Nightshade raced through the small streets of the ghostly silent village. He didn't exactly know where he would hide, but as long as he could escape Solar, it didn't matter. It had started to rain hard, and the thunder above him brought back some old memories. It reminded him of when Dream would curl up under the tree, afraid of the approaching storm. He'd comfort Dream, telling the positive guardian it would be alright. Nightshade regretted everything he'd ever done to his poor brother, who now was the one trying to kill him.

He stopped at a small house on the end of a shaded street. He quickly stepped through the broken doorway and into the living room. He looked around for a hiding spot, but soon started noticing things that looked familiar.

Oh no.

This place....

He remembered this house.

This house was the last one he went to on his killing spree all those years ago. He'd been crazy then, but he recognized the faces in the photos. Oh god, it was the family of bunnies. The cute, small, innocent family of three bunny monsters. The screams of the parents, whom he killed in this very room, resounded in his skull, and he fell to his knees, screaming.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, I d-didn't mean to! P-please, forgive me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

He squeezed his eyesockets shut, and tried to cover his ears, but the screams seemed to get louder. He felt like he was going deaf, and he shakily got to his feet. He stumbled up the stairs to the young girl's room. He remembered the little monster's look of terror as he cornered her in her bedroom. He had stabbed her with a tendril, a sadistic smile on his face. He watched with a twisted satisfaction as she dusted, her cold, dead eyes, half-lidded and glazed, staring into his very soul.

Now, he was the scared, little bunny hiding from the monstrous wolf. In a desperate attempt, he hid in the closet. It wasn't too crowded, so he couldn't bump into anything as he shook in fear. He almost wanted relax, to believe he was safe, but the haunting memory that his brother had eaten one of those accursed apples as he watched, unable to stop him, and now was consumed by the evil and insanity that had possessed him at one point, tore him apart. He leaned against the wall behind him in the darkness of the closet and slid down to the floor. He held his knees to his chest, hot, lavender tears streaming down his cheekbones.

This is all his fault.

He'd allowed this to happen.

He'd promised himself he would protect his innocent brother.

But no. He was a failure, and he was going to die for it. He jumped as a loud crash sounded from outside. It definitely wasn't the lightning. He stiffened and put a hand to his mouth, trying to silence his shaky breathing. He was terrified, and he knew Solar could sense it. He scooted as far away from the door as he could, never talking his eyelights off of it. He could hear heavy, purposefully slow footsteps making their way up the stairs. He felt the dark presence take delight in his terror, and though he should've been angry or at least annoyed, he was too frightened to care, really. He jumped again as a much louder crash rang through the building, and his body trembled more, his breath coming out in small, terrified pants.

Another crash.

He was getting closer.

[CRASH]

Solar flung the door of the bedroom open and entered, lazily scanning the room. A bed. A dresser. A window. The harsh rain outside dampened the sound in the room, so Solar couldn't hear Nightshade, but he could definitely sense him. He sent his tendrils into the bed, striking down to the solid wood below. Not there.
"Oh, Nightmare~ Where could you be, hmm?~ Come out and play with me."

Solar sliced the cabinet-like dresser in half, relishing in the fear he felt. He looked towards the closet. Oh, he was definitely there, alright. He approached the closet door with slow, steady steps. He stopped in front of it, giving his victim the impression he was having second thoughts, then backed away from the door. He smirked as he felt the fear recede, then with his four tendrils, he ripped the closet door off its hinges, earning a surprised and fearful cry from Nightshade.

A tendril shot at Nightshade, wrapping itself around his neck. He tried to pry it off, choking from a slight lack of air. Solar brought him out of the closet and giggled.

"Finally found you! Having fun yet?~"

Nightshade whimpered, unable to answer. Solar rolled his eyelight, annoyed by the negative guardian's silence. He tightened his vice-like grip on Nightshade's neck, shaking him slightly.
"I asked you a question, I expect you to ANSWER ME!!!"

The tendril's grip was getting tighter by the second, cutting off Nightshade's air supply completely and crushing his neck bones. Dark purple blood trickled down his chin as the tendril shook him more. His vision blurred, and his arms fell limply to his sides. His head fell to one side as he lost consciousness. Solar growled, and he shook the guardian again to wake him up. No luck.

Just then, a voice spoke from behind him.
"Nightmare?"

Dream had been able to locate the source of the fear easily enough, but the ever growing storm made the trip there a bit rough. He nearly crashed into a tree on his way down, and the wind and rain didn't help his landing. Not to mention the danger of getting electrocuted by a stray lightning bolt. He landed in the street near the house Solar and Nightshade were in and bolted toward it. The fear was fading, as if whoever it belonged to was going unconscious.

Or dying!

He sped up the stairs and down the hall, finally arriving at the child's room. He burst through the door to find a skeleton who looked like Nightshade. He had a hand on his sword, ready for a fight if one arose.

"Nightmare?" He spoke uncertainly, debating on whether this was a good idea or not. The skeleton's back was turned, so he couldn't see them clearly.

The skeleton turned around, and their expression turned shocked. Dream himself was shocked, but not by the tar-covered skeleton.

In one of the skeleton's tendrils was Nightshade! He was back to normal, no tar, no bluish outline. White bones, a scar on his right eyesocket, and-!

Bleeding!

Dream had seen enough of Nightshade's wounds to know he bleeds purple blood. And lavender tears! Whoever this other skeleton was, they were gonna pay dearly for this! He lunged at them with his sword, but they dodged to their left. A tendril shot at Dream, but he cut it in half. The skeleton backed up towards the window and tried to run a tendril through his lookalike. Dream dodged, and hacked the tendril holding Nightshade to bits. Solar took this opportunity to escape, leaving Dream to deal with his unconscious and possibly dying brother.

"Nightmare!" Dream sheathed his sword and ran to his brother. He knelt down and patted Nightshade's cheekbone, trying to wake him up.
"C'mon, c'mon, please, Nightmare, please don't die! Please!"

Nothing.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, Nightmare, don't do this to me! Don't give up, we need you! I... need you....."
Dream picked Nightshade up carefully.
"We need to get you help. I don't care how much you hate me, you're my brother, and I love you very much! I-I don't want you to die!"

Dream quickly exited the building, carrying Nightshade into the pouring rain. He could feel worry and concern coming from somewhere beyond the village square, so headed in that direction. Right in front of the square was the town hall, a largish building covered in a sturdy, blue tin roof. Dream went inside to find Lunar, Template, Switch, Criss, Epic, Pale, and Error still wrapped up in Pale's inky rope.

"Dream! There you are!" Lunar ran up to the positive guardian, but stopped short when he saw his counterpart in Dream's arms.
"This is Nightshade, right? Your brother? He doesn't look dangerous."

"He... doesn't usually look like this," Dream said as he walked over to the others. "There was someone else. They looked like Nightm- er, Nightshade, the way he usually does, but if he's here...."

Lunar gasped.
"Then that must've been Solar!"

"W-wait! We don't know that!"

"Think about it! That Error guy said he'd dust you if he found out you killed Nightshade, right? What if he wasn't actually talking about you? He was probably referring to Solar in your body! That could mean Solar was the one you saw."

"But, that means...-"

"Whoa," Criss limped up to Dream and looked the strange skeleton over.
"Who's this?"

"Wow," Lunar deadpanned. "You don't recognize him, Criss? HE'S ME!!!"

"Hey, I didn't know! Nightmare- *ahem* sorry, Nightshade, usually looks like a grumpy black octopus, no offense."

Lunar gave him a confused look.
"Why would he look like an octopus?"

Dream sighed.
"Because he ate a black apple, that's why. And your brother probably did the same if your theory is correct."

"Ok, but what difference does that make? Our mission is still the same; find Solar, switch your bodies back to normal, then get back to our daily lives."

Dream looked down sadly.
"It means your brother has probably gone as insane as Nightshade did at one point."

Lunar's eyesockets widened in horror.
"M-my brother... Crazy?"

Dream nodded. Lunar looked away. How could he? Why would Solar need to eat a black apple? He glanced at Switch, who'd come up to him with a sympathetic look.

"Don't worry, Lunar. We'll find him and get him back to normal."

Lunar jumped to hug Switch, who returned the hug instantly. Criss gagged at the sight, and turned his attention back to Nightshade.
"Soooo...... Is he....?"

"I hope he'll be ok," Dream knelt down and tried to shake Nightshade awake. Still no response. "At least he isn't showing signs of dusting, so that's good."

"And then he explodes into dust!" Template exclaimed, waving his arms in the air. Everybody deadpanned.
"What?"

(Me: I was gonna say that!
Nights: ....... but wuy-
Me: Becuz I'm a sadistic piece of shit, that's why-)

Error was still tied up in Pale's inky rope. He wanted to get out of here and find Nightmare, but everyone was too focused on this "Nightshade" person to pay him any attention.
"Hey, idiots! Let me go so I can leave this stupid waste of space!"

Criss smirked.
"You aren't gonna leave without Nightmare, are you?~"

Error huffed.
"Of course not! Why?"

"Nightmare IS Nightshade, dumbass."

Error's expression turned from irritated to shocked in a nanosecond as he looked at the skeleton in Dream's arms. That small, harmless-looking, princely skeleton was Nightmare?! Well, he did mention once that he didn't always look so intimidating, but how he revert back to being practically defenseless? Hmph, it didn't matter. All Error wanted to do was go home, preferably with Nightmare and none of these weirdos.

He teleported out of Pale's hold, and latched his strings onto Nightshade. Pulling the smaller skeleton out of Dream's grip and into his own, he glitched a bit at the sudden contact. He created a portal and hopped through, taking care not to hurt the fragile skeleton in his arms.

He failed to notice that someone had followed him.

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I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!

Random Mulan reference cuz why not-