Error tilts his head at Nightmare's description of Hate, looking at the aforementioned skeleton curiously. He jumps upon hearing four new yet familiar voices coming down the stairs. He turns, immediately grabbing at his tear marks, strings tying everyone up instantly, including Horror and Dust.

He pants softly as error signs start clouding up his eyes.

"Error? What's wrong?"

"5hu7 up! 5hu7 up! 411 0f y0u!" (Shut up! Shut up! All of you!)

"???" Error vaguely recalls that confused noise coming from Killer.

"Error. I demand you let us down now and explain what's going on."

"134v3 m3 410n3, y0u 411 4r3 !n73nd!ng 70 hur7 m3 0r 7311 Inky my 10c47!0n, bu7 !'m 700 5m4r7!!! H4h4h4h4h4h4h4!!!" (Leave me alone, you all are intending to hurt me or tell Inky my location, but I'm too smart!!! Hahahahahaha!!!) Error begins laughing maniacally, gripping his skull and glitching worse as he begins clawing his skull, suddenly a glitch flashes across his right eyesocket, revealing white bone before suddenly it is gone and the high-pitched beep noise returns, the entire gang getting released from the strings. Nightmare walks up to Error and presses the Reboot option of his Restore or Reboot, going through the process and also keeping Error's body safe from the gang who either planned his murder, planned a prank, or were Horror and Dust.

"Ugh...my h34d...hurt5..." (Ugh...my head...hurts...)

"You crashed again."

"0h. 4nyw4y5. Y0u n3v3r t01d m3 y0ur 5t0ry. Why did y0u 134v3 y0ur h0m3 t0 find 0th3r 'p004 unf0rtun4t3 50u15'?" (Oh. Anyways. You never told me your story. Why did you leave your home to find other 'poor unfortunate souls'?) Nightmare looks straight at Error.

"How about a deal?" Error tilts his head, remaining with his focus on Nightmare.

"You tell me how you came to be the Destroyer, and I'll tell you a somber tale of two princes?"

"4ww, wh4t m4k35 y0u think I didn't ju5t 41w4y5 exi5t 45 4 d35tr0y3r wh0 h4t3d th3 4U5?" (Aww, what makes you think I didn't just always exist as a destroyer who hated the AUs?)

"I have a list. One, you appeared sometime after DreamTale's destruction, as well as a few other timelines randomly disappearing or dying off. Two, you don't harbor hate. Jealousy and admiration and excitement sure, but no hatred. Trust me. I know. I can sense and influence and draw power from negative emotions. Hatred is one of the strongest negative emotions, so I'd be able to sense it tenfold on anyone close to me, but the only person who has Hatred is Hate himself. And well, that should be fairly obvious. Also, right before you crashed, a specifically white bar-like glitch covered your right eyesocket, the bone around turning white, before you just crashed suddenly. So all three facts lead me to suspect there's a story behind the famed destroyer. And I want to know what it is." Error looks at Nightmare with something between impressed and astonished, before looking at the couch.

"4nd h3r3 I th0ught my c0nditi0n w0u1dn't b3 0bvi0u5..." (And here I thought my condition wouldn't be obvious...) Error mutters, taking a minute before sighing softly and looking back at Nightmare, his expression serious and unreadably neutral.

"Fin3, but y0u m4y find y0ur531f in 4 14nd 0f di54pp0intm3nt." (Fine, but you may find yourself in a land of disappointment.) Nightmare nods and Error sighs again, running his hand along his scarf in a clearly nervous yet comforting habit kind of way.

"W31p. I gu355 I n33d t0 b3 h0n35t. Th3 truth i5..." (Welp. I guess I need to be honest. The truth is...)

"I d0n't kn0w. 4ctu411y, I kn0w I c4m3 fr0m 50m3wh3r3, but I d0n't r3m3mb3r wh3r3. 5h3 50m3tim35 u535 wh3r3v3r I c4m3 fr0m 4g4in5t m3, but 5h3 i5 v3ry c4r3fu1 t0 m4k3 5ur3 I n3v3r 134rn wh3r3 th4t i5." (I don't know. Actually, I know I came from somewhere, but I don't remember where. She sometimes uses wherever I came from against me, but She is very careful to make sure I never learn where that is.)

"Who is this She you keep mentioning? I notice She has come up repeatedly regarding you and your past, but you never tell Her identity. Why not?" Error smiles thinly.

"W311, 5he'5 41w4y5 1i5t3ning 4nd w4tching, 4nd 0n3 0f my ru135 i5 t0 n3v3r 54y H3r n4m3 0ut5id3 th3 4nti-v0id 4nd n3v3r t311 0th3r p30p13 4b0ut H3r. 50m30n3 wh0 u53d t0 b3 my fri3nd 0n1y kn0w5 H3r n4m3 b3c4u53 h3 0v3rh34rd 0n3 0f my c0nv3r54ti0n5 with H3r." (Well, She's always listening and watching, and one of my rules is to never say Her name outside the anti-void and never tell other people about Her. Someone who used to be my friend only knows Her name because he overheard one of my conversations with Her.)

"Oh."

"I t01d y0u wh4t I kn3w 4b0ut m3, 50 y0ur turn. Wh4t h4pp3n3d t0 Dr34mt413?" (I told you what I knew about me, so your turn. What happened to DreamTale?) Nightmare sighs, the team sitting on the couch and in an approximation of a semi-circle as Nightmare's cyan magic makes a book appear in his hands. He opens it to the first page, sighing.

(Author here: It's been a while since I've read the DreamTale story, so either accept I am human and prone to mistakes and biases and such, or take this with a grain of salt, or even just say "Ah yes, headcanons". And before one of you says something, no, Nightmare, Dream, and DreamTale are not my idea, I do not claim this. These things are Joku's work, and while I may be editing this slightly based on my headcanons and lack of memory, I do admit that this isn't an AU or anything original based on DreamTale like DreamSwap or EmpireVerse. This is a headcanoned version of the story of DreamTale. It is very much as canon as possible minus my changes based on headcanons and memory. Thanks and carry on with the story.)

(AUTHOR: ALSO THERE ARE MENTIONS OF ABUSE AND TORTURE, AS WELL AS HINTS OF RAPE AND MENTIONS OF A SUICIDAL MINDSET. IF ANY OF THESE THINGS UPSET YOU, THEN DO NOT READ THE STORY UNTIL THE END OF NIGHTMARE'S STORY (The end of Nightmare's story is the end of chapter eight.) THANK YOU AND HAPPY READING.)

"I've memorised this story, yet every time I read it, I feel the same things I felt the first time I experienced this story."

Weird way to phrase it, Error silently thinks, but Nightmare is a very weird skeleton.

"Long ago, there was a deity named Feelings. She loved all beings, and they loved her. Or that is what she believed. The beings tolerated Feelings' power because she brought happiness to their lives, even if, in their naive minds, she was the bringer of their suffering."

Things are balanced, and Deities don't bring anything. They tend to be the personification of the idea for which they are named. Fate isn't a bringer of Fate. She can weave and change it, but Fates are laid out the moment one is born. Same with Destiny, Death, Life, Order, Chaos, Magic, Memory, and all the other Deities.

Error focuses on Nightmare's story again, since he asked for this.

"One day, a war broke out, and Feelings tried to make things right, but someone attacked her, and she took damage, trying to protect others over herself. This damage forced her to do two things. One, it forced her to the Tree of Feelings, forced her to merge with the tree in order to survive and sustain her life. And two, it forced her to split her powers into two beings. One gained the powers of hope and happiness and love. He was named Dream. The other gained the powers of despair and sadness and hate. He was named Night. The two had one job, to protect the tree their mother resided in, and more accurately, to protect the apples of feeling, half of which were yellow and half of which were purplish black."

"A village soon was founded near the Tree and the twins went to it, curious for they had never seen another aside from each other. The villagers instantly took a liking to Dream, mostly due to his aura bringing along positive feelings. Inversely, they instantly hated Night for his aura, hating the feelings he brought."

"I'll keep the descriptions brief, but the short version of the story is that the villagers abused and tortured Night, blaming him for everything bad and hiding this all from Dream. To Dream, the villagers could do no wrong, everyone was perfect and nice and true friends and he was happier than he ever could have been. Night, being able to sense this happiness, decided to hide his treatment as well from Dream, not wanting his rotten luck to ruin Dream's fun. Night became withdrawn, more so than normal. He was always introverted and always preferred to be alone or with close friends, but as he hid his treatment from Dream, he withdrew even more, outright avoiding people and making up the most ridiculous of excuses to avoid going."

"Night and Dream had only one quality in common, and that was their inability to lie. The villagers thought Night and Dream differed in this way, with Night able to hide his abuse from Dream, while Dream all too easily told the truth at every turn and when he did try to lie, it rarely worked. But Feelings knew both her sons well and the reason Night made up ridiculous excuses is he knew Dream wouldn't question it, the naive and sweet-tempered positive guardian one to believe words at face value and never doubted others."

"I got off-track, sorry. Anyways. Night suffered through nearly a year of constant abuse, before something changed. One night, someone did something so horrible that Night decided he'd rather die than suffer one more moment of abuse. He ran to the tree to offer a final goodbye to his mother, only to find a group of kids trying to eat a golden apple. He tried to stop them, successfully getting past them and summoning a staff, which kept them at bay as he reached down to grab the apple." Nightmare takes a breath, before closing the book.

"Night could hear their insults, and reminded himself he wanted to die. The apple called to him at that moment. It told him he could die if he ate the apple, or he could become strong enough to kill them. He didn't need that push, but it caused him to grab the apple. Best of both worlds right? Either he dies or he kills them all, either way, he wins. When his hand touched the apple, it darkened, turning into one of his negativity apples. He took a deep breath, and took a bite."

"It was like fire on his bones, and bile rose in his throat. He tried to call for Dream, but his throat burned when he tried to speak. Then he began barfing with no end, feeling the slime he was coughing up begin to attach to his body. When the entire transformation was finally done, he 'woke' up to find all the teens dead, and the villagers running over with Dream. Night attacked the villagers, tentacles he didn't know appeared stabbing all those who wronged him before he could step towards them."

"When the dust finally settled, and the corpses were all accounted for, Dream tearfully summoned his staff, but something stopped him from going further. Night began walking toward Dream, simultaneously apologizing for everything and telling Dream it'll all be over soon. As Night walked towards Dream, Dream's body began to turn to stone. Once Night was close enough and cupped Dream's cheeks with his hands, Dream was pretty much completely stone aside for his face, tears streaming down his cheeks as Night issued one final apology and said "From now on, Night is dead. Call me...Nightmare." The end." 

(1967 words.

I hope you read my warning.

Thanks for reading Nightmare's tale.