Inkwhumptobertale 2024

Day Four

Frame - Hallucinations, Hypnosis, Sensory Deprivation, "You're still alive in my head." 

Trigger warnings: unresolved grief..? Uh, something like that. 

Haha! I am back! My neck has mostly healed, and my illness and allergies have fled the battle! Thank you for your patience, and now, let's get back into this!

Someone clearly wrote a Whumptober prompt about me in a different plane of existence smh how dare they-

Comments are welcome and appreciated! 

Please enjoy!

~~~~~

Nightmare let out a sigh as he caught a glimpse of the framed picture on the wall. He had walked past it without paying it any attention so many times in the past, but recently, he couldn't help but stop and stare for a while. He remembered the day it had been taken: the day Cross had officially joined the gang. 

He turned his gaze to the living room behind him, and the scene played out as if on command. 

"Took you long enough!" Killer grinned, pulling the newbie into a tight hug.

"Wh- hey!" Cross struggled against his new teammate's grip. "Let go!" 

"One of us, one of us!" Killer chanted, although no one joined him. 

"I've got you." Horror grabbed Cross and wrenched the poor skeleton from Killer's grip, causing his former captor to pout. 

"Thanks, Horror!" Cross laughed, before Horror caught him in yet another bear hug. "Wait! Not you, too!"

"One of us!" Killer exclaimed, joining the hug.

"Guys, we gotta take a picture!" Dust decided, waving to the others for help.

"Aye aye, Dusty!" Killer jumped out from the hug, deciding to perform a one-handed handstand on the back of the sofa.

"Woah.." Cross blinked, not having expected the random gymnastics. "Is that mandatory training?"

"Nah, just Killer being Killer." Horror let out an amused huff, loosening his grip on Cross. "Smile."

"All right, almost ready." Dust adjusted the camera a little to the right; he wouldn't stop until it was perfect. "Where's boss?"

"I'm right here." Nightmare made his presence known, standing behind the sofa (but not behind Killer, of course) with a small smile.

"You..want to take a picture with us?" Cross inquired.

"Why wouldn't I? There isn't a better way to display the fact that we're a team."

"Uh, isn't there?"

"No. Now smile for the camera."

"Ten seconds!" Dust announced, before running over to the sofa and taking his seat.

Ten seconds later, with everyone in perfect position, the camera clicked, and everything flashed white. 

Nightmare opened his eyesocket to find the picture on the wall instead of his four boys. He let out a long sigh, reaching up his hand to brush off any dust that might have accumulated on the frame. Things in the castle were a lot more prone to dust nowadays..or perhaps it had just never bothered him before. He'd always had something else to focus on. It was pitiful, really..the Guardian of Negativity himself couldn't handle a few insignificant negative emotions. 

They weren't insignificant, though. He couldn't claim that. 

It was all just so..

Nightmare closed his eyesocket, shaking his skull. 

"What's the mission for today, boss?" Killer strolled into Nightmare's office. "Hope ya got something fun; I've been bored, lately!"

"It's just a routine universe checkup - I'm sorry to disappoint." Nightmare shrugged lightly. "I do have something better planned for tomorrow, though. Get through today, and you'll be pleased, I believe."

"Ooh, I like the sound of that! What whimsical AU are we checking on today, boss?"

"Outerfell ninety-three - it's a newer acquisition." 

"Sounds good - I'll be back by lunch!"

Nightmare gritted his teeth and forced the memory out of his head. He didn't want to do this right now. It had been all he had done for so, so long; he didn't understand how others moved on. He didn't want to understand. He really couldn't deal with negative emotions, could he? Not that anyone really found his realm easy to overcome - he had only ever found few who did. But there was a certain special flavor to the hell he had been personally graced with; he supposed it was fitting, considering all he had said and done. They didn't all go out at the same time, but he had never been able to get over any of them. All the sources he had scoured about the subject had suggested remembering the good times; that was easier said than done, considering how many good memories played out compared to the bad ones. He had watched himself send them to..

Too many times. 

Nightmare was certain that there was no negative emotion in the world that rivaled what he had felt the first time, though: the feeling of turning a celebration into a funeral. 

Tearing down banners and deflating balloons.

Debating whether to keep the cake or to throw it into one of the far corners of the multiverse.

Wondering what cruel entity had decided to take his family member on that day instead of another.

He wanted them back..