𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬

Into The Mindscape

Nightmare walked around what it seems to be Dream's mind. He was in his passive form and was looking around everywhere for Dream. Sometimes even passing by Dream's memories.

Many negative memories where Nightmare took him for granted. He didn't realize that his brother had been hiding all of this negativity inside him for so long.

He gazed upon so many memories where Dream ends up crying and breaking down. It made him feel bad that his brother has been living alone for so long and was too captivated in doing his job rather than making any friends at all.

Looking around one memory of Dream sitting quietly in his room, Nightmare observed a bit on why this memory had one of the most negativity.

Dream stood up and locked the door before cowering into a corner of the bedroom, the dark corner. He began crying to himself for a while and pulled out a small shoebox.
Nightmare cocked his head to the side, wondering why he had that.
Dream opened it, revealing a small knife. Nightmare's eyes widened and his soul throbbed heavily, filling itself with guilt and sadness.

Dream shakily picked up the knife and began cutting his wrists, whispering things to himself words that made Nightmare slowly tear up. Every sentence that Dream spoke, another cut was planted on his wrist.

"It's my fault..."

"It's my fault my brother is like this..."

"It's my fault for not doing a good job..."

"It's my fault that I wasn't there for him..."

"It's my fault that I failed to see the truth behind the villagers..."

"It's my fault for not being able to protect him..."

"It's all my fault..."

Dream began tearing up, golden tears leaked down his eyes as he continued to cut himself. Nightmare felt tears stream down from his eyes, 'Was this how Dream really felt?' he thought to himself. Immense pain and guilt filled inside him, the negativity around this one memory was more than enough to handle even for him.

Pain, Sorrow, Guilt, Grief, Sadness, and Regret filled this small memory. Nightmare hadn't realized that his brother has been living in immense torture since the day he was released from the stone statue. And that was ages ago! The experience that Nightmare had with the villagers was nothing compared to what Dream had been through.

As soon as Dream stopped cutting himself, blood dropped down his wrists as he passes out on the floor with his golden blood still pooling out. Nightmare wanted to reach him, he wanted to run over there, heal him, hug him, and apologize for everything. But he knows he can't, because it was only a memory.

The memory finished as soon as Dream lost his consciousness. Nightmare's eyes were filled with sadnesses and guilt. He was so stupid to think that Dream was 'okay' this whole time.

Then another memory came by, one where he could feel corruption inside it. It happened after Dream passed out. Dream stirred and got up from the floor, holding his head and keeping it together. He went to get a towel from the bathroom and wiped the floor clean, eyes still watery. After that, he cleaned up his wounds and put on his gloves to hide them. Then he wiped away the tears from his eyes, putting on a fake smile that was rather convincing for everyone.

Nightmare bit his lips when he saw an ominous dark shadow behind him. The shadow was all too familiar for him and recognized him as Shattered.
Then all of the sudden, the negative aura that Dream had inside him vanished into thin air. He wondered how that was possible, until he saw the reflection in the mirror that Dream was looking at. It was Shattered, the person who took over Dream. Nightmare felt anger rise up inside him, clenching his fists with rage.

"H-Hi S-Shattered..." Dream spoke weakly, his face saddened. Shattered gave a disappointed look at Dream. "Dream, I thought I told you to stop this." Shattered said to him.
Nightmare gave a look of surprise and curiousity. He didn't understand why Shattered was being sympathetic to Dream.

"I-I know..." Dream looked down. "Look, Dream. You've been beating yourself way too many times. It pains me to see you like this!" Shattered raised his voice a little.
"You know it's not your fault" Shattered continued. "But it is!" Dream protested. Nightmare could feel guilt crawl up his body swiftly.

"It's my fault for not being there for him! It's my fault he's like this! I-It's all m-my fault..." Dream cried out with pain. Nightmare felt guilt pierced his soul like a toxic injection, it was poisoning him from the inside.

"I-It's a-always m-my f-fault..." Dream finished as tears leaked down on the sink, almost filling itself up with his golden tears.

Purple tears formed on Nightmare's eyesockets and he began running away to find the real Dream that was trapped in this mindscape. He ignored all the other memories that he came across. He doesn't want to know more about what happened to him. On the way he heard some negative quotes that were said to Dream.

"Why can't you do anything right?!"

"Deal with your own problems, Dream!"

"You're being selfish, Dream!"

"Not everything is about you!"

"Shut up! You're so annoying!"

"No wonder your brother hates you!"

Nightmare was panting, breathing intensely from the immense negativity inside Dream's mind. His soul throbbed with pure agony, guilt and sorrow. He stopped and crouched down to wallow on his mistakes that were blamed upon his innocent brother, who did nothing wrong his entire life. He cried purple tears of guilt, staining the endless black void that carried all of Dream's memories.

Shattered appeared in front of him and instantly shot a glare at him.
"What are you doing here?" Shattered crossed his arms while glaring at him. "I-I want my brother back!" Nightmare shouted. "Dream has had enough tortures in his life, he deserves a break!" Shattered argued back angrily. Nightmare went silent.

"You already saw what he's gone through since the incident and you want him to feel pain again?!" Shattered snapped. "N-No that's not what I-" "No! Even if you have changed, it doesn't change that fact that you hurt him more than anyone else!" Shattered cut him off. "No matter what I do, Dream will always remember what YOU did and blame himself for everything that happened!" He continued.
"I've been trying for so long to keep him happy! And you've been ruining my every progress!"

"He can't even go through a single day without having reoccurring nightmares, stress, or reminding himself that it was all his fault. When it was clearly YOURS!" Shattered snapped at him, glaring daggers at the purple skeleton. "I-I know it was my fault, okay?! I just want to say 'Sorry' to him!"  Nightmare shouted back with seriousness in his voice. "Sorry? You want to say SORRY?!" Shattered growled. "Saying you're sorry and admitting that it was your fault, doesn't change anything! Even if he forgives you, nothing will change! He'll continue blaming himself after all that!"

"But keeping him here is only imprisoning him! He can't stay here forever!" Nightmare yelled at him with anger. "You think I was the one who wanted to do this to him?!" Shattered asked angrily. "I didn't even convince him to eat your apples! I protested against it! He was just too caught up in guilt and did it anyways!" Tears started to prick at the edge of Shattered's eye.

"Then why are you keeping him here?" Nightmare asked calmly this time. There was a long pause of silence and Shattered sighed. "I'm not. He's back outside the real world. There's just something I needed to show you before I go..."

וווו

Fun Fact:
90% of this chapter was made before 'Hopeless' was even published :3