Me and Weebyhumanbean took turns writing parts so if the writing switches back and forth, that's why! OwO

A few days after the...dinner incident, Nightmare decided he was going to spread some negativity. He didn't want his brother to notice something was off with him. He had to put on his evil mask, and cause chaos.

Nightmare soon discussed with his mean about which AUs they'd be taking..

Said men were excited, actually! Nightmare was getting out of the house and acting.. "normal," so this had to be a good sign.. right?

Wrong.

They knew Nightmare was still looking for an opportunity to die. They were gonna have to keep a close eye on him..

Don't let him out of their sights.

When Nightmare'd opened a portal to the AU, it seemed to closely resemble the original. Though some characters swapped..

Altertale.

All the members knew why their boss picked this AU. The monsters here were tremendously strong.. they knew the black one was looking for a chance to 'slip up,' causing his death or an injury at most..

It was plain and simple as always.

Harness the negativity, keep the balance stable then leave.

It was nothing new for the gang and they were okay with that. They didn't like change. They always did a perfectly fine job, anyways, usually rewarded with something they liked, not nightmare, which usually consisted of a snack or a weapon of some sort. Either way, they liked the rewards and didn't complain. Nightmare could be pretty nice once getting to know him.

That's half the reason they devoted their lives to the prince.

So when the Stars were right on their trail, they were as ready as ever to protect him from any harm.

As always, the painfully colorful idiots spoke their stupid speech. He was sure Dust had fell asleep halfway through till Killer had nudged him.

"Let's just get to the point." Nightmare said, seemingly unimpressed by their useless attempts as always.

Horror had started them off, swinging his axe at Blue. This enabled the actual fight to take place which resulted in Killer and Dust going head to head with the artist, firing sharp bones and blasters at him.

Then Nightmare and Cross were left with Dream.

It wasn't even 3 minutes in and Cross had noticed this.. 'gleam' in Nightmare's eye. More of a twisted excitement of some kind that he couldn't pin his finger on. Cross, at first, was relieved. He thought his boss was back to his normal self! But.l at closer realization.. it wasn't because of the fight.. but because at that speed and skill, not to mention agility..

Dream could accidentally kill Nightmare.

Cross noticed this when the black one would sometimes get hit with arrows on purpose.

'Shit..! At this rate, he's gonna get badly injured!'

The monochrome male thought to himself, making sure to watch Nightmare out of the side of his eyes while dodging the twin's arrows and bone attacks.

Cross' eyelights dilated as he saw Nightmare standing directly in front of an incoming arrow. Cross quickly threw himself at the goopy one, tackling him to the ground, just in time to! The positive arrow skimmed past their souls quicker than he could blink.

If Cross wouldn't have taken the wheel when he did..

Nightmare would've been hit right in the soul.

He would've died.

Killer, Horror and Dust had seen what'd just unfolded and instead of focusing on them individually, they all took their time to protect the prince instead. They worked together this time, combining their magic, double-teaming, taking hits, etc.

Anything to keep him safe.

Was the thing that kept their souls resonating in sync.

Though, even with their fierce determination and will power, they couldn't hold off the Stars for that long. Which did result in the tentacle monster getting hit by a bone attack that happened to go in the wrong direction.

"HNNGH!—"

A bone that Blue had aimed for one of Nightmare's incoming tentacles..

Had ended up lodged up in Nightmare's chest, dangerously close to his soul.

Nightmare had been critically hit.

As he pulled the bone out, it stained with a mix of cyan and purple blood.

It wasn't enough to kill him, though it was enough to weaken him a great bunch. Not to mention the horribly painful burning sensation flowing through his entire body.

He smiled.

THUD!

Everybody was silent.

Especially Dream.

"BROTHER!" He yelled, dropping every weapon and disbanding himself from the fight to run faster than he ever had and collapse onto his knees to hold his twin.

"I-I-I-I-I didn't mean to.." Blue stuttered our in shock, covering his mouth from the state of fear for what he'd just done.

Everyone was silent.. though they all thought they'd get used to it, it'd be happening a lot in the future.

Ink was the one to speak up though. He sighed, putting his brush down hesitantly, "this is bad.. till we can confirm Nightmare is okay.. can we just stop this as of right now? This AU will go untouched by the three of us and I'm hoping by the four of you as well."

The members looked to each other before nodding. "Deal." Cross confirmed.

Everyone was quiet in the living room. Though, when Dust had came back from putting Nightmare in the infirmary they had in the mansion and told papyrus to "watch over him," the gang nodded, though the Stars were confused, they didn't comment.

The first to speak 30 minutes later was Horror. "...thought he was better...," he started, earning the attention of everyone in the room. "...was wrong...jumped in front.. got hit purposefully..."

Horror was a man of few words. He was the quietest amongst all of them. Which shown from how little words he used when saying things. His gang, after so long of being around the guy, could understand him just fine. Though the Stars couldn't.

"What'd he say?" Ink asked, his eyelights changing to two question marks. The artistic skeleton was leaning on the wall, arms crossed and one foot propped up against the wall.

Dust sighed, looking up from his vision turned towards the ground to look at Ink. "He said he thought the boss was doin' better till he up and tried ta get hit purposefully. Then Blue over there hit him right below the soul."

Blue frowned, looking away with guilt. He was ashamed with himself. He hurt someone. He hurt Nightmare for Fox's sake! Though, Blue wasn't naïve: he knew all to well he needed to fight to survive. And if surviving meant hurting others for what was right, he'd have to do it. He always tried not to drive someone to the state of unconsciousness though.. so seeing Nightmare fall because of him didn't sit right in the pit inside the blue one's soul.

Though, before he could wallow in his negative thoughts any longer, he felt a hand on his back, rubbing it soothingly to make him feel a bit better. He looked to his side and saw Dream, a small, sad smile on his face. Even though it wasn't the most genuine, it did make him feel a bit better.

"So.. you're saying my brother was TRYING to get hit..?" He asked, turning his attention back towards the males piled together by the sofa.

Cross nodded, "Mhm. It would've gotten him straight in the soul if I wouldn't have tackled him.."

Though, the gang had something else on their minds:

Do they tell Dream out Nightmare's problem?

But before they could even suggest the idea to discuss it amongst themselves, the tar-leaker spoke up,

"Boss has been.. suicidal.. lately. Hell, if we can even call it that."

Dust sighed, his head resting on his hands. "More like insane..—" Horror nudged him with an unamused expression. Even if it was true, it was still bad to say out loud.

Cross sighed, "he almost hung himself a few weeks ago."

Blue was even more shocked then before, along with Dream.. and surprisingly Ink as well.

"H-he..he.." Dream stuttered quietly,

Ink sighed and nodded, "so this explains his behavior over these past few months. Interesting.. how long—"

Horror growled, "..if we knew, we'd say.."

Dream sighed deeply, looking down to the ground. "This.. isn't new behavior for my brother.." everyone then looked to the guardian in confusion. "Nightmare.. s-since we were young.. h-he.. he..—"

"Out with it already." Cross huffed, rolling his eyes in impatience and annoyance at the dreamer's stuttering nonsense.

"He was always so.. down.. I always thought I-it.. was because of the villagers or..his intense aura.. I-I-I never thought..— I tried.. dragging his mind away from it as best I could.. but.. he still was so distant back then.." his voice grew shaky as tears blurred his vision.

"B-but.. then.. he was getting b-better!" He sniffled, wiping away any cries that wanted to leave him.

He had to be strong.

"T-till he ate the a-apple.. a-and then he was just.. g-gone..!" broken sobs left Dream as he kept trying to get his words out. "M-m-maybe it's the c-corruption! I-I don't..—"

"Don't force yourself to speak, Dream." Ink sighed deeply at his friend's cries. "This is just as hard for you as it is for all of us, okay? We will figure something out." He re-assured.

The silence was back and it was stronger then ever.

(Sorry this chapter took so long to upload! AgH school and them giving me 3 tests and 3 pages of 100 math problems smh