How to Fix the Broken

Chapter 1: Two Worlds (P2) (Rewritten)

Nightmare sighed, yawning a bit. He rubbed his eye a bit to get the sleepiness out of it. He sat up, a bit disoriented as to where he was. He felt a book on his lap and he remembered that just after dinner he had gone to read. He was in the library.

He picked at the pages, his fingers lightly brushing over the lines. This was one of his special books. He had very few of them and they were hidden away from his subordinates.

Little dots littered the pages in lines, and it may have looked like a complete mess of random dots but to Nightmare... they were a new reality.

The little dots were sets in six. Two by three. And the dots only showed for a certain letter. It was a code to say the least and it was practically everywhere now. In public little plaques had these raised bumps, and they held the same way of sets.

Braille. It was braille. A code designed specifically for the blind.

Nightmare had been excited when Killer found them in a random raid they had done years ago. Killer was going to throw them out, not knowing what they were. When Nightmare touched them he realized what they were and immediately took them for himself.

There were only so many books made entirely out of braille, and Nightmare found three. He loved them. It brought him so much peace and comfort to be able to read again. As much as reading reminded him of his childhood, it brought peace as he remembered hours of sitting in his mothers branches, reading his favorite books to her and pointing out his favorite lines.

But that peace never lasted very long. The bullies. The ....

He squeezed his eye shut and shook his head, trying to dislodge the thought from his mind not that closing his eye did anything, he couldn't see anyways.

"Something wrong, boss?" A rough voice asked. He had never seen the person who held this voice but Nightmare knew every detail of the voice, what which fluctuations meant and why they were talking the way they were. He knew every sound by soul, even the ones he didn't care for.

"No, Killer." He shot a grin in the speaker's direction. He snapped his book close and set it down. "Well, other than the fact that you should be sleeping. It's 11, is it not?" He stood and walked over to Killer, leading him out of the room.

"Boss?" His voice sounded worried.

"Hmm?" Nightmare hummed, wondering about the tone of voice.

"You slept all night." Killer seemed nervous.

Nightmare froze. Shit... "all night? ..."

Nightmare heard the slight clanking noise of bones rattling, most likely a nod from Killer.

"Shit... the balance is off." Nightmare mumbled. He hated the balance. He started having problems with it when the incident happened. ... Dream... he wondered for the millionth time since it, what changed for him on his side? When the balance was off and leaning towards the positive side, Nightmare became exhausted. And half the time, he never even noticed till he woke up. He never let it lean towards his side so he didn't exactly know what happened. ... what did Dream have to deal with when it was too positive? Did anything happen? It must be a good thing for Dream because it tipped often.

"... I guess we're going to have to go out.." he muttered.

A loud crash. Nightmare stiffened, memories filling his head. He squeezed his eye shut but that didn't change what he saw.

Him accidentally dropping a plate.

A wolf monster hitting him with a broomstick repeatedly till he picked up all the pieces.

His bleeding fingers holding a piece of broken glass.

Looking in a reflective glass, his skull cracked, his eye black and empty. His circlet was dented as he tried to put it back on.

A forced smile, lavender purple eye lights filling the empty black holes.

Nightmare shook his head, once again trying to dislodge memories he didn't want to remember.

"Boss?" Killers voice had an edge to it that meant he was worried but was not trying to draw attention to it.

"It's fine. Now, what the hell was that!?" Nightmare stormed from the library heading for where the noise came from.

He walked down the hallways he knew by heart. His castle was big, but his team never explored. There was this small part Nightmare had sectioned off as the mansion. His team never ventured out of the "mansion" in the castle unless they were going to mess with prisoners.

His tentacles brushed the wall as he walked. He didn't need to anymore but it was comforting to know that the walls still existed and he wasn't standing in blank space.

He entered the kitchen to the sound of a highly pitched whine, the smell of blood, and the sound of little plicks of liquid hitting the tiles that made up the floor.

"Oh deities, Horror. What did you do..?" Nightmare asked a bit sternly but not unkindly.

Judging on the vibrations his tentacles detected, Killer was wobbling around, most likely trying to get to Horror. That and the loud crash he heard must mean Horror broke something made of glass.

"I burned breakfast." Horror mumbled. Horror was a skeleton of little words. When he did speak it was normally something important or something that was bothering him and/or he rest of the Murder Time Trio. Dust and Killer talked a lot but never went to Nightmare when they needed something, it was always Horror. The three hated acting like their old selves, which meant that Horror barely talked and Dust never shuts up. He's always talking to something.

Nightmare though of the little silhouette that followed Dust around. Phantom, Dust's papyrus.

He snapped out of his thoughts as Horror asked a question.

"Are you mad...?" Horror asked, his had a shame filled edge.

Nightmare stiffened, remembering how he used to treat them. He was horrible to them in the past. Treating them how he was treated... but there was a big difference in how he treated them when it was entirely compared to how he was treated. One big difference.

...

He shook his head, once again dislodging the thought.

"No... I'm not mad..." Nightmare stepped forward, his tentacles swiping at the floor, removing much of the shattered glass. "Why would I be mad?"

"... I broke the casserole dish." Horror mumbled, dejected.

Nightmare felt a bigger piece of glass at his feet and he picked it up gently. "It's okay, I was planning on getting a new one anyway." He smiled softly and dropped the broken glass in the pile.

Two Worlds pt 2
Love conquers all

1130 words