The next day Nikki went to the blue dorm looking for Sabrina. She went to Sabrina's balcony, and jumped up with no trouble, but had to do a flip to keep her balance. She knocked on Sabrina's door, until the blonde opened the door.
"What is it, Nikki?" Sabrina asked.
"I want to know why you were so upset the other day. And I keep seeing these magazines saying that you and Zane broke up, which I don't believe after Sugar, told me you loved him with all of your heart." Nikki said.
"I hate the press, they lie about everything just make some money." The blonde said.
"I can get rid of the magazines. But first I need help." Nikki said.
"Help with what?" Sabrina asked looking at the velvet eyed girl.
"I want to know what love is, Sugar isn't the best person to ask." She said.
Sabrina pulled Nikki inside, and they sat down on the couch. Nikki still couldn't move her left arm, but she could place it in her lap when she moved it with her right hand. She wore a red dress instead of the school uniform, kinda like how Duke wore a dark red trench coat over a black shirt and pants. Sabrina liked how her new young friend could speak her mind.
"Love? Is that what you wanted to know about?" Sabrina asked.
"Yes, it confuses me. I've never heard of it before." Nikki said.
"Huh, I guess it's that feeling that you can only feel for one person, the person who means the most to you. The people you want to keep safe and never let harm touch them. But how you are with Rail, it's not the same, you only care for him like a little brother, and you act like he's your little brother." Sabrina said.
"What about the other guys?" Nikki asked.
"You seem distant to almost everyone else but us girls and Duke. You do care, but you don't seem to like how the guys act, since they don't act like their age." Sabrina said.
"I see, I wouldn't notice these things about myself." She said.
"It's okay, but you are different with Duke, but it might be because he acts older than what he really is, but Sugar told me it's because he was training to be solider before he left his home." Sabrina said.
"Why would he leave his home? A home is a home, a safe place you can go to your family." Nikki said.
"Not for Duke, this school is the closest thing he's got to a home, and we are the closest thing he's got to a family. Maybe you should talk to him about, and think about what I told you." Sabrina said.
"I will, I'll see you later. Oh, and don't listen to those press people." Nikki said before jumping off the baloney.
Nikki ran to the tennis courts, to look for Duke. He was with Rail showing him how to play tennis. Train and Sven were watching. Eve held a book in her hand reading it. Nikki walked over to Duke, catching the ball Rail had hit, which almost hit her.
"Nikki, is something wrong?" Duke asked, since she was patting from her run.
"No, but let's go for a walk. You and me." She said.
"Are you sure?" he asked looking from her to Rail.
"Rail has Train and Sven to watch him." She said.
"Alright." He said.
Duke and Nikki walked in the forest of the woods, where no one would find them, or at least interrupt them. Nikki was walking ahead of Duke, with her right hand holding her left from behind, her long hair flowing behind her. Duke only waited until she spoke first.
"Sabrina told me, that Sugar told her, that you use to train to be a solider before you left your home." Nikki said turning on her toe like a dancer would. Only to lose her balance, but Duke caught her before she could fall.
"I did, why is that important?" he asked.
"Well, it just says we have trained in some way in our lives. I trained to become a number of chronos. And you were training to be a soldier, I say that means we have something in common." She said.
"I guess it does." He said watching her turn and walk again.
"Today, I went to talk to Sabrina, but you probably already know that. I had to ask her about love, since I don't really know what it is. I've never been shown it, only once and for five minutes, and then he died. I'll get Creed gone so he can't hurt anyone else I care about." She said looking at the tree tops as the wind blew.
"Creed is a bad man, he doesn't have the right to be in this world." He said.
"I know. But then again, I was taken forcibly from my mom and dad by Chronos, but are they bad people for wanting to keep world peace, and not wanting the second bio-weapon to get into the wrong hands?" she said.
"I forget you're a bio-weapon, you act like a normal girl to me." Duke said with a smile as Nikki turned to look at him in shock.
"How can you forget, when I can turn my hands into blades or other weapons, or turn my skin to steel, my hair into hands?" she asked she had stopped walking and was half facing him. Her purple eyes wide with disbelief as the wind blew some leaves around them.
"Because, that's normal for you. That's what makes you, you. Creed can try and put a fake in your place but I'll know it's not you. I'll just know that it isn't you. You're that special to me." He said in a slow and low tone.
Nikki let out a slow but happy breath, as her eyes narrowed a little bit, and a small smile formed on her lips. She stepped closer to Duke until she was only a couple steps from him. "I've been thinking about what Sabrina told me about love. But I want to know something, first. You once told me you came from a world of hate, with no love at all, but I brought the warmth of love to you. I was raised without love, but I still don't know the warmth of love." She said looking up at him. "Can you help me feel that warmth?"
Duke only pulled her into a tight embrace, resting his head on top of hers. He only sighed, one of those happy ones. Nikki just put her only working arm around him as she let him hold her. Both of their hearts racing, but at the same beat. Nikki had to sigh as she closed her eyes.
"I will help you. I'm never going to let anything happen to you. You became the center of my world even though it use to be Sugar's." he said as he held at arm's length, so he could look her in the eye.
"Thank you, Duke." She said before falling into his hard chest.
She found comfort and safety here. She didn't want to be anywhere else right now, only here. She wanted the moment to last forever. But the sound of a grown man's footsteps made her pull away as she looked to her left. This did confuse Duke until he saw a man with green hair.
"Who are you? You don't look like any of the workers from the school. And why would you be this far out into the forest?" Duke asked moving Nikki behind him.
"I'm Leon Elliots. I'm husband to Eve, and father to Nikki. But also follower of Creed." The man said, he sounded sad at the end, like he regretted it.
"You're my father! I don't believe that!" Nikki yelled from behind Duke.
"I see, I didn't think you would." He said.
"Tell us, Nikki's birth weight and length." Duke said, only to get a look from Nikki.
"She weighed 6 pounds 5 oz. and she was about 21 inches long. She was a little angel wrapped up in the white blanket. She was six months old when Chronos took her." He said.
"I didn't ask for that much but alright." Duke said.
"And the day they took her, Eve called Train, yelling into the phone for him to save her baby." He said.
Nikki gasped at this. She used to have dreams about a woman yelling that into a phone. She couldn't believe that was a memory from when she was so little. Tears brim her eyes, she had to make sure this guy was for real because Eve had blonde hair and he had green hair, while Nikki had brown hair.
"Then how do I have brown hair?" she asked.
"You got it from my mother, your grandmother. But she's dead, and I have no photos of her." Leon said.
"Are you sure?" Nikki asked.
"Yes. I have no reason to lie to you. I've told you all the truth since we started this conversion." He said.
Then out of nowhere he started to float on thin air, making both of them blink in surprise. Nikki knew this meant a fight. But she couldn't really fight with one arm; her whole left side would be defenseless.
"I'm sorry, but Creed wants me to kill my own daughter. Something I don't want to do." Leon said as a huge gust of wind blew both of them over.
"That's some wind." Duke said getting up.
"I'm surprised you can get up." Leon said.
"I'm not human." Duke said as a bright light covered him for a second. His red coast and black clothes were replaced with a whole new outfit. He now wore a black uniform that made Nikki think of the British guards outfit, with golden buttons, and red trimming and hemming, red cuffs at the end of the sleeves.
"He really isn't from this world." She whispered.
Leon threw a gust of wind that actually cut skin, because both Nikki and Duke got cuts on their faces where the wind touched them. Nikki couldn't believe that Leon had this kind of power. She knew it wasn't something normal, but what made this power, she wanted to know this. But she had to help Duke.
"I guess I have to put that training into use now." Duke sighed as he took a ring off his right hand. His hands gloved with white gloves.
The ring started to glow and turned into a strange staff. It was a dark golden color but on top was a black sun, glass was in the middle, and in the glass was a strange flickering. The flickering looked like a black cloud with thunder inside, but Nikki wasn't sure.
Nikki formed a shield with her right hand and when Leon made a new gust, she jumped in front of Duke, only to learn Leon can change the course of the wind, so it hit them in the side. Nikki fell over since she was so light. But she got right up again and whipped some blood from her cheek.
"Why don't you run? If you run, I won't chase you and don't have to kill you." Leon said.
"I was taught to never run from a fight." Nikki said her hand now a blade.
Duke's staff let off a bolt of lightning, which hit Leon. But it wasn't enough to take him out. He didn't even fall to his knees. Nikki looked at Duke from the corner of her eye. He only seemed to look at Leon, who looked like he really didn't want to be fighting.
Nikki turned her hand back to normal and stepped back. She didn't want to go into the fight if he wasn't going to show his true colors. She looked at Duke and placed her right hand on his staff and gave it a slight push to the ground, saying enough.
"He doesn't want to fight, so I'm not going to fight. Let's go." She said.
She turned and ran away. Duke turned back and chased after her. He didn't understand why she had stopped; did she really believe that he was her father? He just ran after her, and tried to catch up to Nikki, but she seemed to run really fast at the moment.
Nikki came to a stop at the edge of the forest, and leaned on a tree, and kept whipping her face with the back of her hands. He realized she was crying, and just pulled her into a hug, as she calmed down.