Collection of Oddities

Two Positives Make A Negative (4)

(Warning: This chapter contains mild swearing.)

The Guardian of Positivity followed the death-littered path with easy - though appalled by the torment of others - immediately, spotting the skeleton who dared to plague his subconscious. Nightmare: His opposite, the Guardian of Negativity and the one he called brother. Dark sludge coated Nightmare's bones and created eight deadly tendrils on his back. The extra appendages were sharpened, poised to strike. Blood and dust of monsters/humans painted them in a sickening red-grey. Dream's resolve faltered at the sight (not to mention, his queasy stomach), but then he remembered why he was doing this- to give his brother a chance to know his nephew. He stepped forward. Given his poor luck, a twig snapped beneath his feet, alerting Nightmare to his presence. Dream froze. Nightmare spun on his heels, visible eyelight ablaze with power. Its cyan hue cast light onto the other's face, yet failed to rid the innate darkness. The dark guardian's tendrils began to flail in discontent as he sized him up; A scowl soon settled on his skull. Dream, on the other hand, struggled to keep his expression neutral.

Dust, Killer, and Horror suddenly appeared beside their leader, weapons drawn and prepared to attack. He nearly jolted in shock; however, kept his composure. How did they get there? The lack of magic in the air indicated that teleportation could not be the cause. Then how? Dream internally shuddered and thought, Their stealth has gotten better over the past year. I should keep a close eye on them. Stars only knows if they will take the opportunity for a sneak attack.

The Guardian of Negativity stepped forward and hissed, "Well, well, well- Look who we have here, a foolish dreamer ready for a fight." A sneer crept on to his face, and his malicious eyelight examined the form of the missing Star Sans. Dark tendrils wiggled behind him in displeasure. "I see your year of absence has not been kind to you, guardian. Such a shame; I highly doubt you'll successfully dodge a single attack with all that fat you're lugging around."

The dark guardian's followers chuckled, darkly, ever-so-slowly working their way around Dream until they surrounded him from all sides. And there they stood, poised and ready to attack at a moment's notice- Like a pack of wolves waiting to strike. Worry weaved its way into his soul. It seemed the team had grown more strategic during his leave as well. Perhaps Error's untimely demise motivated them to prevent a second incident. Regardless, he kept his eyelights locked on Nightmare. With a raised eyebrow, Dream shot the dark skeleton an unimpressed look.

"Poking fun at my weight? Your standards for spreading negativity have truly fallen, Nightmare." He said, thoroughly disappointed in the childish jeering. Nightmare had more elegance and grace; immature insults and mockery was beneath him. Usually. "Though, regardless of your 'hobbies,' that is not why I'm here today."

Nightmare laughed- laughed and laughed, as if someone told him the world's greatest joke. While he bent over and clutched his stomach, his tendrils waved uncontrollably. Dream remained still, wondering if it was that inconceivable. That he couldn't have other motives for visiting his brother. After a minute-long fit of hysterical laughter, Nightmare reeled in his emotions and righted himself.

"Ha! You expect me to believe that. I'm no fool, Dream." Chuckling under his breath, the Guardian of Negativity continued. "So, what then? Cat got your tongue? Got tired of repeating the same script over and over and over again? No heartfelt, hypocritical speeches about being a better person, or pleading and begging for me to be your brother again? Ha, why I never thought I'd see the day! The goody two shoes dreamer is finally embracing his dark side." Nightmare said it all with hatred in his eyelight.

"Nightmare, will you give me a chance to-"

"No! I'm sick and tired of listening to your fake morals and hypocrisy. It's high time you listened to me for once. You- Everything you've ever represented is all a lie! Positivity. Happy emotions. It's all bullshit! You could never be the guardian of any of those things when all you ever do is spread prejudice and injustice." Dream flinched back. However, Nightmare continued his rage-filled rant. "Like back at the village. Because of you, I was ostracized and loathed by everyone we were sworn to protect; To the point, they tried to end me on multiple occasions because they couldn't handle a little negativity. I should have known it would happen once more. That your naive, incompetent, foolish ways would never change. You are incapable of learning from your mistakes or the past. And, it seems, that Error is your second victim."

Second victim? Wait, does he think I-

Dream jumped at the chance to defend himself, neutral expression involuntarily slipping into a scowl. "I'll have you know I played no part in his death! Brutally killing a monster with problems they can not control is a low I am not willing to stoop down to; You know this, Nightmare."

The other chuckled lowly, maliciously; His stance quickly changed. Dark tendrils sharpened, growing stiff and positioned outward for a better strike. His cyan eyelight burned even brighter. Shifting into an offensive stance, Nightmare all but growled, "Your right. I do. But that doesn't change that fact you're married to the bastard who did it and did nothing to stop him!"

Ink killed Error?!

How? Why? Killing Error- Certainly, the artist would never consider that a possibility! Ink loved him just as much as Dream (if not even more). That was just- just impossible. Unbelievable.

"What are you tal-"

Without so much as an 'Attack the fool!' or 'Take care of that pesky Star Sans!', the surrounding enemies charged forward and began to attack. So much for a peaceful chat between brothers, Dream thought bitterly. He swiftly drew his sword and blocked right as Killer slashed at him with a knife. Then sidestepped a series of bone attacks from Dust before jumping out of the way of Horror's axe. A sharp slash to the arm from a tendril caused him to fallback further. For a while, the five skeletons danced a deadly tango. Swapping attacks with each other, dodging and blocking blows, using dirty tricks to get an advantage- The group of four were doing everything in their power to defeat Dream. Yet he held his ground, yielded to no attack. Taking time to train with Cross proved to be a great decision. Though, even the best warrior was not invulnerable during combat.