GHRAAAAAAAA I LOVE YOUR SHIFT AUUUU, Share more details on Nightmare?? He was awake entirely when Dream wasn't how is he handling the Corrupted Dream? Does he think Dream is dead or awake? How young were they? Poor Dream couldn't age properly besides him :(
yep!! he's been awak the entire time! and he's not doing good!
so basically, in the dreamtale canon they were like,,, 6??? which is kinda baffling to me like 😭 they were bullying a toddler nightmare fr got the naruto treatment, which is SO unbelievably funny to me
so i've tweaked a Lot abt the og lore- including a whole new timeline, so the apple incident happened wayyy later- they were around 113 in fact! to us very old, but to them very very young still
after dream turned to stone, nm legitimately thought he'd died, and he lived with that guilt for decades- until one day, on one of his visits to his brother's grave, the statue wasn't there.
Vines and foliage upturned, an imprint left on the soil where the body of his brother once stood in eternal stillness. If not for his eye frantically scouring the thicket in panic, he'd have missed the path carved through the golden flowers, trailing off into the forest.
Nightmare spared no second, his legs already leading him into a sprint.
His soul thrummed and ached- it hoped- for the first time in more than four decades- his soul dared to hope.
He abruptly skidded across the dirt, his breath labored, his knees giving out. A few paces ahead stood a familiar figure, their golden cape fluttering in the gentle wind, shimmering under the sun.
Their stature was so similar to his own- but smaller, younger. The features softer.
A warm smile on his face, a golden circlet around his head-
Tar running down his left cheek. Down his vertebrae. Wrapped around his left arm completely. The breeze stilled- the world silent save for the constant dripping of black liquid onto the earth.
Nightmare choked. His scar burned.
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awwgh im so out of practice in writing 😭😭 but yea!! he freaked tf out!!
Basically- around 40 ish years later, 'dream' wakes up- at that moment it was all corruption, no dream. the real dream only gains full consciousness for the first time like, 200 years after that :^) even then its for a very short period of time, and he was exhausted afterwards
nm also freaked out at that, my trauma king <33 i love putting that man in situations