Six Months Later (nel)

"Isn't it a little late for that?" Nel asked she already knew. Not the whole story. "About an hour too late."

Trent just stared her down. He said nothing. Either she cared enough about him, not just as the Princess but as a Tamer, to sit and hear what he had to say about what the darkest and most fucked up time of his life, or she didn't. "That depends on entirely how much I mean to you," He said levelly

"That's not fair." Nel complained as she went to sit down. "it's obvious that I care more for you than you for me. You shouldn't use it against me."

Trent didn't comment on that. He didn't think it was such a thing, certainly not an obvious one. But she had sat down. He didn't sit with her. He was mentally preparing himself to talk about it. He hadn't had to talk about it in a very long time. Those that knew, knew. Had seen it. Had been there. Those that didn't, well, he never spoke about it. They learned elsewhere.

It was painful to go back there. His hands started to shake. He put them in his jacket pockets. "When my sister was three months old, we lost our parents. I became not just a big brother but also a father. And I raised her the very best I could. We did everything together. I made sure she never once felt alone, that she wanted for nothing. We might be known as the cruel cats but my sister was a sweetheart. She was perfect." He took a breath. "One day when she was nine she went to the park to play with her friends and she didn't come home. I found out that she'd been Tamed by this teenage boy with a thing for little fiends like my sister. He came from a local important family. Good connections. The best Tamer school education. I thought that she would be well taken care of. She was so scared but excited at the same time to have a Master that could spoil her and show her the world.

I don't know what you read about what happened to my sister but it wasn't an accident. Jimmy Lane, his name was. Decided to take a dare to mess with some beedrill hive in the local forest. It didn't go so well. He threw my sister out of her capture sphere. Just tossed her out as a distraction, a sacrifice, so he could escape. He just abandoned her to die to save his own skin because he'd felt like doing something dumb to impress his friends. One of his friends went in and rescued my sister. But he gave him back to that idiot. And then Jimmy poisoned her. Basic fiend knowledge. Light harms dark. And this idiot gives her fairy medication because he didn't care enough to check that it wouldn't hurt her. He'd been given the top education in our region and he gave her light medication."

It still made him angry just to think about it. "They charged him with everything they possibly could have. He plead not guilty to all of it. He didn't even take responsibility for what he'd done. Not using her a sacrifice. Not poisoning her. Blamed it on the school system. And then Daddy whips out his wallet and just makes it all go away. No time serve. No forced release of the other child fiends in his possessions. Just a little anklet on his foot that let him go only so far from his parents' house. That's it. And I have never felt hatred or helplessness as I did then. But I still wasn't going to kill him. The humans had failed my sister but I was going to find a way. He was going to pay for what he did to her.

And then he showed up to her funeral. He marched right up to her tiny casket and spit right on it, right there in front of me. Started cursing her little body, saying how she ruined him socially and calling her names I won't repeat in front of any woman. And still I just let security take him away. I might have struck him down right then and there if not for Gaius.

But that night I started drinking. And I didn't stop. Not for years, I didn't stop. And the more I thought about the more I knew I couldn't let him go unpunished. I couldn't let him hurt any of those kids he still had left. He gave me a reason to live up to my kind's name. And I'm not sorry that he's gone, just as I'm sure you're not sorry that tormentor no longer lives to hurt you or anyone else. I turned myself in that night. The judge that tried me had a daughter. He understood, let me off with community service. I started volunteering for an organization that worked within the schools to educate Tamers on fiend relations and care. And then I bought the organization and made it better. I don't remember most of that. I started heavily drinking and I just didn't stop."

He went quiet again. Then started up once more. "You met Jason last week. He's not just my friend. He's my sponsor. He's the one that keeps me from going off that deep end again when I feel like I can't keep going on. I've been sober for seven months. It has not gotten easier but I'm told that eventually it will." He didn't know what else to say at that point. "So now you know the full truth. I'm sorry that it upsets you that I've taken a life. But the only similarities between our stories that a bad man who didn't deserve the life they were given had it taken from them in punishment. And that's it."

"I'm only mad you didn't tell me before. I know it's hard. But you push me. You only know for me what's written down. You did not see the pictures, nor would I want you, or anyone else to see them. That happened to me 8 months ago. Eight. I spent 2 weeks in intensive care another 2 just in hospital. A month with Wolf and then I went to school. With people up to 5 years my junior. Half of them are what terrifies me. You have done nothing but push me, preach to me even. But you are only just a bit ahead of me in healing. It's condescending. It's harsh and you still think that taking revenge is why I am mad?" Nel shook her head. "I was triggered, I responded to something in the wrong way. I am sorry but you must accept blame when it's there. This is on us both."

"It is. But I won't apologize for how I've pushed you," Trent said honestly. He had struggled far too long. She didn't need to struggle as long as he had nor fall as hard. He wasn't going to allow that to happen. One day she'd see that.

"I wasn't asking you too. But I have done incredibly well, you wouldn't have recognised me then. Not for any other reason than my face was a mashed up mess. They chose to heal my face and internal wounds. But I'm still covered in scars. My body is ugly while my face appealing to some. I get by. Sometimes with medication. But mostly by myself. With your help. You forced me to let you in. But you didn't let me in. Not until just then. And I am so thankful." Nel said honestly. She stood up and went over to him. She only hesitated momentarily, but then she wrapped her arms around him. "I am very sorry about your sister."

Trent had only recently starting accepting affection from her and that was really only in fiend form. But if there was a time to allow her to hug him, it was now. And so he did. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her too for she needed comfort as much as he did, all things considered. "Thank you," he said quietly.

"If I could change it, I would. I'd do anything to make you happy." Nel said quietly. She wasn't good with a lot of people, but she found the struggle with Trent to be better for them both.

"I'm starting to see that," Trent said. "And if I could have done the same for you, I would have as well." Which was true. But they were good for each other. They should be. She was his princess. And he was supporting her as one of her favored kind should.

"I kinda like hugging you. But don't tell anyone or they will all want one." Nel said semi seriously. She didn't think she could hug anyone else yet. But Trent was different. "Also, I totally think you needed me as much as I needed you.v

"Maybe," Trent said, loathe to admit that he actively needed anyone. He knew that he did but he didn't like to admit it. "Trust me. I will not be telling anyone that you have hugged me."

"Give it a month and I'll tell them all. That we stood in your house awkwardly and hugged for like five minutes." Nel teased. "am I your favourite yet?"

"Hm..." Trent said. "Would you believe me if I told you no?" he said. Because at this point she was. He couldn't well say no after they'd opened up to each other like that. But he still couldn't be easy. Cats just weren't.

"Maybe. I might cry again." Nel said honestly. If he could use her feels against her, she could do it too. "On your shirt too. With snot."

"Euck, no," Trent said and held her away from him then. He was being semi silly about that. "I don't do bodily fluids on my clothes." That were not his own because being an alcoholic had lead to some pretty unclean moments, privately. But still.

"Then just admit it. Save your wardrobe." Nel said with a grin.

"Fine. You are my favorite. But not if you cry all over me," Trent added because he couldn't just go along with it easily.

"Yay." Nel said cutely and hugged on him again. "I told you so. And you will totally wear that top hat to make me happy, right?"

Trent looked over at the top hat. He changed back to his fiend form. "Have at it," he said, settling back down comfortably on the couch. At this point, he could suffer with wearing a hat for her during Halloween.

Nel stood there quietly for a moment. But then she rushed over and hugged him again. She put her face in his fur and cried a little bit. "Thank you. You are the best friend I've ever had."

"That is honestly one of the saddest things I've ever heard," Trent said. But he managed to not be knocked over by her hug, even if he couldn't go very far on the couch, just back against the cushions.

"Don't ruin our moment." Nel said and choked on a laugh. He was so silly. "That isn't very nice."

Trent only chuckled. He didn't apologize. He just let her cry into his fur, with her face buried in it, and provided her comfort just by being there. It was sad to him, how happy it made her that he'd agreed to wear a silly little top hat for Halloween. But then, odd things made him the happiest lately too. That was just something they shared, it seemed, broken Tamer and broken fiend.

Nel cuddled him for a little bit longer and then wiped her face and settled the tiny top hat onto his head and the monocle on his eye. "You're such a handsome kitty."