Amelia could come back less and less, Nightmare was onto her. Okay he didn't remember she existed but clean plates and clean statues always woke his senses. In a sense he was more remembering the crumbs she left on her path. What was once a one hour trip, was now a full month of simply watching. Even bringing a member of his gang to make sure.

But when he wasn't there Amelia was going to make the most of it. She had placed a game of hangman, not really a thing you can cheat on. “A?” Amelia wrote on the piece of paper.

A___A

Something was making Dream self-conscious. “What is it Dream?”

She had spent enough time with him to know how his memory self would react to certain things. Like how she could almost feel him reach for the cape around his neck. “My brother is with really scary people.” The murder time trio are scary. Even if this multiverse had no real danger. Their designs weren't made to be cuddly. “I think he is mad at you Amelia.” Amelia had to hide the slight tremor in her hand as she heard her name. But of course he remembered, she was right in front of him. It always took a moment though.

Amelia smiled instead as she kicked her feet in the air. “Well of course he's mad. His friend Horror took all this time cooking beautiful cakes. And I keep eating it. Since he doesn't know me, he is scared for you. It might also explain his scary friend. No thieves allowed.” Amelia brushed away stray dirt on Dream's shoulders. “Anyway ne-” The boss is worrying a lot about this statue. Neutrality? Someone meditating? The boss is suspicious of what? “Oops gotta go early, Dream.”

As Amelia packed her things as fast as possible, Dream's memories became more panicked. “Are you scared of my brother? swear he isn't bad. I want to tell him how sorry I am. Please stay, I need you to stay.” Poor kid, she couldn't really blame him. Nightmare himself couldn't answer directly. He could guess but not to the extent she can. So Amelia hugged Dream statue as much as possible.

“Look I am not leaving for long. I just can't meet him right now.” She could hear Killer's memories by his side. If she didn't want to traumatize the kid, she couldn't stay. “You won't miss me, I swear.” Amelia got up, did a little bit of cleaning before running away at the second memories of the village came back muted. A lot of ruins were still standing and they were a constant reminder.

Amelia ran until she was hiding in a basement. The little place was cleaned with a sleeping bag and a small campfire in the corner. She didn't want to leave Dream fully alone. And to be honest she couldn't really leave either way. Without outside help she is like any other incode. She just needed to wait a couple minutes so that space and time would just turn a blind eye.

♤♤♤

Amelia drew on the walls of the basement. Using Crayola colors to spice up her corner. She didn't want to sleep, she would lose sight of the present. She had a kid to care for now. “Boss, I didn't find anyone.” Killer's memories felt like a cat on your shoulder, demanding your attention or the view cleared. “Keep searching, someone carried dirt everywhere around here.” Nightmare felt more like your own shadow, it didn't need to demand much, he was a fact of life and nature. They were upstairs, she just needed to stay quiet. Killer will hear her and she doesn't want him to react to a human. Dream could probably feel such a strong traumatic response from the village.

Amelia kept drawing, deciding to depict a new tree of feeling for each basement she camped in. The first one was… well the first, the one who could give both positivity and negativity, or what she called the origin of envy. Right now she was drawing the tree of feeling in a multiverse where Ink was on Nightmare's side. She didn't want to focus on the specifics. It was a tree with both. “Check the basement.” Sh** Amelia rolled her sleeping bag and smothered the small campfire. She also made sure no sounds could be heard.

Before Killer found the door for the basement Amelia hid in the shadows on all fours at the lowest point of the ground. Folding herself like a contortionniste to hide in a barrel filled with decaying fruits. Such a waste of food. When Killer got inside he actually paid attention to the layout. Loyalty, she didn't want to search for specifics, but those were loyal memories. A tree again? It's not done though. They might still be here. Kill, fight, spare. Killer's memories shook into a dazed fog. No, focus on what the Boss told you. Footsteps approached but eventually stalled. Please tell me they aren't dumb enough to hide in there. It must have smelled really bad.

A wave of darkness filtered through the basement making the atmosphere a bit more suffocating. “Found anything?”

Two sets of memories showed Killer point the wall with the unfinished drawing as Amelia tried to focus on the worm debating leaving, in front of her. “Just this and the campfire. They seem to be either bad at drawing or really young.” Memories of Chara flooded his mind, how saddening.

Nightmare's and Killer's memories showed the former looking around growing in suspicion. So it's not a village settling, probably a stray. Another wave of darkness crashed but Amelia counted a thousand boats in her head. No footsteps were heard. So Amelia lifted the lid off the barrel slowly before leaving it. She first decided to finish the drawing before leaving for Dream again.

Dream was admittedly surprised to see her come back eating her way through a barrel of decaying fruits. “I don't waste food. Also I am technically replanting seeds." She had to learn to be more messy with how she ate.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Amelia: me

Telltale: @marble-birdie

Nightmare and Dream: Joku-blog