Summary: Nim, the original Guardian of the Tree of Feelings, was sent to the mortal realm in an Undertale Multiverse due to feeling unsafe around the other Guardians assigned to their own Tree, though upon arrival was attacked by a mortal who desired one of the Golden Apples fruited from the Tree. She took fatal wounds to the mortal, and after slaying them, created two brothers to become the new guardians; Dream, the Guardian of Positivity, and Nightmare, the Guardian of Negativity. Both were Skeletons, meant to be with the tree for as long as time, and each had an assigned role as a Guardian, one sole purpose: Protect the Apples. It was vital to protect this tree, as without it, all feelings in the multiverse would be lost. If one tried to pluck an apple from the tree with doubtful or sinister intent, the apples would rot and all become the same: Negative. Now, the Tree of Feelings bears two different types of Apples; Golden Positivity apples, said to make a mortal feel warm inside with the memories of wonderful dreams and the nicest wishes come true; and the Purple/Black Negativity apples, rumored (though never personally experienced) to leave your throat burning with the worst nightmares coming to mind and extreme paranoia following quickly. Though Dream and Nightmare had it easy, as no mortals ever traversed into the forest where they lived; life was peaceful. Though after several years, a small village sprung up around them with a white painted fence separating the two brothers from the village. After the Mortals got curious, they got a taste of the Positivity apples and couldn't get enough; using Dream to get happier, whilst harshly bullying the Guardian of Negativity just for the fun of it.
Nightmare had enough. At the age of 7, he wanted to prove he was just as good of a Guardian as his brother Dream, so he reached up and plucked a Golden apple from his brother's side of the tree and watched in horror as all of the apples turned black, Negative. His brother, Dream, in a panic watching from afar, bolted up to the tree and snatched the last Golden positivity apple from the branch before it could get infected. Nightmare had forgotten the most important reason for why this tree needed protecting; because without balance, all would be lost. In an act of desperation as the Mortals approached him with weapons like rocks and bats and pitchforks, Nightmare bit into the now negative apple and began to suffer the consequences.
Nightmare, falling to his knees, only had swallowed a bite of the apple before beginning to cough and tremble like an autumn leaf. A black substance drooled out of his mouth, leaking from his eyes like abyssal tears. Without warning, his pupils disappeared and his skull cracked in every which way; four gruesome tendrils protruded from his now ripped attire that fell to the floor soundlessly. Nightmare let out an agonized cry as the abyss took over his body, the sounds of his bones cracking and eyes rolling into the back of his head. A full minute of this passes by with the mortals stunned in complete horror, and Dream, his poor brother, watching in a stunned tear-stained silence.
The sounds of breaking bones and agonized whimpers and cries out for help died down, leaving nothing but an eerie silence at the black lump on the floor. Dream, with no hope in him whatsoever, whispered the name of his brother. "Nightmare..?"
In response, what was left of Nightmare began to stand and take the form of a corrupted parasitic monster with four large tendrils and a large, sinister, bloody grin. The left eye of this parasite opened, a bright blue eyelight scanning the faces of those around it. The tendrils then proceeded to rise, grow in size, and cut the Tree of Feelings in half; devouring ALL of the Negativity apples and going on a wide murder spree to kill all that ever tormented him in the past. Dream stood there helpless, watching in defeat as his beloved brother wreaked havoc on his home. The parasite, once it had finished, approached Dream with that similar sinister grin and opened its mouth. "I believe that belongs to me," whispered the parasite, eyeing the golden glow beneath Dream's gloves. With a small cry out, "NO!", he took a step back and devoured the positivity apple. It fused with his very own soul, marking himself as a target to this parasite before him. It approached him, its grin fading away and its amused stare turning into an annoyed, merciless glare. "I'll kill you," he said with a sudden playful smirk. "I'll murder everyone you love right in front of your very eyes."
From the fear alone, Dream, the Guardian of Positivity, had gotten turned to stone for the next 500 years. Moss overtook his stone state, his tear stained cheeks forever shown with a darker color of stone.
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- Prequel: A Flashback
Dream awoke from a nightmare, sitting up from his sleeping bag and rubbing at the bags under his eyes with gloved hands. He took a moment to look around the room to remember where he was, his eyes trailing the green wall lining of his tent and taking in the scent of a campfire nearby. Oh, he thought. The survival camps. With a sigh, he heaved his tired body up; dusting his clothes off and clipping his cape on, placing his crown nicely atop his own head before emerging through the flaps of his tent. He got a warm welcome from the mortals he was camping with, attending the campfire there for only a moment before noticing the flames were dying due to the wood dwindling, so he went off to go collect some wood. On his walk, he began to think.
The AUs were starting to drop like flies. Because of all the panic and fear, nobody could understand or even grasp what was going on.. the only way to stay safe was to take shelter in a truly positive AU, though coming across those is difficult because the rumors spreading were starting to get back. Especially the most recent of them all, having something to do with zombies of all things. Dream shook his head to clear himself of those thoughts; after all, he was the Guardian of Positivity. He was not meant to sulk around.. though he felt the weight of the multiverse was on his shoulders. Because it was. Everyone, every AU out there, was depending on Dream to put a stop to his brother and end the madness. That is why he was welcomed to this camp to hide out at.. because it was one of the only areas that actually wanted him around instead of blaming it all on him. Dream sighed, absentmindedly walking towards the piles of logs from trees that were recently cut. He lifted a handful up as if they were mere feathers, heaving them onto his shoulders and walking back to the group. His mind began to slip, thinking about his peers.. how the world got to this. He wondered, is it my fault for not being there for Nightmare? Why would he do such a crazy thing? Why did the villagers all have access to weapons so quickly..? The Guardian furrowed his brows in soft frustration, walking a bit faster in a pained silence down the trail and gripping the wood on his shoulders tighter.
"Eyes-- black," Dream heard from his right side. His pace came to a stop, meeting eyes with a young girl who was playing with two little makeshift dolls. The girl smiled up at Dream. She couldn't have been over the age of 7, which brought a rush of painful memories to mind. Dream offered a soft smile back, observing her carefully.
"Hello again, Ellie," Dream said with a soft yet curious tone. "How are you doing today?"
"Void," she responded, a soft giggle in her tone. Ellie wasn't the normal mortal.. the others called her crazy or delusional or weird. Rumor had it that she was the lone survivor of a collapsing negative AU. Dream just thought she was unique, despite all the rumors.
"Void? What does that mean, Ellie?" He asked in a soft whisper, taking a seat next to her and putting his wood stack down; observing her dolls, only to freeze up the moment he noticed the doll's eyes were completely black and dripping a slow, black substance. The flashbacks hit him before he could even process what was going on, an unnerved expression taking over his face. Ellie politely smiled at Dream, though the smile turned quickly into a serious expression.
"They don't know, Dream," Ellie whispered. "They're scared.. they're blind under him and those black eyes," she said with a blank expression and a slow turn back to her dolls. Dream sat in stunned silence, too shocked to say anything. Ellie smiled again and started playing with her dolls. Dream got to his feet, sighing softly in defeat at today already. He heaved the wood back onto his shoulder and whispered, "I'll be sure to help them," towards Ellie before making his departure. He couldn't help but feel unnerved at how she frowned at that and whispered, 'he's watching you'.. He walked a bit faster.
Dream approached the campfire and was greeted with another warm welcome, placing the wood down relatively distant from the fire though added two logs just to give it a kick. He sighed, standing back to admire how the flames danced in the cold winter air and watched how the smoke filtered into the sky, that beautiful red sky. Oh, how unreal it felt.
Wait.. red sky? OH NO
In the blink of an eye, a scream broke through the sudden eerie silence. It came from the forest he was just in. Without another moment's waste, Dream quickly bolted to the edge of the village that faced the forest and grabbed his bow, tugging it out of its holster on his back and grabbing an arrow while lining it to the bow string. He trailed his fingers through the feather on the arrow tail and drew the string of his magical bow back. He could feel his magic concentrate and push through his fingers unto the arrow, glowing a unique blue color that always seemed to brighten his mood.. but not today.
The forest was dark and quiet. He couldn't see anything past the first tree line, the shrubbery was just too thick to even process that there was a forest behind it all. Another scream broke out, a blood curdling scream followed once again by silence. Dream shot his glowing arrow through the treeline, knowing full and well that the arrow would light up the forest for him. What he didn't know was that when the arrow briefly skimmed past the trees, there was an army of people in torn clothes with blank expressions completely filling the space of the forest, staring Dream right in the eye. Each and every one of them had pitch black eyes that shined only for a moment the second that arrow passed through.
What scared him more was that, for a moment when the arrow lit them all up, they were covered head to heel in splotches of that same black corruption that his brother Nightmare held inside of him when the apple was eaten. Now, with the forest lit behind that army, all he could see was the silhouettes with the vast knowledge that everyone in this AU was about to die by these creatures.
And then, through the horror, a familiar voice rang through the air that was hummed out by the army of death in the treeline. "I'm so glad I finally found you, Brother," whispered Nightmare through the thousands of people before him. One of the plagued monsters picked up his arrow and snapped it in half, and the light suddenly cut off. All that could be heard was a sinister, maniacal chuckle. Dream immediately put his bow back in his holster and bolted back for the town, whispering curses under his breath. He caught a glimpse of Ellie.. she was hugging her knees and rocking herself back and forth, quietly crying and mumbling 'they're here this is it haha we're all gonna die--' over and over and over in panicked mumbles. The guilt and agony twisted at his soul, running further until he reached the campfire and bumped into someone. He heavily panted, unable to speak for a good moment before he pointed down the alley he'd just traversed from; only to see the faint sight of a corruption-covered male seemingly looming over Ellie. An eerie silence filled the safe grounds. 'Dad..? I thought you were dead--' whispered Ellie before she was cut off. She was swarmed with corrupted humans and monsters alike, an agonized scream echoing through the campgrounds. Dream immediately came to his senses.
"We have to evacuate and get everyone to safety. Now," Dream said in a hushed tone. He set off a raid alarm, waking everyone that might be asleep in their tents and rushing to other tents to check on deep sleepers just to wake them. The last tent he checked was for a young boy, who was curled up and trembling in the corner; weakly sobbing from fear and peril. Dream picked him up, whispering soft hushes and promises that it'd be okay. Though he paused hearing a sudden eerie silence outside. The sirens, the alarms blaring, had suddenly cut off. The boy's quiet crying was the loudest thing Dream had ever heard. He covered their mouth, forcing silence and listening closely. He could hear several hundred footsteps on all sides, as well as a voice that chuckled and hummed randomly through the outside world. 'Everyone's mine now, Dream,' Nightmare's voice rang out. 'Come out, come outt..~' whispered the crowd that surrounded his tent. The boy softly whimpered in his arms, and the footsteps stopped. Dream saw shadows all along the tent, staring him down like a death sentence. He could feel the crowd of corrupted monsters staring him down outside of the tent.. so why couldn't he take them down? He didn't have enough arrows. And.. personally, this terrified him. He never knew magic like this. It scared him to the point he just wanted to sleep and act like life never belonged to him. Just then, the boy let out a fearful cry. Dream turned around and was met with a pair of pitch black eyes from the now open flap of the tent. 'Found you.~' Nightmare hummed out. What happened next, Dream couldn't really tell.
It was the sounds of falling and rushing and screaming and gaster blasters and bone attacks, gunshots and hissing and bombing and war cries. But the thing that caught him off guard the most was that the monster staring him down smiled at him and came into the tent, sitting down on the bed at the floor of the tent. 'It has been many years, Brother,' the corrupted human spoke with a smile. 'Are you proud of me?' He asked, the head of the human tilting ever so slightly to the side.
"Proud..?" Dream asked in response, backing up. The sounds of fighting were ringing in his ears. He was suffering from a panic attack. "Nightmare, this isn't you. This isn't funny.. Oh, please tell me this is a dream.."
'A dream?' Hummed out the human, its sinister grin growing wider. 'No, I just wanted a nice civil chat with you before I harvest your soul,' whispered the human. 'I cannot wait to get started.' An evil cackle roared out of the human, but what struck Dream as odd the most was that a single tear fell down the human's cheek as Nightmare seemed to speak to him. Then the sound of a gunshot rang through the air, and the corrupted human fell to the floor with a thud and Dream was rushed out of the tent by Allies from another AU who got the signal that they were under attack. Dream turned back to look for the boy in his arms, only to realize that the kid in that room disappeared a week beforehand.
Dream was going delusional.. horribly, horribly delusional. But he could have sworn, as he looked back, that Ellie was on the floor with black tears rolling down her cheek and void like eyes haunting his memory for time to come.
Dream was now under the protection of The Allies - the strongest sanses in the multiverse gathered in one of the most positive AUs out there. Though it was odd.. He couldn't feel an ounce of negativity here. It was all coming from himself. Dream, the Guardian of Positivity, was then deemed infected with negativity and PTSD by the doctor of the AU to the extent that Dream was not allowed outside of the AU for the next several months. While he sat in his room looking outside, he couldn't help but think about what Ellie had told him. Couldn't help but feel completely and utterly useless. Questioning who those people were and why they all were talking like his brother as if they were.. zombies.
All of a sudden, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.
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Zombie Theory - "I'm telling you, those people acted like zombies! They're covered in this weird black stuff and they INFECT each other with it.. they even say the same stuff! Come on, man. Why won't you listen to me?! It's like they're being mind controlled, don't even try to prove me wrong."
- Explanation: Nightmare has gained the ability to manipulate and infect people with corruption, allowing it to spread across the multiverse and ultimately search for Dream. This is the first encounter relating to his brother that has been recorded so far.
- The Author