Little Shadows

The Deal

A/n: today is December 21st! Not only is it Winter Solstice, it is also Nightmare and Dream's birthday today! I really wanted to get this chapter completed today for that reason. Anyway, happy birthday to them, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm not going to say anything about it, it's a surprise :)

♤Nightmare's P.O.V♤

Bill was cackling, then he appeared before my eyes. He was taller than me, wore white gloves, a black and yellow trench coat with a yellow bow-tie. He was a skeleton, a Sans obviously.

His eyes glowed an eerie cyan blue.

"Hello again, friend. Now, this may seem a bit strange, but you can trust me," Bill said. He held his hand out, grinning. I froze. I had chosen to make a deal with this skeleton and I didn't even mean to.

Suddenly, I felt my hand reaching towards Bill's and even though every fiber in my mind was trying to resist, I shook Bill's hand.

Blue flames surrounded our hands, and a strange glimmer appeared in Bill's hand. The deal was sealed.

I was the one to pull away first, almost crying. What was wrong with me? Why did I make a deal with him, why did I shake his hand?

Bill grinned and disappeared, then appeared as multiple versions of himself all around me. He was laughing a laugh that echoed around the forest-- an evil, long, deep laugh that chilled even me to the bone.

"Now, dear friend," said Bill. "Since you've made a deal with me, I can tell you a secret. Hehehe. An answer to the confusion you're experiencing right now." He twirled a cane in his right hand.

I didn't move. What was he saying? What was he going to say? So many questions kept racing in my head. Does it have something to do with what he said earlier, about me not being in my own head...?

"Close," Bill hummed, inching closer. I growled, not wanting him to get any closer.

"You see, Nightmare," he said, his voice strange and dark. "You haven't been in control of yourself ever since little (Y/n) found you. The weaker you, the older you, has been in control. Not the powerful villainous you." I flinched and my eye widened. Bill grinned.

"I mean, there were times where you saw (Y/n) in trouble and didn't help her. Didn't do anything. That was the villainous you," Bill added.

No. No, no, what? How did I never notice I was MYSELF? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?

"Don't lie to me," I growled, my tentacles lashing out. But deep down, I knew he wasn't lying to me. Passive has been here-- I've been here.

Bill chuckled darkly. "Lie to you?" he said. "I never lie, I just alter the truth sometimes, but this time is not the case. You're a strange one, Mr. Nightmare."

I shook my head, backing away. "Don't call me that!" I snapped, my tentacles twitching to lunge at him. Bill's still grin never faded.

I need to get back to (Y/n). "Didn't you say you were going to help (Y/n) remember me?" he asked warily. Bill reverted back to his original self, just one of him.

"Yes! Yes," he said. "Of course, my friend." His eye turned blue again. "And I have the perfect way." He inched closer to me again. "And there's a part of your memories you don't remember."

There was. I remembered a blur at a certain part, but I didn't want to believe anything Bill showed me.

Bill snapped his fingers anyway. I was wrapped in a vortex of gray again, and a picture unraveled before my eye.