Chapter Text
Nightmare was lonely to say the least.
The castle that this monster spent his days in was empty and lifeless, for once in his life this god came to the realisation… He needed company.
Not that he didn’t like the perplexing idea of having some sort of companion that agreed on his views and ideology.
Much rather that he needed something that emitted negativity, a sans of some sort to help fuel the fire to his corruption.
Besides, there was that frail balance that mother had explained to him hundreds of years ago...waking and feeling the distasteful amount of positivity tearing at his very being is belatedly appearing to affect his performance to complete assignments.
The castle that Nightmare resided in had damage done to the premises.
Most if not all the rooms contained a significant amount of destruction: windows shattered, rotten wood, moldy ceilings, broken lights, a leaking pipe system, you name it, it was there.
The restoration was slowly progressing into an environment that was at least...breathable not livable quite yet. Not that he needed to breathe nor any other skeleton such as himself.
But if he were to take a sans under his wing or any monster, there was a crucial detail that needed to be addressed: the food. Monsters need magic based food to operate. If Nightmare wanted to form a gang of sorts, he needed all his members to engage to their full potential to spread around negativity.
The mental and physical needs of his gang would be his priority. There were no questions asked. This was required.
Never in his life again would he want to encounter a monster so beyond repair no matter the negative aura it emulated. Because at the end of the day, he never wanted another monster to meet a similar fate to himself.
But the multiverse is a twisted place, so he would take it upon himself to make it more balanced. Meaning if he had to meet another monster like himself it might have some benefits…
Nightmare set down his books on the round wooden table, his tentacles thrashed carelessly behind him. Thin layers of hate dripped onto the floor where he was standing, Nightmare sat down on his chair and began to look through the notes that Sci had sent him.
He had only done brief research on what type of magical components a monster needed to operate, if Nightmare was to bring mentally unstable individuals into his (stolen) house he had to nurse them back to health before improving battle performances.
As for his relationship with Sci… He had taken an interest in Nightmare during his worst time and became his outlet of sorts. He was the first Sans that Nightmare had encountered that had been friendly enough to accept him.
The God had a sneaking suspicion it was because this Sans wanted to know how a dripping goop monster could walk and talk.
He has brushed it off for now, but what had intrigued Nightmare was that his supposed brother had come to this Sans to heal “innocent” monsters and attempted to spread false information.
Now he doesn’t know what he despised more, the positivity or his own blood spreading around absolute garbage.
He had only lost control due to corruption, he couldn’t control eating 100’s of apples, or his intent to hurt people. During that time, he was six.
For goodness sake, he was a child led to the belief that none wanted him. Having negativity gave him the chance to mourn and change his actions, not to become a heartless monster that was the difference between him and Dream.
He wanted to start again.
Not because anyone said so but because negative feelings can cause individuals to help shape a better future.
Happiness can tell a person that they can hold on and it leads to so many sadistic ideals shaping one’s mind of false beliefs. The only thing his brother had done was subject himself to the public burden of others, which was why he was happy that the two hadn’t met face to face after the apple incident.
Nightmare finally had the opportunity to help others, and he wasn’t going to let Dream take that away from him, not for the destruction of the multiverse.
The God had spent a solid hour going through the notes, he would never admit it but he had become quite infatuated with this topic.
Books and knowledge was one of his strong points, before becoming corrupted he would wrap himself in blankets and read under the tree of feelings. Sometimes he would even write his own books from knowledge that he found constructive over a range of topics.
This had brought Nightmare to start the reorganization of a library he had discovered deep within his castle. Candles illuminated his working space, flickering ominously to their own tune.
Nightmare dipped his quill back into the ink. He scratched the surface of his paper and a few ink droplets met the page as he began to write away. It was dark now, and once again, a tiny tendril of orangey light seeped from underneath the door, making its way into the room.
“̴̢̥̹̯͉̲͓͍̥̫͕̞͖̏̈̌̆̉̏̚̕͜ͅY̶̧̰̙͙̳̞͕̼͍̐̇̓̐̍̊̍͜ͅͅo̶̠̗̤̲̦̗͖͖̙͙͎̒̄̎͒ư̵̩̟͓̒͂̄̿͋̓͌͌͒͛̆̕͠’̵̧͖̰̗͍̝̖̺͔̱̞̘̯͊̍̌̄̎̓̈́̉̈́̓͘̕̚͜͝͝r̸̨̙͕͈̥̻̄̐͛͛͠͝ë̷̠̦́̎͒̒̇̉̈́̏̽͝ ̴̔̇͑͆̈́͊̄͜N̶͇̩̿̂̎̈͂̏į̶̤͓͉̠̅͗̿̽̎̈́͘͠ǧ̶̢͍̭͇̙̖͓̳̖̰̚̚̚h̶̢̝̙̭͕̠͓̩͇͍͌́̿̀͐̂̒́͘͜͝ẗ̸̨͎̟͚̮͕̮̜̤́́͆̆̅̾̈́̊̕͘m̵̢̢̟̹̖̦͔͕̥͔̜͔͍̐̊̌̑̈͂̅͒͗̚ã̶̻̭͙̪͍̜̉͗̓͑̊̑̾͂̽̈́̕r̴̢̡͈̬̩͖̠͉̝̒̓̿̽͌͒̿͑̂̿ͅe̵̻̣̻̲̩̹̪̣̎,̴̛̪̼̥̮̖̣̣̿͐̓̾̂̓͘͜͜ ̴̯͉̣̍̆y̵̯̭̼̺̬̐̌̔́͐̑͆͌̑͝ẽ̵̡͚̦̻̠̲̼̜͉̮̠́̓̿͂̔ŝ̷̨̥̹͇̘̟͖̤̓̂̍̂͗̉͊͐̈́̉̿̈͋͝?̴̢͇͇͛”̶̢̤̩̝̰̳͍̠̥͔̻̤͙̓̊̉̿͗́͛͆̅͘, Night whipped his head around facing the voice coming from the library doorway.
It seemed to belong to a black skeleton wearing what could be described as a Hobo’s outfit. His jacket looked like it had been stitched to hell and came back with thick chunky thread. Accompanied by that jacket were flip-flops.
Never in all of his existence had Nightmare ever felt the need to close a door in someone's face because of their fashion taste.
Guess Nightmare learned something new about himself today, but there were more important matters to address...
How did this Sans get into his castle?
He hadn’t shared any information about his whereabouts with anyone, not even Sci. Nightmare fixed his clothing and stood up, eying the skeleton as he did so.
“That is indeed correct, but a more important question is who are you?”