Chapter One: Her Trauma

"Do you think this is a good idea?" 

"Of course it is! Rose isn't going to hurt you, Lettuce!" 

"You sure?" 

"Yep, absolutely!"

".... F-Fine..." 

Even after so much reassurance from the others, the brown-haired girl still felt worry. She was scared. She was terrified. Of her own friend, Rose Knight. 

Now, most people would be confused, asking why she was scared of her friend, since it's natural to trust friends, right? How could she be friends with Rose if she was scared of her? 

Yet there she was, scared Lettuce, standing there nervously in the training ground she had been directed to. Her sword was strapped to her back, ready to be used at any moment. Her fingers poked each other, and she kept on fidgeting. Her eyes moved around, noting every single part of the grounds. After all, it could come in handy. One might never know. 

Back to the topic at hand, though. Why was she so scared of her own mentor? Simple. Lettuce had grown up in a... less-than-ideal environment, and it had impacted her in the worst way possible. She had trust issues, and rarely spoke up at all.

Oh, and she was terrified of Rose. 

Well, who could blame her? Rose was a swordfighter, and a brilliant one too. She was the offence expert among their group of friends, which should speak enough about her skill. If that didn't impress anyone, their other friends (excluding Lettuce, of course) were great at swordfighting after being taught by her. It was practical proof of her prowess. 

Seeing that only grew the seed of fear in her heart, though. Lettuce had too much memories of being attacked when she was younger, and she didn't like fighting at all. That's why it took so long to convince Lettuce to finally learn to defend herself. She wasn't the kind to fight, and preferred staying out of things to getting involved with violence.

She inhaled, allowing the air to bring her nerves down to a cool. It helped a lot, and she could feel her shoulders loosening up. Her muscles felt lighter. Her stomach wasn't churning uncomfortably. It was... Relaxing. It gave this paradise-like atmosphere. She didn't want to-

"It's nice to see you here, Lettuce." 

That one sentence sent adrenaline through her entire body, filled it with fear, but she somehow channeled it to move her body around. 

Her eyes soon met the emerald gaze of her current mentor, ever so fearless, brave, and chilling. It scared her. How terrifying she was.... It sent her chills every time she saw those eyes. 

Yet she seemed so relaxed. Oblivious to her fear. As if she was happy knowing that she could help Lettuce. 

Heh, how funny. How could she help when she didn't even know how scared she was of her? 

How could Rose be so... So terrifying?

"Lettuce? Are you okay?" her confused voice brought her back to reality, reminding her to focus on the scene right now. 

The scene right now was Rose looking at her with a worried look on, her own sword tucked safely in its hilt. It was connected to her belt, confusingly enough. Lettuce was aware that she brought it around behind her back, not on the belt. Seeing it on her belt, in conclusion, was strange. 

"H-Hey Rose?" she called out, gripping her fists tightly in order to control herself from bursting into tears. 

"Yeah?" she blinked, leaning on a nearby tree. She didn't seem to notice the hesitation written clearly in her eyes, which angered Lettuce even more.

Thankfully, she swallowed the bile in her throat, and asked in the softest tone possible, "W-Why is your sword on your hip now? I-Isn't it usually on your back?" 

"Oh this thing?" she smiled nonchalantly, taking it out of her hilt and playing with it as the breeze blew her hair back. It shined under the warm sun, making her nerves calm down a bit more. It felt nice to be able to breathe in her presence. It made her feel better at least. This was the first time she felt anything other than fear when around Rose. It was a nice change. A new wind. 

"I decided to make my sword more accessible, since the training session requires me to be more flexible," she waved it off as she put it back in. "Anyway, you ready for the session?" 

"I-I guess so?" she struggled once more to swallow the hesitation in her throat. 

"Great!" Rose grinned. "Let's get to work then!" 

"W-Work?" she froze. What was she...?

"GET TO WORK!" 

"YOUR WORK ISN'T DONE YET! GET BACK TO WORK!"

Her body moved back. Fear entered her heart faster than usual. Adrenaline pumped through every single part of her body as she made small but visible steps. One step back. Another step back. Another and another and another. 

It all became footwork. Her body was working subconsciously, sliding away from the people of her past. 

"Lettuce?" Rose asked, looking confused. 

"I-I don't want to work... I-I don't want to follow your orders...." she whispered. The fear was overwhelming. It overrided everything in her system. Instincts were lit. The command had been given to her body. 

"Lettuce?" Now she was worried. Why was she like this? What was going on with her? This was-

Without hesitating, she spun on her heel and ran. 

The wind entered her lungs. It was more than usual. Everything blurred out into the background.  She couldn't see anything else. 

All she saw... 

Was the tears that flooded her eyes. 

_928 words_

Chapter Two: Be Brave to Be Honest

"Lettuce! Where are you?! Please come out! What did I do wrong? Please tell me...."

Rubbing her neck back and forth, the tawny girl tried to keep herself calm. Her other hand was covering her mouth, holding it so tight in order to keep her whimpers hidden. Her heart felt like it was ready to force itself out of her body.  It wanted to hide in even more secluded areas, so no one could find it and she would never have to face Rose ever again.

Her arms were hugging her scarred body, trying to protect it from the scary person who was supposed to teach her how to be stronger. 

Huh, how ironic. All Rose had taught her so far was how insensitive she could be. How could she say that? How... Why? Was Lettuce not good enough? Was she nothing but a fool? Was she that ungrateful?

She had to calm down. She had to hide better from here. She couldn't get caught....

"When I find you, I'll beat some sense into you! How could you mess up that simple order?!"

"Come on out! Or else!"

"You better come out!"

Her grip tightened. She didn't want any more beatings. She had told herself that she wanted to become strong....

She could do this. She was strong. She could keep herself hidden....

Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Lettuce felt better now. She just had to wait until the coast was clear before running back home without Rose seeing her.

A thump was suddenly heard from her left as something seemed to slump onto the dead tree she was in, making her cover her mouth out of reflex. Who was that? What was going on?

"Lettuce... Where are you?..." A familiar voice could be heard mumbling, which made her nearly scream out of fear. It was Rose! She was here to kill her! Lettuce knew she hated her! It was a no-brainer to kill people you didn't like!

A part of her felt something else, though. There was something in Rose's tone. Something her heart resonated with.

She knew the feeling all too well. She had felt it a lot of times.

Guilt. Regret.

How could she not recognise that tone?

"Why did you run away? Was it something I said?" She heard the blonde mumble away, leaning even more onto the tree. Rose, Lettuce realised with a start, was trembling. She was scared. Of losing her.

But why? Didn't Rose hate her? Why would she go so far?...

Or was she...

Was she the irrational one here? 

That realisation alone changed something in her. 

She didn't know what it was, but it was like a small fire, thawing the ice on her heart. It was warm. It was as if Rose had somehow wormed her way into her heart out of nowhere. 

It felt nice. For the first time in her life, Lettuce was touched. Touched by Rose's altruism and kindness. She never gave up on her... 

The fire gave her energy. It brought a whole new desire to her heart.

She wanted to be honest. 

She wanted to tell her the truth. Why she was so scared of her. 

She remembered that someone once told her that being honest to someone required a whole new level of honesty. 

That could be her first step to fighting her fear. 

Perhaps one day, she could look back to this small first step. 

"R-Rose..." She finally mustered up the courage to squeeze out of the hole, revealing herself to the blonde. 

Her eyes widened, and she forced herself up to gaze at the brunette, stunned and in disbelief. 

"I-I...." she took in a deep breath, allowing herself to cool down, before she continued, "I'm sorry for running away from training.... Y-You just scared me with your words..." 

"My words?" Rose's eyes grew wide, and her tears grew in size. "D-Did I hurt you?..." 

"I-It's not that... Y-You just triggered something... I-I'm sorry..." she apologised softly, letting her tears fall down at long last. All the pain she had felt, all the terror she had been bottling up, it all trickled out. 

"I... I didn't know... I'm sorry too," she shook her head, taking a step forward towards her. "I-I didn't understand your feelings before, but now I do... I-I relate, to be honest... M-My parents always belittled me.... I-I'm sure your parents did the same, s-so that means that we're not all that different..." The atmosphere felt lighter now. It felt warmer. 

Then, Rose closed her eyes, before opening them up again, bright emerald meeting dirty brown, and giving her a teary smile, "I-I promise that we can make this work. S-So... C-Can you forgive me? C-Can we start over, not as enemies, b-but as friends?" 

Surprisingly, Lettuce didn't feel scared anymore.

In front of her was someone who used to be a nightmare, a living representation of all that she was scared of. Someone she hated. 

But now, she only saw a human. A human who had the same scars she did. One who worked to heal those scars all by herself. 

It was admirable. Lettuce liked this. She liked being able to talk to her without being scared anymore. 

This was her first step. The beginning of the healing journey. 

She knew that it wasn't going to be easy, but she was ready. 

She knew that she had people who understood her. 

Like Rose. 

And so, it began with that one sentence. 

"Of course." 

_914 words_

Requester: ponypro345

Prompt: Rose - Lettuce piece, like Sworn to the Sword

Notes: I do not own the OCs. I'm sorry if this wasn't what you expected.