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"Are they gone?" It's a simple question from Ink, Dream scouting out ahead. Things got....intense....at least it was over now. Nightmare vanished mid-battle, so did Swap. That was concerning but without the other four grilling their asses they could actually focus on that.
"Looks like it." He confirmed, bow temporarily withdrawn, "Where's Blue? Did you see where he ran off at?-"
Honestly despite being the Guardian of Positivity, Dream would often fear or prepare for the worst, but then again with his brother also disappearing alongside him....it was hard not to.
"Not really I- hey!" Ink points and off in the distance, a familiar blue warrior comes into view. Not sprinting or even walking quickly like you thought he would, instead....he's glow and as he comes into view. He's holding someone. A familiar face to the other Star Sanses.
Chara or "Berry" as they've been affectionately nicknamed had been seen before the fight unfolded, Blue had made sure they were somewhere safe and usually Berry respected that at minimum, given what they heard the kid despite being somewhat aggressive at times was never a fighter. Always solving battles through pacifism.
There's a bad feeling, a chill in the air that only grows as Ink and Dream close the distance. There's....splatters of black goop on both of the two, a familiar looking tar like substance but then- but then Dream sees how Berry looks. The loud spunky and sometimes way too headstrong child, was....clinging onto Blue. Tightly. Face buried into his shoulder and the skeleton himself looks worried.
"Hey- what happened? A-Are they....? He didn't hurt Berry did he...?" he wouldn't put it past his brother but he at least left others alone when it came to these spats.
"Uh, no....well...." Blue sputters, unlike him. He doesn't know where to begin, everything happened so fast, he was cornered, he was hurt and then well- Berry happened. He keeps the child's trembling from close, attempting to convey what happened. "Nightmare tried to kill me." he stared off, Dream and Ink responding with equal surprised expressions.
It was a clever plan admittedly, it just seems like Nightmare both underestimated how challenging it would be to take Blue down and didn't account for one determined child.
"It looked like he was actually gonna and then...." he looks down at Berry, it doesn't look like the same kid from before. The sight of it was something else....something....actually terrifying. Blue didn't care what anyone said, Chara was a good kid, just really needed some guidance.
But, the face they made as they stabbed Nightmare, the sound of their angry screams as they kept stabbing him, refusing to even let him have a turn and the sheer intensity of the act. The way that this mischievous but sweet child turned into....that. Something that killed a god-like entity.....
And the whiplash as they stood over what remained of him....still holding the knife but their hand was shaking badly, the way tears quickly came and the way they let out a choked but confused.
"......Dad....?"
Chara never seemed so small before.
"He got really close, I got hurt, it looked like he was going to then," he looks down at Berry, a hand loving stroking their back. The human refusing to look any of them in the eye, still clinging to Blue tightly. "Berry got him."
The silence was deafening, Dream frowned, confused at first. Seeming to calculate a mixture of emotions and the absurdity of the situation. Nightmare died and it was by Berry...? Meanwhile, Ink seemed to flicker between shock and amusement.
"You gotta be shittin' me." Blue shook his head, a more stern expression replacing his usual one. Begging Ink to not only take this more seriously but with some tact given the recently traumatized child in the room, "....wait, there has to be two guardians so without Nightmare...?"
Dream shares a look with him, he is aware that it's possible that Nightmare isn't truly dead. The bastard was tricky, but as it stood Blue and Berry were very certain. He had no reason not to believe him and while his chest aches at the idea of Nightmare- the real Nightmare. The brother he knew, not whatever that....that thing turned him into was gone.....he focused on the child in Blue's arms.
"Berry?" there was no response, he looked to Blue. Pushing forward, "May I?"
It would have been a typical hand off, Blue happy to let the positive guardian hold them and soothe the child to a more coherent state but their grip on Blue tightened with a firm. "No."
It shocked everyone, mainly because Berry actually sounded scared. Scared of Dream of all people.
"Hey, Char." Blue said softly to them, he's had to comfort Berry before but none of the parenting books (won't catch him being a slouch as a dad) didn't prepare him for this. "It's okay. Really, it's just Dream. It's-"
"No!" they say, refusing to look at any of them. As if they could shrink into the fabric of Blue's scarf forever. "No no....no....I'm sorry no....." the sobs break out, that's when the heart of the matter comes to life. "He....he was you brother.....I know you love him- I didn't wanna, I didn't wanna! But," their grip nearly threatens to hurt Blue, they hate this. They hate being seen like this. They talked so much shit about being a capable and brave kid but they couldn't help it. "H-He was gonna take my dad...."
Something breaks in Dream's chest. His chest aches with grief, it aches with frustration, it aches with confusion, anger, some other things he can't fully place but at the end of the day....his heart breaks for the child in front of him. They should have never had to go through this.
"Chara." no nicknames this time, just their name. "Come here. Please."
He goes to take them from Swap again, gently this time and though there's a resistance at first....they loosen their grip. And it's Dream's turn to hug them. Keeping the child close, protectively so. Despite his title and capabilities, he wasn't a miracle worker. He couldn't undo the trauma, remove the real bad feelings that came with this.....
He can sense Chara's negative emotions stronger than he could sense any bad feeling before what did that mean?
He could at least give them some comfort now, heal some of the wound while it was still fresh.
"I don't blame you for anything. I can never be mad at you, remember?" it's true, even when Chara did something wild or got in serious trouble....Dream could never stay mad for long. If he was to begin with. "You did what anyone else did. You defended someone you love, I'm proud of you."
They sob still, quieter than before and they're completely limp in Dream's embrace. It's not much but it's working, anxiety melting away though the despair and recent guilt was still there. He holds them close, the other two nearby as Blue and Ink share a look.
"I don't mean to neglect the kid here," Ink admitted, he did care about Berry but like hell he would know how to bring the kid any comfort here. The other two seemed to be struggling as is but, "If Nightmare is dead....what's that mean for the horrible four?"
Not all of them were with Nightmare by choice but, Killer would certainly take issue with all of this. And if they found out Chara was behind it and without a guardian of negativity....the issues pile on faster by the minute.
"I'm sorry...." Chara mumbles, Dream soothes them but the words hang in the air. Even if there's no retaliation, Ink goes to CHECK Berry's stats and his pupils shrink. There was no hiding that high of an LV or that much EXP, everyone who so much as checked the child in or outside of battle would know exactly who killed Nightmare.
The price for saving their father? Blood on their hands and a target on their back forever. Ink's non-existent soul twisted at Berry's new description,
The Nightmare Slayer