Wait... I'm Nightmare!? I Thought I Died!?

•Chapter 43•

I plan to resume the Dream x Error (Insomnia) story, which has been on hold for some time, after finishing up with this one. Feel free to drop by and give it a read. By the way, this story has officially turned a year old, and I'm excited about it! As I may be occupied with my upcoming birthday, I'm posting this chapter early as a birthday treat. Hope you enjoy it!

Nightmare POV

"Is Marama asleep?" Dream inquired, and Nightmare hugged Dream and confirmed, nodding.

"Yes, Marama has fallen asleep, and I have been given instructions on what to do. Let's call Error and resolve this situation. I can only stay in the body for a maximum of six hours, after which Corrupt will take over. Marama has exhausted herself thoroughly so it'll take a while for her to be in tip-top shape, but she'll be fine."

Nightmare reached into his pants pocket and retrieved a blue string, pulling on it.

Error emerged from a pixelated portal, stretching and looking confused as he addressed Nightmare. "What do you want?"

Nightmare points towards Gold, "Restrict his flight but don't make it uncomfortable. We need to go back to the castle," Nightmare walks over to Gold and puts a weak barrier around him.

"What?" Error parrots back, surprised at the immediate hustle.

"We need to immediately take care of this. Error, please," Nightmare replies.

Error grumbles to himself and begrudgingly does as told, using his strings to wrap around the transparent wings to restrict them from being able to fly but are able to stretch out if needed.

Nightmare opens up a portal to the castle, "Can you make sure Gold is not able to get out? Like put a lock on getting out of the Au for him."

Error looks at Nightmare like he did something horrible to him.

"I give a greeting and all I get is work instead?!" He complains.

"If you went through the portal to help us fight, then maybe you wouldn't have so much work," Nightmare snarks back.
Error starts to retort but Gold starts to stir so he just huffs and creates a portal to the castle. Dragging Gold behind him with his strings and Nightmare gives him a nod as a thank you as he goes into the portal along with Dream.

When the pixelated portal closes, Error lets go of Gold as he plops him onto a couch and Error sits on one of the other couches in the living room.

"Done... Just.."He sighs, annoyed, "Update me on what happened."

And Nightmare along with Dream went on to explain what happened.

~~~

After 2 hours, Killer and the others notified Killer that they appeared in Sci's lab. As Error opened a portal to there, Killer, Ink, Blue, and the meme squad walked through and Crescent gasped in awe.

Nightmare grins, "My time is going to run out in an hour or so, but hi, I'm Nightmare, and I'm not from your multiverse, as you already know," Nightmare nods to the meme squad, "Don't worry about Gold- well- your Dream. He's behind me, on the couch." Ink from the other Multiverse rushes over to Gold and Error ties him up along with Blue and attaches a bracelet made out of his strings on the 3 people.

"Don't even think about trying to get out," He sneers, still annoyed.

Nightmare adds, "And that's Error," he turns to Sci and the others, "Did Ink and Blue get nicknames like Gold's? It's getting a bit confusing referring to them as... our Blue and Ink."

"Yeah," Killer nodded, "Blue is Static and Ink is Paint."

Nightmare hums as he listens to Killer. Thinking to himself.

Therapy... therapist... maybe Altertale Sans or a Toriel would work best, it just comes down to them agreeing to help the Gold, Static, and Paint or not. At this time, Dream spoke, "Hey, I'll bring Blue and Ink to help manage through the situation and then I'll go find Alter to help with what Marama said earlier."

Nightmare nods with a grateful smile as he then hugs Dream, "You read my mind. Stay safe."

"Will do," Dream beams in response as he hugs Nightmare back, "See ya!"

Dream leaves through a portal and Nightmare turns back to the shocked group from Dreamswap.

"So, in the meantime, I'll explain about my- well, our multiverse. As you can see, or basically feel, the emotions here are in balance, both Mara, me, and Corrupt are in the same body and with Dream. All's really just good here... and everyone else in this multiverse also knows of the situation of Marama and us. Static, paint, and Gold, you all will stay here for... I guess what Gold would call 'Helping' in his own words. Marama does want to help you and your multiverse but you have to stay here in the meantime and go through... therapy and such, as they said. The bracelets from Error's strings will stop you from using magic and he put a lock on the Au. You cannot leave. If you are doubting Error's magic and how he can do that, Error is literally the destroyer of Au's. And no, he won't kill you, don't worry."

Static scrunched up his nose in annoyance and slight disgust, "What help? I don't need help.

"Marama knows practically everything about anyone, Marama knows what you went through, Static, Mara literally knows about other multiverses too," Nightmare deadpans and Paint speak up.

"Is... Marama a type of god? Since they know everything."

"No," Nightmare shakes his head, "Marama is a human from another world. I will not explain more."

Paint's expression became disgruntled but he didn't say anything else.

A bit of time passed and after explaining a few more things, as well as Gold woke up, Dream came through a portal at the perfect timing, looking a bit disgruntled and annoyed.

"Everything good Dream?" Nightmare asks.

"Just peachy. Ink is being annoying as usual," He sighs and behind Dream, he could see Blue literally dragging Ink across the ground, who was knocked out.

The other group looked at them in shock.

"What did he do?"
Dream bristled, "It's not as bad as you think but I'm still annoyed. And before you ask, knocking him out was necessary."
Nightmare sighs but accepts Dream's answer, "I see, well, my time is almost up," He looks at Killer and the other 3, "Take care of everyone else for the time being, I'm going to switch out with Corrupt and later we are going to go to our room."

"Okay," Killer nods.

Now Nightmare switches out with Corrupt.

Corrupts POV

Everyone looked away as the bones which built up Nightmare's body broke down, his sludge replacing them.

When finished, Corrupts eye light swept through the crowd in front of him and he grunted in slight annoyance as he introduced himself,"My name is Corrupt. For a limited time each day, Nightmare and I will be available for any questions. We will make an appearance for 3 hours each. Basically be out for a total of 6 hours per day. Please notify us in advance if you have any questions or concerns, as our time in this body is limited. Any hostile behavior will likely be met with consequences." Corrupt finishes and melts into the shadow beside him, teleporting to the room and getting into the bed and promptly leaving the body.

~~~

Nightmare's POV

Time passed as usual and thankfully, Alter!Sans agreed to be the therapist for Gold, Static, and Paint. For a while since Gold was in a high density negative environment, it took a bit for Gold to get used to it. And later, there was a routine set into place to help with waiting for Marama to wake up soon.