Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Holy shit!"

Ballister couldn't believe his eyes. There, in the middle of the room, was Nimona. Alive.

"Hey, Boss-"

He ran up to her, and embraced her in a hug. Whatever she had to say could wait- she was alive.

"You're alive. I can't believe it- I thought you were dead. I'm sorry, Nimona. I'm so sorry."

“Hey, Boss, it's okay.” She tried to squirm out of the hug, but he wasn't ready to let go. “I’m fine!”

“Just let me have this.”

She laughed. “You like me! You were worried!”

“Of course I was.”

She laughed even harder at that, but let him hold her.

“Bal?” The two turned their heads to look at Ambrosius, who had emerged in the doorway. “What’s going on?”

“Ambrosius, it’s - come meet Nimona.” He released her from the hug, but held onto her still. Just in case.

He looked between them, and slowly waved at them.

"Nimona, this is Ambrosius. Ambrosius, this is Nimona."

They both shot him a look.

"I'm aware," Nimona said.

"We've met."

Right. Their last meeting wasn’t exactly… friendly.

"It's… been a while," he began explaining to her. "We've talked about- well, everything."

She rolled her eyes, "and you forgave him, cause even though he cut off your arm, you believe in love and blah blah blah."

Ballister and Ambrosius froze. They had talked about it, and they were mainly over the incident. But it still happened. Ballister knew how much Ambrosius regretted it. He knew that ultimately it was The Institute and The Director’s fault. But. Still.

"Well I should get going,” Nimona shifted into an otter to duck away from Ballister. She shifted back as she walked backwards towards the door. “Just… figured you'd want to know that I’m not dead, and stuff."

“Go? Where are you going?” Ballister cried out, following after her.

“Don’t worry about it, Boss,” she waved him off as she turned around. “I know you’ve been rebuilding your life and stuff.”

“Do you have a place you can go?” He stopped- small minded question. “I just mean… you could stay here, you know.”

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed. “You might like me, but the others definitely don’t. Golden-boy over there definitely doesn’t.”

She smiled, as if it were a joke. But Ballister could see the hurt behind it. He gave Ambrosius a look. He needed to fix this- he wasn’t going to lose her again.

The blonde sighed and cautiously walked over to Nimona.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot.” He held his hand out. “I’m Ambrosius Goldenloin.”

She laughed, and turned to Ballister, “he wants to be called that.”

"Behave," he gave her a look. This wasn’t going to work at all.

She sighed, and shape shifted her arm into a foot before returning Ambrosius' greeting.

He sighed, and looked over to Ballister, before tentatively reaching out to accept her hand-foot.

“I guess I should thank you properly for last time,” he said. “We are all truly grateful for your help.”

“Mmm yeah, no.” She shifted back her hand as she pulled it away.

Ballister pulled Ambrosius aside, “please, don’t scare her away.”

“I wasn’t trying to!”

“He’s not scaring me!”

The two looked at each other in annoyance. Ballister sighed. How two people could be so similar, yet so different, he didn’t know.

“Look,” he changed the subject, “I’ve been cleaning up the place.”

“I saw.”

“Ambrosius has a place in the kingdom. I’ve been coming back and forth. So, this place is still yours if you want to stay here.”

“So you don’t live here anymore?”

“I’m not saying I won’t live here with you!” He assured her. “I haven’t- We haven’t quite worked everything out.”

“So what are you saying?”

“We- all three of us- would need to discuss this further. To be honest… I’ve been avoiding this place,” he admitted. “It… reminded me too much of you.

“We could stay here together, and Ambrosius could visit us. You could stay here, and I could visit you.”

She laughed, shifting into a bird to fly towards the kitchen.

“You think too hard. Sure. Do what you want, I don’t care.” She shifted back into a teen and began rummaging through the fridge.

“Nimona-”

“You really need to stock this fridge better, Boss. You have nothing to eat!”

“She’s certainly… spunky,” Ambrosius whispered to him.

Chapter Text

Ballister and Ambrosius watched from behind the couch as Nimona rifled through the fridge.

“How do you live like this?”

Ballister chuckled and joined her. He wasn’t going to remind her that this is the first time he’d been back since…

“Here, I’m sure I can find something to cook.” He looked over her shoulder into the fridge. The milk was definitely bad. The cheese might still be good, though.

“No," she pushed him out of the way. "You’re not allowed anywhere near the kitchen, Boss! Golden-boy, you don’t let your man cook, do you?”

He laughed, “no, I learned that lesson years ago!”

Ballister huffed, “I’m not that bad of a cook!”

“So you claim, yet who was it who managed to burn leftover pizza?”

“You were distracting me!”

“You think that’s bad-" Ambrosius joined them in the kitchen, "you should’ve seen the dinners he made back at the Institute. They were terrible.”

“You actually ate his food?”

“We had too! The knights-in-training had a cooking rotation. Every once in a while, it would have to be Bal’s turn.” He rested his arm on Ballister.

“So, food,” he wanted them to get along, but he wasn’t sure how to feel about them ganging up on him. It's fine, he wasn't above bribery. He turned to Nimona, “how does pizza sound?”

“Yesss! Pepperoni?”

“Naturally. Ambrosius, you want your usual?”

“Sure. I can go pick it up?”

“You sure? We can get it delivered.”

“All the way out here? No, it’s fine.” He looked between the two before pointing towards the door. “I’ll let you guys catch up.”

As he left, Ballister turned to Nimona, who had started to wander around the room. This felt easier before. His eyes landed on the TV. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

She perked up a bit at that. “Depends. Got anything good?”

He reached down to the shelf under the TV and pulled out some options.

Nimona shifted into a cat and climbed up to his shoulder.

“The same as before,” he flipped through the DVDs as Nimona looked over them.

“Stop, that one!” she reached out for it. “Is this the sequel to the other zombie movie we watched?”

“Looks like it.” Of course that’d be what she’d pick.

Nimona jumped off of his shoulder as she shifted back into a teen. She curled up on the couch as Ballister turned to put the DVD in.

He settled on the couch as the movie started. He couldn’t help but look over her once again to make sure she was really okay. She looked the same as before she left. But, it had only been a couple months. He wasn’t sure how she survived The Director’s attack. It should’ve killed her. Or, at least left her seriously injured. It must’ve been painful.

“What’s up?” She raised her eyebrows at him.

Oh. He was staring.

“You’re okay?” He asked her. “You’re actually okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Where have you been?”

“Around.”

“Around? Doing what?”

“Boss, I’m fine. I just took some time to get back to normal.”

“I could’ve helped.” Why didn’t she know that?

“It’s fine.”

“You had to do it all by yourself?”

She rolled her eyes, "so? I can handle myself, you know."

"I know," he looked over her one more time. "But you don't have to, you know."

She didn’t respond, focusing on the movie instead.

This is just how she is, he had to remind himself. Hopefully, with time, she would learn to trust him more.

The two watched as the zombies did… something. Ballister wasn't really following along. He didn't understand the first movie either.

“How can you forgive him?” She asked, breaking the silence. “He cut off your arm.”

He clenched his mechanical arm as he struggled to find the words. “Because I love him.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“It’s complicated,” How could he ever put to words the feelings he had for Ambrosius? The late night talks they had, the things they’d been working on fixing? “He hurt me, he betrayed me. But, it was what we were taught to do. Does that make it alright? No. But, he’s sorry. And I love him. So, we’re working on it.”

They watched the rest of the movie in silence. Near the end, the door creaked open.

“I have returned- with pizza!” Ambrosius strutted in, carrying two pizza boxes over his head.

Ballister laughed. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm delivering your pizza!" He passed one box over to Nimona. "One for you, m'lady."

"Not a m'lady, but thanks.”

"And one for us to split," he opened up the other box for them to share.

Nimona looked over as she ate her pizza, and her jaw dropped in disgust. “You put pineapple on your pizza?”

“What’s wrong with it?"

She looked between Ambrosius’ pineapple pizza and Ballister’s sardine pizza.

"You both are so gross, I don't know which one of you is worse.”

“We are allowed to like different foods, Nimona.”

“Not if you make choices like that.” She cringed as they continued to happily eat their pizza. “You two are perfect for each other.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment.”

“My name is Goldenloin,” he grumbled and looked over at the TV. “What are you guys watching?”

“Zombies!”

“It was Nimona’s choice.”

“It’s a good choice,” she defended.

They ate their food in silence as they watched the humans fight the zombies off. Nimona’s eyes were glued to the screen, but Ambrosius kept glancing at her.

Nimona leaped over the couch as a gorilla and pulled out a drink from the fridge. She hopped back over it as a teen.

“Why do you choose this form?” He asked her. “What do you really look like?”

She slammed her drink down and stared him down. “This is me. They’re all me.”

“Ambrosius,” he warned. He needed to stop this before it got out of hand. If he pushed Nimona away…

"No, it's fine,” she waved him off, and turned back to Ambrosius. “Hey Goldenloin, how did it feel to cut off your boyfriend's arm? How quickly did you get over it?"

Their mouths fell as they stared at her in shock.

She pushed her pizza box to the floor as she shot up, shifting bigger. “I mean, you seemed pretty fine pointing another weapon at him when we were fighting, so you couldn’t have been hung up over it for too long.”

“Nimona!” Ballister stopped her.

She looked between them, and rolled her eyes as she shifted back down. “Whatever. I’m going to my room.”

They watched as she stormed off.

Ambrosius slowly turned to him. “Ballister, are you sure about this?”

“You were both out of hand there.”

“All I did was ask her a question! She’s the one who-”

“She also just asked a question. Neither of you liked the question you were asked.” He wasn't fond of their questions either. He just wanted them to get along.

“Bal, you saw the same scroll I did. That was her. And if that was her- then she’s a lot older than either of us. Even if she’s not a monster, she's still at least a thousand years old. Why is she here? Why is she acting like… that?”

“I don’t know.” He looked past him towards Nimona’s room. There was a lot he didn’t know about her. He shook his head. “But, I don’t need to know. I trust her. She’s my friend, Ambrosius. She trusted me when no one else did. She trusted me even when you didn’t.”

“So what, I’m not allowed to ask her any questions?”

He sighed, that was a fair point. Ambrosius didn’t know Nimona like he did. He didn't even know Nimona that well. “I’m not saying that. Just… If you’re going to ask her personal questions like that, be prepared for her to ask the same of you.”

“That's different!”

“How? How is that different?”

Ambrosius tapped his fingers on the couch and huffed.

“Neither of you have a good impression of each other yet. Please, just try.” He rested his hand on his and looked into his eyes. “For me?”

Ambrosius sighed. “Fine. For you, Bal.”

Chapter Text

Ballister and NImona walked through a busy street in town that was lined with shops. The crowds of people around them stopped and stared, but the pair continued on, ignoring them.

“So… why are we visiting Goldenloin in the castle?” Nimona asked, dragging behind him.

“Because that’s where he’s working today, and I want to go see him.”

“Yeah but what’s he doing there?”

“He still works there. The Institute may have disbanded, but the knights still want to protect the kingdom.”

The town was mostly rebuilt now, but there was still a lot of work that needed to be done. He smiled at the people in the streets. They would make this place better for them.

He turned back to Nimona. He'd need to make sure it was better for everyone.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Want to see a movie later?" He asked her.

She laughed and looked up at him. "Are movies the only way you know how to hang out with people?"

"Do you not want to see one?"

"I didn't say that!" She ran in front of him backwards as a deer.

“We can stop somewhere on our way back home and buy some.”

“What's with your obsession with movies?”

“Well, you burned our board game, so we need some form of entertainment,” he smiled.

Nimona laughed, “how about we get some video games!”

“Video games?”

He bumped into her as she stopped and turned back into a teen.

“Boss, please tell me you know what a video game is.”

He scoffed, “of course I know what a video game is. I just haven’t played any.” He hadn’t had the money as a kid, and was far too busy after he went into training.

Her eyes widened in shock.

“Boss, even I've played video games before. And let me tell ya, I don’t get around much.”

He chuckled and looked around the street. Where would he even get a video game? Would the grocer have one? The market? Ambrosius might know.

"What is that?" He heard a small voice say.

Ballister looked around the street, and found two kids whispering to each other.

"That's the monster that saved us!"

“A monster saved us?”

“Yeah!”

“Why would a monster do that?”

"I don't know, but it did!” The older kid furrowed his eyebrows, “but that monster died…”

“It’s a zombie monster?!”

The kids turned to look at them, and froze, realizing that the duo was watching them. The younger kid waved shyly at them, but the older kid pulled them away and ran away up the street.

Nimona froze and watched with wide eyes as they disappeared into the crowd.

Ballister turned to her, "Nimona?"

She looked around the street at the people pretending not to watch them and shook her head. "Goldenloin was right. What am I doing here?"

“Nimona?”

“I mean, what use is a sidekick without a villain, right?” She turned and smiled weakly at him. “You're not really a villain anymore… and I don't really have a reason to be here.”

“You do know that I never was a villain, right?" Please don't leave again. She didn't need a reason, she just needed to stay.

"Yeah… but we were still doing stuff." She kicked a rock. "You're doing stuff here, and I'm-" She looked up at him.

He reached out to her.

She looked him over, and looked away. "And I'm still a monster to these people. I'm still a monster to Goldenloin."

"Don't worry about what other people think-"

"I'm not!" She snapped at him. "I could care less about what these people think!"

"But?"

"But… I still don't belong here."

He stepped towards her, “what if you belong with me?"

She shook her head and continued walking past him down the street. "I'm going to get tired of this, you know. I play pretend for a bit, but it always comes crashing down eventually."

Ballister wondered how old Nimona really was. Most of the time, she acted very young, despite her murder tendencies. But, sometimes, she’d say things like that.

“Even if you eventually leave, that doesn’t mean that you don’t belong there.”

She looked over at him.

“Most people don’t stay in each other’s lives forever, you know. But that doesn’t mean that they weren’t important when they were in it.”

She snorted, “you’re so sappy.”

"What I'm saying is, for however long our lives intersect, I want to enjoy it with you. So-"

“Hey!” She turned around with her toothy smile, “quit being so sappy, ya goof.”

He rolled his eyes. “I can’t, I care about you, for some reason-”

She shifted her dragon wings and flew at him, picking him up.

"Hey!"

"Sorry sir, it’s time for your one-way flight to Mr. Golden-Pants!"

Chapter Text

Nimona flew through the balcony of the castle carrying Ballister.

"You do know there's a door, right?"

She set him down and shifted her wings away.

"Doors are for losers," she spit a raspberry.

"Halt!" A group of knights rushed into the room brandishing their swords, led by Todd.

"Oh, it's just you."

"Todd."

"Ballister."

"Punchable face guy!" Nimona grinned and marched towards him. "Let me at him!"

Ballister dragged her back by her collar, "no."

She flailed in his grasp, "why noooot?"

He sighed, “because we don’t punch people in the face, Nimona.”

"I do,” she grumbled.

Todd looked over Nimona, “oh yeah. I heard you weren’t dead.”

“You wish.” She bared her teeth.

“What are you guys doing here?” Todd put his sword away.

“What do you think we’re doing here?” Ballister crossed his arms.

“You could’ve used the door, you know.”

“Don’t you have better things to do, Todd?”

Ambrosius barged into the room. “What’s going on- Bal?”

"Ambrosius!"

Todd groaned, "ugh, gross. Come on, let’s leave them to be annoying on their own.”

They watched as the knights left.

“I don’t get it," Nimoma motioned towards where the knights left, and turned towards them. "Has anything changed?”

Ambrosius and Ballister looked at each other.

“We’re still working on the details,” Ambrosius said. “It’s why the princess hasn’t had a coronation yet. She wants to make sure she starts with a kingdom that the people can be happy with.”

“And the knights?”

“Technically, they aren't knights anymore. But most of them are still around, helping rebuild the kingdom."

"So nothing’s changed, basically."

"Some commoners have been helping too!"

Nimona rolled her eyes.

"Me and the princess have been discussing ways to change our system. We've been looking at ways to retrain the knights. We want them to focus inward on the kingdom and see what they can do to help it from the inside."

"Oh yeah, cause that works! You trained generations of children to kill, but as soon as you tell them not to, they won't! No worries" She marched around the room, "I mean, it's not like your training caused you to do any life-altering harm!"

"What do you want me to do, then?”

"Fuck if I know!"

"Language," Ballister scolds her.

She glares back at him, then turns back to Ambrosius. “I’m just saying, how do you expect anything to change, if you don’t actually change anything?”

Ambrosius walked away from them, clenching his fists. He looked off into the castle and sighed, “I’m bad at this.”

“What?” Ballister walked over and held his arm. “You’re doing great.”

He scoffed, "I'm really not. People only listen to me because I'm a descendant of Gloreth."

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t helping.”

“But I’m not. I don’t know how to fix this.”

Nimona watched them with narrow eyes. “Do you even like it here?”

“I’m doing the best I can,” he looked over to her, then looked back.

“I don’t get you,” she stared at him. “You want change, but you won’t change anything. You don’t like something, yet you stay- even though you’re miserable.”

"It's not that simple."

"Isn't it?"

Nimona stared at Ambrosius as he looked away. She rolled her eyes and walked towards the open balcony, "whatever. I'll let you guys be all gross. See ya later, Boss."

They watched as she shifted into a bird and flew out.

“So, how have you been?” He turned to Ambrosius.

"Are we going to talk, Bal?” He ignored his question. “You've been staying in your… castle for the past couple days.”

“I’m sorry.” He looked out the window Nimona flew out of. “I just needed to make sure she was okay.”

“I know you care about her. I’m glad she’s okay too.”

Ballister reached out and grabbed his hand, “but?”

“But what about us, Bal?” He looked at him, “I thought we were going to move in together. Most of your stuff is at my place. We practically were living together!"

“I…” He did want to live with Ambrosius. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. But, he needed to make sure Nimona was okay. “I don’t know what I’m doing either, Ambrosius.”

"So what, you're going to throw away our relationship? For what? A thousand year old shapeshifter, prancing around as a little girl?"

“Why do I need to choose?” He threw his arms out. “I don’t want to have to choose. You both are so important to me. If you two would just give each other a chance then…”

Ambrosius sighed, “you really care about her that much?”

“I do.”

“Fine-”

Ballister sighed in relief.

“But! I can only try. It’s not my fault if she doesn’t try back.”

“That’s fair,” he reached out and took Ambroisus’ hand. He really was so lucky. “Hey, you know about video games, right?”

“Since when do you have an interest in video games?"

"Nimona wanted to play some. I was thinking, you could help me pick one out that we could play together?"

"Oh, I see how it is. When Nimona asks you to play video games you'll do it, but when I, your boyfriend-" he teased.

Ballister laughed, "I'm inviting you too!"

"Oh, of course, cause that's all I'm good for-" He brought his hand to his forehead.

He rolled his eyes, "Ambrosius-"

"I guess if that's the only way I can hang out with my boyfriend-"

Ballister looked over at him, "so, you'll come?"

“Yes, Bal.”

Chapter Text

As Ambrosius led him into a store called Game Surrender, Ballister stopped to take in the sheer size of the store.

The aisles were full of shelves lined top to bottom, the walls were lined with TVs blasting music and sounds. Children and teens were huddled around different TVs. One group was arguing with each other, fighting over the controller, while another seemed to be cheering each other on.

He turned to Ambrosius, "these are all video games?"

"Yeah," he laughed. "So, did your sidekick say what she was interested in?"

"No, I…" he looked around the room, "I didn't realize there were this many options."

"Hmm," Ambrosius scanned the room and led him further into the store. “If you want to play games together, the Exchange is a good gaming system for that.”

“What kind of game is that?”

“That’s just the system,” he gestured to the aisle of shelves. “These are the games you can get for it.”

“Wait- so I have to buy two things?” That didn't make sense.

"You have to buy more than two things, Bal."

"Why is it so complicated?"

Ambrosius laughed at him. "You built a mechanical arm, but buying a video game is too complicated?”

“This was just some basic engineering,” he gestured to his arm. “You just need to know what parts to use, and the abandoned castle had an old computer lying around that helped in programming it.”

Ambrosius stared at him, “my point stands.”

Ballister looked through the games on the shelves. They all seemed very… bright. Nimona really liked this?

“Here,” Ambrosius turned to him, handing him a couple. "This one is Royal Racers, and that one is Mighty Smash Knights. They're both competitive games you can play as a group."

He looked over them. The covers looked a little bright- Nimona would probably appreciate more blood. But, it seemed like something fun they could do together. And she had said she liked this kind of stuff.

Ballister looked up at his boyfriend, "thank you, Ambrosius."

He laughed, "don't thank me yet. You still need to buy everything else for it. This is going to be expensive!"

Ballister couldn't help but smile at his antics, at least until they got over to the other section. His eyes widened at the price tag.

"Why is it so expensive?"

"It just is."

"You're sure we need that?"

"Yes, Bal," he smiled and rolled his eyes.

"I could probably make one better," he grumbled, but still grabbed it. For Nimona.

—

"Nimona? We're home."

Nimona looked up from where she was lounging on the couch and waved the pizza in her hands at them as they walked in.

“Hey Boss- Ooo, whatcha got there?” She jumped up and shifted into an ostrich, letting her pizza box fall to the ground.

Ballister held the bag he was holding away from her as she ran over to them.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Let me seee!"

"No, back up! What do you say?"

Nimona froze, and gave him a look of disgust and disbelief, "are you trying to get me to say please?"

"Wow," he looked over at her and smirked, "I didn't know you knew that word."

Nimona reached over and grabbed the bag with her beak. She shifted into a teen and peeked into the bag.

"Whoa!" Nimona's eyes widened, "you got video games?!"

"I told you I knew what they were."

Nimona raised her eyebrows at him, and looked over to Ambrosius, "you picked everything out, didn't you?"

"I did."

"Ambrosius!"

Nimona laughed and ran over to the TV carrying her bag.

"Don't worry, I'll still let you play, Boss!"

They joined her as she unpacked the games.

“Have you played this one before?” Ambrosius asked, watching her set everything up.

“Not this one, but I’ve played others.” She looked over at the games. "I think I've played a version of Royal Racers."

Ballister picked up the game and read the box as Nimona set up the game.

"Catch!" She tossed a controller at the two, then settled back on the couch.

He messed with the buttons of the controller, trying to get the hang of it. It was very small, and weird to use with his arm.

Ballister looked up and squinted at the TV. What was he looking at? Was that his character?

"Get outta my way, Golden-boy!"

"Stop throwing things at me, brat!"

How could they see what they were doing? The TV was way too small for this game. Okay, he was finally moving.

"Hey!" Ballister glared at Nimona, "you pushed me off the track!"

"Sorry, Boss!" She rams her shoulder into Ambrosius, but her eyes never leave the screen, "you stole my item!"

Video games were a mistake. He watched as his character fell off of the map yet again, and set his controller down.

“Stop throwing shells at me!” Ambrosius shoved her back.

“I’ll throw whatever I want at you!”

Ballister thought these two were bad on their own, but they were even worse together. Did trash talking count as getting along?

"Eat dirt, Dirt-face!" Nimona jumped up, shifted into a gorilla and threw the controller at him. "I win!"

“You’re not getting this back.”

“You’re just mad that I won!”

"You cheated! That’s not winning!"

"I won fair and square, Goldie!"

"Shoving someone, outside the game, is cheating!" Ambrosius looked over at him in disbelief before turning back to glare at Nimona.

"Good job," Ballister looked over to her, resting his hand on Ambrosius' leg. As long as they stopped here, he would count it as a win. Maybe.

"Wanna go again?" She shifted back into a teen and relaxed back on the couch.

"Maybe later," no. Ballister wanted them to get along, not bite each other's heads off. No more games.

“What other kinds of games have you played?” Ambrosius asked, handing back the controllers.

She shrugged, “just some random ones here and there.”

Ambrosius looked over at her, "did you play any of the first games? What were they like?"

Nimona leaned back as she glanced over at him. “I didn’t really get a chance to try them until recently.”

She turned away, then turned back to them quickly, "oh! But I've played a version of this game outside the kingdom! Instead of racing in a castle, you race in a land of mushrooms!"

"Mushrooms? Why mushrooms?" Ambrosius looked disgusted.

"I don't know! It was so weird!"

Maybe this was a win, after all.

Chapter Text

Ambrosius adjusted the boxes in his hand and knocked on Ballister’s door yet again.

“Bal?” He sighed, he might not even be here. He reached out and opened the door himself.

“Bal?” He called again as he walked in, looking around the room. Nimona was lounging across the couch, playing on the Exchange, and Ballister was nowhere to be seen.

“He aint here,” she said without looking up at him.

Ambrosius didn't know what to think of Nimona. Nothing about her made any sense.

On one hand, she saved his life. She saved the lives of everyone in the kingdom! But, she was also a thousand years old- at least! She was Gloreth’s monster.

Yet, she acted like a child. She was a spoilsport kid who cheated and trash talked her way through any kind of game. She was a kid playing video games on his boyfriend’s couch, passive aggressively ignoring him.

How could this child be Gloreth’s monster? How could this child have saved the kingdom?

This wasn’t a savior. This wasn’t a monster. This was a teenage brat.

He shook his head and walked over to the kitchen, setting down the boxes next to the couch.

She was a teenage brat who made Ballister happy. He hadn't seen Ballister this happy since… well. Before.

Ambrosius had learned these past couple months that the shapeshifter had been important to Ballister. He held him that night as he cried. As he cried the following nights. He was with him when they set up her memorial.

So, Ambrosius may not fully trust her, but she was important to Ballister. And that would have to be enough, for now.

He settled in the kitchen and started gathering ingredients.

"What's that?" Nimona looked up from her game and watched him.

"Today's the Harvest Celebration, so I brought some stuff over," he said as he measured out the ingredients.

"Celebration? Like a holiday?" The shapeshifter popped up. She tossed her game aside and leaned over the couch to dig through the box next to her.

Ambrosius looked down at her, "uhh, what are you doing?”

"What do you do for this holiday? Are there decorations?" She ignored him and rummaged through the box, tossing all of the miscellaneous decorations across the floor.

“Uh, yeah. There can be.”

She took a snowflake garland and shifted into a bird, flying to hang it along the ceiling. Ambrosius chuckled to himself. He and Ballister had made that as kids for the New Years celebration, not the Harvest, but he let the shapeshifter have her fun.

He watched her scramble around the room, putting up the miscellaneous decorations wherever they would fit. Snowflakes, fall leaves, and spring flower decorations hung from the walls and ceiling, while sword and snowknight candles were placed on whatever surface she could fit them on.

“So, what kind of holiday is this?”

"Traditionally, it's a holiday with food and gifts, celebrating families and harvests." He and Ballister never really did too much for it- neither of them had had families to celebrate with. But they had each other, and that's all they needed.

“What kinda foods?” Nimona turned back into a human and watched him mix the ingredients.

He shrugged, “we usually just do takeout, but recently I've been making pies too."

She watched as he finished spreading out the dough.

"Let me help!"

"You're awfully excited," he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you kidding? I love holidays!" She jumped up with a fire in her eyes. "Of course, I don't remember the last time I got to celebrate one- but still!"

Huh. Ambrosius put the dough in the fridge and looked over what else he had to do. Ballister said that she knew how to cook, but this was her. She’d probably mess it up for the fun of it.

But… she looked so excited. Surely he could find something for her to do.

“Can you help me peel and cut those apples?”

Her mouth widened into an unnatural grin as she pulled out her knife- wait, where’d she get that? Did she just carry around a knife in her back pocket?

He shook his head and focused on cutting his own set of apples. For Bal. He could do this. He could handle the evil child-not a child-shapeshifter for a couple hours. For Bal.

She chuckled next to him and elbowed him in the ribs, “you’re so gullible.”

“Excuse me?”

“What? Afraid I’m gonna stab you?”

He raised an eyebrow, “should I be?”

She grinned back, but she was cutting and peeling the apples properly.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Depends.”

"What's it like outside the kingdom?" They both froze and the sound of cutting stopped. Crap. He didn’t think that was a bad question.

"It's not as different as you guys think,” she said, resuming her cutting. “You all assume that anything you don’t know about is different, and that anything different is bad. But you don’t stop to think about all the ways you’re the same.

"I mean, there's some differences,” she elbowed him as she put the finished apples in his bowl. “Some towns are tiiiiiny villages, others are huge cities- bigger than this kingdom. Towns in the mountains, or on the coast.”

“There are places bigger than this kingdom?”

“Much bigger! Also the food! Do you know how different food is? It's so cool! There's so many different kinds of food!”

Ambrosius’s eyes widened as he tossed the apple mixture. There were already so many different kinds of food within the kingdom- what other kinds of food could there be?

"But, most of it is the same.” Nimona leaned forward on the back of the couch and stared off. “Families living their lives together. Eating food, celebrating things, playing games.

“Living in fear of something."

Ambrosius never thought of it that way. He still wasn’t sure of what to make of the people who had started to visit the kingdom from other lands. They dressed weird, they talked weird. They were from outside the wall. He knew he shouldn’t really judge based on any of that- but still. How could he not? What else did he have to base them off of?

“How do you do that?”

“What?” she turned back to him.

“Think of people so openly?”

She chuckled and leaned back towards him, “I didn’t say I liked any of you guys.”

That’s fair. “Still,” he took the crust out of the fridge, “you speak higher of them than I can. I guess it’s just hard to open up when you've only been taught things one way.”

Nimona turned into a gorilla and playfully shoved him. “You’ll just have to listen to your elders, then!”

He rolled his eyes. “Do you want to put this into the pie crust?”

She grinned and shifted back into a teen, “yes! Move over, Goldie. I’ll show you how it's done!”

“Go ahead,” he chuckled and moved out of her way. She did seem to know what she was doing, at least.

"What are you guys doing?"

Ambrosius turned to see Ballister walking in, carrying bags.

“Hey,” he said, walking over to Ballister.

"Hey Boss!" She called out as she tossed the pie in the oven.

"Watch out with that," he called over his shoulder.

"I got dinner," he leaned over and kissed him.

"We made desert.”

Ballister looked around the room at the scattered mismatched decorations. “Are those Slay Day candles?”

Ambrosius shrugged, Nimona had put up everything. “And New Year's snowflakes.”

“Did you have to do this much?” He whispered to Ambrosius.

“She got excited,” he motioned towards Nimona, who was sitting in front of the oven as a wolf, wagging her tail. “Said that it’s been a while since she last celebrated a holiday.”

“Oh.”

“I know we usually don’t go big, but I didn’t want to stop her.”

“No, it's fine," he watched as she continued to stare at the oven. “I’m glad she’s enjoying herself.”

“Me too.”

"Oh? Has my sidekick rubbed off on you?"

“You wish.”

“I do,” he squeezed his boyfriend’s hand. “At least, I hope that you two will.”

Ambrosius watched NImona as she turned to grin at them. He still wasn’t too sure of her, but… maybe. Maybe one day.

She sniffed the air, and jumped up over the couch, and shifted back into a teen. “Is it time for food?”

Ballister held up the takeout bag, “sure is.”

She reached out and took it from him, and began setting out all the containers on the coffee table. She picked up a wrapped object and looked it over, giving Ballister a questioning look.

“What’s this?” she asked as she ripped into it.

Ballister laughed, “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me.”

Her eyes widened as she held out her prize, some kind of video game, towards them, “you got another game?”

“Look,” he leaned over and pointed at the cover, “this guy has a sword. And there’s another sword right there, in the title. I know you don’t need a sword to beat people up, but I figured a game that looked like this might let you beat things up.”

“You got this for me?”

Nimona was always loud, Ambrosius didn’t realize she could be so soft.

Ballister sat next to her, “I thought you’d enjoy it.”

“...thanks.”

He dug out an envelope from his pocket and passed it to Ambrosius, “don’t worry, I got something for you too.”

“Oh?” He opened it and pulled out two slips. “Movie tickets?”

“A play. The theater is putting on a show in a couple weeks, and I know you’ve been wanting to go.”

"It has been a while since we've been on a date," he smiled at him.

“I love you.”

"I love you too." He pointed to the kitchen behind him, "our gift for you is in the oven."

“And I’m sure it’s perfect.”

“I don’t know,” Nimona leaned into him, “Golden-boy might’ve dirtied it. He insisted on helping.”

"And that's why it'll be perfect," he said to her.

She rolled her eyes and reached out for a container of food.

Ballister hugged Nimona with one arm, then leaned over and kissed Ambrosius.

"Hey!"

“Happy Harvest.”

"Yeah, yeah. Let me eat!"

Ballister leaned over and grabbed a piece of her orange chicken, and Nimona shoved him in response.

Ambrosius smiled as he ate his food. It was certainly more lively than they'd usually be for a celebration, but maybe he could thank Nimona for that too.

He still wasn't quite sure what to make of her, but maybe that was okay. They had plenty of time to figure it out.

Chapter Text

Ballister and Nimona sat on opposite ends of their couch, surrounded by cards.

“Got any sevens?”

The teen glared at him from behind her cards. “No.”

He gave her a blank stare, “hand them over.”

“I don’t have any!”

“You obviously do.”

“Hey Bal. Nimona.”

“Ambrosius!” He shot up and met him as he walked over, giving him a hug. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Ugh, please don’t make me deal with you two.”

Ballister laughed, “Too bad, we’re in love.”

“Love is gross. You’re gross,” she reached over and stole some of his cards. Oh well. They were probably done anyway.

He walked back and started picking up the cards.

“Hey! I was about to win!”

He chuckled. She was such a sore loser.

“Yes, that’s why we should do something else. Besides, Ambrosius might want to join in.”

“Actually, I came to invite you two somewhere.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Where?”

"There's a festival in town today."

"A festival?" she popped up.

He handed Ballister a flier, and Nimona shifted into a rat and climbed up his shoulder to look at it.

"A science festival?" she groaned, and flopped back onto the couch in disappointment.

"Featuring scientists from outside the kingdom?"

"I thought that'd peak your interest."

He left Nimona the flier and jotted up to gather his things. This was a unique opportunity- a chance to learn about life and ideas outside the kingdom!

"Is there at least gonna be food?"

Ambrosius chuckled, "Looks like it."

He smiled at them. Of course, a chance to be with Nimona and Ambrosius was always nice too.

"Is everyone ready?"

"Since when are you into science?"

"Since forever!" Ambrosius teased him.

He rolled his eyes, "I'm not into science."

Ambrosius gave him a blank stare, "You made your own mechanical arm."

"I don't know if I'd call this science," he gestured to his arm and turned back to her, "but yes. All of that stuff has always interested me."

"Huh."

"Are you coming? Or are you just going to stay here and mope around all day?"

She groaned as she slowly shifted into a teen, "As long as there's food."

—

The event was set up along the top of the wall. The previously barren area was starting to be used for community events, such as street markets and holiday parties. Today, it was filled with a variety of stalls for the science festival.

The trio walked around, looking at all the things they could do.

"So, what do we want to do first?" Ambrosius asked.

"Churros!" Nimona shifted into an armadillo and started running towards the food stalls.

"We just had breakfast," Ballister called after her.

"So?" She turned back to him, "This is a fair. You eat food at a fair."

"This is a science festival."

"So?”

He sighed in resignation, "Fine, but then we are going to the science booths."

Ambrosius leaned on him as they followed her. “You are such a pushover.”

He scoffed, “am not.”

He looked over to where Nimona was crawling under people, cutting in line for food. “Of course you’re not.”

“I’m just choosing my battles. It’s strategic.” He turned to her, “but we are waiting in line, Nimona!”

—

“Boss! Look over here!” Nimona rushed over to a small corral that was set up in the middle of the street. She shifted into a rabbit and sat on the fence.

Ballister and Ambrosius held hands as they joined her. There were two mechanical objects in the corral. He assumed they were robots, but they didn’t look anything like the drones the Institute used.

“That robot has a saw!”

“It sure does,” he chuckled. Sometimes he wondered if he should be worried about her love of destruction.

“Fight!” Ambrosius cheered next to him.

“MURDER IT!”

Well, at least they were having fun. While Ballister certainly enjoyed looking at petri dishes and genetically altered plants, Ambroisus and Nimona did not.

Ambrosius nudged him, "lighten up, Bal! This is supposed to be fun!"

He rolled his eyes, "I am having fun."

"Think you could build something like that?"

A severed robot piece flew through the air as the other rammed into it. Ballister watched as Nimona’s eyes lit up at the carnage.

“Probably,” he whispered to his boyfriend, “but don’t tell her that.”

While he could see the entertainment value of a robot fight, he couldn't imagine spending all that time and money building something as impressive as a robot for the sole purpose of it being destroyed.

—

"Are we done yet?" Nimona walked behind them, dragging her feet.

"Nimona, we just got here."

“We’ve been here for hours.” The teen jumped up on his back, “Carry me!”

“No.”

“Why not?”

He sighed in resignation. He wasn't going to win this.

“Pushover,” Ambrosius teased.

He glared at him.

“Can you at least turn into something easier to carry?”

“It’s rude to comment on a lady's weight.”

“I thought you weren’t a lady?” He watched as she shifted into a cat, and settled on his shoulder.

“I am when it’s convenient.”

“Wait, you’re not a girl?” Ambrosius turned to look at her.

“I mean, not really.”

“Then what are you?”

She stared him down from her perch on his shoulder, “I’m NImona.”

He held his hands up. “No, I just mean…” He looked up at Ballister, then looked down at her, “How should I refer to you?”

She closed her eyes and shrugged.

Ambrosius' gaze turned to him, and he shrugged too. He didn't quite understand it either, but Nimona seemed comfortable correcting him when she felt like it, so he figured she wasn't uncomfortable with how they had been referring to her.

Ballister looked around at the remaining stalls in the area. They had seen most of the science booths already, the only things left were just places to waste money at.

They could probably stop at one of those places on the way out. Nimona and Ambrosius enjoy wasting money like that.

As he took a final look around, and noticed a bare stall at the end of the line. Crowds were gathered around all the other food and merch stalls, except this one.

"Hey Bal, look at this!"

Ambrosius was pointing somewhere, but Ballister was too distracted.

There was one person behind the stand, an older lady with white hair, and some kind of device on the table that seemed to be flickering green.

“Bal?”

Ambrosius reached down and took his boyfriend’s hand.

“What’re you looking at?” He looked around, trying to figure out what caught his attention.

“That scientist over there.”

Ambrosius furrowed his eyebrows, “That’s an interesting place for an exhibition booth.”

He glanced at the cat on his shoulder. Nimona was still asleep, she wouldn’t notice if they went to one more booth before leaving.

“Hello there!” the scientist called as they walked up. “I see my Anomalous Energy Enhancer has caught your eye.”

“Well, I do like green glowing things.”

“I’m Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer. Here’s my card!”

“I’m Ballister, and this is Ambrosius.” He turned to the device on the table, “So, what does this thing do?”

“Well, right now, it… glows green.”

They watched as the green light flickered.

“Or, well, it will. It’s still a work in progress.”

“Hmm…” The scientist looked older, but she must’ve been new to the field. A glowing object wasn’t really that impressive. Especially one that didn't quite work. She seemed excited about it, though. “How does it work?”

“This green glow does not come from electricity, nor flame, nor bioluminescence, nor any energy source hitherto known to man!” Her eyes lit up from behind her glasses, “It needs no fuel, and, in theory, its light will persist indefinitely!”

Ballister narrowed his eyes as he looked over the machine. Dr. Blitzmeyer was either extremely smart, or extremely ignorant.

“I understand your skepticism. I’m the only one researching anomalous energy, and this is all I have to show for it.”

“Anomalous energy?”

“It’s based on a theory of my own invention! I’ve journeyed all over the lands, even going to the lands beyond, where the great sorcerers still practice their craft. I observed their methods and noted that they seemed to draw their power from an invisible, apparently infinite source.”

“Oh,” he took it back. She was very well researched. “You’re researching the science behind magic?”

“Exactly!”

“So, this device is intended to be a method of detecting magic- or the source behind it?”

“Yes. I theorized that there must be a vast field of energy that surrounds us all, but is only detectable, and usable, under very specific circumstances. I dedicated myself to re-creating those circumstances scientifically!”

“And once you figure out how to detect it,” his eyes widened, “you can figure out ways to use it- scientifically.”

“What are you doing all the way out here? Most of the other scientists are on the other side of the festival,” Ambrosius asked.

“Most scholars don’t see the value of magic in the scientific field,” she said.

Ballister scoffed, “So they put you out all the way here on the end.”

Dr. Blitzmeyer shrugged, “It happens- more often than you’d think. But they’ll see the value of my research one day!”

“How long are you planning on staying in the area?”

“Well, there’s a lot of research to be done here- especially since no one’s been able to until recently.”

He nodded, that made sense.

“I’m especially interested in the technology I’ve witnessed so far! The level of technology achieved in this kingdom, despite complete isolation, is astonishing!” She gestured to his mechanical arm, “Your arm, for example! The insulated wiring allows the wires to be exposed for easier mobility! Not to mention the metal plating of the fingers, which appears to allow for a greater range of mobility in the hand! May I ask who the engineer is?”

“Ah, yes. I designed and built it myself.”

“Remarkable! What type of power source are you using? How did you get the wiring to work with the plating of the fingers?”

“Well the wires-” He glanced at the cat on his shoulder as she started to squirm around.

“Nimona?” He watched as she popped her eyes open and growled. What was she doing?

"I wasn’t aware a cat could make that sound! Fascinating!"

"Nimona?" Ballister reached up to comfort her, but he stopped as she jumped. Her claws dug into his shoulder. “Nimona? Are you okay?” He carefully pulled his hand away. This was unusual, even for her.

Her whiskers shook as her eyes dotted around. Suddenly, she jumped off of his shoulder and ran off into the crowd.

“Nimona!” Ballister ran after her, shoving through the crowd of people. He wouldn’t lose her again. He couldn’t.

Where did she go? Why did she have to be a cat? It made it so much harder to keep track of her. He looked around for any sign of where she might have gone.

There- a vendor was picking up some of his fallen merchandise. She had to be over there. He hoped.

Ballister walked behind the vendor stalls, looking for any sign of any form of Nimona.

“Nimona? Are you here?”

A flicker of pink caught his attention. In between some wooden boxes, a tiny, pink tail swished back and forth.

“Nimona,” he sighed in relief.

Suddenly, the boxes moved as Nimona shifted into a gorilla, and hurled one at him.

“Woah!” he jumped to the side, barely dodging it.

She stayed frozen at the end of the alley.

“Nimona?” He wondered if she was having a flashback of some kind. She didn’t seem to recognize him. “Nimona, it’s me, Ballister. It's just me.”

Eventually, she looked up at him, “Boss?”

He kept his hands up. This was good- she was hearing him now. He took a step forward. Immediately, she stepped back and shifted into a small girl.

Okay, stay back. “Sorry, sorry. I’m backing up now.”

She stared at her hands in confusion.

Ballister’s heart broke. What happened?

“You’re safe, Nimona. It’s okay.”

She glared at him.

He smiled at her- that was more like the Nimona he knew. Of course, it was weird seeing a child that young be angry. She didn’t look angry at that age. If she weren’t having a panic attack, he might’ve called it cute.

"Are you okay?" Why did he ask that, of course she wasn’t.

"I'm fine."

Are you sure, he wanted to say. You don't look fine.

He tried to go back through what had happened. Nothing stood out to him as something that might've triggered Nimona. Of course, there was still a lot he didn't know about her.

She was sleeping. A nightmare, perhaps? She'd had those before.

“Do you want to go home?” Whatever it was, they could figure it out later. Panic attacks were hard enough- having them in public was even worse.

Her eyes softened, and she gave a slight nod. She walked past him towards the main street.

As Ballister stepped over to join her, she froze.

Shit. Did he mess up again?

She looked up at him, but quickly shook her thoughts away and turned her attention back to her surroundings. She shifted back into a teen and stormed off.

Ballister ran to keep up with her, trying to keep an eye out for Ambrosius as he did. He deserved to know where they were going, but he also needed to get Nimona home.

He’d have to message him later. He’d understand- right?

Chapter Text

Ballister stood in his kitchen, carefully pouring the pancake batter into the pan.

Yes, he cheered. See, what did Nimona and Ambrosius know? He could cook if he tried!

His computer pinged with a message. Ambrosius!

He quickly went to check it.

Loins_of_GOLD: Nachos?

Loins_of_GOLD: Or pizza at your place? With Nimona?

BalliSTAR12: not sure, let me see

Ambrosius seemed to understand why he and Nimona had left early, but he still felt bad. He wanted to spend time with his boyfriend, but he couldn't leave Nimona. They hadn't left their place at all yesterday- Nimona had barely left her room.

Whatever had happened must've really shook her. He wanted to ask her about it, but he needed to be careful. If she wasn't ready to talk, then she wasn't ready to talk. Still, he'd be there for when she was ready.

He turned towards the kitchen. What was that smell?

The pancakes!

He rushed over and flipped the pancake. It wasn’t black- well, mostly. The edge was, but the rest was only brown. A dark brown, but brown. That’s probably fine, right?

He finished the rest of the pancakes with varying degrees of success. Honestly, Ballister was pretty proud of himself. They didn’t turn out as bad as he’d expected!

He took the stack of pancakes and covered them in syrup, the way Nimona liked, and headed down the hallway.

He knocked on the kid’s door. He sighed. He had hoped she would at least answer.

Just before he could knock again, he heard movement coming from inside the room, and the teen slowly opened the door.

She looked down at the plate in his hands and gave Ballister a blank stare. “What in the world is that in your hands?”

He held out the plate of mostly-not-burnt pancakes, “I made breakfast.”

“You call that breakfast?” She raised her eyebrows as she looked from the plate to him.

“Is something wrong with it?” He looked down at the plate. It wasn’t that bad, right? It was still edible. Not to mention, none of them were completely black. He even doused them in a Nimona-amount of syrup!

“Yeah, no.” She took the plate from him, and held it away from her as she walked to the kitchen and threw it away. “That’s not food.”

He glared at her. He tried, okay! It wasn’t his fault that everyone else had high standards. Food was food!

Nimona spared a glance at the plate, before letting it fall into the trash too.

“Was that really necessary?”

"Not gonna risk it."

Ballister sighed, there was no winning with Nimona. At least she seemed to be in a better mood.

“Do you want to order food? Or go out to eat?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

Or, so he thought. She still seemed… not herself. What could he do? There must be some way to cheer her up.

What did she like to do? They mostly just played games or watched movies together, but surely there were other things she liked.

“What kind of things do you like to do?”

“What?” She turned to him.

“I’m thinking about things we could do so we aren’t sitting around moping all day.” Like they had yesterday. That was not healthy.

“Oh, so now you mope?”

He rolled his eyes at her. He was not going to respond to that. “What kinds of things do you like to do? We could go out and get stuff to keep around the house.”

"I don’t know,” she hopped over the back of the couch and landed in front of the TV as a bear. “I never went into towns too much. I’m not welcome.”

“Do you want to find out?”

“Huh?”

“Well, you’re welcome here. We can go out around town.”

“Go where?”

“I’m not sure. We could just explore and see what catches our eyes.”

She sighed, and shifted back into a teen, "Sure."

Ballister watched as she begrudgingly walked out with him. She didn't seem too enthused, but she did agree, so that was a start.

—

The pair wandered around the street of a shopping district.

“Do you like to read? There’s a good bookstore right around the corner.”

She scrunched her face in disgust, "Ehh…”

“Come on,” he led her to the store. Books were a good thing to keep around the house. He’d just have to find some Nimona might like. “What kind of books do you like to read?”

“Books aren’t really my thing.”

Ballister looked around. Surely there was something she would like. Horror? Action? Maybe a smaller chapter book- something that'd be quick and easy to read.

“Well, there are plenty of genres of books if you want to try something. Otherwise, even if you don’t like fictional stories, there are other books you could try. I tend to read books about things I’m interested in learning, like science or engineering.” He led her around the store as they browsed.

“You haven’t read anything you liked?” he turned around to her, but she wasn’t there. “Nimona?”

“Boo!” A pink rat popped out of the shelves next to him.

“Ah!” He jumped, then turned and narrowed his eyes at her. “Nimona!”

She chuckled and scattered away.

Oh well, he sighed. Hopefully she wouldn’t cause too much of a ruckus. Maybe she'd even find something she'd like.

He picked out a couple of books for himself, then went out to look for Nimona.

There, in the corner of the children’s section, was a small, pink rat, eating a book.

"Nimona!"

She looked up, "Hey, Boss!"

He took the chewed up book- some kind of comic with cats?- and added it to his pile. He glared at her, "Can you at least wait until after we buy the books to eat them?"

"Where's the fun in that?" She crawled up to his shoulder.

“Did you find anything else you wanted? Preferably something you didn’t eat?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

He couldn’t tell if Nimona just didn’t like the bookstore, or if she didn’t want to be out at all. She didn’t usually have a problem with leaving the lair, though they didn’t do it too often. Normally she’d have caused a little more property damage by now.

Not that he wanted her to do that. This just wasn’t like her.

"Okay, your turn to pick out a store," Ballister said as they left.

"Why?"

"I picked out this one, so it's your turn." He had no idea where he was going to take them if she didn't pick. He didn't usually go shopping for fun- that was Ambrosius’ thing.

The rat on his shoulder looked around as they walked.

"There!" She jumped off and shifted into a teen. "I steal stuff from here all the time!"

He rolled his eyes as he followed her into an art store. It was decently sized, and sure enough, Nimona led them right to a wall full of spray paint cans.

“Look, Boss! There’s so many colors!”

“Do you want to get one?”

She turned to him, “What?”

Ballister gestured to the cans of spray paint, “Go ahead, pick out a couple.”

She narrowed his eyes at him.

What? Did she think he was lying? Did she think she had to pay for it?

“I got some books at the bookstore, you can get some art here. I have money for it.”

Her eyes widened and a fierce grin grew on her face. She looked over all the colors on the wall, grabbing a can of her classic pink. She looked back at him, and her grin grew even more as she turned and started grabbing more cans.

“Hey, I said a couple, Nimona!”

She hung off the shelf as a monkey, holding her six cans. “This is a couple.”

Ballister sighed. He supposed he should take her teasing as a good thing. She seemed more like herself this way.

"Fine. But no more! Let's go," he started leading her towards the checkout.

She shifted back into a teen and went towards the exit.

“Stop, checkout is this way.”

“But the door is that way.”

“We have to pay for them first, Nimona.”

“Well that’s dumb. Let’s just take them. Who’s gonna stop us?”

“Me.”

She scoffed, but followed behind him, “You’re no fun.”

"Of course not," he eyed the seven cans and pack of markers she put on the counter, "I never let you have any fun."

"I'm glad you're admitting it," she elbowed him before grabbing her bag. "You know, the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one."

"Is that so?"

"Yup," she popped the "p", and dug out the can of her Nimona-pink as they exited the store. She ran ahead and started marking the walls in paint.

Just before he could yell at her to stop, Ballister stopped himself. On one hand, that was vandalism. He probably shouldn’t encourage her doing that, or at least try to stop her. On the other, he definitely wasn’t going to actually stop her.

If Nimona wants to do something, she will do it. Especially if Ballister didn’t want her to do it.

Not to mention, she was having fun! She was enjoying herself! She had been so down yesterday. He never wanted to see her like that- or worse, like the day she left- ever again. If a little bit of vandalism was the way to keep her happy, what was the harm in that? It wasn’t actually hurting anyone.

“Anywhere else you wanted to go?” He turned to her as they walked around the street. “Nimona?”

She was looking off in the distance.

What was she… oh. The statue.

He joined her in looking up at the statue of Gloreth. He used to look up to it as a kid, hoping to follow in her footsteps. Hoping to be a knight worthy of her name.

Now, the towering statue just brought pain. The burden it put on Ambrosius, the reminder of Nimona…

The last time they had been here, she…

“Hey,” he shoved her out of her trance. They both should get away from it. “How would you feel about a flight home?”

She turned to him with a confused look, that quickly turned into an excited grin.

“Would you look at that!” She shifted dragon wings and picked him up, “You can teach an old dog new tricks!”

“Are you calling me old?”

“I mean, look at you. Old.”

“Aren’t you older than me?”

“Old.”

They laughed as she flew them home. Mission Cheer-Up-Nimona, success.

She dropped him in front of the door to their place, and stopped in the doorway.

“Thanks.”

He smiled as she walked inside. Ambrosius was right- there was a lot he didn’t know about Nimona. But, it was fine. He was learning a bit more each day.