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His small, fragile body was limp and torn in the arms that held him close. Warmth oozing out of the body that once ran animate, now drained of life.
“Goodnight, Brother”.
~*~
Another lonely morning, per usual. It had been like this for a few months now, ever since the so-called, ‘Guardian of Positivity’, started leaving the tree to go see the villagers. It made Nightmare so mad that his own brother would leave the tree they were supposed to guard together for some stupid villagers.
Though.. a part of him wondered if Dream had left him alone because he wasn’t good enough. Day after day he was told he was worthless, that he was lucky to even be given life.. Was.. That why Dream didn’t love him anymore..?
Nonsense.. Dream loved him as he was, he was just being selfish.. That’s all.
“Always and forever” Nightmare mumbled under his breath as he got up, bones popping as he stretched out. It seemed to be late morning, judging by where the sun stood.
Quietly yawning, Night grabbed the lowest branch of the tree and hoisted his slim figure up. Up on the second branch had been a dull purple book with fools gold lining the edges. It was the only book he truly owned, not one of the ones Dream had brought back from that damned village. He’d find it out in the forest whilst trying to find berries once and kept it ever since.
Night grabbed the book and cuddled up to a branch of his Mother, sighing as he opened it for the millionth time, whether that be a good or bad thing, he didn’t care.
~*~
Dream cuddled closely to Nightmare, he wished he could spend more time with his Brother, though the villagers always wanted something. It was always ‘Dream, can you play?’ Or ‘Dream, can you do my chores for me!?’, and while he didn’t mind, he wanted to spend some time with Night.
He cuddled up closer to his beloved Brother, enjoying the relaxing sounds of the birds chirping up in their Mothers branches. Well, up until a villager came running up their hill. Don’t get him wrong, Vinny was a wonderful person! But.. By the way the sun was positioned, it was only seven in the morning..
Dream separated his hold from Night and got up just in time to greet Vinny.
“Good morning Vinny..! What are you doing up this early?” He yawned into his pale yellow sleeve.
“Don’t you remember!? You agreed to help clean the Elders church with me today!” She cheered, excited to hang out with Dream one on one without the other children getting in her way.
“I did? Oh, yeah. I guess we should be on our way then, huh?” Dream held in a groan, cursing himself for complying to the Elders last night just to get five extra minutes with Night, though it was worth it he supposed.
Vinny hummed a yes whilst nodding, taking Dream's hand and dragging him off to the village before Dream had the chance to tell Night goodbye. Oh how he wished he had gotten to, as these days he barely talked to his brother anymore.
~*~
Once they had arrived at the village Dream was fully awake and surprisingly not out of breath, despite running for the past four minutes. The two made their way into town where the Church lay in the middle of. Luckily, there were no services today, meaning they had the whole day to clean the building.
Vinny had gotten the set of keys for the church beforehand, (presumably by the Elders. What those old men were doing up this early, who knows), and unlocked the large doors leading into a lobby room which lead to a few small classes and a large service room.
They both walked in at the same time though ultimately split up, Vinny to go unlock the rest of the building's doors and Dream to go find cleaning supplies. Today must have been his lucky day, he found the cleaning supplies stuffed away in the first door he checked.
Dream took out a broom and started sweeping, gazing around the beautiful designs plastered onto the church walls and ceiling. He had only been in this church once before, that was when one of the villagers insisted he go and hear the Elders preach. It was boring to say the least.
He was enjoying the silence, save for the sweeping of the broom, up until Vinny once again ruined his peace. She had finished unlocking the rooms and ran to find Dream, smiling once she found her friend.
“There you are! Woah, you already got a big pile going, huh? Need any help?” Vinny pestered, looking into the supply closet and grabbing a broom of her own.
Dream hummed at the dust pile he created, not noticing how much the pile had accumulated after he zoned. “Oh, thank you, but I think I got the lobby handled. Though, could you start in the service room for me?” He smiled.
“But I wanna stay with you! Ughh, how am I supposed to have fun if I’m in an entirely different room than you!” She groaned, childishly stomping her feet as if Dream was just a toy that was no longer entertaining.
The one in question shrugged, “You can stay here and help if you really want, but what would the Elders think if they came to check up on us and all we were doing was chatting?”.
Vinny stopped pouting and groaned dramatically, acting as though she didn’t agree to clean the church as well. “Whatever, let’s just take a break at lunch so we can hang out for a bit.” She rolled her eyes, walking off to the service room. Finally.. guaranteed peace and quiet. Dream began to zone out again, wondering what his brother was up to. Maybe reading, or still fast asleep.
~*~
The book was finally getting to its climax, Night tried to read slowly to savor the best part of the story though couldn’t help reading faster by the minute. Well, that was until he was ripped out of the story from a few villagers finding their way up to the tree.
He could see the bundle from a bit away, a few he’s never seen before and a handful of Elders. They seemed to be rolling along a large metal like box, steaming out the back from presumably coal. Nightmare plucked a leaf off of the tree and stuck it between the pages he was on, closing the book and gently placing it where it had been before.
Without a second thought he slid down the trunk and met with the bunch who were now nearly at the top of the hill, doing his best to guard the tree. Though there was only so much his small frame could do.
“Why are you here? I-if it’s for my brother's apples, he is not here right now..” Night did his best not to stutter though failed miserably, followed by a notable wobble in his legs. The machine made a loud roar noise and the inside spun with sharp blades.
Some of the villagers he hadn’t seen before were rolling the machine, others holding axes. The Elders stood there doing nothing.
“Get outta here boy, this stuff is dangerous for a kid like you.” One of the new villagers spat in a deep, grumbly voice, the others shooing him off. Night didn’t know what scared him more, the machine or the new scary villagers tattered in scars and tattoos. These monsters weren’t from around here, he knew that.
Nightmare stood his ground, albeit weakly, though he wouldn’t admit that. “W-what do you want..? this I-is my home!” He sniffled, a stray purple tear running down his paled cheek that was quickly wiped.
“Go home, we ain’t got all day to get this old tree gone!” One of the villagers with an axe practically yelled, seemingly annoyed with Nightmare presents. The eldest Elder beginning to walk towards Night at the same time to shoo him off.
It took him a moment to realize but when he did Night was mortified. These people were here to kill his mother.. kill.. oh, and can’t forget how Dream was nowhere to be seen. Nightmare had never hated Dream more in that moment.
~*~
Dream was beginning to get hungry, sure lunch was in an hour, but who really cares. He didn’t want to spend his break with Vinny anyway. So it was decided, he’d go on break a little early and visit his brother! And get some food while he was at it.
He swept up the pile that he’d accumulated and dumped it out then gently laid the broom down on the wall next to a classroom. Coincidentally he’d just finished the lobby, mentally noting once he’d gotten back from lunch to get started on the first classroom.
Dream made sure Vinny was occupied and quietly left the church, sighing happily at the release of pressure and beginning to walk in the direction of his home. Though, strangely, as he got closer and closer to the tree, an off putting feeling was building up in the bell of his soul.
The Guardian quickly brushed any bad scenario off, opting to be positive. Though, that positivity began wavering when an apparent humming noise started to become louder and louder the closer he walked toward the tree.
Once Dream had made it out of the village and into the field between the village and tree he saw it. A small crowd of villagers around the tree, Night, and a big machine that made a loud, scary grumbling noise.
Dream began speed walking which quickly turned into running as panic set in. There were villagers he’d never seen before with big sharp axes taking turns cutting into his mother with synchronized motions. Every branch they got off they’d throw into the machine which would produce a loud roar noise and spit out small pieces of wood.
Nightmare was being held off to the side by the Elders, devastated. Dream had never seen Night cry so much. The Elders hold loosened once they’d seen Dream, Nightmare taking the opportunity to pull away and run up to his brother.
“So now you come!” Night sobbed in a broken yell, pointing to the scattered, dull apples and the ripped apart tree.
Dream held back a sob, “I.. I didn’t know..!” His high pitched voice breaking up as he looked over to the men with the axes.
“Sure you didn’t! You know what, it doesn’t matter! I hate you Dream! You’re the reason Mother is dead! You aren’t my brother..!” Nightmare yelled out, his voice wobbling as he spat out words he didn’t mean.
That hurt, Dream could barely hear it over the machine but it hurt. Without second thought Dream ran for one of the men with the axes. He didn’t care, he wanted them gone. Though his mother was already past saving, maybe Night would forgive him if he made the villagers leave.
Dream ran up to the man and ‘punched’ him in his arm. Though, the small guardian was just as weak as the other. The now annoyed man shoved Dream away, yelling some profanity. Though, what the man didn’t know was the machine had been moved.
Nightmare's expression shifted from anger to fear as he watched his beloved twin stumble back from the shove and fall head-first back into the wood grinder followed by a short scream then crackling. The man's face who shoved Dream quickly soured as he ran up to the machine.
The Elders looked mortified as they yelled for the machine to be turned off. Half of the hired villagers scrambled to get what remained of Dream out as the remainder struggled to turn the machine off.
After a long thirty seconds the machine's grumble died down to silence and Dream's body was pulled out onto the grass below. Night walked up to to see his twin who minutes before he’d told he hated. Night stood there trembling as he looked down at the mangled body before him that lacked a top above the collar bone.
The Elders and other villagers were all surrounding the inanimate body that lacked life. A light golden substance, presumably blood, gushed out of where the body was missing. One of the hired villagers shakily took out a blood splattered circlet from the machine that wouldn’t crush and tossed it onto the pile of clothing and bone.
Nightmare's breathing came to a halt as he fell onto his knees, picking up the body and pulling it close to him as he cried out his brother's name. Nightmare apologized over and over as the ever growing crowd grew and people from the village began to get suspicious.
The Guardian of Negativity tried to assure himself this didn’t just happen, beginning to breathe again which quickly turned into hyperventilating. Nightmare held his twin close, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep so he could wake up and see his brother next to him.
Dream’s small, fragile body was limp and torn in the arms that held him close. Warmth oozing out of the body that once ran animate, now drained of life.
“Goodnight, Brother”.