How to Establish Your Gang and Take Care of the Children in It (On Hiatus)

Rule 27: Seriously. Brother. Personality. Jackass.

"I really need a fucking nap right now."

Nightmare was exhausted. Honestly, at this point he couldn't remember what it was like not to be tired. This time, at least, it hadn't actually been his fault- three weeks in an enclosed space with no one but Bill would grate on anyone's nerves to the point of snapping.

As it was, he barely made it to his bed before his eye closed and he fell asleep.

He appeared in the dreamscape, stifling a yawn. Sometimes, he wished he could dream, if dreaming meant turning off all of his thoughts to recharge. All he could do was sit and watch the dreamscape if he wanted a break.

Mare made his way to the center of the dreamscape, occasionally pausing to turn dreams into nightmares as he went. He did this randomly, not even so much as glancing at the subjects inside. It was his job to corrupt dreams. Doing it solely to people he hated would just make him a jackass.

He made it to the Mother Tree, studying it briefly. There were no changes in the multiverse's emotions, and everything was running smoothly. It-

Crying.

Despite himself, Nightmare shrank back, stepping into the shadow of the Tree. He melted into the darkness until he was completely invisible to anyone else. In the past, he'd avoided several fights by hiding in the shadows until the danger had passed- it was second nature to do so at the unexpected sounds.

Such as someone else in the dreamscape.

"Hey... I hope you c-can hear me... I hope you're not i-in pain..."

Nightmare was startled for a moment, then realized that Dream wasn't looking at him at all. Instead, the shiny skeleton sat down, drawing his knees to his chest and folding his arms over his legs. Dream rested his chin on his arms, tears running down his face as he stared off into the distance.

"...I'm sorry I d-didn't come visit you earlier," The Guardian said softly. "I- It was just t-too painful. I didn't want to- to think about another year going by w-without you."

Nightmare realized with a sinking feeling that he was eavesdropping on a very personal moment. But moving would break the shadow walking, and at this point it was going to be awkward either way.

Goddamn.

"It's been s-so long, Night," Dream wiped away his tears, but more kept coming. "I'm s-so tired of fighting. Of pretending I'm okay. I- I just want to go back home. I want to be able to s-smile again, because e-everything's okay and I know what the point of it all i-is."

He sniffed, rubbing his eyes. "No, I'm being stupid," He muttered. "You w-weren't happy there. You were miserable, and I w-was just too stupid and blind to s-see it. I wish I c-could apologize, Night. I wish you could be here t-to accept it."

A pause. Then, in a voice barely above a whisper;

"I wish I knew what I was doing, at least."

And... time to go. Nightmare slowly started to edge away, making sure Dream didn't notice his presence. It was a bit difficult- he'd never practiced actually moving while shadow walking- but he managed to make it around the edge of the Tree before stepping out of the shadows. He took a step to leave, then glanced back at Dream, who was still crying, talking quietly to a brother who wasn't around to hear it.

No. No. Dream was an enemy, likely to attack on sight. He had tried several times to murder Nightmare, and would almost certainly try to in the future. There was no room for sympathy here.

And yet it was so easy to think of Horror or Killer or Cross sitting there instead. Would he ever leave one of them to their own misery?

I'm a fucking idiot, aren't I?