Disclaimer: I do not own the cast of Soul Calibur. Namco does!

Nightmare was up unusually early the next day. Suprisingly enough, when he got up he didn't wake up Tira. Instead of doing what he usually did and wake her up, he let her sleep. He stepped outside the tent. A bird in a nearby tree was chriping rather loudly. Nightmare gritted his teeth and tried to resist the urge to kill it. But, being the Nightmare we know asnd love, he threw the neighbors cooler, which he stole, at the bird.

"CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYING TO THINK?!" Nightmare yelled at the bird.

Instead of the cooler hitting the bird, it dodged, flew towards Nightmare at break neck speed and attempted to claw his eyes out. Nightmare ran around blindly, flailing his arms about and yelling for help.

"Someone! Get this beast off me! AHHHHHH!!"

He felled to the ground with the bird still attacking him. The bird gave up and flew away. Since his helmet was super tough and big, his eyes were saved.

Nightmare got up and looked over at the neighbors tent. The fire ball that he ordered for them (as a joke) the day before was still there and was beginning to make a crater in the earth. Nightmare giggled and walked quietly over to the neighbors. He was hungry and thought that stealing food from the neighbors was better than using the food he brought. I don't know, he just thought it was more satisifing or something.

He looked around, all that was outside was the smoldering fire ball. Nightmare smiled and took long strides to the cooler. He slowly opened the lid. Then, being the crazy person she is, Xianghua appeared in between the cooler and Nightmare. Nightmare freaked out and backed away.

"Hiya, neighbor!" Xianghua said in her bright and bubblily mood.

"For Soul Edge's sake! What the hell is your problem?!" Nightmare bellowed.

"I saw you kiss that girl last night," Xianghua said with a sly smile.

"No I- Wait, you saw me kiss Tira?" Xianghua nodded. "Why the hell were you spying on us?!"

"I always spy on my neighbors. Like at home, nobody lives in the houses next to us because of me!"

"You must feel awfully proud about that," Nightmare said, with sarcasm.

"But, now I get it. You like her!"

Nightmare blushed. "No I don't!...Maybe a little..."

Xianghua looked at him with a brow raised.

"Fine..." Nightmare muttered. "I like her a lot..."

"I can't hear you..."

"I like her a lot," Nightmare said a little louder.

"Come again?"

"I LIKE HER A LOT!!" Nightmare shouted, making the earth shake withing a 3 mile radius. Nightmare looked nervously around, making sure he didn't wake Tira up.

"Ha! I knew it!" Xianghua said.

"Please don't tell anyone..." Nightmare muttered.

"I won't, but I'll give you advice,."

'Oh great...I'm getting dating advice from a crazy person...' Nightmare thought to himself.

"I say you should tell her you like her before someone else gets her," Xianghua advised.

Nightmare was shocked. She actually said something intelligent. Nightmare ran up to Xianghua and shook her hand.

"Thank you!" Nightmare said happily.

"Oh, I also wanted to ask you," Xianghua said.

"What is it?" Nightmare asked.

"Kilik and I are going on a nature hwalk. Do you want to come?"

Nightmare didn't even have to think about it. "Sure!"

"Alright! We'll leave in a little bit. Make sure you get Tira up."

Xianghua skipped away. Nightmare walked over to the tent and looked into it. Tira was still sleeping. She was hugging her old teddy bear tightly in her arms.

Nightmare walked in and gently shook Tira's shoulder.

"Tira...Wake up," he whispered.

"No mom...I don't want to go to school..." she said, still sleeping.

"Tira...Theres a dead body outside," Nightmare whispered.

Tira's eyes shot open and she sat up quickly.

"Where?!"

"You just missed it," Nightmare said to her.

She glared at him and hit him with her teddy bear.

"Why did you have to wake me up?" she growled.

"Because, we're going on a nature walk with the neighbors."

Tira tilted her head. "Why the hell did you agree to that?"

"Because! We had nothing to do today."

Tira thought about it for a moment. "You have a point."

"Now, get ready! We're leaving in a little bit."

Tira stretched and got up. Nightmare was still sitting in there.

"You know...I can't change with you in here," Tira said.

"You could pretend I'm not here," Nightmare said, blushing under his armor.

Tira's eyes narrowed. "That's perverted...And no."

"I'll hide under a blanket."

Tira pointed at the exit of the tent. Nightmare shrugged and crawled out.

'It was worth a try,' He said to himself.

Five mintues later, Tira walks out in her SCIV outfit. (A/N: I like this outfit a lot so I always use it.) Nightmare and Tira walked over to the neighbors tent. They say down at the picnic table. No one was there. Or so they thought. Xianghua jumped out of nowhere and scared the two. Tira jumped into Nightmare's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. Nightmare blushed and a smile came across his face.

'Heh...Oh yeah,' He said to himself.

"Hello neighbors!" Xianghua said cheerfully.

"Will you stop that?!" Tira shouted.

"Tira..." Nightmare said quietly.

"What?"

"You're on my lap..."

Tira blushed and got off of Nightmare. Kilik came out of the tent and waved in a dorky fashion.

"Hello!" Kilik greeted. "Are guys ready?"

Tira and Nightmare nodded slowly. Kilik gave the thumbs up. The two got up.

"So...Where are we going?" Tira asked.

"We're just going to walk around the walk...in the woods," Kilik said.

"Aren't you guys excited?!" Xianghua added cheerfully.

"We're estatic about it," Tira mumbled sarcatically.

"That's great!" Xianghua smiled. "Let's go!"

With Kilik and Xianghua leading the way, Tira and Nightmare followed. After two hours of walking, they decided to take a break.

"How big is this freakin' lake?" Tira asked while she sat down on a rock.

"Well...We are two hours into it...I say we're only trekked about one-forth of the lake," Kilik calculated.

Tira's jaw dropped. "You're kidding?"

Kilik shook his head. Tira rolled her eyes.

"Come on! We're burning daylight! Let's go!" Xianghua said.

Another two hours later, they are only half way around the lake. They decided to take a break.

Tira was sitting down on another rock. Nightmare was looking out at the water. Xianghua walked over to Nightmare and whispered in his ear.

"Go talk a walk with her. I can buy time and distract Kilik-chan."

Nightmare looked at her. "Um...OK then."

Xianghua went over to Kilik and began to have a converstaion with. Nightmare went over to Tira.

"Hey Nighty," Tira greeted.

"Hi Tira," Nightmare said, his knees shaking. His face was turning bright red and very warm. "Can we go for a walk?"

"Sure," Tira answered.

She got up and the two wandered away from Kilik and Xianghua. The duo were going deeper and deeper into the forest.

The two were quiet for a littlle while. Tira looked at her friend and tilted her head.

"Nighty? Why did you want to go on this walk?" She asked.

He looked into her violet eyes. He always liked looking into them.

"I-I wanted to t-t-tell you something," Nightmare stammered.

"What is it?" Tira asked, her eyes getting wider.

"Tira, I lo-"

"WHO GOES THERE?!" A voice bellowed, interupting Nightmare.

A group of very short men wearing pointy red hats and having cloud-like beards walked out of the bushes. They only stood at about Tira's knee.

"Awww...They're so cute!" Nightmare cooed to the little people.

One of them walked up to Nightmare, jumped up and bit his deformed hand.

"OW!" Nightmare yelped and placed his other hand on the deformed claw.

One little guy with a very long beard walked out and stood in front of the two.

"We are the gnomes of the forest!" Long beard said. "I am the leader. My real name can only be called by my people but you humans can call me...Tim."

Tira rolled her eyes. "Isn't there a garden for you to protect?"

"Or a travel agency to advertise?" Nightmare added.

Tim grabbed a walking stick and hit both Tira and Nightmare over the head with it.

"Don't tread on us," Tim growled. "From here on, you two are our prisioners!"

The rest of the gnomes yelled in agreement.

"You will do our chores, cook our food and sell our merchandise," Tim said.

"YEAH!!" The gnomes agreed.

"Merchandise?" Nightmare repeated.

"Merchandise!" Tim bellowed as he hit Nightmare over the head again.

"How the hell can some annoying twerps have merchandising?" Tira asked.

"You know them little lawn gnomes that sit out in people's lawns?" Tim asked. The two nodded. "Well...we make them in our factory that's in the woods. Since we are small, people don't take us easily. So then, we have to sell them to Seong Mi-na's Sport Store because she's the only one who would sell them. Since she sells them, we don't get full profit and that angers us."

Growls were heard from the gnomes. Tira and Nightmare were annoyed now.

"Are you kidding?" Tira asked.

"We are not going to be your prisioners!" Nightmare snarled.

"Then we will use force," Tim said.

The little gnomes each had a pointy spear that was as tall as Nightmare. Since they were unarmed, Tira and Nightmare made the best decision they could think; get the hell away from the crazy, evil gnomes.

The two ran the way they came with the gnomes following. They zoomed past Kilik and Xianghua and jumped into the lake.

"What are you doing?!" Xianghua asked.

"Swimming away from the gnomes!" Nightmare yelled back.

"Gnomes?" Kilik repeated. "There are no gnomes."

"Um...Kilik, turn around." Xianghua answered quietly.

Kilik turned around and saw hundreds of angry gnomes carrying pointed spears running towards them.

"Should we run?" Xianghua asked calmly.

"Yes..."

The happy couple ran to the lake, jumped in and swam after Tira and Nightmare. The gnomes stayed at bay.

"Let them swim..." Tim said. "We will get them eventually. But, now...who wants a cookie?!"

"YEAH!!" the gnomes cheered as they walked back into the forest.

After getting back and drying themselves off, Tira and Nightmare sat in there tent.

"So...what was it you wanted to tell me?" Tira asked with a wide eyed expression.

Nightmare looked at her. Little did she know, his face was turning a bright shade of red.

"Um...I forgot," Nightmare answered quietly.

"Oh...OK then," Tira answered.

Nightmare looked away and bit his lip. 'Damn! Should I tell her?'