< 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 > (Discontinued)

{Chapter 4: A Theory}

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It took a little while longer for you to cool down from almost breaking down. While the two of them had been talking in where ever, you had been in the room Dream carved out for you. It was almost perfect. So you went back to it now while the two of those lovebirds went on to plan what to do with him. It was slightly embarrassing in your eyes to see them go out together and just be able to be together. You grudgingly longed for it.

With (F/C) highlights and a comfortable bed, you were just fine sitting there and letting your body slowly rot away to nothingness. However, the multiverse wasn't going to save itself. When did you get to 'hero of the multiverse'? Answer: you didn't, but it seemed like the last thing you could do to avenge your own universe. While you didn't want to have been pulled into this crazy game, you were somehow here. Oh well. It's not like there was anything you could do about it now.

There was just one itsy bitsy teeny tiny little itty bitty thought that kept pestering you. Nightmare. You couldn't shake the feeling that you had betrayed him by leaving the Castle. Could you even still contact him through dreams? It was a pretty good idea, but...

Rolling over with a groan, you smashed your face into the pillow. Everything in your mind was running at five billion miles an hour, making you feel dizzy and confused. Your thoughts smashed your skull in with a hammer of regret. You mind just wouldn't forget the final look that Nightmare had given you when you woke up. It hurt to think about how helpless he was.

Closing your eyes, you tried resting your mind. Surprisingly, you felt yourself slip away from your body. It was a bit of a shock to feel how easy it was to just fall asleep now rather than all of the times before. You welcomed the darkness with open arms.

Opening your eyes again, you realized that you were not longer looking at the inside of a pillow. You were gazing into a swirling, raging 'ocean' of inky blackness. Well, not the surface. Your eyesight was clear, but you couldn't breathe. Your heart pounded in your chest as the thought of dying crossed your mind. Swimming upwards, you almost passed out when your breath nearly ran dry. Treading water wasn't that easy, but you had to do it while looking around wildly. You'd been here before, but the 'ocean' hadn't been this violent... and Nightmare was nowhere to be found.

"NIGHTMARE!?" You screamed into the darkness, head swiveling rapidly from side to side. Nothing was to be found but raging clouds and stormy seas. "NIGHTMARE, ARE YOU HERE!?"

You heard gasping, then the sound of someone being submerged into water and then gasping again. There was no way there was anyone else here except for you and Nightmare. Or maybe one of those weird people, like the one you saw in that palace. You shook your head, the thought suddenly draining from your mind before you could grasp it again. What were you just thinking about? Oh yeah, Nightmare was drowning and you were goin to drown too if you didn't do something.

Swimming as fast as you possibly could, you followed the sound to a place where there seemed to be a whirlpool swirling into nothingness. At the very bottom you caught sight of Nightmare, popping up over the waves just long enough to gasp for air before being completely submerged again. You hated it. The feeling surged in your chest, giving you enough energy to swim down. You grasped the neck fabric of his shirt, pulling both of you upwards with the power of sheer anger and another unidentifiable feeling.

He glanced at you once with his violet eyes—now dull and hopeless, you hated that too—and shouted, "(N/N)? What the hell are you doing here? It's dangerous!"

"I don't care," you shouted back, grabbing his arm. "We're getting out of this hellhole!"

"NO!" You flinched as he shouted, loosening your grip on his arm. He noticed, softening his voice a little. "No, (N/N). You don't understand. You don't know what you're doing. Is... Is Dream alright?"

You shook your head a little, but reluctantly responded, "Yeah, he's OK. Don't worry about him. I'm just worried about you."

Nightmare flinched. "You are? No, no, no, (N/N). Please don't. Worry about me."

"Why—"

He plunged under again, almost taking you with him. The sea surged with power, screaming and screeching in an unworldly language that you couldn't hope to ever decipher. Onyx black waves the sizes of large tsunamis towered over you before crashing down. Your head just barely went under, just enough to cover your nose and mouth. For around 30 seconds, you felt like drowning. Your vision was speckled with black dots before you were allowed to breathe again. Nightmare looked at you with regretful eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, prying your hand off of his arm, "But please don't come back for me."

As soon as you broke contact with him, you felt yourself falling, and falling, and falling...

Jolting awake, you found Dream and (Y/N) sitting at your bedside. The former was staring at you like he was worried, and (Y/N) had a bit of (F/F) in their hands. "We came in here to talk to you," they said quietly, "But you were asleep. We just waited for a while until you started saying something weird that we couldn't hear and so I went and got some (F/F) for you because I thought—"

You snatched the (F/F) out of their hands, immediately starting to scarf it down. They blinked in a short show of surprise before Dream cleared his throat and broke the tense silence. "(N/N), were you communicating with... Nightmare?"

You looked at him with tired eyes, giving him the only answer he needed. His golden eyes widened comically. "Is he alright? He's not hurting himself, is he?"

Boy, is he. "No," you said hesitantly, "But remember how earlier I told you that the thing we encountered wasn't Nightmare?" He nodded. "This is what I was talking about. There's some kind of external force that's tampering with his body?"

Dream took a deep breath, looking at his folded hands. The sunlight coming through the window seemed to swirl with his thoughts. It stayed like that for a long moment before he decided to look up again.

His eyes weren't soft anymore. They were hard ingots of gold, penetrating your SOUL and staring into every fiber of your being. "Are you absolutely sure that you are not bluffing, (N/N)?"

With a sharp nod, you sent his breathing to a slow rhythm. Something in his eyes flickered with a sort of wistful longing, and then hope. Bright, radiant, blazing hope that seemed to illuminate the room and the entire Sanctuary. The sun beamed intensely on your faces as he said, "Then we'll just have to remove the external force."