~𝕹𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖗𝖊'𝖘 𝕾𝖊𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖙 𝕻𝖆𝖘𝖙~

Chapter 1: Questions and a Plan

"Nightmare, come on! It's time to wake up!" Killer yelled, slamming the door open. Nightmare groaned and extended his tentacle so he could shut the door. This only resulted in Killer grabbing it with his hand. He knew this would only result in his corruption goop getting all over it and Nightmare being pissed off with him all morning, but he could care less. Nightmare growled and pulled the blanket off from over his head.

"What could you possibly want at such an ungodly hour in the morning?!" Nightmare halfway-yelled, sitting up.

Killer chuckled and leaned against the doorway. "Well, good morning to you too Sunshine. How'd you sleep?" NIghtmare glared at him and finally retracted his tentacle. "Alright, I know when I'm not wanted. Breakfast will be ready in 10. Horrors fixing waffles and pancakes." Killer explained, winking and walking out.

Nightmare groggily rubbed his eyes and looked over at his bed stand. Laying on it was his headband from back when he and dream were still brothers. He shuddered at the thought.

Dream.

He never talked about his past. Their was only one person who had seen the headband and questioned it. Killer. He was the only skeleton allowed in the room,but he knew not to snoop. When he asked about the headband however, he didn't get a straight answer. Night basically told him not to question what doesn't involve him.

"Nighty, wakey wakey. Eggs and Bacy." Dream chuckled, shaking his brother awake. Nightmare chuckled and playfully hit Dream's arm so he'd get off of him. "Heh, Dream. Get off. I'm awake, I'm awake." Nightmare laughed as the two playfully pushed each other back and forth. "Come on Nighty, I need help fixing breakfast. I'm afraid I'll burn the tree down." Nightmare chuckled and stood up. "I'm coming bro. Give me a minute to make my bed and I'll be right their."

"Oh, mornin' boss." Dust said as he witnessed Nightmares come out of his room in his normal attire. He had already gotten dressed as that horrid memory played through his mind. Dust was sharpening his knife and Killer sat next to him, doing something on his phone. "Morning you two." Nightmare said as he passed them to go into the kitchen.

He saw they had already made coffee. Luckily for them. If not, they were all getting extra hard training. Especially after Killer grabbed his tentacle that morning. "Morning Boss. I'm almost done with breakfast." Horror grumbled. Nightmare sighed and poured himself a cup of coffee. "Ah, thank you Horror." He said. He may be a monster, but he's not a monster. Contrary to popular belief, he credits his minions like they're actual normal people. Not just people he controls.

Time skip to after they ate

They all sat at the table Horror had bought. All except for Error. He was babysitting Paperjam, Palette, Blueprint, and Gradient since Ink was "too busy to watch any amount of 'offspring' their is". Yes, Error was kind of forced to chat with the enemy, but Nightmare was secretly watching, making sure he didn't talk about anything other than the children. Normally he'd have one or two and they'd run around the castle, but he couldn't have 4 little rascals running around all over the place. That would be a NIghtmare.

"Alrighty, I'm done. Hey, Killer, Horror, when you two are done, can y'all come to my room. I want to practice some of my attacks I just learned." Dust asked, getting up and walking right behind said two to wash his plate. "Uh, sure I guess. But if you're even thinking about hurting me, I'm burying your bones in the ground like a dog, got it?" Horror said, shoving a piece of waffle into his mouth. Killer looked hesitant but nodded anyway.

Nightmare to note of that. Dust never wanted to practice any attacks with them, he's always wanted to be alone, and Killer would usually love to help. He always loved a good challenge. Something was definitely up. After a minute, the two finished their plate and scurried off to Dust's room.

"What'd Ya think their doing' in their." Cross asked, glancing at Nightmare who watched their every move. "To hell if I know, but I don't like it. Wash my plate for me, Ima go see what their doing." Nightmares said, teleporting right in front of Dust's door. Luckily the other two had just arrived. "Alright, spill the beans D, what is it? You never wanna practice with us." Killer asked, crossing his arms, a rather unamused expression on his face. "Alright, but not so loud. I had a dream last night-" Dust started before he was interrupted by Horror. "Skip the introduction, get to the point." He scowled, holding a knife to his chin. Dust sighed and pushed the knife away from his face.

"Fine, I wanna know more about Night's past. He knows everything about us, it doesn't seem fair that he won't share one thing with us." Dust explained, crossing his arms. Killer visibly jumped. "No, no. Absolutely not. I'm not being a part of this conversation. If y'all get in trouble, that's all yall." Killer said, throwing his hands up and backing up some. Nightmare was visibly mad but held back. He wanted to know what they were planning and how far they were willing to go. So far, Killer was the only loyal one in the room.

"Kill's, calm down. We won't get caught. We're just gonna peer around his room when he goes on patrol today for a minute, see if we can find a journal or drawing or anything that can even give us a peek into his past life, then leave. Don't you wanna know exactly who your devotioning your whole soul to?" Dust asked, trying to drag Killer into the plan. "Hm, D's actually got a point. We know nothing about him, I'd be nice to know something. I'm in." Horror said, grinning. Killer shook his head. "I may be curious, but I know when to and not to stick my non-existent nose into things and now is not something I wanna be a part of. I've finally gained his trust and I'm not losing it just because you idiots wanted to rope me into something we all clearly know we shouldn't be doing." Killer growled, narrowing his eyes. Dust sighed.

"I knew it." Killer gave him a confused look. "I knew you weren't cool enough to fit into our group. You're just Nightmares little pet and that's all you'll ever be. My mistake, I thought you could change." Dust scowled and turned away. Nudging Horror with his elbow. Horror chuckled. He knew exactly what Dust was doing. Playing into his insecurities and fears of not fitting in. And Nightmare knew that too. 'So, he'd go as far as to play into Killers flaws. He better be prepared for what's coming for him later.' Nightmare growled, cracking his knuckles.

"Wha- I'm not just a pet and I can snoop if I really wanted to. I just..." Killer started but zoned out. "You just what? You scared? Come on, we'll be in and out just like that. He'll never even suspect anything. I mean, unless you wanna be on the outs." Horror chuckled. Killer sighed. "I'm going to die, FINE! But I'm only going to watch you two. That's it. I refuse to do something that may risk losing Night's trust." He finally caved. "I knew you would say yes. Now come on. Just keep a low profile until 12 when he goes on patrol. When he leaves, meet up at his room. And K, bring the key. You know how he is." Dust said.

Killer forced a smile. "Yay... can't wait to die." Killer said, sitting on the floor. "Hell yea, wonder what he's hiding. Must be something big if he's that insecure about it. Wonder what he was like before corruption took him over... or if he was always corrupt." Horror continued. It was like he was trying to tell or narrate a story.

"Hey N-" Cross started before Nightmare teleported them both into his office. "-ight...mare? Why are we here?" Nightmare sighed, "Look, i can't believe i'm doing this but you need to go on patrol for me today. I've got to deal with a few... problems to take care of. Don't start any problems, got that?" Nightmare growled. Cross nodded and grabbed his knife...sword... thing. "I promise not to start too many problems this time. See ya later boss." Cross said as he ran out. He was not about to wait to see if Nightmare would change his mind.