I'll Make You Mine

Sadistic Experiment: Nightmare

Snap.

He didn’t even need to turn around. Dream’s arrows glowed with bright blue light, so they were too easy to spot. His idiot brother should have thought that through when he designed them. Nightmare’s black tendrils splintered the attack into two.

The Lord of Negativity strolled across the field without a care in the multiverse. The screams and bloodshed meant nothing to him. He attacked Birdtale for a reason. Besides the fact that this AU was obnoxiously cheerful, it was the perfect place to draw the Star Sanses to. The jagged cliffs, dark sky, and high altitude made it difficult for the Stars to fight together. The monsters fled the scene long ago, which gave the teams more fighting room. Nightmare dodged another of Dream’s arrows as he surveyed the current status of his team.

Dust had Blue in a one-on-one battle. The hooded skeleton locked the Star in a miniature arena made from sharpened bones. Blue bounced around, swinging his giant hammer made of teal magic. He used one of the fallen trees as a springboard to gain the upper hand. While he was full of energy, Dust showed no emotion, which wasn’t uncommon for him. His movements were robotic and bored, like he wanted to be anywhere that wasn’t here. Even his pistols were slower than usual.

Across the field, Dream tried to fight off Killer while watching out for Horror. Killer flirted with Dream between strikes, making them blush and scowl in embarrassment. Nightmare smirked at his awkward aura. Dream bashed Killer’s ribs with his bow before drop-kicking him. Nightmare assigned Killer to distract his attention. Usually, he would handle his twin, but this time, he was after a different member of the team.

From the corner of his teal eyelight, he caught Horror sneaking up behind Dream. He gripped his blood-coated ax tight. Horror glanced over to Nightmare, and he winked in response. Horror raised the weapon above the guardian’s head and shot it down for a clean slice. Dream must have sensed his emotions due to him spinning around and screaming. He fiddled for his bow, but it would have been pointless.

A blast of black paint stuck Horror’s forearm to the cliff wall. Nightmare stepped behind one of the pine trees, laying his back against it as he smirked in anticipation. Ah, there he was.

The attacker was an athletic skeleton in a brown and white outfit, wielding a paintbrush as tall as he was. He was around five-foot-seven. He wore a sash of colorful paints across his chest. Black paint smudged his left cheekbone, the edge hiding behind a thick brown scarf covered with black marks. Ink’s shifting eye lights glinted with mischief. He flipped Broomie and held it out to Horror. “Come on, eggshell! Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s rude to chop someone’s head off? I didn’t think that head injury of yours would destroy your common sense.”

Horror growled. No one talked about the oversized crack in his skull, especially as a joke. The larger skeleton ripped his arm free, tearing his pale blue sleeve in the process. Dream took his chance to slip beneath his arm and run toward Ink. “Thank you. Sorry. I wasn’t paying attention,” he said.

“Pfft, you’re fine,” Ink assured. The artist looked around with a red question mark in his left eye socket. “Now where did Killer go-”

A knife sliced his small brown jacket. Killer leaped down from whatever perch he was watching from. He and Horror circled their prey. The two Stars stood back-to-back. Dream loaded their bow, and Ink spun his paintbrush. Nightmare itched to join the battle, but he knew he had to wait. If he planned this out correctly . . .

Ink pulled one of his paint vials from his sash. Dream spotted it and gulped, shaking his head. “Ink, no. You’ve been having bad effects with-”

“It’s going to be fine. Calm down!” Ink ignored him and downed the red drink in a single gulp. His eyes turned into a crimson target and an exclamation point. A sharp smile spread across his face, matching Nightmare’s grin. This was what he was hoping for.