Core the Apple

Overripe

A/N: Hello once more. Everyone in my house has come down with covid except myself, so I have been playing personal nurse. I take my NCLEX (nursing licensing exam) on the 7th, so I'm hoping that goes well.

Anyway! They had to lower my depression medication dosage due to my tachycardia, and since it was hardly helping before, it REALLY isn't doing squat now! So you know what that means! Nightmare gets to suffer! :D

Enjoy(?)

"It isn't that I don't believe in what you're doing..."

"No, no I understand."

There was a shuffling of sheets in the following silence.

"I thought-"

"I know, but we're not the same."

More silence followed this.

"I'm sorry... I guess my loyalty never changed."

"He he, I don't know if that's what it is. All of you together, I think you had some sort of strange family."

"I didn't think so until now..."

More shuffling of sheets was heard.

"If I'm honest, I'd... respect you more if you went."

A soft laugh and a quieter 'clank' followed this.

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

-----------------------------------------------------

Error was stunned when Nightmare came dragging the others back home, the spirit struggling to hold them all in his tendrils. He collapsed onto the floor of the lounge once he was finally through the portal, gasping to catch his breath before cringing. Each of his boys was released from his tendrils, which quickly disappeared into his back with a sickening noise. Nightmare found he couldn't resummon them, alerting him he was rapidly running out of magic and negativity to sustain his body.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Error snapped as Killer and Horror scrambled to help Nightmare back to his feet.

"Slightly." Nightmare panted as he sat back on the couch and closed his eye. "You fall into some sort of unwakeable sleep, only to jump out of bed and disappear to who knows where?!" The glitch continued to lecture him with glitches wildly jumping across his body. He couldn't fathom why the other would burn through energy he didn't have when he could have just requested Error to provide support or pull everyone back.

"They needed me."

Error deflated a bit at this, mulling over his words. He understood, he believed, a bit better why the other felt the need to be the one to go to them. "Dammit, Nightmare... that doesn't mean you couldn't have asked for help." He sighed in frustration. Error did a sweep over all of them, frown tight on his face. He couldn't deny that the group was banged up pretty bad, with Dust having an obvious fracture across his tibia. "Son of a bitch..." He muttered with exasperation as he dragged his hand down his face.