Shattered Souls [sequel]

Fight Your Inner Demons

Plus side - Dream was now standing on his own two feet with his own two eyelights - most certainly himself again.

Down side - now thrown out of his vessel, Shattered had taken residence within the shadows once again (of which there were many in the underground cavern that was Snowdin).

"Dream? Are you alright now?" called Blue eagerly, to which the little guardian gave a reassuring thumbs-up, before returning his gaze to the glowing eye-light shifting around the cavern walls.

A conglomeration of these shadows finally centered on the dirt path before the skeletons.

So... That's how you want to play?

The voice rang out from all around them, distorted and discernable from any clear tone.

Fine.

But be rest assured; you won't wi-

An arrow whizzed past the main point of Shattered's form.

"You missed."

"It was on purpose," Dream replied tersely but with no real bite behind it. "It's good too talk to you - to really talk to you, brother."

Nightmare sighed heavily, ignoring the upstart of spluttered protests from Shattered at being ignored. "I'll never be able to say it back, y'know. No matter how much I've forgiven you; we're still on opposite sides."

"That's alright. I'll just have to say it for the both of us. Ready to kick this guy's ass?" Dream almost smirked.

"Oh you know it." Came Nightmare's reply.

Then to Shattered he said, "I really did miss having you around. Seems a shame to be the one to get rid of you again. I don't care how your own personal limbo corrupted you, or how twisted you became, or even if it's morally correct for me to cast judgement... But this isn't right."

"I think you'll get over it."

"After this? I know I will. But I'll always mourn what could have been and what once was."

Dream scoffed at Nightmare's dramatics as he readied his bow and another arrow. Without much prompting, his brother's friends, along with Ink and Blue, settled into fighting stances too. There would doubtless be questions later, but Dream just thanked the multiverse that they had kept mostly quiet through this whole ordeal.

Shattered may only be a malignant parasite, but he was borne from evil in the purest form. Here, there were many insecurities and doubts to prey on from each and every soul.

But they were made lesser by Nightmare's confession, and Dream knew with confidence that The Apple Incident was done troubling the two guardians that had caused it.

It was time to fight Dream and Nightmare's inner demon...

literally.

*cue epic boss music*

*cue equally epic boss fight that hopefully i managed to write by the time this chapter is published if not then well i moght be doing animation in the future tho so 👀*

_________________________________________

Shattered was dying.

All eight monsters stood in a semicircle around it and breathing heavily, injured and exhausted. But their enemy was defeated: the remaining amassment of Shattered's chalky-black substance was hunched before them on the snowy ground.

Parts of the negative abomination littered this Snowdin's ruin without the energy left to claw their way back to their host.

This isn't... I never... This wasn't the plan...this isn't fair!

To Shattered's surprise, Nightmare walked forward. He crouched before the former part of himself and asked softly,
"What happened to you in limbo, Voice? Why did you do this?"

You... You weren't there.... You should have.... Should have seen it... There was nothing too see... Nothing at all.

I was promised an ending... I was promised a purpose fulfilled... That's all I ever wanted I swear....

"Well," Nightmare said darkly, "There were definitely better ways to go about it than this."

Shattered did not say;

'I know'

'I'm sorry'

'I only wanted a purpose again'

'I only wanted to be again'

Because he didn't know if he would have meant it.

Nightmare's eyelight softened slightly and he sighed.

"If it's any consolidation, I really did miss you."

Liar...

To you... I died a long... long time ago.

And... I guess I'm tired...

Nightmare looked away, "Let me at least tell you a story, then."

...

Please.

The negative guardian sighed once more, sitting cross-legged across from the malformed and dying form of... well... neither of them were really sure what Shattered was to Nightmare anymore. Not really.

"A long,    long        time ago, when the                                      formation       of   the         universe        was
         In           its                     primary

   stage,            we

                   already                   had

knowledge        about   the    
      

existence      

                                of   three          vital

trees             for         
                                                 the life

of

         every           being                   on

any

           universe

...
_________________________________________

815 words

📢 Unreliable narrators!! 📢

📢 Trust whom you want!! 📢

📢 Draw your own conclusions!! 📢

Hey are y'all curious about what Cross is up to?

Nahh... Surely not.

(The story that Nightmare begins to tell is from the original Dreamtale comics you should check them out on Tumblr.)

Sincerely, A cat mug