Her Guardian || Demon! Dream Sans x Reader

quadrāgintā quattuor

Error smirked down at (Y/n), squeezing her hand almost tenderly. "I think I am beginning to see what he saw in you. For a human, you are not completely useless."

Assuming he meant Dream, she smiled a little. "Dream has good judgment." Then she tilted her head. "You thought I was useless?"

"I had assumed you were like your birthgiver." She frowned, but before she could comment, he continued with a gleam she couldn't place in his eyelights. "But it seems Error had one more special surprise for me." He scoffed. "And to think I assumed his last request to protect a human was a waste of breath."

She froze. "Why are you talking about him like that? You're Error..." She was acutely aware of the other eyes in the room on the pair of them as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Dream straightened to his full height, his bow conjured in one hand as his gaze never strayed from her, and Waylon tightened his large hand around hers, the muscles in his arm tense like he was prepared to yank her behind him at a moment's notice.

'Error' looked down at her with amusement, his teeth twisting into a crude smile. "Oh, did my brother not inform you? Error is dead." She couldn't breathe, her whole world collapsing around her once more as Error's face dissolved into goop, and she could do nothing but stare. There hadn't been time to work through her grief before, and his supposed return happened so fast she assumed she'd never have to deal with the hole in her heart Error's death left. But he was gone, as dusted as the day she watched him lie twitching on Waylon's study floor, and her heart broke open at the realization that he'd never come back to her.

"I tore him apart right in front of you and you foolishly believed his fate was not absolute." The skeleton's shape morphed and changed like it was made of shadow, his grip on her hand tightening until the tips of his boney fingers were cutting open her (s/c) skin, but she couldn't tear her eyes away as the goop finally stopped molding and shaping and she laid eyes on the Negativity King himself. Nightmare loomed over her, his one turquoise eyelight flashing despite the fresh cut up through his socket as his smile turned mocking. "Oh, your fear is delicious, human. Almost as delicious as my pathetic brother's." His gaze swung up to Dream, who had an arrow notched and pointed right at Nightmare.

"Let my mate go," Dream growled, the chill of his words making a shiver travel up (Y/n)'s spine. Her eyes widened with the realization that Dream could feel Nightmare's emotions so he knew instantly that wasn't Error, but he'd let her believe otherwise. Why? "[Nightmare can feel your emotions as well, and if you knew, that would give him reason to threaten your life or bring you back to Mrs. Waylon,]" Dream thought quickly, his eyelights never leaving Nightmare's cruel smirk. She'd stayed by Nightmare because she believed he was Error while Dream did his utmost to subtly bring her back to his side without giving Nightmare any reason to hurt his mate. Nightmare held all the power because he held (Y/n) hostage—and she didn't even know it. Suddenly Dream's trepidation as soon as he saw 'Error' made complete sense.

"And give up my only chance of life?" Nightmare spat, glaring down his nose bones at Dream. "That useless mortal assumes I am infiltrating your puny group to take you down from the inside, and unless I have your word I and my minions will live, I will do what I set out to do and your mortals will both be disposed of." A tentacle each wrapped around (Y/n) and Waylon's necks, and Waylon held her hand all the tighter to let her know he was by her side no matter what. She knew the two of them stood no chance against a Demon King, but the icy steel to his gaze made her believe Waylon would die trying to protect her—just like her own dad.

All of the demons summoned their weapons, eyelights nervous as they watched Nightmare closely. Despite how easily they could dispatch Nightmare, he held all the power in his two tentacles, so they waited. He met each of their gazes with a smirk, reveling in their negativity, but even if he could kill (Y/n) with barely a flick of his tentacle, Dream's positivity combated the negativity he was trying to spread to make him stronger.