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Nightmare sighs, he's exploring the once beautiful village, a place he'd never been able to visit, besides the few times Dream had agreed to guard the tree without him, promising not to wander off, though now it's nothing more than the remains of houses and shops, never to hear the sound of the bells on doors ringing as customers went in and out of shops, or the laughing of children as they ran through the streets, chasing each other or playing some sort of game, something they'd never have invited himself to join, not that he'd wanted to. Nightmare stops to examine a rock, crouching to see it more clearly, looking at it in awe as its pitch-black surface shines in the early morning sun. He watches it for another minute or so, admiring how smooth the rock looked, despite its many jagged corners, before continuing.
He heads away from the ruins, taking soft steps as he arrives at the stump of what used to be the tree of feelings, his brother lying encased in stone beside it. He sits down, resting against the statue as he closes his eyes, letting himself relax.
"...oh my" Comes a soft voice, followed by the sound of soft footsteps approaching the resting ghost. Nightmare opens his eyes, becoming alert, despite being dead, he feels like his soul is racing. The mysterious person, no, skeleton, tilts his head at Nightmare,
"Such a young soul,” he pauses to look at their surroundings, “I wonder, what happened here?"
Nightmare sits up completely, his face twisted in confusion and slight hesitance, though the feeling of fear he felt at first has died down.
"You can see me?" He whispered, his eye sockets going wide. The skeleton chuckles,
"Of course I can, little one, my name is Reaper, I came here because it's my job to collect the souls of those who have fallen."
Nightmare's brow bones shoot up as he stares more intently at Reaper
"Woah... really?"
Reaper chuckles as he nods, sitting down in front of Nightmare.
“What’s your name, little one?”
“Nightmare!”
“Nice to meet you, Nightmare,” Reaper pauses, “I would introduce myself, but I think I already have.”
Nightmare nods, smiling softly.
“So, do you mind telling me what happened here?” Reaper asks calmly, tilting his head to the side.
“Um...” Nightmare glances at the stump of the Tree of Feelings, Reaper following his gaze.
Nightmare seems hesitant, and so Reaper decides not to push for the time being. “No worries, if you’re not ready to share, I can wait.”
The young soul seems slightly more relieved, whispering his thanks.
They continue to talk, Reaper leaving the little child to continue with his job, his purpose, or anything to describe what collecting souls is.
But he does visit Nightmare, a few times a week, always finding him in the same place next to his frozen twin.
Even as years pass, the little skeleton doesn’t lose his childish light, but he never will. (And you probably know why.)
He eventually opens up about the apple incident, and while he’s still hesitant, Reaper is intrigued by how lightly he speaks about it, like he doesn’t fully understand the gravity of the trauma he went through. Which is only normal for someone as young and innocent as him.
Reaper starts coming less and less, his job taking up most of his time, especially with this new aura terrorizing the universe.
Reaper has only once run into him, a skeleton covered in liquid negativity, tendrils of the same substance protruding from his back. Now Reaper understands, this is the.. The thing that took over after Nightmare died, even claiming the little skeleton’s name.
But he just watches, it’s not his job to interfere.
Years pass, decades, centuries, and one day when he returns to the ruins of what used to be Dreamtale, and the twin that was encased in stone… is gone?
He finds Nightmare a little further away, for the first time since he’d watched him explore the abandoned village, before they had met. The soul is watching a little stream flow past. He pieces together what had probably happened.
Nightmare’s twin, Dream, had somehow been freed from his stone prison, and left, most likely confused, and now Nightmare was alone. Truly alone.
The skeleton glances up at Reaper, his face lighting up slightly, though Reaper notices the hint of sadness in his expression.
“You’re here” Nightmare says softly but lacking his usual excitement.
Reaper nods slightly, “Yes, I am”
Nightmare stands up and makes his way over to stand in front of Reaper, looking up at him
“I have a request” He begins, Reaper tilting his head curiously as he listens
“I know you… collect souls and stuff, and I know you’ve been letting me stay here, but I… wanted to know if I could… continue to stay in the mortal realm?”
Reaper raises a brow bone, while it’s something he hears pretty often, he never expected to hear it from someone who has lost everything.
“You want to… stay?”
Nightmare nods fervently
“I want to watch my brother, even if he can’t see me. Even if he might not care... Oh! I could haunt the thing that took my body if watching my brother is too much to ask?” He seems eager as he speaks, and Reaper knows it would break his metaphorical heart to say no.
So, he agrees.
Saying his goodbyes to the little skeleton he’d gotten to know so well, as Nightmare moves on.
He’ll miss talking to this little one, but he can manage. He has a job to do, and now so does Nightmare.