Brush bour beeth before bou bross bhe boad

"So now what?"

"Now, we face Nightmare." Dream said, eyes narrowed and glowing with determination.

Error frowned, folding his arms.

"Dream, you can barely walk." He argued, Blue shouting "Yeah!" in agreement.

"Plus we don't even have a plan." Error added.

"Yeah!"

"I think we should rest for a while until we're all able to fight."

"Yeah!"

Error turned around to glare at Blue, causing the other to shrivel back and laugh nervously. Ink rolled his eyes, placing a hand on the guardian's shoulder.

"Dream, Error is right- you need to rest somewhere for a while until you're fit for fighting." The artist tried to reason.

"Yup, yup." Bonnie nodded in agreement, absentmindedly fiddling with his makeshift wooden sword. Dream glanced down at the bunny, a faint smile appearing on his face. He was radiating a slither of positivity, the guardian realised. With the positive energy from Bonnie, Dream should be able to heal himself over night. He wouldn't be fully healed up but it would certainly help.

"Okay, let's rest for the night." Dream declared. "I'll be able to heal myself somewhat with Bonnie's positivity while we sleep."

Bonnie's ear perked up and his ruby-red eyes glittered excitedly. 

"Yay- I get to help!" He cheered, hopping excitedly. 

Dream grinned, patting the rabbit's head.

"Well, let's go find a place to rest." Blue spoke up, scanning the area thoroughly. The thick fog however made it difficult to see anything. 

"How about we go to the place the villagers were hiding in?" Ink suggested, eyes flickering between shapes.

Dream hummed, liking the idea.

"Yeah, let's do that." He agreed.

Bonnie leaped forwards, startling the party.

"I shall lead the way to the shelter!" He exclaimed, pointing his sword up to the sky proudly.

"Wowzers, thank you purple rabbit!" Blue praised, saluting.

Bonnie grinned lopsidedly, turning away from the party and beginning to march forwards. Blue, Error and Dream (with the help of Ink) trailed after the bunny, making small talk along the way.

--

They soon arrived at the home where the villagers had been crammed inside. Blue and Bonnie kicked down the door and bounded inside, giggling mischievously. Dream chuckled and Error groaned, already tired of Blue's antics- and now there's another chaotic member in the party!

"Alright, we need to let Dream rest so no noise." Ink instructed, playfully glaring at Blue and Bonnie.

Blue huffed however agreed. He knew now wasn't the time to be messing around and causing havoc.

He'd still do it though, just quietly.

Ink guided Dream over towards the couch, lightly pushing him down onto the pleasantly soft material.

"Now go to sleep." Ink instructed.

Dream sighed, adjusting his position so he was lying comfortably and closed his eyes. It felt like days since he last slumbered yet he'd technically slept more than the others thanks to being unconscious. His eye-sockets ached and so did his leg; hopefully the pain will have subsided when he wakes up tomorrow. The guardian let out a soft breath of air, clearing his mind and gradually drifting away into a dreamless sleep.

Error yawned upon seeing the guardian fall asleep, realising just how tired he was. He slumped lazily in the chair he had occupied, eyeing Blue with bafflement. How was that little gremlin so full of energy still? He observed the skeleton and rabbit wearily, watching them play an intense round of rock, paper, scissors.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" Bonnie giggled, choosing scissors.

"No!" Blue wailed, having gone for paper. "The magnificent Blue has been defeated by a child!"

Bonnie laughed cheerily and Blue grinned widely. Error rolled his eyes, placing his arms on the table before him and burying his face in them. He was too tired for this.

"Bonnie, let's play hide and seek." Blue half-whispered, his bright blue eyes shifting into stars. 

And so they played hide and seek for two whole hours, Ink joining in at some point and Error fast asleep. Blue and Bonnie had eventually tired themselves out and fallen asleep, leaned against the couch Dream laid upon. Ink stayed awake all night, occasionally checking on Dream's wounds. He was amazed by how fast he seemed to be recovering- Blue and Bonnie's positivity was probably the cause of it.

"You'll be just fine in the morning." the artist mused, fiddling with his scarf absentmindedly. "I wonder where your brother is."

Ink stared blankly at the guardian, dropping his scarf and fumbling for his vials. He'd remember to take them from now on- he didn't want something like this to happen again. With a slight nod, the artist uncapped the vial he held and replenished his artificial feelings one by one.

--

Dream stirred, groggily lifting his arms and rubbing the sleep out of his eye-sockets. He yawned loudly, sitting up on the couch and stretching. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he turned to glance at everyone. Blue, Bonnie and Error were still sleeping. The guardian hummed softly, locking eyes with Ink.

"Good morning." He mumbled, giving the artist a lopsided grin.

Ink smiled, waving back in response.

"How are you feeling?" He asked curiously.

Dream stayed quiet for a moment. Then, he slowly swung his legs over the side of the couch (careful not to whack the two sleeping friends) and heaved himself up, striding over towards Ink with a wide grin.

"I feel great, I can walk just fine!" He beamed, eyes faintly glowing. How had he healed so fast?

"That's good." Ink replied. "I think Bonnie and Blue have something to do with how fast you healed, they were playing games for most of the night and uh- yeah, they were very happy." He rambled, eyes flickering between shapes.

Dream smiled softly, turning to face the duo. He'd thank them later.

"How long have you been awake?" The guardian asked, taking a seat beside Ink on the cabinets beneath the window. 

"Ah- well I didn't actually sleep." Ink laughed awkwardly, subconsciously fiddling with his scarf again. "I wasn't tired- besides, someone needed to be on lookout right?"

Dream frowned, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes. He opened his mouth to retort however was interrupted by a warped groan filled with static.

"The glitchy one has awoken." Ink murmured.

"Good morning, Error!" Dream greeted, staring at the half awake destroyer.

"What- huh?" He hissed, yawning and releasing more static sounds.

"Why do you sound like an untuned radio?" Dream asked curiously.

"Shut up." Error grumbled, finally becoming aware of everything. The static died down until all that remained was the subtle flickering noise of the 'ERROR' signs. He lazily glanced over at Blue and Bonnie, glaring slightly at Ink and then resting his gaze on the surprisingly cheerful guardian.

"Why are you grinning like that?" Error asked, somewhat bewildered with how positive Dream seemed to be. 

He is fully aware that Dream is the guardian of positivity and therefore it's not unusual for him to be happy- but why at a time like this when his universe is in absolute chaos?

Dream chuckled which only caused Error to become even more puzzled.

"Well, I'm fully healed now!" He exclaimed, doing a weird, happy dance to prove his point. "Thanks to Bonnie and Blue." He added once he finished twirling and waving his arms around like a bird submerged in water.

"Oh." Error hummed, sparing another glance over at the sleeping duo. Maybe they weren't so annoying after all. "Well that's good, we can track down Nightmare today and save him."

"But how will we find him?" Ink piped up, looking contemplative as his eyes flickered between shapes.

"Me and Blue managed to get him tied up in his home- not saying he'll still be there." Error answered. "It's a good starting point though." 

"We also have Keith as a hostage!" a voice yelled, startling Error and Dream.

Error screeched, subconsciously firing blue string in the direction of the obnoxiously loud voice. Once he realised it was Blueberry, he sighed heavily and released the string.

"Hey- that was mean!" Blue huffed, stomping his foot as he tore off the sticky blue string and mumbled something about spiders.

"You shouldn't have shouted- none of us even knew you were awake." Dream scolded, folding his arms.

Blue pouted.

"Besides, what does Keith have to do with this?" Ink asked, completely unfazed by Blue's antics. "I mean- sure we have him but how will he help us find Nightmare?"

Blue stayed quiet for a few seconds, questioning his own suggestion. 

"Uh- we could just walk around the village and scream something like 'hey we have your beloved pet rock captive' and then surely he'll show up!"

Error face-palmed.

"I think it's a good idea." Bonnie chirped, finally awakening from his slumber. He yawned loudly, rubbing his sleepy eyes and hopping up in an instant to join the party. 

"In what world is that a good idea-"

"It could actually work if Nightmare isn't at home anymore." Ink considered.

"Yes- it's a magnificent idea, well done Blue!" Dream praised.

"Not you too!" Error groaned, beginning to lose all hope for saving his friend.

"Alright, here's the plan." Dream started, placing his hands on the table and beaming with determination and starry eyes.

"First, we will check the house. If Nightmare is there then we will engage in combat- but we are not trying to kill him!" Dream stated. "Do not kill my brother!" He suddenly yelled, causing the rest of the party to flinch. He took a deep breath before smiling and continuing to reveal the plan. "We will need to weaken him and restrain him again, all the while trying to save him-"

"But how do we save him?" Error interrupted, somewhat agitated.

"We will talk to him!"

Error stared blankly at the guardian.

"We need to remind him that he is loved and that we all miss him so that he can realise what he is doing is wrong and break free from the negativity!"

"Dream, that won't work." Error argued, folding his arms and gritting his teeth. "We're going to have to beat the negativity out of Nightmare- we will have to hurt him."

Dream glowered, clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes at the destroyer.

"I will not let you hurt my brother."

"It's the only way we can try and save him!" Error retorted, slamming his fist on the table.

Bonnie whimpered, shrinking back behind the worried Blueberry. Ink frowned, unsure with how to calm the situation.

"Guys, stop it. We don't have time to be fighting-" He tried however was completely ignored by the seething guardian and tense destroyer.

"How will talking to him help save him?" Error cried out. "Nightmare isn't in there anymore- he's consumed by negativity! The only possible way we can save him is to beat the bad feelings out of him."

"Are you insane?" Dream retaliated. "That won't help him at all- that will probably cause even more negativity to rise within him! In case you forgot, we are trying to save my brother, not kill him!"

"Stop fighting!" Bonnie hollered, silencing the two. 

He hopped out from behind Blue and held up his wooden sword, pointing it between Dream and Error.

"Both of your ideas could work, we don't know until we try it but arguing isn't going to get us anywhere! Nightmare is in trouble and it's up to us to rescue him- we need to act now!" He declared, raising his sword up into the air. "We must do what we can, no matter how little the effect may have- so talking to Nightmare is a good plan! Beating Nightmare isn't the greatest idea, but it is still an idea- we should weaken him but not severely hurt him, he is our friend, remember."

Error and Dream slackened in defeat, sharing an apologetic look. Bonnie is right, they needed to work together to come up with a plan to help save the guardian of negativity. Dream stepped over towards the bunny, patting him on the head.

"You're right, Bonnie. We're sorry."

Bonnie lowered his sword and smiled, happy to have helped ease the situation. Ink let out a breath of relief.

"Okay, friends. I think I've got the perfect plan that combines all of our ideas." Blue proclaimed. "We will first track down Nightmare, if he's not in the house then we will lure him to us with Keith. When he arrives, we engage in combat- but we are only trying to weaken him and restrain him. All the while, we will remind Nightmare that we love him and miss him! Even the strongest monsters have a weakness, and I have a feeling Bonnie will be a huge weakness for him- those two were like best friends right?"

Bonnie nodded ecstatically. "The best of friends! He's like a cool big brother!"

Dream smiled softly.

"This is a good plan, Blue." He praised, giving the skeleton a thumbs up and a toothy grin. 

Error and Ink nodded in approval and Bonnie hopped excitedly.

"Thank you friends, I couldn't have come up with it without all your magnificent ideas, mweh heh heh." 

Dream chuckled. 

"Well, it's about time we put this plan into action!"

And just like that, the party exited the shelter and began the trek towards the twins' home. 

Nightmare stared down at the lake, clutching Dream's cape with trembling hands. The thing  that was responsible for all this madness stared back at him with a wide, goopy grin.

"They're searching for us."

Nightmare's grip on the cape became stronger, some of the gunk that smothered him dribbling onto the golden-yellow material and tainting it. He simply turned away from his reflection, beginning to slowly tread back towards the village.

--End--