Dream grew old. It was a hard truth the Guardian of Positivity himself had to come to terms with- that he may run out of time before managing to fix things with his brother, and all his friends would outlive him. (One due to immortality and the other due to perpetual time loops.)

Only two monsters seemed to catch on to the skeleton's plight, neither Ink, Blue, or Nightmare but a certain God of Death and a noisy scientist whose unique medicines worked wonders to keep him fighting on the battlefield. And neither noticed for the right reasons either. What gave him away was not his increased height (which made him an inch taller than his brother) nor his crackly old bones that many mistakingly believed to be battle-worn.

If not those, then what revealed his secret? Reaper's power to sense the approaching death of the living and Sci noticing his inability to keep up with his immortal friends like he used to.

So with his age in mind and the nagging from Reaper and Sci to retire, Dream decided to go on one last mission to try to rekindle his brotherhood with Nightmare before spending the rest of his days in a quiet AU. Alas, nothing in the guardian's life ever went right. He became a wounded prisoner during the battle instead of a brother to the Guardian of Negativity.

How would Nightmare cope when he finally caught his "eternal" rival only to discover the other was a mere twenty-four hours away from dusting? Poorly. Very poorly.