It took a very long time, infuriatingly long, to get through the trials the human had set for them. Things became stranger and stranger as time went on, mostly only for Nightmare. The human was pleased when he started “cooperating”, though he always made his displeasure known. He hated how small it made him feel, weak, pathetic, worthless and a toy to be abused. It brought back truly visceral memories that he thought he'd forgotten.

It seemed they could only really stay awake simultaneously whenever that “switch” was tested, though they managed to grow accustomed to the feeling and began to hide that they were still both up. That was also the only time they could really stay conscious after shutoff, though eventually they grew tired waiting like that. There seemed to be days between each test, and that was a long time to stay awake and do nothing.

They could only assume how long it had really been, and Dream just couldn't stand to be awake and unable to move. He seemed to constantly think back to being trapped in stone, desperately screaming inside his mind until Nightmare figured out how to force him asleep. Mostly by concentrating on darkness. It made him hopeful that his power might return some day.

But the day came eventually where they appeared to be considered ready to leave the endless purgatory of that single room, where nothing had met them face to face save for the occasional engineers that came in from the wall opening up.

It was Dream that was awake that day, someone tying ribbons with bells around his wrist before bringing out truly hideous pants. He was actually disgusted by it, but was so earnest just to wear clothes again that he put them on himself. No, he wasn't letting someone do it for him, he was perfectly capable of it himself, thank you.
The frilly collar felt demeaning, though.

He wasn't even given the chance to appreciate having a form of clothing again before getting shut off, waking up with his disc face feeling slightly heavier and his awareness spread to.. something on it. He ended up confirming with touch that they were triangles he could rotate and retract at will.
Okay, fine. Sure. The theme was a cartoon sun.
Why not.

They should've trained the AI with how to use them, because it was going slightly haywire in confusion of how to process their existence.
…It was probably his fault it was so weird and nonsensical. Oh well, it's a little late now. There was obviously a few oversights with how much Nightmare could get away with.
He was literally “killing” some of the mannequins out of spite and they just got replaced.
What would they do if he did that to people? Because Dream was pretty sure he would do it to someone at some point.

But eventually he was sort of just.. taken through a bunch of tunnels and just dropped in what looked like a giant jungle gym for kids. Play mats everywhere. Oh. Oh no that really was it. Okay. This is happening.

Dream was initially waving goodbye to the staff watching from the mildly unnerving wall of glass- that made him feel like an animal in a zoo- before giving up and taking in the surroundings, absently tugging on the ribbons.
The river ballpit was kind of cute, but he wasn't sure if it was exactly safe for small children- not at that depth. He ended up climbing in to check- yeah, this form was tall and he was completely buried even when standing all the way up.

Great. That's fine. Not like they only had small, sensitive, fragile, stupid human kids for him to watch.
Oh wait. That's exactly what they had. How fun.
Nightmare was definitely rubbing off on him in a bad way, he wasn't normally this bothered by these things.

Eventually the humans staring left, and he was able to hide in the play structure for a bit of solitude. Eventually he found a dark enough spot that he started feeling a little fuzzy, recognizing the sensation and using it to wake up his brother.

In the end, he wound up sharing the events that led up to now while they both quietly tested their real voices, growing to appreciate the chance to be left alone for once. They could look around, and Nightmare could silently judge everything while Dream debated how they'd escape.

Eventually they tried throwing themselves off the structure to a balcony set into the wall, managing to stick the landing and crawl over the railing and into the dark room.
It was barren. There was a tube leading to another room, but otherwise just.. empty.
Dream was uncomfortable with it, but Nightmare decided it would be their base of operations. Obviously it was intended for them, because it was so barren. They weren't cared about, after all. Just a way to make the company money.
An investment.

It felt like days, being left in that daycare and familiarizing themselves with it, but eventually during one of the times the lights were out, one of the staff members approached Nightmare, calling him Moon.
He wasn't about to correct the man about it, either. It wouldn't look good to explain he'd prefer to be called Nightmare, and he knew it.

Regardless, he stared a little irritably as the other tried running through a checklist with him, ignoring the generally one-word answers.
“Wow, you're a sassy one, aren't ya? Rox’ll love it or hate it.”
“Fantastic.” He replied just as drily as before.
“Soundin’ like another one a’ the staff.” The man mumbled under his breath with a slight frown.
“I don't want to be here any more than they do.” Nightmare pointed out, surprising the other into blinking up at him. “You're coded otherwise.”

“As you can see, some things simply supersede coding.”
That got a laugh out of the man, shaking his head and looking through his papers with a nod, reaching into one of his pockets.
“By the way, haven't really heard what you sound like, but it's really not what I was expecting. You're a lot more human than the others.. prolly good for the kids.” He remarked almost offhandedly after while holding a USB.

Nightmare was taken aback by the realization that he'd been using his real voice for the entire encounter, shifting to the side and coming up with a lie on the spot.
“It was changed recently. The previous one was.. grating.”
“Thank God it was, it honestly sounded like ass. Anyway as security aide, you need access to the cameras so bend over.”
“Excuse me?” He questioned.

The man gestured with the USB in his hand. “Port’s on the back of your head, bucko.”
Nightmare stared at him for a moment, seeing the glint of red lights in the man's eyes.
For a moment, that distracted him. Red? Who the hell thought something themed by the moon should have red eyes?
He blinked in disgust, snatching the stick and ignoring the confusion on the human’s face as he found what the other was talking about, peeling off the cover and awkwardly shoving it in.

He almost collapsed from the sudden influx of information after a few second delay, leaning on a pole to start processing it all.
He could see.. so many places at once, mentally flicking through strange locations like pages in a book.

“That's.. certainly useful.” He commented, not really focused on his own surroundings. Whatever this building was, it was big. Unnecessary amount of neon lights. Other robots, though none really seemed to fully match their own silhouette. As much as they could figure out said silhouette.
“I wasn't aware your LED’s could turn blue?”

Suddenly his gaze was snapping back to the man before him, oh so much smaller.. wait.
“What did you say?”
“Your LE- your eyes. Your eyes went blue. That an update no one mentioned?”
Staring at the familiar shade of near cyan reflecting off of the other's eyes, Nightmare lied yet again.
“...Yes. Yes it is.”

The human frowned a little suspiciously at the obvious lie, but didn't question it, shrugging.
“You finished downloading, then?”
Nightmare almost froze at that, taking stock of the rudimentary AI he'd essentially stifled that was still processing the data. Given that it was essentially his only way to.. interface with the technological aspects of this place, he decided to let it finish, walking backwards with his arms behind his back.
“No, it appears that will take a little while longer.”

“I'm going to need that USB back!” The man called.
“I will find you when I'm finished.” Nightmare asserted, jumping upwards into one of those bridges, clambering on all fours to reach the big door before the other and slip out. He needed out. He needed to see this place for himself, not through dozens of false eyes.

He ended up predominantly crawling on the ceiling, feeling like a damn spider as he clung to bars, supports, catwalks and cables. At some point he found a stage- which for some reason had spotlights on, many of which were directed at said stage. He briefly considered using one to wake up Dream, then decided against it. He wanted silence right now, and as comforting as it was at times to have someone in this with him.. it was Dream.

So he wandered around before spotting the.. unique robots. Or animatronics, as this universe was more fond of saying. After some debate, he decided to check if he could get some more information from them directly, dropping down and landing near silently behind the light blue rabbit.

The other jumped, turning to face him with star sunglasses over their eyes that reminded him of Fresh in a way.
“Oh! Hello there! You're new!” The bot declared.
“I take it you're the new security aide and daycare attendant? I hadn't thought you were released to wander yet.”
Nightmare had to register how shockingly.. sapient the other was, still sorely missing his ability to sense emotions. At least then he could have somewhat accurately gauged the other's intelligence.

“You are correct, I am.. new. Enough so that I haven't been given any common knowledge aside from my assigned duties, and I find this to be severely lacking.”
One of the ears perked up, visibly impressed like a rabbit monster. Nightmare actually was impressed himself in how emotive the artificial being was, just like a monster in a world where monsters had yet to break the Barrier. At least, he could only assume as much. There was no talk or knowledge of them as far as he heard. However, he was painfully uninformed.

“Ah yes, that's actually quite common around these parts. Half the staff members don't know nothing either. It's quite the oversight if you ask me. What're you lookin' to know about your new home, attendant..?” He trailed, frowning before shifting and offering his large metal hand.
“I'm Bonnie, the Glamrock’s bass player!”

He scrutinized the hand for a moment, mentally comparing how bulky it was compared to his own, almost skeletal digits. At least he could have latched onto an even worse match to himself.
Nightmare took the hand, shaking once before pulling back, putting on a slightly more friendly persona as he started walking alongside the other, heading for a nearby light. This, he'd rather have Dream awake to witness instead of having to repeat it all later.

“See, therein lies one of the many gaps in my knowledge. I have no clue as to what the Glamrocks are-” He pretended not to be disdainful of the name- “Apart from the fact that they exist, and you are their- what was it- bass player? I hadn't realized you lot were even animatronics up until now.”

The rabbit- Bonnie- barked out a laugh, pausing as Nightmare twitched in the light before continuing on uninterrupted. “They really do get worse with each one a’ us they add, don't they? Corporate sharks, the lot of ‘em up there. Don't tell the staff I said that. But yeah, we here dwell over in Rockstar Row as the main band of the pizzaplex. If your rounds ever permit, I'll bet you'd love to see us up there onstage. But yeah, we here are the main attraction, each with our own little corner of the plex. It's quite a bit more active during the day of course, and I'm sure the kids will be floodin’ that daycare of yours soon.”

The rabbit seemed all smiles when he said that, and inwardly Nightmare was disgusted. Kids. Human children! No, he'd leave Dream to those wolves. He was always their favorite.
He didn't care that Dream was upset by his decision.
It wasn't his fault they chose him as the one to put the bastards to sleep! As grateful as he was for that detail.

“And you?” He prompted, noticing some humans wandering around, one pausing and staring. He stared back blatantly, daring her to say something as Bonnie continued.
“Well if you're ever free during hours, you can find me in Bonnie Bowl. I could teach you to play, check if you got talent.” He lifted the sunglasses to wink dark magenta eyes at him.
Nightmare did an unenthused shrug. “I know how to bowl. I'm afraid it's not to my interests.”

“Oh no no! Just because you might be programmed with it don't mean nothing about natural talent! I insist you give it a try!”
Nightmare gave him a look, and the rabbit seemed to understand.
“I don't mean now, friend, but when you're ready. By the way, I'm afraid I never caught your name!”
He almost shared his true name, but decided against it, reluctantly giving the other the.. designation.
“Moon.”

“It suits the theme! Though personally a little odd, are the little ones not usually afraid of the dark?” Bonnie pondered aloud.
Nightmare decided to be honest.
“Because there's two of us. I'm simply the one that puts them to s- bed.”
“Huh. Bit of an oversight to not even mention two, but I can't say I'm surprised by their nonsense these days.”

“I can explain that as well.” Nightmare grinned, though he didn't feel it at all. It probably would have been a grimace anyway, feeling those triangles pushing at the stupid hat as Dream spoke up.
“They put us in the same body.”
“It's infuriating.” He added.

The rabbit outright stared, glasses lifted as though to get a better look at them.
“... That's can't be healthy in the long run.” He remarked.
“Couldn't agree with you more.” Nightmare admitted with a sigh, feeling the triangles sink back in as Dream let him talk uninterrupted.
“It's draining to exist like this and for the longest time we were entirely unaware of each other in this.. body.”

There was an orange bear approaching as Bonnie replied uncertainly. “I know this company cuts costs at the strangest of places, but I never imagined it'd be to force two minds into one body. Even from a logical perspective, it seems.. inefficient.”

“Hello, there!” The bear announced well after his clanking footsteps did. “Is something the matter?”
“Oh, Freddy! You'll never guess what they did with the new daycare attendant!” Bonnie seemed genuinely miffed to say that, a little off-putting when Nightmare couldn't sense it. Couldn't sense anything from them, simply because that ability of his was just gone.

He retreated slightly just to let Dream say his piece, both aware of the bear’s widening eyes at the shift in appearance.
“So it isn't normal to put two in one?” Even Dream seemed exasperated to know it was simply done to cut costs for a damn corporation.
“...Ah.” The bear remarked. “That would appear to be.. somewhat callous of them.”

“Fantastic, is there a way to pester them to change it?” Nightmare asked, dripping with sarcasm.
Bonnie actually lit up at that, Freddy cringing as he leaned close to wink conspiratorially.
“Actually, there very much could be. I used to be lavender. Most a’ my casing was all lavender! And I say, I didn't think it suited me in the least. So here's the secret.” He leaned in closer, irritating to Nightmare even though he was willing to endure long enough to entertain this bit.

“Get yourself damaged. It's no fun, ‘specially if you got pain receptors, but it's the best way to convince ‘em to change something. Just break it over and over again. In my case it was getting into all sorts of scrapes and chips and putting a request in. They should give ya access to the network soon if you don't got it yet.”

Nightmare hummed thoughtfully at that, considering how they'd include that in their planning.
They were pretty sure their form was unable to feel pain, so they could very well give it a shot. There was just the chance they'd be deemed not worth fixing as well, so they decided to prove said worth first. Somehow.

Glancing around, they noticed a group of staff members approaching, all looking a little rushed and concerned. Nightmare found himself outright chuckling at the sight, amused.
“Well, it appears our time here is cut short.” He noted.

“You are not wandering the pizzaplex beyond your jurisdiction, are you?” Freddy asked in concern.
“I am part of security, am I not?” Nightmare pointed out. “I simply chose to familiarize myself with the building I shall patrol. There is nothing done that I shouldn't be allowed to do.”
Did he have fun finding loopholes to exploit in their rules? Yes. Did he actually know if he was allowed to wander yet? No, he was pretty sure he wasn't anyway. The alarms from that underdeveloped system in his mind proved as much.

Instead of letting them catch up, Nightmare climbed a nearby wall, scaling it with surprising ease before launching up at the ceiling, scuttling away out of sight in the darkness. He chose to head back to that dreaded daycare, just to find the human who gave him the USB. It was obviously done sharing.

He eventually found the door closed, though instead of opening it and revealing his position, he snuck around to that slide, eventually finding the lobby with it in the wall. It was sort of fun, keeping the bells silent. Did he shove the loose ribbon ends into them to silence the ringing? Yes.
Was that cheating? There wasn't actually any game other than the self imposed one, so no.

In the end, he was able to creep around until quietly landing behind the still pacing human, keeping pace until he turned around.
The man let out a high pitched scream and fell backwards, only for Nightmare to return the USB with a grin.
“Son of a bitch, why'd you do that?! Almost gave me a damn heart attack!”

“So I need to up the ante, then?” He suggested, turning his head to the side.. and turning.. and turning… apparently they could rotate that the entire time and didn't know.
“Who the hell gave you that ability?” The man whispered in horror.
Given that he didn't get his usual thrill of energy alongside the scare, he decided to be honest again.
“I don't know, but it is quite possibly the worst mistake they could have made for something built for children.”

The other relaxed a little, snatching the stick and pocketing it with a huff.
“Still not as bad as your ugly mug. Someone in the artist department needs to be fired for that. And everyone else who okayed that shit.”
Nightmare stared for a moment, ignoring Dream's sudden concern.
“I haven't seen my face.” He deadpanned at the man just as he turned.

“Excuse me?” The other turned, caught off guard.
Nightmare was still grappling with the realization that he didn't know what his own face looked like.
He abruptly crouched until he was level with the man, finally reading his nametag- Jared- and staring at him.
“We haven't. Seen. Our face.” He ignored how Dream was speaking alongside him a little, just as unnerved by the understanding.
“What do you mean by that statement? How badly did they fuck us over?”

Jared recoiled slightly at the swear, mouthing in disbelief before Nightmare grabbed him by the shoulder. “Ignore that part: is there any way you can show us? A mirror we haven't seen, a picture, something.”
“No, how the hell are you able to swear?”
“Don't change the subject Jared, we need to know what the first thing who knows how many children may be about to see when you unveil your company's latest electronic shitshow!”

“Fucking hell, fine! Christ, you act too human.” He shuddered, turning and walking off.
Nightmare followed, tense. Eventually they were led around to some bathrooms, having to duck under the doorframe because for some reason they were built that tall.
Then they saw it.
The reflection.

It was a mask. A horrific, fixed mask when all those others at least had mouths but they had nothing except a garish depiction of a crescent moon with a sideways nose and an overly wide, fixed smile.
Surprisingly, it was Dream who spoke, voice flat.
“What the fuck.”

Freakishly, the colors shifted from blues to yellows in that moment, the triangles poking out. Oh, so those really were supposed to be sunrays.
They didn't help.

“Okay, that's it, whoever designed this is going to be gutted when I meet them.” Nightmare growled, that voicebox somehow joining his voice and making it sound downright unsettling.
Yet in the next moment Dream was whipping around, pointing at the suddenly terrified human.

“We're starting a petition.”
“A petition?” Jared echoed in disbelief before Nightmare snapped.
“No, I'm fucking breaking it!” He almost slammed into the mirror before Dream wrested control back from him, speakers strangely flaring to life to emit a static whine as he insisted.

“A petition improves our chances!”
“Did you not hear what the rabbit said?! It will do nothing. Let me go, damnit!”
“You're going to break the mirror!”
“Then I'll use the shards on this fucking mask, let me-”
“What do you think will happen if they find out we caused property damage?!”
“Do I look like I give a damn?!”
“You never do, it's always about destruction and hurting pe-”
“So that's what this is about then?! Once again the golden child of peace claims to know what's best for-”
“That's not what this is about! I'm trying to keep us from dying a-”
“It was your damn fault in the first place!”

“Jesus fucking Christ are you possessed?!” The shout startled them into silence, realizing their argument was entirely verbal as they stared at the man. There was an odd, blue and yellow glow in the room.
“Yes.” Nightmare flatly replied after a long pause.
“Now leave. We're having a private discussion.”
“You can't just order the human ar-”
“Shut.” Nightmare cut him off sharply, jerking to the side in an effort to address his twin. Both ignored how the speaker kept switching on to speak at the same time as his true voice.

“You.. I…” Eventually the man dragged a hand down his face, shoulders slumped before he set the clipboard and pen on the side of the nearest sink, sighing.
“That's it. I quit.” He muttered, turning around and walking out as he shrugged off his jacket.
They watched him leave, one gaping and one uninterested entirely.

Then Nightmare faced the mirror again, using it as a medium to face Dream. Their already bad appearance was made worse by the shifting, mismatched colors, as if their body couldn't decide who was even active. They could feel mechanisms whirring, as if put into overdrive by whatever state this was, speaker rumbling with static almost like a digital snarl.

“It was you who killed us both.” Nightmare spat, shared eyes flickering a chilling blue before they switched to an incensed dark yellow.
“I wasn't trying to! Please believe me, my hand twitched- if you had just stopped fighting like that, maybe we wouldn't be like this in the first place!”
“Excuse me?” The alternating lilt between the slightly two-toned voices was jarring, but hardly a distraction.

“I. I mean that, Nightmare. And I meant what I said then and it still holds true now. I miss when we were brothers. I was so sick of fighting I didn't really mind dying, you know?”
That accursed mask of a face twitched while looking in the mirror, the colored triangles slowly spinning in opposite directions, tearing into the edge of the attached cap. Yet swathes of navy bloomed when Nightmare deigned to speak.
“If that was the case, then why didn't you simply stay out of my way?”

“You were killing people, Nightmare. You were torturing AU's and wiping them out with that gang. How was I supposed to sit by and let that happen?” Dream was pleading, and somehow in spite of that sorry excuse for a face they had, he managed to make it clear with just dim yellow eyes and oddly angled triangles like some kind of mane or even crest.

“It needed to be done!” Nightmare snapped. “Someone needed to maintain the balance and it certainly wasn't going to be you or Error!”
“What does Error have to do with this?”
Nightmare automatically tried to pinch between nonexistent brows, finally realizing he genuinely wasn't playing dumb. His frustration worsened when he realized.. every damn fight Dream would do this, for as long as he could even remember, and somehow. Impossibly. It never occurred to him that his twin didn't actually know.

“How could you possibly not be aware of the balance, Dream? Tell me that. Humor me.” He questioned, completely done with the argument.
There was a pause as he kept trying to rub feeling into the mask face that felt nothing before giving up, regarding the mirror once again as Dream tried to explain.
“I.. I don't know, Night. I just don't know what you're talking about. Maybe.. maybe you should explain it to me.” He sounded just defeated, as if just as drained by the argument as Nightmare was.

“So you somehow, against all odds, couldn't feel the balance between us? Not even once?” He gestured at the mirror, feeling a little stupid to even have to use the damn thing to talk with his own brother.
“No??” The lighter twin was baffled. “I never felt anything along those lines. Just too weak all the time.”

“You felt nothing? No tugging? Not even something adjacent to temperature?” He questioned more intensely.
“Adjacent to- what??” Dream questioned back, increasingly confused.
Nightmare leaned away from the sink, feeling a mix of horrified understanding and outright dismay.
“Nothing? This isn't a game? Another inane ploy of yours?”
“How would I even- Nightmare, I can't do anything. We're stuck in the same body!” The former guardian stressed, waving at the mirror.
“We are talking to a- a fucking mirror, Nightmare! I'm not making some grand plot to stop you. I'm trying to ask what the hell you mean.”

Dream stood there, hands still lifted, glaring at his reflection as Nightmare was simply taken aback.
“Don't go on acting surprised, I'm allowed to swear too sometimes.” Dream snapped.
“And honestly I've genuinely never heard a more idiotic sentence come out of your mouth. Or however we speak now. It's genuinely annoying, I didn't spend centuries trying to protect innocent people just to get trapped in the same robot body AS THE PERSON WHO WAS KILLING THEM. So yeah, I've run out of positivity and thus patience, so will you for once be straight with me and just explain what in the world you are talking about?”

The silence stretched for over a minute as they mentally regarded each other, Dream uncharacteristically pissy after previously being miserable while Nightmare was reevaluating just about everything he knew about him.

Eventually Dream leaned on the sink, pressing their disc-like face to the glass with a whirr not unlike a sigh, slumping a little.
“I get sick of trying to save you sometimes, so I could really use a reason why your genocides would be worth it.”

That seemed to strike a chord within him, briefly flaring up in anger and shooting upright- before it rapidly drained away, staring at his reflection.
A face that didn't belong to him. Something genuinely hideous. It couldn't really even be called a face, it really was just a mask they couldn't remove.

He found it in himself to just be honest without immediately searching for signs of foul play or manipulation. He couldn't bring himself to speak out loud, so instead he found himself sinking down to the floor between sinks, hugging his metallic legs in a way that felt off- not entirely himself. Like it was Dream doing that.

There is a balance that must be kept between us. Specifically positivity and negativity. Too much on either side has dangerous outcomes for the Multiverse as a whole.. not to mention the fact that it hurts to do so. I.. I believe I assumed you too could feel it. 

Dream was quiet with his response.
Nightmare, you ate almost all of Mother's apples. I don't recall that ever being an ability we had before, so it must be tied to that.
He regarded his hand, how different and wrong it was compared to either of theirs. For a moment, he remembered reaching for Dream in those last few seconds, his phalanges losing shape and collapsing into goo in front of him.
And for another, he saw Dream's clenched almost fist gripping the arrow, shaking with tears- but from his brother's own perspective.
What have we done..

There was a strange, almost overwhelming urge to cry, but this body was unable to. Something about that felt so wrong.. but there was nothing he could actually do. Neither of them had any power anymore. They just as weak and without magic as a human, and they had never fully taken the time to process that fact.
Because of just how unsettling it felt just to think about it.

Yet, almost as if reality was trying to fuck with them, they felt an almost familiar wisp of a feeling tug at their awareness beyond the reach of their limbs, causing them to look at the door right before it opened.
It was that woman who had initially spotted Nightmare talking to Bonnie and stared, now looking frazzled.

They stared at her, and she stared back. One leaning in from the open door and the other sat on the floor between two sinks.