A tiny kitten sat in a secluded area of a primary school, head in knees and quietly crying.
The six-year-old couldn't fathom what had been done to deserve the unkind words and vitriolic looks. Why were these people so mean? Weren't schoolmates supposed to be friendly? Why were they making fun of him?
Though hugely emotional and certainly a bit of a crybaby, Nickel was a nearly exemplary young student: quiet and intelligent with a love for reading, albeit very shy when called to answer. Streaks ahead of his peers even being a year younger, his immense potential did not go unnoticed by many - certainly not his teachers, who recognised that the red-furred feline needed to be challenged beyond what was expected in the curriculum.
After two years of experimenting with his capabilities, even letting him do second grade work in first grade, they allowed him to functionally skip a grade, and move into third grade at six years of age. And here began the troubles.
Little Nickel, as had become expected at that point, was doing rather well in his new schooling environment, and a few of his classmates were unsurprisingly bent out of shape that the kit two years younger than them was outperforming them. Not all of them, the girls didn't express any discontent at the fact that he was among them, but a couple of the boys certainly did, perhaps jealous of him.
It became evident not long into the year that Nickel was prone to shed tears, and that was the avenue his bullies took. Thankfully the incidents were never physical, only ever verbal, but that was all they needed - they still left Nickel terribly upset and wondering at the time if they hated him.
He never told his teachers about this, either. Not only was he far too shy to go up to them of his own accord, his belief in the authoritative figures had been cracked by an instructor who simply didn't like him, for reasons that Nickel never knew. Would they side with him or with his bullies?
The great handheld bell signalling the end of the recess period rang, and obediently the kitten got up from his corner and trudged back to the third grade classroom. He sat down in the front row and put his head on his desk, not intending to look up until his eyes had been cleared - however long that took. He could hear words from his harassers, but he had cried himself to exhaustion and didn't have the energy to care about what they were saying at that moment.
To be fair, they didn't antagonise him. Maybe if he tried hard not to care when he had the energy to, they would leave him alone. It would be hard for little Nickel, he always wanted to appear friendly, but he didn't want to be tormented much more.
Eventually, though, he would grow used to it. He became able to ignore just about any derisive thing that was said, and as a result he became even quieter than before and less emotionally volatile. It helped that his bullies mellowed out and eventually became friends with him, erasing their shared history.
However, what was never erased was the hatred he had garnered for bullies and how they made others feel.
.
.
.
Nickel was spending his time with Topaz on a somewhat wet day. It had been drizzling a little as he was walking Lily to school, and he had decided to take shelter in the ebony feline's dwelling place - a good decision, as not long after he'd gotten inside it began bucketing it down.
Things had begun to dry up approaching noon, though. The ground was still sodden, but at least the children (and Nickel himself) could go outside without being soaked.
The bell rang for lunch. "There's the bell," Topaz noted aloud.
Nickel gave an acknowledging hum. "Let me see if I can see Lily," he stated, making for a window.
A little time passed before the yellow kitten emerged from the classrooms with her classmates, perhaps the subject had dragged on a little longer than anticipated. Nevertheless, she was on her way.
Nickel continued to watch her head toward the gates, the only one of the collective going that way; it was a good thing he did, for he witnessed an altercation that made his blood seethe.
A couple of girls, appearing to be a bit older than his little friend, decided that it would be fun to push the unsuspecting Lily onto the muddy ground, ruining her clothes and sullying her fur too.
He left his vantage point and was heading out the door in no time flat, barely hearing Topaz calling after him.
Nickel arrived on the scene just in time to catch some spoken words. "... so ugly, that mud makes you look so much better." Laughter ensued, an obnoxious kind of laughter that defined the word "schadenfreude".
"Just wait till mister Nickel finds out!" Lily shouted back at them.
"Who's that? Your dad? Oh, wait - you don't have one!"
The pair of bullies laughed again, and Nickel could practically hear Lily start to cry. Making fun of an orphan just because her parents had died? During the war? He wouldn't have it. Very few times had someone come to his aid when he had been bullied - he wasn't going to let Lily feel the same pains.
He strode in, unnoticed by the three until he cleared his throat with purpose. "Ahem."
The laughter stopped short. Through tears in her eyes Lily looked up at him as though he was the Messiah, and she ran to hug him before hiding behind him as he addressed the other two. "What do you think you're doing?"
His voice must have spooked them, because they didn't answer for a while; suddenly they turned and ran, but Nickel had been expecting it and caught each by the wrist before they got anywhere.
"Now, ladies," he began, his tone calmly serious as he led them back to where Lily was. "I believe an apology is in order, don't you?"
They said nothing, unsurprisingly, and they even tried to break his hold, but his massive hands kept them in place. "Oh, is that so? So you don't feel sorry for what you did? Maybe I should find one of your teachers and tell them you're not being nice. Or perhaps I could take you to the principal, I'm sure mister Clemens will be all too happy to deal with you himself. Doesn't detention sound lovely? How about a call to your parents?"
"Okay, okay!" one yelled, begrudgingly relenting. "We're sorry."
"Don't say that to me, you didn't do anything to me."
They both hung their heads, and they turned to Lily and mumbled their apologies.
Good enough, Nickel thought. "That's better. Now don't do it again, I won't be so nice next time."
They obeyed and hurried away, and Nickel took Lily by the hand much more gently. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up." Lily nodded, seemingly not trusting her words.
They started off for Topaz's house, meeting its owner halfway. "What happened?" she asked immediately.
"I went to go talk to some people," Nickel explained somewhat vaguely. "They were being mean to Lily."
"I can see," Topaz said. "Come on inside."
Very soon, the kitten was washing herself in the shower as her big friends sorted her clothes out.
"I hate bullies," Nickel muttered as he sat down in the living room, waiting on the washing machine to finish.
"I'm with you there, Nickel," Topaz agreed, sitting beside him. "So what happened to her?"
As Nickel recounted the events, he resolved in his mind to keep Lily as best he could from those things which had plagued him at her age. Now that he could do something about it, he would try his utmost to do something.