Hello ^^ this is my first fanfic, so go easy on me for any grammar mistakes or typos <3
For clarity's sake, this is Error talking and this is Nightmare talking, I hope it's easy to tell who's speaking when, but if it isn't please point it out and I'll try to figure out an easier way <3
Killer's POV
You know, it's almost always the same everyday in this damned place. I get up, I eat, Nightmare gets pissy for no reason and sends us on missions to destroy shit and cause chaos.. you know, the usual. Today would be different, though. Error's coming over, which wouldn't exactly be an issue or like a game-changing event, but he apparently had something special to give to Nightmare.
That's literally all he said. He didn't mention what it was, he didn't mention whether it was an item or a Soul or a human or anything, he only specified that it was a 'special item'. Of course, Cross and I got curious about what the Hell would prompt Error to willingly come over so we tried to press for more information.. we got nothing. Now, though, standing in the throne room of the castle with everyone, I was just more confused.
"It's a strength potion, it locks onto your Soul and-"
"-and it finds out what makes you stronger and amplifies it, I know how a strength potion works. You came here to literally just give me that?"
"...Yeah, but you're wrong about one part of that."
"Oh? How, pray tell, am I wrong?"
By now, there was some obvious tension in the air with Nightmare and Error. I could understand Nightmare's barely hidden frustration completely, a strength potion? He hyped it up and refused to tell us what it was.. when it was one of the most common items in the Multiverse?
"It'd be no fun if I told you that, would it? Anyway-"
Error lifted the potion with his strings and launched it at Nightmare, who easily caught it.
"-aww..."
"Were you expecting me not to catch it?"
"Sort of. I was expecting you to catch it and launch it back at me. Anyway, throw it onto yourself."
"I'd rather not, thanks for the offer though. If you want to make it seem like you aren't up to something you should at least be a little sneaky."
Up until this point, everything had been pretty normal between everyone. Silence from everyone except Nightmare and Error, high tensions, teasing coming from both sides.. but then Error just seemed to let go of everything that had happened. That mischievous grin on his face.. his so-called gift was a useless potion, it was now in Nightmare's hands which meant he couldn't do a single thing with it.. so why was he grinning?
It was at that moment I noticed a glitchy portal above Nightmare's head, and a potion falling out of it, directly onto Nightmare's head. It landed, and smashed all over the floor, as clouds of purple smoke filled the room. I felt a slight tug at my wrist and managed to look down to see a blue string. Before I was able to move away, I felt myself being yanked towards the source of the problem; Error.
"You'll be fine, it should only affect Nightmare and his.. gooey stuff all over his body that doesn't actually have a name."
I didn't bother trying to reply, knowing all I'd be able to get out is a few coughs because of the smoke. Eventually, after a long while, the smoke dissipated to reveal that along with Error, I was also surrounded by Horror, Dust, and Cross. At least he had some type of decency.. Nightmare on the other hand looked like he had all the decency taken out from him. He was on his knees, shaking slightly with his hand resting on his mouth.
"What-nngh-did you do, bastard?"
"Oh, so it does work! That's interesting.."
Nightmare struggled to get to his feet, slightly panting as he did so. What the Hell did Error do? That was a strength potion wasn't it..? Nightmare would've known from Error's emotional state if it were anything else.. although the one that came from the portal might not have been a strength potion..
"What's wrong, Boss? I thought you would've been able to withstand a simple strength potion at least~"
The emphasis on boss.. was he seriously still teasing Nightmare at a time like this?! The fact nobody else was talking or even going over to check on him.. were they all just as confused as I?
Nightmare seemed to regain his composure, but only for a second before letting out more light pants and growls.
"I'll.. finish this shit later.."
Nightmare turned and walked away, although it looked like he was drunk or something. What potion did Error throw on him..?
"What.. the Hell just happened..?"
Cross was the first to speak, his voice wracked with concern and confusion. I didn't respond to his question, I just kept staring at the spot Nightmare used to be standing at.
"I threw a strength potion onto him."
"Yeah, no, what'd you actually throw on him?"
I turned to the person who asked the question, Dust. Of course Dust was ballsy enough to question Error about that..
"A strength potion. You know how you usually drink 'em?"
"..Yeah?"
"Yeah, and you know how it amplifies what makes you stronger, so when Nightmare drinks them it gives him a bit more negativity for a bit?"
"Yeah?"
"So, to my knowledge that goopy stuff on him is made of excess negativity, and it's simply pure power. I was pretty sure that the extra negativity whenever he drinks strength potions went into that goop, so I was curious about what would happen if I threw the potion directly onto the goop itself."
"Oh.. my God.."
---------------------------
Four days. It'd been four days since the incident, we hadn't at all seen Nightmare come out from his room. We had heard him, so at least he was still alive, but the positivity rates were getting higher by the second, and the firewall protecting Ink, Blue and Dream from getting into the AU we lived in was slowly weakening. We were all scared of what was possibly going on inside of his room, but we had come to the conclusion that we should probably confront him about slacking off so much. Error was still here, he hadn't left at all for whatever reason. He says it's because this place is peaceful without Nightmare around, but Cross propositioned that he's staying in case Dream, Ink or Blue manage to get in so he can fight them and protect us.
Standing outside of Nightmare's room now.. I was kinda regretting agreeing to come with everyone else. Dust was the first to knock, it was quiet but Nightmare still heard. Was his hearing amplified too?
"Ngh- what?"
Cross backed away a slight bit, and I could understand why. Nightmare was never one to give one word answers unless he was pissed, but he was also not one to just slack off work without reason.. We all stared at Dust, who seemed too nerve-wracked to speak properly.
"Uh.. it's been around four days.. we were just wondering if you were alright, ya know? Haha.."
"F-four days, hm? Hah, I guess that is a-mmph-long time.. I'm fine."
We exchanged glances at each other, not quite believing Nightmare's words. Why was he making noises between words..? Unless..
"No way."
Cross stared at me quizzically, had he not come to the same conclusion?
"Is he jackin' off?"
Cross slapped me lightly.
"Of course he's not, he's not that unprofessional to be jerking off whilst we're trying to check up on him!"
Dust sighed and grabbed hold of the doorknob.
"Nightmare? I'm coming in, if you're fine then you won't mind that, right?"
"Agh- w-wait-!"
It was too late, Dust had already swung open the door to reveal a very.. erotic-looking Nightmare.
"Ngh.."
He was laying in what seemed to be a pool of his own sweat on his bed, the blankets kicked off of him and onto the floor. There was a light blush covering his cheeks and he was spread out in a starfish position, most likely trying, and failing, to be comfortable.
"Nightmare..?"
Dust's voice had a lot of concern in it, but I could tell he was speechless. There was a light blush on everyone's faces at the sight before us. I don't think anybody expected something like this to happen.
"A-ah-! Get out, bast-aah-rds-!"
Even at his request, we all just stood there in pure silence. None of us knew what to do about this predicament, and the slight moans and pants coming from Nightmare didn't help at all.
"Oh~? What's this~?"
I recognised it as Error's voice, but I didn't bother turning around to look at him. I was too distracted by the slight liquid running down Nightmare's lower leg, what the Hell was it? It couldn't have been.. no..
"F-fuck off!"
"Aw, no need to be so mean to me, you deserve some off time like this~"
Error used a string of his to wipe away the newly-formed drool from Nightmare's mouth.
"Are you sure that was a strength potion..?"
"For the last time, Dust, yes it was a strength potion! I'm glad it worked just as I wanted it to."
Nightmare's heavy breaths were interrupted by him swallowing something every so often as he barely held eye contact with Error, his eye-light occasionally dipping from existence for a second or two.
"..What're you swallowing?"
"Probably spit."
"I didn't ask you."
Nightmare looked towards me, opening his mouth to give me an answer. Nothing except slight moans came out as he turned his head away from me, the blush on his face growing.
"In all honestly, I've no idea why he's not just accepting his fate and giving in to the negativity."
"Pfft- hahahahah-"
Turning towards Horror, I noticed he had begun laughing.
"This isn't funny, Horror! Nightmare's-"
"Heh.."
I turned towards Dust after hearing him snicker.
"Dust! You're with me, right?! This isn't a laughing matter, Nightmare is clearly unwell and-"
"Kills? If what Error said is true, I think it'll turn out fine. After all, it's just excess negativity right?"
I sighed and facepalmed as Cross let out a small laugh to accompany his sentence. A few moments went by with them trying, and failing, to stifle their laughs. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Error with that same goddamn grin on his face, God he looked so punchable.
"When does it wear off?"
Error turned towards me, the grin on his face fading.
"Uh-"
"Error? It does wear off, doesn't it?"
I let my hand fall from my head, staring directly at the dumbass stood in front of me. His mismatched eye lights seemed to fade for a second or two before returning.
"Well, to my knowledge it should've worn off like three days ago, but it could just be taking longer because it's been directly applied to him and not, ya know, drank."
"..You threw a strength potion that was meant to be drank.. onto Nightmare?"
Dust seemed to be calculating something, his eye-lights steadily drifting in and out of existence.
"Yeah? Is that bad or something?"
Dust looked up at Error with a concerned expression.
"Well, usually they wear off when the cells of the person's Soul have rejuvenated, since that's where they usually end up residing. The fact you threw it onto Nightmare's goop and tentacles and it's still not wearing off.. it might be because the goop itself isn't rejuvenating."
"So.. in simple terms?"
"In simple terms to fix this issue we'd basically have to force reset Nightmare's goop, so essentially beat him to a pulp until all traces of it is gone."
"Haaah- n-not gonna happe-hn~"
"Great! So, essentially what you're saying, Dust, is that we need to basically kill Nightmare, and since he's not up to that idea.."
"He's fucked!"
"Yeah, basically."
"So.. maybe we should try and look through the library to find like, a cure or something?"
"Cross, I love you dude, but we can't just find a cure for something like- holy shit we should check the library."
"Thanks, Killer, love you too but in a no homo way~!"
And just like that, we were all leaving Nightmare alone and rushing over to the library.