Suffocating Joy {Nightmare x Reader}

(Un)Welcome Visitor

~(Y/N)'s POV, a day later~

I sighed and continued flipping through the pages of a book telling the story of an AU called Reapertale, where Reaper's from. As I read over the pages detailing the divorce of this world's Asgore and Toriel, Nightmare made himself known by placing a tentacle on my shoulder. "Hello, (Y/N). Are you researching still?" "Yeah, I still can't find anything out about this 'Praesent' guy. Really pissing me off..." Nightmare sighed and sat beside me, crossing his legs. "You know, a break may be good for you, (Y/N). Maybe you should-" 

"Ugh, I'm not a baby, Nightmare! Now piss off, would you!?" I could tell he was hurt by what I said, but I was not in the mood to be lectured. He eventually got up and walked off, leaving me to pour over the books with some sense of urgency. Just as I was getting to the part mentioning some Demon Child, a cup of hot tea was placed next to me. I went to yell at Nightmare for coming back, but it was Cross. "Hey (Y/N), I saw you were reading again. Thought you might like some tea?" I sighed and smiled. Cross caught on and sat beside me with his own book.

We read in silence for a while, both of us drinking our own teas. It wasn't long before the only hope I had for finding anything about Praesent had dwindled. "Not working out?" Cross asked quietly, shooting a small smile. "No, can't find anything..." "On...what?" "A God, one I've only seen when I was dead." "You were dead?!" I snickered and nodded, making Cross look more concerned. "It's a, uh, long story." "Well, I know a ghost that could...maybe gather intel?" I beamed at Cross, who's face turned a light purple color. "Really? Oh, would they?" Cross turned to his side and back to me, smiling. "Yep. What's the name?" "Praesent." 

~Praesent's POV~

I sighed and hid behind the tree, watching the Lurkers walk past. I felt a tug on my SOUL, someone was calling to me. I quickly got back to the main area of the Liminal and saw a boy in a white t-shirt with white hair. "A-Are you...Praesent?" "𝙸 𝚊𝚖, 𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚍. 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝?" "I was kinda sent to get intel. From, uh, (Y/N)." "𝙰𝚑. 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖." The boy seemed disinterested, so I skipped quickly to the point.

"𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚎𝚎, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚗𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚘𝚍𝚜. 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚘𝚏 𝚗𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑. 𝙳𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚘𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚢. 𝙼𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝙶𝚘𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝙶𝚘𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝- 𝙰 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚔."

"𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑'𝚜 𝚐𝚛𝚒𝚙. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎, 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 (𝚈/𝙽) 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚍𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎. 𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢. 𝙰 𝙶𝚘𝚍, 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖. 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚜. 𝙽𝚘 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚘𝚍𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎, 𝚑𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙻𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎, 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍, 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚎."

 "𝙾𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚕. 𝙽𝚘𝚠, 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚎, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙻𝚞𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑." I left the child quickly and returned to watching the Lurkers from behind the ruins of Cruciatus, drawing my weapon to attack. I waited for the perfect moment and attack, sending the spear's blade into the chest of the shadow demon. From the next alley over, Core had done the same. They were improving faster than I had hoped.

~(Y/N)'s POV~

I waited for Cross to say something else, but that was it. "So he's using someone else as a replacement God?! Ugh, damn it! So I did all this for nothing?!" I slammed my face into the table, hearing Cross's chuckle. "Not nothing, you got to meet me." I smiled and lifted my head up. "You're the best thing to happen to me in, like, a week."  Cross chuckled. "Same here. Actually, probably all month-" 

I smiled and lightly punched Cross's arm. I felt the room become colder and turned to see Nightmare behind us. "I thought you said you wished to be alone?" "Yeah, well, I helped them out a bunch. Speaking of, how about we get dinner? My treat." I smiled and nodded, feeling a cold tentacle grab my arm. "My apologies, (Y/N) and I already have dinner plans." "No we don't, you liar." I got up and shot a small glare at the God, pouting a bit. "I'll be back soon anyways, okay? We can have dinner tomorrow, anyways." 

Nightmare tried not to show it, but I could tell he was happy by how he was holding himself. "I suppose." I smiled and waited for Cross to stand, which he did quickly. "Alright, where to, cutie?" I felt my face heat up and I just shrugged. Cross's arm found itself around my shoulders, only pissing the God off more. "How about we find a taco stand and have a mini picnic? Then we can sit out and watch the stars together?" I smiled and nodded, feeling warm inside despite the coldness of the room.

Somewhere else...

The ticking of the music box rang in my ears. The sad songs of a young girl followed through, the wind hitting against my back. I wasn't scared, though. I just felt...melancholy. The deaths, numbered in the thousands, would never be avenged. Anger flowed through in loud thuds, shaking the ground around me. It was of no use to argue against nature, but what if nature was so strikingly wrong? So wrong as to let innocents die? To let a little girl, who wanted nothing more than to play with her brother, die at the hands of a hideous creature, one who's driven off nothing but pure bloodlust. 

The music box tics on, forever repeating that sad song, haunted by the SOUL of the little girl who died that day in 1897, who's body was never found. No one knows who killed the small girl, and no one ever will. She still rises from her early grave, however, wandering the world to find someone, anyone, to help her. Help her come home, help her family find closure, help bring the killer to justice. But...

Nobody came.

Date: 10/05/22 18:30

Word Count: 1084