It was a lone battle. They were here without backup; rather by accident on both parts, and came to regret the mistake dearly.
It really hadn't been any different from all the other clashes throughout the past century or so, yet how could it go so catastrophically wrong?

One had tried to taunt the other, but his hand shook on the drawstring, and suddenly one brother had an arrow in his Soul- and with a spasm, suddenly there was a tentacle impaling the other's.
There was a certain agony in feeling the opposing magics seep in and boil away the cores of their being, and in the end both twins collapsed, gasping. Choking. Wheezing in shared torment.

In the strangled silence, Dream was the first to speak; his voice small, whimpering and rough from the pain. It echoed in the dilapidated halls of whatever restaurant this AU was centered upon.
“I.. I'm sorry.. Ni..” He had to pause and wheeze through the waves of burning cold rippling throughout his bones. “I wasn’.. aiming there. Didn’ mean..”

“Damn you.” The other spat, flecks of his own blood spraying out of his ribs, leaning on the grimy wall across from the other on the floor. “I finally had something for myself, and-” He hissed as scalding heat shivered through him.
“And you take it.. from me again.”

“What're you… tal’ing ‘bout?” Dream slurred weakly, breaths small and raspy, sawing in and out even when the cause of his wound was no longer present, a mere limp tendril beginning to liquify off to the side.
Nightmare, uninterested in games, simply went on.

“My men. My boys. How will they know.. what to do… in my.. absence? How will they live when I am.. when I'm dead?” His voice outright cracked as the reality of the situation truly set in.
“I'm dying.”
He shot a vicious look at his twin on the floor. “You did this. This is all your-” “I know.”

He hesitated, partly out of the lancing pain and partly out of surprise. Dream slowly.. achingly.. continued in that dull voice.
“I know.. it's my fault…. I.. can't.. apologize. Enough. There's no point. It's both.. of us… isn't it.” With a wet cough, the brilliant yellow pool spread further around him. Strangely enough, something white flaked off his phalanges, brighting into a small star as it drifted up and faded to nothingness.
“Hurts.” Dream groaned, air hissing between his teeth.

Nightmare stared for a minute or two, the rage draining out of him, replaced with dread. He muttered sullenly, voice loud in the echoing silence filler with strange, disembodied spirits that watched from the corners.
“I hadn't intended.. to to hit you there either.”

For a few breaths, there was nothing until Dream spoke up again. He was oddly relieved the other could still speak.
“Thank..s.” His voice was wet, almost gargling. His breathing sounded much the same- wet, air bubbling through liquid. The sound of it startled Nightmare, Soul clenching hard enough to force a short whine from him before Dream continued.
“What.. now?” He asked, still staring at the ceiling. There was definitely blood spurting when he said that.
“Is this.. just it?”

The dark one glanced to the side, the question sending a thrill of terror down his spine as he pondered the same thing. They weren't humans. They weren't monsters. They were.. something between. With no definitively known ending.
“...I don't know.” He finally admitted, tasting a hint of his own blood on those words.
“I hope it's peaceful..” Dream remarked, the wistful tone not at all matching his wretched, wet voice.

“Why would you care?” Nightmare abruptly questioned, ignoring the flare of pain in favor of demand. “Why does it suddenly matter what happens after? You're losing.. everything.” He spat blood alongside that vitriol.
Dream finally turned his skull to look at him.

Nightmare flinched, seeing only dim, flickering eyelights. Blood oozed from the corner of his mouth facing the floor as Dream spoke blandly.
“Never had much.. in the first place. Ink… will forget. Blue.. will cry… then move.. on. Everyone else.. will forget I exi..sted. Your.. your henchmen… need you. Don't they?” He paused, spitting out a glob of blood as his dimming lights glanced around the ruins of an abandoned restaurant.

“Never wanted to.. take that from you. Just.. stop you from hurting others. And.. make you understand.” He coughed, suddenly sounding weaker as more specs drifted off his bones, turning to light as they floated upward.
“I never hated you, Nightmare.” He said in one ragged breath. “I just missed when we were brothers.”

He stared at the ceiling then, watching the cloud of white spread across it and slowly dissipate at the edges, his form beginning to lose shape.
Nightmare stammered for a moment, struggling to find the words as he realized Dream was dying, right in front of him, and.. he couldn't do anything. He could barely breathe.

“Dream, I.” He started, choking on a sudden swell of blood in his throat, reducing the words to a whimper.
“How could you believe you would.. be forgotten?”
The lighter twin, now mostly cloud and yellow light, looked at him sadly.
“I never really mattered to anyone, Nighty.” He sighed, sockets sliding shut with just a single, yellowish tear.

“Of course you matter.” Nightmare found himself saying. “You matter to me.”
Dream never replied. There was a slight susurration like a faint breeze shifting a few leaves as the cloud collected on the ceiling.
“Dream?” Nightmare called, suddenly cold.
Nothing answered.
“Dream?” He repeated, voice wobbling.

He reached a free hand out, only to notice that it was losing shape as well, beginning to fall in clumps of goo as his whole arm shook. His legs were already mostly an unfeeling puddle running together.
“..Day?” He finally tried, the nickname cracking.
The end of the cloud lifted up, revealing nothing but a pile of clothes.

Nightmare felt cold, unable to breathe.
He was alone. Oh so very.. alone.