A Living Nightmare

Chapter Thirty

Nightmare laughed manically after a short pause.

"Ink is finally dead. I've killed your best fighter, Dream! F4TE's own Chosen is dust in the Void! Perhaps you all want to join him?"

Everyone stared at the black skeleton in horror. As much as Dream hated Ink at the moment, he was necessary for the plan to work! Nightmare killing Ink wasn't a part of ANY plan! It shouldn't have even been possible to teleport to the Void or open a portal there!

...But Nightmare's powers connected to cold, negativity, and darkness... and the Void had at least two of those...

Dream hadn't thought of this. Of any of this. Everything revolved around Ink and Error and himself being alive, not dead!

"Well?" Nightmare's voice was nothing if not triumphant. "Are you going to surrender, or am I going to have to finish what I started?"

Nobody spoke. They were too far in to run away now. Nightmare could use one of his 'wolves' to potentially follow them back to the Doodle Sphere, and then everything would have been useless. If they didn't stop him now, there would be nothing left for anyone to fight for. It was all or nothing now.

Nightmare hummed.

"So it's the hard way, then?"

The only response was a collective adjustment of posture from the other skeletons, readying themselves for battle.

Nightmare shrugged, raising his arm and bringing it down, signaling to the tar-wolves that they could attack again. "Very well."

And then suddenly it was all back to the battle, no time for tears or anger, just dodging, swinging, fighting will all of Dream's willpower and strength against a tidal wave of enemies.

Dream was on autopilot at this point, swinging his staff while his mind reeled, clicking like a broken record.
Ink is gone. Ink is gone. Ink is gone.

The one constant in his life, the annoying, flamboyant, quite possibly evil, colorful skeleton, who had been there for him since the apples had been destroyed.... was just... gone? Just like that?

It was too unbelievable to be true.

A tar-wolf managed to sink its teeth into Dream's weapon, shaking him out of his thoughts as he yanked it away, bringing it back down on the beast's head.

Yet another wolf jumped in to take its place, snarling at the golden skeleton.

I can't keep this up forever. They're cycling in and out, always coming back like new. It's endless....

A wolf managed to dig its fangs into Dream's cloak, snarling as it tried to drag him down. Dream beat at it with his staff, but it was determined to bring the skeleton to the floor so that the other wolves could join the attack.

In a blur of blue strings, Error grabbed the wolf and yanked it away, stunning it with a Blaster. The glitch grabbed Dream by his now-tattered scarf and hoisted him to his feet.

"You can't die," he grunted, giving the Guardian of Positivity a quick once-over before turning back to the wolves and forming more Blasters to keep them at bay. "You're the only one with the antidote. Why haven't you gotten closer to Nightmare so you can use it on him?"

"I--I've tried!" Dream huffed, regaining his footing and taking the chance Error's temporary protection was giving him to shoot more arrows at the wolves threatening the others. "But I can't get close enough, I have no idea how Ink managed it! He was supposed to weaken him so that I could finish him off!"

Error snarled as a wolf got past his Gaster Blaster defense, jumping back and impaling it with a stream of bone attacks and throwing it back. His focus was wavering. "Well, the idiot ink splotch is gone now, so you'll have to do it! I can get you close enough, but then it's up to you!"

Dream changed his bow into a staff again. "Why can't you do it? You're more powerful!"

"We've been over this!" Error snapped, sending out several waves of bones at some of the wolves attacking the rest of the gang and Blueberry. "Your aura will weaken his, and it's more likely the potion will be more effective if his aura is weaker! And he knows exactly how to beat me, we spar all the time! If I could defeat him, I would've done so ages ago!"

Dream nodded grimly. It really was up to him. If there was any other way... he'd never been able to beat his brother before.... But there wasn't another way. Today, he had to fight.

No, more than just fight.

He had to win.

"Alright, cover me!" Dream gasped, crouching as he got ready to bolt into the open.
Error readied his strings, forming five extra Blasters hovering above Dream's head. He glared at the other, tension and worry evident in his mismatched glare. "Don't die, you idiot!"

Dream couldn't respond to that, so he simply nodded.

"Ready?!" Error sent an extra barrage of bones and strings into the surrounding area, clearing the wolves away momentarily. Dream gave another shaking affirmative nod.

"Then go!" Error sent out another blast from his Gaster Blasters, keeping the wolves at bay, if only barely.
Dream jumped out of the circle of Blasters, leaping towards Nightmare's position at the top of the hill by going parallel to the forest, trying to stay out of his enemy's line of sight and take him by surprise.

Wolves jumped out at him from the shadows left and right, claws and teeth snapping and slashing at his bones and clothes. One sharp object scraped past his ankle, and he winced, forcing himself to go faster through the burning pain.

He tried to ignore the others, fighting in close-knit formations to try and keep the endless waves of enemies at bay. I have to stop Nightmare. I can't stop to help them...

Dream inhaled deeply, using some of the tree cover to try and get into Nightmare's blind spot, which was rather large since he only had one eye. He hadn't noticed him as of yet....
That was a precious shard of luck in and of itself...

He needed all the luck he could for this...

Exhaling sharply, he tossed caution to the wind and dashed away from the trees and the little security they gave him, raising his staff and reaching for the vial kept tucked near his collarbone.

Please, please, please... let this work....!

(sorry about the wait for the chapter, y'all, I publish very infrequently ;-;