• February 14th. Valentine’s Day. The day when red is considered beautiful. The day when it’s a symbol of romance and passion. The day people give in to its seductive powers. The day people forget its true meaning. Blood.
    It was wet and warm against my face. I was frozen to the root. I knew this feeling. I hated it. I feared it beyond anything else. My vision went fuzzy and then black…
    ‘“Nymph...Nymph...Please meet me...Meet me where we would always meet for lunch...Our secret spot...Just for us...The three of us...” The voice came in distant echoing whispers.
    My legs were moving unconsciously. I was running?! Yes, running towards the voice. Her voice. No matter what I couldn’t let her voice fade. Not this time. I had to reach it; I had to reach her. I moved through the darkness as fast as I could. Looking. Searching. There! The door. A glass door. All I needed to do was reach it, open it…
    Wet.
    Warm.
    Against my face and the side of my body.
    Why?
    I raised my hand to my face. Red? It was red on my fingertips. My body trembled from head to toe. Slowly, so slowly, I turned to the source. My eyes grew wide with horror. An earsplitting scream filled the still darkness.’
    “Nymph! Nymph! Keini!!!”
    I awoke with a start and realized the one screaming was me. I was sweating and panting uncontrollably.
    “Meum! Meum! Are you alright?!” Lelouch had me in his arms gently brushing the stray hairs from my face with his fingertips. He had a terrified look on his face but it was also covered with specks of…blood. I jumped away from his touch and out of his arms. My heart was racing, I felt my body go pale, and tears were running down my face. I was shaking so hard it hurt. I was…
    “You’re scared aren’t you?” he said this with a hollow dead voice. One I had never heard him use before. It was frightening. We were silent for a long time. I stared into his deep blue eyes. The eyes that always seemed to put me in a trance. They were so beautiful. He was so beautiful. Physically, oh yeah, but his heart and soul as well. I was drawn to him like a fish to the sea. They were made for each other and somehow in my heart that’s how I felt for him. But knowing all this how can he? He can’t be evil. He can’t be heartless. But he…right now…killed all those men. Like it was nothing. Completely effortless. He is so beautiful but he’s also quite terrifying. But the question now was…
    “You’re afraid of me.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. I didn’t answer. It was his turn to stare into my eyes. He peered into them searching for his answer. Searching for the fear that I felt deep down to the core. Deep in my soul. I flinched and looked to the floor. I felt his gaze still on me. It burned my skin.
    “I am…” I whispered “But…not of you…” I mustard all the strength I had left and looked him straight in the eyes and made sure I showed not of trace of fear as I went on. “I’m afraid of what you did. I’m terrified to be perfectly honest. I’ve hated and feared the sight of someone else’s blood for a long time now. But…I’m not afraid of you. Never of you…” Before I knew he had me pinned to the ground with the gun to my head.
    “How about now?!” My heart was racing so hard it felt like it was about to rip through my rib cage and out of my body. But for some reason I wasn’t afraid of HIM at all. I looked him straight in the eyes with a blank expression.
    “No.”
    He glared at me for the longest time but I felt his hand shake something fierce. He wasn’t going to shoot me. I don’t think he ever could. Slowly his glare softened until it turned into a pain-filled expression. He released me, pulled himself off, and turned tossing the gun away. I could have sworn I saw his eyes fill with tears but I let it go. I sat up.
    “You should be.”
    “I know…but I’m not.” And that was the truth.
    He lunged at me again and stopped inches from my face. His eyes peered into mine again, God they’re beautiful, to find his answer. I guess he doesn’t believe me. I don’t blame him. Any normal person would have already run off screaming their heads off thankful that they were still alive. But I’m NOT normal. People didn’t call me crazy for nothing. But why wasn’t I afraid of him? I have every reason to be but still…I’m not. And why do I…still want to stay by his side? In fact why in the world did that feeling not only stay with me but also…become so much stronger? He gave up and pulled away. Either he was convinced or he just didn’t want to believe it.
    “…how? …why?” his voice was hoarse.
    He didn’t believe it…I thought about his questions for a moment though but I didn’t seem to know myself. ”I don’t know…I’m just not.” I simply replied. My face became hot. I tried to read his expression but he turned away. I gave up and sighed.
    “I can kill you, you know.” He said with his back to me. His voice still sounded dark. He was still trying to make me afraid of him but I wasn’t buying it.
    “I know, but you won’t.”
    “How can you be so sure?” he clenched his fists into balls on his lap. His knuckles turned white.
    “If you wanted to kill me you had plenty of opportunities already.” I shrugged.
    “That could be the whole idea. I could just be playing with you.” He snarled.
    I paused. That one made my heart stop for a moment. It hurt to even think that since it wouldn’t be a first for me if it were ever true. He finally looked my way to see my reaction but I put on a brave face before he could see my real expression and calmly replied “You could but your not.” I said with unarguable confidence.
    He continued to stare at me as I got up and patted the dust from my clothes. There was blood on them. I stared, frozen, at the blood on my hands. My knees buckled and I fell forward. He caught me just in time as I was about to hit the ground face first. I looked up at him and he wore an apprehensive expression. I smirked. I tried to keep it in but I couldn’t control myself any longer. I exploded into giggles. He looked at me puzzled as he helped me to my feet. He put most of my weight on him to support me better. I continued to giggle.
    “What are you giggling about?” he demanded but that only made me explode into laughter.
    “You say you’re going to kill me and yet…your doing all you can to help me. You can talk scary; you can talk about killing me…” both times I said “kill me” he flinched.”…but didn’t you know? Actions speak louder than words.” I looked deep into his eyes and gave him a soft smile. It made him…blush!? He actually blushed! It was so cute I went into another fit of giggles. He became agitated and turned deep red but he still kept a firm grip on me so I wouldn’t fall.
    “Let’s get you back to my parent’s place.” He grumbled and turned away.
    “’Kay!” and I gave him an energetic smile.