"Join me, Dearest Nikki. Join the winning side in this dreadful war."
"No. I won't. All this time you've been tricking me and now you've lured me here to do your bidding. No. I refuse to do as you've asked. I owe you nothing!"
Mandarin glared at her, his red eyes lighting up with the intensity of that glare. The heat from his eyes radiating from within their dark depths. "Who has helped you with controlling your gifts all these years?!"
Nikki turned away from the levitating orange simian and softly admitted her answer to him. "You did."
"And who was there for you when everyone, even your own brother, turned their backs on you."
The dark-haired maiden closed her eyes and sighed. Not noticing when Mandarin floated around her so that he was at her eye level. "You were.."
"And now I come to you for help and this is how you repay me? By stabbing me in the back after all that I've done for you."
Nikki opened her emerald eyes and turned them to the ground. "What do you want me to do...My Lord?"
Mandarin smirked down at her as he tilted her chin upwards with a single claw. "Follow me. Just follow me in all of my ways and do not oppose me for if you do then the consequences will be most...severe."
'Why do I feel like I just signed my soul over to the Devil?' Nikki thought as she nodded her head mutely.