Negative Love (A Marenight Story)

Five

Night picked out a quiver of arrows, slinging it over his shoulder for easy access. Twenty-four arrows should be enough, right?

He found himself wishing, for the hundredth time since he'd ended up here, that he had magic. Dream never had to worry about aiming or running out of arrows. Horror never had to worry about being unable to dodge in a fight. Nightmare never had to worry about dying because he couldn't heal himself.

And, of course, if he could shortcut, he wouldn't be in this castle at all.

But all Night had was a negative aura that made it laughably easy for any empath or telepath to track him. It wasn't like he could even use that aura. It was just a beacon that followed him around, useless and annoying.

He sighed, then turned to leave. If he wanted to fight, he would have to get back to Nightmare quickly.

Why was he even fighting? Was it to prove something? What did he even have to prove to Nightm- anyone? Nothing. He didn't have to prove anything to anyone. 

Then, if he was being completely honest with himself (ha), it was the comment Nightmare had made. "Are you going to go hide like the coward you are?"

Night was not a coward. Not in a million years. He didn't run or hide. He just avoided conflict unless it was necessary.

Night hesitated in the doorway, looking over the weapons, then decided to grab a dagger just in case.

Last time I had one of these, I used it to unlock a window, Night thought with ironic amusement. Funny, how he was grabbing one to help Nightmare, not the other way around.

No, if he was being honest, he wasn't grabbing it to help Nightmare. His loyalty was not with that narcissistic skeleton. He just wanted to prove he wasn't a coward.

And, if the opportunity arose, he wanted to kill his captor.

Night walked back to the courtyard, slipping the dagger into his belt. Nightmare was still there waiting when he arrived.

"Done?" Nightmare asked, sounding slightly impatient.

"If I could go any faster I would," Night said. "I can't. So deal with it."

"Tch. Let's just go."

Night shrugged. "You're the one talking."

Nightmare didn't respond to that, instead just grabbing Night by the wrist and shortcutting to where the Star Sanses and his Gang were fighting.

Night immediately pulled away from the goopy octopus-skeleton and unslung his bow.

His first shot missed. Which skeleton was he aiming for? Nightmare, but no one would ever know.

His second shot missed. He was aiming to hit Dream, the only person who wasn't moving around too quickly. He clipped Horror's cheek instead.

"Oi, watch it!" Horror yelled at him.

Night just shrugged unapologetically. It wasn't his fault his skills had deteriorated in the thousand years trapped in his own SOUL.

Dream stared at Night in shock, looking between him and Nightmare, who was grappling with Ink. "Brother?!"

"Hi," Night said simply.

"B-but..." Dream ducked a knife thrown by one of the Triple-Threat. Which one? No one knows. They all use identical knives. 

Night drew back his bow as Dream tried to take a step further. "Don't."

"Brother, I-" Dream reached for him, but recoiled at the shot that passed just by his head.

"I said, don't."

Night hated Nightmare. But that didn't mean he could forgive Dream for everything that had happened in Dreamtale. Dream had watched the villagers throwing the rocks. Dream had done nothing when Night had begged for help, for mercy, for anything. Dream had watched as Nightmare took over his body. Dream had tried to kill him when he realized what was happening to Night.

Dream didn't deserve Night's pity.

"Please, brother, I-"

"No." Night stared at him, completely expressionless. "I'm not interested in your excuses."

"Night..." Dream trailed off.

"I just said I don't want to hear it, Dream," Night snapped. "Get that through your thick skull."

Dream's expression hardened. "Maybe you're not really King of Negativity. But you've changed too much for me to call you brother. Throw your lots in with the bad guys. You'll regret it eventually."

I already do, Night thought. Trapped in the castle, unable to leave, everything dominated by Nightmare's rules, Nightmare's castle, Nightmare's world. He hated it.

But would he rather go back to his old life? Feared and hated by everyone he knew, overshadowed by Dream? Having to smile and pretend everything was fine when in reality he was dying inside?

No. He'd never go back to that. Not for anything.

"Oi, Night, it's time to go," Horror hissed not-so-subtly.

Night looked at him and realized that Blue and Ink were nowhere to be seen, leaving only Dream of the Star Sanses left.

Dream studied him for a moment, then disappeared.

"Urgh." Night only realized how much Dream's aura was affecting him once it left. "My head hurts," he muttered.

"Ah, you'll be fine," Killer said. "We got off good today! Only like, three injuries."

Error was laying on the ground, a sign above him saying, Reboot Error.exe? Yes      No

"And one crash," Cross added, clicking the Yes symbol. Restarting Error.exe       1%

"I bet Nootmare's glad he wasn't hit by any positive arrows," Horror said. He grinned at Nightmare. "Am I right? Please say I'm right, I've got five bucks riding on this."

"Shut up, Horror," Everyone said except Night and Nightmare.

Nightmare crossed the distance to Night, then grabbed him by the wrist.

They shortcutted to the main hall of the castle, then Nightmare released him.

"You need to work on your aim," he said to Night. "And not aim for me next time."

Night dropped his gaze. Nightmare wasn't the type of person to let things like that slide.

But for some reason, Nightmare only pulled the dagger Night had grabbed out of his belt and held it up. "I'll take this. Just in case you get any ideas of unlocking a window."

He turned to walk away, then paused and looked back at Night. "Oh, and Night? You'll have to try harder than that if you really want me dead."