(This chapter was made by me and my friend Weebyhumanbean go follow them!

Ink brought Nightmare back to the base, because it was now the energetic skeletons turn.

Nightmare was seriously beginning to be done with everyone's mushy shit.

"MWEH HEH HEH!! LOOKS LIKE IT'S OUR TURN, NIGHTMARE!"

The Swap yelled enthusiastically.

"Oh, stars no."

Nightmare visibly sounded horrified.

"Even Ink would've been better then this. Please by the love of Fox, do not make me go with this man-child.."

Ink only snorted before laughing and pushing Nightmare forward before letting his hands rest on his hips.

"Sorry, Blobby! List's a list and it's his turn next! Don't have to much fun, I might feel jealous!"

"LET'S GO!"Blue yelled as he tugged Nightmare through a portal.

Huh. A surfaced AU? What were they gonna do?

"You are probably thinking what shall we do, right?"

How did he—

"Well, my black friend, we are going on a walk! A nice, long walk filled with meaningful conversations about feelings such as friendships and mutual understandings resulting in lots of questions and hugs at the end! Sounds good?"

"N—"

"Good! Let us begin!"

He grabbed and forcefully held Nightmare's hand which, of course, the prince objected silently but just gave in.

He knew he wouldn't get through to him anyway? Once the weirdo had his mind set on something, he wasn't leaving that damn train of thought.

Blue began to walk with Nightmare, their hands still linked.

"So, how are you feeling?"

Blue asked, maintaining eye-contact with the prince.

Nightmare glared daggers at him.

"Like I just swallowed unicorn piss."

"..."

"..."

"..that doesn't sound very healthy."

"Yeah, no shit, bit—"

"I feel great today! Today before I even got here, me and Papy went out for supplies! Today he's teaching me how to make spaghetti since he says I can't make tacos everyday and all day! I mean.. why not? Tacos are great!"

Nightmare sighed deeply, looking at the scenery.

"Wow. So sad."

Blue just continued walking, with a slight bounce in his step.

Nightmare tried to retract his hand, but the cyan hyperactive one held it stubbornly.

"Can you let go-"

"No can do, Night! Hand holding is good for mental health!"

Nightmare groaned, his tentacles flicking in annoyance.

"So, tell me. Why did you do it? What caused you to try and hang yourself?"

Blue now looked serious.

Nightmare was caught off guard by such a question but scowled, "No comment."

Blue frowned, "w-what do you mean, 'no comment?!"

"I mean, no comment. I refuse to acknowledge your question by not answering it."

"Why? Are you hiding something, Nightmare?"

"..."

Blue gave Nightmare one last hard, analytical stare before breaking their staring contest.

"Me and Papy bought a cactus the other day!"

'What the hell...?'

Thought Nightmare.

Blue had completely switched personalities there, and acted like nothing happened.

Nightmare wouldn't admit it, but something about Blue always creeped him out, but now Blue was scarier than before.

"Papy would NOT stop making cactus puns! It was honestly so annoying!"

Nightmare and Blue continued to walk together, hand in hand.

Nightmare was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask! How do your arms feel, Nightmare?"

There was that look again. Blue was staring right into his eye.

Nightmare had a feeling Blue was referring to...

...his scars.

Nightmare's eyes widened as he forced their hands apart.

The prince reflexively back up and stopped moving, his breathing turning sharp, becoming immensely uncomfortable.

How did he..?Why did he..?When did he..?

"..I.. they feel.. fine.." he couldn't help but feel creeped out. Nightmare began to scratch at his clothed wrist harshly, feeling over all the cut bone dents as he tried to get himself to calm down.

Blue stared at the other, then his expression softened. He didn't move at all, waiting for the black skeleton to calm down.   Blue saw Nightmare's eyelight shrink in shock, then begin to shake.   But when Nightmare scratched at his wrist, Blue moved closer.

"Hey, don't do that, you'll hurt it even more."

Nightmare was freaking out at this point, as his back began to feel drenched with sweat.

Nightmare growled, "Don't act like you know me! I remember now why I hate you!"

He shoved passed him, walking ahead.

Everything about Blue made him uncomfortable. From his topic changes to his happy-go-lucky-mood mask.. it was all so damn strange.. Blue was literally the definition of the very thing Nightmare despised the most:

Change.

He was always changing.

A Bi-polar bastard just like Ink.

He hated change so much.He didn't stop his habitual scratches, the itching just getting worse with every set of goosebumps he got from the creepiness and anxiety crawling up his back.

He hated this. He hated Blue. He hated this walk. He hated that damned list.

hehatedhehatedhehatedhehatedhehatedhehatedhehated-

"Nightmare.. the entire point of this list, this walk, everything.. was to get you to open up to us all one by one."

Nightmare's inhaled sharply as his eyes widened. When did he get so close?!

"Wh--"

"--You won't ever get better if you can't accept these terms, y'know.. at least.. put some effort.."

Nightmare made some weird noise that consisted of panic, anger and fear.

He jumped away from Blue, going into a defensive stance, yet scratching at his arms still.

"S-shut up-! I don't need to get better!"

Nightmare protested, sweat visibly streaming down his face, his fingers twitching.

Blue sighed.

"Look, you don't have a choice. Everyone deserves to live, especially you. Please, just let us help you Nightmare."

Blue pleaded, looking at Nightmare with sadness.

Nightmare scoffed, "stop.. stop acting like you know me! You don't know me at all! You don't know what's happened to me! You don't know what I've been through!"

"...Then, tell me and maybe we can understand together."

"Wh—"

"It's what friends do. Besides, who knows how long you've been cooping up these feelings."

Blue went ahead and crouched so that he was looking up at the prince. "You can start now if you'd like!"

That smile.

There it was again.

That fucking change!

"Damnit, don't mock me you creepy bastard!"

Blue blinked.

"I'm not mocking you, Nightmare. Please, help me to understand what you've been through. I only want to help. That's what friends are for, right?"

Blue responded, a gentle smile on his face.

Nightmare gritted his teeth.

"We are not FRIENDS!"

His voice was shaky and cracking and he hated it. He only backed up a bit more to run into the back of a bar. When he turned his head, he seemed to actually realize it wasn't a bad, it was a blocker for a bridge.

A bridge, right?

"We will never be friends. I won't ever be friends with you. And hey, maybe all this talking has lead me to a ticket o u t."  He smiled, hopping himself onto the bridge's rim.

"It was so horrible knowing you, Berry—"

"Nope!"

"Wh—?!"

Blue grabbed the prince by the waist, and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Sorry, but I won't let you kill yourself!"

Nightmare struggled and squirmed, but Blue's grip remained firm.

"Let me go!"

Blue began to run away from the bridge; dashing at a high speed with Nightmare yelling all the way.

Blue came to a bench, and sat Nightmare down then sat down as well.

Nightmare had a pissed expression on his face, his fists clenched.

Blue's voice turned a bit firm and a lot more serious. It made the prince flinch. "Nightmare."

He hated it.

He hated it so much.

Nightmare growled under his breath, his fingers gripping the bench.

"Telling you anything isn't going to do shit!"

He shouted at Blue.

"You won't know unless you try! If it makes you feel better, I could always tell you stuff about me to?"

Nightmare knew he wasn't getting away from this.

Maybe a lie would work..?

"My aura.. I'm practically made of—"

"—that's a lie. That's not the only reason and we both know it is."

Nightmare's eyelight dilated.

How had he...?

Nightmare looked down at his lap. He couldn't see a way out of this. How did that overly energetic taco-addict know when he lied?

"Fine. I... I..."

Nightmare couldn't find the words.

"If I tell just.. don't tell anyone else.."

He grumbled.Blue's eyes turned to stars, though he had to keep his composure. He nodded slowly, putting a hand to his own chest as a sort of oath.

"I promise, Nightmare."

"I...it all started when my existence came to be. Heh.. cliché, I know. As the guardian of negativity, it... was to be expected. I always felt so awful. Like this large cloud of sadness was always looming over me.

Soon, Dream and I met the villagers in our world. They already knew about us, though. Everyone loved Dream.

They gave him gifts, compliments, and always wanted to be with him.

They were always taking Dream away from me. Dream never had time for me. While Dream was gone,

I... I...I was always getting beaten, insulted... everyday I got a new broken bone."

Nightmare breathed in shakily, trying to compose himself and keep going.

The prince then wrapped his arms around himself, as bad memories came back.

Blue frowned, serious and nodded as he listened.

"It's alright, take your time."

Nightmare exhaled and continued.

"Damnit.. it's not only that! But.. like, why was I always described as the bad guy?! I'm the fucking demon who's tormented people for so long! So much so.. that why not just.. embrace it.. what made Dream so much better anyway?!"

Blue could already pinpoint the route of the problem...

The swap, from what he was being told, had a feeling that Nightmare had really low self-esteem, maybe even more then that from how much he was loosening in front of him.

"Dream is so amazing. He's so fun! He makes me so happy! All of it is bullshit! And the worst part is.. I started to believe it.. I started to believe all of it! Everywhere ingle damn thing they said! And now I can't.. I can't even hate him because he's such a .. quote on quote, Angel!"

Blue nodded.

He could understand clearly. "Mhm." Was all he said, going ahead and crossing one leg over the other to listen to the prince have a breakdown.

"I even started to believe that I was evil because I protected the negative apples that I was the evil one! They beat it into me! Every day I was told that I was a horrible person, someone who had to die because of something I can't control! THEY MADE ME BELIEVE THAT I WAS LESS VALID THAN MY OWN BROTHER!"

Blue felt bad for Nightmare.

"THEY BEAT ME OVER AND OVER AGAIN, I NEVER CAUGHT A BREAK!! NOT EVEN DREAM WOULD HELP ME!! I WAS- I was... all alone..."

Nightmare didn't even know he was crying. Which was new since he never let himself cry in front of anyone.

"Even in this form I can't just rest peacefully.. it's the same cycle of lucid nightmares.. yelling, screaming.. fighting, the pain.. repeat.. I can never catch a break. Damnit.. I see their stares. All of them. I have to listen to them plead for their lives when I hurt them.. when I.. kill them...all their blood is on my hands.. I-I..

I KILLED MY OWN MOTHER FOR STARS SAKES!"

Blue was surprised. He hadn't expected to get this much information out of Nightmare.

He wrapped his arms around the crying skeleton, telling him words of comfort.

"I... I killed them..."

Nightmare whispered, covering his face with his hands, his entire body now shaking.

Blue rubbed circles into Nightmare's has he heard the other cry his eyes out softly.

That's when Blue realized he never wanted to see his friend cry ever again. How long had he been keeping all of this bundled up inside of him? The aura around Nightmare was just making Blue feel depressed..

"Sorry were late!"

Blue said happily to his friend.

He and Nightmare still holding hands as they entered the kitchen.

Horror only let out a deep chuckled and shook his head, "...it's fine..."

Nightmare sighed deeply, a sniffle or two making its way passed his nose before he stopped. "I feel like I can guess what this activity is going to be.."

Blue nodded, his smile widening.

"Yup! It's cooking!"