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dream approached slowly, watching as the soil crumbled beneath his steps, unable to hold back the pang of sadness that seeing his au like this brought. he and nightmares tree was the only thing that withstood — dry and tall as it rooted in the ground, dead. nightmare simply glared at dream through heavy lids, silence being shared before dream heaved a sigh, un-summoning his weapon. “brother..-“ dream was cut off by a sharp bang, cracks traveling up toward his feet, threatening to crumble the floor beneath him as he stumbled to move out of the way. looking up, nightmare stood tall, but unsure as his tentacle penetrated the ground. “do not refer to me as such. we are not brothers. at least not any more.” nightmare spat, venom clinging his tone as he took a step forward. dream stammered over his words, shaking his head. “cant we resolve this properly, nightmare? it needn’t be this way-“ nightmare laughed, birds fluttering to the sudden loud noise as the tar adorning nightmares bones swamped, a angry expression clouding his face as he clutched where his gut would be. “resolve? after everything you’ve done to me? HOW DO YOU RESOLVE THIS DREAM?” his tone became serious quickly, dream shivering as he reached out, resisting the urge to step back as his brother progressed toward him slowly. “I AM A MONSTER. accept and look at that, for your own sake!” nightmare pleaded in a biting tone, pulling at his sockets as dream shook his head reverently. “that isn’t true.” he said, nightmare giving a dumb look. “then what am i, dream? i’m sure not that neglected child i once was, am i?” he said plainly, tendril moving swiftly to sweep dream off his feet, him falling with a ‘oof’. “i didn’t neglect you, you know this! i love you, i would never do anything to hurt you! not on purpose!” dream shouted, quickly regaining ground as he summoned his bow, a yellow orb forming quickly between his hand and the arrow. “thats fucking rich, because last time i checked, you allowed me to essentially kill myself with that apple! without any intervention from you whatsoever—“ nightmare started, pissed as he threw sharp attacks via tendril, hand flicking upward, the tips of his fingers illuminating a gentle cyan as the little boy begged and sobbed for the thing to stop. “you just couldn’t stand a second without the attention! you even agreed you couldn’t believe your relations to me!” he cried out, hurt plaguing his voice as he jerked his hand in a stiff movement, dream dodging messily as he sprinted elsewhere quickly, re-arming his bow. nightmare glitched, ripping through the air in impossible speed to push dream onto blue bones, rendering him immobile, and trembling. “you hadn’t meant anything..” 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞. nightmare said, disgust trailing his voice as his tendrils flicked outward. “none of the apologies, anything! that you cared for me, even though embarrassingly — that was all i’d ever wanted! was your validation, fuck a hug would’ve even been nice!” nightmare said, tears clouding his vision as dream looked up dreadfully, closing his sockets. “it isn’t too late.” dream told more to himself, voice weak as nightmare shook his head. “oh, but it is. it is far too late, ‘brother’.” 𝐭𝐰𝐨. nightmare spat, tar swarming his body as gentle calls for help from the small boy was out of sight, out of mind. the blue bones shot down, dream making haste in moving away from the phasing tendrils, hopping swiftly into the air as he charged his bow, slinging the arrow back. quickly though, just before the arrow was slung from his grasp, nightmare slapped him elsewhere in a downward direction, dream hitting the floor with a loud ‘crack’, his bow skidding across the dirt, slipping into the cracks in the ground. before he could regain composure, he’s pulled quickly into the air by his neck, nightmares aura rendering him nauseous as it had grown in capacity x2 in the past five minutes. “this isn’t worth it! you don’t have to be miserable your whole life, nightmare! i love you, and you’ll always be seen as my brother!” dream spewed, voice weak as his hands struggled to claw at the tightening tendril with an illuminated hand.
𝐨𝐧𝐞.
“liar.” nightmare said simply, twisting dreams head in the opposite direction with a deafening crack, dreams struggle ceasing immediately as tar clung to his fingers, dissipating by nightmares very eyes. dropping dream, he’d take a step back, looked at his hands as he watch tar roll off of his bones, a rough sense of fatigue and regret washing over him. his eyelights shook, hesitating as they glanced up, dream rolled onto his side as the golden apple was forced from his ribcage. “brother..” nightmare said quietly, sure the parasite was gone as he fumbled with his steps, falling to his knees by dreams side, pushing him on his back. “dream! dream, wake up!” he pleaded, placing a cold hand over the cracks in his neck, chips of bone sliding off as he did so, watching the dusting process begin. “dream no! stop, you can’t leave me — i’m sorry, please-“ nightmare pleaded with his brother, a shaky hand reaching to cradle the side of his skull, just as they used to.
“i..forgive you, brother.” dreams exhausted voice croaked out, plagued with a stinging pain. he was just happy to see his brother. his real brother. nightmare choked, strangled sobs forcing their way out as he pleaded with no avail, scrambling to give him a hug as if it would put him back together. “love you.” dream said finally as his arm slumped, the unmistakable smell of rotting apples plaguing his senses as he sobbed into the dust scattered cape, trembling. “i need you..please, brother..” nightmare said hopelessly as dreams soul replacement fell to the ground with a soft thud, allowing itself to rot.