To live again

Chapter 10 - Stay hopeful

Nightmare slowly sat up, feeling a bit nervous, but excited as well. They finally finished the prosthetic for his back and are here to properly put it on.

"Alright, I'll be adjusting it on your spine and ribs. I just need you to try and straighten up a bit more." Doctor Radium said and then tried to help Nightmare to fix his posture. After that, the doctor carefully put the prosthetic in and made sure it would stay in its place.

It felt weird and kind of out of place. Though Nightmare had to admit that his back felt a lot more stable. Hopefully the strange feeling would fade away.

"It seems to be holding up just fine, so our work is done here. It might feel a bit uncomfortable for a while, but you should get used to it soon. If you encounter any issues with it, then let us know. Also doctor Shyren will be visiting you later today for another rehabilitation lesson. With your back stabilized, it should be a lot easier from now on." The doctor told Nightmare and left the room.

The dark guardian then turns to Dream, who is all smiles. "So, how do you feel?" His twin asked.

"Like always, tired." Nightmare bluntly responded.

"Brother, you know what I mean. How does the prosthetic feel?" Dream pouted and Night smirked.

"I guess it's fine, just a bit uncomfy." Nightmare said as he reached his back with his hand to get a better feel of the new addition.

Both brothers then talked with each other some more. During their conversation Dream decided to bring up something that had been on his mind for some time. "So uh... I have been thinking a bit more about the future lately and I had a talk with your doctors. If everything goes smoothly from now on, then you might be released not too long from now. That's pretty good news." Dream said with a hopeful smile.

Nightmare looked at his twin with a surprised expression. Will he finally be able to leave this place? "Heh, I cannot wait for that." Nightmare told Dream as a smile crept up on his face.

"Yeah, me too. Though I also would like to discuss with you about what will happen after your release. So because our AU is...the way it is, we cannot just go back there. But I have a small house in a place called the Omega timeline and I thought it would be perfect for you to live there with me. You'll get your own room and we can paint it whatever color you choose and decorate it in any way you want!" Dream said with an excited grin. Meanwhile, Nightmare found himself quite happy as well. It's still sad to think that his home is gone, but living with his twin sounds like a good idea. Maybe the future could really turn out a lot better.

"But before that I think there are a few monsters I would like for you to meet. There is someone in particular I really wanted to introduce to you for a while, but just couldn't find the right timing, I guess. It is pretty important, because they kind of live with me as well, so... you'll see each other a lot." The golden guardian nervously explained.

Well, that makes Nightmare not so happy anymore. Someone else would be living with them. That's just great... Nightmare is definitely not enthusiastic about sharing his living space with a complete stranger. Why is someone even living with Dream anyways? He questions.

Meanwhile Dream was trying to stay positive, but he could easily imagine all of the scenarios of how badly it could go. As much as he loves his boyfriend, he is well aware of Cross's trust issues. He knows his partner still thinks of Nightmare as a possible threat, but hopefully their meeting will fix that... or not and it will only get worse from there. Though he has been postponing this meeting long enough and it just needs to happen.

The golden guardian pushed his thoughts back deep into his mind and tried to focus on another problem of theirs. "Anyways there is still something I need to talk to you about. So because of what happened, you kind of gained a reputation around the multiverse. A pretty bad reputation. Thankfully you now look nothing like before, but I feel like it would be for the best if you changed your name, just to be safe. Of course, you can choose whatever you would like." Dream said.