For XMangoJuiceX 

MayaTablet 

ChiaraKincaid 

Nightmare sighed and held his skull in his hands. He had run away for a year now, would anyone remember him?

He tried to form a word, slowly, unsure, he made a sound. 

"D..." good start. 

"D... Da..." he was getting closer! 

"Dar..." Almost there!

 "Dar... Dareeeee... Dareem..." 

"Dareem." he said. He missed his brother. "Dareem!" again. 

He smiled childishly, proud to have finally said an actual word in his 23 years of life. 

But, his parents...

They would hate it. 

As a kid, Nightmare couldn't articulate words well, and speaking was hard. But, who could blame him? His parents literally screamed: "Are you stupid?! Can't you say your own name properly??" at him when he was only 4 months. He tried to say "Nightmare", but it came out as "Na... Ma...". Poor thing, it was his first ever word!

"Dareem." he said again. Hoping no one could hear him. 

..............................................................................................................................

"Nightmare? Niiiightmaaaaaare?" Dream called out. Day 367, he was sure he will find him. "Dream, please, can we stop to rest?" Cross whined. "No! It's been a year! A YEAR! I can't wait a second more to find him!" Dream's cape swished in the wind. He had searched the whole Kingdom. But, his brother was never there. 

"Your parents sure are weird..." Cross snorted. "Well, yeah. I could say 'waffle' on the first try. They were glad, but Nightmare never spoke. I wonder why?" Dream paused, thinking. 

"Hey! Over there!" Cross pointed to a small cabin. Inside there was a girl. "Let's ask her!" 

..................................................................................................................................

"Hello, excuse me?" Dream called. The girl simply sat there, doing something. "EXCUSE ME." Dream called again, louder. "Maybe she's deaf?" Cross said. He went to the front of her, but stopped. Her eyes were the colour of glass blue. A sign of blindness. 

She's both deaf and blind?

He groaned inwardly. How can they ask her stuff? 

The girl suddenly responded. She showed her hand and started signing. 

'M-A-R-E-Y' Cross read. "No, we don't know anyone called Marey! We're looking for Nightmare!!" Cross cried. 

"Wait, Cross. Nightmare... Night... Mare... Marey... Maybe it's a nickname for brother?" Dream suggested. Cross turned towards the girl. 

Here goes nothing.

He grabbed her hand and signed on it.

'H-E-Y. I. Nightmare.' 

'Yes. Nightmare. M-A-R-E-Y. You. N-I-C-K. Name.' the girl signed. 

"Oh my goodness we got a lead!" Cross gasped. 

Dream jumped. "Ask her more!!" 

Cross did it again. 'You. Name.'

'L-Y-N-X. Forget.' she signed. 

'No. L-Y-N-X. Where. I. Say. I. Go.'

'Stable. Fruit. Pick. Food.' 

'Stable.' Cross signed.

'Near. River. Trees. G-R-E-E-N. W-O-O-D. S-I-G-N. Forget.'

Cross laughed. Oh for crying out loud! 

"Dream! We can find him! Oh my goodness!"

"Where? Where?" Dream asked. 

"The stables! The ones the commoners use to hide horses from bandits!" Cross facepalmed for himself. 

"Oh WHAT??" Dream cried. 

................................................................................................................................................................

"Nightmare!" Dream barged into the stables, the horses neighing and kicking.

"Da... Reem!" Nightmare was shocked. He had to run!

He stood up, running towards the back door.

Too late.

Cross blocked the way!

"Ah!" Nightmare ran for the horses. If he could ride and nudge away, he would be able to escape.  

Unfortunately for him, Dream knew that trick too.

"Oh no!" he ran and jumped on Nightmare, completely keeping him from escape. 

"Ah!! Ah!!" Nightmare screeched. 

"Nightmare! Brother stop it!" Dream advised. 

"Ah!!! Ah!!!" He wouldn't stop screaming.

"Night!!!" Dream brought him into a hug. Nightmare went into some sort of shock, stopping his struggling. 

"Night, please, stop fighting." 

"Ah..." he grunted. 

"Won't you say something? Maybe you're just worried you don't know what to say to Mother and Father? You can say it to me. I won't laugh." Dream pleaded.

"D..." Nightmare muttered. 

"Hmm?" Cross walked over.

"Da... reem... Dareem." He said. "Dareem? What's a dareem?" Dream asked. 

Nightmare brought Dream's skull close to his, touching foreskulls. "Dareem. Dareem." he repeated.

"Are you saying... my name?" Dream asked. 

Nightmare nodded. 

"Oh, do... do you have articulation problems?" Nightmare looked at the floor and tried saying the word. "A... ar... di... cu...lae... sha...?" "?!" Dream was taken aback. 

"Can... can you not speak properly...?" 

"Sbeeeee..." Nightmare tried really hard. 

"Ok, um, surely you can say your name, right? Nightmare?" 

"N-" Nightmare covered his mouth. He shook his head.

"Wha..." Dream was sweating. 

"Nnnn..." Nightmare whined. 

"Come on, brother. At-at least once. Just this once...? I-I won't laugh." Dream was shaking right now. This can't be happening. 

"N-n-nnnnnaaaaa..." Nightmare strained. 

"Go... go on..."

"Naaaaa... Maaaaa..." 

Dream felt faint. So Nightmare's the child. 

His parents told him of a child, so dumb he could not speak his own name. 

"Nightmare... You... Can't speak your own name...?"

Nightmare looked up at him helplessly. For once, speak something! He thought. Tell him! 

 He then started signing. 

'Mom. Dad. Angry. I. Say. Name. Wrong. They. Angry. Scream. Scared. Scared." 

"Your parents, Dream! Your parents!" Cross cried out. "They screamed at him for saying his name wrong. He's under trauma."

"Did you... ever speak before that?" Dream gulped.

'No. First. Word.' 

"Oh my buttercups!" Cross cried.

"Nightmare... Oh brother, I'm sorry! I didn't know they were so mean!" Dream was crying now. How could Mother and Father...?

'Never. Spoke.'

"Brother, I know you're 23 now, and this is ridiculous, but... Can I... Teach you to speak?" Dream wiped his tears. 

Nightmare signed. 'Teach. Real.'

"Yes. For real."

'Please. Yes.'