How to Establish Your Gang and Take Care of the Children in It

Rule 22: Don't Let Your Goop Boi Internalize His Issues. Seriously.

Sadly, any attempt at traveling was firmly vetoed.

"You're impulsive, reckless, and an idiot even when you aren't half-dead," Shattered had said with his usual aggressive protectiveness. "If you don't take care of yourself I will staple you to the bed until you recover."

Oddly disconcerting threats aside, Nightmare did have to admit to himself that he was in no condition to go anywhere. Even simply shortcutting from Nightmaretale to his castle made him stagger and nearly collapse- of course, his brother simply stepped back to let him fall like the bastard he was.

Immediately, three other skeletons were by his side, hovering to make sure he was okay. The fourth- Dust- was glaring at Shattered, who looked entirely unimpressed at the threat.

"Are you alright, Mare?" Horror asked worriedly.

"Oh, yes, Mare, are you alright?" Shattered asked with mock worry. There was a blatantly dickish grin on his face, and Mare stood up quickly. A bit too quickly, as the floor seemed to start spinning and he had to take Cross' hand for support.

Damn it!

"Shattered, if you say a single word-" Nightmare threatened.

"Terrible things will happen, I'm sure," Shattered said, unmoved. He even added a theatrical yawn. The fucking bitch. "So, Mare, when exactly were you planning to tell your dear friends that you're sick?"

Shit.

All of them turned to him, concerned and confused, as he tried to stammer out a coherent sentence. He didn't want to have this conversation! Well, he did, but that was a later type conversation. A way later type conversation. A oh, hey, I'm a hypocrite type conversation. A let's have this conversation later as in I'm stalling so you forget you ever asked in the first place type conversation. And he certainly didn't want to have this conversation as an argument. Not when all of the cards were stacked in his brother's favor, and he could barely form words.

"You're sick?!" Killer demanded. "Since when?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

Mare gave a small squawk of protest as Cross and Horror pulled him over to the couch and forced him to sit down. Ignoring his brother's I-told-you-so grin, he mumbled something along the lines of, "It's not like you can do anything about it."

"So? I thought you loved preaching about honesty and being forthright about problems." Shattered appeared behind the couch, hitting him gently over the back of the head. Well, gently for Shattered, anyway. It still hurt. "'Your pain isn't trivial or unimportant! I want you to talk to me!' Yeah?"

Slowly, each of the three skeletons nodded in turn.

"Right. It's not trivial or unimportant... unless it comes to his own problems. Then it's fuck it, no one cares and why should they? Isn't that right, Mare?"

"You're a bastard," Nightmare muttered.

"We have the exact same parentage, Mare." Shattered grinned, stepping to the side as one of Mare's tentacles shot at him. "And anyway, you knew this would happen eventually. Why not have the conversation now?"

Nightmare folded his arms over his chest, glancing at the ground so he wouldn't have to meet any of the others' eyes. His brother was right. That was the worst part of it all. He was in the wrong, his brother was right, and they both knew it. He shouldn't be hiding these things from them. Even if ultimately there was nothing they could do to help, he should still tell them. He should have told them months ago.