I'm not." Kurt said, although he wasn't entirely sure; the fuzzy, float-y feeling inside him was interfering with his emotions. It was really pretty uncomfortable, and he was hoping that this was some human emotional reaction rather than a sign he was getting sick.

Kurt put the notebook in his inventory and stood up. "I'm going out." he said.

"I'll come, too." Nina said, ignoring suspicious looks from Kimon. "I don't want to put up with dum-dum here any longer than I have to." Since she was talking to Kurt and there was only one other person in the room, it was obvious who she meant. Kimon's expression turned a bit sour.

"I'm coming, too." he said, standing up. "Somebody needs to keep an eye on you two."

"Actually…" Kurt started to say. "I need some time alone, alright?" He didn't wait for an answer, but walked over to the hole in the floor and jumped.

He was some ways into the forest before Darker than day appeared. "Before I forget, those two are with me- nobody hurts them." Kurt said, pointing in the direction of his house. "Unless they attack you, in which case go ahead. I doubt they will do that, though. So… anything happening?"

Darker than day seemed a bit surprised by how much Kurt was talking, but he said nothing. "There have been a few encounters- nothing we couldn't handle, though. Nothing at the moment."

Kurt nodded, but before Darker than day teleported, Kurt stopped him. "I… I have a few questions."

"Is this the one about why you can't teleport? And why we can't teach you how- yet?"

"That is one of them, yes."

Darker than day sighed. "I have told you before. You are not balanced inside. Being entirely One Of Us is alright if you are entirely One Of Us, but you are…"

"…not entirely One Of Us." Kurt finished.

"Alright." Kurt said. "I have another question. Do you taste colours when you speak?"

Darker than day paused. "Excuse me?"

"I guess not." Kurt said. "Never mind- it's a human-only thing, apparently, but only I've got it."

Darker than day said nothing. They walked in silence for a few minutes, then they both froze, listening hard. There was a snap, like someone stepping on a branch. There was the sound of muffled swearing.

"You're up." Darker than day said, then he teleported away. Kurt smiled.

"You know, I think your brother has a crush on me." Nina said.

"I'm not surprised. And can we pretend that we're not related, please? I don't even use my last name anymore."

"Sorry." Nina apologized. Kimon was sitting on the floor, sorting through the items in Kurt's chest and looking rather ticked off. Nina was sitting on the windowsill, watching him and talking.

"You know what- I'm bored." Nina said, sliding off the windowsill. "I'm going to go out and see if I can find Kurt, or something. See what the forest is like when you're not worried about getting murdered." Nina walked over to the hole in the floor and jumped. She picked a random direction and started to walk, humming to herself.

After a while, she hadn't seen a single mob, apart from a zombie that tried to attack her. "Tried" because she killed it. It took her a while, though, since Kurt had broken her sword that time she'd been in the forest and she hadn't gotten a new one.

"Y'know, I really hope mobs understand self-defence." Nina said to nobody in particular. She looked around guiltily. Suddenly, she felt like she was being watched by dozens of unseen eyes. "Hey, I'm sorry, but it frigging attacked me." she said defensively. When nothing answered, she kept walking.

Then there was a snap. Nina froze. There was another snap, and she heard what sounded like someone swearing. She didn't recognize the voice, but she wondered who would be crazy enough to come in here at night?

Nina crept through the trees towards the voice, trying to make as little sound as possible. She was nowhere near as good as Kurt or Kimon, but the unknown person was making enough noise to cover her.

Nina peeked through a few branches and received a shock; the intruder was none other than her old friend, Teresa. "Teri?" Nina whispered. "What are you doing?…"

Teri looked more confident than she should have, given where she was. She was holding a sword, and her long dark hair peeked out from under an iron helmet. Nina was just about to walk over and ask what the Nether she was doing when Teri raised her sword. "Alright, Enderboy. Come out where I can stab you."

"You're pretty cocky for a girl in my home territory." Kurt said casually. Teri spun around, immediately going into a defensive stance.

"I'm not here to talk." Teri said, and Nina couldn't understand her friend's tone of voice. What was Teri doing?…

"Good. We understand each other, then." Kurt said, and he took a step forwards. Teri swung her sword; Nina remembered Teri's semi-legendary fencing skills and wondered if she should intervene. That was the extent of her rational thinking, though; this whole scene had her paralyzed.

It didn't matter that Kurt was unarmed and Teri was a good fencer- it was moments before Teri was lying on the ground, her sword in Kurt's hands. Nina's blood ran cold as Kurt drove the sword into Teri's chest.

What had she expected? Had she expected Kurt to let Teri live, even when he didn't know that they were friends? Had she expected him to change?

A small, truthful part of Nina's mind said that yes, she'd expected Kurt to become normal, despite evidence that that wasn't going to happen any time soon- if ever. Teri's body disappeared, the items from her inventory spilling onto the forest floor. Kurt sorted through the items, taking a few, leaving most, and Nina searched his face for any hint that he was sorry.

She found nothing. Standing up, Nina saw Kurt turn towards her. She looked for guilt at being caught, embarrassment at letting her see this.

She found nothing. Nina turned and ran, starting to cry. She felt like all her illusions had been shattered- the boy she was thinking about going out with had just committed murder, and for him it was completely normal.

And the worse part was, she'd known that that was what Kurt was like. She'd fooled herself into believing that she could make him all-human, but he wasn't all human.

"Nina! Wait!" Kurt shouted, but Nina ignored him. She ran blindly through the forest, scratching her face and arms on the tree branches, and eventually, she found herself back in Bending River.

But who could she go to in a world where no-one was innocent?

Serves me right I guess

But I'm not going to change

They still deserve it

Serves them right too

Kurt paused, a question coming to his mind. He felt that he'd probably have to answer it at some point, although he really wasn't sure he wanted to.

Would I change what I do? For Nina?

For Mom? Kimon?

I don't know.

Kurt remembered what Darker than day had told him.

Being entirely One Of Us is alright if you are entirely One Of Us

But I am not entirely One Of Us

Humans don't kill humans

But Endermen do

This is a [long word starts with P]

"Paradox?" Kimon suggested.

"Pair of what?"

"Never mind." Kimon yawned. Outside, the sun was rising. Both he and Kurt had reverted to their natural sleep cycles, which meant they had to endure a minimum of actual contact. Kimon paused in the middle of running a hand through his hair. "Say, where's Nina?"

"Ran off." Kurt said, keeping his eyes on his notebook.

"What? Why?"

"She caught me killing Teresa Omar. She was in the forest, so she deserved it." Kurt said, his eyes glowing a bit brighter. Kimon couldn't tell if he was angry with Teresa, Nina or himself.

"We're going to have to talk about that." Kimon said. "I'm not sure how comfortable I am with you murdering people."

"Are you comfortable with hostile mobs killing people?" Kurt asked. "Because I'm not just human."

Kimon sighed, reluctantly admitting his cousin had a point. Kimon realized that there would be misunderstandings as long as anyone thought of Kurt as just-human or just-Enderman.