Book 2: The First Fallen Human

Guts & Glory

As soon as DS and Paint left the Omega Timeline, a small hole opened up near where they'd been. Night poked his head out, his hood up. He quickly ducked back inside the pocket. He'd been next to its entrance. X had left to take Glitch to this world's Void. Where Error lived.

Night closed the pocket entrance, his brow furrowed. How could he not be curious about this bloody human-creature they'd been discussing? It sounded WICKED. Night gulped and opened the pocket again, slipping outside and closing it.

He teleported back to where the Timeline became that off white again. He could see it. Large pools of blood everywhere. No creature, though. Night inched forward, his hood still up. He had never seen so much blood. He knelt down. All of a sudden, he felt something gently grip the top of his hood and slowly pull it back. He yelped.

"Brother?" The word made him freeze. Night stared at the creature in front of him. It... It was Dream, but... this Dream had tentacles sprouting from his back, not wings. And he seemed to be entirely coated in gold-tinted black tar. He gave him a huge grin as he twitched, giggling. "It's been... so long... since I've seen you in this form, Brother..."

Night jumped and summoned his staff, the glowing blue crescent moon at the end curving into a sort of scythe. He held it out warily. The other seemed surprised. "What's the matter? You don't remember me?? It's Dream! Shattered Dream!! You wanted me to be dark and twisted like you!!" He said, his eye wide and his voice growing slightly frantic. Night stared at him in shock.

"Stars, what the hell happened to you?" He whispered in horror. Shattered Dream giggled as his tentacles flicked.

"I ate the black apple. For you, Brother." Shattered Dream whispered. Night felt his eyesockets go dark and he snapped out of it, shaking his head.

"N-No... you aren't my Dream. And I'm not your Nightmare... I'm from a different world..." Night explained shakily. Shattered Dream blinked and twitched his head to the side. Night gulped. And he'd thought HIS Dream had been the worst outcome, but apparently he was wrong. As much as positivity annoyed him, Night was shaken at the thought that Dream's positivity could be snuffed out for good.

"But aren't you still my dear brother?" At the end of the sentence, Shattered Dream's voice became smooth and plaintive, like it had been before he'd ate most of the apples. It hit a sour chord in Night's SOUL.

"SHUT UP." He snapped. Tears had begun to form in his eyes and Night HATED crying. "I am NOT your brother." It hurt him to say that, knowing that this was, in fact, Dream. But not his Dream. At that, Shattered Dream twitched again. His smile faltered and Night inhaled sharply.

Night's grip tightened on his staff. Behind Shattered Dream, his tentacles were raising, almost seeming threatening. He suddenly seemed to perk up, his eye lighting up gold as he gave a pained sounding giggle. "Brother, don't you DARE lie to me!!" He gripped a side of his head. "I did this for YOU!!" He opened his arms, showing off the entirety of his goopy body. "THIS WAS FOR YOU!!"

Night shook his head, backing up. He quickly wiped his eyes. "I'm not the Nightmare you knew!!" He yelled. "My Dream is POSITIVE!! He has these stupid, giant-ass wings and TWO golden eyes!! YOU are NOT my Dream, just like I am NOT YOUR Nightmare!!" He yelled. Shattered Dream was taken back. His smile kept twitching.

Night tensed as Shattered Dream froze and threw his head back, letting out a horrific, shaking screech. He lowered his head back down before giggling weakly. He was crying golden tears. "Then... I must find MY brother..." He whispered. He turned and disappeared into the floor, leaving Night.

He remained standing before his staff clattered to the floor. "What the hell?? What...?" He whispered, holding his head as he dropped to his knees. He was shaking violently. Tears ran down his face as he tried to comprehend what he'd just seen.

THAT was what a black apple would do to his brother?? That was HORRIFYING. He covered his mouth. He never thought he would be grateful for his maniacal, golden-winged brother, but there it was. He blinked. All of a sudden, someone landed in front of him and he stumbled back.

It was a paint-splattered skeleton. Ink?! Nightmare yelped and guarded himself. When a blow didn't come, he slowly lowered his hands to see the skeleton staring at him, perplexed. A sash with a rainbow assortment of vials hung on the other. The other's eyes suddenly became bright red exclamation points before they became a star and a circle.

"Oh!! You're OTHER Nightmare!!" He laughed. "Geez, I was real worried for a moment there!" Night stared at him before furrowing his brow. He jumped as the skeleton offered his hand with a grin. "I'm this timeline's Ink! Nice to meet you!" He said cheerfully.

Night understood and his brows shot up in surprise. "Oh!!" He took the other's hand and Ink pulled him up, grinning. Night let out a relieved groan. "STARS, I thought I was DEAD!!" He laughed. Ink smiled before crossing his arms.

"You guys really picked a hell of a time to jump over here!" He said, even though behind his grin, there was fear and concern. Night blinked before nodding.

"I heard... the blood human-creature." He said, tipping his head. Ink froze before looking away. Night blinked.

"Anyway, what were you doing crying on the floor?" Ink asked, changing the subject. Night jumped before looking down. He rubbed his head.

"Just met a variation of Dream that I didn't know about and honestly, I would've been better off not knowing about it." He said uncertainly. "Stars, it hurt my SOUL to talk to him."

He stopped as he noticed Ink's look of shock. "Shattered Dream, right?? You saw him??" He asked, his voice urgent. Night blinked before nodding. Ink sighed. "Alright, I'm not gonna hand you over to them because that's none of my business, but go back to whatever place you're hiding and BUNKER DOWN." Ink said firmly.

Night blinked. "What about my friends?" He asked, his eyes wide. Ink blinked at him before sending to realize who he was talking about.

"They aren't back where you're hiding?" He asked in confusion. Night shook his head.

"Nah, they went to check out Error's Void." Night jumped as Ink's eyes suddenly went small and the other stared at him in shock and disbelief.

"They went to WHAT??"