Niall rushed to Nonah’s side and did what any decent man would; he held Nonah’s hair from her face and gently rubbed her back as she wretched.

Naskia watched on helplessly unable to look away from Nonah. She wanted to be sick herself she felt so terrible, she had tortured and near killed the poor girl without stopping to think that everything might have been perfectly innocent, which it was. She waited for Nonah to stop vomiting and sit down before she opened her mouth again.

“Nonah I….” Naskia said before being cut off.

“Naskia go away for a bit. I need to take care of Nonah.” Niall said flatly. He was controlling his tone. He wanted to tear into Naskia but Nonah needed to be the top priority here.

“But…I can help…I did this, I have to help!” Naskia said with urgency creeping into her voice.

Niall stared at her coldly. She felt smaller than he was under his harsh glare. “Naskia, will you just please fuck off?”

Naskia didn’t reply, she was shocked not so much by what Niall had said but how he had said it. There was no love, no anger, no hate or sadness. He’d talked to her like she wasn’t even Titan, like she was a monster. She got up and made her way to the door without taking her eyes off Nonah for a second. Niall watched her go out the bedroom door and a few seconds later heard her leave the dorm altogether.

Niall turned to Nonah. She had huddled up in a ball covering her naked body, not so much from modesty but from cold. He examined her, she didn’t look to be hurt, not physically anyway. Niall scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his bed and pulled the covers over her. She didn’t respond. She just turned on her side away from him and stared into space.

“I’m sorry Nonah….she’s not usually like this. She just can get a bit crazy sometimes….” Niall said sitting on the end of the bed.

Nonah didn’t reply.

“Are you ok? Can I get you anything?” Niall pressed on still.

Niall waited but Nonah didn’t reply. He was about to start talking again when Nonah finally spoke up.

“Loona….I want Loona.” She said her voice still quivering.

Niall shifted uncomfortably on the bed. If Loona found out about this she’d probably give Naskia a sound beating and then take both Nonah and him with her.

“Nonah, Loona is still away….she won’t be back for a few days. You have to stay here. I’ll look after you I promise.” Niall said stroking her hair.

Nonah bolted up in bed and locked her eyes with Niall’s. “We can’t stay here! She’s a monster! We need Loona!”

Niall wrapped his arms around Nonah and pulled her into him as she started to sob. She buried her face into his shoulder and wept. Niall did his best to comfort her but she was distraught. She had lost a lot in such a short space of time, her innocence, her dignity, a good friend and her faith that people will always be good. It was all too much for her to take.

Niall rocked the crying Nonah back and forth in his arms and shushed her trying to comfort her as best he could. He felt his own eyes start to well up. The pain coming out of Nonah was almost too much for him to take. He hated Naskia right now but he was terrified that he may lose her over this. He couldn’t lose her, he loved her and he had to fix this somehow.

Naskia walked across the campus in a daze. She wanted to cry or feel pain or something. Anything other than the hollow numbness she felt at her actions. She needed to be punished somehow.

“How can I do these things? I hit Niall….I tortured Nonah! I enjoyed torturing Nonah….what is wrong with me?!” she asked herself as she walked.

It was still cold out and Naskia had forgotten bring a coat. She was wearing a dress that went half way to her knees and stopped at her shoulders exposing some chest. The cold nipped at her bare skin which responded with goose bumps. Naskia felt a shudder run through her and she raised her arms across her chest and started to rub her shoulders to warm up.

“No…” she told herself. “You deserve to suffer.”

She forced her arms to her side and continued to walk through the campus. Running different scenarios in her head, what she should have done rather than what she did do, what she would say to Nonah when she got home, what she would say to Niall. She knew what Niall would want from her. This was the second time this had happened now, he had defended her after the first, he couldn’t after the second. There couldn’t be a third. If there was a third he would leave. He may even leave now.

She didn’t know how long she had been walking for when she heard a voice calling her name. She stopped and turned around to see a familiar face jogging down off a small, grassy mound nearby.

“I do not need this right now….” Naskia muttered to herself.

“Hi Nas….long time no see.” Kiri said.

“What do you want?” Naskia spat at her. She might have been more pleasant but Kiri had picked a bad time to approach her.

“Ehhh, well just to say hi really. I miss you Nas. We’ve been friends for years. I know I hurt you but I’d really like it if you could give me a second chance…” Kiri said turning her eyes up to Naskia’s.

Naskia studied Kiri looking for any sign she was attempting to manipulate her but she seemed genuine. They were friends for years and as much as she hated to admit it, she did miss Kiri from time to time.

“And just why should I?” Naskia said folding her arms and rubbing her elbows to warm up.

Kiri paused for a second and thought about the question she had been asked. “Because I really am sorry Nas. I’m sorry for what I did to you. I’m sorry what I did to Niall. I got jealous….it’s always been just me and you. When we were kids and I’d need to get away from my family you were always there or when you needed someone to back you up you always had me. Then this Human comes along and starts making you all giddy and confident and stuff…..it got to me. I wigged out and made a mistake.”

Naskia continued to study her face for any sign of deception but she still couldn’t see any. It was hard to think that this tiny, rather pretty woman was the face that made Niall scream in terror for weeks. To him she was a monster, the stuff nightmares are made of; she couldn’t let her back in her life. It would be a huge betrayal.

“No Kiri….we can’t be friends.” Naskia said.

Kiri looked hurt. “It’s because of him isn’t it?”

“He’s had night terrors for weeks. He screams in his sleep and wakes up soaked in sweat. You did that to him. Maybe if Niall were able to cope I might agree but I can’t risk it.” Naskia said feeling slightly sick with hypocrisy. She wanted to keep the monster away from Niall when she had behaved like a monster towards Nonah less than an hour ago.

“Please Naskia…I’ll make it up to him.” Kiri pleaded.

Naskia turned to leave. “Goodbye Kiri. Have a nice life…”

Kiri stood and watched her former friend walk away. She really did miss her. She always thought Naskia depended on her but it seemed she had depended on Naskia just as much. Now Naskia seemed just fine without her.

“That didn’t seem to go too well.” A male voice said behind Kiri.

Kiri turned to Dorok. “It’s all that stupid Humans fault. If it weren’t for him we’d still be friends. Erhh! The things I would do just to get a few minutes alone with him!”

Kiri stormed off in the opposite direction from Naskia.

“Hmmm….” Dorok muttered to himself.

Nonah had been asleep for about an hour. She’d eventually cried herself to sleep in Niall’s arms and he had set her down on her side. He had used part of the t-shirt Naskia ripped to clean up the vomit that was causing a nasty smell in the tank. Niall was sitting in the wooden desk chair he’d made staring into space thinking about the next move. How could he convince Nonah not to tell Loona? Should he even try to convince her of that? Was it even safe to be around her? All it would take would be one more tantrum where she lost it completely for her to do some permanent damage.

Niall sighed, thoroughly unsure of what to do.

“I could do with a drink…” he said to no one in particular.

He heard the front door open and then close. It sounded like Naskia was home. There was silence for a minute while Naskia worked up the courage to come in. Niall heard gentle tapping on the door.

“It’s me….I’m coming in.” Naskia said before the door opened. She walked over to the bedside table and kneeled down in front of Niall.

“Hi…” he said.

“Hi…..How is she?” Naskia asked tucking some stray hairs behind her ears. Her hands were shaking, she was nervous. Her normally pale skin had a slight blue tinge to it, her hands especially. Her lips looked dry and chapped. She’d been out in the cold the whole time. She was already punishing herself.

“Asleep. She’s pretty traumatised Nas….” Niall said getting up and approaching Naskia’s face.

Naskia didn’t reply. Her forehead scrunched forming deep wrinkles and her bottom lip trembled. She was barely holding herself together.

Niall wanted to yell and scream at her but he knew she was punishing herself already. They needed to sort this out, together. Him yelling wasn’t going to change anything. “We need to get a handle on this. You can’t just flip out any time you get pushed. You’ll kill someone.”

“I know….I know. I’ll speak to someone. See if there’s any help I can get. You have no idea how bad I feel…” she started to sob softly and sunk down into herself.

“I think that’s for the best. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone react like you do sometimes, Human or Titan. It can’t EVER happen again.” Niall said looking down at the top of her head.

Naskia sobbed softly for a minute before sitting up. “I…I know I don’t deserve it….but can I have a hug?”

“Sure….” Niall said looking into her huge, tear filled eyes. There was no way he could say no to those eyes.

Naskia gently cupped him in her still cold hands and held him to her chest just below her neck. She could feel him gently stroking her skin, rubbing the tips of his fingers back and forth affectionately. His hands felt warm where her skin had been exposed to near freezing temperatures for an hour. The only thing she wanted more right now was to be in the holosuite so she could collapse into his arms completely.

Niall let himself sink into her for a minute before he felt anger boil through him. He breathed and controlled himself but he had to say something. “How could you do this Nas? To Nonah of all people…she’s just so innocent.”

“I know…I…I…” Niall cut her off.

“Do you know what you’re risking?! You’re not just risking us! My whole life is dependent on you. I could get taken away and dumped with some stupid family who’ll keep me in a tank forever and make me do tricks. I can’t do it Nas I just can’t. Even if Loona took me I’d still lose any chance at having a career, she could even start treating me like she treats Nonah.” Niall said starting to lose control of his voice as the full weight of possibilities dawned on him. He could lose his freedom, his clothes, food, his work, someone intelligent to talk to and most importantly, her. Without Naskia he was nothing and she was about to throw it all away needlessly because she couldn’t keep her temper in check.

Naskia remained quiet as Niall’s words soaked in. She set him down after a minute. She was startled to see Nonah sitting up in bed and glaring at her. The little girl didn’t look afraid anymore, she looked very, very annoyed.

“Hi….sweetie…” Naskia smiled trying to seem timid.

“Monster!” Nonah yelled back without breaking her glare.

Naskia’s smile disappeared and her lower lip started quivering again. Niall got up and sat beside Nonah.

“Naskia is sorry. Really sorry! Look how upset she is. Please try to stay calm ok?” Niall said calmly.

Nonah studied Naskia’s face for a second or two. “Monster! You are a mean, horrible monster! I’m telling Loona when she comes for me. Then you’ll be sorry. She’ll make sure of it.”

Niall heard Naskia take a sharp intake of breath from Naskia and quickly raised his hand to her to signal her to stay quiet.

“Please Nonah you can’t tell Loona. Naskia will do anything you want.” Niall said focusing straight at her.

Nonah could tell how much this meant to him. His face was completely serious and serene but his eyes betrayed him. He was terrified; terrified of losing Naskia. That’s when the penny dropped for Nonah. She was in charge here. They had to do what she said or else. For the first time in her life not only did she have some control over her life but she also had a say in someone else’s. It felt very odd.

Nonah threw the covers back and walked out of bed still naked as the day she was born. A bruise had formed on her right shoulder where her arm had been stretched and shook. She marched out to Naskia with confidence and purpose and stood in front of her staring her down.

“You’re going to lose Niall. They’re going to take him away. Because you’re a monster. And monsters don’t get to have pets. Because they’re nasty and horrible.” Nonah said her voice dripping with malice.

Naskia shuddered and looked around frantically. Between Niall’s outburst and Nonah’s blatant intimidation the full realisation of the consequences hit home. She was going to lose Niall and worse still, Niall was going to lose everything. She looked back and forth between the now sheet white Niall and the furious little Nonah in front of her. Naskia wanted to speak but she couldn’t find her voice. She forced herself to speak, her voice barely above a whisper. “No, no please no. I’m not a monster Nonah. Don’t do this please. I thought that you’d done something terrible, I should have let you speak and listened to you.”

This did nothing to appease Nonah and only seemed to spur her on. “And what if I had broke my promise? What if I made Niall want me instead of you? You would have done all those things to me or worse! You would have ripped my arms off or stomped on me! And what about Niall? You nearly already killed him once. When you were done with me you would have done horrible things to him too. You know his worst nightmares and you would have eaten him just cuz you knew that’s what he hated the most. You would have done terrible, nasty, horrible things. Just like a monster! Titans are far worse than Humans. We may be stupid and small but at least we’re not evil like you!”

Naskia was visibly panicking. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t lose Niall. She loved him too much. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she lost him. He had the most to lose out of everyone. His entire life would be destroyed. She resolved to keep Nonah silent at any cost. She clenched her fists. It would be so easy just to slam her fist down on top of Nonah and silence her permanently. Niall would never forgive her if she flat out murdered Nonah. There was only one option left.

“Tell me what you want. I’ll give you anything, do anything. Just please don’t tell Loona.” Naskia said trying to steady herself.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t tell Loona.” Nonah asked.

Naskia thought for a minute, if Nonah was willing to listen this could be fixed. “Cuz I really do care about you, I promise I’ll never do it again, I’m going to speak to someone about controlling my temper…..”

Nonah cut her off. She screamed at her. “LIAR!”

“I’m not lying; I swear it’ll never happen again. I know it’s my…..” Naskia was cut off again.

“LIAR!” Nonah screamed again.

“Nonah please….I really mean it. I’m not lying.” Naskia pleaded.

Nonah was practically snarling. Her nose was scrunched her lips curled displaying her teeth. “It’s not very fun being called a liar when you’re telling the truth is it?”

“No….” Naskia replied looking down out of shame. She realised the lesson Nonah was trying to teach her.

“It’s even worse when you’re being held by the arm high enough to kill you!” Nonah yelled.

Tears ran down Naskia’s face. “I….I….I…”

“It’s even more worse when they threaten to pull your arms and legs off just for telling the truth.” Nonah screamed arching her back forward, looking like she was about to explode.

“Nonah I’m sorry…” Naskia blubbed.

Nonah stood watching Naskia for a second. Niall watched unsure of what exactly was going on. Nonah seemed different. Her usually soft face with its gentle curves now seemed harder and colder. Her full cheeks had become sunken and her big, round eyes seemed to be squared off by her furrowed brown and she was forcing her chin out like a battering ram on an ancient ship. She looked like she had aged ten years since the morning.

“Come here….” Nonah said.

Naskia moved her face a bit closer.

“Closer…right up.” Nonah added.

Naskia moved closer unsure what Nonah was up to. She moved so Nonah was standing beside her nose, her head was just below her eye. She didn’t have to wait long to find out Nonah’s intentions. She felt a drop of moisture hit her cheek as Nonah spat on her.

Niall got up ready to intervene just in case. Nonah had the right to be angry but he didn’t want her to push things too far.

Naskia wiped away the spittle with finger. “I deserved that.”

“You deserve more! That was one teeny drop to you. I got sprayed by you. It’s disgusting, humiliating. You told me I wasn’t a thing and then you treated me like one.” Nonah said.

Nonah wanted her more humiliated. Naskia had done so much to her. She had to feel every bit of what Nonah felt.

“Take your clothes off…” Nonah said.

Niall walked up behind Nonah to intervene but Naskia shot him a glance telling him not to. Naskia unzipped her dress and pulled it over her head. She was trying to do this while squatting down so not to loom over Nonah and she wobbled considerably on the balls of her feet. She unhooked her bra and let it drop to floor before carefully pulling down her underwear through her tight knees. She knelt back down on the floor and tugged her white cotton socks off her feet. She felt very uncomfortable just kneeling there with Nonah looking at her. She knew it must have been far worse for Nonah.

Nonah paced back and forth occasionally glancing over at the now nude Naskia. It wasn’t working. Naskia seemed more imposing, more in charge when she had her clothes off. It made Nonah feel much smaller being able to see just how tiny she was in comparison to parts of Naskia’s anatomy. One of Naskia’s breasts alone could crush her instantly and her nipples were as big as Nonah’s head. This wasn’t good enough. She had to do something else, something truly humiliating, something that was on par with what Naskia had done to her.

“Pee yourself. Like I did.” Nonah snapped. She wasn’t shouting but her voice was raw with anger and contained not a little hatred.

“That’s enough.” Niall snapped stepping between Nonah and Naskia.

“She has to! She made me pee myself!” Nonah said squaring up to Niall and shouting in his face.

Naskia didn’t know what to do. She needed Nonah to promise not to tell Loona. She contemplated wetting herself then and there knowing just how humiliating it would be. She thought she deserved it. It was odd watching the two tiny Humans, well below her eye level even as she knelt down, ignore her while arguing about her fate. It gave her just a smattering of understanding of how a human might feel as a Titan made decisions for them without even acknowledging them.

“Nonah please, don’t do this. I know you deserve some payback but this isn’t you. You’re kind, loving and sweet. This isn’t the Nonah I know. You’re better than this; if you do this you’ll be just as bad as Naskia.” Niall said trying to reason with her. He felt like there was a bond between them; Nonah felt like a little sister to him. They had now spent about a full Earth month together, him teaching her, mentoring her and helping her to grow. He was trying to use that bond.

Nonah’s face softened as the anger started to give way. She just felt empty and hollow. “Bu…but she has to know how it feels!”

Niall placed his hands on Nonah’s upper arms and looked square into her chestnut eyes. “She can never know Nonah. Only you know how it felt. None of this will change that. What she will feel is guilt and lots of it. This will torture her for as long as she lives. And Titans live a very long time. Please, let her make it up to you. You now have a Titan who will do ANYTHING you want. She will spend the rest of her life trying to make it up to you……just please don’t tell Loona. She’ll take me away and I can’t live without her Nonah….”

Nonah looked to Naskia. There were tears streaming down her cheeks and she was trembling. Given her size she did make for a pretty pathetic spectacle. Nonah almost felt sorry for her, almost. She turned back to Niall. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. He had given her so much. He’d made her big, if only for a few hours, he’d taught her to read and write and he’d taught her about the world. She could think clearer now and had more confidence. She couldn’t thank him by taking him away from the woman he loved.

“I want dresses. Lots of dresses, pretty dresses.” Nonah said her eyes starting to widen at the prospect.

Naskia nodded and sniffled.

“And you have to make sure Loona will let me wear them from now on.” Nonah added.

Naskia nodded again and wiped the back of her hand across her cheeks. “I can do that…”

“This doesn’t mean I forgive you, it just means I won’t tell Loona. One day I hope you know what it feels like. I hope a monster gets you and does to you what you did to me. I want you to remember me then.” Nonah said just so Naskia knew where she stood.

“I know….I’d deserve it too.” Naskia said looking down at the floor.

“Now please. Can you both put some clothes on?” Niall said finally confident the air was starting to clear.

“I don’t have any clothes to wear…someone ripped mine…” Nonah replied.

Naskia shot up sharply. “I can fix that!”

She ran across the room without getting dressed and opened her wardrobe. She quickly pulled out a dress, ran back over to the table and knelt back down.

“My older brother’s wife gave me this dress as a gift when I finished my degree. It’s my favourite dress. It’s so pretty and so soft and really comfy to wear. It’s slightly stretchy so it hugs my figure and I know I look great in it. I don’t usually feel confident so when I need to, I wear this dress.” Naskia said holding up the dress for Nonah to see. It was a dark navy blue with hundreds of small, white poke-a-dots.

Naskia lowered the dress right down in front of Nonah. “Feel how soft it is.”

Nonah stretched her arm out and ran her hand across the fabric. It did feel incredibly soft, much softer than the t-shirts she’d been wearing. “Wow…that is nice…”

“It’s yours now. You can have it.” Naskia said.

Nonah eyed the dress greedily. She did want it. “It’s a bit big isn’t it?”

Naskia took her laser cutter in her free hand and cut a chunk out of the front of the dress.

She picked up the chunk and held it beside Nonah to gauge measurements before making a few more alterations. Nonah watched like a hungry three year old watching their mother make them chocolate covered ice cream.

“There….” Naskia said setting the dress down in front of Nonah.

It looked a lot different to the original. The poke-a-dots were much bigger in comparison to Nonah, about the size of a tennis ball and there were only a few of them. The dress had a gap in the side where it wasn’t stitched together but Nonah didn’t mind. She pulled it over her head and tied up the belt round the waist. It was the comfiest thing Nonah had ever felt. So soft and delicate yet warm at the same time. It clung to her in places and was loose in others. It came in at her waist and then flared out half way down her knees.

“It’s so comfy….” Nonah said looking down at her new dress.

Naskia pulled a small mirror from her bag and held it up. “Take a look.”

Nonah admired herself in the mirror. Niall noticed her making slight adjustments to the way the dress hung just as he’d seen Naskia do. It was like Nonah had been doing this for years.

“It looks good on you.” Naskia said trying to brown nose a little.

Nonah didn’t reply, she just kept admiring herself in the mirror.

“I’m going to make you a proper dress. I’ll stitch it up at the sides so it will hug your figure and I’ll add some nice flared parts to it. You can tell me what you want if you like.” Naskia added.

“Can I get other coloured dresses too?” Nonah asked. Her voice was getting back to normal, friendly and bubbly.

“Anything you like sweetie…” Naskia said.

“Ok. I won’t tell Loona…just don’t ever be mean to me again.” Nonah said.

Naskia exhaled deeply feeling some relief. The guilt was still there but a weight had been lifted from her.

“I won’t ever, never ever. I promise.” Naskia said bouncing slightly. She wanted to pick Nonah up and hug her but that probably was still not a good idea.

Niall watched the two girls talk about dress styles and designs. They were trying to work out which colours suited Nonah best. They both seemed to be moving on. Niall felt some relief and tried to relax but found himself unable to. He still felt uneasy, a feeling deep in his gut.

“This isn’t over, not by a long shot.” He thought.