WARNING: NIGHTMARES ARE PROHIBITED FROM READING THIS FANFICTION

The ice rink in the park was closed, so I ambled past its plastic wall barriers and glanced at my reflection. A messy bun, wide brown eyes ringed with dark circles due to nightmarish sleeps, and a jacket that didn't match as well as I thought it did. I pulled the hairband out, wincing a little, and raked the bed-head back into a half-descent pony tail. Oh, well. I wasn't planning on impressing anybody. Something black flicked across the glass, and I whipped around to see Tobias standing behind me.

He was close, for someone I had just met and, frankly, despised. Tobias smiled. Wrapped in a plain black scarf, swathed in black leather, he looked exactly like the kind of boy mom's didn't want their daughters around.

"You skate?"

I shook my head. Gliding, falling, and crawling to the exit wasn't really counted as skating. Tobias mock-frowned. "Too bad. I was hoping to get a few rounds in with you."

"Rink's closed, anyways," I said. He gave me a dangerous look, like he was talking about something else entirely. I blushed and hid my chin in my scarf. He was getting a little too friendly, setting a hand above my head, leaning in against the glass. I swear to God, if he kisses me I will castrate him. Suddenly the air shifted. It became cooler, fresher. Tobias looked around us with a scowl while I allowed myself to take a deep breath.

"Crap…" He clutched my upper arm suddenly, pulling me from leaning against the glass. "You're coming with me, toots."

Toots? "Let me go!" I struggled to pull away but his grip only tightened. "Let me go or I'll scream!" Tobias pulled me after him, rushing down the sidewalk towards the thickest of the park trees. I opened my mouth, the first pitch of the scream rising in the back of my throat. Tobias jerked me towards him and I slammed against his chest. His hand slapped over my mouth and he looked around nervously.

The park was nearly empty. I didn't get the sudden fear in his eyes; I didn't think that he scared so easily. There was only the guy on the ice rink's Zamboni, and he was far enough away to just glance over us. When he figured that no one else was watching, Tobias grinned. It wasn't cute and flirtatious, like the one in the café. This one was hungry and threatening.

"Is that a bust I feel under there, Mim?" He pulled me closer, an arm around my waist and his hand pressed against my mouth. My chest pressed onto his. "May just have to take you in before I give you over to Pitch."

What the heck? I wanted to scream. Pitch? I wedged my arms between us and pushed as hard as I could.

Tobias was lifted up and backwards, flying a good twenty feet away before slamming up against one of the trees. I looked at my hands, then at him. Holy mother of God. Tobias didn't glare at me, though. His eyes bore a hole into whatever he thought was directly in front of him. Pushing himself off the ground, seemingly unhurt, his fisted his hands. They turned black, the color seeming to drip off his coat and stain his skin. I blinked, but they were still that sharp, scary color that glared against the slushy snow.

"C'mon!" He yelled at nothing, his fists completely black. "C'mon!" Tobias lurched forward, only to grip his stomach and double over in pain. Something knocked his chin, making his head jerk back. I only watched as he was thrown side to side, beat to crap by some invisible totally-on-my-side being. I would be laughing, honestly, because it looked so ridiculous, but I was too busy staring.

The air shifted. What was once clean and fresh was pushed aside by something dark and heavy, like garbage thrown out in the mud, and then a skunk spraying it. I coughed, my eyes watering with the stench. Tobias raised his fist and threw one, two, three good punches until he forced one kick onto whatever he was fighting. His black fists dripped with darkness that disappeared before it touched the ground.

Then he looked at me.