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The Emerald Eye surveyed the battlefield: Cross was lying unconscious beneath a tree, covered in ink and paints with broken bones; Dust was using the last of his strength to hold his own against Dream, who was helped by a seemingly not-at-all-tired Blueberry; Killer with knife in his last working arm was trying to help Dust, unlike pain he could felt discomfort perfectly well, his other hand, covered in ink and pierced by an arrow, was lying in a snowdrift nearby the unconscious Horror; not far away there were glitchy blaster shots and splashes of ink. Nightmare understood that Error couldn’t go all out while his temporary allies were still in that universe. Nightmare was pierced by blue arrows of pure positivity, which burned the liquid-negative body more and more with each passing second.
Liquid bones ached from his brother's attacks and the situation was clearly not in their favor. Damn Star Sanses. They so brazenly ambushed their appearance in universe, too fast knocked Cross out of the fight and then hugged Error strong enough to make him crash so he couldn’t fight back and help a cornered gang. The plan had fallen apart completely and that was obvious enough. All that was left was to retreat, lick their wounds, and come up with a new plan of actions later.
Killer turned around and took his own arm that was thrown by a dark tentacle right in him, over tentacles quickly picked up the unconscious Cross and Horror and then Nightmare appeared right next to fighting Killer and Dust. Emerald eye glared at the positive twin and Nightmare covered guys with enough negativity to teleport them into the castle.
Dust looked around, understood that now he is in safety and then almost immediately became completely weak and lost consciousness. His legs gave way, and he fell onto one of the tentacles, which caught him just as he hit the ground and gently lowered him to the floor.
“Boss? Can I help?” watching as Nightmare pulled the arrows out of his body, hissing softly in pain, asked Killer.
After all, he was the only one of the bad guys who was conscious.Yes, he was pretty beat up, but at least he was conscious.
The Emerald Eye immediately focused on the Killer, who was holding his severed right arm in his left hand and limping slightly. He was just as wounded as the other skeletons lying on the floor.
“I'll do everything myself, you'll be in the way,” this was the last thing the Killer heard, right before a pair of mucous fingers gently touched his skull, sending him into a dream.
Yes, Nightmare could only cause a nightmare, but it was at least something.
Dark tentacles carefully placed injured skeletons throughout the hall, so that all of the injured were in one place, and Nightmare didn't have to run around the rooms treating the injured. Tentacles, enduring the unpleasant pain of the burning positivity, simultaneously pulled the remaining arrows out of the body and, breaking them, threw them aside so that they wouldn't get in the way.
The nightmare breathed a sigh of relief and then began to spread out. The clothes, the bones, the eyes, everything became liquid and flowed down to the floor in streams, creating a large negative puddle on the surface, which, despite everything, was still something alive and quite thick. Soon, there were five Nightmares standing where Nightmare had been, only they were smaller: three of them were about forty centimeters tall, and the other two were only twenty. The clones, as if they had a single mind, immediately dispersed in different directions: one of the smaller clones went to the guys, starting to provide first aid, while the other small clone, like one of the larger clones, disappeared in the air, moving somewhere else, the other large clone went to the kitchen to find something to restore the fighters' health, while the last clone went deeper into the castle.
One of them ended up on the floor tiles of a laboratory. The dark vector, which, although thinner than usual, was no less deadly, immediately wrapped itself around Science's neck and lifted him off the floor.
“Have you improved your bone glue? Where is it? Tell me quickly,” said a voice that was just as low as the normal Nightmare's, while Science's fingers began to cling to the negative tentacle in a futile attempt to free himself.
“I've done everything, it will no longer respond to determination,” Science croaked helplessly, and then pointed with a trembling hand at a glass cabinet filled with various preparations. "Third shelf, second jar from the left with a large red 'K' instead of a label."
Tentacle immediately opened the cabinet with an unpleasant bang, causing Science's stomach to clench, and then took out a small jar of some strange white ointment and slammed it shut. The second tentacle lifted the skeleton a little higher off the ground, and then released him, causing him to fall with a loud thud. There was a painful cough and wheezing sound.
"Don't forget, you're only alive as long as you're useful," Nightmare said before disappearing.
"It’s impossible to forget," Science replied to the empty space, looking at the broken test tubes and spilled reagents with a sense of doom. There was never a moment's peace with all these travelers across the universes.
At this time, the clone that had moved back quickly examined the guys who were sleeping in the living room, which were already being monitored by another clone, and after placing the jar next to Killer, the clone split into two parts again and went to help the second clone treat the guys and set Killer's bones.
***
The second clone, which appeared on a completely white surface, was staring at the back of a large, dusty, and faded pouf that had once been purple, but was now more accurately described as gray.
"And why have you come?" came the glitchy voice of the owner of this old, but still extremely comfortable, pouf, and the black top of his head peeking out from behind this soft barrier.
"I want to make sure that our cooperation hasn't been hindered by our defeat," Nightmare replied, watching the glitches run across the other skeleton's skull.
"You do realize that this defeat is entirely your fault, don't you?" Although Glitch was partially right, a sense of discontent awoke in his negative chest.
He had fallen into a sudden but still simple trap, and he blamed the imperfections of Nightmare's plan for it. Stubborn bastard.
"That's why I'm here," Nightmare said, barely restraining a displeased grunt as he used a tentacle to transport a small box of bitter chocolate and place it in front of Error.
In response, there was a chuckle.
“Too ashamed to show yourself? Do you really think I will negotiate with your tentacles?”
Nightmare barely managed to contain his growing anger at Glitch's audacity. With as quick steps as his height allowed, he emerged from his hiding place, revealing his displeased expression and the tentacles swirling behind him. Leaning his elbow on the box of chocolate he had recently placed in front of Glitch, Nightmare looked at his ally. Lags flashed before the multicolored eyes, and Error himself froze between "You're pathetic, you can be destroyed with a single blow" and "What is this? Do you want me to cooperate with it?" Glitch seemed to be in this state for a long time, until Nightmare spoke first:
"No, you can't kill me even now. Losing a single clone won't do much to me. And no, it won't last long; I'll be back to normal soon," Nightmare explained calmly, and Glitch finally came out of his stupor.
“So you want me, after your mistake, after such defeat, to believe in your “perfect plan” again? No, do you seriously think that especially with risk to me I will again help such mistakes as you and your useless pile of bones?” disgustingly glitching on almost every word rudely said Error.
“You get one box today, the second one in a week,” knocking the box with chocolate said Nightmare. “By that time I will recover and key parts of the plan will be done. You will choose whatever place you want and there you can take part in making plan.”
It was pretty clear how Error’s expression changed from annoyed to thoughtful. Glich was thinking, weighing the pros and cons, silently staring at the rather vague image of the box. The crackling of glitches subsided slightly, indicating that Error was beginning to calm down. The chance of maintaining cooperation was increasing. It seemed that the prospect of independently planning a new attack had a positive impact on Error's decision.
“Five days. In four days I will choose a place, on the fifth you will come there with your plan.”
Cunning one. Error himself isn’t hurt as much as Nightmare so even two or three days will be enough to recover just chilling in his antivoid, but negativity recovering will take a lot more effort and time.
“Deal,” mentally cursing not only Error whose terms always make Nightmare shut his pride but annoying Stars too, because of who everything ruined, answered Nightmare.
A brief nod from the black skull, and the blue strings immediately wrapped around the box. The clone, ignoring Glitch's further actions, teleported back to the castle. It was necessary to properly divide responsibilities with the other clones and help monitor the injured.
***
Abruptly appeared magical pupil teared around in panic, and the target soul, taking the shape of an inverted heart, began to beat rapidly, causing the chest to rise and fall at an alarming rate.
“Don’t panic that much, I didn’t give you that strong nightmare,” sounded somewhere near a familiar low voice.
The white skull tilted to the side, towards the sound, and the Killer himself stared at an unusually small copy of Nightmare, the king of negativity, a five-hundred-year-old old man, and simply the boss.
“Night?” Not quite believing his own eyes, Killer asked, watching the rather calm movement of the negative tentacles.
“No, it’s fucking Dream. Don’t dare to laugh or I will pump negativity out of you for the next week.”
The threat seemed to have passed by non-existent ears. The killer, ignoring the unpleasant pain that could only be felt because of the first stage of the soul, got to his feet and went somewhere. The killer walked in silence, ignoring the displeasure of the clone, who very persistently asked to return and be treated, until he found himself in front of a large familiar door. The clone completely fell behind when the Killer, as usual, without even knocking, opened the door of the Nightmare's office and stared at him. More precisely, the same clone that had followed him before. The emerald eye glared at the intruder, and negative tentacles began to curl behind him.
“My old familiar lord of nightmares himself,” said Killer with a chuckle.
And indeed, in this form, the Nightmare, no matter how terrible and strong he was, looked like some kind of child, even though a couple of minutes ago he was scribbling sheets of paper in an attempt to make that very plan of immersing some universes in negativity, which Glitch would like and certainly would not fail. It was equally amusing that, due to his short stature, he couldn't reach the table properly, let alone sit at it, so right now, there was a prominent stack of books on the dark chair, with Nightmare himself already perched on top.
“You were told to go back and rest. Be obedient at least for once and get out of here,” the movement of the negative vectors became even more irritated as Killer approached.
“Come on, boss. You look surprisingly good like this,” with each step, the Killer's sly grin grew closer. “But is it actually comfortable for you on these books?”
“Don’t you dare…” realizing what his subordinate was getting at, Nightmare said through gritted teeth, but he was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and lifted up. “You're setting yourself up for a week of non-stop nightmares.”
The angered tentacles weakly beat against the hand that held Nightmare, while he continued to try to dissuade the Killer.
“Worth it,” but it was too late.
The second hand quickly but carefully moved the books from the chair to the table, and then Killer sat down on the chair with a very pleased expression on his face and placed the still-annoyed Nightmare on his lap, wrapping his arms around Nightmare's waist. Nightmare immediately slapped Killer in the face.
“Uncontrollable jerk,” Nightmare grumbled, already resigned to his situation.
“I'll take that as a compliment.”