Impure Saint (MareNight)

23

Night stuck close to Papyrus, almost hiding behind him as they walked through the store.

Normally Night would be so afraid of places like this, he hardly had a problem before. He couldn't explain it either, he couldn't explain the overwhelming sense of fear that he got when he got to far away from Papyrus.

His mind was mumbling things, incoherent whispers of warnings and cries for help. He seemed on constant edge for flight or fight, it was exhausting and made him nauseous, yet he pushed through, not wanting to seem like a burden.

The pumping of adrenaline and his thoughts melting into nothing but hissing and seething snakes who scaled bright colors in warning. It hurt his head, but he ignored the ever growing ache and the soft trembling of his hands.

He moved closer to Papyrus, reaching to grab hold of him only to pull his hand back in hesitation. He shook his head, attempting to remove the sensations and instead distracted himself as best he could with reading labels of cereal boxes.

He tried to focus on them, he really did, but his vision went against him, blurring in and out causing his headache to worsen.

He gave up, eyes darting to Papyrus who had only moved a few steps. Night let out a silent cry, hastily getting to the taller's side, grabbing hold of him slightly.

Papyrus paused and looked to Night who kept his gaze on the floor. He could practically feel Night trembling against him, a soft sound of bones rattling in return. He stopped all together, concern and worry piling up.

The taller finally decided to make a move, gently placing his hand on Night's head only for the smaller to jolt away from the touch yet he still held onto him. Papyrus pulled his hand away with a frown, Night still refusing to look at him.

Papyrus sighed and decided to take a different approach. Placing the basket of groceries down he carefully picked Night up, who was against it at first but he quickly melted into the touch and hiding his face.

Papyrus stayed still until he felt Night's trembling calm down to nothing but small and weak shivers. Carefully and slowly, he grabbed the basket and headed to the checkout.

It was on the way home that Papyrus messaged his brother about what happened, Lust sharing an equal concern for the new behavior.

When it developed was one of the questions that came up only to replaced by what caused it to develop. Could've it had been the event Night experienced before getting to Underlust?

The two decided not to bother Night about it, seeing as he seemed equally confused about his behavior which had disappeared when they returned to the house. Night went to his pile of blankets and pillows almost immediately, burying himself under a mound of warm and soft covers.

The whispers and cries were gone and the snakes had slithered back into their dens. The nausea disappeared with a bottle of water and a few bites of bread. Night was seemingly cured from whatever unbridled curse had taken hold, back to his happy self.

He followed Lust around in the kitchen, watching him cook dinner yet again. Lust noted that Night wasn't acting the same as Papyrus said he did at the store, he kept it in the back of his mind, wondering if he could get Sci to help them out, with Night's permission of course.

They way Papyrus described the way Night acted... it sounded similar to the edging of a panic attack. Not to mention the flinch... could that even be described as a flinch? Lust frowned sharply, the thought of someone being that traumatized, to the point they don't even trust the people that love them.

Night seemed to notice Lust's frown, tilting his head. "Lust? Are you alright?"

Lust snapped out of his train of thought and smiled at him, "Don't worry about it Nighty, I'm fine."

Night frowned but nodded, snatching up a piece of cucumber when Lust offered it.

~*~*~

Mare visibly flinched at the sight of what Killer was holding. his tendrils twitching and flicking in unknown emotion. His face didn't show anything other than silent rage.

His hands reached out to Killer, taking the golden crown from him with a gentle and careful touch, as if the wrong move would cause the crown to break and crumble into dust. He looked hateful, sad, and fearful all at the same time and it made Dream take a double take.

Dream didn't get a chance to open his mouth before the tarry black tentacles slammed down into the cobblestone road, expressing an outburst of rage and hatred all on their own. Mare stayed still as his extra limbs continued to destroy the ground below them, smashing and cracking the stone in fits of burdened anger.

It took Mare a few minutes to finally return to the real world. His tendrils calmed, still lashing out wildly, their anger yet to be satisfied... his anger yet to be satisfied.

Then one of them lashed out towards the crowd of people causing yelps and screams. It caught it's target by the neck, wrapping around it and squeezing as a warning while the tendril dragged its screaming and kicking prey back to its king.

Dream knew who that was... Nick.

The tendril made a quick jerk forward, pulling the dog monster off his feet. Mare's hands gripped the crown tighter as his eye turned to face the dog monster who was busy taking exasperated breaths.

His cyan eye narrowed into a sharp and unrelenting glare. The tendril letting go slightly, "What did you do to him?"

Nick glared at him, growling and crawling at the tendril slightly. "I didn't do anything to him!"

"Lies!" Mare sneered.

The monster tumbled on his words, "I may have shoved him around a bit."

Mare's expression turned even more sour, bring a tendril up and pointing it to the monster's stomach.  The tentacle sharp and pointed, ready to bury itself in the warmth envelope of blood and organs. Nick froze and he finally hit the severity of the situation.

"Lie to me again and I'll be stringing your intestines up like party streamers." Mare's voice was flat, unwavering, promising.

Nick couldn't stop the tears welding in his eyes, the fear pushing him to tell the truth. "I..I was going to rape him... kill him afterwards!"

Mare only seemed angrier, "Just what exactly did you do to him?"

Nick gave in and cracked, "I was going to break his soul."

Mare almost snapped, almost. Instead of letting his tendril stab the monster, he dropped him. Nick made a scramble to get away only to be immediately avoided by the others, even his little brother seemed afraid of him.

Dream watched Nick hide himself with horror and mixed feelings of anger and betrayal. He trusted the villagers, he gave them his trust and they do this...

He looked to Mare, who still held the same angered look and he seemed to be panicking. His aura was shaky and tuning in and out like static.

"I'm going to look for Night... Dream, understand my words because I'm only saying this once. I'm never leaving Night on his own again, if you dare try and intervene with that I will harm you without hesitation."

Dream frowned at that but in a way he understood... and against his morals, he was going to allow it anyway. He came to terms that Mare wouldn't harm his brother... he'd be safer with Mare than himself after all.