Chapter Text
Ashes hung thick in the air. Smoke and dirt shrouded every corner of the sky.
It made it hard to retrieve human bodies and recover the dust of the fallen.
The hard part of being a Guardian is not what everyone thinks it is. Everyone knows about the big battles, the mystical powers, and wild adventures. But no one talks about the aftermath of those battles. Hauling bodies and coughing because of the dust from Monsters deaths, scouring for survivors was a far more daunting task than any fight Dream had been in.
But that was what made the most difference. This was the part of the job that actually saved people. His battles hardly got anywhere nowadays. The Multiverse was full of villains that refused to change. All Dream could do most of the time was lessen the burden on residents, not prevent their struggles entirely.
He was beyond exhausted and he was definitely injured. A simple touch from Nightmare was all it took to sting, but being fully attacked was a different- more serious- story.
Clutching his damaged ribs, Dream shuffled through a destroyed house. This battle had ended so suddenly, it just didn’t sit well with him. Something was wrong with Nightmare this time around but Dream couldn’t put his finger on it. It left a sour taste in his mouth, one that couldn’t even be overcome by the actual taste of his own metallic blood or the thick smoke that hung in the air.
“Dream,” Swap called. His voice was the only ounce of relief in his day thus far. “I think we got everyone. I’ve asked around and no one is missing. Everyone is alive.” He purposefully decided to not add, "...this time around..." that would only upset Dream.
Dream put down a plank of wood he had been struggling to lift, “Are you sure?” He winced while asking, his ribs were clearly more damaged than he thought they were. “I don’t want to miss anyone.”
In a flash, Swap was at Dream’s side. Dream hadn’t seen him get there, he must have either been really fast or Dream was blanking in and out of consciousness. Both were likely. “You need to rest.” Swap said, a concerned aura surrounding him.
Dream swallowed hard, his throat was dry and coated with his own blood. “I will. As soon as we make sure everyone is okay.” He struggled to wander off to the other side of the wrecked building and Swap trailed him frantically.
“Dream, I told you everyone is accounted for! The Great Swap made sure of it! We should really be heading back now-”
“Was Nightmare acting strange, or am I crazy?” Dream ignored Swap. Not out of any malicious intent, it was just that he had unintentionally stopped listening. He needed to keep going. “He felt... off.”
Swap’s expression was hidden under his own makeshift mask he was wearing to keep out the smoke, but Dream knew he was frowning, “Well, I am not an empathetic being like you. But, he did seem less powerful today.” He posed a little, “But I had just assumed it was my great skill outshining his. After all, I am Royal Guard. He must have been intimidated by my sheer power and rank!”
Dream tripped over something and fell hard to the dirt floor. Swap rushed to his side, tone changing immediately, “Dream!” He helped the Guardian sit upright, his eyelits scanned him up and down, likely scanning for injuries. Of course, he noticed the red seeping through the side of Dream’s tunic. “That’s it. We’re going back right now.”
“Wait!” Dream gripped Swap tightly, wobbling but trying to stand up. He turned slowly to check what he had tripped over. A hand. Dream’s soul dropped. A person stone-still like that, under debris, was never a good sign. He pointed shakely, “There’s someone…”
Swap’s expression narrowed. Swiftly, he lowered Dream back down, forcing him to sit. Like most Swap-Sanses and Papyruses, Swap was quite powerful. Even though he had fought hard in battle, he had no problem summoning more magic to lift the debris off the person under the rubble. In a flash he had the monster dragged out. “A skeleton?” He muttered surprised. They had already identified the Sans and the Papyrus of this AU. This was someone he did not recognize as an Outcode either.
He listened for a soul beat. Nothing.
Most people would panic at this point, even Swap himself would have started to shake in the past. But his numerous battles in the Multiverse as a Star and his rank in the Royal Guard had taught him that panicking got him nowhere. He quickly set his hands on the skeleton's ribcage and focused hard on his magic.
In a split second, he shot a jolt through their chest twice in quick sucession. He continued to do it until the person stirred. With a start, the Monster sat up and Swap sighed with relief. Dream would have surely beaten himself up over this if they hadn’t survived. He always did. And unfortunately, casualties were normal. One of the biggest signs that Nightmare was feeling off today was the simple plain fact that everybody had survived, but Swap didn’t want to bring that up.
“Phew.” Swap wipped the sweat off his head. “You’re alive.”
The skeleton was dazed and unsteady but as soon as he locked eyes with Swap he jumped back as far as he could. He couldn’t travel far with how weak he was. He was breathing heavily, eyelits darting around frantically.
Swap found himself ripping off a piece of his blue scarf and offering it to him, “Here, wear this. It’ll help keep out the smoke. I know you’re scared but everything will be alright.”
Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to calm him down as the skeleton proceeded to pass out as soon as Swap said that. Whether it was from smoke inhalation or straight up fear, Swap didn’t know. But either way, he was going to be dragging both this unconscious skeleton and a barely conscious Dream back to the Omega timeline.
Nightmare awoke with a start.
Immediately he was up and out of the strange bed he had woken up in and as soon as he had stood up he was dizzy again.
Alliaments were not things he was typically subjected to, so this recent spell had been disastrous, to say the least. At the very least it was utterly confusing.
To add to his confusion, a person was at his side, trying to keep him from tumbling over in an instant. The confusing part about this was not exactly the fact that there was someone helping him, but more that he did not recognize them.
Now this may be hard to describe because he hadn’t- in fact- opened his eyes at all to actually see them, they just felt wrong. Actually, he couldn’t feel them at all. Like… magically feel them. By touch alone, he couldn't recognize any of his employees. This wasn't them.
“Woah there broseph calm down! You’re totz safe now. You gotta rest right here in yer crib.”
Oh no. That stupid parasite.
Only one person in the whole Multiverse was idiotic enough to speak like that and it was that terrifying creature that leeched off of skeletons and had a taste for that neon nineties culture for whatever reason.
Nightmare’s eyes shot open and several things occurred to him in one moment.
One, he hadn’t felt Fresh magically. Which was particularly strange because even if he had been magically impaired for the time being, the negative emotions that emitted from Fresh’s hosts were usually so strong he could always sense that bothersome freak from ten AU’s over.
Two, Nightmare had opened his eyes. Two. Two Sockets.
Slowly and uncharacteristically calmly, Nightmare shifted his gaze to his hands.
Bone white.
Not an ounce of goop.
Soot? Sure.
Dirt? Yes.
Goop? No.
That was enough to garner a scream from Nightmare. He was not one to scream, lest it was at someone. Screaming from fear was pitiful and a sign of great weakness. But if this was not the weakest point of his adult life, then what was?
Fresh’s eyebrows furrowed. “Those are called hands broski. Der pretty nifty.” He snapped and wiggled some finger guns at Nightmare, “You can do stuff like dis with 'em. Haha.”
Nightmare squirmed, not knowing what to do at all. He was smart, calculated, and good at planning. But this was unlike anything he could have ever even imagined. The first thing he could think of was to freak out but that wasn’t an option till this pest was out of his room. He pointed to the nearest exit, “Out!” He demanded.
Fresh frowned, but after a moment he shrugged. His glasses read, ‘Whateves’ and with that, he left Nightmare alone in what appeared to be a large military-style tent. One that knights used when they were stationed on a base for a while. This was clearly a medical tent, there were monsters and humans alike in beds all around him. Not many paid him much mind, though a few glanced over when he shouted. Probably because they also were dealing with their own panicking thoughts.
In a flurry, Nightmare was out of bed. He wavered ever so slightly but he was awake enough now to push through that. He realized that his shirt was off, and when he really truly became aware of his present physical condition he realized that four spots on his back had been bandaged. His ribs were cracked there. Right where his tentacles should be. He also had a few bandages across a crack on one of his sockets. The one that shouldn’t be functional.
There, conveniently, was a shirt folded neatly on a chair by his hospital-style bed. There were other clothes too but in the hurry he was in he couldn’t be bothered to even glance at them. He was putting on and lacing up the white tunic-style shirt as he walked out of the large med tent.
He didn’t exactly know what he was doing up till that point. Everything had just been an emotional reaction and all he could think to do was remove himself from his current environment. But plans and thoughts slid into place like a neat puzzle when he opened the flap to the tent.
A pleasantly warm sun hit his bones and as Nightmare took everything in he realized where he was.
He had been delivered to the center of the Star’s base of operations.
The Omega Timeline.
Home to survivors of destroyed AU’s and temporary rest stops to many Outcodes.
Outcodes that were not Nightmare, of course.
Not usually...
The Lord Of Negativity had tried tirelessly to breach this place before. But there was always seemingly a barrier. The closest he could get was the white void on the outskirts. Dream had something to do with it, he had concluded long ago. He always put up a sort of postivity shield over the whole site.
The only course of action that Nightmare could think to take was getting someone on the inside and that was where Cross came in. See, Dream had been drawn empathetically to Cross the same way Nightmare had. But Nightmare had gotten there first and integrated him into his nightmarish Gang swiftly and soundly.
But Dream still had hope for Cross and having not been with Nightmare all that long, it was a perfect opportunity for him to get a double agent. A plan was laid out to get Cross to pretend and switch sides. And it worked. Cross got in and he even faked a battle with Nightmare and Killer on the outskirts to play it up. Dream was convinced that Cross had switched sides.
And Cross would be here now, Nightmare supposed. His lackeys must know that he’s gone. Cross was a smart soldier and a good spy. He never got caught relaying information to Nightmare and he was good at taking action. He was probably here, trying to figure out what had happened after the last battle between The Stars and Nightmare. He was close to Dream, a trusted escort.
Surely, Nightmare could find him here and tell him what happened and figure out what to do next. He had lost his magic. Unexpectedly and abruptly. He was kidnapped. No one here knew who he was, clearly. If anyone else was in his shoes they would be losing their composure. But Nightmare was prim and proper in his villainy, so he took a deep breath and coolly released it.
He had been feeling off for the last week or so. Emotions had been harder to read and his magic had been finicky. He had looked these symptoms up in several books, wondering why it was happening. But no one was in the unique situation he was, so there was no real answer to his predicament.
Now that he knew the result of those troublesome symptoms he was no less terrified. More so, now he was scared of the why. Why was it happening? Had someone done this to him? Perhaps this was a plot against him to take away his power and control? A rat on the inside? Killer was never the most trusted of his employees.
Like a drunken madman, Nightmare wavered through crowds of people. There were military-style tents everywhere in this area. Clearly, some survivors lived in these, but almost as many of the tents were med tents. In the distance, the injured and confused Nightmare could see the tops of permanent structures. Residents who had decided to stay indefinitely rather than return to permanent AU’s. Maybe those pitiful creatures who wanted to help others by giving themselves up until they were left with nothing themselves.
He wasn’t sure exactly where he could find his double agent of a skeleton, but he was not looking forward to who would be with him. Cross was Dream’s personal guard now. He didn’t always appear on missions. Sometimes Dream would escape Cross’s watchful eyes and make it out on smaller missions.
But often Cross did come along and fight by the Star’s side. His fighting against his own team was very convincing, much to Nightmare’s amusement. He was committed to truly tricking his brother into thinking he was against him. Dream had been robbed of a real friend. Nightmare almost felt pity for him… almost. Well, any amount of pity for that man that may have been there before, left his skeleton and flew away as soon as a firm grip grabbed his sore shoulder.
Nightmare could not catch a break.
He inhaled a huge amount of air and held it. It was all he could do not to blow his cover by screaming at whoever had just touched him so abruptly. He didn’t want to get himself killed in his freshly weakened state by giving away who he was. He figured shouting, “Unhand me, mortal scum!” Was probably an oddly suspicious thing to say. He turned around to meet the armored Monster with a straight-forward scowl.
Of all the skeletons Nightmare did not want to see, Swap was standing right there. The soldier Star locked eyes with Nightmare as if anticipating his cold reaction.
Nightmare frowned suddenly stuck in the intense eye contact. “Move Blue Boy, I’m going somewhere.”
Swap rolled his eyes, “My name’s not ‘Blue Boy’ it’s Sans. You better remember it! But you may call me Swap for convenience’s sake. Many people’s names here are Sans.” He looked Nightmare up and down, adding, “As, I’m sure you know...” The fool must have thought he was a Sans. How wrong he was, Nightmare laughed to himself. Nightmare could not believe his Mother had chosen this bloke as a model for his very own skeleton vessel.
“I’ll be taking you from here.” Swap continued. “You shouldn’t wander unescorted on your first day, in a great big place like this. It’s a lot bigger than the Underground. You’ll get lost. It’s a bad idea especially when you’re fresh out of the hospital.” He rolled his eyes and mumbled something along the lines of: “Fresh is useless at checking up on people. I should’ve just done it myself to begin with… I cannot believe that parasite...”
Swap stared at him curiously, head tilted like a puppy. Nightmare hated how he acted like he was some sort of innocent animal. He had seen how that soldier fought. He was a foe to behold and just last week he had snapped Killer’s femur right in two with an attack. That had taken a lot of energy to heal and Nightmare was not fond of it.
Oh, how noble he and the other Stars thought of themselves though. Saving everyone all the time for their selfish reasons. Was it truly good if the intent was selfish? Nightmare thought not. He’d rather hang around people who were at the very least, honest with themselves and others about the type of person they were.
The Stars wanted nothing but self-gratification and their delusions of heroism got in the way of his less-noble goals to keep his family safe and well.
See, his Gang was not full of noble soldiers or heroes.
No.
His Gang was full of murderers.
Murderers who were only that because they had been pushed to that brink by self-righteous pricks like The Stars and then ostracized for the actions they took to prevent the real tragedies. Human filth and real monsters lurked out there and still nothing was done.
People were cruel.
All of them.
And his real family knew that. That’s why they got along so well. Why they were family. Nightmare was the only one who understood them and probably the only one who ever could. And he would protect them and provide for them in every way he could, even if it meant destroying everything and everyone in his way to do so, including the self-righteous Star’s who defied him almost consistently.
“You are quiet...” Swap said, breaking the silence that Nightmare had so desperately hoped would stay silent. Their eye contact had never broken and no one had moved an inch. Nightmare was likely trapped here.
“That’s because there is nothing to speak of.” Voiced Nightmare, a noticeable edge to his voice.
He needed to keep his emotions under wraps, he reminded himself. He should not snap or be rude, even if it hurt painfully so to be docile with this dull creature. If he was too obvious about who he was and how he felt about all these people, they would surely figure him out before he could even find Cross, get out of this Goddess-forsaken timeline, and regain his magic, which he would do… surely.
Swap hummed in response, “While I don’t mean to pry, I’m sure the last few hours have been traumatic for you. I was just curious. I hope that you are not too hurt from yesterday's incident and that everyone you know and love is accounted for?”
Nightmare’s sockets narrowed. Swap was speaking of the battle. In a split second, it occurred to Nightmare that The Stars must have thought he was just another villager, and while that could not have been any farther from the truth he would have to come up with a false backstory to keep appearances up for the time being. Luckily he was good at fibbing.
“I have no loved ones to account for. And I am mostly unscathed, thank you. Rather... hungry. That is all.”
“No loved ones?” The blue-clad skeleton frowned, “I’m sorry to hear that.” He looked genuinely upset for Nightmare and it made the Lord of Negativity want to burst out laughing. This idiot would not feel so bad for him if he knew who he was really speaking to. Nightmare found that fact extremely amusing.
Nightmare gave a shrug. He actually didn’t know how to act friendly to this man. He wasn’t a particularly kind person even to those he cared about. “I manage.” He stated simply.
Swap looked more concerned and curious than before, much to Nightmare’s dismay. Usually, if he gave answers like that his Gang would leave him alone. This was irritating him immensely. Not just the conversation but the fact that Swap had stopped him in the middle of the path, so people were crowding all around them and being generally annoying because- frankly- they were being rude by holding up the flow of traffic. “So you live alone?” Swap asked, uncaring of that predicament it seemed.
Nightmare swallowed. His instinct was to say no. He had four annoying childish Monsters to watch over. But, that of course, did not add up. “Yes.” He lied, “I doubt any of those villagers knew me. I don’t live in town.”
“It’s a stroke of bad luck for Nightmare to have hit that town when he did then.” The Star replied. “I’m guessing you came into town for some supplies or something? I asked around, no one from Snowdin recognized you.”
“I live off the grid in the middle of the snowy forests. I don’t usually have to scavenge for supplies from the measly townsfolk. It was a harsh winter.” Nightmare replied. His lying was instinctual and to the point. He blessed his instincts. He was glad to know exactly which AU he had been after too, it helped him come up with accurate lies. "It is... always winter..."
Swap nodded as if that made sense and then, finally seemed to notice they were holding up traffic, and clapped his hands together enthusiastically, “Well, you said you were hungry? You're probably trying to find food, huh? I’ve got stuff to make tacos back at my own camp. You can stick with me till you're all better. Here, follow me-”
Nightmare wanted nothing more than to run and go in any other direction than Swap but the thought of tacos made him salivate. He had never been hungry before. Sure, he had eaten but hunger was not something he experienced. He had never understood the hype. Horror frequently ranted on and on about all these different recipes but Nightmare never cared to eat and why should he? The fun in eating was taste and after a couple hundred years or so of complete boredom, you’ve tried it all.
Not only did he feel like he was actively starving, but Nightmare also liked the thought of finding Cross wherever Swap may go. There was a high possibility that Swap was taking him back to the General campsite and that was where, Swap would live, but also Dream and of course, Cross.
It didn’t take him much time to decide to follow Swap, but he struggled for a second to tell himself it wasn’t just for tacos but also to find Cross. As soon as he decided on his reasoning being sound it was good enough to let Swap lead him elsewhere.