Chapter Text
Outertale was undeniably beautiful regardless of a certain destroyer's favoritism to it. The stars reminded him of cold nights wrapped up under their Mother, chatting with Dream about their day and their future. It was an astronomical beauty not many AUs could copy.
"That's my spot."
Nightmare scowled, his earlier fascination vanished in the light of annoyance. He looked at the owner of the voice, immediately regretted the smug smirk plastered on the God of Destruction's stupid face. It irritated him to no end.
"Fuck off, assh—"
"Ah, ah, language! Children shouldn't curse, Moonshine," Error interrupted, the smirk turning to a full grin showing his yellow teeth upon the mocking use of the name.
"You-!" Moonshine—No, it's Nightmare—stood up, indignant protests dying in his throat at the blatant height disparity they now have. In this stupid, stupid body of a useless child. "I am not a child!"
"Sounds like one, acts like one," To add salt to the wound, Error simply held back the small figure with his strings, easily overpowering the thrashing monster.
Nightmare hated it, he couldn't bear the thought of this reality he now lives in. He wished he has his tentacles and eldritch appearance to have an equal footing against the destroyer but alas, ever since this happened, he was powerless as a fucking rock.
"Unhand me this instance!" He hated this voice, cracking almost to a screech in its high-pitched tone, he hated his small hands, he hated everything about this! "Stop treating me like a child!"
He had had enough of everybody thinking he was one, it was even more insulting when the only one who knows uses it against him.
Error looked around, the sound of the child's voice carrying over the area that may alert unwanted attention. Especially the Star Sluts... He sighed with annoyance as the Guardian of Negativity, now diminished to a random child, kept up with the tantrum. "Fine, fine, I'll let ya' down. You're gonna attract your brother's attention at this rate."
The destroyer's strings retracted, leaving no harm despite knowing that a mere CHECK would reveal an alarming high level of HP and unknown LV. The boy made a show of giving one last struggle by throwing a bone attack that barely made a dent. He looked at Error with furious turquoise eye light, the right one where once covered with sludge was left empty with a spiderweb crack. Error remained unmoved, not fearing the child in the slightest.
"Your stamina needs some work," he commented dryly.
"You think I don't know that?" Nightmare bit back and kicked at a random rubble. "Dream won't let me practice with them, because Moon is just 'oh-so-fragile'!"
Nightmare plopped down on the ground, hugging his knees close to his chest. His phalanges rubbed the fabric of his dark pants before picking on the loose teal threads of the trim lines. The same colors were matched with his tunic and he loathed how much it resembles his old one although Dream picked this out and a part of him couldn't bring to tell his brother 'no'. The uncharacteristic silence from Error made him look.
Error was observing him, crouched down to his level. Nightmare didn't like being stared at. "What?"
"It's really weird... how small you are."
As if Nightmare couldn't tell it himself. He huffed a breath, pulled out a snack bar from his pocket given by Blue. He didn't want it but the azure pest just wouldn't stop worrying over his eating habits. Who cares if he miss mealtimes? He did it before when only Dream was given food by the villagers, he's done it without reprimand with his team. Nevertheless, distracting himself with the semi-sweet treat was an excuse to not reply to the weird comment.
"It's weirder not seeing Dream hover around you though," Error continued, adding under his breath, "Where the hell is he anyway?"
Nightmare gulped down the food, replying curtly. "The squid brought me here as a reward for... suggesting something to the Council."
"I've destroyed five AUs consecutively yesterday," Error held out his phalanges for emphasis. "It took a sixth before they showed up; you've got them wrapped around your little finger, Moonshine."
It should aspire pride in him. Manipulation was his strongest suit and he effortlessly does it in this body. He would be lying if he said he wasn't guilty of using his childish charms for his own benefits many times. Yet...
"I hate Moonshine." It wasn't even being the kid or acting like one, it was the whole life he had somehow built as... this. There are far too many things that ire him though.
Nightmare is was a leader and protector of his team; they entrusted their lives to him if the tables turned because nobody did that for the Guardian of Negativity when he was younger and even then, he had to shield Dream from the wrath of the villagers. Yet this—this child—Moonshine didn't even have to lift a finger to be protected by the Star Sanses; the Omega Timeline adores his peculiar attitude and intelligence without prejudice and do their best to hide him from the worst out there although that worst for them is Nightmare himself. Moonshine had people from the start and Nightmare... Nightmare found them only recently, too recent for his immortal life.
Nightmare was calm and collected, his emotions were behind a curtain of indifference for the sake of himself and his boys. It worked for the longest time, it took practice but he had perfected it. Moonshine wasn't even close, in this helplessness, his emotions slip like sand between his phalanges. He was prone to tantrums and outbursts of anger yet instead of scorning him, the Star Sanses tries their best to understand him. They avoid what he dislikes and work around his unspoken traumas that it made Moonshine ashame of his actions resulting to little apologetic gestures.
Nightmare felt so alone when he was just a boy despite having his brother and mother. He felt disconnected and scared. Moonshine has people who supports his wishes and made him feel safe. Safe enough to fall asleep every night to a bed that wasn't his own with artfully painted glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. It was unfair.
The only comfort he could take was that past Nightmare and Moonshine today, as cruel as it was, were helpless. They were powerless, hardly a threat that people took him lightly. Children were usually harmless after all. Usually...
"I mean, you could take it as second chance."
"I'm not looking for a second chance, I want my old body back! I can't just run away, I have to get home!" Nightmare looked at Error, trying to emphasize his plight. "They need me. I don't take lightly with my promises..."
"You know I could take you there if you really can't. So you can explain to them what's happening and-"
"No, I'll... I'll handle it by myself," his breath quickened and he tried to hide it by hugging himself tighter. "B-Besides, I don't want the Stars tracking me down and finding the castle. I can't afford that."
What should he tell them first?
"I apologize for my absence and the ruckus it caused... No, not like that," he muttered to himself as he carefully trodded into the brambles. "As you can see I am currently... useless? Weak? Fuck, I can't say that! They'll dust me where I stood."
Nightmare has to tell them. He's home, well, for now but if they knew he's alright then they'll be fine while he's gone. It took him two weeks to spark enough magic to get him here, it was almost impossible but it seems some of his magic remained. He'll ask them for help.
But what if they didn't want to help?
His feet stopped, shy away from the shades provided by the forest into the broken fences of the garden. A lurch of fear, a very foreign feeling he was getting accustomed to in this body, took hold of his soul. Why was he scared? These are his men! They trust him as much as he trusts their capabilities! If they try to hurt him, then they'll know he wasn't lying, no normal child have such a high HP.
He took a deep breath and entered the garden. Horror usually cared for the plants; some were vegetables while some are simply for aesthetics. However, it seems that it hadn't been tended to for a while... Weed has grown among them and some are way past harvest. It didn't bode well for Nightmare.
He pushed on, turning the knob of the backdoor and for once, thanked his boys' forgetful nature to lock it. Nightmare entered the kitchen and felt his non-existent stomach turn. The cabinets were open with almost nothing left, the sink was piled with dishes, the floor was too wet and dirty. This was one of the most pristine area in the castle with Horror's constant presence but somehow... it was left unattended.
Nightmare shakily continued forward. The negativity clung into the interior and it didn't bother him in the past but now, his breathing seemed to quickened and his sweat felt cold at every steps he took. The dining room was empty, the chairs were pulled back and with more scars from knives and bone attacks than the last time. The only area left untouched was his seat, preserved like a separate point in time.
He made his way into the lobby, voices echoed loudly from the living room and becoming louder. Nightmare didn't know why he chose to hide instead of facing them head on. Before he knew it, he was behind one of the stone pillars.
"Stop being an idiot, Cross! You're going to get yourself caught by the Stars!" Dust's voice was uncharacteristically loud. His scarf flow with his hurried steps to catch the monochrome's hand before Cross could climb the stairs.
"Me? Being an idiot?! Look at us! We barely got anything to eat and Horror—Horror's not doing any better! It's either we do a raid or we find Nightmare!" Cross argued. His back was turned from Nightmare's spot but he could see the way the skeleton's hand trembled as he pointed at the living room.
"You think you're the only one worried? Killer hasn't been leaving Nightmare's room! At this rate we'll have two unstable individuals and I can't handle them alone whileyou'reoutthereandwhatifyoudon'tcomebackand—" Dust took a breath as he realized his hurried speech. Purple magic flaring from his socket, distress evident with the way he gripped his scarf tightly. "Please... Please, don't leave..."
The fight left Cross, his tense shoulders relaxing before he approached the other carefully then engulfing the other into a hug. "He'll be back, Nightmare... Nightmare hates breaking promises. He won't just up and leave, he'll take us with him wherever..."
Nightmare wanted to call out to them, emerge from his hiding spot.
I'm here. I'm home.
But his voice shrivelled and his feet remained rooted. What could he do in this situation? When they get episodes Nightmare could easily shake off Horror's feral tendencies, the bites won't hurt and neither were the sharp bones. He'll hold the bigger skeleton in the air until there was enough recognition in that one crimson eye for Nightmare to say it was fine, they were fine, all of them were safe. Nightmare will deal with Killer alone, lock his room for safety purposes because Killer was more slippery than a snake and could hurt anyone and everyone in his unstable stage. Much worse if he attacked Horror and spark the threat which could dust either or both of them. Seeping off that negativity and putting Killer directly to sleep was his best solution, then he'll guard his dreams because he was sure the nightmares will come.
That was all easy, a routine he had fallen into in his early days with them. But now... Now what? He was in a body of a child. He didn't have his tentacles and much worse was his magic. He couldn't take negativity and couldn't guard their dreams. Nightmare was... useless. Moonshine was useless. What could he even do here but make things worse? His magic was as good as gone with the way it behaves now.
This was a mistake. Coming here was a mistake.
He turned tail to run, his shoes making too much noise. The sound of gaster blasters made him run faster. They almost burned him, they weren't stopping. Knives embedded itself on the doorway of the kitchen but he avoided them after skidding to a halt. He didn't bother closing the backdoor knowing it wasn't going to stop them. Nightmare ran to the woods like a coward.
The footsteps disappeared as soon as he entered the forest and he knew what it meant.
"Come on, come on-!" His whispers were almost a shout as he tried to activate his magic. For once in his life, he wished his brother was here to protect him. His earlier bravado, everything he wanted to say was gone. He couldn't help them, stars, what the fuck was he thinking?!
A bone protruded from the ground, directly where his foot landed, tripping him in the process before a burning red knife embedded itself on his tunic and into a tree. Nightmare went to grab it with his hand and yelped in pain as it burned his palm. He sparked his magic again, tears blurring his vision from desperation.
"Did you get him?!" Dust's voice was near and he almost devolved into sobs upon seeing Cross landing in front of him from the tree he was currently pinned on.
At the exact moment, his magic activated, a small portal appearing underneath him and showing Moonshine's room. The only thing keeping him from falling was the knife but he could feel his tunic ripping from the tension. For a brief moment, he met Cross's eye lights. There was confusion there before Nightmare's world tumbled and he plopped onto the bed. The portal closed leaving him staring into the painting of the sunny skies.
It felt like a herculean task to take breath after breath. His hand still stung from the burn. He tried to wipe away his stupid tears.
"Moon?" He jumped from the knock on the door. Dream's voice was on the other side. "What's going on? May I come in?"
"I-I-!" He wanted to tell them to go away, he's fine! He could handle this. But his teeth merely chattered, unable to continue. What the hell is wrong with him?
With his lack of response, Dream entered the room. A look of surprise upon seeing the lights turned on but quickly morphed into concern upon seeing Nightmare's clearly disheveled state.
"What happened? Your emotions were faint earlier then it just suddenly crashes!" Dream asked. "Did you have a nightmare? Is that why the light is turned on?"
The Guardian of Positivity tried to hold his hand but Nightmare hissed as it made contact with his injured one. Dream didn't waste time to look at it. Seeing the damage, he looked at Moonshine pitifully. Nightmare hated that look.
"I'm fine. It's... I might have hurt myself while sleeping... It's just a small burn." He answered dismissively.
"Let me heal it, then we can change your clothes."
Nightmare watched Dream heal it with his magic. It felt... strange, the rush of positivity. He never felt it before in the many times Dream healed him as a child. After that, he let himself be manhandled into changing. The plain silk pajamas were his choice, he hated the cotton with silly cartoon characters. Dream tutted at wearing his shoes to bed but promised not to tell Blue about it if he wouldn't do it again as if Nightmare didn't know cleanliness. Dream also assured him that he'll mend the torn tunic for him.
Moonshine was ready for bed and Nightmare wasn't ready to be alone. Dream turned off the lights, the glow-in-the-dark stars taking center stage instead of its daytime counterpart. His brother looked at him softly, asking if he wanted anything else. The golden twin waited patiently and it was almost pathetic with the way his voice trembled.
"If I can't help someone when I know I should... Am I bad person?" He refused to look away, looking at Dream with one round eye light.
Dream's face fell, without his ability to read emotions, all Nightmare could rely on was reading his face. Dream gave a sad smile. "Sometimes, we were put into positions where we couldn't. We regret it when we look back but we also overlook the circumstances when it happened. It's not our fault sometimes... and maybe it's not too late to try and help!"
"..." Nightmare didn't know why despite it being too optimistic for his taste, his soul lifted for a bit. "Like... Like your brother?"
Dream nodded with sadness. "Yeah... I try my best to protect him, too, you know? I do everything the villagers ask so that... so that they leave him alone but... I guess it's just wasn't good enough and I never noticed the scars and pain until it was too late. I know I should have done more; stay with him and defend him but... we were kids and we were helpless. No one should have treated us that way just because we're Guardians."
Nightmare... can't deal with this.
Too much.
"Good night, Dream."
Dream lifted a hand and stroked his skull one last time. "Good night, Moonshine."
He pulled the covers and turned his back to the door. It closes after a moment. Nightmare looked at the faux moon of the Omega Timeline from outside the bedroom. He swallowed the bile in his throat along with the regret and the pain.
"I'm so sorry..."
"At least let me do something about it," Error offered. "I understood what's going on so... It's not like they won't."
"It wasn't about them understanding it's... Ugh, it's just—Would you threatened to delete an AU if you were just an NPC?" Nightmare asked.
"No...?" Error answered.
"Exactly. You don't have the power, you're making empty promises."
"Is that what you think it is? They're not gonna think less of you!"
"How would you know?! You've never had anyone you wanted to love, to protect, and people who trusts you to do that! You destroy everything for star's sake!" Nightmare rolled his eye light. Somehow, the air crackled with rage; the child could tell the way the glitches seemed to multiply on the God of Destruction. He flinched before saying, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that."
The twitch of unbidden anger diminished, the annoyance lingered though. "You are being a fucking brat, pushing all my buttons..." the destroyer sighed before saying. "I won't tell them. If that's what you want, I'll bring them to raids and all the searches they want."
"Really?" There was a spark of hope with the way Nightmare looks at Error next. Almost a smile on his face.
Error cringed with superficial disgust. "Ugh, stop looking at me with googly eyes, I ain't your caretakers."
Nightmare dropped the smile, a bit ashamed with looking so childish. "Just... until I get back, I'm getting close, I could feel it."
"You really... never visited them at least once?"
Dream said that lying is bad, even if it was a white lie. Nightmare never claimed to be a good boy. "Nope, not like this."
His footsteps echoed through the AU. It looked unfinished with its pallid ground. Not even marble nor gravel path. Just untexturized plane. It must have meant to be a meadow though if the countless flowers dancing to a non-existing wind was any indication. It wasn't the usual golden flowers of Asgore's or the echo flowers. They were unusual. Like hibiscus but purple in color bleeding into white. The pistil was a shade of blue with glowing golden stigma and style. They were lovely.
"Moonshine flowers, huh?" Immortality has its perks like being able to wait for millenias for this AU to appear before disappearing again after a year. It was unnamed and almost impossible to intentionally get into but Nightmare had found a way to do so.
Rare and unusual artifacts across the multiverse were his favorite collections. Taking one as a trophy would certainly make him happy. Maybe pleased enough to leave the paperworks for today and spend the hours with his boys. He read about these although limited. They could survive being plucked off the ground for eternity. The issue wasn't with taking it, it was for waiting for it to appear and Nightmare was one lucky bastard to have all the time in the world.
His tentacles plucked one off, bringing it closer to himself. His eye socket squinted, was it pulsing?
A puff of pollen was sprayed to his face.
He coughed, dropping it to the ground.
Then it burns.
Nightmare screamed as the tar covering him seemed to liquify, with it, the feeling of acid being poured down his body came. His soul ached and his body felt too hot. The pain brought him to his knees, his hands catching his fall. His vision was fading, his screams were still continuing. It felt like the end and it was all because of a stupid flower.
Nightmare closed his sockets. The pain faded with his consciousness.
Soft murmurs filled his senses, it was almost gibberish. His body aches, nothing was movable.
I'm alive.
He forced himself to open his sockets. It was hard to do so and with his vision fading in and out. A blur of gold, brown, and blue was all he could see. His right side still bear the blind spot he had gotten used to despite not fully seeing the blue one. The golden one was asking him something... What was it?
"—Tell...?"
Maybe they were asking what happened?
"Moonshine..." he managed to croak out and he hated looking weak but it's not like he would be able to get up.
He closed his socket, a migraine becoming prominent from the bright colors. It was better this way anyway, all he could hear was the voice from his unexpected rescuer.
"My brother seems to have done a number on you, I'm glad you survived, Moonshine."
...What?
His socket snapped open with frantic look. The faces becoming clear making him screech in panic.
Dream was here. Ink was here. Blue was here.
They were here.
They're going to kill him.
"Get away!"
What the hell happened to voice? It must have been with all his screaming. Nonetheless, he ignored the pain in his body as he flailed on a soft bed before landing on the floor. He hit something with his wrist making it topple and splash cold liquid everywhere. Doesn't matter, Nightmare had to get away from them.
He desperately crawled, avoiding their feet and the hands trying to take hold of him. It took him a while to notice. Took too long before he noticed that his hands weren't... they weren't stained with darkness of negativity. No, they were ivory white. Was he hallucinating?
"Calm down, Moonshine, you're safe," hands managed to get him under his radius, lifting him.
It was Ink who had managed to do so. Nightmare wasn't even standing, he was dangling and that was something to say when the artist was only four feet tall.
"What did you do to me?!" Nightmare hates this and they kept calling him—they kept calling him Moonshine! Is this a joke?!
"Uh, Dream, we need to put him to sleep," the blue royal guard commented and the prospect of unawareness while surrounded by enemies made him panic even more. "He's going to hurt himself, Dream, please!"
He tried to look for anything that could help him escape. His skull turning until his sight laid on a mirror on his left. He froze, hands still trying to pry off the artist. Nightmare couldn't almost believe it was him. It didn't look like him in the slightest at all. Not before the Apple incident and not after. It looked like an amalgamation of it.
The turquoise-colored eye light almost a tiny pinprick from shock within his sockets. The one on the right was broken irrepairably so with the spiderweb crack crawling to the top of his cranium and down his cheekbone. The pale color of his bones were almost a reminder of his weak self. Who the hell is this? He was too engrossed with his reflection that he failed to notice Dream come from his blind spot and touch his temple knocking him unconscious.
"Welp, I got you all I could about the place, it ain't easy finding it. I thought you said you have a way."
"I did then when I try to do it by having Fresh take me in a sequence... It doesn't appear. I think it changes but it has a pattern. I just have to predict which of it."
"Yes, in a thousands of thousands of AUs and timelines..." Error drawled on.
"I've got a year to figure this out and then I'll be home. I will." It was an assurance to himself more likely than to Error.
"I'm surprise the Stars haven't caught on yet. Heh, fucking gullible," Error muttered.
"They're not stupid just... too kind," it still surprises Nightmare how much of him defends the Stars. He thinks its inevitable when you live with them for a while now. Seeing them struggle like any other living being puts things into perspective. "I think they just wanted to believe I'm not out to kill them or infiltrate their circles."
"So someone has caught up, huh?" Error asked with intrigue. "Who is it? Is it Stretch, but eh, that guy was too fucking high to notice most things—Wait, maybe Epic-?"
"It was Classic."
Error let out a whistle before cackling. "Man, you're in trouble~" Nightmare appreciated the support, thanks, with a roll of his eye light. "Are you confirming or denying?"
"Denying," definitely denying. "I can't tell whether he'll find me a threat or not. He's a fucking contradiction and a chaotic one at that."
Settling in with the Star Sanses was his namesake.
Since seeing his pallid hands upon waking up, he knew it confirms his not-so-dreamlike situation. They tried to be more careful, promising to take off the restraints made by Ink if he behaved. Nightmare did his best spiteful attitude. They just looked at him with pity.
With cuffs on, Dream explained how they found him. Alone in that abandoned AU, his anguish guided them there. They found him in a pile of oversized heavily-stained clothes, with Nightmare's tar staining the white floor. From the looks of the AU and his state, they assumed the worst.
"I'm sorry, Moonshine, I think... I think everybody in your AU's gone..."
The protest died from his teeth as they cooed and cared for him 24/7 in the Omega Timeline's infirmary. He couldn't bring himself to reveal his identity when he's in enemy territory. He rode with it, merely stating that majority of his memories were blank. One act of crying immediately dispelled there attempts of interrogation. He listens to them discuss things in the corner of the room though.
"I can't believe they left him there alone," Blue said with that annoying pity. "Do you think Error's involved?"
"Judging with the state of the place, I think yeah..." Ink said with contemplation. "They rarely team up but why leave the kid alive? Why not destroy the AU with him inside? It's either they just want him to live for sadistic reasons or... maybe someone's injured."
"Nightmare?"
"If he was then the kid's..."
Dream's figure blocked his vision. He startled, too close to his opposite. The Guardian of Positivity sat down on a chair, looking at Nightmare with a small smile.
"I'm quite glad you look well, I tried to do my best but I can't heal major damages though," he tapped on his own skull, where Nightmare's cracked socket was.
"It's fine," Moonshine shrugged, making up a story just so they would leave him alone. "I tried to heal it too but I guess that's all it could take."
"You did? By yourself? That's impressive!" Dream praised, practically glowing. Nightmare hated the way his skull heats up from the words. He tried to look behind the Guardian again, just to catch a glimpse of the two behind. Dream scooted closer, blocking them further and as Nightmare confirmed, on purpose.
He pulled out a container, rice porridge it looks like. It looks unappetizing and the boy didn't really feel hungry. Dream obliviously held up a spoon. "Healing magic takes a lot from you, you should eat something."
If it would get the other to leave him alone...
Nightmare tried to take the pre-offered spoon but found his cuffs too short. With a resigned sigh, he opened his teeth and gulped it down. The porridge was warm but almost scalding from his summoned raw throat. The food gave way to an annoying feeling of hunger... so he might have been actually hungry. The kind gesture continued and his brother even wiped the stray streaks after. It reminded him of Dream messily eating and him exasperatedly cleaning his little brother. It was stupid to ask why a random child gets a similar treatment from Dream and only scorching positive arrows for Nightmare.
Were they only kind because they think he was a victim of the Guardian of Negativity? Was it the only reason? If they knew who he really is, would those warm touches change? Will he have to crawl back into the hole he calls a castle? But in this form, as Moonshine, would his boys—Killer, Cross, Dust, and Horror—accept him when he could no longer protect them? If they knew he lost most of his abilities, would they see him as free EXP? Would they hunt him down like any other monsters they executed? Will Moonshine run from them in the woods, panting and scared, wishing for help?
Suddenly, his hospital gown was very much interesting. "It's itchy..." he commented out of the blue.
"We'll get you new ones once you're all clear, how does that sound?" Dream asked and Nightmare nodded defeatedly.
*CHECK
Nightmare couldn't help the scowl as they drag him around the stores. Letting him choose but none of them were good. They looked childish and even some were downright a sin to ever grace the multiverse. He hated purple and too bright colors, that's what they knew. They try their best but nothing ever looks good.
"I hate it here..." he muttered under his breath after trying another one of Ink's annoying suggestion.
"Moon?" Dream has taken the liberty of shortening his name and he couldn't stop it. He didn't hide his displeasure though, looking at the other with a scowl that Dream just interpreted as a pout. "I know this might be exhausting but... this will be the last, I promise."
Then he held out a paired set of black pants and tunic. The trim lines were teal and to get it over with, he went back inside the changing room. He pulled it on without problem looking at himself on the mirror though, his breathing stuttered. He looked too much like his old self... all he was missing is a crown.
The curtains of the changing room opened and Dream entered. "It looks good on you!" Then he knelt down next to Nightmare and wrapped a white jabbot around his neck before securing it with a brooch. It was teal in color as was the trim lines, the faint image of a crescent moon embedded to it.
Looking at himself at the mirror, he was willing to admit it was the most passable outfit he had tried on so far. If it will get them off his back...
"I like it," Moonshine said with a small blush. "Can I keep it...?"
Dream stared at him for a moment before smiling. "Of course!"
Exiting the changing room, Blue was waiting there with a pair of shoes. It was his size and they didn't insist for him to put it on seeing his tired expression. Nightmare hated this body and how easy it drains with energy. Ink scooped him up despite his whines, carrying him off to the side away from the noise of the cashier. Nightmare doesn't understand how they could cradle him and shower him with attention after seeing his HP and LV.
Weren't they at least scared? He expected the worst from Ink but all the other said was he would love to spar with him sometime and ended up with a reprimand from Dream. They seemed to believe that he fought the destroyer and Guardian of Negativity by pulling a miracle out of his coccyx. He would leave them to speculate. For now, Moonshine was just a child with a traumatic past blocking his memories.
SNAP
His ugly sleepy face was now posted on the refrigerator door with a silly magnetic tack. Nightmare didn't expect them to keep him after the shopping haul. In fact, he was sure he was going to be dropped off from a nearby equivalent of an orphanage in the Omega Timeline. Then again, they might be taking precautions with what they knew about him so far. It felt like a long time ago despite only being a week.
They treat him like any other child albeit with less cuddling and cooing as they could see how much it irritates him. They try to spend time with him, mostly never leaving him alone which left Nightmare trying his magic in the middle of the night like some teenager having some alone time.
Blue likes cleanliness as much as Moonshine; it was almost a therapy to wash the dishes or sweep the floors with him. Ink was neurotic, never focusing on one thing other than art. Just to keep him busy, Moonshine asked for him to paint his ceiling with the sky or something. The squid took it to the next level and painted the ceiling with glow-in-the-dark, just for him. Where the artist was invasive, Dream was more respectful in privacy. Always asking if something was alright although some slip-ups happen and he'll treat Moonshine the same way he does with Nightmare when they were younger.
One instance of it was trying to read him a story straight out of their childhood and Moonshine had had enough of it. He angrily closed the book, looked right at Dream with the most scornful gaze and said, "I'm not your redemption. Stop treating me like I'm your brother."
Dream looked shock for a moment before guilt settled in and he stopped trying to model his care around what Nightmare was like. Instead, he started anew and got to know Moonshine as much as he could. In just a span of a week, somehow, Moonshine was a permanent resident of the Star Sanses's base.
Nightmare finds the arrangement quite a hindrance. The Stars were attentive and that was something to applaud for when they get an easily-distracted artist in their group. They never forgot about him and mostly take him wherever they wish to go. From what they've glimpsed on, they knew Moonshine wasn't unaware of the multiverse, he knew its intricacies far better than any rescued monsters do. He suppose the only benefit he got was that he had an unsolicited views of their meetings with the Star Council. At first, they oggled him like seeing a kitten but after a few protective talking and explaining from the Stars, they left him to his devices most of the time.
The unaccounted times were them hovering around him as he read a book. They would comment how it wasn't for someone Moonshine's age as if Nightmare didn't understand the manipulations and double-edged justifications of Humbert Humbert or how Lovecraft's literature will give him nightmares when he was literally one in their reality. Well, once was, but that could change. His little sarcastic comments or remarks were noted as spunk, a peculiar child but nonetheless for them: harmless. His visits to them had became frequent in his second week of staying as the three drops him off to the Council before fighting Error or whoever was wreaking havoc. The people here were too pleased with Moonshine's oddity to complain.
The feeling of interest was mutual because he found out things while in here, too, like for example: Nightmare never knew that Sugar, Horror's brother, was in contact with the Council despite their AU being under his protection. The Council never interfered, just watched out for any sign of Nightmare utlizing the AU for his advantage. Which he never did! He would never do that to Horror... Another thing was that the gang hasn't been out for any raids nor killing spree which... didn't bode well. Nightmare had been practicing to get magic under control, maybe it will be enough to open a portal.
They have to know he's okay.
"You've been stuck like this for almost a month," Error said, finally standing up and dusting himself in the process. "But you'll figure it out; you're a smartass after all."
It was true, it had only been three weeks since his shrunken self appeared but calling for Error as a favor was his best choice. Nightmare watched him leave, "If they get too close... Don't let them take me. I don't want the Stars to see them much more of a threat than they already are..."
Error, much like him, hated promises. So with a nod and opening a glitching portal, his only parting words are, "We'll see."
Chapter 2: Playground of Memories
Summary:
With Error busy, Nightmare slowly catches glimpse of the true lives between the Star Sanses. Today, Dream has run off to help an AU and Blue came home for some rare family visit. Today, it's just the Guardian of Negativity and God of Creation left in the house. Ink decided to walk their little charge to a playground. It goes as well as you expected.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Error laying low from his destroying was both a blessing and a curse.
A blessing because that would mean that his unusual ally wasn't sitting on his coccyx all day and actually acted on Nightmare's request, but also a curse because the Star Sanses had nothing to do so they decided that it was time for Moonshine to get used to a new, unpredictable routine.
It wasn't a good time, not when Nightmare's earlier confidence was slowly waning upon realizing that the pattern somehow has no obvious similarities. Time was ticking and he felt like he was wasting most of it. He had hidden his notes in a notebook written in crayon. The coloring material was impractical but the pencils in the house were always stolen by Ink. He sharpens the black crayon with the edge of a metal ruler before blowing off the crayon residue out the window. The notebook itself was slipped between the bed frame's wooden planks, out of sight from prying eyes.
"Moon, breakfast!" The call from downstairs from Dream lets him dived back in reality wherein the smell of bacon and eggs wafts through the air.
"Coming!" He shouted back before slipping on his shoes and go downstairs.
Blue was gone for a week, the unusual break from Error allowed him to come home to Underswap. Ink however is present and has taken liberty to sit on one of the chairs at the kitchen island. His plate was barely touched with how focused he had been on his sketchpad. Moonshine climbed one of the chairs with effort; he looked at the pencil and bit back saying it was his. Technically, none of this were Nightmare's, besides, telling the forgetful artist will do no good.
His own plate was presented to him. Two sunny side up eggs on a pancake serving as eyes while three pieces of bacon serves as a winning smile. It should have been awestrucking but not with the way the yolk has broken already and destroying the illusion, it ended up making the smiley man cry. The bacon wasn't even in whole slices, a bit toasted and crumbled into pieces. Nightmare took a bite of the pancake, too sweet for his taste. Dream never claimed to be a phenomenal chef as far as his stay here indicates; it's either him or Blue who only had one recipe in mind.
Nightmare misses Horror's cooking. He never needed to actually eat which allowed him to skip meals for centuries but the boys' presence made him take more effort in joining in with their meals. Horror's food somehow brings something new when more than half of the food around the world had been served to Nightmare.
The thought of his subordinates made him slow down; biting off one of the bacon bits with a solemn expression. He misses mornings and watching their sleepy expressions as they settled on their respective seats. Dust's nap was prevented mostly by Killer prodding and stealing from his plate. Their morning bickering serves as ambience in the dining room. Cross would be there before everyone else, helping with setting up the table and muttering a small 'good morning, boss' to Nightmare. He'd return it with his own before sitting down on the head of the table. He was the first bite and everyone else follows.
This was far from that and yet, he couldn't exactly bring himself to put either on a pedestal. Mornings with the Stars were certainly different, but not unpleasant. The mistakes and the simplicity made it feel like... home. For Moonshine, at least. His gaze unknowingly went to the fridge door where his picture was. It looks so embarrassing even from here. Dream had been flying around the kitchen, putting the pots and pans to the sink. After that, he wrote something on a piece of paper before attaching it on the fridge door next to Moonshine's sleepy photo. Nigthmare waited for him to sit down with them but he didn't.
Dream merely went to the living room and put on his boots by the door. Nightmare frowned in confusion. "Where are you going?"
"I promised to help SonnetTale's Toriel today," Dream replied.
"But-But you haven't eaten breakfast!" Nightmare didn't know why it matters, it's just—It was so reckless!
"I don't need it, Moon, and I'm kind of in a hurry," Dream looked back at him from the door with an apologetic gaze. "I'll make it up to you next time, okay? Stay with Ink for a while, be good!"
"Wait-!" His brother was out the door before Nightmare could slide down the chair.
Why does his brother care so much about those mortals? He's going to run himself to the ground like when they were younger... He glared rather heatedly at Ink, the artist was oblivious while shoving the pancakes down his throat.
"And you're all fine with this?" Moonshine asked and Ink shrugged.
"At least he told us where he's going this time. Pushing and prodding will just get a silent treatment from Dream and that makes it harder to track him down, you know?" Ink finished the plate, jumping down the chair to make it to the sink.
Nightmare doesn't understand the irritation curling in his soul. His brother was old enough to take care of himself there was no reason to be upset. He sighed in mild annoyance, if they were all gone, at least he could spy on the Star Council but alas... Ink was here and when inspiration strikes, Nightmare expected him to ignore him for the rest of the day. Maybe he could sneak out—
"Let's go!"
He blinked back to his half-eaten breakfast then to where Ink was but found the space empty except for the sketchpad. He looked around, spotting the artist by the door, waiting with hands on his hips. Did they have an appointment...?
"Where are we going?" Moonshine asked.
Ink grins secretively, winking at him. "You'll see!"
Well, maybe he could scam the artist to buy a book on the way... Moonshine finished his plate, inhaling the last bit of pancake before leaving it on the sink and bounding towards the squid. After Ink locked the door, he summoned Broomy to open a portal. He gestured for Moonshine to enter first and Nightmare hesitantly took his steps. The feeling of a magic he considers as enemy never gets old. It made his whole frame tense and the urge to summon bone attacks.
The inky black magic smells like paint and it parts to reveal... a playground.
"Is this... a joke...?" He couldn't help but ask because it has to be or else he's haunting a certain someone's dream once he returns.
"I figured you would be bored so I brought you to one!" Ink's cheery voice answered and he whirled around with embarrassment lacing his voice.
"So you chose a playground?! Do you think I'm the type that eats sand?!" Nightmare didn't care if it was too suspicious. He wasn't going to stand for this humiliation!
"You need friends. We would even let you out by yourself if you made some here," Ink offered.
Nightmare hated that he found it as an opportunity. If he could make at least one, then he could just slip away from them or go home late while practicing his magic. Maybe he could leave the Omega Timeline and search for anything to help his investigation.
Making friends? I could do that. Children are simple creatures. It will be fine.
Then again, it wasn't children's fault they would hate him. He tends to have that kind of effect. Maybe they'll sense that something was wrong with him.
"This is a really bad idea..." Moonshine muttered but started walking towards the gaggle of children squealing and yapping on the slide.
"Have fun!" He really expected the artist to teleport away but instead, he had taken residence on a nearby bench. Nightmare felt his hands shaking as he got closer; it was no more than making shallow talks with Asgores or Toriels or whoever is leading the Underground and earn their favor. It will be fine.
Nightmare took another step, sand and dust from the ground flying upon his impact. They didn't stop; some of them were younger than he was and he already felt out of place even if he looks like any seven year old. He couldn't help his sockets twitching as the dust clings to his pants, very evident against the dark fabric. He was planning to infiltrate the flow as casual as possible. Then just make small talks after. It will be fine, blend in, talk, get out.
"You can't come in!"
He almost slipped from the ladder as he stared at an Asriel, they looked a bit... rowdy, so to speak. The goat was completely blocking the upper landing of the slide, Nightmare stranded from a slightly long distance from the ground. They have a young Undyne by their side, uncharacteristically quiet as she looked over their little proceedings.
"Why not?" Moonshine did his usual tone, tilting his skull for an effect.
"Cuz' we don't know you!" Asriel said.
"I'm... Moonshine. Can I please climb the ladder?" His arms are getting tired and the children below him are starting to pile up and complain at the traffic.
The young goat's snout twitched at his name, annoyed in a way. "You skeletons always take our home's name... You're not even from the royal family!"
"What's taking so long?"
"Hurry up!"
Ugh, great. Plan has been derailed. This was a pain.
"Can I please climb the ladder?" He asked, trying to mask the irritation.
The Asriel seemed to have taken notice with the other children's distress and moved for their sake, not Nightmare's. "Sorry!"
They all cheered and Moonshine was more or less pushed up towards the landing with their grabby hands and slimy fingers. By the time he stood up, Asriel was still glaring and Undyne was still sat at the corner. He paid them no mind, waited for the last kid to go down the slide before he does. For a brief moment, he felt a paw touch his shoulder making his body tense. It left him frozen enough to land on the hard ground on his coccyx. They laughed and pointed but good-naturedly rather than mocking. Nightmare left for the swings.
He snuck a glance to Ink. The artist was talking to someone but hadn't left the spot. The slide covered the swing so it was perfect place. There was a child there, swinging alone. Another skeleton. Maybe they threw him out, too. They didn't seemed that much bothered though. It might be a good friend to have then.
The other swing was empty and Nightmare took a seat on it and frowned with how high it was; he could stand up a bit to back up but trying to stop the swing would require effort on his tippy toes. It would damage his shoes too. In the end, he did it anyway just to stall his musings. He stopped after a minute, trying to compose himself.
After a while with the silence, the child broke the ice for him. "Hello, I haven't seen you before."
He looked like a young Gaster with the crack running along both sockets but also like Sans with the shape of their cranium. He wore almost all purple sprinkled with pink; it was cool to the eyes instead of the garish neons of the others.
Moonshine nodded, "I just got here... I'm Moonshine, you are?"
"Sans!" The child extended a pink-gloved hand.
Nightmare frowned a bit. "Uh, there are a lot of Sanses here and... it will be confusing."
The child looked at him perplexed. "But... I'm Sans. That's the name my brother calls me. They're not me but... but I'm still Sans."
Nightmare doesn't relate with their struggle directly. His boys might but they seemed to have treated 'Sans' as a deadname. There was no struggle of identity whatsoever and Nightmare was... Nightmare back in Dreamtale. He wasn't called Sans before and neither was his brother. They merely looked like one and yet, it never crossed his mind to actually feel connected to his replicas.
"What AU are you from then?" Moonshine asked
Noticing that Moonshine won't take his hand, Sans lowered it. "You mean my home? It's... What did they call it? ParfaitTale...?"
"Then you're Parfait. Easy." Moonshine declared.
"But what about the others in my home? Are they Parfait, too?"
It made him recall the earlier disdain from the Asriel. Nightmare didn't make the rules, it had been a norm eevr since he discovered the multiverse. Moonshine decided to shrug. "I dunno, but you're Parfait to me."
The child—Parfait—nodded after a minute. "Okay, it's like a nickname!"
"Sure..." Moonshine said while hiding his elation because he could just grab the child now and introduce him to Ink then they'll be done.
"What games do you like? Who's your favorite Star Sans?" Parfait asked, abandoning his swing in favor of standing next to Moonshine.
Nightmare couldn't help but shifting away from the other. "Uh, chess... and I don't like any of them."
"Chess is complicated you must be very smart, but maybe a bit stupid too."
Moonshine was far above these scatterbrains but he took the bait anyway. "I'm not stupid."
"You don't like any heroes, of course you are! They saved us from that scary god!"
Moonshine crossed his arms, abandoning his hold on the chains linking the ends of the swing. "Well they were too late with me. So, no one."
Dream asked too late. Dream was too late to protect him and the tree. Too late to save Nightmare from his ultimatum. Why Dream? WHY?
"Do you hate them? Are you going to be like that traitor Sans?"
Moonshine frowned in confusion. "What... traitor...?"
"Are you going to be like Cross? Are you going to betray the Stars because they can't save anyone from your home in time?"
What kind of nonsense are they feeding these children?!
"Hey! Watch your mouth!" Nightmare stood up, he was smaller, but that didn't matter. Not when his boys are being talked down.
"But it's true! Toriel says so! Cross left because he hates us and he'd rather destroy lives!"
A knock on his door one rainy night in his domain. A crying and shivering mess of a monochromatic skeleton sobbing his soul out. Begging Nightmare to not dust him and to let him stay because the Omega Timeline hated him no matter the good he was doing.
They hated him enough to beat him up at an alley and throw nasty glares at him even with the Stars around. Sleepless nights filled with talks on the couch about his worth as a soldier, as a monster, as a living being. It was hard to see someone try and fail at being a definition of good just because of prejudice.
How dare they say that? How could they say something so hurtful? Take that back—Takethatback-!
"Take that back!" Moonshine screamed back. "You don't know anything about him. You don't have the right to say that! Take that back!"
"No!"
With how close they were, it wasn't a wonder that the next thing Parfait did was push Moonshine. Nightmare should leave it at that. He had worse. He had endured worse than a simple shove.
"He deserves to be hated! I hope they lock him up like the bad guys!"
Red filled Nightmare's vision that his first ever thought was to summon his bone attacks and just jam it straight to that annoying twat's face!
50/100
"Asriel!"
"Are you okay?"
"My child! What have you done?!"
It wasn't Parfait who took the hit. It was the Asriel who sneered at him from the slide. Blood dripped from the wound on Asriel's arm which he had used to block the bones from hitting his eyes. Boss monsters tend to have higher HP and Nightmare wasn't at his fullest power and... and he will live... Nightmare didn't mean to do that. He just got mad and...
"Sans! Brother!" A Papyrus, a normal aged one came bounding for Parfait. Doing a CHECK again and again before giving Moonshine a disapproving look. "You could have dust him! He has 1 HP, you should have known that!"
CHECK.
CHECK.
CHECK.
They did it invasively, displaying Moonshine's stats to the world and one by one they gasp and pull their own children away. He belatedly realize he was still on the ground, sprawled and probably with gashes. The view looked familiar, the faces looked familiar, the hate is familiar. It was... It was Dreamtale all over again.
They hate me. Stars, fuck they hate me. They'll kill me. They'll finish the job. They will fucking dust me and humiliate me—
"Apologize. You hurt my son." The Toriel said, hiding her son behind her while healing him.
"My brother, too." Papyrus piped in with that same look akin to Stretch's rare scowls.
They started it. They said those mean things about Cross. They were already unfriendly to him. Parfait pushed Moonshine first. It was provoked.
All of that died within his throat and it was unfair.
"What's going on here?"
At the worst moment, Ink stepped in. The artist found him on the ground and immediately helped him up, dusting the dirt on his tunic and pants as best as possible. He looked imposing despite probably being the second shortest inhabitant in the room aside from the kids. Some breathed sighs of relief while some took the opportunity to overpower Moonshine.
"This kid tried to use bone attacks to another child—a Sans no less! He could have killed him but Asriel stepped in and got hurt. He has to apologize."
I was hurt, too...
"Why was he on the ground then?"
"Does it matter? Roughhousing happens but that's different with deliberately attacking another!" The Toriel continued.
It makes sense. Nightmare understands them. He was wrong. He should have known better. He was an adult for star's sake!
"It matters because he's also a child! He wouldn't do something like that unprovoked! Words carry impact, they shouldn't say things that would hurt others!" Ink retaliated, his grip on Moonshine's shoulders tightened and it should make him uncomfortable as all other contacts do but he couldn't help but want to cling to it, hide him from their hate.
"Well, in the end of the day, it was my child who got hurt. An apology is all I wanted."
Ink's voice was a finality as he said, "No."
Something in Nightmare breaks at the baffling mixture of relief, safety, and guilt building in his soul at that one word. "I'm sorry."
Ink's hold loosened before it came back. "Moonshine!" The artist hissed to him but not in an angry manner.
Nightmare looked at the monster then at the injured Asriel then at Parfait. "I shouldn't have been so brash. I could have taken a life. I'm truly sorry."
He didn't wait for the reply. Nightmare broke free from the grip and ran away. It doesn't matter where he was going. It's not like he could see pass the tears welling his socket. His face was getting flushed and all he could ever think about was this situation adding up with his failure to be a reasonable adult. Why was he so damn weak?!
"Moon! Moonshine! Stop!" Ink had caught up using his brush but Moonshine ran anyways. When he started getting tired, he took quick and long strides as his caretaker kept talking. "Slow down, we have to talk. You didn't have to apologize-"
"I told you—I told you bringing me here was a bad idea now look at what you've done!" Nightmare whispered to himself which Ink caught on. He blocked Nightmare's path with paint before holding him back by the arm. Those ever-changing eye lights looked at him, scanning his blotchy, pathetic face. Seeing all of that, Nightmare pushed all his frustrations unto the artist. "Why?! Why would you defend me?! They were right to be angry and afraid! I'm a ticking time bomb! I knew better and I still—I still got mad and almost killed someone! I should be held accountable. Protecting me unconditionally doesn't solve anything!"
They stared at each other; Moonshine was hyperventilating, breaths too short and too shallow. Ink still remained passive. Moonshine broke free from the grip again, straying off the path to avoid the inky barrier.
"Because it makes you feel safe."
He stopped, looked back over his shoulder. "...What?"
"It felt nice, right? Knowing someone will always fight for your innocence."
Nightmare gawked incredulously at the stupid logic that in the end, he resorted to looking away. "It was irrational to feel safe and it doesn't negate what I've done."
"I saw him push you first."
"I've suffered worse."
"..."
"..."
Ink sighed, bringing down the barrier before gently holding Moonshine's hand. Nightmare wanted to break free but where would he go? It would even be worse if he encountered those people on the slide again. The artist led him to the fountain, sitting down on the rim with him. It was hot and he wanted to complain but didn't. Instead, he wrapped his legs in a hug just to put distance between the two of them futilely.
Nightmare couldn't look at the artist. Ink didn't back down anyway.
"Is that how the people in your home treats you?" Ink asked in an unusually soft voice.
"Fear is from things you cannot understand and overcome... It was a natural response." He still hated the villagers of Dreamtale but on the one hand, knowing their emotions, a good majority of them simply didn't understand what Nightmare is.
Yet a part of him still believes that it was—"Still unforgivable."
Nightmare frowned heavily. "What don't you understand about what I said?"
Ink shrugged. "Oh I understand it clearly. Maybe clear enough that you're a child and they're unreasonable adults."
"If you really believe that then you wouldn't be persecuting Nightmare." Moonshine said with all the bravado he could muster. Ink flinched at his argument, clearly, he hit the mark.
"Look, what Nightmare wants... we don't really understand. Maybe if we do we could make a treaty or something."
What he wants? Wasn't it obvious? To somehow maintain balance and keep them from eradicating negative AUs? Not to mention that the creation and destruction's balance had been massively tipping to Ink's side. Were they really that idiotic?
"If you do find a way to talk to him... Would you actually listen...?" Moonshine meekly asked.
"Kind of moot question considering that he's been out of commission since he fought you," Ink said and Moonshine couldn't help but shrink at the sudden turn to his 'past'. "The gang started appearing again but we couldn't follow them fast enough to even ask where the hell is Nightmare."
So they're pulling their shit together... Good.
"A-And? Have you seen them? Are they okay?"
Ink stared at him quizzically, a furrow on his brows. "Most kids would ask if we beat them up, but... now that you mentioned it, Cross looked... kind of stressed..."
So, not that fine...
Ink was still looking at him, observing his body language. "Do you... really mean that? Defending Cross? You don't think he's a bad person?"
"Yes, I do," Moonshine ensisted before his socket twitched in annoyance. "What's up with that anyway? We're Sanses, I thought we're suppose to believe with people changing and stuff..."
"Supposed to..." Ink muttered. "No matter how hard I try people just believe the rumors more than our words."
Nightmare knew Cross wanted to reconcile. No matter how the monochrome denied it to everybody, deep down, he wanted to forgive Ink. Nightmare would have forbidden it if he assumed Ink really saw him as an enemy. However, if those were the popularized belief, then they needed that talk. Well, as soon as he gets his body back.
"Maybe you just need a way to say sorry," Moonshine commented.
"If he talks to me," Ink replied back before standing. He stretched for a minute, even reaching the rim of the fountain by bending backwards. Nightmare knew the squid was flexible but seeing that upclose almost felt like watching an exorcism movie.
After the little ministration, Ink held out a hand. "Let's have some nice cream then I'll take you to a bookstore, will that be cool?"
Moonshine didn't waste time standing up, patting down his pants as best as he could before taking the artist's hand. "Sounds cool..."
"Moonshine? Have you seen my sketchpad?" Ink called out from upstairs.
Nightmare sighed, he puts down his newly bought Silence of the Lamb before looking around from his spot on the couch and finding it on the kitchen counter. "Here! In the kitchen!"
He went back to the back, happily paddling his feet in the air while laying on his front. His cheekbones cradled on his hands as he read every word. A pen left on the cushion to make little annotations. After a few clatters, Ink was making his way downstairs with hurry. He expected the artist to retreat to his room after finding it, but after flipping through the pages, the God of Creativity went for the fridge door where the confusing reminder that Dream left was.
"Does Chinese sounds good?" Moonshine blinked.
"You're not... cooking?" Well, Nightmare expected Ink not being good at cooking but he thought the artist would at least make a conscious effort. He doesn't like take-outs.
"I'll probably forget about it on the stove so take-out's the best option!"
And maybe he'll forget about ordering it, too...
"No thanks, I'll wait for Dream," Moonshine politely declined. Ink remained in the kitchen that when Moonshine looked up from his book, the artist's face was frozen in a cringe. "He's going to be home, right?"
"Yeahhh, well, not really since he wouldn't be home for a while..."
Nightmare didn't like that somehow. "What do you mean a while? How long is that?"
"Uhh, days? Maybe weeks?"
"WEEKS?!" He shot up into a sitting position, lightheadedness forgotten in favor of his rapidly beating soul. Oh stars, he might be having a heart attack despite not having an actual heart. What the hell was his brother thinking?! "HE COULD BE HURT AND NONE OF US WILL KNOW! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"
Ink, the bastard, didn't seem to understand his outburst. The artist merely tilted his skull in wonder. "I didn't realize Dream's your favorite."
"He's not my favorite! It's just weird." Why was he even explaining himself to this squid? It was too late to take it back now when his designated caretaker was staring expectantly. Moonshine fidgeted under the gaze, eye light fleeting everywhere but the god. "When I got here, you were always home... It's strange enough that Blue's not around and now, even Dream, too..."
I wonder how long until they forget about me?
Ink walked over to him. He didn't kneel down, not when he's just a few inches taller. "I don't like it either, Moonshine, but the multiverse demands a lot from him. Dream seems to think he owes them, too."
"What do they even need him for? They can make their own sandwiches or houses or whatever! They're grown-ups, too..."
Nightmare hated the people for running his brother to the ground and a special kind of frustration reserved also for his twin and his savior complex. It never bothered him before although he assumed that Ink and Blue were taking care of his brother in his stead but it seems like Nightmare, his younger twin was just as stubborn. Nightmare may or may not be guilty with pulling back his punches when his little brother sways too much in one spot or blinks too long during encounters.
Ink was looking at him with an annoyingly fond expression. He patted Moonshine's skull lightly before speaking, "I think I can watch over you if you know how to cook."
Moonshine tilted his skull, a little smirk pulling on his teeth. "Aren't you afraid I'll burn the house down?"
"Hmm, not the first time and I'll take the blame if you won't tell Dream about the playground earlier."
A very fair trade.
"Deal."
Notes:
Love the comments and decided to update every now and then XD. For now, gonna break up these chapters with individual bonding times with the Stars and maybe and encounter with the Gang in the future :DDD Peace!
AtleastIwasntboringright on Chapter 1 Wed 18 Jun 2025 07:03AM UTC
Comment Actions
Anonymous Creator on Chapter 1 Wed 25 Jun 2025 01:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
HyperfocalSeaDragon (EagleThatEatsMonkeys) on Chapter 1 Wed 18 Jun 2025 04:07PM UTC
Comment Actions
Anonymous Creator on Chapter 1 Wed 25 Jun 2025 01:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
Evans_Multiverse on Chapter 1 Thu 19 Jun 2025 11:22PM UTC
Comment Actions
Anonymous Creator on Chapter 1 Wed 25 Jun 2025 01:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
Evans_Multiverse on Chapter 2 Wed 25 Jun 2025 04:02PM UTC
Comment Actions
Alone_Heart20 on Chapter 2 Thu 26 Jun 2025 01:58AM UTC
Comment Actions