(Don't worry. This one isn't sin. I made some art for it. This chapter with, personally, my very favourite of the Sanses. I'm just saying that this one will definitely have follow-ups.)

~•~

"Seneca!"

The voice which called for her was deep, powerful, demanding. It reached all around the castle that she was living in. Wasn't the first time, wouldn't be the last, but with how ferocious the underlying tone felt, she couldn't help but feel just a little scared. He wasn't used to speaking like that to her. So she got dressed with whatever she found, then opened her door and headed to his room, wondering and worried what he was so angry or upset about.

Was it perhaps her lack of help around the castle? She thought she was doing a fairly good job of keeping up with everything. Then maybe something one of his cronies ratted her out for? They always did like to lie to him about it, since none of them liked her, besides Cross. Then it could only be that he found something in her room that he disagreed with. It would be a more reasonable question, and something he would be upset about, yet it didn't match his tone. This was too far beyond a normal upset.

When at his door, she knocked softly, waiting for him to give her the ok. Unlike normal, when she went, Horror and Error weren't behind her snickering like school boys. That told her already that something was not right.

"Come in, Seneca. You don't have to knock every time."

The woman heard a sigh from behind the thin wood of the door. Oh goodness. He was not pleased at all about whatever happened. She opened the door to look inside, seeing him alone, on his bed in the dark, holding what looked like a box of sorts. It intrigued her enough to go inside and close the door behind her.

His room was really, really dark. So much so that Seneca was forced to use a small flashlight every time so she wouldn't run in to anything. She was not wanting to give him a reason to shame her, or embarrass herself. With this in mind, she slowly made her way over to his bed, since she was in such a hurry that she forgot her flashlight.

Unfortunately, this meant that she almost tripped on thin air if Nightmare hadn't caught her. Well, his tentacle, to be precise. He had no trouble putting her beside him on the bed so they were close together. Her cheeks turned a deep red, while his barely shown anything besides a midnight black. Sure, they were lovers and could be considered dating, but it was usually her made the moves, not him.

He turned to her with his rather iconic frown of displeasure. The one that made her nervous and lose all hope that he wasn't mad at her for some reason. She sat there, silent, and pondering the many different ways she could be of use in the dungeons.

"Seneca."

She gave him a confused glance.

"Y-Yes, Nightmare?"

Dammit. She's stuttering. That's embarrassing.

"I won't say I'm disappointed in what you did, but I'm not happy either. By the way you're reacting, you don't remember or know what this is about."

Seneca shook her head to answer him. This was confusing. Was he possibly trying to mention the small thing she did with Error? It was meant to be a surprise for their anniversary, but if Error snitched or didn't hide them like she tried to explain him to do, there was no doubt in her mind that Night found it. It also wasn't a doubt that the former would tease her for this after the day was done.

"Well. . .look for yourself in here."

He opened the box, and took out three little hand-knit puppets of his least favourite people: Dream, Ink, and Swap. The Star Sanses. Unlike normal puppets, she knew that these ones were linked to the real one in some way. Nobody ever told her how. Her heart sank at seeing that he was displeased with the gift.

"I. . .hun. . .I was wanting to save them. . .I'm sorry. . ."

Seneca whispered to herself. Well, spoke half-hearted, then steadily went quieter as she quickly avoided his gaze. She didn't know what to do to salvage this.

Nightmare glanced over to her, setting the empty box to the side and holding the puppets with two tendrils, while his other two brought her closer to him. He pulled her so she lay on his chest, staying quiet for a good few minutes. He could sense something was out there, more accurately someone that didn't know any better. When he sensed that they wouldn't leave, he sighed and narrowed his one eye.

"Leave. All of you. This is an order from your boss."

The woman, deep in her thoughts and the odd silence, was growing to be both happy and scared at the same time. Happy, because she was touching him after so long, yet scared that he would push her away right after.

Finally, after two minutes, she heard him sigh again, yet this time it was more of relief than annoyance. Instead of pushing her away, though, he set the box down, or threw it on the floor, and held the puppets by their strings in his one tendril.

"I don't say this often, Seneca. So be grateful. What you did was sweet. I appreciate it a lot. I love it. . .and stuff."

He had smiled. She caught him smiling. That was more than enough to ease her worries and set her in a happy mood. She smiled back, hugging around his waist, her head nuzzled into his chest a little more than before. He wasn't completely caught off guard, but it did take him a moment or so to hug back, since he really did not want anyone to come busting in to see them like this.

"Mmmnng. . . . .don't read into it too much. Someone could see us like this."

Realizing, she quickly pulled away, understanding that his boundaries were needing to be respected at the moment.

Night grumbled to himself words that she couldn't really hear. Then he groaned. He knew that she needed at least some love to live. Kind of stupid, but whatever. If he was going to make the Star Sanses disappear, he needed to first understand how they felt. . .even if it meant doing that only because Seneca convinced him to, because he 'saved her' from a terrible place. Whatever.

She was only startled for a moment, soon relaxing, and holding him again. She knew that he wouldn't do anything to hurt her, in any way. He never shown it, but he did love her.

"Um. . .could we. .play with them?"

He snapped from his thoughts and looked to her, blushing a little to himself from how surprisingly adorable she was right there and then. Sure, he made a show of making sure no-one saw how he felt, but that didn't help when it was them alone. Did not help at all. Because she knew just how to bring out his former, softer parts, that would have easily fallen victim to her.

"Sure."

Happy, she messed with the puppets, making them do all sorts of things. Night, while watching, simply made sure she didn't notice the smaller box on his nightstand. It would be a lot longer until he had the courage to ask about that, but it would happen. He knew it would.

~•~

(I'm sorry this is way later than most of the other ones. I couldn't think of anything, then I did, and I drew a picture that took way too long. But I did it! And I'm going to probably stay up until 3 am now. Wooo!)