Once Upon A Time

2

Storm, who now had a jacket on because she had gotten cold, and Adversity soon finished the tour of the castle in the courtyard.

"H- Hey, Adversity?" Storm stuttered out, and he looked at her.

"Yes? Is everything okay??" He sounded concerned as he tilted her head, looking her in the eyes.

"Y- Yeah, I- I'm f- fine."

"Then why are you stuttering?" There it is. He noticed. Storm thought dejectedly, she sighed as she looked away from his eyes.

"W- We- Well... I- I was kinda b- born with the stutter but m- mom made me h- hi- hide it from the w- w- world... E- Even called me a f- freak for it at o- one p- point..." Adversity felt his heart drop as his eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, I- I'm so sorry that happened to you!"

"N- N- Nah, it- it's fine." Storm tried to shrug it off but it didn't work. She tugged on her sleeve to pull it down, and Adversity noticed.

"Are you sure?" He discreetly grabbed a hold of her sleeve.

"Y- Ye- Yeah." Storm sighed.

"I don't think you are..." He suddenly rolled her sleeve up, and his face paled once he saw smeared concealer revealing tons of bruises and cuts on her arm. Storm immediately pulled her sleeve down and looked down at the ground, tears springing to her eyes. He pulled her sleeve up and looked at the cuts and bruises, before realizing they all looked self inflicted. "Why would you-"

"T- The- The mental asylum m- ma- made it look like I was h- hu- hurt- hurting myself... Th- They- They called me a f- fre- freak..."

"Hey..." Adversity quickly pulled her into a tight hug, one she quickly accepted and returned. "You're not a freak."

"A- Are you s- s- sure...?"

"Of course I am." He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"H- Heh... T- Th- Thanks, A- Adversity."

"You're welcome." He sighed and looked up at the castle. "The castle is your home now. Feel free to go anywhere you would like. I can even introduce you to Nightmare, who I gave his own room to get him out of the basement after dad abandoned us." Storm also looked up at the castle.

"I- I wanna meet him, actually- W- Wa- Wait, what? He was f- fo- forced to l- live in the basement?" Adversity nodded sadly.

"Yeah... Dad shoved all his stuff down there, lashed him a lot, forced him to learn everything on his own, and other stuff... But I secretly helped him learn everything, and I took him out of the basement after dad left so now he has access to everything... I've also been debating on whether or not I should tell the kingdom about him..."

"Y- You- You r- re- really s- sho- should..."

"Your stutter got a bit worse..."

"I- I'm a- al- also f- fr- freezing." Storm suddenly sneezed, it sounded like a kitten.

"Aw, that was adorable. But we should get you inside and warmed up." Storm nodded.