Footsteps tapped against stone bricks as the leader of Justice Reigns solemnly walked towards the execution rounds.
Dream sighed, fingers clenching around the hilt of his claymore.
He was not proud of what he was about to do, but for the greater good, and as penance, it must be done.
The winged man thought back, refreshing his mind, just to be sure that this was the right thing to do.
A sentry had reported a sighting of Nightmare and his two friends near a town in Overtale. Dream had dispatched a group of soldiers with orders to capture them, a begrudgingly normal thing to do.
To his surprise, they came back with a prisoner.
Never once, had Error ever been captured. Before now, that is.
One of Nightmare's friends, Error was... tricky to say the least. He was the one responsible for most of their prison breaks, using his lock picking and brutally efficient combat skills to get in and out quickly and quietly.
Not to mention how technology seemed to glitch and fail around him, but that was probably just an asset behind a screen.
The group of soldiers had come back with Error restrained, and a deep gouge through his right eye. Proper medical attention was given, of course, before he was escorted to a high security cell.
For the next three days, Dream had debated with a few of his advisors on what to do.
Finally, they had come upon a grim conclusion.
The young human had committed several severe crimes while aiding Nightmare and Cross in causing chaos and in their flight from JR. He was an escape artist, as a close call had already proven, so he would be hard to contain.
The final nail in the coffin was the fact that he was an invaluable member of Nightmare's group, and they would be utterly crippled without him.
So it was decided, that a week and a half from his capture, Error would be executed.
It was kept under wraps. No chance of it getting out to prying ears that would alert Nightmare to recklessly come get his friend.
Whole it would be good to use as bait, Nightmare was not afraid to cause casualties in their confrontations. As evident by the death toll caused by collapsed buildings, car crashes from chases, and other such disasters.
Even though, they still had expected Nightmare and Cross to launch a rescue attempt. Error had always busted them out within a few days.
But a week went by and nothing other that their usual hijinks, if a bit cut back, happened.
Were they really waiting that long?
Anyways, Dream shouldn't care less.
Didn't.
So now, on a clear summers day, Dream was walking to slay his brother's best friend.
It was hard not to think of Nightmare as such, after all.
He stood before the doors of the courtyard that they would use to commit the execution.
The doors parted and he walked through.
Two guards stood at Error's side. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was trembling, knowing what was about to happen.
Dream cleared his throat as started to speak.
"Error, for your crimes against the laws of the Multiverse, you will be executed. These crimes include, but are not limited to; treason, breaking and entering, assisting a known fugitive, carrying out multiple large scale prison breaks, thievery, and involuntary manslaughter."
"Your death will be dealt swiftly, and without cruelty. I hope that you find peace in whatever life comes next for you."
As Dream had spoke, Error's shaking had increased, and tears had welled at his eyes.
One of the guards looked at Error weirdly, and their hand twitched. A bit of prodding at their emotions revealed that they wished to comfort the convict out of sympathy, but was refraining from doing so out of respect.
The tall blonde unsheathed his sword, looking straight into the lense of one of the several cameras positioned around.
It was required for each execution to be recorded. Just in case anything abnormal happened, or for the recording to be released to the public.
Error had started mumbling something to himself, bit it was too low for anyone to hear.
Dream stepped forward and raised his sword to be level with the smaller's neck.
Error tried to stumble backwards, but the guards held him still. Tears poured down his face, tracing over the strange blue veins under his eyes.
"3, 2, 1" Dream counted down, before swinging. The guards ducked just as the large, whinging claymore swung.
The blade cut through Error's neck like warm butter, and he collapsed.
It was a gory sight, with the claymore having sheathed through half of his vertebrae.
The corpse lay still on the ground, having stopped twitching.
Dream closed his eyes, and murmured a prayer.
"Uh, boss?" The voice of one of the guards rang shakily through the silence that had settled.
"What? Do you have no respect for the dead?" He responded, angered.
"About that.. are corpses supposed to..do that?" The guards wavering voice prompted him to open his eyes.
The sight before the winged man shocked him.
Error's body was..glitching, as if in a video game. What should have been dead and unmoving limbs, were twitching. The blood still leaking out of his neck started to take a strange sort of shimmer on it.
"What the.." Came out of his lips as he gripped the claymore tighter, slowly inching forwards.
The glitching increased rapidly until the figure was completely obscured.
Then the unmistakable sound of a portal being popped into existence ripped through the staticky air.
A large, glitching portal appeared under the slumped figure.
Error fell through, and Dream got just enough of a glimpse to see him hit an white floor, in the void of the portal, before the portal closed.
"Sound the alarm!" One of the guards yelled, right before a screeching noise filled the air.
Dream snapped to attention, taking out his phone and tapping into the loudspeakers. He started barking out codes and orders.
He hurried towards his office, only one thought on his mind.
What the absolute heck was that?!
