Sticks and Stones

4

Dream Pov

I stared at the now golden apple in my hand, shit. That wasn't supposed to happen, I didn't even know my touch would turn a regular apple into a gold one! I can't let anyone find out. If the villagers found out, then -! No, calm down, Dream. Nobody saw what just happened, you just... can't touch any apples.

I carefully put the now gold apple into my inventory before heading back to the tree. Hopefully, Nightmare found some food for James cause I don't wanna look anymore.... Of course, I want James to eat, but I just turned a regular apple into a gold one for crying out loud! I should probably tell Nightmare about it... somehow. If he doesn't know about it already.

As I reached the tree, I saw James sitting at the base of it eating some raspberries and blueberries that Nightmare must have found for him. Nightmare in question was sitting beside him silently, reading a book that he got from... somewhere. I smiled and made my way over, sitting on the other side of James.

Nightmare looked up and over to me, giving me a smile and a nod before looking down at James. James was quietly but happily eating the berries Nightmare got him. For a 3 year old, he wasn't eating much, though I don't know if it's because he's not very hungry or... some other reason I don't wanna talk about.

Nightmare went back to reading his book as James ate his food, all 3 of us just sitting in silence, enjoying the quiet company. It was nice, but I needed to show Nightmare the apple... hopefully, he doesn't get mad, I didn't know I could make positivity apples from just touching them!

Calm down, Dream, you got this! Nighty won't be angry at you for a simple mistake. You're just making this worse in your head because of your anxieties! Deep breaths, keep a calm face until James either heads back to the village or falls asleep. Then you can show Nightmare the apple! Simple, right? Right.

~ Small Time Skip~

So, me showing Nightlight the apple went... better than expected. Once James fell asleep for a nap, which took a couple of hours, I showed Nightmare the apple. First, he assumed I picked it, but after counting the apples, he realized I didn't and apologized for assuming.

Of course, I accepted his apology since it was an easy assumption to make. Then, he correctly guessed I must have touched a regular apple, turning it into a positivity apple. I put it back into my inventory, and Nighy made me promise not to touch another regular apple if I could help it.

Since I already knew I didn't want the villagers to find out, I nodded in agreement. If they found out, who knows what would happen? They could just keep me in a cage and make normal apples touch me with them! I don't want that happening, so the villagers can't find out. Here's to hoping that they never found out...

3rd Pov

Nightmare was worried. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Dream wasn't supposed to be female or mute, though that didn't mean he didn't love her any less. If anything, he was that much more protective of his now sister.

However, James... wasn't supposed to be here either. He wasn't mentioned in the story, and he didn't appear the first time he let the story play out. Now, he learned that Dream had found out about being able to turn apples Gold, which.... also didn't happen last time around.

Something was.... different. In the original story, this didn't happen. This also didn't happen when he let things play out the first time around, either. So why are things different now? Was he in some alternate DreamTale AU...? Or was the multiverse a different one from before?

That didn't explain James, though, unless their AU was glitching? If that's the case, then would Error appear to destroy their AU? Or was there not an 'Error' in this multiverse yet? Nightmare didn't know, and he didn't like not knowing things.

If there were things that were different in his AU, what else was different in the multiverse? Were the others still going to have the same story? Or were things going to be different? Would things be better? Worse? Was Ink still the same, or was he different, too? Nightmare didn't know, and that was dangerous.

Nightmare sighed and looked over to James and Dream, who had both fallen asleep. Nightmare didn't know what to do. He had wanted to let things play out like he did the first time around, but too many things were different. With Dream being mute and James popping up, he wasn't sure he could simply let things play out anymore.

The only thing that was done differently was Nightmare telling the villagers to build the village farther away. Was that why things were different? Did James actually exist before, but was just kept away from them so they never met? Or was it really a glitch?

So many things were different this time around... mainly with Dream. She was a female this time around when she was male last time. She was mute, shy, and had severe separation anxiety as well. When the villagers came, she wasn't insistent on them staying close by, and didn't even wanna visit them!

The old Dream could talk, was energetic, and had insisted the villagers stayed close. He would freely talk and laugh and play, not really caring about the world. He'd be gone hours at a time and had pulled away from Nightmare.

When the old Dream had started to pull away, Nightmare had expected it and let it happen. When this new Dream was clingy, Nightmare simply assumed she would grow out of her shell when the villagers came. Only, she didn't. If anything, she pulled in on herself even more than before. The one thought that kept going through Nightmares' head as he passed out was, 'Why are this so different this time around...?'
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Hey! Here's chapter 4. Sorry for taking so long~