Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As per usual Nightmare was working into the late hours of the night. The only light illuminating his office was a lone candle on the edge of his desk. With ease and certainty, he wrote page after page of paperwork and plans.

He didn’t notice it at first but his heart rate started to pick up and slowly a pain started brewing inside him. It eventually reached his head and with the pulsing throbbing pain, he couldn’t focus anymore. 

As he stood up to return to his quarters his condition quickly worsened. With every step he took his head throbbed harder and he couldn’t handle it anymore.

The next thing he knew was that there was blood staining his hands and clothes. His mind felt hot like he was being burnt alive but he kept going.

After narrowly missing the door handle a few times he managed to get out of his office. No one was to see him like this. No one was to know how badly everything hurt.

He eventually managed to get to his bedroom corridor.

“Boss?” Killer’s voice made his ears hurt. Out of all of his subordinates, why did it have to be Killer?

Nightmare looked at him over his shoulder.

“Uhh, are you alright? Your goop is getting all over the floor” He said pointing to the trail of dark matter following him.

Nightmare chuckled “What are you insinuating I’m weak?!” he growled in his general direction but his eye couldn’t focus on anything other than his ever-shifting silhouette. 

“What? No? You just look a bit sickly, I guess?” Killer took a step forward and slightly reached out to Nightmare with his hand.

Nightmare tried to speak again, he wanted to yell, he wanted to scream. But all that came out was a choked cough as he puked up more blood.

“Holy shit!” Killer tried to get closer to him but was interrupted “I am retiring for the night. You are dismissed.” 

“Wait but-” 

“Dismissed!” he yelled out as he turned to grab the door handle to his room. His vision, however, was too blurry. He missed the door handle as Killer watched with increasing concern.

Nightmare went for the door handle again, harder this time as his mind plagued itself with shame and embarrassment at not being able to do such a simple thing. He missed again.

Nightmare could feel puke rising inside of him and through choked coughs he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

“Shit, Nightmare!” Killer crouched close to him, “What's going on? Are you hurt?”

There was no answer.

Killer soon realised whatever was happening had taken a real toll on his boss' health. He called for the others to help him as he raised Nightmare’s body from the ground and placed it in its bed. 

His goop was quickly thinning and falling off and when Dust and Horror arrived Nightmare’s face was almost completely clear of the dark substance. As Killer explained what happened to the two, Horror approached Nightmare and slowly turned his face to the side, revealing a giant gash where his left eye used to be.

Killer started panicking again. Was the gash always there? Had it just been covered all this time? Horror took a step back as Killer went to get a closer look. Luckily it seemed like the wound was old. When did this happen?

Hours later, after endless discussions and theories that went nowhere Nightmare’s body was fully goop free and none of them knew what or why it happened. All of them stood in silence looking at their boss’ lifeless body.

“That’s it I’m checking him” Horror said with uncertainty but before he could Dust grabbed him by the arm, “Dude no, Nightmare explicitly told us never to check him”.

“Dust how is that even important right now? He could be dying or… or worse…” Killer trailed off as he considered what might have happened.

Dust let go of Horror’s arm but gave them both an ‘I’m not going to be responsible for what happens to you’ look.

Horror initiated a battle and used his turn to check Nightmare. He read the words that appeared in front of him very carefully. *Barely breathing the King of Darkness lies deep inside his crumbling body .

He repeated the words for the other two to hear and Killer let out a sigh of relief. At least he was alive. 

Horror closed the battle menu and turned to face the other two. Killer was clutching his sleeve while staring at Nightmare’s cracked skull and Dust was zoning out. 

A shuffle and grown caught all of their attention. Nightmare was awake. He shuffled to get into a sitting position and seemed surprised to see almost all of his subordinates staring at him.

“What are you all doing here?” Nightmare’s voice sounded slightly off and he seemed to notice this too as he paused before desperately feeling his face only to realise there was now a giant gash in his skull. 

Nightmare whispered something under his breath and flinched when Killer tried to approach him “Stay back! All of you, get away!”

“You’re awake! How are you feeling? What happened? Did you-” Killer’s enthusiasm was met with another fearful cry, “I said stay away!”

They all fell silent for a moment but it quickly passed as Nightmare tried booking it towards the corridor at full speed only for him to fall to the floor with a crack and scream of pain. 

“Shit, boss!” Horror yelped as the others stared in shock. Killer was the closest so he immediately bent down and tried grabbing onto Nightmare to keep him from hurting himself even more. He was immediately met with protests from him “Don’t fucking touch me!” Nightmare screamed and kicked but once he actually landed a kick another crack sent shivers down his spine.

Eventually, Killer managed to get Nightmare to stop fighting back and got Dust to look at his now reopened wounds, much to Nightmare’s displeasure. 

Killer had Nightmare’s arms pinned above his head and therefore couldn’t see when Dust lifted Nightmare’s hoodie. The only indication of how badly he was injured was Dust telling Horror to help him hold Nightmare still before teleporting away to bring one of the aid kits.

“The moment you let go of me is the moment you die. I hope you both know that” Nightmare was significantly less threatening when speaking with a trembling voice laced with fear but the other two exchange slightly worried glances anyway.

Dust soon returned with the aid kit and sat back down next to the others. “I’m going to start with the obvious injuries and gradually move towards the less important ones. Now I’m going to snap a few ribs that healed wrong back into place so uhh… brace yourself”.

The last thing Nightmare felt before the hours of agony that followed were the rubber gloves Dust wore to not get blood on his hands. At some point, the pain became too much for him to handle and so he passed out.

Chapter Text

When Nightmare woke again he was in his bed, bandaged tightly and with the lights slightly dimmed. Looking around he saw Killer sleeping on a chair next to his bed. He looked exhausted.

Nightmare silently got up from the bed placing his feet on the cold wooden floors. The cold sent a slight shiver down his spine, especially since he was no longer wearing anything but shorts.

The castle had always been cold, Nightmare preferred it that way, but now it was putting him at somewhat of a disadvantage.

He slowly moved off the bed to get to his wardrobe to grab something to wear. His feet ached as he slowly dragged himself across the floor.

Opening the doors with a slight creek Nightmare had accidentally awoken Killer who was looking around the room confused.

Once his eyes focused on Nightmare he immediately jumped off the chair and ran over to him.

“Boss! How are you feeling? We tried to heal you up but without food the heal gel won't work very well” Killer’s soul was heart-shaped. 

Nightmare took a step back ima hitting one of the wardrobe's doors. Killer was slightly taller than Nightmare but it had never bothered him as much as it did now.

“Oh! I should tell the others!” Killer’s enthusiasm was quickly dismissed. 

“Don't!” Nightmare's voice was trembling again yet his face showed no emotion. “If you dare go parade this to the others I'll have your head.”

Killer's eyes narrowed down onto Nightmare and he seemed to notice something he didn't as he tilted his head to the side.

“Are you scared?” His voice was monotone and his face didn't show any emotion but the words made Nightmare tense up immediately. 

Nightmare's usual calm and collected self had turned into a frail and fearful child and it was damn obvious. Killer took a step forward noticing this.

“Are you scared of us Nightmare?” Killer grinned at him, taking another step in his direction. He seemed so amused.

Nightmare was shaking, trying to back away but there was nowhere to go. He was trapped between the wardrobe and the person who he was sure would take his life any minute now.

Nightmare grabbed the closest item to him which happened to be a clothes hanger and hit Killer as hard as he could.

Killer yelped in pain as the clothes hanger collided with his head.

“What the hell?!” he yelled, opening his eyes only to see that Nightmare wasn’t there anymore.

The pitter-patter of his bare feet echoed as Nightmare ran through the hallway. He didn’t know where to go. His chest hurt as he wheezed in between harsh breaths. He continued to run through the halls avoiding any room that his subordinates could possibly be in.

Suddenly he had an idea. The library was the only room no one would think of searching so he bolted in that direction.

He was getting tired and could hear Killer catch up to him but he was getting closer and that’s what mattered most.

He knew his subordinates were powerful and most of all he knew they couldn’t be trusted. They were dangerous. He was weak and couldn’t fight in this form and he knew it. If the others wanted to they could easily overpower him just like they did earlier. Nightmare couldn’t afford to make mistakes that would more than likely cost him his life. 

Approaching the large library doors he tried pushing the doors open by slamming into them. This made his ribcage hurt even more and his wheezing had gotten worse but he was inside.

He took a moment to regain his strength but was quickly interrupted by a figure moving into his line of sight.

This couldn’t be right, the library was off-limits, why would anyone be there? 

Focusing on the figure he recognised it as Dust. Why would Dust be in the library? 

After having a stare off for a minute Killer came barging into the room. Great, now he had been cornered. How could he have let this happen?

Nightmare looked around for a second before darting off in a random direction. The library was large and since it was off-limits neither of them should know what leads where. This will have to suffice for now.

But before he could get too far he felt himself get slammed onto the ground. He yelped in pain as he processed what had happened. Dust used blue magic on him.

“Don’t slam him like that!” Killer’s voice echoed behind him. Dust must have responded in another way as Nightmare didn’t hear him make any noise.

He could hear Killer approaching him from behind but he couldn't do anything, he wasn’t strong enough to break through Dust’s magic. 

Oh, stars… was he going to die?

“Are you alright?” Killer asked as he kneeled in front of Nightmare.

“Don’t mock me…” Nightmare wheezed out through gritted teeth.

“Right…” Killer looked at Dust “You can let him go now, yanno?”

The tight force keeping him down was suddenly gone and he could finally breathe properly. He choked on air as he tried to get himself to stand. He was so pathetic.

“Hey take it easy” Killer spoke softly as he tried to prop Nightmare up only to be met with more resistance from the smaller skeleton. Nightmare pushed himself away from Killer.

“Huh, you really are scared of us aren’t you?” Killer was annoyingly smirking as he always did “You do know we’re not gonna hurt ya right?”

“Like I’ll believe that” Nightmare narrowed his eyes onto Killer as Dust came closer to the both of them “You have no reason not to take revenge for all the things I’ve done.”

Killer sighed seemingly annoyed at his words as he sat down closer to him.

“Look you may not be the best person out there but you’ve helped us when we needed it most” Killer looked at Dust for a moment before turning back to Nightmare “You saved us from ourselves and if that doesn’t make you somewhat of a kind person I don’t know what does.”

Nightmare laughed at him. Out of all of them, he was here the longest, surely he would know by now Nightmare only did that to use them as weapons against his dimwit of a brother. He didn’t need them and they didn’t need him.

“You are more of an idiot that I took you for if you think that changes anything.”

Killer seemed even more annoyed yet this time there was something else behind his feelings. There was pity. Pity for Nightmare. It disgusted him.

“Then maybe I am an idiot,” He said getting up from the floor and coming closer to Nightmare. 

Nightmare’s eyes widened as Killer took a step forward. Did Killer actually think of him as a good person? That question made his stomach sink. 

Killer was inches away now and Nightmare braced himself, what for he didn’t know. 

Killer slowly and gently helped Nightmare sit up and held onto him as he turned to Dust. 

“Found anything useful?” He asked.

“...Nothing but an old book about the creation of divine beings… It wasn’t helpful…” Dust responded.

Killer nodded and turned back to Nightmare “So are you gonna tell us why you turned into…” Killer gestured to Nightmare’s body “this…?”

“If this was voluntary this wouldn’t be happening. And if I knew I wouldn’t be here” He remarked with a snarl.

“Right… Well, you reopened your wounds and we won’t be able to heal them if you don’t eat so we should probably see if Horror is done cooking” Killer turned away and started walking towards the door to the library.

This was going to be a painfully long day.

Chapter Text

On the other side of the multiverse, Dream felt something was wrong. Although his empathic powers were far less powerful than usual, something still made his heart sink, and he knew it had to do with Nightmare. 

He slowly got up from his bed as it felt like his head was about to burst. He had a meeting today and he couldn’t postpone it any longer, especially not with Nightmare doing who knows what again.

Ink had created a sort of base of operations for them in the Omega Timeline, and when Dream wasn’t in battle or repairing the damage caused by his brother, he was resting in his very own apartment. It was the first home he ever had without his brother, and to this day, he feels like it isn’t truly his.

Slipping on his cape he went through the door and locked it behind him. 

His apartment wasn’t the most complex out there but it was good enough for Dream and that's what mattered. Sure it was small and the neighbours weren’t the best but it was his home. The only home he had.

Dream shook the thought out of his mind as he made it down the stairs and out the main entrance. 

The Omega Timeline was always nice when it came to weather but today was especially remarkable as the sun shone brightly and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Dream always liked the warmth of the sun and today was no different.

As he made his way down the street he was greeted by many familiar faces. People he saved, people he didn’t, people that liked him, people that didn’t. He was too tired to care about that right now.

Dream didn’t need to sleep yet lately he’s found himself drawn to the peaceful emptiness of sleep. He enjoyed it so much he probably wouldn’t even wake up at all if he hadn’t set an alarm.

The doors to the Star’s headquarters were made of white marble, as the rest of the building was, it reminded Dream of a temple but it was far from it.

Once inside he was greeted by the receptionist. She was a kind monster but Dream never had the opportunity to learn more about her. 

Walking up the stairs to the office his headache worsened. His head spun and his thoughts jabbed at his mind making it worse.

At what point he decided to lay down on the cold flooring he didn’t know. It was almost freezing but it eased the headache.

“Dream?” Blue’s voice was tinged with concern but only worsened Dream’s headache. 

Dream opened his eyes not noticing when he even closed them. Blue was crouched next to him.

“Did something happen? You look… sickly…” 

Dream sat up and turned to Blue giving him a small smile “Don’t worry Blue I’m doing alright.”

“Uhuh, and you were laying on the floor motionless because..?” Blue trailed off raising an eyebrow at his words.

Dream’s smile faded as he tried to curl up and place his head on his knees with a groan. He didn’t know why he felt like this and he didn’t know how to fix it as he usually would just power through in these situations. 

Blue sat down next to Dream with a sigh.

“Are you worried about the meeting?” Blue tried his best to speak as softly as possible while still being loud enough for Dream to hear “If you’re not up for it we could reschedule.”

Dream groaned at the idea “I’ve already gotten this far… it’s just a meeting anyway, I’ll be fine” He was talking to Blue but it felt more like he was saying this for himself.

“Well, Cross and Ink are waiting, we should get a move on before they start fighting over something stupid again” Blue’s voice was sweet and reassuring but it made Dream’s heart sink a little lower. He felt like he was just going to disappoint him like he always did.

Blue helped him get up and together they started walking towards the meeting room. Once inside they were greeted by Cross with a wave. Ink was scribbling on a notepad and didn’t look up but he did hear them enter.

“Oh wow! You look like shit!” Ink said the moment he looked up and laid eyes on Dream. 

Cross nudged Ink with enough force to make him drop his note pad to which he responded with a yelp and a “What? It’s true” before bending down to get his notepad off the floor.

“Heh, sorry I haven’t been feeling the best this morning…” Dream looked down at his hands while he spoke but he could feel the other’s increasing worry.

Cross was the first to speak about this “Is it Nightmare? Last time I was at the castle they didn’t have any plans to attack any time soon…” he trailed off in thought.

“I… I’m not sure…” Dream’s voice was barely above a whisper yet they could all hear the worry lacing it. 

“Well, I could go check on them after the meeting, I have been taking off more time than usual” Cross’ voice was significantly quieter at the end of the sentence.

“Thank you Cross, you’ve been such a help to us” Dream looked up and gave a gentle smile that made Cross fluster up instantly. 

With a sigh, Dream turned back to stare at his hands. The room was quiet for a moment and it almost felt nice for once. 

But like he always did Dream had to ruin it.

The comfortable silence was interrupted by coughs and chokes that started spilling from Dream’s throat as something began to block his airways.

In an instant, Cross teleported to his side when he realised his golden friend could barely breathe. Ink’s and Blue’s attention turned to Dream too and while Blue stood up from his seat, Ink just stared in confusion. 

What was happening to him?

Tears started forming in Dream’s eyes as his headache worsened once again.

Had he always been this weak?

There were panicked shouts all around him and even Ink had stood up as something began spilling out of his mouth.

A dark vile liquid dripped down from his throat spilling onto his freshly washed clothes and staining them. 

Was he dying?

Before he knew it his friends' voices were turning into whispers and the room was getting darker.

Dream didn't notice when everything went dark.

Chapter Text

Hello everyone! It's been a while, huh? I mean, this fic is over a year old now!

I wanted to let y'all know that this fic is going to get a rewrite soon :]

It's by far my best performing fic, and I simply cannot be known for something this badly written... so we're redoing baby!! I'll do my best to shape this train wreck into a better-looking train wreck, but don't expect a work of art! I have some more free time now, but don't get your hopes up for constant updates. Posting 5 chapters at a time and then disappearing for another 10,000 years is more my style lol

The rewrite will mostly just be that. A rewrite. I might add some more scenes here and there for added impact, but I'll also be doing my best to keep it relatively similar. I kind of know what I was going for before, but due to the fact that I can never plan a fic for the life of me, the direction might be a bit different. Hopefully, no one will notice, considering the poor previous writing and the fact that there were only 3 chapters...

Enough rambling!! Here's what you need to know for now:

1. The rewritten chapters will come out separately (this also means each original chapter will get a rewritten counterpart)
2. The chapters will likely be longer than before, considering I want to add a lot more world-building and character lore
3. As of 26/06/2025 at 22:13, which is when I'm writing this, I haven't started working on the rewrite yet, as it's too late for that. You can expect the first chapter to drop soon, though! (If it doesn't, feel free to go to @echoflowerwhispers and bother me about it)
4. This was made possible by you, dear reader! Your comments and kudos honestly motivated me so much, and I simply cannot let this concept die like this!!
5. The original chapters will still be up! This is an archive, after all, keeping bad works intact is important, no matter how embarrassing!

Thank you for being patient, and please keep waiting for a little longer. Hopefully I can cook up something good for ya'll to eat :]

Chapter Text

Nightmare had been working later into the night than he’d originally anticipated. They were going to run out of supplies soon, and the last raid ended rather abruptly, leaving them with less than they’d usually use up in a month. 

Planning a raid was quite the hassle in itself. Most AUs knew about them, and since it had barely been a month since the last raid and run-in with the Stars, they’d all be on edge. 

He needed to find an AU that would be less connected to the rest of the multiverse. The problem was that most of the AUs that weren’t interested in multiversal matters were rather violent. This meant sending Dust there was out of the question; his short temper would surely only cause them more trouble.

His head began to ache. A small yet powerful pain that slowly expanded to the rest of his body, making him feel like he was boiling alive in a freezing cold room.

He needed to ignore it. Surely his corruption was simply acting up again.

Ever since he regained control over this negative side of himself, his body would start to ache when his corruption thinned. The worst part was that he could never anticipate when it happened. It was random, a fluctuating thing that never seemed to go away. 

Luckily, Sci had managed to create medicine for him, a magic enhancer tailored to his magic signature. It would increase the corruption's strength while keeping its mind-altering capabilities at a manageable level. 

Perhaps he’d have to go take some soon. 

He’d managed to find a friendlier AU. There were more residents, but he’d just have to send three of his subordinates at once. They would need to wear disguises, which meant Nightmare couldn’t come with them. His appearance was rather well-known, and if he was spotted, it would put them all in danger. 

Sending fewer of them at once would also reduce the risk of being discovered, but it would put them at a greater disadvantage if a fight began. 

Cross would have to be there, considering Nightmare and he were the only ones who could open a portal. Only gods and outcodes had that ability after all. 

Nightmare’s head throbbed. It was getting hard to concentrate now. 

With a sigh, Nightmare closed his notebook and began to gather his files into a neat pile. He’d have to deal with this tomorrow.

Standing up did nothing to help his aching mind and body. If anything, the movement made him feel dizzy and disoriented.

That never happened before…

Was he getting worse?

He tried not to think about it. He just needed to get to his room and take his medicine. He’d feel better soon enough. 

Slipping into a teleport, his body felt impossibly warm.

Reappearing on the other side, he was met with a white hot pain that shook through his whole body. 

He scrambled for something to hold onto as his legs felt barely a sliver away from giving way and letting his body collapse onto the hardwood floors. He was met with the wall of his hallway. 

Did he undershoot the teleport? He must have messed something up; there was no reason for him to feel like this. 

His breathing came in short, heavy puffs as he tried to stop his head from spinning. Everything hurt: his mind, his legs, his chest. It felt like the world was threatening to shred itself and let him fall through the floor into an eternity of darkness. 

He was trying hard to stabilise himself when bile started to gather in his throat. He was helpless to stop it from burning its way out and staining his shirt and hoodie. 

He must have made some noise of distress when he heard Killer call out, “Boss? Was that you?”

No, he couldn’t let this happen; he couldn’t let Killer, of all people, see him like this. But once again, he was helpless; he couldn’t even gather the magic for another teleport, he didn’t think he’d even be able to stomach another teleport. 

Killer quickly made his way up the stairs to Nightmare’s corridor, pausing when he was met with the sight before him. 

Nightmare was clutching his stomach and leaning heavily against the wall. His back was turned, but Killer spotted a small splatter of blood by his feet. His tentacles were low to the ground, trembling and spasming with his every breath and desperately trying to shield him from view. 

“Shit- what the hell happened!?” Killer quickly made his way closer, only to be stopped by a tentacle, preventing him from going any further.

“Back off”, Nightmare managed through gritted teeth and wheezes as he pushed himself off the wall and made for the door to his room.

He just needed to get inside. He’ll take his medicine and he’ll be fine. He just needed to get inside.

Killer didn’t object, nor did he move towards him again. But it’s not like Nightmare would have noticed if he did. His vision was blurring and swimming, and he so desperately needed to get to his room.

He was close, so close. His legs were shaking, and he must have wobbled the whole way there, but he was standing in front of his door now. He was so close.

He reached towards the door handle, only to narrowly miss when he tried to grab onto it. 

Stars, he was pathetic.

The second time was more desperate than before, fueled by Killer’s concerned “Boss?” he sounded so close. When did he get so close?

His vision darkened as he missed the door handle again. 

He couldn’t hold himself up anymore. His legs buckled beneath him, and the last thing he heard was a panicked “Boss!” before he hit the ground. 

Everything hurt. He couldn’t see anymore. Everything was so dark.

Killer crouched down next to him, turning him over, only to realise Nightmare looked so much worse from up close. There was blood and stale magic all over the hem of his shirt and dripping down his chin. His goop felt sticky and far more fluid-like as it almost seemed to melt on his body. 

His body felt hot. Nightmare wasn’t supposed to feel hot. His goop would keep him at a constant cold, and he never seemed to notice how, if he were any other being, he’d be freezing. 

Was he sick? Could he even get sick?

Nightmare was not a monster, nor was he human. Killer knew this, but he’d never really considered what this meant in terms of biology. Would monster medicine even work on him? He knew healing gel and healing magic both worked on his exterior wounds, but what about internal ones?

Killer didn’t have time to really question any of this; he needed to get Nightmare somewhere comfortable so he could asses the situation. He probably wouldn’t be able to carry him all the way to the infirmary without someone to teleport them, so his room was the next best option. 

He stepped over Nightmare’s still body and opened the door to his room. Killer had only ever been inside once, when Nightmare ordered him to bring him some medicine from his nightstand. He’d been badly injured during battle and couldn’t teleport there himself without reopening his wounds. 

Maybe that medicine would help? He remembered it looked suspiciously shady, but he’d never verbalised it with the god himself. 

Killer picked him up with relative ease. Was he always this light? It’s not like he’d ever picked Nightmare up before, but he didn’t expect him to barely weigh anything. 

That probably wasn’t important right now.

He slowly made his way to the king-sized bed, trying his best not to trip over Nightmare’s tentacles. His eyesight was bad, and the dark room didn’t help his cause at all. 

Eventually, Killer managed to place Nightmare in his bed and turned on the small lamp on his nightstand. 

He knew Nightmare would give him an earful later as he dug through his nightstand trying to find the medicine. He knew it wouldn’t be any help right now, you can’t give a pill to someone who's unconscious after all , but maybe it could give him more insight on what the hell happened. 

His clothes were showing no signs of a struggle, so a fight was out of the question. He must be sick, right? There was no other explanation. Whether he ate something bad or he got some sort of cold, it must be something internal that was causing his body to react like that. 

He managed to find three bottles, one had only a few pills left inside, another was half full, and the last looked like it hadn’t been opened at all. 

The naming conventions caught Killer off guard. What the hell was “NMPK-V3.0”? Two of the bottles had that label, while the emptiest one had “NMPK-V2.5” written directly on the bottle in what looked like black marker. 

What the hell was Nightmare taking? Killer didn’t remember it being this shady, but to be fair, he wasn’t paying much attention, still caught in the adrenaline of the battle, and worrying over Nightmare’s dismissive attitude over the whole situation. 

There was no other writing on either of the bottles, so Killer resorted to using the internet to find out what the god had been taking.

Unfortunately, not even the World Wide Web could make sense of the cryptic letters and numbers. This whole ordeal was turning out to be far more concerning than a simple sickness would have been. 

Killer placed his phone back in his pocket and left the ‘medicine’ bottles on Nightmare’s nightstand. 

He turned to look at the god again. He hadn’t moved an inch, nor had he made any noise. 

Killer frowned. He should at least clean him up a bit; Nightmare would hate to wake up in his own filth. 

He made his way to the god’s bathroom and was surprised to find the man had a whole ass jacuzzi in there. Killer knew this was a castle and all, but that didn’t help the envy considering none of them had jacuzzis, or big ass beds, or any of the other expensive things Nightmare liked to hog for himself. 

In slight retaliation, Killer picked up the most expensive-looking towel and returned to Nightmare’s side. 

He was still just lying there, the only indication of life being his laboured breathing that seemed far too quiet for Killer’s liking. 

With a sigh, he brought the towel up to the god’s face and gently rubbed the blood off. 

Killer didn’t like how still he was. Nightmare was always moving, whether it was his tentacles gently swaying behind him or his leg bouncing to an invisible beat when he was fully focused on his work. But Killer had never seen him this still. 

He knew it was silly, the god slept too, after all, but Killer had never seen him do it. He knew Nightmare was always tired in the morning and would often disappear inside his chambers late at night, but he’d never seen him sleep. 

There had been instances when Killer or the others had woken him up; the grogginess and slowed responses were the only real indicators he had been asleep in the first place. He’d always go right back to his room once the issue was resolved, too. 

Killer knew Nightmare slept at night. So why was seeing him like this so unnerving?

Killer moved the towel to Nightmare’s shirt. It will need a good wash, but hopefully it won’t stain. Nightmare’s blood always seemed to stain far quicker than their own. Just another odd thing about the god to add to the never-ending list. 

The light from the lamp was dim, but even so, Killer managed to see the white spot next to Nightmare’s mouth left by the towel. 

He stopped dead in his tracks and just stared for a moment. White? Why was there white? 

Killer placed the towel next to the pill bottles on the nightstand and leaned in closer. The white spot felt like bone, and the corruption was especially thin in that area. 

Did Nightmare have an actual skeleton under all that goop? 

Killer had never even considered that. He’d never seen Nightmare without goop; he just thought he looked like that all the time. 

Was this bad? Surely, there was a reason Nightmare had goop covering him, right?

The more Killer thought about it, the more he realised he knew so little about the guardian of negativity. Where did he come from? What even was Nightmare?

The goop seemed to keep melting off, and the white spot slowly expanded. That's probably bad.

Killer backed away and pulled his phone out again. He needed to let the others know.

He opened their group chat and sent a short message stating, “There’s something wrong with Nightmare. Come to his room asap.” 

Hopefully, the others would understand the urgency, given that there were no typos and he used Nightmare’s name instead of the usual ‘boss’, but he didn’t stick around to find out, immediately closing his phone when he heard a buzz in Nightmare’s pocket. 

He should probably remove that.

Dust was the first to show up, teleporting in front of the door before quickly making his way inside as Killer placed Nightmare’s phone on his nightstand, next to the other items. 

“What happened? Is he injured?” Dust’s voice carried a concern that could only be picked up from his monotone voice if you lived with him for long enough. He came to stand next to Killer and paused, looking over the motionless guardian. 

“What's wrong with his face?” Killer couldn’t help but snort at Dust’s bluntness. 

“Yeah, that’s the thing, I don’t have a clue” Killer and Dust locked eyes for a brief second before their attention was drawn to Horror, who teleported outside the door and rushed inside, concern clear on his features.

“What happened?” Horror came to a stop next to Dust and frantically searched Nightmare for any obvious signs of injury. His eyes landed on the white spot next to his mouth that seemed to slowly get bigger. There was another smaller one next to his eye, and his head seemed to cave in a bit where his right eye used to be.

“Yeah, I just said, I have no clue” Killer seemed to be as helpful as always, and Horror gave him an annoyed look for it. 

“So you just found him like this?” Dust asked, not taking his eyes off Nightmare for a second.

“I found him in the hallway. He was unsteady and trying to get to his room.” He started with a seriousness they rarely saw from him, but quickly devolved back into his usual jokes and sarcasm “I tried to help, of course, but he must have thought passing out on the floor was more fun.”

Dust rolled his eyes “What’s with the blood?” They both knew he was referring to the dark splatter that still adorned his shirt. It was probably going to stain.

“Pretty sure he threw up earlier,” Killer said, turning back to look over Nightmare again. The goop on his face kept thinning, and he was sure there was a white spot on his neck now, too. “There's still some in the hallway.”

“What did ya do to him? Why’s he melting!?” Horror voice boomed with an anger born of panic and concern. 

“Hey, back off! I didn’t do shit I told you what happend!” Killer quickly defended himself, crossing his arms and staring Horror down from behind Dust.

“Right, like what ya said made any sense!” Horror deflected. Killer knew it didn’t make sense. He was just as clueless as Horror, and his concern was getting infectious. 

“I know it doesn’t make sense! Stop being a bitch and help me figure out what the hell is wrong with him!” Horror gave him a dirty look before looking Nightmare over again.

The right side of his head looked deflated, and his jaw, nose and half of his cheek were fully white, along with a big splotch next to his eye. He looked awful, but there were still no obvious injuries or signs of struggle.

“What is this?” Dust had made his way to Nightmare’s nightstand and was now holding one of the pill bottles for the others to see. His face looked as neutral as it always did, but his brow furrowed in concern.

“Hell if I know. It was the stuff he asked me to get after Dream kicked his ass that one time” Killer spoke with certainty “I thought it might help but at this point I really don’t want to try my luck with whatever is in those.” 

Dust listened to every word carefully before turning his attention back to the bottle. The handwriting looked familiar, but he couldn’t pinpoint it yet. 

The three turned their attention back towards Nightmare after the sleeping god made a particularly odd squelch noise. 

To their horror, the noise had been produced by the goop covering the right side of his face finally caving in and collapsing inside his skull. 

Horror took a step back as Killer whispered a “crap” under his breath. 

Panic quickly rising between the three of them, Killer was the first to move, turning to each of them before half laughing, “Alright, y'all got any bright ideas? Cause he’s not looking too good.”

Killer’s soul twisted and sparked, and his voice held far more fear and worry than he’d be comfortable with showing. Unfortunately, neither of his companions responded, opting for staring at the dying god in disbelief. 

“Where the hell is Cross? He’s been doing a shit ton of spy work, surely he knows something right?” Killer’s everlasting smile faltered and cracked.

“Why the hell would the Stars know what's going on!? What’s your thought process here? You better not be messing with us, Killer or I swear-” Dust’s angry rant was stopped before it could begin.

“I don’t know! Dream’s his brother, right? They probably have some sort of freaky twin bond or something!” He was grasping at anything that could be of any help to them, no matter how stupid, and it was obvious. Killer tended to do this when he couldn’t see a clear way to fix things, and he knew that, but Dust wasn’t thinking logically either.

“ Twin bond? Stars, I know you’re stupid, but at least try to use your brain for once!” Dust was raising his voice now, a clear indicator he was seconds away from throwing a punch. And Horror knew if he did, Killer wouldn’t let it end there. 

Killer’s face twisted into something angry, but before he could open his mouth, Horror beat him to it.

“Both of ya shut up! Fighting ain’t gonna fix nothing.” The problem was that neither of them knew how to fix this. They had nothing to go on, and Nightmare was only getting worse.

“Fuck’s sake” Killer muttered as he leaned closer to Nightmare. Bringing his hand up to his nose, he checked for breathing.

Good, at least he was breathing steadily.

“His breathing seems stable” His voice was quiet but still loud enough for the other two to hear. His soul twisted and sparked again. He needed to calm down before it decided going into stage 1 and feeling things was a good idea right now. 

Killer moved out of Nightmare’s space and tried his damn hardest to find anything that could have caused this. 

Nightmare was working before this happened. They haven’t had dinner yet, and Nightmare only ate when Horror asked him to, so food poisoning was out of the question. Horror is also far too careful with the food for that to happen. 

The pills in his nightstand could also be related to this, but the only thing Killer knew about them was that they reduced pain, and no one other than Nightmare was allowed to take any. The god seemed to stress this when Cross asked him why he didn’t just keep them in the infirmary like the rest of the medicine. 

He could have just gotten sick. Nightmare wasn’t exactly flexible when it came to giving them information about himself, so maybe his body just reacted differently to sickness. It’s not like any of them had any idea what Nightmare even was to begin with. He’d always say something dumb like “It doesn’t concern any of you” when they’d ask.

There was always the possibility that one of them had deliberately poisoned him, too. But Killer didn’t want to go there. The mere thought of a possible betrayal clouded his mind in anger and fear. No, he wasn’t going to go there. Horror was right after all, pointing fingers and fighting with each other would only make things worse.

He ignored the fact that Dust liked to make poisons and other concoctions in his free time. 

He ignored the fact that Horror was the only one who could deliver food or drink to Nightmare without an ounce of suspicion. 

He ignored the fact that Cross was spending a lot more time with the Stars now.

Dust seemed to realise something and quickly got his phone out and announced that he was going to ask Sci about the ‘medicine’. Horror gave a nod in response, but Killer only stared at him. 

It was risky, Sci was a neutral party, his contributions were little, and of course, there was always the chance he’d rat them out to the Stars without the threat of Nightmare’s wrath. 

Dust kept the message vague and simple: “Hello Sci, I hope it’s not too late. Do you know what NMPK-V3.0 is?” 

It was late, and Dust knew that, but he also knew Sci had the bad habit of overworking himself. With enough luck, Sci was still awake and willing to help them.

A beat passed and then another. Sci still hadn’t seen the message yet.

“What’s he sayin'?” Horror took a step closer, and Dust tilted his phone away out of habit. 

“He’s online now” was the only answer Dust gave as the little ‘seen’ sign popped up next to his message. Sci started typing a few seconds later, but kept stopping and retyping ever so often.

“Hi, Dust! I’m still at the lab, so there's no trouble. Unfortunately, I have an agreement that won’t let me disclose that.” Reading the text, Dust was more than disappointed. 

“Is everything alright?” The second text appeared on his screen quickly after the first one. It was a polite courtesy, Dust knew that, but the long time it took to type the first message made it seem like Sci might actually be worried. 

“So what’s he saying?” Killer tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, his stupid grin was back, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Shut up, give me a second” Dust took a small step back, shielding his phone further from view and leaving Horror even more worried. 

He needed to think this through. If he demanded a response from Sci, he’d surely not take that well and scaring him off was the last thing he wanted to do. He needed to be nice, polite, ripen him up and then ask something less obvious, something about the agreement possibly.

“I’m alright, I was thinking of starting a new project, but I need a good base to start from” Hopefully that was inconspicuous enough.

“Are you trying to make another gas bomb? I don’t think any NMPK would make a good base for that, haha” Dust didn’t expect him to circle back to that so fast. Sci must be really tired… or really bored. He tended to help Dust make the most obscene chemical combinations with no concern over the possibly dangerous outcome when he was bored. 

“Something like that. What would work best to turn NMPK into?” He desperately hoped Sci wouldn’t cower from giving him more information. He didn’t seem to shy away from talking about NMPK, which was good enough for now. With enough time, he’d surely manage to snake the info out of him.

Sci seemed to pause and read the text over and over for a good minute.

“Dust, please don’t mess with NMPK. It’s not fully stable, and it could have any number of adverse effects on both monsters and humans. Please return it to Nightmare.” Dust must have read the text at least three whole times before it truly struck him that Sci definitely knew something important about the NMPK. 

Why was Nightmare taking unstable medicine? Why did Sci know what Nightmare was taking?

“Sci, tell me what NMPK-V3.0 is right now.” Anger was starting to seep into his texts. If Sci deliberately poisoned Nightmare by masking it as medicine, he’d personally make sure the little scientist had a taste of this ‘medicine’ himself. Unfortunately, no matter how good it would feel to slam him against a wall and threaten him into submission right then and there, without Nightmare or Cross, they were stuck at the castle. 

Sci took a long moment to answer.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything” 

“It’s your handwriting on the bottle, isn’t it?” 

No response.

“Tell me what NMPK-V3.0 is.”

Horror and Killer were talking to each other, but Dust couldn’t be bothered to listen, he needed to know if Sci tried to kill Nightmare and why. He was sure as hell going to make him pay if he did.

Sci took his sweet time to answer, and if Dust had been forced to wait any longer, he might have broken something in an effort to calm his nerves. 

“Is Nightmare ok?” The question echoed in his head over and over. Was he fucking with him? Surely he was the one who poisoned him, right? There was no other reason for someone to ask something like that.

“What the fuck did you do to him!? I’m going to kill you for this you fucking bastard!” It was nothing but an empty threat until Cross returned to the castle, but Sci didn’t know that.

Dust’s LV was starting to flare up, but he was too preoccupied to notice. 

“If there is something wrong with Nightmare, you need to bring him to my lab as soon as possible.” How did he dare make demands right now? How can someone with several PhDs be this stupid?

“I have a better idea. Tell me what kind of poison you gave him, and I’ll make your death quick.” He wasn’t fully lying, but an attack on Nightmare was an attack on all of them, and even if Dust considered Sci a friend, he wasn’t going to give him the mercy of a quick, painless death. 

“Dust NMPK-V3.0 isn’t supposed to be poisonous. It’s a magic enhancer I made for Nightmare. NMPK stands for ‘Nightmare Painkiller’.” 

The text stopped Dust’s mind dead in its tracks. A magic enhancer has nothing to do with a painkiller. Why would Nightmare need a magic enhancer or a painkiller in the first place? 

“What do you mean?” He didn’t know what else to ask. This whole conversation seemed to only bring more questions. 

“It’s supposed to boost the corruption itself while keeping its mind-altering capabilities at a controllable level. If something happened to Nightmare because of it, you need to bring him here. The faster I can pinpoint what went wrong, the faster I can heal him and develop a better alternative.” 

Dust didn’t know what to say. Was the corruption what was coating Nightmare’s body? What mind-altering capabilities did it have? What did painkillers have to do with any of this?

Dust took a deep breath before typing again.

“Why is it called a painkiller?” It was a simple question. He needed to untangle this mess thread by thread if he wanted to get anywhere. He needed to start simple.

“I suspect that Nightmare’s actual body sustained a lot of physical trauma, and the only thing keeping it together is the corruption. He’s been very cryptic about the pain and overall state of what’s underneath the corruption, so this is mostly just a theory, but it seems to have proven true so far.” 

Ok, that explains the giant crack in the side of Nightmare’s skull and the existence of these pills, but it still doesn’t explain why Nightmare is suddenly melting.

“I know what the pills are for”, Dust said, looking up to find Horror had gone missing while he was busy texting Sci. At least Killer seemed to perk up at the sound of his voice. 

“Where’s Horror?” His brow furrowed, and his question interrupted whatever Killer was about to say.

“Oh, he’s finishing dinner”, Killer stepped closer “So what are they?” 

Dust didn’t have a good way to explain everything, so he opted to just hand Killer his phone and let him read the whole conversation instead. 

Killer took it carefully and squinted at the screen, complaining about the luminosity briefly before turning it up himself and reading through the texts. 

Dust looked at Nightmare.

His tentacles were gone, and there was no more goop to be seen anywhere near him. He looked so tired. His face was stuck in constant discomfort, heavy eyebags and small scars littering it.

The giant crack in his skull spanned from his eye socket to the back of his head. It was as if someone hit him with a baseball bat so hard it went right through him. Long fissures extended from the tip of his head to his neck, over his nose bridge and anywhere near the main impact point. 

If Horror’s injury was painful, this one must have been so much worse.

“Can you ask him about the mind-altering thing? And if he knows how the corruption works? Don’t tell him about what happened yet.” Killer’s voice drew Dust’s attention back to him “Cross will be here when Nightmare wakes up. If Sci is right, and he can’t handle not having the corruption, we can take him to Sci’s lab then.” 

Killer was speaking like a leader, it was the side of him they only saw when there was no one left to take charge. It was Nightmare’s right hand, the man who had been there the longest, the man who survived long before he learned to live. 

Dust took the phone back and lowered its brightness back to a comfortable level. 

He’d be lying if he said he enjoyed seeing Killer like this. Even so, it brought a strange sense of comfort and certainty he didn’t often have. Over the years, he’d learned Killer was the most trustworthy ally he could possibly make. Though, like everything else, it came at a cost. Killer wasn’t a good person, none of them were, but Killer had a knack for finding weakness and exploiting it. Anything you said or did near him, he’d remember, and he’d have the ability to use it against you.

Luckily, Killer seemed far more interested in using this ammunition for mockery and teasing, but Dust knew how easy it would be for him to turn any of them into a cruel joke, how easy it would be to inflict scars that might never heal. 

He texted Sci the questions, but unfortunately, he was none the wiser when it came to Nightmare. The mind-altering capabilities served to make him cruel and violent, but there wasn’t much more he knew about the god that he hadn’t already shared. 

He thanked Sci and told him, despite his protests, they were going to keep Nightmare in the castle for the time being. 

Dust sighed as Killer dragged an armchair closer to Nightmare’s bed. He was going to sleep here tonight, to keep watch while Nightmare rested. 

Horror must almost be done with dinner by now, and Dust dreaded the fact he’d have to eat something soon. His LV still sparked inside his body, and the food would only act like fuel for the fire. 

But still, he’d rather have to break the training room’s wall again than upset and worry Horror further. 

He sighed again, this time his gaze was fixed on Nightmare. This was going to be such a hassle to deal with.