19(i probably shouldn't have written this, all things considered: i can't write a fight scene for anything.)
a father and his child
i. something wonderful
Raphael's first encounter with Nightmare is a year after the rain of the Evil Seed, a month after he met the girl who saved his life, and the night he finally takes her away from Rouen.
The night is cloudy and dark, the full moon nearly obscured by the storm rolling in; the air is damp and smells of rain. They travel lightly, with only the clothes on their backs and his rapier and each other.
They travel through the darkened woods, avoiding the roads. The roads would always be a danger for a wanted man like Raphael, but this night they are doubly so: there are rumors of the Azure Knight approaching, and the populace has been stirred into a frenzy; the thoroughfares are clogged with terrified civilians desperate to escape the coming horde. This, of course, makes them easy pickings; when the rumors are made fact they are the first to fall, the wails of the dying cutting through the air. Amy, whom he holds close and safe in his arms, shivers at the sound. Raphael murmurs into her ear to soothe her, bits of a lullaby about sleeping well and waking to sunshine, but he does not remember all the words and makes them up as they run. Even so, she nestles closer, and her shaking ceases.
The woods are not safe. They both hear the heavy lumbering steps of inhuman things creeping in the darkness, but they are fast and well-hidden by the shadows and are not caught. Eventually they come to a clearing, and though nothing is there Raphael knows they will be easily seen by those lurking in the darkness - and easier to run down. But they do not have the time to work around it, so he takes a deep breath and races across the moon-flooded clearing. They are halfway across and Raphael allows himself to think they may be safe; then something huge and hideous emerges from the shadows and Raphael freezes.
The Azure Knight stares at them, red eyes ember bright in the blueblack cavern of his helm, with an arm like a broken twisted tree limb creaking as its fingers twist into something like a fist. The forest is silent, the only sound the clatter of metal against metal as the knight approaches. Raphael lowers Amy to the ground, shielding her as best he can from Nightmare's burning eyes. "Amy," he whispers, "when you get a chance, I want you to run away as fast as you can, and do not wait for me." Raphael draws Flambert with a steel shiver. "I will follow once I have dealt with this ugly creature."
The monstrous creature's eyes narrow; then he throws his head back, cold laughter erupting from his throat. "You think you can challenge me? Defeat me?" The knight draws his sword, looking more like the mutilated corpse of some animal than an actual blade. "I'll be glad to show you the error of your ways." Nightmare leaps forward, swinging his sword in a wide arc. Raphael does not expect the knight to move so fast, and while he is able to block the attack the sheer force behind it throws him off-balance; he barely manages to avoid Nightmare's following strike.
It does not take long for Raphael to realize, bitterly, how limited his sword training really is; he is used to firm, dry stone beneath his feet, not damp grass and soft mud that causes his feet to slip and buckle; he has never fought opponents that seem made of metal and turn away every strike of his sword. A small part of him realizes, horribly, that he may not be able to defeat this man, and as if sensing Raphael's confidence wane the Azure Knight laughs again - then swings his sword around like a paddle, the heavy weight of it smashing into Raphael's body and sending him to the ground.
Trembling, Raphael tries to rise, but pain shoots through him from fresh-broken bones and he screams, writhing in pain. He hears an answering cry, much lighter and higher, come from somewhere near him, and his heart sinks - Amy is still here, he could not protect her.
Amy runs to his fallen body and throws herself on top of him. Her action confuses him at first, until he realizes she means to protect him with her own tiny form. The realization makes his heart ache in his chest, and the world blurs from the sudden stinging in his eyes. Her fingers curl into his jacket, and her face is turned away, facing the monster looming above them both. She is saying something, but her words are lost amid her tears. Raphael manages to lift his head enough to look at her, and then he makes out what she is saying-
Papa.
Nightmare grows still at the sound, and something like a sob escapes the metal helm. Raphael hardly notices; the rest of the world no longer matters. There is no Azure Knight, no monsters lurking in the woods, no people dying in the streets: there is only this girl and what has grown between them. His whole world shrinks and centers around this small girl; he does not notice the sword crashing down only inches from him. He does not see the knight retreat, shaken, into the gloaming. All he knows is Amy.
Months later Raphael would remember the sight of embers burning in a dark helm, and wonder why a child's cry for a father would still a Nightmare's hand.