A New Era

Chapter 2: In the Dead of Night

Nightmare sat at his desk, going through the little paperwork there was just to have something to do. Sunlight filtered into the room through half opened curtains, glinting off the golden accents in his office while keeping it dark the way he always like it. The faint scent of rain drifted through the room, courtesy of Dream's gift of a wax melter that was currently glowing in a far corner.

It was actually peaceful.

He subconsciously started to finger his neck, feeling the scars and rough bone. He frowned, forcing himself to focus on the work. He wasn't going to think of that right now. Right now, he had questions to answer and... he only had one sheet left. Well, there goes working to stave off his boredom and... memories.

He finished the writing and got up, stretching and letting the smell of rain attack his nose. It did feel nice to finally relax without the fear of being scorned for it. At least not yet. Nightmare shook himself as he saw his vision darken slightly.

Come on. You haven't been able to really express your negative emotions properly. Why not get used to it? a part of him said. It almost felt as though someone was talking to him, standing right beside him.

He... kind of did want to let it all out. It had hurt like hell when it all came out at first but it felt so good. He shrugged and allowed his vision to darken and blur. He felt the tentacles ripping through his suit and the cold, sticky sensation of the goop falling from his head and slowly covering his body.

He couldn't help the maniacal smile that stretched across his face or the slight fuzziness in his head. It didn't hurt as bad as the first time or even the second time. It felt natural. It felt right.

He wiggled a tentacle, watching it wave in his vision. His smile stretched as a fun idea popped into his head. Without warning, his stabbed it straight through his desk, the papers getting covered in goop as he slid it out of the newly formed hole.

The fuzziness seemed to spread slightly, but he didn't care. He shot all of his tentacles out, impaling everything in his office. He smiled wider as burning wax dripped onto a tentacle before being absorbed into the goop. The painting of him and his brother that hung above his desk still hung, but with a few to maybe six tentacles drilled through it.

The walls were now decorated with cracks and holes peppered them. It felt so right. It felt fantastic. It felt-.

"Nightmare?" Dream asked, opening the door. "Are you o-."

Without thinking, Nightmare stabbed a tentacle through Dream, manic smile still plastered to his face. He pulled the tentacle back quickly, making Dream's disintegrating body stumble forward.

"Brother?" Dream asked before falling to the ground. A pile of dust with his circlet on top all that was left of him.

Nightmare woke up, almost crying out. He heaved deep breathes as his soul continued to pound. His hands were black and goopy as they clutched at the blanket and at his clothes. Tentacles splayed out around the bed, a couple hugging him around his waste.

He sat there for at least twenty minutes simply breathing before it finally started clicking that it was simply a nightmare. When the room stopped spinning and he could breath without hyperventilating, he looked down at himself.

Half of him had gone goopy with his tentacles spread around him. His eyes were still purple, but, based on the glow when he held his hand up to them, his left eye was laced with light, cyan blue. He quickly and quietly made his way to the door that led to his office and opened it to see if it was destroyed. Everything was as he had left it before he went to bed. The painting of him and his brother hung above the desk, barely lit by the little moonlight that managed to peak itself through the blinds and curtains. The wax melter sat on his desk, not in the corner like in the dream (who was he kidding? That was a nightmare).