Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Day of Birth
"Good morning, Nightmare."
It wasn't the first thing he heard. First came the low hum. A vibration echoing out throughout every fiber and every filament, pounding gently in every soul. But that sound would fade, followed by the gentle breeze, bringing it's chill. Next were the swaying of leaves, the song of birds. It wasn't just cold. Wrapped around his bones were the bones of another, which radiated their own heat.
Nightmare opened his eyes. He was tucked with another in the crest of the tree's branches. He, and the other. But the other wasn't awake yet.
He knew the name of the other, but the other was also him. To call one Dream and one Nightmare would be to consider one hand severed from the other.
But, when the other opened his sockets, those golden eye-lights beheld him, calling him by name.
"Good morning, Dream," he smiled. Still, it felt good to be called by name.
The newborn Dream gave a mighty yawn, scrunching his face as he pulled his bones away in a stretch. It seemed like the right thing to do, so Nightmare repeated his gestures. And it felt good, too.
The skeleton children stopped to stare at each other a moment longer, observing their hands and legs before Dream poked at Nightmare's face, using his fingers to move his jaw up and down.
"Hey, stop it!" Nightmare laughed, before returning the favor.
Dream laughed too, "No, no!"
The golden eyed skeleton stumbled as he tried to stand, pulling his legs completely out of the tree's crest. He wouldn't have been able to get away, if Nightmare hadn't helped by hoisting him out.
"Pull me out, too!" said Nightmare, reaching out his hand.
However, as Dream was about to grab it, he yelped, stumbling and almost slipping off the branch he crouched on. The branch and it's leaves shook in response to his motions.
"Careful!" said Nightmare.
Soon enough, the twin boys sat together on one of the larger branches, legs swaying and hanging down as they stared at the ground.
"How do we get down?" little Dream asked.
"I guess we could fall down."
"Um... I'm scared to do that. I don't want to do that."
To be fair, Nightmare was also scared, too. In his little soul, something about the height told him it was dangerous. Still, he was determined that they'd get beyond their tree somehow. Looking around, he'd eventually crawl past Dream, further down the branch.
"What are you doing?" Dream asked.
"The branch... it's more... loose? Down here..." As Nightmare got closer and closer to the edge of the branch, sure enough, it reacted to his weight, slowly bending down. But what Nightmare was not expecting was for it to start swaying, reacting radically to each little movement of his limbs.
"N-Nightmare..." Dream's voice grew nervous, watching him.
But Nightmare was determined not to give up just yet... and also he didn't know if he could climb himself back up at this point.
Legs wrapped around the branch, inching down little by little, he seemed ever closer to his goal. "I almost got it! I'm almost there!"
Until, SNAP! The branch couldn't hold the extra weight. Where he clung it cracked, sending him, branch, leaves and apples to the ground with a thud.
Dream screamed, curling up in pain as he clung to his branch. He felt it, too.
Nightmare heaved, the wind knocked out of him and taking a dizzy moment to gather himself.
"Nightmare, are you okay? That hurt!" Dream cried out.
"I-I'm okay!" Nightmare groaned. He started to move around, rolling back onto his feet. The grass soft under his bones.
Finally on solid ground, Nightmare took in a deep breath, looking around, feeling foliage and dirt against his toes. "Well, I don't think that was too bad."
"Well, I don't want to get down that way!" said Dream.
Nightmare sauntered toward his brother, standing under him. He tried looking around again, hoping an idea might leap into his head. To one side of the tree was a strange white sea. He tilted his head, feeling odd as he looked at it. The white sea turned into small creaks to either side of the tree, flowing and eventually falling off a cliff side. Upon each of the creeks were built small wooden bridges from which dirt paths lead up and rounded their tree. Beyond the cliff, all he could see were hills of endless forest.
"Nightmare, what do I do?" Dream said.
Nightmare pulled himself back to the moment, looking up. "Well, ahh... I could catch you!" he said, holding out his arms.
"Oh... But... what if you don't catch me? Or what if it hurts?"
"Well... I suppose it will only hurt once more! Then you'll be free!"
Dream huffed, taking in his situation. Nightmare could tell his brother was thinking about staying up in that tree forever.
"I suppose I could go on without you and come back if I find another way," said Nightmare.
"No, no! I'm coming down! C-Catch me, okay!" said Dream.
Nightmare smiled, holding out his arms again.
Steeling himself, Dream took a deep breath and crunched his sockets shut. He tried to shove himself off the branch, but fear caused him to stumble and slip.
Adrenaline shot through Nightmare's bones as he rushed to catch his brother, both of their bones clashing and tumbling to the ground in a loud rattle. He probably would have been better off hitting dirt.
"Ow, ow...." both of them said in intervals.
However, as the pain subsided, they sat back up, their complaints turned to giggling.
"That was actually kinda fun!" said Dream. "I just wish the landing didn't hurt!"
"Yeah, it kinda was! Maybe there's a way to keep it from hurting..."
The both of them stood, Dream taking in the landscape around him, too. His grin grew even wider, sockets swelling in wonder. "What is this? What's happening?"
Nightmare tilted his head, "What do you mean?"
Dream looked at his hands, palms to back, then up at the tree and the sky. "What are we? What is all this?"
Nightmare looked up too, feeling breath fill his rib cage. Just standing there was... something to be awed at. There must be words for this. They knew some words, that was obvious. So there must be...
"Alive... Nightmare, I think we're alive..." said Dream.
Nightmare chuckled, "Yeah... I guess we are?"
"Oh, alive alive! We're both alive, you and me!" said Dream, grabbing Nightmare's hands. Both boys twirled around each other, giggling at the wonder and absurdity of it all.
"Yes we are! It's magic, isn't it? Magic?" said Nightmare, that being the word that came to him.
"Magic, yes I think so! It's magical!" Dream laughed. "Oh Nightmare I just... I want to run and scream, and dance and sing!" said the skeleton boy, pulling away as he raced around the tree trunk.
"Those are a lot of things to do! So much to do!" said Nightmare, chasing after him.
"I want to know what it all means! All the words in my head! There's so much to do now that we're alive!"
They laughed more, chasing each other as they rambled on many more words from their heads.