Chapter Text
Part 1:
The dog died.
It was one of many, the Blood God had brought dozens of his biting, barking, howling companions with him and not all of them would have survived even if the festivities weren’t surrounded by lava. They were smart animals, The Egg would give them that but they were just animals after all.
The end result of what the Blood God had thought was a coup d'etat was the presence of more life which led to the possibility of more death. Maybe if The Egg’s servants had sacrificed the King first rather than the Foolish Little God then the dogs death would not have mattered.
But the Egg had eaten the Foolish Little God’s life, his first incarnation and the power of a god was greater than the power of a mortal would have been. And the Foolish Little God was powerful, more powerful than this world’s creator, even if he refused to show his strength.
So the dog died, its head removed from its torso with one slash of the Demon Servant’s blade and The Egg pulsed.
All of the mortal’s froze as its power gathered, even the one in the rafters, hiding out of sight, attempting to go unnoticed. They turned as one, weapons raised as a crack appeared on the Egg’s surface, slipping slowly down in a lazy undulation.
Someone made a noise of abject terror as the egg thrust a hand through the crack and into the open air. The Demon Servant laughed, dropping his weapon and shucking his armor to kneel before The Being as he emerged from his confines. No one stopped him, no one could have moved to stop him, The Being Inside The Egg had always had the loosest grasp on this one, this demon that loved a diamond spirit so much that he would willingly chain himself to something other than the chaos he thrived on for the human’s safe return.
It was too bad really, The Being mused, if the Demon Servant had come to him any other way he would have gladly kept him. Unfortunately, The Being had inadvertently shattered The Diamond a while ago and that could be enough to snap The Demon Servant out of his control and The Beign couldn’t allow that now could he.
“My Lord,” The Demon Servant breathed.
“My Servant,” The Being purred, reaching down with a pale hand to caress The Demon’s Cheek.
The Demon nuzzled against the touch, clearly enjoying the contact and The Being smiled, bringing his other hand down to rest over the Demon’s cloaked head. There was a happy trilling noise coming from The Demon Servant and The Being debated the merits of consuming him.
The Demon’s eyes opened from where they had been half closed so that he could look up at The Being expectantly. “And Skeppy?”
It really was such a shame that The Demon was loyal for all the wrong reasons.
The crack of his neck made the other occupants of the room scream so prettily though. The Being smiled at them, eyes flicking over the occupants of the room trying to decide who would be next.
None of them were really worth keeping, The Creeper Child might have been but no, there was too much honor there, too much morality for The Being to fully sink his teeth into.
The Being stepped toward him, taking in the green hair and gasmask, The One Armed Servant strained against his control and The Being’s eyes snapped to him. There was desperation in those eyes, buried deep but the panic was real and The Being was confused.
Humanity was so needlessly complicated, The One Armed Servant should hate the Creeper Child but instead he still loved him. The One Armed Servant only had One Arm because of the Creeper Child, humanity was so confusing.
The Being sighed and reached for the gasmask, unlatching it with tender hands to reveal a perfectly normal human face, save for how the nose was sunken in like a skull’s. The Creeper Child Tried to struggle, breathing in hard in an attempt to start his internal combustion.
The Being leaned forward to seal their lips together and breathed in. The Creeper Child squirmed as the explosion was drawn out of him, pulled into The Beings body and fueling more of his body.
The Creeper Child began to shrivel as his sulfur was sucked out and then his blood and then his soul. When The Being dropped him he was nothing but a lifeless husk that shattered as it broke apart on the ground.
The One Armed Servant broke free from The Beings control and his eyes went wide as the man flew at him with a sword. He grabbed the wrist from where it was raised and tightened his hand until the bones creaked.
The One Armed Servant dropped his blade with a muffled scream.
“Curious,” The Being murmured before backhanding the Servant into one of the lava pools.
Above him The Ender Prince shifted in an attempt to run and The Being reached up with his vines to yank the hybrid down into his grasp. The Ender Prince tumbled through the air and hit the ground with a groan, The Being watched him as he staggered to his feet.
The Ender Prince had been useful, had kept Dream distracted, hopeful of an escape from The Creeper Child’s prison. Still, The Being needed more power and an Ender Prince’s pearl would do for now.
*****
Dream scrambled to his feet as the lava wall fell, fixing his mask to his face in a quick, jerky movement before leaning against one of the cell walls and smirking. It was too late in the evening for it to be Quackity, maybe someone else had come to gloat over his predicament.
He hoped it was George, he hadn’t seen George in so long and the absence ached like a missing limb. Sapnap too, but Sapnap was probably off frolicing with his boyfriends and since Quackity had been doing a lot of shady shit Dream didn't think he would have been able to hold back from throwing the torture in Sapnap’s face.
Sapnap was his friend and he didn’t want to ruin his and Quackity’s relationship.
The lava froze, abruptly turning to obsidian and Dream startled, pulling away from the wall as power began to seep through the walls around him. No, it couldn’t be, there was no way it had hatched already, it was too early.
There was the sound of obsidian breaking and Dream brought up his arm to shield his face as chips of stone flew toward him, pinging against his mask before clattering to the floor. When the storm passed he lowered his arm to stare at the circular tunnel that had been carved into the new obsidian wall and the thing standing at the end of it.
“A bit dramatic, don’t you think, Nightmare!” He called, forcing his voice to stay steady.
Nightmare threw back his head and laughed, throat a long curve and face bare of a mask. He looked like Dream, Dream had known that he would but he hadn’t quite been prepared for seeing him in the flesh.
The only real difference was the hair, long enough to brush the floor and the same shade as a redstone block rather than blond and cropped short, and the clothes, ripped jeans and a red crop top over a skin tight body stalking that looked like it was actually a part of Nightmare’s body. It was eerie, looking at a twisted reflection of himself.
“Oh, Nightmare, that’s a new one.” Nightmare’s head tilted, too far, far enough that it looked like his neck was broken in half. “I think I like it.”
“It’s what you are, it doesn’t matter if you like it,” Dream snapped.
Nightmare started to slink through the tunnel, flicking one long lock of hair over his shoulder with a fluid rotation of his wrist. Dream took an involuntary step back before he could stop himself from doing so.
The warped smile on Nightmare’s face widened as he approached and Dream clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms nearly to the point of drawing blood. Nightmare stopped, barely a foot away from Dream, close enough that if he leaned in they’d be kissing.
“Oh, Dream, Dream, Dream,” Nightmare tsked. “That’s what I am to you but that’s not all I am.”
“Really, prove it,” Dream snapped.
A chuckle, lower than a human throat would have been able to produce.
“Trying to buy time, little mouse,” Nightmare taunted.
“No, it doesn’t really matter after all, I’m dead either way, forgive me for wanting to get a picture of what’s going on outside. Where’s Sam?” Dream asked.
Sam wouldn’t have let Nightmare in, even if he’d been under the thing’s control, Sam was The Warden, he had the integrity to keep a god prisoner and not fall prey to his temptations. He’d even let Tommy die before he’d even given Dream a chance to escape, which meant one thing-
“I ate him,” Nightmare purred. “Such a pretty little morsel, ripe for the picking and right in front of me too. The Demon was ever so courteous in those he brought to feed me.”
The Red Banquet.
That was supposed to be today, wasn’t it? Dream had known that Bad and them had been planning something but he hadn’t known that it might be this bad.
“Who was there?” How many of his companions had been killed?
Had George been there? Please let Goerge have slept through this.
“Oh, was there someone specific you wanted to save?” Nightmare cooed.
Dream just clenched his jaw and stared into those crimson eyes that looked like they glowed in Dream’s own face. Dread sat in the pit of his stomach, swallowing heavily around the tears that wanted to well up.
“It doesn’t anyhow there are only us four gods and the little time walker left alive and Tommy,” Nightmare twirled his hand like that didn’t matter. “But he doesn’t really count as human now does he?”
“And you came to me first, why not save the best for last?” Dream asked.
Nightmare laughed, doubling over in an attempt to stay up right, to breathe through his mirth.
“You think!” Nightmare called. “You think you’re the best I can have! When there’s a Death God and newly forged Soul on the server?!”
Dream backed up until his back hit the wall behind him. He was trapped, there was no way out unless… but he’d promised George and if he let himself out then the server would crumble around their ears, burning and bubbling with the broken deal he had struck with the others.
“Oh, I’m not here because you’re the best,” Nightmare spat as he straightened, arms spreading out on either side of him as he smiled at Dream. “I’m here because you’re the one I need to kill, that will break me free of these chains that your brethren have slipped on my wrists for this purpose. Let yourself lose, little god, slip free of your self imposed bindings and fight like we were mean to or die-”
Dream tensed, like a rabbit staring into the eyes of a wolf, fingers going white on the obsidian pressed against his back as Nightmare began to stalk towards him.
“-in this hole those little humans crafted for you. Why let yourself be caged, why let them cage you when you could be free?!” Nightmare raised his arms in jubilation, like he was exalting the heavens in all their glory.
Dream could feel the fear creeping over him, settling into his bones like sand in a ballast bag. He was going to die here, George was probably already dead, Sapnap too, and everyone else on the server who hadn’t been what Nightmare would have considered desert.
Nightmare’s hand flashed out and a gash opened in Dream’s leg, it burned like acid had been poured into the room. Dream screamed, clutching at the wound as his knees folded under him.
Nightmare chuckled and raised his bloody claws to his lips to lick over the gore. He purred as he did and Dream had a horrified moment to recognize the sound before Nightmare reached down and yanked his mask off.
He scrambled for it but Nightmare planted a foot in his sternum and forced him onto his back, forced him to watch as the manifestation of his power was raised above Nightmare’s head to dangle over a mouth that was suddenly too large and too full of teeth.
“Hey, Red!” A familiar voice roared, echoing down the obsidian tunnel in a cacophony of sound.