A Hidden Heart

19 - Not

The day of the meetup was coming quicker than Nightmare would have liked. Every day was too long, and every possible course of action was..unpleasant to think of, at best. Nightmare would have preferred to fight Error 404 on his own with his gang (and perhaps Error) behind him, but Error 404 was too strong. His power level was almost on the level of Ink and Error, the two strongest known beings in the multiverse, and his intelligence..made him stronger than either one of them alone. He knew how to make himself appear stronger than he really was; he could create new tactics to use in battle on a whim and change his fighting styles in a moment's time to get the advantage. So Nightmare needed help. And, to his despair, that help had to come in the form of..

"Nightmare?!" Blue hopped from his chair in surprise, as did several other judges; this was supposed to be the multiverse's monthly meeting between judges..not exactly something Nightmare, his gang, and Error were invited to.

"Error!" Ink giggled, not bothering to get up. "This is kind of a private meeting; how'd you get here without alerting anyone? Are you a spy now? You-"

"Shut up, Ink." Error approached the table, wearing the most serious expression he could muster. "We have a problem."

"..." Ink blinked, registering somewhere in his scrambled brain that this was important. "Uh, what's going on?"

"Error 404 kidnapped my brother, and I want him back." Nightmare explained simply. "You and the Destroyer have an agreement to put your quarrels aside and work together if that glitch does something; he's doing something. Stop it, if you would please."

"Um..that's not really multiverse-conquering behavior.." Ink pointed out. "It's just one kidnapping, and..you know, I think that kid's been kidnapped at least once already by us, and he was perfectly fine! He can take it!"

"Ink, that's a bit.." Blue tried to correct his friend. "Insensitive.."

"What? It's just one kid, as opposed to what he did last time; it was really scary last time!"

"..Ink." Nightmare fought himself to remain calm, though his aura was increasing, and his tendrils were twitching violently; he couldn't afford to lose himself. "If you do not help me, I will go through every universe one by one and burn their cities to the ground until you do. Does that help you make your decision?!"

"Well, you're kind of easier to stop than-" 

"Ink!" Blue let out a sigh, shaking his skull. "Who knows what he could have in store for that poor child?! It's your duty to help stop him, and it's my duty to help you do it! We're going to do it, Ink!"

"..This has something to do with your 'morality,' doesn't it?" Ink assumed.

"..Yes, Ink, it does.."

"All right, all right, I'll help.." Ink rolled his eyelights. "But I still don't see the point."

"Good." Nightmare's trembles subsided, and he managed to bring his aura's effects back to normal. "We will need to inform you of the situation so far..can we get rid of these judges?"

"Easier done than said." Error opened portals under every judge, delivering them all to their home universes before locking them out of the meeting universe..temporarily.

"Let's get started, then." 

Nightmare walked down the room and sat down as close to the artist as he would dare - close enough to hear the conversation, at least. Killer, Horror, Cross, and Dust sat next to him, and Error took a seat on the other side of the table, clearly not wanting to sit next to Ink either.