Work Text:
Darkness. It had been that way for far too long, and Dream was tired. Oh so very tired. The two had brought people in, to fight alongside them, but in the end, it was only him and Nightmare. His brother, or what fragments were left of him that was hidden inside the goop. It hurt Dream to see his brother in that way, especially after all this time.
Which was exactly why he was fighting. They were connected, a bond which could never be broken. If Nightmare was to die, then Dream would too. It was to keep the Multiverse balanced, and everyone safe to a certain degree. There wasn’t anyone around to replace either of them, so it would be better if they died as one.
It was exactly why their fights would always go the way they would. His friends, comrades, would get hurt… But the worst he’d gotten was a few scratches. Nightmare was trying to capture him more than anything, and hold back any positivity he was trying to bring to the AUs… But Dream was fighting for an entirely different reason.
He wanted to kill his brother… Because the brother he knew, loved and cared about wasn’t there anymore. He’d rather fight him, and sacrifice himself for the Multiverse and its balance… And his own desires. It hurt to see the corrupted version of Nightmare, and the turmoil inside of Dream kept him fighting against his brother.
That turmoil was exactly what was driving the guardian of positivity in the fight they were having now. Almost all of the monsters had been dusted by Nightmare’s group, leaving the rest to feed Nightmare and further his control over the multiverse. It frustrated Dream to no end, and this time, unlike most fights, he’d gotten Nightmare cornered.
He kept shooting, not knowing what else to do. He struggled to see the darkened goopy mess in front of him as his eyesockets began to brim with tears that flowed down his cheeks. Would this be the time? The moment he’d finally been waiting for? Peace for the two of them?
Nightmare tried fighting back, but every time a tentacle or even a bit of him got closer to the guardian, it was shot down by Dream. That was... Until he felt it. The two stopped, both feeling what he’d done. An arrow straight through Nightmare’s apple-shaped soul. The guardian of negativity, or at least, what was left of the male, coughed up some more of his unpleasant corruption before falling to the floor.
Dream quickly followed suit, dropping his bow and the arrow he held in his hand, clutching his chest where his soul was kept as he dropped down to the ground. The fighting between everyone stopped, understanding that the war they had been fighting was won, but by who they weren’t quite sure… Was this what Dream had really wanted all along? He'd never mentioned their true goal as a group, only that they were to fight Nightmare's group and try to spread positivity...
But, instead of either of the skeletons turning to dust, nothing happened. Or at least, nothing yet . Dream turned his head to look at his brother but all there was left was a pile of corruption. Nothing resembling the previous darkened skeleton was there, apart from the small puddle left behind. Dream turned to look back down, ready to pass on when he saw a slight movement in the puddle.
Through his tears, the guardian squinted, trying to see what was going on. All that was noticeable though was that the puddle was doing its best to turn back into the form of a skeleton. Trembling, Dream stood and began to walk his way towards Nightmare. Everyone was watching them, staring. What on earth was happening?
As Dream sat back down on the floor, the pain in his soul slowing considerably, he watched the mystery unfold before his very eyes. The shape the corruption was trying to make was small, a child. It was trying to reincarnate itself in some way or another, trying to keep Nightmare living in whatever way it could. That was obvious from the golden skeleton.
Then it began. At first, there was only a small speck of white as the corruption slowly began to dissolve, bubbling away as if it was turning into gas. Then an arm was visible, and then a chest, arms, and eventually a head. It was a small Nightmare. The very same Nightmare that Dream knew, when they had both been children.
Dream choked back a sob as the rest of the corruption fizzled away around the child’s body before it eventually disappeared. Dream had gotten him back, he’d gotten his brother back. But to what amount? At what cost? The guardian didn’t dare touch the child, scared that a small touch would shatter the already fragile-looking child.
Then, it began to wake. Slowly, Nightmare opened his eyes, blinking away at the brightness around him. Everything had been so… Dark before. There was silence around him, but he knew that there were quite a few people around him. He could feel their presence and their emotions.
Disbelief, grief, shock, confusion… They were the primary emotions around him. He sat up and began to look around him, only to see things that confused him further. Skeletons, other skeletons that looked like him, but also very different. There were two together, looking broken and battered… He quietly wondered what had happened to them. At the other side of the spectrum stood four people, in a mismatch of clothing, all looking at him with hurt in their eyes.
Then, Nightmare turned a little further and saw him. Was that Dream? But, the skeleton seemed too big to be Dream. They were both the same size… And he was very small in comparison to the skeleton in front of him. The two stared at each other, not quite sure what to do. The small skeleton began to feel anxiety well up inside of him, unsure of what was happening, what had been happening, especially with all the eyes staring at him.
“Nightmare?” Dream lightly called, putting a hand towards the smaller. Nightmare eyed the hand suspiciously, before looking back up to the guardian in wonder. He had the same crown that Dream wore… But different clothes, and definitely older than himself. He hesitated for a moment, before putting a finger on one of the other skeleton’s fingers.
“Dream?” He asked hesitantly, unsure of his own logic. Light flashed through the other’s eyes and in a blink, the guardian of positivity began hugging the smaller, not quite crushing him, but definitely close. Nightmare didn’t know what to do, so he awkwardly hugged back, assuming from his reaction that it was his brother. He relaxed.
“I can’t believe it… I can’t believe it’s you!” Dream spoke, his voice breaking from what appeared to be grief. Nightmare felt confused and began hugging tighter. “What’s wrong?” Nightmare quietly asked, being cautious of the skeletons still watching their transaction. Dream shook his head vigorously, an obvious sign he didn’t want to talk about it right now.
Nightmare felt slightly nervous about the reply but didn’t say anything. After all, as long as his brother eventually spoke out, it would be fine. But why was he so big, and Nightmare so small? The smaller one knew something was very wrong. “What’s going on?” The smaller slowly asked, as Dream finally began to retreat from the hug, but kept the small guardian of negativity on his lap.
“It’s okay, I’ll explain it soon, but first, we’ve got to get out of here,” Dream claimed, now putting his arms around Nightmare and standing up, his legs shaky. Then, the two heard movements nearby. The two turned to see Killer, trying to get towards them both. Cross also seemed to try to move towards them, but Dust, Ink and Blue were trying to ward them off.
Nightmare stared at the two trying to get closer, puzzled. He didn’t recognise them, and it made Dream wonder where his brother’s memory got cut off. He seemed… Relatively healthy, both physically and mentally. He’d always been the more mature sibling between the two of them, taking care of Dream and himself rather than the other way around… Yet, he was acting as if he had no memory of any corruption at all.
“Don’t take the Boss away!” Killer shouted, almost in a desperate manner… Killer’s voice was always gruff and menacing, but it had lost all of its hatred due to the distress. He tried to get closer, but Dust was clearly holding him off, with Ink also using his paint to keep the skeleton in place. Horror came up from behind and began to hug Killer and whisper gentle things to him as if trying to calm him.
Dream kept his brother close, not trusting the men Nightmare had kept in his service. Ink and the guardian shared a look with each other and he was quick to understand. It didn’t take long for Ink to open a portal of sorts to Nightmare’s mansion to allow the Bad Sanses a way back to their home, as Nightmare had been their previous way of transportation through the Multiverse.
Ink suspected that Cross had a shaky sense of how to do it, but it was easier, and safer to send them home via the protector’s paint. After shoving them all through the portal, Ink, Dream, Blue and the small Nightmare went through a portal to the Star Sanses base, ready to figure out what on earth they would do with the situation they’d been given.
“What are we gonna do?” Killer shouted, standing in front of the group. After being teleported back to their home base, they’d brought themselves back into the living room to try to calm down, but Killer, assuming control of the group almost automatically, was not one to calm themselves. None of them were truly good at that.
Dust stayed quiet, sitting on the couch in quiet distraught. He knew the Nightmare they knew, the one that they loved was gone. Dream had firmly taken away that possibility. He didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with anyone right now. But he didn’t want to leave everyone alone after watching and seeing that happen to their Boss, their lover .
Horror on the other hand was trying to quietly calm Killer, but was just as stressed as the male he was trying to calm down. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to make food to try and calm people down, and give hugs, but that wasn’t going to do much after losing someone close to them.
Cross looked lost. He was staring at Killer with an empty expression, void of anything. He was fighting himself between hiding in his big fluffy coat or standing up and hugging the shouting skeleton. “Please, calm down and we’ll try… seeing what we can do,” Horror weakly responded, glancing between everyone fearfully.
“For all we know, Nightmare’s gone, and we’re never getting him back, what do we do? We’re a team! We’re a—” Killer stopped. Cross had gotten up during Killer screaming and had made a decision to hug him. The two went still, and the hate from the skeleton’s eyes began pouring out quicker than before.
“We’ll figure this out, but please stop shouting,” Cross whispered to Killer, who slowly brought his hands around his monochrome lover. Dust eyed them warily, knowing that it wouldn’t be that easy. Things were different now, and none of them was sure what was to come.
For them, this was the beginning of a nightmare. One they’d never wake up from.