A second passed before the intruder - and, hopefully, savior - noticed his presence in the room. He turned to Nightmare and blinked a few times as if the notion of a person residing here was absurd; To be fair, it was. The Guardian of Negativity would sooner choose to live in a musty, filthy alleyway in Underfell then this rainbow hell. His unwarranted visitor openly stared at him, looking over every detail with a calculating eye. The foreign eyelights lingered on the two limp tendrils attached to his lower back. Then they slowly moved up, inspecting every detail, until they reached his face. And- The stranger doubled over and started laughing hysterically. Nightmare had never felt more insulted. Did this monster not know who he was?! How dare he laugh in the face of Nightmare- The Lord of Darkness and Guardian of Negativity?!
He bristled and puffed up, which made the monster laugh even harder.
"Ha! The look on your face," The strange skeleton chuckled, wiping a tear from their eye socket. "priceless. Yo- you... Heh-he, you look like a tiny angry kitten!"
Before the dark guardian could formulate a threat in response, a yellow blur burst into the room. The blur - now still enough to be distinguished as Dream - positioned himself between Nightmare and the insolent intruder. A deep scowl rested on his skull. Glancing down, Nightmare noticed the other had something grasped tightly in one hand. It was... a spray bottle?
Woah. Dream has truly lost his mind. What on earth does that idiot expect a spray bottle to do to a skeleton?
The two fools had a staredown; Each waiting for the other to make the first move. The tension between them was palpable. A hostile aura sparked to life as the seconds passed. The Guardian of Positivity made his move, breaking the silence with a few words, "Homicide," Dream's tone held the scolding of an enraged, overprotective mother. "leave my brother alone!"
Homicide, Nightmare thought. Interesting. So that is the name of the monster who dares to mock me. Given the title and outfit, perhaps he does come from an Aftertale... Though, I was unaware there is more than one. Did Ink create another? Surely not. Geno would kill him if he did that.
I wonder, would he have the same weaknesses? I should test that theory; Get back at him for laughing in my face.
The skeleton in question wore a brief look of shock. When Dream lifted the spray bottle and aimed it at him, it shifted to utter hatred; Nightmare could feel the strength of the emotion perfectly. Such potent negativity was no doubt afflicting the positive guardian. Then, with speed only seen harnessed by a hyper Underswap Sans, Homicide dashed out of the room, hissing and screeching like a demon crawling out of hell. Dream rushed out after him, declaring, "If you don't start behaving, I will tell After to extent the 'no TV' punishment."
The door slammed shut behind him, leaving the Lord of Darkness to his own devices. He stood silently and listened to the ensuing chaos.
"Homicide- No, no, no, anything but the vase!"
Crash!
"Dream, are you destroying things?!" Ink, for some odd reason, asked excitedly.
"Ugh! No, Ink. Why can't you just drop that?"
"Dream is lying! He's breaking everything in here!" The following racket sounded like a symphony of shattering porcelain.
Nightmare smirked. The Star Simpletons would be distracted for quite a while if the anarchy beyond the door was any indication.
It was time to plot his revenge.
The slivery-boned skeleton sat on the edge of the overly fluffy bed and pondered, what is the best way to get revenge? To his knowledge, Homicide was an Aftertale Sans- a very deranged, violent Aftertale Sans; The Geno of the AU. However, where did he come from? A plethora of alternate universes existed. The likelihood his foe hailed from a Classic timeline gone wrong was slim. And, in the event that he did, there could still be enough variations to alter the entire AU; any number of things could be different- Whether it be the core AU or the way events transpire. That made Nightmare's goal harder, as it would be impossible to discern the other's weaknesses without getting to know him.
Wait- That's it!
The perfect, most ingenious plan: Nightmare would befriend this skeleton, learn his weaknesses, and use them against him to exact his revenge.