Inkwhumptobertale 2024

Day Twenty-Five

Enigma - Surgery, Stitches, Being Monitored, "It's for your own good."

Trigger warnings: implied surgery, invasive procedures, confused child.

Comments are welcome and appreciated! 

Please enjoy!

~~~~~

"But you haven't told me what I'm here for!" Nightmare complained, as his brother dragged him through a hallway. "What even is this place? Is it a castle?"

"It's a hospital." Dream replied. "They're going to help you."

"Help me with what? I don't think anything's wrong!"

"There is; trust me."

"..How'd you get so tall?"

"We'll talk about that later."

Nightmare had no idea what was going on! The last thing he remembered was going to sleep under Mama with Dream, and now, Dream was tall, and Nightmare wasn't, and they were in a weird place with people in really weird clothes! Nightmare just wanted to go back to Mama!

"Where's Mama?" Nightmare started to cry; nothing made sense, and Dream wasn't answering his questions!

"I'll tell you later - for now, just follow me." Dream directed.

Nightmare sighed, thoroughly confused; he didn't understand a single thing that was going on! Dream wasn't making any sense! What was a "hospital"? Why were they here? Nightmare..didn't have a clue. He simply followed his brother, and soon, the two entered a room with a group of funnily-clothed people..why were they covering their faces? This place looked so..weird! There were so many things all over, and scary-looking tools, and-

Nightmare wanted to go back home now!

"Wh-where are we?" He whispered, gripping Dream's hand tightly.

"It'll be okay, Nightmare." Dream's voice tried to be so calming, but right now, it did nothing to assuage Nightmare's fears. "These are doctors, and they're going to help you."

"I-I don't want help! I wanna go home!"

"Nighty..trust me." Dream picked Nightmare up, wiping away his tears. "This is for your own good."

Dream put Nightmare down onto some sort of..bed? Nightmare shivered, looking all around; there were so many sharp tools around him! Were they going to hurt him? One of the "doctors" approached him, making Nightmare flinch; this was just a bad dream, right? Just..just a bad dream?

"All right, Nightmare, this is going to be quick and easy for you." The doctor assured. "We just need you to lie down here, and we'll send you off to sleep; you won't feel a thing."

"Wh-what are you gonna do to me?" Nightmare wept; he'd never been this scared before in his life!

"Nothing important. Here, lie down." 

Nightmare didn't feel that he had a choice, and he knew better than to run (running always made things worse), leading him to slowly lie down on the weird bed thing. The next thing that happened was something Nightmare never would have predicted, though: something rose from his ribcage! It was..a black apple? It looked like one of the apples from the Tree..but..

"Wh-what is that?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Your soul." One of the doctors replied, casually.

"A soul?" Nightmare gasped, his fear turning into curiosity. "I never had a soul before! Dream, Dream, I have a soul! It looks like an apple! Do you have a soul, too? Can I see it? How'd I get a soul? Did I get it while I was sleeping? How-" 

"Nightmare." Dream gave his brother a sad smile. "It's time for you to sleep. Close your eyes, and I'll see you when you wake up, okay?"

"But..what about my soul? Don't you think it's cool? I think it's cool!"

"..It's very interesting. Close your eyes, Nighty."

Nightmare let out a disappointed hum before obeying the order. He supposed, if he had a soul, maybe he needed to be here? Were hospitals for people with souls? Maybe they needed to make sure it was healthy! He didn't know why Dream couldn't just tell him that he had a soul now, though; maybe it had been a secret? That didn't explain why Dream was big now, though. Oh, maybe souls made people grow! Maybe Dream just got his soul first and he didn't want to scare Nightmare by telling him that he would just grow up super fast! That made sense; stuff like that had always scared Nightmare. But Dream had said that he would explain everything after..whatever this was, and Nightmare was looking forward to it! A few seconds after Nightmare closed his eyesockets, he drifted off to sleep..somehow. Maybe they had knocked him out? 

When Nightmare woke again, he was in a different room, in a real bed, and Dream was by his side, sitting in a chair. The first thing Nightmare did was wiggle his toes under the blanket, but..he was still short. That theory was proved wrong.

"Oh, you're awake!" Dream smiled at his brother. "I'm so glad. Everything went perfectly, Nightmare; the doctors just want to keep you here to monitor you for a few days, and then I'll be able to take you home with me!"

"Ooh..what did they do?" Nightmare inquired. "Why couldn't you tell me earlier? And why are you tall? How did I get a soul?"

"..That's a lot of questions." Dream commented. "Well, to start..I'm tall because I grew up!"

"..You grew up fast." Nightmare tilted his skull. "How'd you do that?"

"Well..what's the last thing you remember, before all this?"

"I remember going to sleep under Mama!" Nightmare grinned. "Can we go back to Mama soon? I gotta tell her about my soul! Do you have a soul, too?"

Dream's smile waned. "Um..yes, I do have one.."

"Can I see it? Please?"

"..Not right now."

"Okay..then how do I see mine? I wanna look at it! How'd I get it?"

"..." Dream was strangely silent.

Nightmare hummed suspiciously, trying to think; people with souls normally just had to will them out, right? Nightmare tried..and nothing happened. Well, that was okay; he could just learn that over time! He decided to take the easier route: just looking under his clothes; since he was a skeleton monster, he could do that! When he looked under the shirt he was wearing (which was, notably, not his usual attire), he found...

"Dream..?" Nightmare addressed, still staring into the hollow inside his ribcage.

"..Yes, Nightmare?" Dream replied, quietly.

"Where's my soul?"