Chapter Text
Dream’s heeled boots barely touch the building as she runs across its collapsing side. Right behind her, an oversized leaf slices through the windows and walls, cutting through the high-rise like butter.
Somewhere Nightshade is cackling. Her ecstatic laughs mix with the others on the battlefield.
Dream lands on the roof of a building and starts running across them as the leaves pursue her. Dream takes a quick glance to where her companions are. Magica Rainbow is fighting Shadow Ghost and Spinebreaker. For some reason, Shadow Ghost’s illusions don’t work well on her, but Spinebreaker’s physical attacks are keeping her busy.
Meanwhile, Magica Sapphire is fighting Dark Striker. Their toe to toe, but from what Dream sees, Magica Sapphire will win. She deftly swings her war hammer around and Dark Striker is quick to back away.
In the distance, a few people scream, refocusing Dream’s attention onto the plant creature in front of him.
This time, Nightshade has corrupted someone with a nightshade like her namesake. As Dream runs she scans for a weakness. The plant is as tall as a two-story building, it’s flexible and fast, its leaves are powerful and sharp, and it’s emitting a poisonous smog to those that get too close to its flowerheads.
However, only its appendages are moving, the entire plant body itself is rooted to one place. So, if Dream can get to where it’s stuck, that’ll probably be where the corrupted soul gem is.
The plant and mutated skeleton screams, “I’M SORRY! I WON’T DO IT AGAIN! AAAGGHHH!” Its tendrils slice through the ground. The cement goes flying.
When the ground is clear of flying debris, Dream drops to the ground from a five-story building, ready to get close.
Only-
Nightshade is waiting for her. The tentacles that sprout from her back grab at Dream’s ankles and pulls them back. Dream twists her shoulders to protect her head, but still falls forward and hits the ground hard.
”Hello, little birdy~” Nightshade coos in a sickly sweet voice. “Trying to fly?” Her cyan eye glints dangerously as she pulls Dream to her.
Dream’s skirt scrapes against the ground, her tights already have a few rips in them and her cape is dragged over the rubble, the sun symbols tainted with dirt. Anything Dream is able to grab she is quickly pulled away from.
Nightshade licks her teeth. “Look at you, you’re already so bruised up. How do you think you’ll defeat my creature this time?” Her other tentacles shoot forward faster than Dream can blink, her arms are restrained and pulled behind her and she’s semi-sat upward.
Dream’s legs are angled to the side and as Nightshade joins her, her legs rest at an angle as well. She makes herself comfortable on Dream’s skirt, pressing her body (weight) against Dream. Her dress splits on one side, exposing her leg and Dream would look away himself if Nightshade hadn’t moved her head for her.
The tentacles restrain her and hold her up. However, Nightshade’s arms are wrapped around her. The right one holds them closer together, it goes across Dream’s stomach, above her skirt, and Nightshade’s hand holds her hip like one would a fallen maiden.
The other hand grips her jaw. Nightshade forcefully makes Dream look at the carnage and destruction from the corrupted creature. Unknowingly, it only makes Dream sure of their victory. Nightshade underestimates them too much. Magica Sapphire will win her battle. She only needs to distract Nightshade long enough for her to turn the tide.
And hopefully, she won’t get distracted first.
For example, Nightshade’s chest against her back-
”Enjoy the view, Magica Sunshine.” Nightshade whispers into the side of her head, the sound goes straight to Dream’s-
No-
Her mouth is almost close enough to touch her skull, like a kiss-
Stop-
Nightshade’s body temperature sends a shiver through Dream’s body-
Wait-
Nightshade’s low rumble of a laugh makes Dream’s soul-
Nevermind, there’s no way to victory. They’re destroyed. It’s over.
But that’s fine if Nightshade will hold her like this a little longer.
Since it seems like her hand on Dream’s hip is getting comfortable-
Nightshade wedges Dream’s skull between her skull and hand. Dream’s body turns limp in her hold, ready to be held by Nightshade for eternity.
”Focus, Sunblot,” She says in the same voice with just a hint more of a threat. She adjusts Dream’s head again. The battle she wants Dream to focus on rages around them, but Nightshade’s so close that the quiet voice is the only thing Dream can actually hear. Her arms further constrict Dream’s body and Dream shivers again.
How was she supposed to focus on the battle? (Everything usually turns out fine anyway.) Her eyes are only drawn to where they could get a glimpse of Nightshade’s leg through the slit or her arm wrapped around Dream’s torso.
It’s not her fault though! Nightshade and her gang hadn’t attacked in weeks! She- she’s been deprived!
”Stop. Looking away.” Nightshade’s attempts to cause her despair fail. But Dream’s attempts have failed too-
Woah, woah woah woah woah woah-
Dream head surges forward, hitting Nightshade’s temple. The circlet, a key part of Dream’s outfit, does its job for once.
“Ugh!” Nightshade groans, releasing Dream from her hold. Even the tentacles let go as they come to check her head.
Dream quickly scampers away and stands up. That was a close call. Her mouth was so… close to hers. Dream almost, actually-
Nightshade’s eye glints before she attacks. The tentacles lash out at her. This time however, Dream’s reflexes are quicker. She back-flips out of the way, kicking a tentacle in the process.
In quick succession, the other tentacles pick up pieces of debris and Nightshade throws them at her quickly. Dream dodges two of them, but the third hits her side.
She doesn’t falter though. She summons her staff and parries any tentacle that gets close to her. When Dream has a lot of positive emotions - like now - she feels supercharged. The tentacles nearly melt away upon contact.
Nightshade doesn’t give up though. She only grins and pulls away from attacking Dream entirely. In fact, she leaves himself open. But that only means-
As Dream turns to the side, the corrupted creature is attacking her The green tendril sends her flying and a leaf attack following it barely misses her, nicking her clothes.
She got distracted by Nightshade!
Then the creature howls and it starts to shrivel up.
“Crystal Healing Smash!” Her companion shouts. A resounding smashing sound is followed by a billow of dust and debris. Magica Sapphire brings her war hammer down on the corrupted soul gem, purifying it.
Nightshade turns and screams, “No!” Her tentacles lift her up and she crosses the distance to Magica Sapphire quickly. But Dream’s faster. She summons her staff to her and transforms it into a bow. She pulls the drawstring back and aims it at Nightshade true.
She releases it with a shining light, which completely gives the arrow away. Nightshade dodges, but luckily for her, Magica Sapphire was in the line of fire. Magica Sapphire grabs the arrow and replenishes herself with Dream’s magic.
Nightshade stops her pursuit, choosing instead to retrieve her fallen subordinate. “You may have defeated my Corruption this time, but next time I’ll return you to the Earth,” She says to Magica Sapphire.
She opens a portal and her other two subordinates enter it. She does so while carrying Dark Striker and it closes behind her.
And Dream screams out loud. It should’ve been her! Where’s her witty goodbye! She’s been stolen from! Their fight was too short! Sob!
Magica Sapphire bounds over to her. “Are you alright Magica Sunshine?” Her cute skirt bounces as she travels, torn in some places like Dream’s.
Dream takes a deep breath in and out. “Yes, thank you Magica Sapphire. You saved us today.”
She shakes her head, selfless as always. “No, we both did. I couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t distracted Nightshade.”
Dream smiles at that. “Thanks Saph.”
They retrieve Magica Rainbow who was completely defeated in a pile of rubble. Dream heals them with the power of the sun and they’re able to walk and use magic again.
”Hoo, jeez,” they say, “Nightshade and her crew really did a number this time.”
Dream responds as she heals herself, “Yeah, it’ll take us all night to clean it up.”
Magica Sapphire nods her head. “I’ll take care of the corruption victim. If Magica Sunshine could take care of the rubble and Magica Rainbow start rebuilding-“
Magica Rainbow laughs, “Yup! We know the drill, thanks Blue!”
“Gehk-“ Magica Sapphire quickly covers their mouth. “Magica Rainbow! While on missions, we need to be careful to keep our identities a secret!” She scolds.
”Oh!” Magica Rainbow laughs again, “Sorry, I forgot”
“It’s okay,” Dream says. She clenches her fist, feeling her strength replenished. “Let’s get to work.”
It did, in fact, take forever to clean up. A few people in the volunteering system and from a few government agencies as well as the one protecting them helped. Still, Dream did most of the heavy work and Ink worked overtime fixing literally everything.
Still, it was worth it, everything was back to normal. Even if she had to go to sleep at two in the morning.
Dream sneaks back into her house. Her sister should be asleep, so Dream doesn’t care to be quiet. Nightmare sleeps like a log.
She quickly makes herself a quick snack. A tortilla with some already made chicken fajita filling. She throws it into the microwave and starts picking out the bell peppers. She likes spicy, not vegetables.
She leaves the plate in the sink and slinks upstairs to her room.
Dream forgoes the shower, the magical girl un-transformation took all the sweat and stink with it, thankfully.
Dream lets out a tired sigh as she plops onto her bed. Then she turns, and turns again.
Her mind is too awake. Dream hugs a pillow, trying to replicate the feeling of Nightshade’s body against hers. Nightshade was wearing a new outfit today. She was absolutely gorgeous.
It’s honestly only been about two weeks since they last saw each other. Yet she still beat Dream around ruthlessly, and her grip! The way she completely handled Dream with her tentacles. How she grabbed her jaw and made Dream look this way and that. Her hands were so soft too. Soft and strong and cold.
She wants to fight Nightshade some more. She wants to punch, kick, and use her staff to pummel Nightshade. Defeat her so she can get close and be the one to restrain her from behind.
Especially since! Today- well, yesterday, their mouths were close enough to…
Dream turns yellow and screams at herself.
Gah!
She berates herself harshly. How and why and where did her growing addiction to Nightshade come from!? Why can’t it be satisfied!?
When Dream wakes up, she immediately checks on her sister out of habit. When she doesn’t find her in her room, she goes downstairs. As she walks down the staircase, the sound of sizzling grows louder.
“¿Por qué haces chips de tortilla? [Why are you making tortilla chips?]”
Nightmare responds immediately, unstartled at Dream’s sudden appearance, “Dejaste la bolsa abierta. [You left the bag open.]”
Nightmare removes a batch of the fried tortilla pieces out of the oil. She shakes it briefly to drain the excess oil and spread them on a tray. Dream’s gaze doesn’t waver from her as she salts the chips with a practiced hand. The white specks rain down on the golden food and Dream’s mouth starts to water. Nightmare then starts another batch, gently placing more triangular tortilla slices in the hot oil.
Dream could never. Sure, Dream’s adventurous, but not enough to place her hand directly over a pot and nearly touch the liquid inside, especially with oil. Dream watches Nightmare until she truly starts to wake up. She yawns before finally answering her sister.
“Lo siento, [Sorry,]” Dream belatedly apologizes.
Nightmare merely grunts in response. “Puedes cocinar los huevos, [You can cook the eggs,]” it’s a statement rather than a question though.
“¿Sí, pero puedes cocinar mis huevos? [Yeah, but can you cook my eggs?]” Dream replies.
“Bien, [Fine,]” Nightmare sounds reluctant, but he always relents to Dream’s whims. “Pero, cepíllate los dientes primero. [But, brush your teeth first.]”
Dream returns up the stairs to their shared bathroom and follows Nightmare’s orders. When she’s returned, Nightmare’s mixing the tortilla chips in salsa verde.
”¿Chilaquiles? (A Mexican dish)” Dream asks, getting the eggs out of the fridge.
Nightmare grunts again as she plates the chip dish. Already she’s adding crema fresca and queso fresco. Although Dream wonders where she got those from, she knows they didn’t have those yesterday. She definitely knows they didn’t have an avocado yesterday.
Nightmare starts cutting a serrano as well. It’s only when she looks up from her work and makes eye contact with Dream does Dream remember she’s got a job to do too.
“Lo siento.”
”Hm.”
Dream takes the egg carton and grabs a pan. She oils it lightly and turns the heat up. As she lets the pan warm up, she watches Nightmare again. She’s cutting an onion quickly and sprinkling it on the plates. She also has cilantro, somehow well-prepared for making their breakfast.
Nightmare has to look at Dream again for her to start cooking.
“Estoy cansada. [I’m tired.]”
”Hm.”
Her usual grunt doesn’t reassure Dream, and combined with the clipped sentences means something’s wrong.
She cries internally. Nightmare’s pissed. She knows Dream came home really late.
Dream skillfully cooks the egg sunny side up, the shining yolk still soft. With her spatula, she carefully places Nightmare’s egg on her plate, the one with only a few pieces of serranos.
Nightmare quickly switches with Dream. She cracks Dream’s egg in the pan and Dream starts cleaning up the leftover ingredients and dishes Nightmare used to cook. Nightmare’s already bagged the unused tortilla chips in a ziploc bag while Dream was carefully cooking her egg.
Nightmare finishes faster than Dream does at this too. It just means one of them will do the dishes and the other will clear the counter after they eat.
Nightmare places the egg which traveled to Hell and back on Dream’s plate, completely loaded with serranos. The charred egg is a blot in the green, like an upturned piece of soil.
They eat in silence, the only sound in the room is the sound of their utensils and eating. Once Dream’s done, she watches Nightmare eat until she’s done too.
Nightmare’s broken the soft, gooey yolk. The yellow flows over the rest of the dish. She tries to distribute the egg among each bite. She gracefully cuts the meal into bite-sized pieces, a bit of the egg on each of them. Her small mouth can’t capture all of his food though.
A bit of the yolk smears onto the corner of her mouth. Dream had no such problem since her yolk was dark, chewy, and crunchy as always. So, she easily reaches over the small table to Nightmare and wipes it away with her thumb. As she licks it Nightmare shoots her a deadpan look before quickly going back to eating.
The yolk doesn’t taste that good though. Dream’s not sure why Nightmare likes her eggs so raw.
There’s also still a little yellow on her face that Dream decidedly leaves. It looks cute for some reason.
As Nightmare finishes eating, Dream quickly interjects, “Lo siento [Sorry].”
”Hm.” Nightmare places her fork and knife parallel on her plate. Vertically, the symbol for being done that Nightmare learned from the culinary class at their school. She sighs. “No hace falta que me digas lo que estás haciendo, cuando llegas a casa o con quién estás. Solo dime dónde estás, ¿de acuerdo? [You don’t need to tell me what you’re doing, when you come home, or who you’re with. Just tell me where you are, okay?]”
So she’s not mad. Dream bows his head. A slow, guilty feeling that’s been creeping up on her throughout the morning finally snatches her in its grasp.
Nightmare is disappointed.
Dream lets out a breathy sigh and tries not to cry. “Bien.”
Nightmare sighs and makes her way to Dream’s side of the table. Dream latches onto her and buries her face into her brother’s shirt. “Lo siento.” Tears still spring out of her eye sockets, but in Nightmare’s arms, it was okay for them to. “Lo siento,” she repeats, over and over again.
”Está bien.” Nightmare replies every time Dream apologizes.
When Dream’s done with her crying sesh. They clean up.
“A propósito, ¿cuándo conseguimos los ingredientes para los chilaquiles? [By the way, when did we get the ingredients for the chilaquiles?]” Dream asks as she finishes rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher to dry.
“Esta mañana, [This morning,]” Nightmare replies, arranging the food in the fridge and throwing something that’s gone bad out.
“¿De verdad? ¿Qué hora es? [For real? What time is it?]”
Nightmare turns her head to the clock on the microwave. “Doce, más o menos. [Twelve, more or less.]”
Dream’s sockets widen. Wait, what day is- “Espara- [Wait-]”
Nightmare cuts her off “Hoy es viernes, nos faltamos al colegio. [It’s Friday, we’re skipping school.]”
Dream nearly drops a knife on her foot. Nightmare reaches down to pick it up from where it fell beside her foot and places it in the sink for Dream to rewash.
”… Oh … Vale. [… Oh … okay.]”
Dream awkwardly hangs around the living room where Nightmare’s settled herself. She’s reading something that Dream would ask about, but she’s pretty sure she’s asked about it before.
She also doesn’t want to leave the house. They are skipping school afterall.
Dream’s pretty sure the police won’t be banging on their door or confronting her as to why she’s not in school, but it feels awkward to leave.
Going upstairs to her room would be worse. Nightmare stayed behind for her. Dream shouldn’t leave her alone. She’s laying on the couch, resting her back on the pillow against the arm rest.
Every few moments she flips the page of her book. Her purple eyes dart back and forth. Her mouth is unfortunately closed. That means no accidental bleps with her cute tongue.
Suddenly Nightmare moves. “Ven acá, [Come here,]” Nightmare beckons Dream. She must have noticed her restless energy.
Dream follows her instructions. Nightmare puts her book aside. She opens her arms and spreads her legs. Dream crawls over the couch into them.
She rests on top of Nightmare so they both fit in Nightmare’s spot. She’s sat in between Nightmare’s legs and she brings her arms to wrap around Dream’s upper back. Dream wraps her arms around Nightmare’s back as well, but moves their legs so Dream’s are around Nightmare’s torso. Nightmare brings her knees up, pushing Dream further up as well.
Dream settles on Nightmare, slotting into place. She buries her head into Nightmare’s shoulder. Nightmare picks up her book and starts reading over Dream’s shoulder. It’s always nice to lay with her sister like this. When they’re together like this, Dream’s not sure there’s a better place to be. A relaxed feeling overtakes her.
For a little bit at least.
Nightmare must’ve been worried last night. How late must have she stayed up? Waiting for Dream to come home but for no one too.
She must’ve been scared. Nightmare doesn’t know she’s Magica Sunshine. She could’ve been a missing person in one of the Night Terror Gang’s attacks for all she knows.
Nightmare only asked to know where she was. Dream realizes she didn’t make an attempt to contact Nightmare last night while they were cleaning up.
They’re all each other have.
How could Dream have been so mindless? She completely forgot her sister had emotions. She hadn’t cared to be quiet at all last night, and maybe that should’ve been a sign. She was too distracted by Nightshade.
Well, no. It’s just she hasn’t been taking care of Nightmare, has she-
Nightmare brings her arms around Dream. The book rests on Dream’s lower back and butt. Nightmare buries her face into Dream’s shoulder. Another wave of guilt floods Dream and tries to leak from her eye sockets.
”Está bien. Sé que estás haciendo lo mejor que puedes. Si quieres pasar tiempo con tus amigas, puedes, [It’s okay. I know that you're trying to do the best you can,]” Nightmare whispers into the side of her skull, the sound goes straight to her soul, warming it. Nightmare gently places a kiss on her cheek. “Solo tómatelo con calma, sé que estabas planeando ir a la escuela hoy. [Just take it easy, I know you were planning on going to school today.]”
Nightmare’s cool body against hers, the soft hum of her voice, and her sweet words awe her. Her sister was the sweetest in the world.
That most of all recharges Dream.
Okay, next time she’ll tell Nightmare she’s hanging out with Blue and Ink. Tell her not to wait up for her. Then wake up the next day to go to school. Nightmare’s deserves better.
And Dream’s Magica Sunshine, she can do it.