Given An Unwanted Second Chance

Chapter 19

As per usual (and thankfully), I awoke on what felt like concrete rather than an uncomfortable bed of some kind.  Granted, I'd rather just be like a normal human and have strange dreams rather than traumatizing memories or traumatizing locations, but what can you do?

I shook my head slightly, pushing myself into a sitting position.  I blinked a few times, shivering slightly from the windiness of the area.  The night sky was pretty, at least...

I heard footsteps behind me and tensed, remembering my last meeting with Nightmare.  I didn't turn around, my shivers becoming more than just shivers of temperature.

I was scared.

Nightmare chuckled darkly.  "I can sense your fear, Eclipse...are you truly so afraid of me? "

"Being thrown off a building isn't the most pleasant experience..."  I muttered, turning my head slightly.  I couldn't see Nightmare yet, but I knew he was behind me.

Nightmare hummed.  "So...do tell, what all has been happening while I've been...non-existent? "

I hesitated momentarily before telling Nightmare about what all had occurred.  Nightmare walked around me as I spoke, pausing and scowling at the mention of Code.  He waited for me to finish telling my tale before speaking.  "Code was...is...a nuisance.  He could not best me in battle, though as Horror mentioned, I did not walk away from the encounter unscathed.  I cannot scar, but no doubt I would've been if I could be."

He continued to pace around me, making me more uncomfortable as I sat there.  I didn't want to stand as I feared somehow falling off despite being over a dozen feet from the edge.

"It is...annoying that he can control you with a mere touch of his strings, but you are weaker than I."

"I noticed that..."  I mumbled.  "I'm getting stronger very slowly through direct acts of violence.  I can actually deal a bit of damage with a hit now, though I'm more concerned with the defense part of my soul.  Is that one harder to raise?"

Nightmare was quiet for a moment.  "Attack is easier to gain through acts of violence.  Defense comes more from what physically covers you, though as you can tell, physical things do not mesh well with one of my makeup.  It will come with time, but it will come faster if you kill."

I shook my head.  "I will avoid killing as much as possible."

Nightmare sighed.  "You cannot avoid it forever, Eclipse."

"Maybe not forever, but I---"

The scene around us suddenly shifted.  It went from the night sky on top of a tall building to a sunrise-esque sky in a field without a tree in sight.

I blinked, looking around.  "Wh-What?  Nightmare, are you...?"

Nightmare stiffened slightly, seeming fairly agitated.  He did not speak, his tendrils suddenly lashing aggressively.

A figure appeared nearby, taking in their surroundings before looking to us.  I recognized them immediately.

"...Dream?  How...?"

Dream looked down at me sitting in the grass before his gaze returned to Nightmare.  He frowned.  "Eclipse?"

I raised my hand slightly.  "Actually, that's me..."

Dream blinked, his eyelights shaking slightly suddenly.  "Then...wait...N-Nightmare...?"

Nightmare scowled.  "You are interrupting an A-B conversation, Dream."