You're not leaving || SwadMare fanfiction ||

Feeling?

Nightmare wandered around Swad's castle. No matter how many turns he made, no matter how many times he had passed through unfamiliar halls, he still was always greeted by two large doors. The only things stopping him from his freedom. He edged closer to the door, slamming them open and running outside. Nightmare allowed himself to cry with joy.

He jolted to a stop as he felt a sharp tug on his arm. Nightmare turned to see what it was, stopping him from his freedom.

A rope was tied to his wrist. A sturdy one, too. Nightmare scoffed, shaking his head at the pitiful thing, reaching to snap it in half and continue escaping Swad's grasp. As he touched the rope, bright, blistering pain screamed at Nightmare. He winced, snapping his hand back.

The tar on his hand...

It was melting away, revealing his milky white bones. The negative guardian's breath hitched, firing into hyperventilating as the tar coolly slipped away from his body, revealing a small, puny skeleton. Nightmare reached at the gaping hole in his face. Where a tormentor from his past had slammed a bat to his skull. Reminded by the pain, Nightmare whimpered and buried his face in his hands. Crying. His legs shook and gave out, making him collapse to the ground. 

Nightmare snapped awake, gasping for air and clutching his sweater. The fabric twisted under his hands, that clawed at it. He huffed, shaking. His hand reached up to his blind spot, hoping and wishing and begging that the dream hadn't somehow became reality. The negative guardian pulled his hand away, a thin black line of tar connecting his hand and skull. Nightmare sighed in relief. It was fake, it hadn't happened. 

Without warning or his consent, Swad was behind Nightmare, arms wrapped around him in a hug. The shorter, darker paletted skeleton wasn't sure if it was for comfort, or simply because Swad wanted to have physical attention. 

"Oh my, darling, why is your body pulsing with anxiety?" Swad asked, his voice as smooth as silk. Nightmare didn't respond, and blinded by worry he laid back into Swad's embrace. He buried himself in a dip between Swad's arm and his ribs. A faded memory of his own version of Dream doing the same as they were younger, protected by their mother's branches and leaves, which provided shade and protection from blistering heat and pouring rain.

Nightmare's thoughts became slow and murky, like maple syrup or sap from a tree. Had Swad used his magic on the other again? Nightmare shook his head, dragging himself away from Swad. The winged skeleton wasn't safe. He wasn't caring or compassionate or empathetic  enough to ditch his own jacket or cape to keep another warm, like what his Dream would do. He was not Dream.

And Dream wasn't even Nightmare's comfort. If anything, he was Nightmare's reason he hated being near other people so much, since Dream had always dragged him along into yearly Village gatherings and forced him to make conversation.

"Tell me, when are we actually going to start looking for the others?" Nightmare asked suddenly, no longer wanting to deal with the subject he had just conjured mentally. Swad let out a breathy grumble.

"After lunch." Swad stated. He took a moment to pause. The winged skeleton nodded, as if agreeing with his own claim. "After lunch is just fine," He mumbled. Nightmare gave the other a puzzled look, Swad brushing it off and sliding away from his own bed. "Now, how about breakfast? I made some waffles. Daresay they're the best in the multiverse," Swad boasted, wings fluffing up with pride. Nightmare scoffed, giving him an eyeroll as he walked out of the bedroom at Swad's side. When they reached the kitchen Nightmare hauled himself onto a marble counter top, sitting cross-legged and waiting for his food. Swad soon slid a plate with two waffles and a fork across the table, along with syrup close behind it. Nightmare grabbed the plate, pushing the syrup container away and eating the waffles plain. 

Swad tilted his head, curious. "Not a fan of it?" He asked. Nightmare shook his head, silent. "Ah, I see." Swad grabbed a large ziplock bag, sliding the leftover waffles inside of it and opening the fridge. He tossed the bag inside of the fridge and closed it, hopping on top of the counter at Nightmare's side as he ate his own breakfast. Nightmare bit back the urge to cringe and shuffle away. Swad wasn't doing anything entirely wrong, besides being annoying. But that was normal, so he decided to keep silent and not be an asshole for once.

How horribly wrong Nightmare's judgement was. Swad fed off of both negativity and positivity, pressing people down to a breaking point through another person or item. He then usually offered a deal or sometimes just held his arms open wide, people falling into his trap and believing that he was kind and loyal. Then they were bound to Swad like a dog is to their owner.

"Hey, don't doze on me Darling, we gotta make sure you're not tired for searching for your 'friends,'" Swad said suddenly, elbowing Nightmare and snapping the other back to reality. The negative guardian slid off the counter, placing his hands in his sweater pockets.

"Didn't you mention a library?" Nightmare asked casually, trying to muffle the excitement bubbling underneath his curious boredom. Swad nodded, jabbing his thumb at a hall to the left.

"Go right down there and take a right when you reach the end of that hall, should be the first door on the right." He explained. Nightmare, barely able to hold back his excitement, mumbled a thanks and dashed down the halls, going where Swad had said and skidding to a halt as he found two large, dark wooden doors that had swirls of gold and orange paint in it. Nightmare pushed the doors open, gasping.

Books! So many books! Hundreds upon thousands upon millions of books were shelved neatly and perfectly on tall, tall shelves. Nightmare ran over to the closest shelf and pulled a book gently from it's home on a shelf, flipping through the yellowed pages. No tears, no folds on the corners, nothing. He discovered a deep indigo bookmark, a golden feather tied to it with a thin yellow string. 

"Oh my mother of creation," He sighed wistfully, placing the book back on the shelf where it belonged.

Swad chuckled, leaning against a door. "Enjoying yourself darling?" He asked, clearly amused. Nightmare didn't have the motivation to snap a retort to the winged skeleton, so he just nodded and scaled a ladder, grabbing a book and scanning the pages. He shrugged and placed it in a tentacle of his, wrapping it around the book. Nightmare repeated this process until he had at the least 8 books wrapped in his tentacles, scaling the ladder so he was back on the ground.

"You sure you want to read this all in one sitting? We have at the most five hours until we're going to try and find your comrades." Swad asked. Nightmare nodded, plopping down on a chair and making a disgusted face as collected dust flew in his face. "I'll get you when we leave," Swad sighed, flicking his wrist. Three different pairs of curtains flew open, revealing daylight from outside. He exited the room, leaving Nightmare alone to his books, at long last.