Twelve years ago…

Lucy looked at what Baarham had presented to her, both scared and unsure of why he had it. Over the course of two weeks she had gotten to know the strange, mouthless, absurdly muscular man well. He was nice, gentle, and seemed to almost always keep his distance from her. She hadn’t been sure if it was because she was scared of him, or if he might have been scared of her. What she did know was that he was the only man in those two weeks that never harmed her in that same, horrible way she had been harmed for two years straight. It was nice, comforting, and sweet.

He had taught her a few things during the nights they spent talking, eating whatever sweets or snacks he had somehow snuck into her room. Lucy was never quite sure how Baarham did it, but she didn't complain about finally tasting American snacks. She could somewhat recall her mother talking about the chocolates that were made there, and he had brought some along at her request specifically. However it was never the chocolates or crackers that made her feel at peace, but the hymns and prayers they partook in that seemed to help her most.

She wasn’t completely blind to Christianity, as she faintly remembered her mother praying with her when they were still together. However, those memories were hard to grasp for her, as if belonging to a different, much happier and more innocent soul. Where her memories of her mother frayed, Baarham now took their place. They learned to sing together, pray together, and a week after they had met he had brought a french copy of the Holy Bible for them to read. Even if her young mind didn’t completely grasp it at the time, and even if she almost never went to church in her life, finding a faith with him had been the greatest gift they could bring each other.

Which only made the fact he was presenting a large steak knife to her rather terrifying.

“I… I don’t understand,” Lucy whispered, looking from the knife to Baarham in uncertain fear. “What good will this do me? Why do I need it?”

“You need it, milady. because I promised to free you from this false hell you have been stuck in,” Baarham replied. He held his oversized hands out a little bit more, keeping his eyes on the blade in fear it would cut the young girl. “This is the tool we shall use to give you that freedom. The dagger that will pierce your captor’s heart.”

“You want me to hurt him?” Lucy asked in shock. “Why? Why do I have to be the one to do it?”

“Because it is your freedom that I have strived to make reality, not my own,” the man reminded her, getting down on one knee so he no longer towered over his charge. “I shall help you, but you should be the one to truly earn your freedom. So this knife, this freedom, belongs to you.”

Lucy looked down, briefly considering what would happen if she didn’t take this opportunity. She shivered at the prospect of this possibly being her one and only chance to break free, and that denying an opportunity like this would mean a life of regret. The life she was living was not the one she wanted, even if she wasn’t quite sure what it was she wanted quite yet. So if her captors had already stained her with so many sins, then what was taking on one more?

One more sin, for her freedom.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Lucy said, taking the knife from his hands. She held it in both hands, angling it upwards. “I’m gonna pray for him though, once I’m free.”

Baarham’s eyes went wide at that. “Despite all he has forced you into? Do you really think he deserves it?”

“I don’t like him, yes, but he is human too,” Lucy explained, turning around and storing the knife under her bed for the moment. “I mean, if Jesus cared for all, then that includes him. That is what we read about, right? Why should I exclude him?”

Baarham blinked at the words that left Lucy’s mouth, forgetting for a moment that she was only eight years old. If he could, he would have smiled at what he heard leave his mouth. The knowledge that he, being made from the very trauma she had been put through, had managed to actually teach her something good made him happy. He knew that his efforts over the past two weeks had not been for nothing. All he would be able to hope for, is that she continued to believe that after what they would do tomorrow.

“Many grown ups forget that one,” Baarham told Lucy. “Don’t ever forget it. Even if it is hard at times, we are all human. Treat everyone with love, even if they don’t love you back.” Lucy gave a firm nod to the man, which only proved to make him happier. “Now how about you rest. Tomorrow, we give you the freedom you have long deserved.”

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Present day…

“Freedom.”

Melissa looked up, doing a double take as she looked between how Lucy had been standing before and how she was now. It now made sense to Melissa why her friends had freaked out when she had become a knight. Lucy no longer looked perplexed at the pin Jay had tossed her way, the pin attached to her outfit and a chain-blade held in her hand. Confidence flowed from the girl before her in a way Melissa could only describe as overpowering. Of course, neither her stance or weapon or anywhere near as eye-catching as the clothes she was now wearing.

A long red cape flowed from behind her, transitioning into a similarly red dress laced with chainmail underneath adorning her body. Her arms and legs were covered in chainmail that had been stained pure white. While her hands remained free of steel, mail, or cloth her feet were covered in metal boots, stained blood red. It, along with the similarly red blade of her chain sword and the confidence and determination that made up her smirk took Melissa back a bit. It didn’t matter to her if this was or wasn’t the time to be thinking about it or not, her mouth had to say it.

“You look hot in a cape.”

For a brief second, Lucy’s smirk transformed into shock. She quickly regained her composure and gave a deadpan look to her friend, who had turned their attention back to Jay and Deam. Lucy scoffed and turned back to the nightmare and the Magral Knight that had given her her pin. At no point did she notice how the corners of her lips subconsciously tilted up, or that her cheeks were nearly as red as her outfit.

“Red hot at that. The color suits you to a tee,” Jay commented, her pun leaving Lucy unsure of if she should let her smile grow or feel put off. The ginger turned back to Deam, giggling innocently once again. “Sorry for shoving you to the side for a moment. I felt disgusted looking at you and needed to bleach my eyes real quick. If the cause of your creation is anywhere near as ugly then it is no wonder she didn’t want to fuck you.”

Melissa listens in both awe and terror at Jay as she taunts the nightmare, not noticing how Lucy’s free hand curled into a fist. It worked well too, given that Deam’s already stained eyes seemed to grow wide, his teeth grinding in frustration. The shadow children around the three knights seemed to multiply even greater, and a guttural yell left Deams mouth in doing so. Another bit of laughter escaped Jay’s throat though it came out more as a sarcastic chuckle.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“You would insult me, despite the power I have gained from feeding here?!” Deam exclaimed. Lucy and Melissa turned their backs to the Nightmare, facing the crowd of shadow children that surrounded them. “You must really want to die if you would taunt a living nightmare at full power.”

“Oh please, if this is you at full power then I’m not scared at all!” Jay replied, her smile growing greater even as Deam seemed to get angry. Then, at the drop of a hat, her smile fell away and turned into a deep scowl. As she did, everything her telekinesis found themselves dragged to the ground as if gravity had suddenly multiplied tenfold. “So sit still and die.”

With those last few words, and her voice dropping a full octave, Jay sprung forward. A few of the shadow children tried to leap at her only for a tap of her staff to bind their feet to the ground like cement. It left them sitting ducks as she slammed her staff into a row of them, easily wiping them from existence. Even if they hadn’t been bound to the ground, her almost dance-like fighting style made it impossible for Deam’s creations to grab or strike.

Deam watched as Jay’s face instantly morphed back to the innocent, child-like facade she had kept up till but a few minutes ago. Telekinetically held glass whisked this way and that as she danced around, slicing through her enemies. A giggle could be heard attempting to escape her throat at the shadow children's useless efforts. All the while her careful steps always went to the side or forward as she closed the gap between herself and the domains master.

All the while Lucy and Melissa worked in tandem to keep the shadow children behind them from reaching Jay. Where the yellow knight danced and toyed with her opponents, Lucy was ruthless and relentless. Despite never having used a sword before, Freedom felt as if it was an extension of her arm rather than a weapon. With the flick of her wrist the blade extended it, cutting through each and every shadow child that tried to attack her. All the while a sixth sense of sorts kicked in when she knew Melissa was about to fire a shot.

While the shadow children at first seemed more interested in the trans girl, Lucy's wild and unpredictable fighting style made it impossible for them to get near Melissa. That allowed her to fire mostly unhindered, what few shadow children that had gotten past her friend quickly finding themselves on the end of a bullet. However, despite feeling like she was in no particular danger, the longer the fight dragged on the more noticeably tired she felt. Her reaction time was slowing, and Melissa knew the quicker Deam was dealt with the better off they all were.

Thankfully, Jay was on that.

Having closed the gap considerably, and with Deam’s power quickly waning from all the minions he was summoning, she could see him slightly shaking in fear. She knew that, much like herself, the living nightmare hadn’t expected to deal with more than one knight tonight. For him to be as weak as he was, face three Magral Knights, and stay alive for as long he had was a miracle. It was a miracle that both Deam and Jay knew was coming to an end, the former starting to turn as if to run.

He hadn’t been quick enough, Jay cutting him off by turning either direction by creating a wall of glass shards everywhere but directly in front of him. She heard him gasp in shock moments before the tip of her staff collided with the underside of his jaw. Her manipulation powers turned what had been a simple strike into a catapult, launching the nightmare high in the air behind her. Jay knew she could have ended it herself, but she wanted to see someone besides her kill a nightmare for once.

“Pinkie, red, he is yours!” She yelled, her eyes shaking with anticipation.

Melissa was the first to turn her head, seeing Deam flying her direction. Saving her questions as to how Jay had done it later, Melissa aimed her revolvers at him and fired four shots. Each hit their marks, blasting pieces of his belly and chest apart but not shattering him. She tried to charge up more shots, but the moment she tried she felt her eyelids nearly grow too heavy to keep open. She swore under her breath at how slow her entire being seemed to be, only for her to get a wake up jolt as a blur of red raced passed her.

Lucy wasn’t quite sure what her brain was telling her, but she felt something was telling her to raise her hand. Curling her fingers as if they were claws, she watched as the black blood escaping from Deam’s body started to stop their movement and harden together. The more that came out, the more they clotted and hardened together. They formed into two giant spears made of Deam’s blood, and with a thrust of her hand she watched as they were thrown into his body at lightning speed. One went through his chest while the other pierced his brain.

Deam’s body started to crack, and then moments later shattered into pure energy. With his form shattered, the hordes of shadow children faded from existence, halting their neverending advance. Then the twisted, malformed classroom that Deam had made fell away, the area before them turning back into that of a standard school hallway. No one noticed as their outfits and weapons disappeared, Jay looking at Lucy and Melissa in awe while they turned behind them to the cage that Deam had trapped Nicole in.

It too had fallen away like everything else, leaving a past out child where it had once stood. Lucy and Melissa rushed to Nicole’s side and kneeled down. Both let out a sigh as they saw her chest rising up and down. She was alive, mostly unharmed, and judging by the smile on her face was having a peaceful dream. Lucy smiled at the sight, her hand reaching to the knight's pin attached to her shirt. Nicole was still free, and with all hope the events of tonight would become nothing but a bad dream.

“We… we did it,” Melissa said, a yawn escaping her mouth as she spoke. “Thank goodness.”

“Yeah, now we just have to get her home,” Lucy said. The sound of footsteps coming from behind reminding her of the other knight with them. She let out a sigh as she stood up. “Before that, I need to do something.”

Unaware of what Lucy was planning, Melissa gave her friend a nod. The French girl turned around and looked at Jay, hiding her anger at the ginger as they walked to meet each other. The carefree skip that seemed to be in the ginger’s step, the eternal smile that refused to fall from their face, and the aura of positivity that she exuded didn’t help. When they reached and stopped mere inches from each other, Jay spoke up. She didn’t notice the glare that was being leered towards her.

“Thanks for the help tonight you two. It’s awesome to meet mor–“

Her words were cut off as Lucy gave a powerful slap to Jay's cheek. Melissa’s eyes widened in shock, standing up to stop her friend only to be petrified in place at the glance Lucy cast her way. It was filled with hate, and while that hate was not directed at Melissa it still terrified her. When Lucy did look back to the target of her hate, Jay found themselves taking a step back in fear and bewilderment.

“What was that for?” Jay asked in genuine confusion.

“If you can’t figure it out, then you’re too dumb to explain myself to,” Lucy said. Jay flinched at her words, watching as the French girl turned away from her and walked back towards her friend. “I’ll be outside. Need to cool off a bit.”

Melissa nodded as Lucy walked past her. The only sound that occupied the hallway for some time was their footsteps, the sound of Jay repairing the damage they had caused joining in once Lucy was out of sight. When Melissa could no longer hear her friend, she turned her attention to the ginger. They had to do a double take when they saw a hallway clean of glass, and a look to her left showed the classroom Deam had trashed had been similarly cleaned up and put back together.

“You know why she hit me?” Jay asked, tilting her head. Melissa couldn’t help but find the fact they were somehow smiling again odd.

“If I was to guess, she probably didn’t approve of how far you went with the taunt,” Melissa answered. Saying those words caused a lightbulb to go off in her head, recalling Deam’s words to her friend. Her voice dropped to a mutter as her expression dimmed. “Lucy, don’t tell me you were a–“

“Ah, gotcha,” Jay said, interrupting Melissa’s line of thought. “Well, can you tell her I’m sorry? I’ll finish up here, bring the child home, and we can discuss this all another day. You two are clearly tired and stressed, so I’ll look after Burlington for the rest of the night.”

Melissa looked to Nicole and then back to Jay. As much as she wanted to tell the ginger she could continue for the night, her entire body felt sluggish. She needed rest, and Lucy likely needed to as well. With a nod of her head, Melissa turned her back and walked down the hallway and out of Jay’s sight. As soon as the trans girl was out of sight, Jay dropped her cheerful facade, frowned, and rolled her eyes.

“Oversensitive much,” She mumbled, looking in the direction Lucy and Melissa had both left through. She then walked over to a sleeping Nicole, picked them up, and scoffed at the air. “It's not my fault she couldn’t tell my intentions.”