At Their Mercy

Chapter 36: Ghost of your past

A/N: Hello, it is me again.

I know all of you are really eager to learn more about how the last chapter ended. BUUUUUUT, well, just hold on to those thoughts for a bit.This scene begins around the same time Errata's "therapy circle" from last chapter begins. Enjoy.

Nightmare was a bit puzzled about how to advance from here.

So far, he had gone through the needed steps a lot smoother than he had thought he would. The other was incredibly receptive as well, which only made it that much easier. Having to sit in front of the mother figure that he himself had killed, whether she was a good one or not, had been difficult. Errata had passed no judgment, however, even going so far as to insist they would have fought had they ever met.

"Idiot," Nightmare breathed quietly with a small smile on his face. He shook his head to dismiss those thoughts, continuing to puzzle a bit on what to do next. He wasn't sure if what happened also counted as a significant location, but Nightmare was going to rule that it didn't. Errata may blend and skip steps at random but Nightmare was going to try and keep this linear. As he was pondering upon places that actually meant anything to him, he sensed his brother nearby. He turned his head a bit as Dream stepped into his office, looking a little troubled.

"Dream? What's with the unexpected visit?" Nightmare questioned curiously, looking up from his scribbles. He could sense the uneasiness and underlying sadness the other was projecting, instantly sending him into a suspicious mindset. "Is this about Ink? Has he done something else?" He questioned with a tight frown.

"No, no! Nothing like that." Dream assured as he moved closer to his desk, trying to poorly hide his anxiety. "Um... so, what are you doing?" He questioned. Nightmare gave him a strange look at his behaviour, trying to gauge his motive. "Just... just curious." Dream continued after another moment.

Nightmare hated that Dream was trying to start this off casually, as though there wasn't something he was dying to talk about. "Well... we're just looking through our territories at the moment." He explained with a shrug. It wasn't a complete lie, but he didn't want Dream to start suggesting ideas to him about where to take his chosen. Dream seemed to be half paying attention, which only further annoyed the darker twin. "Can you stop pretending like this is a normal conversation and tell us what's the matter?" He tapped his quill impatiently on his desk, tendrils swishing a bit behind him as he waited.

Dream looked up at Nightmare finally, scanning over his face with a frown. "You, uh... you took Errata to the tree, right?" He started, seeing the confused look on his brother's face. "I mean, I know you did, you told me." He continued, wringing his hands together nervously. "That puts you... what, halfway through the rituals?" He checked, knowing the answer already. Nightmare seemed to lose some of his suspicion at this, nodding his head.

"That's correct." Nightmare informed as he began looking through his papers again. "We were scouting out territories, actually, to determine-"

"Don't you think you're going a little fast?"

The room fell silent as Nightmare stopped sifting through his papers, taking a moment to consider Dream's words. He looked up at him with bafflement, though Dream was looking to the side and away from him. The darker spirit was stunned by this sudden statement, furrowing his browbones in confusion.

"Wh-?" He sat everything aside and gave Dream his full attention. "What do you mean? You've been the one pushing us the entire time!" He reminded him with a slight glare. "You were supportive up to this point, so what's changed?" He demanded of him, bristling slightly. Dream gave a heavy sigh at Nightmare's obvious displeasure, trying to find a way to go about this.