I'm going to a friend's house in like 5 minutes so I have 0 time for review replies, but take this very long, not proofread chapter.

Chapter 74

Nicole awoke from her misery-induced nap at the squeak of her bedroom door.

"Nicole, why are you sleeping? It's the middle of the day." A flat voice asked, and she lifted her head to see Indigo standing in the doorway with an amused look on her face.

"None of your business." She snapped, rolling over and burying her face in the pillow.

"Alright, geez, if you're gonna- hey, you- what's with the cuff?" Nicole blinked, then remembered the vengestone cuff, which was still locked around her wrist. She sat up, blowing her hair out of her face with a huff.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well… do you want me to get it off?" Nicole looked up to see Indigo holding a hairpin in one hand, and a needle in the other. Lockpicking tools.

"Um… yeah, I'd like that." Indigo crossed the room and sat down next to her on the bed, taking Nicole's wrist and setting it in her lap as she stuck the needle and the hairpin into the keyhole. "Do you just… carry around the needle with you wherever you go?" The human girl asked after a moment.

"Yeah. I put it inside my arm, then become solid." The void mistress replied without looking up. Nicole cringed.

"Doesn't that… hurt?"

"Nah."

"Okay…" The two girls were silent for a few minutes as Inidgo worked on the lock.

"I saw your boyfriend storming into his room earlier." The ghost girl commented after a while. "He looked pretty upset."

"It's all Andreea's fault!" Nicole blurted. "She was- I was trying to- I was trying to help! And she-"

"Alright, calm down." Indigo set down the needle and patted her shoulder. "You can rant if you want, just don't get so worked up." Nicole took a deep breath, then let it out.

"I was using my powers on Morro to make him less scared of talking to Lloyd, and he didn't know, but Andreea figured it out somehow, so she cuffed me, and Morro noticed the difference when my powers stopped and now he's mad at me, and-"

"Why would he be mad?" Indigo interrupted. "He knows what you can do. I'd think he would be appreciative." Nicole fidgeted. "Stop squirming. This is harder than it looks."

"Sorry. Um… that wasn't all I was doing."

"What else did you do?"

"I kinda… made him love me more." Her voice lowered to a mumble. "And when Andreea cuffed me, that- that feeling went away, and now he thinks he never loved me in the first place and I was just playing with his head but I wasn't! I didn't use my powers on him much! Just a little bit! And Andreea says that's not okay, but it's no different than me manipulating him any other way!

"I told her that's how the real world works, that everything's manipulation if you want to get ahead, but she didn't listen! She's been pampered by the ninja for the past few years, she doesn't get it!" Something occurred to her. "Indigo, you grew up on the streets, didn't you? You get it, don't you?" Indigo didn't answer for a moment, a click finally coming from the cuffs and the shackle coming free.

"I do get it." The ghost girl said at last. "When I lived out there, alone, lying, cheating, stealing… heck, I tried to kidnap Lloyd. But those things… I always knew those things weren't okay. Sometimes you don't have any choice if you wanna survive, but… different rule apply when you have friends. And a family." Indigo didn't look at her as she spoke, staring at the floor. "You have to learn to trust them, and to let them trust you.

"When I was alone, I was a thief. I used my powers to take out security and get around unnoticed. Your powers are suited for manipulation, so… you were a grifter. A con woman." Indigo glanced up at her for confirmation, and Nicole nodded. "And now you're so used to it that it's hard to stop. On some level, you probably feel like this is just another con. It's hard to open up when you're always lying." Nicole bit her lip. Yeah.

"But that's the only way you're gonna earn Morro's trust. You do love him, right?" The dream mistress nodded earnestly. "Then you have to tell him everything. Tell him everything you did, and tell him why. Don't leave anything out, and don't lie, whatever you do."

"What if he doesn't believe me? Or doesn't forgive me?"

"Then you'll have to earn his forgiveness. Treat him with respect. Don't manipulate people. Stop using your powers altogether if you have to, just prove to him that you're sorry and you want to change, even if it's for no one's sake but his."

"But I'm- I'm not sorry." Nicole protested. "I don't even understand why it's not okay!" Indigo sighed, looking up at her.

"Nicole, people's thoughts and feelings are very intimate things. When they're altered or changed by an outside force, people get scared and defensive. If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?" Nicole frowned.

"I guess."

"Nicole, think about it. Imagine if you fell in love with someone, and then you found out the reason you did was because they changed your thoughts and made you. How would that make you feel?"

"…bad. Hurt."

"Would you doubt that person's love for you?"

"…yeah."

"That's right. Because, if they really loved you, they'd put you first. That's what love is. 'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." Indigo quoted. "It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs'. What you did to Morro hurt him and probably confused him. You made him question whether he's even supposed to love you, and definitely if you love him, or if he's just the punchline of some cruel joke. You need to go talk to him." A pause. "Now. Go now."

"H-huh?" Nicole pushed herself to her feet as Indigo waved her away.

"Go talk to him. Move." Indigo clapped her hands together. "The longer you wait, the more time he has to wonder and theorize about your motivations."

"Uh- okay." Nicole hurried towards the doorway, then paused. "Indigo?"

"What?"

"Did you… do a thing like I did? With your Morro?" She twisted her hands together. "You sound like you're speaking from experience." Indigo smiled a bit.

"I guess I do. I didn't… do the same thing, exactly. But it took me a long time to get out of the mindset I had when I lived on the streets. It took me a really long time to trust the other ninja, and instead of asking for things like food and clothing I'd steal them, even though I really knew if I asked they'd give it to me. But I know how hard it is to trust people. And I know it's easier to just keep following the same rules, use your powers to cushion the hard parts. But eventually people are gonna find out. They did for me, and now they have for you. You gotta make it up to them somehow." Nicole frowned, then nodded.

"Yeah. Can I have those cuffs?"

"Sure." Indigo tossed her the vengestone cuffs, and she caught them before hurrying off down the hall. Indigo was right. She needed to explain herself to Morro before she lost him forever.

TheDarknessReturn

Morro really, really wanted to believe the best about Nicole. That this was some mistake, that it wasn't as bad as it looked. But… deep down inside him, a little voice kept telling him that she was not to be trusted. She wasn't his friend.

Morro sat on his bed in his room, knees pulled up to his chest as he replayed the events from a couple hours ago again and again in his head. Stepping into Lloyd's room, exchanging greetings with him, Lloyd acting so polite, so nice- then the shift in his emotions, so sudden he nearly stumbled. Nicole bursting in, pretending not to know what was happening even though she was obviously flustered and nervous, then getting defense when Andreea called her out. Lloyd screaming at her, demanding to know why she thought it was okay for her to make him feel so horribly guilty, so miserably, and Nicole not even caring. The only emotion in her eyes was anger.

He had felt his heart skip a beat when his confidence, his bravery, and his affection vanished. His eagerness to see her follow him through the door- gone. He felt like a pawn in a game of chess when he realized what happened- not even useful until he was turned into something else.

He jumped when a soft knock sounded on his door. Hopeful that it was Lloyd, he called,

"Come in!" The door creaked open, and he was dismayed to find that it was Nicole, not Lloyd, who stepped through the doorway. "What do you want?" He asked quietly, looking away.

"I wanted to explain. I- no." She shuffled a couple feet into the room, her hands behind her back. "I wanted to apologize." Morro didn't turn to face her, but glanced in her direction. At least she was admitting she had done something wrong.

"I- I didn't get it." She looked down at the floor. "I didn't understand why you were mad at first. Why everyone was. I've been… I've been lying for so long, I forgot it wasn't normal. Indigo had to explain it to me, and… I get what I did. I get why you reacted that way. And I'm… sorry." Morro felt a sliver of pity creep into his mind, then he shook his head rapidly.

"How can I trust my reaction to any of this," He growled. "Now that I know exactly what you can do?" Wordlessly, Nicole removed her hands from behind her back, revealing a pair of vengestone cuffs in her hands. Without looking at him, she cuffed her hands together.

"Now I can't tamper with your emotions even if I wanted to." She said quietly. Morro stared at her for a few moments before nodding slowly.

"I- yeah."

"I'm sorry for manipulating you, and not just with my powers. In other ways, too." She continued. "I'm a con artist. This isn't the first time I've made someone fall in love with me. This… is the first time I've been in love with that person, though.

"I fell in love with you almost at first sight. I'd seen you before, when you ruled the world." He felt a stab of guilt, he always did when someone brought up his past, but this time he was almost glad for the reminder that not everything he felt came from her. "And when you ruled the world, I hated you. Everyone did. You were the monster who made our lives hell, made us live like this. But when I met you…" She twisted her hands together, shuffling closer.

"You changed my perception of you instantly. When I first saw you, you were unconscious on the ground, injured and nearly abandoned. The fact that you were so helpless made me feel sorry for you, and… somehow that lead to me falling for you. The first thing we talked about was about how you were betrayed by your master and Lloyd took you in, about why you were evil in the first place, and why you changed.

"I fell in love with you because… well, you're attractive, and that helped, but the real reason I fell for you was because you were trying really, really hard to change, and most people weren't giving you credit for it. Because I felt like you needed someone to be there for you. And once I fell in love, I didn't know what to do. I'd never fallen in love before. So I used every manipulation tactic I knew of to try to get you to love me back.

"Me offering you my jacket, and the smiles and compliments, none of those things were real. I was just scared and lonely and I wanted you to love me, so I did whatever I had to to make it happen. I didn't use my powers much, just to make you think about me until it occurred to you that you might love me, to push you in the right direction. Nothing I did for you was genuine. Except…" She hesitated.

"When I went after Claire, when you saved me, I didn't mean for you to even know. I was just so angry at her for hurting you." She balled her hands into fists. "And Lloyd- I wanted to see him suffer for how he made you suffer. As far as I was concerned, if I could give him those nightmares every day of his life, maybe he would have gotten what he deserved for what he did to you. I hated him. I don't know… I don't think I hate him anymore.

"So… I guess the point of this whole thing is that I'm a poorly socialized moron who reacted to falling in love by panicking and tricking the unfortunately recipient of her affections into loving her back." She sniffled, staring at the ground. "I was just- just so lonely, so scared of losing you, the only person I've cared about in years and years, and I- I couldn't go back to that. I can't go back to that. I know I messed up really bad, I'm sorry." She didn't lift her eyes from the ground. "Will you forgive me?" Morro stared at her, at the girl who he knew now, without a shadow of a doubt, that he really did love.

"Of course I forgive you." Standing up, Morro strode across the room towards her and pulled her into a tight hug. "You went about it the wrong way, but it's obvious from your actions that you love me." He murmured as she squeaked., unable to hug him back due to her wrists being cuffed in front of her. "You fought Claire for me, tried to protect me from Lloyd. And those things you said were only a means to make me fall in love with you, isn't that what normal flirting is? It's just being nice. That's why I love you, for your actions. Even if you hadn't made me think about you, I'm sure I would have fallen for you anyway." Nicole sniffled.

"Does that- does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

"I'm not. But… since you said you're so used to lying it's hard to stop… I'm not sure if I can trust you not to mess with my head." Morro pulled away to look at her, and she straightened up, looking at him with determined, if teary, eyes.

"Kai's dad told me he's a blacksmith. I'll ask him to make me something – like a bracelet – out of vengestone, then I can't."

"If you're willing to give up use of your powers for me, I can be sure that you really do love me. If you're as fond of your powers as I am of mine, that's a lot to give up." He lifted one of her cuffed hands and kissed her fingers. "And you might not be perfect, but no one is. I'm just as bad. Well… much worse, probably.

"We make quite a couple, don't we?" She gave him a watery smile, and he returned it.

"We sure do." He hugged her tight again, and they stood there for a few, long moments, neither of them saying a thing. There had been too many words spoken already. Finally, Morro pulled away.

"We should get these stupid things off you." He tugged at the chains a bit, staring down at her wrists.

"I need to apologize to Lloyd, too. What I did to him… wasn't okay. If I don't apologize, I might just further the circle of revenge." Nicole frowned a bit.

"Do you want me to come with you? I really should apologize too, for… killing his mom and chopping off his leg."

"Yeah. I want you to come." She wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve. "Come on, I'm sure Andreea has the key for these."

"Yeah." Morro nodded, following her as she lead him back out of his room. Nicole wasn't perfect, and it make take some time for them to really be a good couple, but this was a start.

This is so long oh my gosh romance is so complicated

~FFF