the day i stop making oc's for this multiverse is where i officially got replaced by an impostor. anyway, i was scrolling thru the blog and saw the ask where someone asked nightmare what he'd do if his children were gay as hell and hes um. well. hes imperare nightmare. so, i decided to probably make someone that could be from his worst nightmares. ( everything i do is to spite him ). it's mentioned that if aurora were to have a fiancè, it'd be mafiafell's child so hey, guess who decided to hit EVERYONE with the oc-fication beam? ME!! MEE!!!! and thus i present to us all, aurora's number one supporter who def has a crush.. in a what if! :
CLOSE UPS !!
idk if it's mentioned anywhere bcs i forgor but i have a hc that nightmare's subjects / allies are given titles due to nightmare's title as king slash emperor. the mafiafells were given the title of "dukedom" and has resumed activities as such. the first duchess became ill shortly after giving birth to dante ( 11 ) resulting in her passing away. carmine ended up taking in another wife, bluebell, as the second duchess thru dubious methods. bluebell has no access to her universe anymore and is just currently stuck so she tries to just live the current life she has. i imagine carabella is an energetic girl who dreams about big things for herself. including marrying princess aurora and becoming a princess herself or now, a knight because she heard aurora is going to marry her brother instead if talks go well. there's no way a duke's daughter can become a knight for the princess however and nobody has the heart to break it to her while shes still as innocent and darling.
both siblings were introduced shortly after aurora turned eight. this was so she'd be sociable enough to mingle with others her age and older nobles during her future debutante. carabella likes to drag aurora away to spend time together away from yucky boys (dante). she dreams of becoming adventurers with her. or becoming singers or performers or bakers together. but she's been told it's impossible over and over again.
the older she gets, the more mild-mannered she becomes. she'd probably be aurora's flower girl AND best woman. she insists on being both. also threatens her brother to treat aurora well but is secretly heartbroken. also keeps sabotaging her own engagements much to carmine's dismay. she does this in subtle ways and managed to stay unmarried for longer than any other noble girl could probably. she has a very idealized idea of love. her parents aren't really a perfectly healthy couple either. amd she just knows she really likes aurora more than dante does. (dante doesn't even like aurora that way and does it for the family)
their song would be good luck babe by chapell roan or smth. doomed skeleton yuri... ohh when you wake up next to him.. in the middle of the night.. with your head in your hands.. you're nothing more than HIS wife...
aurora joku belongs to @imperareofficial
abhainnnnnnn im playing in ur sandbox again.. thankyew.. for making imperare... it's so peak... 🫶🫶🫶🫶
( REPOSTED !! ) - adjustments to dante's parents. his mom is now an older relative of frisk that originally had custody of them and got tangled with him that way. frisk is both kids' aunties!! originally i wanted to make him a fr-ns shipchild as a nod to the popular depictions of mafiafell ( i don't ship them !! this is very important !! ) but i was given notice of how that might come off wrong. soo!! unnamed relative route it goes!!
From left to right, starting with Epic, I wanted him to give the energy of "weird sketchy guy you meet at a convention but is actually very chill and will help you if you're lost", or the guy running a Pokemon card trading booth dealing in SIR and EX cards. There may be a certain kind of video I got into recently. I also wanted to emphasize that he is the oldest of the mortal characters at roughly 40, 47 for most of DWTP. As for why his hair is white and makes him look signficantly older? I don't know, it just fit his character. My logic is that there was a lab experiment gone wrong. For his corrupted, nothing about him changes physically other than more scars on his face, which are hidden here by his hair, beard, and hood. He's also covered in soot here.
Nightmare makes the choice to look like he's in his 70s, even though he can shapeshift. He seems like the type to heavily believe in age = wisdom. I like to think that at some point in time, or maybe currently when he was hiring the Murder Time Trio, he uses the act of a tired old man to lure people in and get them to trust him. The covered side of his face is rotten flesh and looks like a realistic version of his skeleton counterpart, though it smells like apples instead of traditional rot so he isn't suspected of anything. He keeps it hidden under his hair, which is also in a ponytail behind his collar. If you remember my Dream design, I gave him branches wrapped around his neck and torso. I didn't have space, but Nightmare's branches are dead. He's paler than Dream because he is not getting the proper amounts of UV light and Vitamin D from the sun, unlike his brother who spends (spent) half the day outside and again, he's technically dead.
Cross was giving me a lot of issues and I couldn't decide what direction to go with his entire design. I definetely wanted him to look more rugged, battle scarred, experienced, and tired, very tired in his Corrupted state. I also thought the idea of him having X-shaped pupils was neat and I regret not drawing Ink with shaped pupils. Drawing this man with skin made me realize how revealing his torn sweater is, goodness put on a jacket. His horns would function the same way in which they're Nightmare's magic, not skull damage. I also decided to use a reference for once in my life for his metal jaw since a human body would change how it functions.
Aurora is meant to look like a female version of Passive Nightmare and has sharper features from both parents. She has sausage curls since it was a popular style for girls in the 19th century and was popular among the rich, like her father. She also inherited Ink's vitligo. Both her and Crescendo did, but hers is less subtle (Crescendo still has the bottom right cheek vitligo). This would be a massive insecurity of her's because she doesn't understand what it is or why she has it. Nightmare knows why it's there. He hates it. Ribbon taught her to cover up the spots with makeup once she was old enough. Not even he remembers his skin condition because he has a new issue of his skin being porcelain.
Can we give people things? If so, may I give Aurora a weighted blanket (or anything else that could give her comfort?)
- - -
To Nightmare, and this is very, very rare for me to say:
You disappoint me.
You’ve spent so much time making plans, learning how the world works and what makes people tick, refining your knowledge, and you still can’t let go of the biases instilled by those who tormented you? Can’t even question them? Are you really your own person, or did you just become what they expected all along?
Even if it’s only for the purposes of spreading negativity, there are far more creative ways to do that. Ways that aren’t repeating the same old narrative. I’d give recommendations, but I don’t like you and you seem to be doing just fine taking over all by yourself.
- ☾
He's gone this far with his evil acts and he is not stopping now. He prides himself as being above his Dreamtale bullies since in his mind, he's earned everything he has now.
I combined all these asks together since they were so similar and due to being repetetive and not really questions, I will not be accepting any more.
And you guys can give the characters things! They don't get the items in the plot, but for these asks, they can have it. Since you said "anything else that would give her comfort", I also gave Aurora a book that she should be reading at her age, which happens to be my favorite when I was a kid.
I actually have a mouse for Ink from this one game I got back into. His name is Broomie. If anyone recongizes the game, I would be both impressed and worried for my reputation.
Down with the Puppeteer: Chapter 7
Feeling Blue: Nightmare
<- Previous Chapter || Beginning || Next Chapter ->
(If anyone is curious, yes I’m very proud of that pun. I should have called this 'Nightmare and Friends' because I jump perspectives a bit. No clue why this chapter had such broken text, lines kept splitting apart at random)
(Content warnings for mental instability, minor psychosis, and child abuse/neglect.)
Nightmare nearly dropped his quill when he felt something in his soul snap, something jarring even for him. Somewhere in the multiverse, there was a spike of positivity. He may have let out a screech, but he forgot. It felt like one of his nerves had severed and he lost feeling in one of his limbs. As if a skeleton made of liquid hate even had nerves.
He rose from his office chair, tendrils instantly lashing out toward the cabinet on the left. All four souls hovered in glass containers, thin blue wires wrapped around them. Three were still blackened and pumping hate, but Blue’s soul was missing from its glass. Nightmare’s tendrils coiled around the remaining three souls. He shut his eyes, reaching out with his magic to pinpoint Blue’s location. His search was met with nothing but darkness. He couldn’t even hear a voice.
Not only that, but Dream’s soul began to glow gold, the energy very similar to the strange spike. Whatever his idiot brother was doing to himself, it was causing him to rebel against his magic. He shoved his finger bones into the crevices of the rotting gold apple to infect it again, or at least confuse Dream.
“How . . .” Nightmare refocused his magic and searched for his feelings. Of course they were in Core Frisk’s pocket AU, a location they still couldn’t find.
A blast of negativity hit him, drowning out Dream’s joy. Of course, how foolish could he be? Ribbon was with Blue. The negativity was from her. His beloved in danger was far more important than Dream’s getting high; he could worry later. Without thinking further, Nightmare made a portal and dashed through it. His tendrils were sharp, his sludge slick against his bones.
Underluck was an AU he had visited once, only to see if it would be of use to him. It wasn’t, though it was fun to curse citizens into losing every time they gambled. Nightmare entered the waterfall area and searched around for his wife, guided by her distressed aura. Ribbon curled into a ball, staring into the distance with resin tears ran down her face. A thick, fluffy pink blanket wrapped around her body. She cuddled into it, mumbling, “Come back, come back . . . I’m sorry for doing something wrong . . .”
Nightmare’s blackened heart shattered. He didn’t like how close she was to Underluck’s river of gold either. It reminded him too much of their painful wedding day where he almost lost Ribbon to another body of water, nearly drowned by Cross. Nightmare approached Ribbon and ran his hand down her cheek, snapping her out of her panic, though she still could hardly move. Ribbon tried to grab her pull-string, but Nightmare tapped her hand away.
“Shh, I’m here, my poor little doll.” Nightmare let out a sigh and picked her up off the ground with his tendrils, making sure her head and neck were dry first. He saw Ribbon’s left side spark, and she let out a cry, muffled without her pull-string. He took his suit jacket off and wrapped it around her, tossing the blanket aside. As he took Ribbon into his arms, she dug her polished nails into his chest. Once she stopped shivering, he pulled her back. “Now, tell me what happened. What happened to Blue? Had he abandoned you?”
“Core- Core Frisk came here. They wanted to fight Blue and- and they attacked us! We were just walking and weren’t doing any bad things! Blue protected me and I helped fight, but then Core threw this- this bomb at us! It didn’t hurt at all, but it was really bright and . . . then they started talking to Blue and he was shaking, then he glowed and then . . .” Ribbon’s permanent smile kept her from looking sad, but even without his magic, Nightmare could read her like a book. “I’m sorry! I tried my best to stop them from taking him! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t be mad at me!”
Nightmare thought about her words as he shushed her and held her close, gently rocking his body. So Core was violating their deal. Not only that, but they hurt his beloved in the process. “I’m not mad. A little concerned about you may needing repairs, annoyed that you were harmed, but I’m not going to hurt you over it. I know that’s where your little head went.”
Ribbon nodded. “Well . . . I did something wrong. Two things wrong. I let- let Core take Blue away from you and I didn’t fight enough. I’m so sorry!”
“Stop apologizing. I said this one wasn’t on you. I should’ve been more cautious when sending you with Blue. All this teaches me is that I need to keep a closer eye on you. If you were targeted, that means Core is violating our deal and you need to stay in our castle.” Nightmare narrowed his eye at the thought of Ribbon, his helpless little Ribbon, isolated and locked away from everything else. Core’s tactics didn’t involve hostages or torturing them, but things change under the constant threat of the apocalypse. And if Core didn’t believe in harming Ribbon, others in the camp would. Anything to take revenge against him. Was that going to stop him and make him pull back the infection to give them relief? No, obviously not.
After a long gaze at the pink blanket and scene, Nightmare adjusted Ribbon in his arms and left the AU in the same portal they came in from. They appeared back in Nightmare’s office. Ribbon still wore his suit jacket, pink eyes traumatized, hurt, and confused. The familiar smell of home settled her slightly, yet that didn’t fix the negativity seeping off her. The boost made him walk faster and feel stronger, but he rejected it. He couldn’t fuel off her distress.
Snapping his fingers, a puddle of negativity formed on his left side. Killer leapt out of it, shocked, uncoordinated, and with his jacket half hanging off his shoulder. He gasped for air. He looked around until calming down at the sight of Nightmare. “Boss? Did something hap- crap, Ribbon doesn’t look good. Still, you didn’t have to yank me out of the ground like that.”
Nightmare tried not to smile at his stress. Unlike Ribbon, he had nothing against fueling off Killer’s negativity. He had been doing it for years. “Have you noticed any strange behaviors in Cross within the past ten minutes?”
Killer scrunched his face and took a moment to process everything. “Wha- no? Should I have seen something?”
“I’ve lost a Corrupted. I need to make sure it hasn’t affected the others’ conditions.”
“Oh. Uh, Crossy’s fine. He hasn’t been acting weird; he’s in my room working on some project.” Killer read Nightmare’s face. “It’s nothing against you, boss! It’s something about this battle strategy thing.”
“Good.” Nightmare looked down at Ribbon, still shaking. He hesitated on giving his order, wanting all of Ribbon’s attention on himself. “Go get Horror and tell him to bring me blankets and hot tea. Add a tablespoon of honey. Ribbon likes her tea extra sweet.”
Killer glanced away and sighed, then ran down the hallway, taking a sharp left. Nightmare’s visible attention was fully focused on Ribbon, but his mind wandered elsewhere. Losing Blue made him look weak, and he was certain Core was going around to the souls they stole from the Omega Timeline, gloating about how they had a chance of surviving. Losing Blue made him look weak. He had to look like he was getting soft. His invasion of Reapertale was seven years ago. It was no longer impressive.
Nightmare hummed his thoughts to himself as he lay Ribbon on his bed. The doll buried herself under the covers. Nightmare sat down beside the bed, hand resting on his beloved’s forehead. Ribbon nestled into him. He waited for her breathing to settle before speaking. “Dear . . . I know you have a poor memory, but try to tell me everything that happened. You said Core attacked you and Blue.”
“Well . . . Blue and I were walking through that AU you said we could explore. Underluck, was that it? I forgot. He was grumpy as always, but I was happy. Then Core Frisk and this other girl . . . Poppy? I think that was her name. She was really nice and adorable. I think she could’ve been Aurora’s friend and I could take care of her! I tried to get her to come back to my dollhouse so I could give her a makeover-”
“Enough. I don’t care about some lesser human they happened to have with them. I want to know about the battle. Did Core lay hands on you, yes or no?”
Ribbon snapped back into telling the story, disappointed she couldn’t talk about the one aspect she enjoyed. “No- no, not really. They dropped this big bomb over Blue and me. It didn’t hurt, but it was really bright. Blue tackled me down and they were talking to him while I was dizzy.” Ribbon’s voice heightened and softened, her fidgeting betraying her attempt to sound cuter. “I tried to be a good doll and not fight, and I was scared! So, so scared!”
“I know you were, and I apologize again for not being there to keep you safe.” Nightmare brushed the back of his knuckles against Ribbon’s forehead. “Are you certain that bomb didn’t hurt you? Or was it gold and made you feel warm?”
“Mm-hm!”
“Positivity bomb.” Nightmare mumbled to himself. “I still don’t understand how they’re being made without Dream, especially how they’re produced at such a scale . . . I was supposed to check in on him today because something is strange, but you came first.”
“I do? I mean-” Ribbon stopped to repull her string, “I mean, I know I’m important to you, but Dream is bad and could’ve been planning to hurt you!”
Nightmare smirked, then steadied himself. “I know what my twin is capable of. I’ll interrogate him later. He is a man who can take care of himself. Now, can you describe to me how Core broke the spell on Blue?”
“They just . . . talked to him and taunted him. Then he glowed a bit and left me for them.” Ribbon buried her head into her arms. “I should’ve done more.”
Nightmare didn’t answer. He supposed it made sense. Every spell had a remedy to it, no matter how juvenile it was. Blue was weak-minded to begin with; of course, he would be the first one swayed over to their side. Although for such a smart guardian, it surprised Nightmare that it took them so long.
“Please don’t get mad,” Ribbon whispered, “but I feel like I have to tell you . . . Blue said that he’d take me away with him and go- go to a place where people ‘actually care about me’. I didn’t listen! but I was . . . tempted. He looked happy and Pop- the human looked nice too.”
Nightmare sighed as Ribbon spoke of it like a horrible sin. Which to him, it was. “I do care about you, more than anyone or anything else. Core and Blue were just trying to get inside your head to take advantage of you. You don’t worry about a thing. Forget what he said, you won’t do better than me and are only truly safe here. Just stay inside the castle for now.”
Nightmare kissed Ribbon’s forehead. He’d have a word with Core, a meeting perhaps. No, that wouldn’t be direct enough for his liking. He didn’t know when the easiest time would be to catch them.
Ribbon leaned into the kiss with a little happy noise. “Do you have anything you need me to do? Or- or can I work on a project?”
“You can work. May I ask what you’re making?”
“A blanket. For Crescendo. I wanted to try embrod . . . embroy . . . how do you pronounce that word?”
“Embroidery?”
“Yes! That word. I’m sewing little moose and music notes on.”
“You’re always so creative, dear,” Nightmare said. “I love it when you use your talents on these things, being useful. You’re great with yarn work.”
Ribbon beamed under his praise, but then she sank down again. When Nightmare cupped her cheek and made her look at him, she sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re helping me a lot, but I still feel bad for Blue. He’s out there and I don’t know what they’re doing to him! What if they hurt him?”
“They won’t. Core isn’t that kind of person. If anything, they’ll talk him into turning against us.”
“So . . . I won’t have my bodyguard anymore?”
“Until he is returned, I’m afraid not.”
Ribbon whimpered. Nightmare hushed her, still preoccupied with being humiliated like this. All his effort to protect Ribbon still wasn’t enough. “I can provide you with one of the members of the MTT to protect you.”
“Can it be Horror? I trust him the most. He’s nice, and he doesn’t scare me like Dust does.”
“Are you certain . . . fine. I suppose it’s better than Killer’s sick, twisted humor infecting you. I’ll inform Horror of his new position.”
“Yay! Thank you, honey!” Ribbon leaned over and kissed Nightmare on his cheek, wrapping her arms around his neck. His face grew blue and his tendrils wagged behind him. Stars above, she was still the one person he couldn’t have class with.
Speaking of the devil, Horror crept into the room through the open bedroom door. Under his left arm, he carried a mass of blankets and a stuffed bunny with rainbow polka dots. In his right hand, he carried a saucer with a teacup filled with gray tea.
“Sprinkles!” Ribbon squealed, taking the bunny from Horror. All these years later, after so many people turned into stuffed animals, the white bunny covered in rainbow spots was still her favorite toy. And it was one that was stolen from a dead Epictale monster. “Thank you!”
Setting the cup down, Horror stood beside Nightmare, like a dog awaiting orders. “You’ve done your part. I can handle- wait, stay for a moment.”
Horror looked at him warily, but nodded. Nightmare gently pushed Ribbon over so he could sit down on the bed. Her eyes were so bright from something as simple as a piece of fabric. Her shivering calmed down the longer she was buried under the blanket. Usually, he would use his body heat, or lack of it, to keep her warm. Somewhere inside Ribbon’s broken brain, she tricked herself into believing Nightmare’s ice-cold embrace would heat her up. Yet, as much as he wanted to simply stay here and snuggle her, he had work to accomplish. He needed to do research into. Also, check on the children.
Nightmare rested his tendril on Horror’s shoulder as he stood up. He began to walk out of the room when it tightened around the collar of his shirt, forcing Horror forward. “Watch over her. Your new position will be her bodyguard in Blue’s absence.”
Horror tilted his head, pulling himself free of Nightmare’s hold. Nightmare wondered if he even processed his words. “Won’t let you down . . . boss.”
Nightmare smiled, hiding his relief, and jealousy. But it was the best for Ribbon while he handled Core Frisk and the rest of the multiverse.
Before the king left the room, he glanced backwards. Horror didn’t take his place sitting on the bed, but rather just standing beside it, watching over Ribbon as if she were a sleeping puppy.
Nightmare walked around in a circle, observing the area where the fight occurred. Now that he wasn’t worried about his wife’s safety, he could focus on the scene.
Dust crouched down and ran his gloved hand against the ground. “Some remains. Looks like the positivity was concentrated from emotions, not excess magic.”
“Collect it and show it to me.”
Dust dug through his pockets to reveal a pocket knife, a plastic bag, and a sharp metal scoop. Meanwhile, Nightmare opened the code of the AU by snapping his fingers. He used to leave that to Error, but he wasn’t around anymore to help him. Dust grumbled to himself. Nightmare read through the AU’s code, scrolling past pointless information like the AU’s story and ending. It was a thick black box with a light green border, covered in four-leaf clovers. It wasn’t even visible under the thick layer of liquid negativity that glitched the entire code box. He finally located the section about tampering. He tapped his finger against his arm. The information wasn’t any clearer, even though he assumed Core wasn’t living in an infected AU. They should still have information as to where they came from before entering Underluck. Yet all there was was a [DATA NOT AVAILABLE] sign.
Nightmare sighed. He was about to close it off before his teal eye focused on another recent tampering. No person entered the AU, but the AU was opened with a portal. Nightmare narrowed his eye light at the words. It still was obscured and difficult to read, but he made out O-M-A-I-M-L-I-N-E. The exact location of the opening was only a short walk from here.
Nightmare closed the code box and looked back at Dust. “Excuse me, Dust. I need to investigate something. Stay here. If you find anything to collect under the malice, wait for me.”
Dust nodded, but said nothing. Nightmare left him alone. He didn’t teleport to the location in fear of missing something important. If his brother was breaking his rules and conspiring against him, he needed to know. It had to be related to the shift in his emotions he sensed.
It didn’t take long for Nightmare to find the anomaly. Planted between the thick sludge-covered bushes was a small group of flowers. They glowed with gold, burning the negativity puddles around them.
Nightmare knelt down, examining the invasive species with a critical eye. He poked a petal with his tendril. It should have burned him, but he was too powerful; he had built up too much protection to be hurt. On his left, creatures scuffled around, but it was far too dark to see what they were.
Pinprick beady red eyes stared from the bushes. Nightmare clicked his tongue and held his arm out. A swarm of starving centipedes, his parasites, crawled out and attacked the flowers. They tore them apart with the same sharp teeth they would use to puncture skin and souls. Nightmare flicked its short legs aside and picked one flower out from the middle. It seemed a visit to his twin brother was in order.
“There . . . eat up, little ones. This AU is weak. You must be starving.” Nightmare pet the nearest parasite’s black head. It had the slimy texture of an eel, but it seemed to like the affection. Only when he has it. Nightmare stood up and walked back to the area where he had arrived with Dust.
Dust leaned against a boulder, crossing his arms and mumbling to himself. He didn’t realize Nightmare was there. He looked as if he was itching for a cigarette or a syringe, maybe even a shot of whisky. He hasn’t had any since Nightmare confiscated them so he could join his team.
Nightmare twisted the flower stem between his fingers. “Dust, I have found . . . your aura is unsatisfied. Tell me, what’s on your mind?”
Dust didn’t answer at first. He glanced up from under his hood, the only sign his head moved at all. “Boss, why don’t we go on missions as a team anymore?”
“Pardon?”
Dust groaned. He held one arm out to gesture across the entire AU. “You said before that the reason we don’t go on missions anymore is because we can’t, or we will be infected or killed. But I’ve been bit already. We’ve barely done a thin’ since Reapertale, and that was seven years ago. Horror getting to be Ribbon’s bodyguard is the best thing that’s happened since.”
Nightmare turned his head to him, cocking a brow bone. “You’re being awfully negative today, but we’re doing this so I can make sure that Core isn’t using magic I’m unaware of. I’m certain that whatever they used, it’s nothing we . . . you won’t be able to handle. You’re always are so perceptive, Dust. You notice all the little details Horror and Killer fail to see. You’re intelligent, you’re a skilled medic, you never let anything distract you like the others.”
Dust stepped back. His bright eye lights narrowed, the only movement visible under his shadowed face. “Thanks, but what does that have to do with anythin’? You’re dodgin’ the question-”
“Am I?” Nightmare rested his tendril over Dust’s mouth. “You said you felt underappreciated. I’m explaining to you why you’re worthy. I simply don’t have a need for missions anymore. If I were to set one up, you would see that it’s artificial. Then you would complain and complain and I would need to take care of all of you-”
“Just get to the point.”
“Fine.” Nightmare wrapped one of his tendrils around Dust’s shoulders. He pushed him down to sit beside him on a large stone, pressing the skeleton against him. “Do you recall how you were like this when we first met? You were like a feral animal, paranoid and with a smoking addiction that destroyed your non-existent lungs. You were unhappy with yourself. You were about to end your life, and the only reason you did not was because I came into your AU and became your purpose. Your god.”
Dust tensed at the mention of his former mental state, but he didn’t pull back. Even if he wanted to, Nightmare held him tightly. He leaned his hooded head against his shoulder. Nightmare’s cold hand kept it pinned into place. His thumb rubbed circles on Dust’s forehead.
“. . . so?”
“You need me, and I still need you. You, Horror, and Killer are meaningful to me, even if we aren’t as active as a team anymore.” Nightmare hummed, considering the best way out of this. He booped Dust on his nasal bone. “I’ll tell you what. Now that Killer’s role is keeping Cross tamed, I would be willing to open up a position for someone new to be my right-hand man . . . interested?”
Dust cocked his head. The suspicion still glowed in his eye lights, but Nightmare could see the intrigue behind it. “So what am I doin’ then if not missions?”
“Well, hm . . . Blue is out of my control. I will need your help making sure the others don’t follow in their path and make it more difficult for Core. You’re smart enough to know how to stop them. Do you accept my offer?”
“Mm . . . yeah.” Dust’s voice sounded distant with the red eye light flaring up. “For now. But we’re still gettin’ more missions, I didn’t forget that.”
Nightmare stood up, ignoring his comment. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep his subordinate quiet.
Aurora walked down the castle hallways back to her room, three massive old books tucked in her arms. She knew it was wrong, but she was excited when her father left. She could go explore his massive library and read books she usually wasn’t allowed to touch. One was a book of fairy tales, one was Pride and Prejudice, and one was The Great Gatsby. Nightmare always wanted her to read, but he picked out each and every book. Aurora was allowed to read the fairy tales, but only a select few for bedtime. There was some Nightmare just wouldn’t read to her and wouldn’t tell her why. And it wasn’t fair! She read everything so quickly! On her first birthday, he gave her a college-level mathematics textbook. She’s read through it a dozen times and was finally understanding it.
“Crescendo! Crescendo, look what I have!” Aurora pushed open the door to the nursery. She set the books down on the tall black dresser and ran over to the crib. However, the baby wasn’t there. Aurora frowned. Not only was Crescendo missing, but his blankets were tussled, like he was quickly taken out of bed.
Nightmare wouldn’t have Crescendo. Why would he? He would get in the way of whatever he and Uncle Dust were doing. Ribbon was always gentle with Crescendo. The only times she was ever overly clingy were when she was scared and . . . didn’t Uncle Blue just go missing?
Barely walking down the hall to get there, Aurora opened the door to Ribbon’s room, peeking around inside. Her mother’s room was pastel pink and white, usually ringing with some music box Aurora still couldn’t find. Every shelf was covered in stuffed animals or trinkets, gifts from Nightmare. Ribbon sat on the floor in front of a toy table. Three stuffed animals surrounded it, each with a teacup and a plate of cookies in front of them. Crescendo squirmed in Ribbon’s lap, dressed in a formal dark blue vest with a matching neckerchief. From his cries, the clothes were too tight. Ribbon mumbled to herself and cooed for him to quiet down as she adjusted the size of the clothes. Aurora recognized the state her mother was in and stepped back. She turned around to leave and wait until Nightmare came home, but without even seeing her move, Ribbon appeared on the other side of the doorframe.
“Aurora! Hi! Come play with me! It’s dangerous out there!” Ribbon wrapped Aurora in a hug and pulled her inside. Crescendo squirmed on the pillow she set him down on. She kicked the door shut and pushed the child down by the stuffed animals.
“Mama! Ow!” Crescendo squeaked.
Aurora’s lower jaw trembled, but she did her best to play along. She slowly adjusted the way she was sitting so she had one knee against the ground and one with her foot against the floor. If she needed to bounce up and either calm her mother down or run, she could. Aurora glanced around at the stuffed animals. She thought some of them had their heads tilted toward her. But she thought Ribbon only kept the living ones in her dollhouse.
“Mom? Did something happen?” Aurora whispered.
“Mm?” Ribbon glanced up from the hot tea she poured. She set it on Aurora’s saucer plate. It was white with pink flowers. “No, I just wanted to make tea and spend time with my friends! They get lonely without attention. Is that wrong?”
Aurora tugged at her Anti-Magic bracelet. Her father would scold her if she took it off without permission, especially to use the magic on her mom, but it seemed like the only way to calm her down. Her small hands clenched the skirt of her brown dress. Her tendrils wrapped around her hands. She glanced to the left and only now realized one of the plushies was a crocheted doll of Blue, or at least what she thought was Blue. She never saw him outside of his heavy armor and assumed it was part of his body. “Where’s Uncle Blue?”
Ribbon froze in the middle of fixing the tablecloth. Her finger trembled as she pointed at the doll. “Right- right there.”
“Not that. The real Blue. Is he okay?”
“He is real!” Ribbon reached over and picked up the little toy. She set it on her lap and played with the arms, poking at the button eye. The left leg slid off, followed by the arms when she lifted it. Her mom’s craftsmanship was never this sloppy. Ribbon hugged it protectively. “I mean . . . I know he’s not, but he’s close enough! I can’t lose him! Every friend I try to have dies or goes away! And nobody is telling me what I did wrong to fix it.
Aurora stood up slowly as her mom began to rock. She had no idea what Ribbon was talking about, but she had to be the grown-up, like how her papa taught her. She was supposed to make sure Ribbon didn’t say or do anything that could hurt herself, or hurt her and her brother. Aurora inched over to Crescendo, who tried to crawl over to a coloring book set beside the table, snagging a few crayons. She leaned down to pick him up, which Crescendo leaned into. He didn’t drop his crayons.
Ribbon looked back up as Aurora tiptoed away. “Aurora? Where are you going? You’re not going to leave me to, right?”
Aurora froze. Crescendo’s tiny tendrils flopped around. The sounds of the music boxes in the room grew louder, slower. “Mama, we’re . . . we’re just going back to my room. Papa will be back soon and he’ll help you.”
“He’s gone . . . right, I remember that! He told me he left! He-” Ribbon froze up, shaking and staring down at her wedding ring. “He could’ve been taken too! What if he doesn’t come home? I can’t run. And then Core learns how to come into the castle . . . again . . . and then they’ll take you away! I can’t lose my babies!”
“We’re not being taken away. Core Frisk isn’t here.” Aurora’s voice cracked as she struggled to hide her fear. One of the dogs looked like it was making eye contact with her.
Ribbon heard the crack in her daughter’s voice. She repulled her string. “I’m scaring you . . . aren’t I? I’m sorry! Here, I’ll fix it! Crescendo, you’re uncomfy!”
Ribbon reached forward and readjusted his little vest, but with her trembling hands, she accidentally pinched the baby’s upper arm. Crescendo began to wail.
“Ow! Ow!”
Ribbon let out a squeak. “I’m sorry! Aurora, give him to me! He’s not feeling good and I have to help him! Let him go!” Ribbon grabbed Crescendo and pulled, but Aurora held him tighter. Her mom used more force and twisted Aurora’s waist in the process.
“Mama- mom! Stop! Get away!” Aurora pushed Ribbon away. She tore her bracelet off her arm and shot a purple wave of magic at her. Her mom stumbled and covered her eyes with a cry, filling Aurora with guilt. She didn’t trip, but she did knock over one of the stuffed bunnies. She tried to focus on keeping the hallucinations positive, only thinking of things her mom would like to see.
“He’s . . . Blue’s right there, see?” Aurora pointed at an empty space next to Ribbon. Crescendo still cried. Aurora switched focus to trying to take her magic out of him.
Ribbon lifted her hand from her eye lights. They were wrapped in a soft purple glow. She glanced over at the spot Aurora pointed to. Her eyes welled with fake resin tears as she fell to the ground, clutching the legs of someone who wasn’t there.
Ribbon’s breathing grew heavy. “Blue? Why are you looking at me like that? I promise I’ll be better this time. Tell me what I did wrong!”
Aurora took her chance and ran, bolting out the door with the crying baby in hand. Aurora looked down to Crescendo’s blue eye lights glowing the same purple. Aurora stopped and pressed herself against the wall. Her bracelet. She threw it on the ground. In Ribbon’s room. Nightmare had Anti-Magic bands she could snatch- borrow, she’d only be borrowing it.
Too distracted with herself, she didn’t realize she slammed into Killer. She used her body as a shield for Crescendo, as best as she could. Killer wasn’t hurt, but his eyes did go purple. Aurora screamed and grabbed her hand to stop herself, still struggling to balance Crescendo in her arms. The more she tried to calm herself, the more her magic spread. Killer snapped his fingers and a red shield wrapped around Aurora, trapping her in a tall bubble.
Killer didn’t say anything for a long minute and pressed the bottom of his palm to his forehead. He opened his right eye socket back up to look at her. “Kiddo, where the hell is your bracelet?”
“Mama- she’s having another breakdown- she started to grab me- Crescendo was hurt- Uncle Killer, what do I do?”
Killer blinked and tilted his head so he could look down the hallway. “Well, knowing Ribbon, she’s probably curled up in the corner sobbing. I’mma shut the door until Boss and Dust get back. Horror’s still on whatever side mission Boss sent him on, Cross hates her, and I can’t keep you contained and go help at the same time since that’s probably going to require magic too.”
Aurora was taken aback. “Wait, what do you mean Cross hates Mom? He’s mean to everyone, but what did Mom do?”
“Did I- shit.” Killer faceplamed. “Nothing. Not important. Something happened years ago between them, don’t worry about it. Your dad is going to murder me if I say anything. We’re just gonna leave Ribbon there and get you Anti-Magic bands unless you’re also going to kill someone.”
Aurora still had so many questions and worries, but she stayed quiet. Crescendo started to calm down and suck his thumb. His moon and star birthmarks on his head glowed teal. Aurora sat down in the bubble as best she could with the sides still narrowed. As Killer walked to Nightmare’s office, the bubble was dragged along with it.
Aurora tucked her baby brother into bed and shut the nursery door with a huff. The Anti-Magic bands on her wrists were heavy and dug deep into her bones. The silver was cold to the touch, but at least she wasn’t hurting anyone anymore. Why couldn’t she handle herself yet? She wasn’t a kid anymore, like when she was three.
Aurora kept her head low as she walked back down the hall. She was going to her room, but then she heard the loud echo of a portal opening in the foyer. Aurora broke into a sprint, holding the edge of her dark purple dress between her fingers so she wouldn’t trip over it. Ribbon’s door was still shut. She made it down the halls and stairs to see her father and Dust enter through a portal.
Killer teleported beside her. “Boss! Dust! How did that go?”
“We found no sign of Core’s work, but I did find my brother’s. He’s plotting something.” Nightmare scooped Aurora up in his arms, moving the golden flowers in his arms to one of his tendrils. Aurora buried herself against her father’s shoulder. “Aurora, your aura is negative. What happened while I was gone?”
“Mama’s sick again,” she whispered.
Nightmare paused and grimaced as he set her down. “I’ll check on her. Stay here, all of you.”
Aurora watched as Nightmare melted into the ground to move upstairs faster. Killer leaned against the wall beside Dust. Dust hadn’t set a word, but just from his upturned eye lights, Aurora could tell he had something on his mind. Killer scoffed, “What’s got you so worked up, Dusty? You haven’t been smiley in a long time.”
“You’ve been demoted.”
“I’ve what?”
“I’m Boss’s new right-hand man. He’s leavin’ me to be in charge since you’ve been slackin’ around Cross and I’m more useful.”
Killer’s right eye socket twitched. His red target soul began to glitch. He shot forward and grabbed Dust by his turtleneck, shoving him onto the wall. “You . . . are you serious? I’ve been doing that guy’s dirty work for twelve years! And he kicked me out behind my back?”
Dust chuckled. “Well you shouldn’t have been spendin’ all your time ditchin’ the rest of us for your dog!”
Aurora stepped back. She half-expected the two to start punching and pulling out knives. She didn’t want to be in the same room for that. Luckily, they only shouted insults back and forth with language she didn’t understand, but felt she shouldn’t repeat.
Nightmare returned minutes later, fixing his sleeves. His high suit collar was bent. “Ribbon is asleep. The magic should keep her calm for the entire night. She just needed to be held. I should’ve expected something like this before sending Horror to the Omega Timeline.”
Hearing her mother was safe, Aurora sighed in relief. She used the chance to slip off and run away, but Nightmare’s tendril wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. He set her right in front of him.
“Aurora, you know better than to leave before I am done talking to you.” Nightmare chastised. “Boys, leave us so I can speak to my daughter.”
Aurora hung her head. She did know better. “I’m sorry, father.”
“You should be.” Nightmare opened the pocket of his suit and threw Aurora’s bracelet at her. She caught it, staring at it with shame. “Releasing your magic, endangering your mother, endangering your brother . . . you disappointed me. She told me you made her see Blue again, but he said he despised her for being too much of an annoyance and a distraction. He told her one day, everyone would forget her, and she was in tears.”
“It was that bad . . . ? I didn’t mean to . . .” Aurora held back tears, though her entire face was purple. Her lower jaw wouldn’t stop trembling. It wasn’t the first time she hurt someone in the castle with her magic, but this case was the worst. She managed to raise her voice a bit. “Mama was hurting me! What was I supposed to do?”
“No, she was not, you’re being dramatic. She would never hurt you. And would you like to know how I handled your mother when she was being dramatic? I fixed her. It took months, but she’s perfect now. You are going to follow her path. I’m starting off by taking away your privileges.” As Nightmare spoke, his body grew larger and his tendrils melted. “Starting tomorrow, for the next two weeks, eight hours a day, you will be under Killer’s direct supervision. Not with battle training, you are done in that room. You are useless as a protector. He is going to teach you how to regulate your emotions so you can properly handle yourself in a situation, since you never seem to learn. You will never grow up to a proper queen and wife to your husband if you keep pulling stunts based on your emotions. You will not rest until you have proper control over your magic and behavior. Am. I. Clear?”
Aurora couldn’t speak and could only nod. She forced her sad eyes to look serious, swallowing down her sob. Be strong. Don’t show emotion. At least not in front of him. The unread books she hid in Crescendo’s bedroom no longer seemed fun to her.
Hours after the disaster that was his family, Nightmare rested in a blank realm he had entered. It bore resemblance to the Anti-Void. Hollow, white, but Nightmare’s magic caused dark clouds of fog to form near the ground. Whistling echoed from an unknown source, sounding like wails of tortured souls. Nightmare snapped his fingers and sent a bolt of bright purple magic into the sky. It was a spell Nightmare knew for a long time, yet only put to use recently. Recently, as in a few years ago, to keep an eye on Core, in the few cases where they were close to breaking his spells.
Core slowly shimmered into existence. Nightmare towered over the guardian. If he were unaware of their power and intelligence, he would’ve been ashamed that his greatest enemy was a nine-year-old child.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation, Guardian of the Omega. We need to talk.”
“It’s about Ribbon, I know. I knew you were going to happen even without my powers.”
Nightmare nodded. “I know our deal was . . . sudden, and rather rocky, but I believed we understood that you would never harm Ribbon. She was to be left out of all battles.”
“I’m aware. I wasn’t after Ribbon. I attacked Blue, Ribbon joined the battle, and Poppy handled her.”
“Ribbon told me about what happened and the experience traumatized her. The girl of yours attacked my wife.”
“Poppy? Don’t call her ‘that girl of mine’! She’s an equal to me, not a pet.”
“Fine, fine. Whatever you say.” Nightmare waved them off, biting back a smile as Core’s anger fueled his aura. They caught themself and settled down. “My point is that you violated our agreement. Ribbon was injured and is now mentally unwell.”
“That second part isn’t my fault . . .” Core mumbled to themself. They crossed their arms. “We’re not returning Blue. I broke your spell fairly and Ribbon attacked us first. I haven’t killed or kidnapped him-
“Her.”
“I haven’t killed or kidnapped her. Our deal is that we can’t start massive attacks and we can’t take or kill each other’s closest allies. For you, it was Ribbon, Horror, Killer, and Dust. For me, it’s Poppy and the Doodlesphere Rescue Alliance. I didn’t break the deal! Blue didn’t count because he fell under the same classification as the zombies, along with Cross, Epic, and Dream.”
Nightmare supposed they had a point. The Corrupted didn’t mean as much to him, and he did want to see Core attempt to rescue them. Still, he was embarrassed by everything happening, but he didn’t want to stop Core. “If Ribbon is ever involved again, push her out of the fight. I don’t care how, unless it harms or scares her, and the poor thing is so easy to scare.”
Core remained quiet for a moment, processing his request. Nightmare knew they were scheming against him with some sort of plan. He could’ve interrogated them further, but it wasn’t as enjoyable as watching them draw it out and fail. There was a lack of chase.
“I will do my best to leave Ribbon out of battle. I’ll tell the others to do the same. Is that all you wanted to talk about? Can I go back to my people?”
Nightmare hummed, tendrils swaying behind him, purposefully making a scene out of it. He enjoyed the repressed look of irritation and impatience on Core’s face. “No, no I believe that was it. I hope you have a lovely evening, Guardian, and I hope you don’t fail your role.”
Core paused, then nodded in his direction before walking off. “Then good night to you too.”
When Core made it a comfortable distance away from Nightmare, or at least found a spot they liked to return home from, that’s when the king cleared his throat. “My apologies, but I have thought of something. May I ask how your little ‘cure’ is going? Did you manage to save anyone yet?”
“Are you serious?” Core sighed and walked back to him. They stood up straighter, though they still were only up to his waist. He could knock them over with one kick if he wanted to. “It’s going according to plan. We’re getting close to a new recipe for a vaccine and once we get the last components, we’ll test it.”
“Who are you testing this one on?”
“Volunteers who are already healthy, but have been exposed to the infection by proxy. That’s all I’m going to tell you.”
“Hm, fine. That seems rather dangerous though. Wouldn’t it be safer if you tested it on yourself?”
“I’m immune because my soul is unstable, so the effects wouldn’t work with me . . . you know that.”
Nightmare’s tendrils twitched. “I do know, I’m just making a suggestion in case something were to . . . go wrong. As irritating as you make my rule, you also provide me with entertainment. I would hate to lose that, along with more of my Corrupted.”
Nightmare ruffled Core’s hair. They pushed themself out from under him with an ‘mmph!’ sound. They shook their head, fixed their hair, and pulled their hood up. Despite that, they managed to keep Nightmare from feeling their negative emotions. He assumed they were used to it from how they had to repress themselves to avoid the infected.
“I said, good night, and I’m already pushing it with that,” Core mumbled. Without walking away this time, Core vanished into smoke, back into their own dream. Nightmare shook his head. He’d have another word with them, perhaps a bargain, if anyone on his team continued to suffer from their actions. But that was for another night.
“Dear child . . . your hope is going to get you killed.”
Epic whistled to himself as he held a welding torch against two thick metal sheets. New project in mind. He had his Super Mega Hallway of Death and Other Misery 9000, but no one was around to test it in. Was he going to use his Super Mega Convoluted Name 9000 on a rat? Nah.
Epic shut the torch off and lifted his welding mask off of his face, wiping the sweat off his forehead and coughing. Shoot, he forgot to ventilate the place again. You would think for a guy who had nothing else to do but make projects out of broken metal buildings, he would have this figured out by now. But no. As long as the building didn’t explode, he’d be fine. It would just look like every other ruined work building in his dead AU.
He stumbled over to the window and opened it. It wasn’t like that air was much better than being hit with heated gas, but it was a bit better. He was used to the pollution. The toxins in the air didn’t affect him anymore and the protection on his soul helped. Didn’t help when he developed depression, a heavy cough, vomiting, and a fever of one hundred and one. Then it went away. Got sick a few more times, but it wasn’t anywhere to the extremes of the melted bodies that used to be his colleagues outside.
Epic heaved in breaths of air. While the window was open, he looked around. The window was too clouded to see outside, usually too cold to risk bringing that air in, and he was too lazy to clean the glass. He wasn’t expecting much, but from the corner of his eye socket, he caught a tiny ball of glowing gold light. The only other time he saw that color was when something was about to explode. And it never burned his eyes this badly.
“What the bruh . . . ?” Epic muttered. He turned his head around and snapped his fingers. He used his telekinesis to hover over a contraption that was a mix of work goggles and binoculars. It looked like a small phoropter, the lens machine they used at eye exams. Epic put it on and glared down at the light. It was a flower, struggling to grow among the metal and pollution.
Epic put the goggles down and itched where his soul was located. Whatever nuclear explosion caused that flower to grow, it did not make his ugly, corrupted soul happy. Or maybe it did and it didn’t like that the flower made it happy. He dropped all of his equipment onto the floor to clean up later, then teleported down to the flowers.
Epic’s eye lights flickered teal and he clutched his forehead once his body settled. His legs froze in place, refusing to work and push himself forward, like he’d break out into hives if he poked it. But he pushed through out of sheer curiosity, and his boredom wanting something new. When was the last time he saw light like that? Or green grass? Sure, his highly industrial city had almost everything built out of silver and steel, but there were patches of grass and trees here and there. Since his AU was taken over, everything was made of the same two or three colors: Black, teal, and purple. This weird flower was surrounded with normal nature like it was springtime. His jacket and bones were the only light and his white jacket was still covered in black camo print.
Ignoring his instincts, Epic kicked the invasive flowers down. For a brief moment, his mind was filled with doubt over the death machine in his place. Was killing people and turning them into circus attractions worth it for his boredom? Wasn’t one of those guys that came a few years ago his own brother-?
“Ugh . . . I need to go to bed, bruh. But if this burns people and even me . . .” The teal strings that snapped around his soul reformed; the feelings of guilt faded. “Oh sweet, new poison unlocked!” Epic pumped his fist. He trapped the plants in a bubble of purple magic before teleporting back up to his factory. The black sludge slowly crawled over the purified land, plunging the AU into darkness once again.
Aurora do you think your father is a good person and a good husband to your mom
Aurora has no experience with the outside world (at this point of the story) besides visiting her uncle and seeing how horrible the zombies are. The only relationships she has exposure to are Nightmare and Ribbon, and Cross and Killer. Nightmare chooses her books carefully to monitor what she reads and romance books are one of them.
