NIKOLAI'S POV!
If there's any errors, just tell me, I'll try my best to edit or explain it!
Here is Niko's pov, who is... A bit of an asshole but bare with him for the character development. He's just a kid.
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As a child of great honour to the well known family of Evevrbef, Nikolai was famously known for his great gifts of strength, skilled in many various things, and eyes that resembles a hawks', and many more that only proves his blessed genetics.
Though, with his extremely strict family, his freedom was quickly stripped out of his title—the bird—which was infamous for how well known it was for being... Free.
It was all ironic, the whips he was given as he was told—it'll help him— insults he was spatted at, his strict training. And what seemed to be his free life, was a bird, prisoned in jail, for what seemed to him, felt forever.
He hated it, he hated the life of his, he hated it when they hurt him, taunt him, throw rocks of insults at him as if he would react perfectly stone.
Infact, he did not, that was what he always did, he hurt them back. They deserved it didn't they?
But seeing her get hurt the way it resembled his treatments, he couldn't help but feel that tiny string wrap around his heart, and as if it was some kind of hook, it clawed and dug deeper into the core.
He wanted to press his hands onto his ears just like how he always did, he wanted to turn a blind eye, he wanted to, he desperately needed to...
But...
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"I'm sorry- hic-" The boy underneath him cried, an arm around his face, defending himself whilst Niko's foot pressed onto the boys arm and soon, he gave a little kick and he quickly had his heel pressed roughly onto the boys cheek.
"Sorry? You're sorry?" Niko grinned, scoffing, rubbing his heel at the boys cheek. "You're dumb, so dumb to think I'd accept that easily." Niko whispered and gave a little kick, which made the boy underneath him cough out, blood dribbled down his nose.
The others remained on the ground, checking up on each other, or just leaving one another.
Niko was badly injured himself, a burnt scar on his neck that was caused by one of the older boys with a cigarette that Niko was sure he had killed or atleast beaten to a pulp. And the large, bleeding wound on his head that was still dribbling, caused by one of the boys throwing a whole metal, folded chair at him.
If his way of dying was by losing blood, he would have gladly accepted it but if his way of dying was by losing, he might as well fight fate itself.
He rubbed his heel at the boys cheek, hearing them plead and whimper and cry, "You're so pathetic, you know that?" Niko whispered, brows furrowed and his voice low, a smirk tugging on the corner of his lips. He'd pull his leg away, only to stomp at the boys foot next, which made the boy cry out for help.
He continued his ruthless beating, while also earning a fair amount of bruises and wounds, and staring at them as they crawl and trip away. He trailed his steps back of where he first saw the girl that they've been calling as their victim.
He reached the hidden part of the gym where he first saw everything happened, there, a glass window was etched just taller than him.
As he used his tip-toes to peek onto the window, he saw the sobbing girl, curled onto a ball, fingers ran through her hair. Then there it was again, a vision of himself fading into her.
Anger only bubbled in himself when he recalls how the girl couldn't help herself, the question repeated in his mind, why? Why? Why?— there would have been a lot of answers to it, answers he expected to have come out of his own past self. And more so, he never realized how worried he was to her.
He wanted to turn, he kept telling to himself, this is stupid, telling himself, it was stupid to help a girl that couldn't even help herself, and yet he kept watching over her, cry, and cry, and cry. He was never used to her voices, echoing around the dark room that she was obviously scared of, too.
He shook his thoughts away and gave out a shaky, hurt, and also an exasperated sigh. He called for the girl, which made her jump for some reason. In result to the surprise in the girls eyes, he quickly cleared his throat as to appear... More... Soothing sounded.
But even then, his voices never went through the door, since the girl would try to hurriedly creep around and try to find something after saying weird words.
She said something in between... Find his things? Did he ever leave something here? He wasn't the type to forget... but whatever it was, he doesn't care.
"What- no..." He sighed, and relaxed his leg and foot and walked away from the door. The girl... Seemed really terrified of him, and that really worries him. What kind of treatment was she given before...?
He turned and stared at the lightened up gym, the doors wide opened and letting the sunlight creep into the windows and doors. Soon, he noticed a folded chair, and continued to walk towards to it.
He jumped at the sight as he got closer, the memory of one of the guys earlier, approaching him with a folded chair rewinded, and the scene of where the guy threw the chair at him went in slow motion.
Nikolai froze at the spot, his expression blank, "photographic memory, I hate you, I so so hate you..." He whispered to himself whilst his eyes narrowed and roughly shut itself.
But quickly, he slammed his side onto the wall, and shook his head, grunting. He only did so since he'd hear sniffles echo in the dark.
Normally, he would shrug this off as a ghost but—oh, how he wished this was one. Why did he accept the thought on agreeing to help someone!? That is so not him! He'd tell himself whilst dragging the folded chair and walked towards the messy, empty hall of where there was only a dark, locked door in the end.
He soon took on his tip toes and stared at her, how she pressed her hands onto her ears, and how she cried and kneeled, her back bent. It somehow made his chest heavier, as his heart seemed larger and harder to carry.
The memories of his past continuing to claw onto his heart, eyes widened with fear and anxiety, "Stop shaking you idiot, damn it..." He pushed himself away from the door, gripping at his arm, wanting to kneel, cry, scream or whatever it was to do to stop this as his heartbeat started to drum in his ears. With no thought to be against his judgement, he pulled his hand and clawed at his ear, wanting to just—rip it off.
But soon enough, he stopped, a girl, he was here to help right? his knees almost buckled as he tries to take a step forward, hissing at the pain, he went back to the door and peeped at her. "Can you uh- distance yourself a lil?" Niko yelled, his voice slightly shaky, peeping his eyes onto the glass window.
She nodded frantically and distanced herself, he sighed and pulled away from the door, giving a thumbs up before he finally prepared a tight, shaky grip on the edges of the folded chair, blood smeared onto it as he readies himself.
SMASH there appeared a gouged, cuppy dent created by himself, who was quite proud of himself by doing so with injured hands, he struck again and that was when his body started aching, his chest becoming heavier.
"Ack-" he coughed, his eyes twitching as he glanced at the door, blasted open. The light immediately released into it.
The boys earlier had just locked the door and threw the key somewhere, which Niko was too lazy to find and so chose a not very logical option instead.
The girl sat there, and the first thing he noticed with the shining light that bounced off of her, was her beautiful strawberry blonde hair. How it curled and coiled, it reminded him of tied and loose ribbons.
Her face still concealed and blurry as his face would sluggishly fall to the side, staring at the broken folded chair that he had unconsciously dropped. Shoes and unused toys crowded around the girl and himself, which made him wonder if she had never gotten claustrophobic with this.
"Come on, let's go to the nursery-" he whispered, and before he could take another step, he fell at his side, groaning. The pain that had given him mercy enough to wait had strike, at the right moment of where he was about to help her.
Now, this, this is embarrassing. He told himself. The girl would hurriedly grab him, saying something in between—fainted- he fainted! Whilst panicking.
She took his arm and wrapped it around his shoulders, he closed his eyes as to make her assumption—fainted— true, if he not only stayed conscious, he would only make her even panicked and seeing her behavior, she would be the type to talk to him all the way to the nursery as to avoid him dying or going unconscious.
And seriously, he doesn't want any conversations, it's embarrassing him.
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Soon, they were walking in the halls, Niko would purposely balance himself when he felt himself and the girl tip over or nearly fall, probably because of his weight, but he was still impressed she could actually, mostly carry him.
People crowded around them and whispered stupid stuff that the girl was too frantic to even hear, so he did his own job which included scaring them off with a glare or giving them the unholy finger.
At some point, he noticed the girl freeze in place, staring fixedly at a specific point. He had a good guess who it was—and he was right. The boys' eyes widened as they glanced back at him, frozen in surprise. He raised his face just enough to taunt them, wiggling his feet in jest.
He mouthed the words to them, "Eat my foot." As one of them took a hesitant step closer, the others visibly shivered, remembering Nikolai shoving his feet into their faces before. Soon, the girl shook her head and ran away.
The girl would reach the nursery, and in some point, the nurse, his aunt, had shouted her name. Amber, he guessed it would've been ribbons, or teddy for someone like her, but Amber?... That suited her too.
Slowly but soon, Niko was able to catch Amber facing him, her eyes— woah, it really is like ambers. Until her eyelids fluttered asleep. She was thin, frail, and pretty too.
But that didn't matter to Niko, somehow, he was most attracted to her short, curly, ribbon-like hair. "Amber... That's... Familiar." He whispered to himself. Only when he realizes he was staring would he pull his sarcastic and poker expression back.
"May, can you get me a blanket?" He yelled, yawning, the nurse groaned at him and threw a white, soft blanket at him which he in respond, argued to, though he couldn't do much as his aunt, May, was on the phone.
He remained silent for most of the time, and stared at Amber.
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AMBER'S POV
As soon as she woke up, the one sight that had greeted her was the boy, Nikolai, and the nurse, arguing. And what seemed to be Nikolai's defeat, he walked towards to his bed once again, and sat there.
"Niko...?" Amber unconsciously called, she quickly pressed a hand onto her lips when Nikolai glared at her, though he sighed after realizing it was only her.
"Hey," he mumbled, his cheeks reddening from embarrassment. Amber quickly sat up, having no time to fix her hair as it remained like a nest. Niko, she called, just stared at her as she sat up, looking around everywhere. She stared at her newly bandaged arms, and the soft and warm blanket that was around her.
Though, it still ached when she sat up, so how is Niko sitting up? He must be in a fair share of pain from the looks of his bruises and scars. "Y'know, you should really rest, like, seriously," he mumbled, leaning in back, eyes narrowed.
Amber tilted her head, "you should too, then. Are you not hurt... the same?" Amber wondered, pulling out a shaky index finger and pointed at him.
"I'm very fine," he shook his head, groaning, somewhat annoyed by the questions. His eyes began to narrow and throw daggers at Amber, who had just innocently accepted it, "Actually, you're so dumb, you know that?" He spat, glaring at her.
"Wh...?"
"When those guys hurt you, you didn't do anything! You just accepted it like its some kind of gift, and let them punch you or kick you and all!" He spatted, "You never fought back, and if that was me, I would've totally punched them back!" He yelled, pointing at her.
Amber sat, frozen, her expression blank. "Look, now, you're letting me insult you! Say something back to me or something!" He yelled again, his brows furrowed.
"I do- don't know?" Amber replied as soon as he told her to. Niko's shoulders slumped backwards, and soon he groaned, sighing.
"You really, really, really need lessons for this," he says, face blank and disappointed, shaking his head. "Lessons?" She mumbled, even more confused.
"Lessons like defense, how to treat someone just as bad as they treated you, and so on!" He nodded, his expression slightly... Energetic than before, Amber only realized then that his expression doesn't really change a lot, he always looked... Apathetic, like a robot.
Her eyes wandered off as Niko continued to list off the things she should have done, and observed her surroundings, it was bright, very. There were personal curtains of hers that surrounded her and Niko, and when she turned around, there was a large shadow casted onto the curtain, a feminine figures' shadow outlined onto it.
There was a table between her bed and Niko's, carefully organized with medical stuff, syringes, medicine, bandages.
"—Do you even listen? Ugh, anyways, I'll be your teacher, alright?" He crossed his arms, and Amber quickly stared at him, her eyes fixated at his unusual hairstyle. Though, it somehow suited him.
"I... Okay..." She mumbled, nodding. It doesn't seem that bad to have someone teach her defense and all, and besides, she assumed that she would have no other choice than to agree anyways.
"You're Amber, right?" Niko blurted out, freezing as to when he realized he had said out his thoughts out loud. "Uhm, I am." Amber smiled, fidgeting with her fingers.
His words were all so unpredictable sometimes, maybe always, just like his sudden presence that time.
"I-... You're that ballerina in class... 1-b" He whispered, his face all pink. Amber loaded in the information, and soon her face beamed with glee. "Oh, yeah! How did you know?" She smiled, her fidgeting stopped. Niko looked at her and sighed.
"Nothing." He shook his head, eyes so clear and yet so cloudy, she wondered what he was thinking of. "Talking of ballet... Ah! My ballet lessons!" She gasped, jumping down the bed, Niko did too.
She figured he had something to do just like her, but when she reached the door, Niko grabbed her by the shoulders, and turned to look at the nurse that was just behind her curtains.
Nurse May, looked back at sighed, spinning her chair to face them, "You don't need to do that, I called your parents and they'll be cancelling your ballet lessons and they'll be taking you home." Nurse May uttered, sitting on her office chair, her leg over another. "You just need to rest and all," she shrugged, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Oh... Okay," Amber was quite disappointed by that, she gripped at the hem of her shirt and looked down.
Niko stared at her and purposely bumped his shoulder at her, making her jump, "Just rest, you're... really hurt, I don't want to teach someone this badly injured." Niko pointed out with an awkward smile.
But as Niko was awkwardly comforting Amber, Nurse May stared at the two and chuckled, which made Niko push himself away and glared at his aunt.
"Awh, is this what I think it is, Nikki?" Nurse May smirked, in that exact moment, Amber realized how similar Niko's face and hers were, though only the smile and eyes.
"Wha- no! I- don't call me that! And no! Seriously, what goes over in your mind, lady!?" He yelled, his shoulders stiff, gasping, face red, and eyes widened.
"Only 14 and you've already find the one? How surprising..." Nurse May placed her palm at her cheek, sighing. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Niko yelled, pressing the heels of his palm at his eyes and groaned, his words trailing.
"Uhm..." Amber fidgeted, thinking as if she's disrupting the two's company.
Niko turned and stared at Amber as soon as he heard her, ignoring the laughing nurse as he rolled his eyes and placed a hand at his hip, "...Ugh, just get out of here. Your parents are probably waiting out there. Rest or... I don't know," Niko pushed her out of the room, face red as a tomato, and slammed the doors close at her.
"Are they... Related, the two look really similar..." Amber asked herself, staring at the door, hearing the muffled yells. Though quickly she turned and ran away. Thinking only one thing, rest and her sister. And trying to forget everything that ever happened today.
Forget this all ever happened... Forget... Forget... For—
Nikki's a cute name.
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I FINISHED IT, sigh.
Anyways, Niko is heavily inspired by my man, Kyo sohma though just robotic and all.
Amber... Hmm, I don't know. Tohru maybe?
Both MC's have hobbies, guess what's Niko's hobby is.
Thx for reading!! 🙏 (2000+ words)