Book 2: The First Fallen Human

Circle You

Nightmare slowly appeared in the snow. He stared around, his eye wide. Simply put, he was impressed. He knew Dust was definitely one of the more powerful of his group, but this... He began to make his way through the ash-stained snow. The woods around him had been completely leveled. All that was left were charred stumps. He and Dust maintained an uneasy relationship, but as far as he was concerned, he still had control over the crazed loner.

He could hear Dust nearby, his maniacal laughter carrying through the air. Nightmare could see the glow before anything else. Then, as he closed in towards it, Nightmare saw the serpent. It reared up over the ground, revealing its body to be made of millions of tiny, glowing red bullets. Each one seemed to spin and move at its own pace, in its own way. It snarled and clouds blew out of its mouth. It had circled itself around Dust, who was gripping his head as his magic sparked uncontrollably all around him.

Nightmare had seen that happen to him before, but it was only after Dust had been fighting for a long time. The longer he fought, the more unstable he would become. Nightmare furrowed his brow. He'd only come to check since he'd felt something off. He'd sent Killer to Horrortale. Nightmare raised his hand and darkness began to appear underneath the serpent.

The serpent snarled in surprise. It hissed and snapped, but was unable to wriggle away as the darkness began to climb its body. Dust twitched and lifted his head as Nightmare reappeared next to him. "Heh, heh!" He choked out. His skull was cracked and red-purple sparks kept exploding from it. Nightmare growled and the darkness sped up.

The ground had begun to rumble as the darkness began to pull the serpent down into it. The creature screeched and its body took on an orange glow, climbing up from its tail until fire exploded out of its jaws, bearing down on them. Nightmare blinked in shock. He barely had a second to react before Dust suddenly threw out his hand and jagged, malformed bones shot up in front of them, exploding from the ground so violently, dirt was being thrown up.

The bones kept growing until they began to break from their own weight. Dust cackled maniacally, purple tears running down his face. "It's okay, it's OKAY, Papyrus!!" He shrieked excitedly. Nightmare growled. Dust was losing it. He had to act quickly. He dashed to avoid the falling bones, using his tentacles to yank Dust out of the way too. He threw Dust a few feet away and the other laid in the snow, giggling. Nightmare growled before teleporting over and picking him up once again.

This time, he teleported the both of them out of the snake's coils and onto the snowy hill next to it. Nightmare jolted as a gaster blaster appeared, half of the bone making it up gone and replaced with wild, purple-red magic. It activated and sent out a horrifyingly powerful beam, causing Nightmare to flinch away from it.

Nightmare stopped as the beam seared the serpent's head right off. The rest of the body collapsed to the ground, but Dust wasn't done yet. More gaster blasters appeared, attacking the area and shaking the entire Underground. Dust cackled painfully next to the other until Nightmare gave him a slap with one of his tentacles.

"IT'S DEAD!!" Nightmare spat. "STOP!" Dust remained quiet and turned away. He slowly nodded and the gaster blasters began to disappear. A smoking crater was left in the ground where the snake had been. Dust was shaking. Nightmare growled and used his tentacles to turn the other. "Look at me." He ordered firmly. Dust faced him, but didn't look up.

Nightmare sighed in annoyance and reached out for Dust's hood, his tentacles catching both of Dust's hands as the other tried to lash out at him. He pushed the other's hood back. Dust never was without his hood up and it struck Nightmare just how much Dust seemed like he was just another Sans with it down.

He surveyed the damage to Dust's skull, the cracks still fizzling and popping with magical overload. "Dust, you need to calm down. I can't heal you if you aren't calm." Nightmare muttered quietly in irritation. Dust trembled as he stared at him, it being clear that Dust really wasn't all there yet. Nightmare sighed before thinking of something else. "Papyrus." He blinked, momentarily surprised at how fast that got Dust's attention. "Tell your brother to calm down so I can heal him."

Dust stared at him suspiciously before blinking as his gaze moved past Nightmare's head to fix on something else. His breathing, which had been shaking and heavy, began to slow. Dust gulped and screwed his eyes shut, seemingly forcing himself to relax.

Nightmare sighed and reached out, causing Dust to flinch as he began to close the cracks on the other's head. He drew his hands over them, sealing them up. Dust was shaking the entire time. Finally, Nightmare pulled back, his tentacles all releasing Dust, who seemed offended, to say the least. "I coulda handled it!" He hissed, glaring at Nightmare as he yanked his hood back up.

Dust had backed away from the other, clearly furious at his help. Nightmare slipped his hands back into his hoodie pockets. "I don't know what you're on about." He rumbled, tipping his head. He gestured to the large, charred crater in the ground. "You clearly did handle it."

Nightmare watched as Dust twitched, becoming unfocused on him as he seemed to listen to something, his crazed eyes softening. "No, no, I wouldn't have let it hurt you..." He mumbled. There was another moment of silence. "Yeah, promise." He turned away from Nightmare, clearly distracted once again as he tugged at the torn, red scarf he always had wrapped around his neck. His brother's scarf.

"You are to alert me if any more of those creatures appear." Nightmare said firmly, catching Dust's attention. The other scowled and Nightmare's tentacles lashed in annoyance. "Am I clear??" Dust glared at him a moment longer before spitting a word out at him.

"Crystal."