Repurposed

On Good Terms

We pulled away from each other with smiles as bright as the sun on Dream's cape. I felt radiant. Dream still loves me! He called me brother again, despite all our fights! A sharp twinge of pain shot through my soul at the memories of us fighting, but I quickly pushed them away. It didn't matter anymore. We are no longer enemies, and that's good enough for me.

We turned our attention to the doorway just as Ink came charging in. He was screaming, and my own scream mixed with his as he dove at me. I shut my eyesocket and flinched as he curled up next to me.

"Nightmare," he hissed. "Your gang wants to kill me."

I blinked at him. "Well yeah. Most of them don't like you. Plus, you captured them. Obviously, they'd want to kill you for barging in, unannounced, and cornering me, I guess."

I looked away from him and tried to scoot away from him. I noticed that Cross had come in with his knife drawn, as did Killer and Dust. They all wore expressions that promised pain for their target, which made Ink whimper and grip my jacket. I grimaced and tried to pry him off, but he stuck on me like a leech.

"L-let me go!"

"But they're gonna kill me!"

"Defend yourself, idiot!"

He seemed to realize how dumb he looked, but didn't move. I sensed his emotions, and realized he wasn't scared. I stared into his eyelights, and they changed from a purple teardrop and green swirl, to yellow stars. My brows furrowed, and I once again tried to get him away from me. His actions were unnerving me, and I didn't really want to find out why he was doing this.

Dust stepped up to us, staring down at Ink menacingly. Gritting his teeth, he growled. "Let go of our boss, squid."

The air was charged with hostility. I looked between them, stifling a laugh at Dust's jealousy. I summoned a tendril and tore Ink off me, dropping him behind the couch. He grunted as I dropped him, but quickly hid behind me, eyeing Dust and the others as they came in.

Dream gestured for Lust to come over as he entered the room. They seemed to have a silent conversation before turning to me, searching my eyelight with concern.

"Brother," he began softly. "We wanted to ask you something...." He looked around the room, a shadow crossing over his face. "It's... private. I hope your gang understands."

"If there's something ya wanna ask him," Horror growled, folding his giant arms over his chest. "Ya can tell us, too."

Dream looked to me. I returned his gaze steadily. "What is this about, Dream?"

He sucked in a breath, exchanging another look with Lust. I didn't like this. What happened? What did I do?

"Nightmare," Lust spoke, and I snapped my gaze to him. "We... saw what happened in Outertale. I thought I recognized that you were in danger, so we sort of... attacked the guy. Or rather, Ink barrel-rolled at him while we tried to see if you were ok. Are you?"

I kept my gaze on the floor. "So you don't know him."

"Of course not!" Ink chimed in, startling me. "He was obviously trying to hurt you, so I swatted him off the cliff!"

I winced. "You've never met him?"

They shook their heads. It seems Swad is really good at remaining undetected. Hmph, go figure.

Ink jumped back into the seat he'd occupied before, his posture relaxed. I eyed him warily as the others gathered around, listening.

"Yeah, I fought him off," Ink said airily. "He wasn't hard to beat, anyway."