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Nightmare’s three boys were each unique and different in their own separate ways. Where one was bad at staying still, another would hardly move. Nightmare was used to things like this. However, there would be times when their reactions would be similar in taste. Different responses, but similar thought processes. This was most likely due to them all coming from similar timelines. Backgrounds, rather.
Though Horror was likely from a different universe altogether, he was very in tune with the other two, just that sometimes his reactions would be different energy-wise. Where the other two would have a huge loud response, he would turn quiet, and vise-versa. Nightmare often noticed how he looked towards the other two for examples, almost. Naturally, he wouldn’t want to be the sore thumb to stick out in their group.
Of course, being born from the underground and never receiving a pacifist timeline in any of their branches, seeing the sky for the three of them was a sort of.. First-time experience. Nightmare always made it a point to go see it with them after they settled down, some. Of course, only so they wouldn’t be so distracted if they happened to go some place with an open sky for the first time for a mission. The castle, too, had an open sky above it, to get used to the transition.
Nightmare would often find Dust watching the sunset, scarf loosely held in hand. Killer sneaking peeks out the window during meetings, and often playing video games up until sunrise; this way there was a soft or buffer. An excuse to watch.
But Horror was different. When Horror saw the sun setting for the first time with the other three, under Nightmare's watch; he, too, cried. No one said a word, or spared him a glance. Nightmare remembered it very well, how he pulled his hood up, and rubbed at his face tiredly. Afterwards, the ugly laugh that bubbled out of his ribcage. It actually startled Dust, which Nightmare should’ve found impressive, but didn’t.
He insisted on going home rather early, expressing he hated watching the sunset, only to sit at a window in one of the many rooms in their castle, watching the sky all night long. He fell asleep by sunrise, which had been when Nightmare came to move him to his room. And everyone agreed not to mention it, or bring it up. Even the other two could tell it must’ve been a sensitive subject.
But Nightmare had no idea why those tears were of frustration. There was no awe, nor regret. No exhaustion, replaced instead by anger. But he didn't appear angry- his expression was soft.
“I was supposed to see it with someone.”, Horror offhandedly mentioned about a week later, while he was busy pouring Dust a cup of coffee. “The sun.. thing.”
“Sunset?” Killer offered, albeit awkwardly.
“Yeah..” He set Dust’s cup aside so he could snag it with blue magic, taking out a pan to start breakfast. “Someone never.. Showed.. Though.” He explained.
“But nobody came.” Dust muttered.
“Nobody came.” Horror echoed.
…
Horror didn’t hesitate when he marched through the door to Nightmare’s office. He really didn’t want to have this conversation, but Nightmare didn’t seem too happy about it either. Leaning back in his chair, hands folded in his lap, and staring him down through the goop that never ceased dripping everywhere. Neither of them were in good shape, but if Nightmare insisted this be addressed, it would be addressed. But Horror would refuse to filter anything that fell from his face.
Horror shoved his hands into his pockets, teeth curled downwards, and eyesockets furrowed in concentration. “I’m here. What do you want?” He asked in the rudest tone he could think to muster.
Nightmare’s tendrils twitched minutely behind him, though his voice was eerily level when he addressed him in response. “You spared that destroyer insistently after my continuous instructions specifically directing you to do the opposite.” He tapped a finger on the back of his other hand, where they were folded in his lap quietly. “Why.” , he demanded.
Horror’s eyeball gleamed an angry red in the darkness. “... He looked tired, ‘kay?” He said lowly. “Didn’t wanna fight us.”
“Did you honestly think I wanted any of you to be fighting him, either?” Nightmare questioned slowly, mouth beginning to melt at his words. As Horror was about to learn to predict, Nightmare raised his voice right then. “He’s erased entire worlds , Horror! Forget stand-alone timelines, that’s just child’s play to him. Do you know what would have happened then, if he had? There would be no separate version of you from your universe in existence anymore!”
Nightmare had raised his voice before. Horror had seen him be fairly violent in the past, as well. But this was different. He had never seen his boss like this. At least now he understood that it wasn’t solely anger from disobeying a direct order from him.
Nightmare was scared for him.
“Look, I’d have done the same for you, ‘n Kills, ‘n Dust..” He explained, looking away. “Besides, it ain’t even true. He’d have t’uh.. get the timeline, alone.” And even still, for some reason, Horror felt oddly confident that he straight up just wouldn’t.
“Your mercy is going to get you killed. ”
He shrugged, turning his gaze back to him again. An unimpressed stare glued to his skull. “Hasn’t so far.”
Horror’s karma was nearly instantaneous after that. A tentacle shot forward, dragging him by the neck towards the table, and slamming his head against the edge of it. A second restrained his arm in the air, so he had no chance of summoning his axe to protect himself. “Listen to me when I’m talking to you!” Nightmare screeched. Forcing his chin upwards to stare him in the single working eye, hovering over him from across the stupid desk.
“What if it hadn’t been you, whom he turned his focus on? What if he decided to target Killer , who was already down, and more than past his limit?!” Horror felt like cotton candy was being stuffed up his skull with how hard the thing was gripping his neck bone. “None of you are here to make friends. If shit like that happens, you strike or call me , and fall back .”
Just when Horror’s not-busted-arm was on the verge of snapping under Nightmare’s grip, his hold loosened mercifully; but it wasn’t nearly loose enough for him to fall, or move around. Horror was still held firmly in place. But he was grateful for the air, sagging ever so slightly in his boss’ hold.
Nightmare took a deep breath, slowly leaning away, and straightening. He at least was trying to remain calm, though the brightness in his cyan eye never wavered. “Do you understand?” He asked, tentacles becoming slightly more restless behind him.
And with a quiet intake of breath, Horror insisted, “We didn’t need to hurt h-”
“Do you understand?!”
SNAP!
…
Horror doesn’t come-to until hours later, in the darkness of his own room, laying back in a bean bag chair. The first thing he notices is how he is covered by a comforter. There’s a movie playing on some small laptop screen on the floor ahead of them, but the volume is turned down to be far too quiet for him to make out any words. As well, there is a comforting weight on either side of him, and gentle warmth coming from his left. His hand is being held. He gives it a gentle squeeze, and the warmth hums, shifting against him to press even closer to his side.
Something familiar brushes the back of his skull though, having his teeth clench for some reason he can’t quite place. He wants to pull away, and cover himself in the comforter, but it isn’t big enough for that, and he feels too tired to even try to move yet. The something recedes, and adjusts the blanket more around them, before falling back to somewhere unknown.
Horror doesn’t really understand why his soul sinks in his ribcage. Nothing feels wrong. Yet at the same time however, Nightmare never joins them in quiet activities; forget lingering in the comfort of their rooms for longer than required. Something happened. It must’ve. But his skull was lacking in the information department once again.
Now that he was slightly more coherent, Horror traced the back of Dust’s hand with his thumb, silently wondering what could have happened to make him suddenly fine with being near him. Nevermind that he’s comfortable enough to sleep next to him. Dust didn’t usually take to sticking near a person. He was fairly antisocial, for a skeleton.
“Nightmare.” Horror mumbled, turning his head slightly in direction before freezing. Sharp pain shot straight up his spine making his working eye feel like it could shatter under the pressure. He hissed quietly, clenching his teeth harder as the tentacle came back to gently brush the back of his skull again. The pain ebbed away, leaving some sort of faint ache in its absence.
“Don’t move if you can avoid it, Horror.” Nightmare answered softly. “You will be fine in a few days, but the damage dealt… it was too far. Severe.” The comforting pressure on the back of his skull retracted, but Nightmare himself never moved. “Your skull and right arm were almost shattered beyond repair.”
That probably should have sounded alarming. But Horror felt absolutely fine with it. If anything, it was just sort of annoying , because he’d have to deal with more pain through healing it this way. “Damn. That sucks.” He muttered, with a weak chuckle. “Sorry for the scare..” He craned his eye to watch Nightmare for a second, watching him lift a drippy deformed hand to his skull, to attempt to brush excess corruption away.. To no avail. The boss’ teeth were curled into a small frown. “Are you.. okay?”
“Horror…” Nightmare sighed, his speech a little less legible than normal. As if it was something he shouldn’t even need to say. “You almost died.” He explained. “I could have killed you.”
Oh. So that’s why everything was heavy and faintly, a little sore. “You could’ve.” He agreed. “Wouldn’t a’mattered.”
Nightmare shifted, sitting up slightly, and facing him more. Horror groaned a quiet protest in response. “Wouldn’t have mattered?” He asked, with what was almost a scoff. “Horror. You’re important to me. Your life matters here.”
It almost felt like Nightmare was trying to scold him into accepting his indulgence of having a team. Or crew, whichever he preferred. “Do you understand just how much something like that would have impacted us– if we lost you?” A hand gently curled around and firmly held his shoulder, like he was still trying to get his attention. “What would have made you think you’re not important?”
Horror blinked up at him stupidly for a good second or two, before sagging slightly. His boss was kind of confusing sometimes. “I’d ‘a thought.. ‘m important everywhere.” He retorted dimly. “Think everyone is, boss.” He shrugged the hand off lightly, trying his best not to startle or move Dust around too much. More sharp pain followed by a slightly louder hiss. Another cool touch to the back of his skull.
Nightmare sighed, seemingly stressed, and unconvinced. He gently pulled the two of them back to their initial positions, with Horror leaning back against Nightmare. This time, Nightmare had both his arms wrapped around Horror, Dust curled up closer still to Horror’s front.
“I uh..” It was probably better to just say it. He didn’t want Nightmare to have to get worried like that. “I can’t..” Honestly, Horror couldn’t even think of why he hadn’t told anyone yet. Like it wasn’t anything bad. In fact, this was probably a very good thing. Unlike the others, he could kind of afford to be careless. “I can’t really.. die, anyway..?”
Even though he wasn’t even facing him, Horror could sense the kind of expression Nightmare was probably wearing right now. Eye socket furrowed, scowling down at him in confusion. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He whispered.
“I mean like.. I ‘fall down’, I guess. An’ I go to some dark place..? And then.. I kinda just wake up.” The absolute most lacking answer he could have provided, and he felt almost content to leave it there. Unfortunately, he knew Nightmare wouldn’t let it slide. “Jus’ kinda annoyin.. I guess. ‘Cause it kinda hurts. Head always hurts after.. It happens. Always.”
“... I see.”
He didn’t sound convinced. It was all Horror could really offer. “Eye’s ‘n the core. Magic, ‘n soul’s a little fucked now.”
“And this.. You can’t die, because of this?”
“Yup.”
Dust shifted in his sleep, mumbling something about annoying voices, or something.
“Horror?” Nightmare called, just as Horror was about to drift off again.
“Hm?”
“Do you remember this morning… Yesterday morning now, I suppose..” The end credits for whatever movie had been playing finally finished, prompting whatever website they had been on to start a new one. “You said you were supposed to watch the sunset with someone.” Horror could barely keep his eyes open at this point. “Were they… a good person?”
Oh yeah. He forgot about that. Horror hummed, trailing off to a soft chuckle. “Nah. Bro was a fuckin’ rat ..” He mumbled tiredly. “Always.. Stole my socks… fuckin’ took up half my inventory…Man was a hoarder, for real..” Horror fought down a yawn. “We did not need that many ssssoooccks…”
“Who was he, then?”
Nightmare watched that heavy expression fall back onto Horror’s face again, and suddenly felt himself regretting deciding to speak. He looked kind of lost. Confused, and there was an echo of anger beneath it, that neither of them could define. Nightmare couldn’t exactly look into feelings from memories that simply weren’t there .
It just felt like something was missing.
Something was missing. And neither of them knew what to do about it.
“Wish I could say, Boss.” Horror mumbled eventually, eye sockets falling closed. “I dun’ even know ‘f.. he was real.”
That was probably the closest thing Nightmare was ever going to get to getting a straight answer. For now, they were just in Horror’s room, making sure the pain didn’t keep him awake, and pretending to watch a dumb movie on one of Dust’s old large ipads. Laptops? Whatever they were meant to be called.
“Go to bed, Horror.” He said. The tall one looked like he was already there, anyway. “We will talk more in the morning. You need rest, now.”
Horror nodded weakly, not even registering any pain. Nightmare was faster in lessening the pain on time. “Kay… night..”
“Good night, Horror.”
Maybe someday they would know what to do about it.