My favorite headcanon to think abt when I feel angsty is all the years Nightmare spent dealing w storms alone
Thunder rumbled, brutally waking Nightmare up. His soul was pounding in his chest as he looked up, panting, already wet from the rain, the tree he was sleeping under didn't cover him well enough to keep him dry. It was still night, but he didn't know how far in the night it was as clouds were masking the moon.
He crounched on himself a bit more, his knees as close to his chest as possible as he reached for someone next him.
- It's okay, it's okay it's just-
A bright flash cut him off, lightening the empty place next to him. He brought back his arm against himself. He was alone, Dream wasn't there anymore. He flinched at the thunder, pressing his small body against the trunk of the tree as he closed his one good eye, the only one remaining after eating the apples.
He was shaking, freezing, he didn't like storms, he didn't like the loud noise and the flashes, he didn't like how his clothes would stick to his bones, to the goop, he didn't like the goop either. He wished his twin would be there, wished he could hug him, comfort him like he used to do even if he was scared too, and feel him hug him back, tighter...
He sobbed, letting out a hiccup at the new rumbling noise of the thunder, he slowly looked up at the forest he had decided to spend the night in. He wanted his brother.
The little child slowly stood up, his legs shaking, hurting, his whole back hurt as four thick tentacles were hanging limp on the ground, adding a weight pulling him down. He didn't know how to control them yet. He sniffled, wiping his tears with his already wet sleeve as he took a step forward, almost tripping on the roots of the tree.
He walked slowly, hugging himself as if it would protect him from the sky's anger, and stopped when he reached the edge of the forest, looking at the clouds, he slowly made his way in the open, unsure, almost ready to get hit by a lightning.
He tried to hurry as much as he could with the dead weight on his back, climbing the small hill until he reached the top on which the tree stump of his mother stood as a reminder of his sins.
A shiver ran up his spine as he looked at it, and he quickly shook his head, going a little further until he saw him: Dream's statue, his dear brother that Nightmare had turned into stone without mercy, getting drenched by the rain.
Nightmare stared for a moment, his tears running down his cheeks again, and he slowly made his way closer, sitting at his feet and pressing himself against his legs, shaking as thunder was still grumbling above him.
He felt lost, all alone, hurt with nobody to help him, to hold him and reassure him.
- I'm so sorry Dream... he murmured between sobs, can you come back please... ? I promise I'll be good...
Thunder was his only answer.
- I promise... he weeped again.
He just wanted his brother back, he didn't want to stay alone under the storm...
But the statue didn't move, it stayed right where it was for five hundred years.
Five hundred years, and many, many lonely storms...












