Sleepy Buddies [REWRITE] //Dreambur

Chapter 25- And The World Shall Kneel

Word Count- 3223

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Nightmare didn't want to play games or waste time in general, so he did the first thing that came to mind. He raised his gun and started shooting.

Corpse slashed out with his blades and Sapnap went down with a scream. Nightmare flipped over him, tasing his old friend and watching his body wriggle on the ground in pain, blood leaking out of the gashes on his legs. He smirked and turned, pulling out his silenced gun and nailing Punz in the head. He went down in a splatter of blood and he felt his stomach twist with dark appreciation as his eye rolled past his boot. This was fun.

Corpse rolled between his legs and came up behind him, cutting the ankles of another guard trying to hit Nightmare. As she went down, he plunged a knife into her chest. Blood spurted up and she screamed silently as he gently laid her down to the ground.

"Thanks," Nightmare panted, sliding his gun and taser back into their holsters on his thighs. The hallway was bathed in blood. The once colorful flowers in vases and on walls were showered with red droplets and the walls had been painted a deep crimson. Bodies littered the hallway, splayed at odd angles and leaking blood and other fluids. Someone's brain matter was scattered in a disgusting trail on the carpet. That one was probably Nightmare's fault.

"Damn, I hope you have a good clean up crew for later," Corpse muttered, wiping his blades on his pants. "I haven't seen this much blood in a while."

"Spend more time around Techno and me, you'll be desensitized pretty quickly."

Corpse chuckled and nodded, the bunny ear of his mask flopping around. Blood was splattered across said mask, making him look like a deranged murderer, which was only partially true. He was the most mentally stable of any of them. His knives glinted in the light, winking at Nightmare with a deadly promise.

"You ready?"

Nightmare nodded, pulling a knife out of his pocket. It rested cooly in his hand, the metal untouched since the night Techno had given it to him. He remembered the rage, the teenagers, the tang of blood that rested in the air just like now, and his grip tightened.

"Are you sure you don't need any backup? You don't have to-,"

"Corpse, if I wanted help, I'd ask," he interrupted. Corpse flinched, flinched, at his tone, but nodded.

"Then do it and get out." Corpse rested a hand on Nightmare's shoulder before he could leave, then hesitated. He gingerly reached up and undid the clasp of his mask. Nightmare watched Corpse pull it away.

He had narrow, intensely colorful eyes the color of bourbon at the bottom of a glass and secrets and sunsets. Those eyes held terror and pain in them, but also worry and compassion. His skin was pale and littered with small and big scars alike. Burn scars were the most prominent, taking up a decent amount of his skin. His curly black hair fell into his face and he brushed it away absentmindedly.

"Hey, pay attention. You remember the backup plan?"

Nightmare nodded, refusing to be fazed as his arm twitched. He was above Corpse, above the president, above the guards, above them all. He could handle everything without personal interference. This was his moment.

"Then get it done, partner, and for the love of the gods, make it back alive. There's a lot of us who would never be able to cope if... well you know what I mean. Just go."

Nightmare nodded again, unable to form words. Corpse was a patchwork of pain and suffering, but he was a survivor. And Nightmare could see the genuine care for his safety in those eyes. He was who Dream was fighting for. Him and the rest of the city, who deserved so much better than Schlatt. And to achieve Dream's vision, Nightmare had to get his hands dirty.