Start Over Again

Finding

As Nightmare walked across Outertale to find his brother, he came across the void that lead to nothing. They say whoever goes down there will be ripped apart from existence. Nightmare wanted to jump though, but his mission to save his brother held him back. Maybe another time.

He searched the AUs to find his brother's aura and when he noticed how strong it got, he realized he was at his old AU. The place where it all began. The place where they grew up together. The place they used to call home.

Now, it's all burned and destroyed by his brother. But once Nightmare figures out how to bring back his brother, all of this will change and they'll be back to their old lives, before the incident, or the villagers ever came.

He can just imagine how amazing that would feel. They'll be together again after so long. Nightmare just has to keep believing.

He walked across the burnt AU, occasionally crossing by magical fires that were still lit on the remaining debris of the village. Even with his lit cigar, he can still smell the sickening aroma of burnt dead bodies of the villagers in the AU. Winds of dust flew across him, causing him to wipe his face because of it.

He continued venturing through the dead village and found himself at the dead tree of feelings. It was a terrifying sight.

The trunk and the branches were were blackened like charcoal. Not a single leaf was left of the tree. And a powerful radiation came from the tree itself. Luckily, Nightmare isn't affected by that in any way except feeling a bit warm from getting close to it.

Nightmare took off his cigar and said. "Dream, I know you're there. Come out." He said it in the most stern way possible as he drew his scythe from his magic and into his hands.
He waited for a brief moment, before a yellow bird flew over to him and landed on his shoulder. It started singing a song. Nightmare sighed, knowing what the bird was. So he took the bird into his hand and said. "Dream, I need to talk to you. Now." He demanded.

The bird then magically transformed into Nightmare's psycho angelic brother. He looked at him with that sickening wide grin. "What brings you here, brother? Have you come to finally surrender?" Dream asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
"No, I just need some of your feathers." Nightmare siad straight away.

"Oh? Why? Are you planning something?" Dream kept asking more questions. Nightmare was getting irritated by it. "It's none of your business, Dream. Now give me some."

"I believe it is my business, brother. After all, these are my feathers." Dream replied while stroking his wings and plucking some loose feathers, making him wince a bit.
Nightmare just rolled his eyelights and said.
"I need them to cure you from becoming that." Nightmare referred to his form. Dream's face slightly saddened by what Nightmare just said. His wicked grin closed into a small frown.

"W-why? I don't understand..." He said. "You don't understand, huh? Well for starters you killed our AU because of that form of yours, you're a literal psychopath that drives people insane, and you don't even have a f*cking care in the world!" Nightmare said with a few tears forming in his eyesockets. "I don't even know who you are anymore..." He concluded.

Dream just stared at him. His face was just neutral, but deep inside, his soul was aching. He felt pain that his brother didn't like him like this at all.
"Now give me the feathers." Nightmare opens a fire-proof pouch from his bag and Dream starts plucking out his feathers without saying a word. A couple of painful winces escaped his mouth, but he still kept going.

Dream plucked thirty feathers from his right wing and just kept rubbing the spot where it hurts. Nightmare took the feathers with him and turned away from him, not even making another eye contact between them. But before he left, he said something to Dream.

"... Also, just a reminder, Dream..."

"Stop calling me 'brother', because we both know that isn't true...

"Not anymore..."