To live again

Chapter 16 - Meeting new skeletons

Night yawned as he groggily got up from his bed. It was still early morning, but he didn't think that he could fall back to sleep. So he slowly made his way through the still pretty dark hall to the bathroom.

He walked in and reluctantly turned the lights on, which immediately hit him in the face. He went to rub his eyes, but he noticed something strange as soon as his hands touched his face. Are his hands wet? Why-how? He quickly blinked a few times and finally cleared his vision.

There was something dark on the white sink. It was dark red. Is that-? He immediately looked at his hands and stared in shock. His hands were covered in blood. Not just covered, they were  dripping with dark red liquid. He stood there completely frozen.

Then he heard something. Night quickly redirected his eyes behind him… But nobody was there. So he turned back around and looked at the mirror in front of him. Though he wasn't met with his panicked reflection. Instead a cyan eyelight stared back at him.

Night gasped in surprise and backed away, hitting something hard in the process. Then-

…

Then he woke up.

Midnight took deep breaths in and out. He is home, in his bed. There is nothing on his hands. It was just a nightmare. Another of many. Nothing new and nothing to panic about. He told himself as he slowly calmed down.

He needed to stay calm and not overthink it too much. He doesn't want to wake up Dream again. The previous week he had a horrible nightmare and woke up Dream with his immense negative emotions. He really freaked his brother out that night. He doesn't want to repeat that.

This all also reminds of his last session with his therapist. Lately they have been a lot more interested in his bad dreams, which kind of annoys him. It’s something he doesn't want to remember. So far the majority of his nightmares are from his ‘villain years’ from what he can tell. Even though he had been keen to know more about the forgotten part of his life at first, now he doesn't want to know anything about it. Any kind of new information only makes him feel worse.

Midnight knows that it wasn't really him doing all that bad stuff, but… he still feels guilty. Everyone says that he isn't evil. That he isn't a murder… so why does he feel like he has the blood of the innocent on his hands.

Night groaned and rubbed his tired eyes. He looked at the clock on his bedside table and it seemed to be almost 4 o'clock in the morning. Night sighed. He should really go back to sleep.

.
.
.
.
.
.

“Are you ready to go, Night?” His brother asked behind the closed door.

“Just a minute!” Midnight replied as he put on his hoodie and checked himself in the mirror.

Night was a bit nervous. He is supposed to be meeting Dream's friend today, but he just feels so anxious for some reason. He already changed his outfit twice and looked in the mirror numerous times. It probably doesn't even matter how he is dressed, but he just cannot stop overthinking it.

Finally, he just left it as it was and met Dream outside the door. His brother then made a portal and they were on their way. Almost forgot, Cross went with them too.

After stepping out of the portal, Night heard a crunching sound under his feet. It confused him at first, though he soon understood why. Looking around, they were in a coniferous forest that was completely covered in snow. Oh that's why earlier Dream told him to take something warmer.

They then made their way closer to the edge of the woods. From there, they were able to see the lights of the nearby cozy houses. But before they went any further, Dream stopped Midnight.