The pure white snow was painted in red by the time Nightmare had finished slaughtering the townsfolk. His appearance has changed during his rampage; the skeleton was now completely covered in the inky substance, with one socket being covered and the other's eye light changing from purple to cyan, while four tendrils that connected to his back waved around in a defensive position. The corrupted skeleton was still crouching down and clutching Raven's body as if it was his lifeline while Dream shakily stood up from his trance and questioned, "𝗪𝗵𝘆...? 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲?"
Nightmare stared blankly at his brother as he answered, "They needed to be punished for the sins that they've committed."
Dreams sockets widened in disbelief as he shouted, "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝘀?! 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱?!"
"Did you not see what that maggot just did?! He killed Raven right in front of us! Plus those 'innocent' people deserved what they got for all the pain and suffering they've caused to us!"
"𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲! 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼!", he paused for breath before asking, "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱?"
Rolling his eye and scoffing at his brother's naivety before admitting, "While you were so busy with spreading positivity, Raven and I had been the center of the towns hatred and abuse; constantly beaten and tortured just for being different. But it seemed that she had found a way where she spared me from most of the impact and keeping me blind from her actions."
"𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁?! 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲?!"
"Because it wouldn't have mattered if we did. Those lowlifes would have went right back to their behavior the moment you let your guard down. Now...", Nightmare stood up as he held Raven's lifeless body bridle style as he turned to face the blackened form of the Tree of Feelings, "I got to find a proper place to put Raven to rest before I kill you."
SLASH
Before Dream could even stop him, Nightmare had used one of his tendrils to cut the sacred tree down as it landed with a CRASH before the upper half rolled down the hill. Letting out a battle cry, the Guardian of Positivity charged at his brother before being stopped as another tendril wrapped itself around his neck and lifting the skeleton to be eye level with his scowling brother.
"𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂?! 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿!"
"Stop your whining; our creator died a long time ago. Besides, I never saw this old pile of firewood as a mother figure. The only people who I saw as parents were Salem and Batair, Raven's mother and father."
"𝗕-𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺! 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿?!"
Nightmare gently placed his loved one's body in the center of the gigantic trunk and folded her hands atop of her crystal star necklace before answering, "Starlight would have never willingly hurt someone. After you accused her of wanting to cause me harm, she finally lost it after all those years of being silent. RAGE took over and she rampaged throughout the forest until her parents showed up to try to calm her down. They almost managed to succeed until I accidentally caught their attention; thus causing Raven to lose her grip on reality and lashing out. Since Salem and Batair were SOUL BONDED, when she killed her mother, she also, unintentionally, killed her father. At first, I blamed myself for their deaths but now I finally know who the real culprit is... you!"
❤︎RAVEN'S POV❤︎
To say I was confused and mortified would be an understatement.
I swear, just a minute ago, that I had died.
Which I did.
I am pretty much dead.
But that doesn't explain the fact that I am staring at my lifeless body and have watched as the love of my life slaughtered the whole town in a fit of RAGE caused by my death and that he had his brother by his neck; claiming that he's going to kill him. At first, I thought it was all a bad daydream and ran to try to console Nightmare when I saw him hunched over and sobbing but was proved wrong when I phased through him and my corpse.
It's an odd feeling seeing your dead self with your own two eyes.
I almost panicked if it wasn't for the tendril spouting from the anguished skeleton's back and the appendage going through my body. If it weren't for the fact that my lifeless self was in front of me and the pained wet screams of a familiar rabbit behind me, I would have thought I died again.
If that were possible.
Can you be double dead?
Anyways, one thing led to another as more screams could be heard; the white ground became decorated in monster dust, blood, and mangled bodies. If I was able to, I would have emptied my stomach at the sight.
"𝗠𝗲?! 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁?!"
I was snapped back to the present as I focused my gaze to the two Guardians in front of me. Nightmare's change of appearance still has me worried; was this caused by eating the apples from the sacred tree? What about his behavior?
No.
His change of personality was because of my death...
The apples only amplified his metamorphosis because he was doing fine before I died.
All because of fucking Terrence ruining everything.
If that damned rodent hadn't pulled that stunt, none of this would have happened!
But I don't regret sacrificing myself for Nightmare because I would do it again.
"If you weren't so blind and oblivious to what was happening around you, none of this would have happened! But, no, you had to constantly leave me alone and vulnerable to spread positivity to a town that was using you! They made sure to have your attention so the others could have a go at insulting me and throwing rocks at me! Then they started telling you rumors regarding Raven and her family! Outcasting and ostracizing them when all they were doing was trying to live in peace!"
I felt my nonbeating heart clench as tears fell from my cheeks from all those hurtful memories of what my family and I had gone through. The townsfolk had always feared and hated us because we were different; thus always giving us problems by increasing prices on items such as clothes, to sneaking into our area of the forest and destroying Mama's vegetable garden, and then not paying Papa the right amount for the furs he sells from his hunts. Then, there were a few times where I was beaten by a variety of people of all ages just for being near them; being called monster or freak.
Stars, how I hated them.
I had Nighty to help me forget about all of those things...
But now, I'm stuck watching the aftermath of not doing anything sooner.
Maybe if I had done something, anything, would the outcome have changed?
Sorrow appeared on Dream's face as yellow tears trailed down his cheekbones as he tried to reason with his brother, "𝗔-𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗿! 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀?!"
I flinched at the mention of my name as I desperately wanted to scream or shout that I was here!
It wouldn't have mattered, though...
They can't hear me.
I tried to before while trying to get Nightmare's attention...
I hate this...
Why am I here?!
Shouldn't I have passed on already?!
I let out a sniffle as I thought of the positive Guardian's question:
Would I have wanted this?
I want to say no but deep down I know that isn't true.
I want this whole world to burn at my feet.
* This chapter was inspired by the song Dancing with Your Ghost by No Resolve. Since I thought it would have been cool to see how Raven felt about this situation as a ghost. I have more plans regarding Raven and Nightmare but you, readers, will have to wait till then end of this book.
Sorry not sorry!
I hope everyone is fairing well on these hard times and that you stay safe.
BeanZ96 out~ (●'◡'●)ﾉ