It had only been a few weeks and Chanda was already almost my height, she learned quickly and even knew how to change to her human form too. At the rate she was growing was slightly concerning but I ignored the concern and felt only pride, we had been forced to move from the town due to Chanda wishing to remain in her proper form which I didn't mind. Being in my original form after so long without it felt rather good, Ashton had left us to continue his travels since he had the answers he was looking for. Chanda had also noticed my slowly decreasing sleeping pattern and had asked me once or twice what was wrong but I always told her I was fine, the nightmares had grown real enough I had begun to feel pain which meant time was closing in on me and there was nothing I could do about it. With a sigh I stood from the cliff ledge I had been sitting on and hovered over the fresh snow that had fallen the night before, winter had come at a bad but welcomed time. I had also begun to hear more of Nightmare in my mind but chose to ignore him for the most part, with a sigh I shook my thoughts away as I arrived back at camp. I had been unable to sleep last night so I had spent most of it by the cliff thinking, Chanda as usual was the only one awake as the sun was rising.

"Your nightmares are going to get someone hurt mother, I can feel the distress it causes you every night, stop starving your soul of sleep before you damage it," Chanda pleaded softly as she walked up to me, I nodded as I turned and headed for my usual sleeping place beside Springtrap. Laying down I closed my eyes, ever so slowly I allowed myself to rest.

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The sound of movement around me caused me to stir, from the looks of things I only slept an hour or two. Standing up I felt my head spin, taking a deep breath I waited until it stopped before leaving the tent. Looking around I couldn't stop the feeling of dread that was slowly closing in on my mind, with a sigh I soon joined the others by the river. Seeing them all splashing about made me smile, remembering all the troubles we had faced together caused my mind to wander. A hand touching my shoulder made me jump and look towards whoever had done it, I calmed down seeing Springtrap.

"Are you alright Mari?" He questioned softly, I nodded and gave him a half smile. Suddenly a sharp pain shot through my head and soul causing me to inhale sharply, something was fighting me for control and it wasn't Nightmarione.

"Oh you foolish Puppet, you've allowed me access to your mind by simply doing nothing, you should have known I would come back, I always do," the dark and familiar voice chuckled, I looked up at Springtrap who stepped back with fear on his face and I knew Nightmare was already close to getting the results he desire. Come to think of it when I first hurt those men something in my mind had clicked, every kill after that had grown more joyful despite my best efforts. Backing away I collided with a tree as I struggled to stay in control of myself, seeing me in distress caused the others to race over and shove a stunned Springtrap to the side.

"Puppet what's wrong!?" Someone shouted, words were growing fuzzy and sounded more like agonising screams. Nightmarione was in deep distress which caused my own distress to grow, the moment something touched me I lashed out unable to control my thoughts as the pain only grew.

"Stop fighting it, let me through my dear, I can help you in so many ways," he chuckled, his words echoed in my mind as I lashed out yet again. My skin began to burn as Nightmarione tried to break free to save me from an invisible threat that attacked our minds, someone grabbing my shoulders firmly pushed my panic over the edge as I lashed out scoring a deep gash across their chest before I fled. I couldn't stand to hurt them any more than I just had, after a few minutes I collapsed in a fit of pain.

"Your struggles grow weaker, give in already!" He snarled as he grew impatient, I curled into a tight ball as I felt my control fading.

"I'm sorry...." I sobbed before finally all power slipped from my grasp and I lay there motionless, a strange new power began to flow through my body as he began to sink his influence into my blood. I still had some control over myself but his words manipulated my own and twisted my memory the more he tried, standing up I rubbed my head as the pain began to die down. Standing up I felt weak, Nightmarione had managed to somewhat break through as my body had morphed into a strange cross between both my normal and Nightmarione form. I would have to avoid the others for a while until I could figure out a way to control Nightmare and his motives, taking a deep breath I headed for the mountains in the distance. Nightmare would soon gain almost complete control over my own motives so I needed to make sure he couldn't find my friends and family, the more steps I took the harder it became to walk another.

"You won't have my family....... you won't have my friends....... you won't have my soul........" I vowed as I pushed on, hours upon hours I walked on weak legs as I made it safely into the mountains. Nightmare had come to his senses by now and he knew how weak I had become, a dark laughing in the back of my mind was all it took for me to lose control for even a few moments which caused me to collapse and black out.

So who can guess who this "HE" is in her vision?