Guardian of the Twins

Acceptance

The next day, Cimmarian reluctantly went with Lumine out into the castle. "come on, come on! i have so much to show you!" Lumine was so very excited that her sister was giving this a shot. She couldn't wait to have Cimmarian meet her new friend PJ, and she couldn't wait for Cimmarian to meet the guys, and she definitely couldn't wait for Cimmarian to accept Papa Nightmare... she knew that would probably take more than one weekend, but that was ok! Lumine could be patient! ("hey kiddo. here for pj?") "h-ey ki-ddo. he-re fo-r p-j?" Error asked as he came out of his shared room with said child. "wrong! i'm on the hunt for all of you!" Error looked confused. ("what? why?") "wha-t? w-hy?" Cimmarian was wondering the same. "What are you planning..." Lumine grinned wide. "hide and seek, of course!" There was a slightly glitched gasp. ("hide and seek? i love that game!") "h-hide and se-ek? i lov-e that g-ame!" PJ bounced in place. Error smiled softly. ("let's get the boys together then, shall we?") "let-s g-et th-e bo-ys to-get-her th-en, sh-all we?" With Error's help, they quickly got the Trio together to play a few rounds... and Cimmarian... she had... fun.

🌑☀️🌑

Lunch eventually came around, and the fun and games ended. Lumine easily took to sitting next to Nightmare while Cimmarian sat next to Lumine. Nightmare tried to make himself seem just a little more friendly, but Cimmarian seemed to completely ignore him in favor of eating. That didn't matter so much. As long as she was out here and taking care of herself. "so girls." He got two different reactions, as to be expected. "how do you like swimming? there's this nice pond outback that i thought you would -"
"let's go get ready right now -" Lumine was up and eager so fast with Cimmarian hot on her tail. "w-wait, hold on - finish your lunch, please -" They were already gone, though, running down the hall to get their swimsuits on. With a sigh, Nightmare followed, requesting for Horror to save their lunch for dinner. Before he knew it, he was watching on the sidelines while the girls splashed around in the shallows and swam in the deep end, having fun in the water. After a while, he was joining them in the water per Lumine's request, and for once, Cimmarian didn't seem to care at all. She was enjoying herself.

☀️🌑☀️

The day came to a close after swimming all afternoon. They finished their lunches for dinner and hung out in their room until bedtime. Throughout the night, he checked on them, both in and out of their dreams. It was amazing to Nightmare, just how well traveled they were, at the age that they were. There was an ocean and beach, beautiful forests and a starry night sky as Nightmare checked on Cimmarian in her dreamscape once more. She sat on a grassy hill overlooking the ocean while a figure similar to Lumine's corruption form stood a small ways behind her. "What are you doing here, Mari?" Cimmarian asked. The figure, Mari, responded simply. "I will always be here. As I said before, I am a part of you." Cimmarian turned to Mari. "To protect me. That's what you said, right?" Mari nodded in confirmation. "Just as Shattered Light protected Lumine in Dreamtale." Cimmarian just stared at Mari, judging her. "Fine... I... I accept you... I don't like it, but I'll accept you..."
"And papa Nightmare?" Mari asked. Cimmarian looked back out to the ocean. "Yeah," she agreed, "and him too." Nightmare smiled. It would take time before she had any sort of relationship like she had with her mama or Dream, but this was a start.

There you have it. The end of The Guardian of the Twins! Well, sort of. There may or may not be a bonus chapter after this, maybe. Depends on if I can think of a plot for it. May have an idea already. Anyway, have a great day/morning/night!

-Kyran