The Bloody Night Calls

Chapter Ten

Error slowly opened his eyes, trying to remember where he was.

There was a cool pressure on his head, something dabbing at his brow with a wet... towel-thing?

It felt... pretty good, actually, compared to the rest of him, which was absolutely burning up. The heat was almost unbearable.

The blurry shapes in his vision slowly came into focus, and Error blinked.

"...Mare? What happened?"

Nightmare started, stopping his soothing pressing motions with the washrag momentarily. "You're awake, Error?"

The glitch slowly nodded, confused. ".... Why am I so hot...?"

Nightmare paused.

"Error, you had a bad dream and activated your magic. You're already injured, and you exerted yourself far more than what's healthy. You also scratched your skull up quite a bit under stress. It'd be best if you just stayed still and didn't move for a while... let yourself recover."

Error blinked, grimacing as the memories began coming back to him. The voices.... and Nightmare saved him...

"Sorry for wrecking your bed...."
His voice came out much more wobbly than he would have preferred, weakened and raspy.

Nightmare seemed puzzled, so Error explained. "I ripped up your sheets. I probably bled all over them, too..." his voice lowered guiltily. "I'm sorry..."

The voices were right... Nightmare and his gang have been nothing but kind beyond words to me, and all I can do is destroy their things... It really is all I'm good for...

The tar-like skeleton stared in shock at the other, picking the wet cloth back up to gently pat Error's head.
"Error, a few sheets don't matter. You're okay, and that's worth more than the most expensive bed in the world to me, buddy."

The washrag felt wonderfully soothing against the heat that seemed to radiate from Error's bones... he sighed, weakly pushing Nightmare's hand away.
"You've already done so much for me... I can't keep you up like this, I'll be fine. I'm not a child."

"You might as well be my child, Error," Nightmare said somewhat sternly. "And you're not holding me up from other things. Your health is top priority. So please be sensible, I'm only trying to help," he reasoned.

Error faltered, then huffed softly.
"Fine... if you're sure you want to..."

"I'm sure."

The washcloth returned, cooling down his forehead with soft wiping pats. Every so often, Nightmare would pause to dip the cloth in water and wring it out before reapplying it.

"Something smells really good...." Error said, after some time. There was a scent in the washrag and water itself that he couldn't quite place, but it was very calming.