!!WARNING!!
-Mentions of guns, blood, death, physical gore, vulgar language, bad writing, side character death, main character death, the author making jokes in a bad situation just bc he can, sensory based experiences (later in the book) and future trauma responses.
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3rd P.O.V
A sharp pain shot through the woman's half naked body as her pupils shrunk and her legs stopped moving.
"A..Aubrey...?"
She said quietly while trembling and staring at her younger sister, who was holding a pistol in her gloved hands. The small female slowly
realized what she did as the gun fell out of her grip and onto the snowy cold alleyway floor.
It was an accident.
"I didn't mean to- Maddy!?"
Aubrey interrupted herself when her older sister collapsed to the ground while bleeding from the chest.
It was an accident.
"M-Maddy!"
She screeched, tears swelling up in her mitch-match eyes.
"Maddy I'm sorry! It was an accident, I didn't mean to!"
The little girl cried while running up to her bloodied and half naked older sister, the gun that was in her hand being long forgotten on the red stained snow. Aubrey hugged her sister while sobbing into her chest, pleading for her to forgive her and practically preaching about how sorry she was. Police sirens went off in the background.
It was an accident, she didn't mean to shoot her.
Maddy hugged her sister with one arm as she attempted to comfort her.
"I-it's okay! Don't-"
She tried to speak again but it only hurt as her breathing started getting shallower, making Aubrey wail louder into her bloody body, still
trying to express how sorry she was for shooting her along with the older man who tried to take off his and her clothes. Her eyelids felt heavy and she closed them for a bit before snapping them open again due to her sister's begging.
"I'm so sorry! It was an accident, I didn't mean too! I swear! Wake up! Maddy, p-please! Don't close your eyes!"
Aubrey yelled and looked around while ignoring the dead old man on the ground, trying to find anything that could help her big sister. She understood the concept of death as much as anyone else but to see it happen before her eye was just.....horrifying. Maddy attempted to speak only to let out dry heaving sounds instead of the comforting message she wanted to deliver.
"MADDY, DON'T LEAVE ME!"
Aubrey pleaded pathetically as the sounds of police sirens got a bit louder. Being alone in this city was not an option for an 8 year old, even if she was somewhat independent. She smiled at her sister one last time before excepting the dark abyss called death, Aubrey's screams and sirens fading out of her ears once she did.
The cold winter around them as well as Maddy's already dying body just made it nearly impossible for them to do anything as the officers pulled Aubrey away from the woman and ignored her wails of protest. But no one truly cared, it was just another one dead woman on the street and it wasn't too uncommon to see. A male officer stared at the limp woman and noticed her hand twitching ever so slightly as she let out almost silent wheezes in an attempt to speak.
He was almost tempted to put her out of her misery but opted to sit down with her woman and hold her freezing hand, rubbing her knuckles with his thumb in a comforting way as she teared up. Aubrey was dragged off the the police car and locked in the backseat so she could calm down.
"Aubrey...please not my Aubrey.."
Maddie begged quietly between her slow wheezes and despite her pained throat. The police man could do nothing but nod, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze as she smiled.
He was warm...
She liked warm things...
(I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs ⛄️🫂)
Meanwhile In Another Multiverse...
People and monsters stood around the tree with weapons in their hands yelling at the small lavender dressed skeleton who guiltily held a dark purple, almost black apple in his hand. His eye lights turned into small pinpricks as his fear and panic spiked.
The skeleton searched the mob for his brother and made eye contact with the teal & white dressed skeleton, who started back with disbelief and worry.
"What did you do, Nightmare..."
He murmured in concerned disbelief, looking up to see his once bright yellow apples now a murky black color. Nightmare shook his skull while stammering a response that couldn't be heard from all of the yelling. The guardian shook harshly as people started getting louder and approaching the tree.
It was an accident.
Nightmare's fear and guilt started eating him alive as he started looking for an exit, terrified of what the villagers would do to him if they got close enough. All he knew is that it'd be worse than bullying.
The boy's eyes darted around and he backed away until a calm—almost too calm—voice spoke to him and overpowered the screams of the townsmen. It was feminine and no one else seemed to notice it.
"Eat it.."
She said in a whisper, suddenly sounding much closer and quieter which drowned out the shouts in the background. Nightmare started asking what until he peered down at the apple in his hands.
"Eat the apple, Nightmare..."
It said once again as the citizens were very close to fully surrounding him.
"But Dream-"
"-will be fine..."
She reassured him once his brother started desperately trying to get closer to him, seemingly sensing what he was tempted to do. Nightmare skeptically raised the apple a bit higher.
"Just a bite and you'll be powerful enough to stay safe..just one bite..."
The voice further coaxed temptingly. Just one bite and he'd be safe...
Right?
One bite.
"BROTHER!"
Dream called out as his beloved sibling raised the apple to his mouth.
And he bit into it.
"NIGHTMARE NO-!"
He expected himself to stop.
But...
He didn't. The negativity was addicting, like an extremely powerful drug and he wanted- no, he needed more. The voice multiplied and screeched at him to stop eating, for it would be too much for the boy to physically handle but he wanted more, he needed more but there weren't any apples left so he bit the tree and ate until there wasn't anything left to eat.
Time seemed to stop as Nightmare screamed in pure agony, a goopy tar-like substance excreting from his bones and eye socket as it started covering his entire body, snapping bones and reattaching them to different ones which made him shriek louder. His physical body grew unwillingly from the negativity which broke him down to nothing only to reform him and do it again.
"BROTHER!"
Everyone stopped approaching and backed away in terror as Nightmare's screams and shrieks rang out loudly. Six large black tentacles shot from his shoulder blades and through his purple tunic that was slowly being stained an inky black color. He panted a bit before immediately yelling again and banging his skull on the ground in an attempt to distract himself from the anguish all over his body.
Dream—finally finding a way through the crowd—ran to his brother and attempted to hug him but reeled back from all the negativity he was producing as it was slowly starting to chip at his physical form. Finally getting a break, Nightmare gasped and panted as his nonexistent throat burned from his pained wailing. He looked at the slowly retreating Dream who cried at the state his dear brother was in.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
It was an accident.
It just supposed to be one bite.
Letting a purple tear slip from his now singular eye socket, Nightmare murmured a soft;
"Heḻ̸͈ͧ͑̓̓̀͡ᑭ ᗰ乇!!"
Dream—who ever so faintly heard Nightmare's words—started sobbing as his brother was fully transformed into something else. Something, unlike him.
A monster.
It all happened in a flash. Nightmare- no- the thing started killing everyone with it's goopy tentacles, stabbing and slashing at anyone in it's line of sight mercilessly.
The monster laughed maniacally as those who were left to bleed out started struggling to crawl away from it. It's eye light scanned the bloody and dusty messes before settling on a little girl who was pathetically trying to get away with a broken leg. Dream followed his eye light and gasped in horror when the thing grabbed the little girl by her broken leg, swinging her up into the air and bringing her down to bash her against the ground.
The guardian took a running start and snatched the child from the monster's disgusting form, running back to the tree for refuge.
"DREAM~! WON'T YOU COME AND SEE YOUR BROTHER?! IM NEW AND IMPROVED~!"
It yelled sadistically as it lost the guardian.
"Stay quiet, and don't make any sudden movements..."
Dream muttered to the kid who was sat against the stump of his mother, fighting back the tears that welled up in his eye sockets.
"Mister Dream..."
"What is-..."
His eye sockets widened when he saw the little girl holding a golden apple. His golden apple and last one at that. The guardian slowly took it from her hands, cradling it.
"WHERE ARE YOU DREAM?!"
The thing screeched out as he destroyed something in the distance. With a shaky sigh he stepped out, terrified. He was only 6, how could he handle such a horrific event?
Feeling Dream's aura rise back up, the once Nightmare bolted at him with its tentacles sharpened and his mouth ripped to show a glowing white light.
Dream shuddered and started talking in hopes of getting through to his brother. He just wasn't in his right mind, right? His brother was still there!
"BROTHER JUST CALM DOWN! W-WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS, I BELIEVE IN YOU!"
But it didn't seem to work as the guardian of positivity sloppily dodged a blow from the goopy skeleton—who was clearly out for blood but it seems Dream was too much a naïve dumbass to understand that—so he tried again.
"NIGHTMARE PLEASE, THIS ISN'T RIGHT! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS AND GET YOU BACK TO NORMAL!"
He tried to convince only to barrel roll out of the way of another attack. (Wtf is this bitch not getting-) It continued attacking through Dream's attempts to talk things through, no longer capable of the slightest bit of coherent thought as the goopy monster shrieked animalistically. The young guardian kept trying to avoid eating his apple but with the circumstances, it was impossible. So the boy ate it.
Dream hurriedly ate the last golden apple in hopes it'd give him some sort of power to hold back his brother. It was sweet and almost tasted like honey candy, but it was a bit spicy too. Before he could even consider to savor the flavor; a scream caught his attention before blood flew on his skull with some landing in his eye sockets, making Dream yell and hold his head down in attempt to get it all out. It felt disgusting, the blood swirling around in his skull as it spilled from his maw and nasal bone.
Nightmare took advantage of Dream's sudden lack of attention and wrapped all six of his thick black tendrils around his body which made the uncorrupted guardian freak out and struggle to escape the beast whom he still considered a brother. He screamed in pain as the massive amounts of negativity immediately began to invade and majorly weaken his positive aura, making his bones start to chip and decay at a rather quick pace.
But unknown to everyone and even the new version of Nightmare himself, the guardian of negativity was still in there, begging and screaming at himself not to hurt his younger twin brother as he tried to control his own actions. Nightmare started crying when Dream gave another shriek of pure agony and suffering.
He continued yelling and crying, struggling to move around upon seeing corruption beginning to decay his brother faster. Nightmare's pleading was seemingly heard as his outer body suddenly dropped Dream and backed away slightly, making the hidden guardian calm down a bit before screaming again once his twin's body started becoming encased with a gray substance.
It was an accident.
Dream panted heavily, staring at the corrupt version of his brother before attempting and failing to move. He looked down at his feet to see stone holding him in place and starting to slowly move up his legs.
The skeleton looked back up at his "brother" who was crying yet didn't seem to notice the warm tears running down his face. Dream smiled softly in spite of the horror radiating off of him.
This wasn't meant to happen.
"I love you brother.."
He said, responding to Nightmare's final statement before he became the goopy monster he is now as stone creeped up to his face. Inner Nightmare cried harder in response; desperately wanting to say it in return. The corrupted skeleton fell to his knees as more tears spilled out of his eye.
Nightmare panted on the inside and out; finally in sync with his own body before falling onto his back, eye socket slowly closing as his shaking glowing teal pinprick stared up at the blood red sky and its dusty gray clouds, darkly representing the bloodshed and dustshed around him as he finally closed his eye socket and fell asleep.
He finally slept peacefully for the first time in years, silence being his blanket.
He finally dreamed.
...
But would it last?
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You've reached the end of The Prologue, 2295 words have been written...