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Nightmare clung to the golden yellow cape as if it would disappear as soon as his grip loosened on it by the slightest bit. Hot tears flowed out his visible socket; kneeling in front of the small pile of dust that used to be his brother.
When Dream had stopped responding to him, he knew immediately that something was wrong. He traced Dream’s magic signature to this very AU and was met with a heartbreaking sight.
He wasn’t sure it had fully set in, even now, as he sat hugging the last piece of Dream left to his chest.
Sure, he was the self-proclaimed ‘King of Negativity’ but he was usually the one causing all the negativity not the one feeling it… And. It. Was. Exhausting.
Some sleep sounded like heaven right about now but sleeping in a collapsing AU probably wasn’t the best idea. Even staying to cry mourn the death of his brother was cutting it pretty close.
He got up slowly, stumbling to his feet. He reached out and summoned a portal, still clinging to his brother’s cape, and stepped through it ending up in his room in the castle. He staggered slowly towards his bed and collapsed on top of it.
He used one of his tentacles to lock the door and another to wrap his blanket around himself. He tightened his grip around the cape and soon fell into the depths of sleep.
…
Nightmare opened his eyes to be met with a green field. He was leaning on something that felt like tree bark-- wait-- tree bark?? He shot to his feet and turned around to see the Tree of Feelings, intact.
His eyes widened. He raised his hands out in front of him; there was no goop. All the tar-like sludge from eating the black apples was gone, not a trace of it left.
“Nighty? Are you alright?” A soft, high-pitched voice asked from somewhere not too far from him.
His gaze immediately went to where the voice had come from.
“Dream…?” He couldn’t believe his eyes. How? How was Dream here? He saw his dust himself.
“Yes, brother? Do you need something?” Concern clear in his voice.
Nightmare could feel the hot tears spring to his eyes, he couldn’t hold in the overwhelming flood of emotions anymore.
Regret.
Guilt.
Grief.
Longing.
All these negative emotions swirled within him but also…
Relief.
Happiness.
Comfort.
Respite.
The positives… The negatives… They clashed over and over creating a sense of overwhelmingness.
Lavender tears cascaded down his cheeks, Nightmare being unable to keep them from overflowing.
“Nightlight?!” The voice-- Dream’s voice-- called out.
He felt Dream’s arms quickly wrap around him in a comforting and protective manner.
“What’s the matter? Please, talk to me and let me help you...”
All he could do was sink to his knees, bringing Dream down with him. The two hugged, and Nightmare sobbed into the shoulder of his twin for what felt like hours.
…
Nightmare woke up. He was back in his own room. It was all nothing but a dream…
He could still feel that his cheeks were wet from crying but he couldn’t help the new tears that streamed from his eye.
He had just lost everything and was given a chance to make up for it even if it was just in a dream but then even that was torn away from him.
Before he could fall down another spiral of despair, a knock at his door snapped him out of what would have been another mental breakdown.
“Boss, you in there?” Horror’s voice sounded from the other side of the door. “You didn’t come down for lunch and we were all getting worried because you never miss meals.”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” He couldn’t stop the crack in his voice from all his crying and immediately wished he just hadn’t talked in the first place.
“Nightmare?” The door creaked open, a concerned Horror standing at it with his meal on a tray.
As soon as he saw the tears that stained Nightmare’s cheek he walked in and sat at the edge of his bed, laying the tray of food on his lap.
“We heard about what happened with your brother… We’re all super sorry for what happened, we know you cared a lot about him… If there’s anything we can do to help you, just let us know.” A gentle smile graced his face. “We’re here for you, after all, us family need to stick together.”
Nightmare was stunned by the sudden kindness-- not that his boys weren’t kind to him! It had just been bad thing happening after bad thing but now a good thing had happened. He honestly shouldn’t be too surprised, should he? His boys were capable of cheering him up after nearly anything.
“Thank you, Horror. I really appreciate it.” He replied, smiling softly. “Any ideas for some things to do right now? Something to distract me from everything that’s been going on so I can catch a break?”
“Hmmm,” Horror took a few moments to think. “How about a movie night?”
A soft chuckle escaped from Nightmare’s lips. “Sounds good to me. Could you ask everyone to meet at the theatre room?”
“Yes sir!” Horror laughed lightheartedly, bringing a hand to his head in a pseudo-salute. “I’ll leave your lunch right here, you can eat it whenever you’re ready or bring it down with you if you’d like.”
He set down the tray of food on the nightstand that stood beside the bed and stood up to wrangle the rest of the gang to the theatre room.
After the door closed behind Horror, Nightmare sat up to calm himself down a little bit more so that he could fully enjoy his time with his boys. He wiped his face of any remaining tears and for the first time that day, he set down Dream’s cape.
He stood up and brushed himself off; he took a few deep breaths and started making his way to the theatre room.
…
It only took a few minutes for him to reach the theatre room, which wasn’t too bad considering how large the entirety of the castle is. Nightmare took one last deep breath and reached a hand out towards the doorknob; he turned it and pushed the door open.
As soon as he set foot into the rather large room, he was trampled under what felt like four- maybe five bodies.
“Pff- haha! Get off me, you guys!” Nightmare laughed.
He then proceeded to pull everyone off himself using his tentacles and tossed them lightly onto the large couch in a playful matter. As soon as he had escaped from under his teammates no- family, he ran towards them, a mischievous grin plastered across his face.
He pounced on top of the pile of monsters and used his hands and tendrils to tickle whoever he was able to reach. The group erupted into loud laughter and this continued for a few minutes.
Once the tickle session was finished, everyone had calmed down considerably. They all found spots on the couch, all cuddled up to each other.
“Any ideas or suggestions for movies?” A much calmer and happier Nightmare asked.
A chorus of ‘no’s and ‘not really’s sounded in response.
The group then took a few moments to discuss and decide on a movie all together. Eventually, they all decided on ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ a Studio Ghibli classic and a nice feel-good movie. Everybody shifted huddling closer and getting into more comfortable positions so that they could watch the whole movie without having to adjust positions as often.
Using one of his tentacles, Nightmare turned the lights of the room off and reached for the remote to find the movie and play it. Once all that was done and over with, he settled back into the comfortable position.
And just as the movie started to play, Nightmare let out a soft and relieved sigh as a gentle smile graced his face.
“I love you guys…”