(Happy holidays y'all)

~Y/n's POV~

Me and Dream backed away as soon as we realized what was happening. But this couldn't be happening!

I don't think Night has noticed yet, he was still crying and absorbed into his emotions. It was hard for either of us not to notice the black dripping tentacles that had sprouted from his back. They were thrashing around, hitting the spots where we had been sitting. That was a close call..

"D-Dream what's happening?" I desperately asked him in case there was a chance this has happened before.

"I don't know! H-He didn't eat an apple!" Dream was shaking and he couldn't stop staring at the tendrils with terror.

I took some deep breaths and tried to calm myself down even as I saw the goop spread across his body. I took a step forward back to Night, but Dream instantly ran over and held me in place. "Don't! We don't know what's happening!"

"I have to try and calm him down. You try and relax too, Dream. Our panic is just going to make it worse, alright? Everything's going to be okay." I was almost telling myself that more than him. I was internally trying not to freak out. Dream hesitantly nodded and let me go, wrapping his arms around himself in a self-hug to soothe himself.

I crept my way back to Nightmare, the darkness having consumed almost everything but his face and hands. "N-Night? I need you to look at me, alright?"

I thought he hadn't heard me at first but he slowly made eye contact with me. Only one of his eyes was alight and- as I feared- it was that dreaded cyan. I took another deep breath.

"Can I hug you?" I was very worried of those tentacles slapping me if I got too close without warning.

That seemed to catch him off guard and the tendrils slowed down. "Yeah.. I could use it." I approached him with very slight hesitation  and carefully gave him a hug. My eyes were still trained on the threatening tentacles.

After a second, he hugged back. His face buried in my shoulder. I relaxed a little as he did so. Night was still there, thank goodness.

"W-Wait a sec.. I- oh shit." I felt Night tense against me and one of his hands pull away. He must've finally noticed.

"It's alright, Night. I've got you. Just.. don't freak out about it." I tried to calm him.

"D-Don't freak out?? But I'm- I'm-" I shushed him before he could rile himself more. His voice was shifting from his normal one to... the old one. I couldn't stop the shiver from going up my back.

I pulled back so he was looking at me instead of his hand. The black had spread to the edges of his face now. Purple tears were quickly running down his cheeks.

"Just stay with me." I held his hands into mine even if I cringed at the goop texture. "Take some deep breaths." I really hope I wasn't wrong about him not fully reverting back.

Night did as I asked and took the breaths. It slightly slowed the progression of the darkness, but it didn't stop it. It wasn't long that his skull had been covered now. Looking down, his whole body had been consumed by it too. Please, please let me be right.

"Night? You still with me?" I hesitantly looked back up at him. His eyes were closed, the other one being covered by the slime like it had before. He was starting to drip on the ground.. gross.

His uncovered eye shot open and I had to suppress a scream. He blinked a few times, and his eye was dilating from big to small. I couldn't breathe from the tension.

"I'm... still here." He finally answered, his eye settling down. I finally was able to let out a sigh of relief. I really hadn't been breathing. I hugged onto Nightmare again, although it felt a little strange. The goop was probably sticking to my clothes but I could hopefully wash it off.

Nightmare held me back, he was shaking like a leaf now. I heard Dream slowly come up to us, "B-Brother?" He sounded shaky too.

"It's ok, Dream. I'm..." Nightmare inhaled sharply and grabbed his skull in apparent pain. I pulled away from him once more and put a hand on his skull as well.

Dream rushed over and held onto his shoulder as Nightmare grimaced. Then, his tears resumed. "Fuck.. I'm getting more memories. These one's are... way worse than before. H-How could I have.." Nightmare kept trailing away as more in his head seemed to be playing.

"Whatever you're seeing, it's in the past. You didn't have control like you do now. We'll be here the whole time alright?" I grabbed onto his hand and gave it a small squeeze, my nose wrinkling slightly when it gave a squishing sound.

"Whatever we can do to help, we will." Dream echoed my movements and grabbed onto his other hand. Nightmare nodded in understanding.

We took opposite sides of him once more, remaining in silence as Nightmare experienced what must've been hell. I could see the anguish on his face, he had closed his eye a while ago. His hand tightened on my hand occasionally, which I would always respond to. I noticed Dream had rested his head on his shoulder, how sweet.

When Nightmare seemed particularly absorbed in a memory, I turned to Dream. "Ink's going to be getting worried soon.. do you think there's a way to tell him we're alright?" I whispered.

"We don't have to stay here." Nightmare was surprisingly the one to answer. I felt a bit bad that he had been listening, I didn't want it to seem like I was pressuring him.

"It's alright, Night. I just didn't wanna have him worry. We don't have to go."

"No, we should. This place.. isn't helping. And it's better that anybody sees me like this now rather than later if I do lose control. My emotions feel ten times as worse but I'm still hanging on." Nightmare sounded so dejected and yet still strong in his voice.

"If you're sure, brother." Dream rubbed his shoulder and stood up. We followed suite as Dream created the shimmering golden circle in the air once more. Nightmare hissed slightly and averted his gaze from it, it was quite bright in the dark universe.

We stepped through it once it was complete, I was holding Nightmare's side in case he fell over with the new weight of the tentacles. The tentacles themselves were dragging loosely on the ground, with one of them wrapped around my side for added support. They could feel oddly comfortable when they weren't constricting you.

We were back in the dining room, to my slight dismay Ink was still in here. It seemed like he was just finishing up cleaning. Ink's eyes shot up to look at us, they instantly shrunk when he saw Nightmare. I shouted out before he could say anything, "Don't freak out!" I feel like I'm going to be saying that a lot.

Ink looked at me in utmost confusion, before he noticed that I was supporting Nightmare's weight and so was Dream. Night's gaze was on the ground.

"I.. I'm gonna trust there's a great reason for what's happening right now." Ink pulled out his paintbrush but didn't point it to us.

"There is. Let's just get him on the couch first." I motioned for us to move to the living room and we flopped Night onto the cushions. Ink was following us very cautiously.

Dream and I resumed our positions that we had in Dreamtale. I nudged my head to imply Ink should sit next to me. He seemed very confused but followed my lead.

"So what the hell is going on?" He asked in bewilderment, keeping an eye on Nightmare.

"Long story short Night got a bit overwhelmed and turned back into.. this. But it's alright, he's still himself but he's regaining some bad memories again."

"I see..." Ink still looked skeptical and he leaned to whisper in my ear, "How do you know he's not faking it to ambush us?" I noticed his grip on the paintbrush increased.

"I've known him for 5 years, hun. I know his tells. Just as I was able to differentiate between you and Blade when she took over for the first time." I whispered back in a soothing tone. I grabbed onto Ink's hand and rubbed the back of it with my thumb.

"I just don't wanna lose you again. But I trust you." He seemed slightly reluctant but kissed me on the cheek.

I felt Nightmare untense next to me, and then I noticed his hand was feeling less slimy. Looking down, some of it was starting to recede and the bone underneath was starting to peek through. I let out a slight sigh of relief.

"Whatever you're doing, keep it up Night." I encouraged him and squeezed his hand again. He only nodded and took in some steady breaths.

I had forgotten how gross it was to see the transformation in reverse. I had to look away and ignore the feeling of runny goop running down from his arm to my hand.

Ink was still watching in apparent curiosity though, one of his eyes was a star and the other was an exclamation point. I pressed my face into his chest to try and ignore the sounds as well. I could hear Dream make a noise of slight disgust as well.

It felt like ages but it seemed the reverse transforming was done. I looked over and saw Night drenched in sweat. He looked terrified.

"I never wanna do that again." He simply said. His eyes were distant. He stood up shakily, "I'm.. gonna get some air. I'll be back at the castle in.. in a while. Thanks for the help."

Before we could say anything, he was gone.

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