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Ten years had passed since Nightmare had been found by Reaper, ten years since he had been adopted by his husband and him, ten years since he was granted a second chance at a happy childhood, ten years since he left his universe. He was now sixteen, he was happy, he loved his new parents, loved his new brother, but his family had noticed he seemed... lost in his thoughts quite often, and they worried that something was wrong. Unfortunately, he wouldn't share what was bothering him...
« Goth ? », Geno called his older son, now twenty years old. Goth looked up from where he was reorganizing a shelf and waited for his mother to continue. « Can you check on your brother ? He keeps telling us he's fine but I can see that something's wrong, and I know he tends to open up better with you... », he asked, worry weighting at his voice. They were all worried for him, they had hoped that Nightmare would have come to them, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he would not.
Goth got up, as he was sitting on the floor, « I can try, but I can't promise anything », he agreed. It was true that his brother often talked to him, that he knew about things their parents didn't, but there were still things they didn't say to each other, and if what was bothering Nightmare was too intimate to share, Goth couldn't force him.
His mother still smiled, relieved that he would at least try, and took him in his arms in a tight hug, « thank you... ». Goth hugged him back, though he didn't think he deserved to be thanked just for checking on his little brother, until Geno let go and nudged him towards Nightmare's room, « now shoo, go do you big brother job », he jokingly ordered.
Goth chuckled, « I'm going », he reassured as he walked to the door and stopped to knock despite it already being opened. Nightmare was on his bed, reading one of his books, he looked up at him at the noise. Goth had never been a big reader, and it had always fascinated him how Nightmare was able to read such big books so fast, even as a kid he would grab the biggest book on a shelf and read it in only a few days when it would have taken Goth weeks, maybe months, to finish it. « Can I come in ? », he asked for permission.
Nightmare thought for a moment before nodding, grabbing his bookmark as to not lose his page, he put his book on the nightstand as his brother sat on his bed, « what were you reading ? », he asked.
« The book dad got me last week », he answered. Reaper had brought back a book from one of his reaping, a fire had started in a library, only a few books had survived and he thought they wouldn't notice one less, so he took it home for his son as it was a genre he knew he particularly enjoyed. « Is it good ? ».
Nightmare nodded again, it was a fantasy book about dragons, creatures he had always found very interesting. « Cool », Goth smiled, happy that at least the reading was going well, « and uh.. how are you doing ? », he tried to ask, not entirely sure about how to engage the conversation.
Nightmare tilted his head, « fine ? », he asked more than he stated, a little confused by the sudden question, « why ? ».
« You've been looking down recently, is something bothering you ? Do you feel sick ? », he explained, and saw Nightmare tense for a second, « I'm fine, I'm not sick », he affirmed. « I won't tell the parents, if that's what you're worried about », Goth tried to reassure, hoping it would help Nightmare talk knowing he wouldn't repeat it.
The teen stared at his brother for a moment, then glanced at the side, and finally mumbled an answer, looking down at his joined hands as if he was admitting a crime, « I want to go to my universe... to see my brother... ». Goth had almost flinched at the first part, having been scared for a moment that Nightmare wanted to leave them, but fortunately it wasn't the case, and he even found the thought ridiculous: the universe was empty, what would Nightmare even do there ? Goth knew about his twin, he had seen the statue a few times when going out with his father to gather souls, but Nightmare hadn't gone back since he arrived there ten years ago. Goth had no trouble imagining that he missed his brother. « I didn't want to tell dad 'cause I know he still feels bad about not being able to help him, and I can't tell mom cause he can't go through other universes like and you and dad can, so if I had told him he would have told dad and it would have been the same result as telling dad in the first place... », he exposed his reasoning before his brother could even ask him why he didn't say it sooner. Nightmare couldn't go through universes, not alone at least, and while he did possess the ability to, he could only teleport through ambiant negativity for now, and Dreamtale was empty of life – aside from the statue but it was in a dormant state and didn't produce feelings – so it made going there much more difficult and Nightmare didn't control his magic enough to open portals out of thin air yet, so he had to go with someone.
« We can go together, if you want ? », Goth offered, « mom and dad don't have to know, we can say we went for a walk, went to Ccino's ? ». Nightmare looked back up at him with hope in his gaze, a look that Goth much preferred compared to the sad one, « we can ? ». The older one smiled as he got up, « of course, go put your shoes on », he pressed.
Nightmare practically jumped out of bed as he thanked his brother, rushing downstairs to put his shoes on, and Goth followed with a smile, happy that he could help his little brother. He held his hand for the teleportation so the teen wouldn't lose balance upon arriving, as it often happened when one wasn't used to teleportations yet.
Nightmare looked around when arriving, looking at the red sky, the grey grass, the ruins of the village... nothing had changed since the last time he had seen it, and memories resurfaced almost immediatly, drapping him in a cold embrace. He held his brother's hand tighter. « Are you sure you feel ready ? », Goth asked him, worried, he had already asked that question before teleporting, wanting to make sure he wouldn't just aggravate the situation by bringing him where he had surely witnessed horrors. He didn't want to make him feel unsafe on top of being sad. The teen shook his head, taking a breath in to chase the bad memories away, « it's okay, it has just been a while, I'm fine », he assured as he let go of Goth's hand and took the direction of the hill.
Goth followed him after a quick glance at the ruins. They went up the hill and stopped in front of the massive tree stump, next to which stood the statue, now smaller than Nightmare. Goth was behind him, so he couldn't see his face, but he saw how his shoulders tensed when seeing the stoned child. He opened his mouth to talk, but the teen was faster than him, « can I stay alone for a moment ? », he requested. Goth winced, he didn't like the idea of leaving his brother alone if he didn't feel good, but he also understood how he could want some intimacy in this deeply personal moment. « Will you be okay.. ? », he still asked.
Nightmare nodded, « I will ». The older one hesitated for another second before sighing, « okay... if you need anything I.. I will be in the village I think, visiting.. », he informed, and as his brother didn't answer, he slowly made his way back to the ruins, looking over as he descended to see him sit at the feet of the statue, before he couldn't see him anymore on the other side of the hill.
Goth glanced over at the ruins, the village looked like it had been abandonned for centuries, and yet it had only been ten years. No walls had been left untouched, all had crumbled on the ground, the rooftops had collapsed, the roads were destroyed, and remains of human cadavers could be found here and there, decaying, the monsters having already dusted at their death. No one had survived whatever had happened, no one had given these poor souls a proper burial.
The young god walked through the ruins, he didn't have a destination in mind, he didn't know anything about this village after all, just that it had been destroyed and only Nightmare had survived, so he walked and looked at the few buildings that had most of their walls in place. They were mostly at the other side of the village, the one farthest from the hill, so it meant that whatever had hit came from there, and maybe it had to do with the cut down tree. Though, Goth did wonder why Dream was there if the attack had started here... wrong place wrong time maybe, or maybe he had tried to stop what was coming at them ? He didn't know, and he would probably never know.
He waited, walking without a goal for maybe an hour, until he heard his brother's voice behind him as he was looking at yet another decaying body, « you feel pity for them », he stated, « why ? ». Goth turned around, not surprised by the statement as he knew Nightmare could sense other's emotions, but he was a bit taken aback by the question. « Why wouldn't I ? These poor souls died tragically with no one left to burry them.. ».
Nightmare frowned, and Goth noticed his tentacles twitching behind his back. The teen usually didn't summon his tentacles as they made his back hurt after a while, but sometimes, mostly after bad dreams, they tended to come out on their own. It was obvious he didn't feel safe here, and he must have summoned them. « They don't deserve your pity », the teen almost hissed, tensed. Goth remembered that he had said the same thing to their dad when he had found him, that they didn't deserve peace, but he had never explained why. Maybe he shouldn't have pushed as it was surely a sensitive subject, but Goth would have lied if he said he wasn't curious. « Why ? ».
The teen stared at him, one of his tentacles whipping the air, before he grabbed his brother's hand to pull him along and make him follow as he easily guided him through the ruins, a precise destination in mind. Goth had let out a surprised noise at the sudden pull and had to look at the ground as to not trip, his brother walking fast and not waiting for him to catch up. They finally stopped in front of a small building, a surprisingly well preserved one that Goth had missed during his exploring. There was a nameplate above the door, but the letters had faded away.
Nightmare opened the door without hesitation and entered, not turning around to make sure Goth followed. The older one entered a bit more carefully, looking up to make sure the ceiling wasn't about to fall on their head, then glancing around to get an idea of where his brother had brought him. There were shelves covered in dust, and books, a lot of books, were they in a library ? It did look like it. He searched for Nightmare when he heard noise, and saw him behind a desk opening a drawer, he rummaged through it for a moment and finally took out what looked like to be a notebook. He obviously knew what he was looking for. The teen then went to a table and slammed the notebook down, then sat down on a chair and looked at his brother, waiting for him to do the same. Goth looked confusedly at him, and slowly sat down on the other side of the table, looking at the book.
Nightmare flicked his hand, and all the chadeliers that were still fixated on the walls lit up with blue flames, making Goth look up with surprise at them and at the younger one, not aware he could do that. « Okay what is all that about ? », he finally asked. Nightmare crossed his arms over his chest and nodded at the notebook, « you wanted to know. Read this and you will », he almost ordered, unusually cold.
Goth frowned at the tone, almost reprimended him, but decided not to and simply opened the book to start reading. It looked like an archive, everything was handwritten, it talked about the village, what happened in it, new people arriving, people who died, what merchants were there... but some paragraphs talked about two particular children.
[ There is a hill near our campment, a giant tree occupies the place on top, it seems to bare strange apples : half of them are golden, the other half are purple. We tried to pick a golden one, but two skeleton children screamed at us, begged us to not touch their tree. They presented themselves as the guardians of this magical tree, said it was the source of all feelings. One of them have golden eyelights, and the other have purple ones, we assumed they must be guarding a side of the tree each because of the colors. We decided to leave them alone for now. ]
[ We went to introduced ourselves to the guardians, we told them we had established a campment near the hill and are looking to build a village. We offered them to join us but they refused, they said they had to remain near the tree to protect it. It seems they live between its roots, strange, but they don't seem unhealthy. We left them alone. ]
Goth wondered for a moment if the guardians could have been Dream and Nightmare, but Nightmare didn't have purple nor golden eyelights, and he didn't know what color were Dream's. Maybe they had just been witnesses, though that didn't explain why they had the imortality trait in their soul. Maybe there were multiple guardians ? Or they happened to gain power during the tragedy ? He didn't know, so he continued reading, feeling like he would get an answer soon.
[ The golden guardian visited our campment while the purple one stayed at the tree. He seemed curious about our origins and how we arrived here, and helped us move wood to begin the constructions. He then went back to the tree. ]
[ The constructions are going well and more people are arriving, the golden guardian helped us many times while his brother only rarely visited and looked at us with mistrust. He doesn't seem as welcoming as his brother. We are looking out in case he tries to sabotage our campment. ]
Goth hummed, not sure how a child could have sabotaged anything, in his opinion the little guardian was probably just cautious of strangers, as he should have been.
[ We held an inauguration for the new village, the golden guardian joined us with his brother. There were a lot of festivities and food, and no incidents are to be reported, aside from the purple guardian breaking a pot. His brother assured us it was a mistake. We let it slide, but we don't have a lot of ressources right now and won't tolerate our materials being broken in the future. ]
[ The golden guardian spends a lot of time in the village now and helps us with many things. Townspeople started calling him the village's angel. His brother rarely comes, and when he does people hurt themselves or fall sick. We do not know the reason for that, but we suspect he isn't innocent. ]
Goth had a feeling he wasn't going to like the next paragraphs, the way the tone started to change between the two children sat heavily in his mind. He skipped a few that mostly talked about all that the golden child was doing for them, from helping with tasks to healing the sicks, like a sort of saint, and only gave more attention to the ones talking about the purple child, much more severe.
[ Our angel said he was responsible for the good, which means that his brother must be responsible for the bad. People were already cautious around him, they now have a reason to continue. The purple one doesn't help around, and when he does something usually goes bad. Some people started chasing him when he came too close to their workshop, afraid he might break something or give them bad luck. Some swore they saw him curse people. We do not know if he is able to use magic, but we stay cautious. ]
[ A fire started at the glassware. We were able to stop it before it spread to other buildings, but the shop will have to be rebuilt. Workers are accusing the purple guardian, though our angel assures us that his brother is innocent. People believe he is just trying to protect him because of his good heart. Some started calling the guardian a demon. We do not have proof for now that he caused the fire, but we do not have proof that he didn't. We will stay cautious. ]
[ Harvests weren't good this year. The farmer swears it is because the demon cursed him. Prices will have to go up, some people may not be able to afford much food. If someone dies, it will be the demon's fault. ]
It was ridiculous, if there wasn't much food, why make prices go higher and risk people not being able to afford it ? Why not share it equally between the villagers ? And why blame a child ? Goth started to see how the people in the village might not have been very good...
[ A child died today, followed shortly after by his sister. The doctor said it was a new sickness. The mother claims the demon must have cursed her children because they had always been healthy before coming here. If even children can be victim of the demon, then we cannot trust him. ]
[ More people are falling sick. The demon is a danger to our village, it causes suffering to innocent people and kills the children and elderly. Doctors are working on containing the sickness so it doesn't spread more. ]
Goth had winced at the pronoun switch, and almost gasped a few paragraphs later.
[ Vengefoul acts have been reported, mostly by teens who still have energy after the epidemic. The demon will be punished for each curse it places on us. The angel cannot know about that, his good heart would cause him to try and protect it, and we don't want him hurt. ]
[ The demon doesn't fight back, it pretends to be weak and begs for mercy, but curses us when our back is turned. Our courageous kids and teens continue to go to the hill when our angel is in town. We hope that the demon will soon cease its actions against us. ]
What about the actions against that poor kid, Goth thought. Each paragraph about that child seemed to be worse than the previous one, all reporting awful mistreatments and blaming him for things that couldn't have been his fault. How could people being sick be his fault ? How could bad weather be his fault ? How could a couple arguing be his fault ? It was sickening to read, but the one that truly made his soul twist was the last one, the one that concluded the book. It looked rushed, as if written just before the action took place.
[ Today the demon will die. It stole from the tree that granted us happiness, it cannot live any longer. Citizens took their pitchforks and all the weapons they could. We will bring fire. The demon will burn and the angel will be the only one left. ]
[ The demon faught back ]
The rest of the pages were blank, no one had been left to finish it. Goth slowly closed the book with shaking hands, the pity he had felt earlier had vanished, and he looked at Nightmare only to jump on his chair : a white skeleton was looking at him, his skull was completely bashed in on the right side, and a purple eyelight was staring at him in his left socket. « Do you see it now ? », the child from the archive... no, his brother, asked. « Do you see that they deserved to die ? Do you see what they did to me ? ». Goth glanced back down at the book for a second, and when he lifted his head back up his brother looked normal again, at least he looked how Goth always knew him, goopy and black. « I... I see, yes.. », Goth nodded, unable to take his eyes off of his little brother, who had suffered so much, who had been accused of crimes he never comitted, and who had kept it a secret for ten long years...
Nightmare stood up, and the chandeliers died out. He grabbed the book to go put it back in the drawer. « We can leave, now, I did what I wanted to do and you saw what you needed to see », he claimed as he got out of the library, not waiting for his brother.
Goth rushed after him, walking close behind as they went through the ruins once again, slower this time. He didn't know what to say, didn't know if he should have tried and comfort him, tell him he was right for fighting back, tell him the villagers were wrong... or not say anything if he didn't want to talk further about all of this. He almost bumped into him when he stopped. « Do you think... I'm a demon, too... ? », Nightmare asked without turning around, hesitant, his voice close to a whisper.
Goth looked at him with disbelief, and didn't have to think before he answered, « no ». Nightmare turned around, and the face that was looking at Goth wasn't that of a demon, but of his little brother. His little brother who still slept with the octopus plush he had gifted him on his first day at home, his little brother who liked to bake with their mom, his little brother who had bitten Asgore's finger when he had pinched his cheek the first time he had been introduced to the other gods, his little brother who was scared of dolls, his little brother who came in his room at any time of the day and night to tell him about his books, … « you're not a demon, you're my baby brother, and I love you. We all love you », he affirmed.
Nightmare stared at him for a moment, as if he hadn't expected this answer, as if he thought his brother would have been disgusted by him for having defended himself. His eyelight got a bit shinier, and Goth knew what it meant, so he opened his arms and let Nightmare get closer so he could hold him tight in a comforting embrace. The teen shook, sobbing against his big brother, his tentacles curling around themselves, finally crying for all those years of injustice and pain he had to endure without anyone being on his side. « I never did anything to them... ! They lied, I never cursed them... ! I swear I never did... », he pleaded. Goth hummed, gently rubbing his back, « I know, I believe you... ».
« I never wanted to hurt anyone... but I was so scared, and I didn't have a choice... », he wheeped, pressing his head against Goth's shoulder, « it was an accident... I didn't mean to turn Dream into stone either... I don't know why he's like that... ».
« I don't know either... », Goth didn't let go, holding his brother as he let the feelings he had repressed for too long finally come out, as he told him all that they had done to him, how they had hurt him, how no matter what he did they never gave him a chance... Goth couldn't believe such awful persons had existed, how they could have hurt an innocent kid, and as he glanced at one of the corpses, he found himself glad that they had been left outside without any honor and dignity. They deserved it for what they had done to his little brother.
« Do you want to go to Ccino's ? », Goth asked after a moment when Nightmare let go of him to wipe his tears with his sleeve. The teen looked at him, sniffled, and nodded. A warm cup of cocoa with a cat on his laps would surely change his mind. Goth smiled, and took the teen's hand in his to teleport them to their destination.
As promised, Goth wouldn't say anything to their parents, but he was glad that Nightmare had trusted him enough to share everything with him, so now he could comfort him and be there when he needed to, when bad memories came back, because Nightmare was his little brother, and he loved him...