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Killer screamed and bit down on the arm that had taken and held him back from running to his Boss's shattered form in Dream's grasp. His throat was burnt dry, like he had eaten glass.
But even saying that, Killer's eaten glass before, this wasn't it. Grating and rough. He denied the pitiful sobs that escaped his teeth, he denied that he was gaining an incredible guilt for how hard he was biting down on the stranger's arm. Feeling the bones uncomfortably groan under the pressure of his blunt yet sturdy teeth did nothing to satisfy his intensifying desire to run out into the battle field. Run to his loverBoss. He was the righthand man. He needed to be here for Nightmare.
Nightmare used to let Killer attack him when he had managed to fall into Stage 4. Killer used to be thrilled by the chase he gave, running through the hallways as Nightmare chased him down. The others always had a plan to leave the base while Nightmare got Killer back down to Stage 1 before pulling him back to Stage 2.. His anchor was gone.
He said about protecting the others, how nothing could truly kill him.
Killer knows he was lying now. The sick proof was right here. That lying bastard.
Horror grunted roughly and pulled Killer close, deep down he knew that grunt was really just a whimper but he denied it and pressed Killer's face into his shirt. Harshly, he took Killer to the ground, knocking hard enough that he should have been out cold, but he was too damn determined for some trick like that.
Killer could feel his soul aching and protesting, needing a release for this sudden magic that threatened to push him to stage 4. Yet Horror held on. Killer did not need to be held. He wanted to be held by Nightmare.
The sky faltered into a dark, heavy storm. The downpour of rain shuddered down the backs of the three skeletons but somewhat welcomed the new pile of bones that lay in the field.
It was Nightmare's form that laid in the grass. An inky mess now that the rain diluted the corruption; the shields that once covered his body now reduced to a sludge. Dream had dropped Nightmare's skeleton onto the mud, shoving it further into the ground with a boot. It contorted inwards, ribs collapsing into each other, the concave side of the skull began swallowing what was left. Yet Nightmare was somehow still going.
Crackling, the remains of an apple fizzled with a cyan magic that clung for, quite literally, dear life. Nightmare's ribs had punctured the apple when he had been crushed by the figure once known as his brother. Nightmare was a headless corpse that refused to die. Like a bloody cockroach. The body convulsed, the apple soul oozed and turned rotten. Nightmares hands seized the rooted grass, phalanges snapping and dusting.
“F-Fuck oh god..” Killer gasped, swallowing the bile rising from his throat. “Nightmare! Night-Boss please! Get. Up.”
“Killer! Dust is gone and so is Nightmare. They're both dead, Killer. This doesn't mean we are too! Let's go– it may not be for long now but my AU still has food deliveries we can stay there-”
The fucking audacity. He'd rather die here with the people he loved than be a coward.
Determination had long begun pouring out Killer's sockets, so much had even started flowing out his nasal cavity like a nose bleed but also seeped out of the gaps of his teeth. In large, nasty clots, splattering down onto the grass heavily and smothering the dead blades underneath his feet. He couldn't see shit with the constant flow but that sure didn't stop him from trying.
“Boss, fucking get up! Get fucking up, Nightmare! You're not supposed to fall down, that's not- Nightmare. Get. Up!”
Letting go of Horror's familiartraitorous figure he scrambled to run to the Boss. Falling. Running. Falling. Getting back up. He can't be dead. He can put Nightmare together again. He can't be dead. He can't. He can't. He couldn't because Killer still needed him.
Dream didn't hear Killer's pained shouts, if he did, he paid no mind to it and rose from where he knelt. Two sharp, roaring eyelights radiated from the golden skeleton. A stoic face didn't work with the Embodiment of Euphoria. Yet it was present on that shitty guardian that killed his Boss. He was going to kill that skeleton. Stab him in the soul, hear his screams ring out until he becomes nothing but a shell of himself. That'll be enough Negativity for Nightmare to come back. He'll come back. He has to. His soul twinged and buckled from a wash of dread that coated his chest. What was this?
Killer gritted his teeth and looked down at his soul. How erratic and unstable it had become; how unwanted it had become.
He daren't look at how Horror ran to the portal. The portal Nightmare had left open before this had all started.
Oh. Stage four.. he couldn't go back to normal without Nightmare.
Grinning tensely, he couldn't help it. Why was he smiling when he felt so wrong? He pulled away at the increasingly burning feeling that licked at his mandible. Dream stood in front of his kneeling place. Guiding Killer to look at him with his leaking eyes. He cocked his head to the side, the determination ran down his cheeks, out his nasal cavity, out of his teeth, down into his open palms.
Dream smiled and pulled Killer into a stand. His smile was so warm, calming, and peaceful. He leaned into the hug he was offered. Safe despite the dreading dagger that pierced his soul. His vision swam with no place to go. He upchucked whatever bile was left in his mouth, greeted with the stench and acid.
The fall hurt the most, funnily enough. Landing beside Nightmare who he quickly locked hands with. Wet tears slipped down his sockets, falling to the desperate hiccups and his jerking chest. One final stare into Nightmare's eyes, led him to meet one final time with the sombre cyan of an eyelight. It was short, sweet, if you ignored death peering over the two.
“Let this be a message to you. Negativity is a sin. Pain and suffering does no good for the multiverse and never will. Just.. Stop trying. And let go of what hurt you. I'm sure you and Nightmare will maybe meet each other, else where. Wouldn't that be nice. Whatever makes you happy.”
Yeah. That is nice. He smiled, really this time. Time was nearing to an end, at least Nightmare was here with him. He'll be okay.
He let go.
“Reaper?”