#dreaming?

Horror didn’t understand what was happening. It was dark and cold, and he could only hear the familiar sound of Nightmare’s tentacles thrashing behind him. Yet, the other didn’t reply to him. He eventually grew fine with it and stood still, knowing that it would eventually make sense. It took a while for sure, but when Horror finally felt a tentacle, he knew it was time.

“Oh Horror…” Nightmare purred, his voice low and quiet. Horror didn’t say anything as he felt the slimy tentacle start to curl around his neck. It was slow at first, but the other knew what was coming. “Oh, you poor scoundrel,” he continued, laughing a little behind the other. Horror could begin to feel the heat of Nightmare’s breath, but it all felt eerily wrong. The tentacle felt slimy and made the other shiver as he stood there, stony, silent.

“You’re just a pile of bones… One that helplessly needed help and would do anything to save his poor, starving brother,” Nightmare murmured, the mirth evident in his voice. Horror did not need to reply, for he was worried that the other would do something to hurt him. Nightmare had never outright treated him this way… But he didn’t want to chance anything on the unusual situation.

“A starving brother I could give to Error; I think we’d both know how he’d enjoy the fun of destroying a hopeless underground… You’ve heard how he’s spoken about those before,” he continued, laughing. He wasn’t wrong… Error enjoyed destroying any AUs, but he did target happier ones with a greater goal… The only reason some AUs hadn’t been destroyed (like his own) was due to Error’s shaky alliance with Nightmare.

“I know what you’re thinking in that stupid head of yours… You know that I’ll order him to destroy it, right? Our alliance doesn’t mean that your stupid little starving home will always exist…” Nightmare said, his voice getting louder and more demanding, and he grinned. Horror shivered, and the moment his body reacted, the tentacle around his neck tightened, effectively choking him.

Horror didn’t try to react, or at least, that was his first reaction. But soon, he couldn’t do it, and he grasped the tentacle desperately, trying to get the other off of him, but Nightmare - or what he thought was Nightmare - was having none of it. He tightened and started to murmur something, something loud. Yet, Horror couldn’t make out the sound of what the other was saying due to the lack of oxygen in his artificial lungs.

Everything felt wrong, and even the darkness surrounding him was somehow fading. He eventually stopped trying to get out of the situation; he stopped moving, and he felt as though he was about to pass out. All at once, everything changed. There was no tentacle anymore, and the area around him had brightened up, but not in the way he would’ve assumed if he’d turned into dust.

No, it was different; it resembled one of the places he, Killer, and Dust had always trained. He could feel a vibration on the floor, the loud voice behind him, and, most importantly, the swing thrown at him. Although he was still dizzy due to the lack of magic in his skull, he threw himself out of the way, narrowly avoiding the spear Killer had thrown in his direction, in for the same place as the hole in his skull.

Horror turned and watched Killer laughing wildly to himself, with `Dust hiding himself in the corner. “What the fuck, Killer?” Horror shouted, shakily getting up on his feet whilst his ‘friend’ was still laughing about the situation. The male glanced back over to the spear, recognising it as one of Undyne’s, and his anger for Killer grew.

“Whaaat? You dodged it! You knew the game!” he protested, although it was a very obvious lie. Horror shook his head angrily and took a few steps toward the other. “No, we are not doing this, Killer. You can go fuck yourself,” he angrily shouted at the other, getting eerily close to him. Killer began to laugh louder for a moment as if he didn’t believe that the other would speak to him like that for one moment. The other suddenly went silent; if Horror had skin, his hairs would be on their ends.

“Dust… Kill him,” Killer mumbles, grinning wildly at the other. Dust didn’t move an inch, and he didn’t say a word either. It was just Killer’s low growl and his scowling face. “Go on! Murder him like he deserves to be killed!” Killer shouted, this time louder. Dust moved a little this time, but not towards Horror. No, he moved in front of Killer as if trying to protect the other in case he jumped to try and hurt the other.

“You don’t get to order me around, Killer, nor do anything of the sort,” Dust mumbled, his low voice echoing the room and the other’s anger. “Oh yeah? Why don’t I get Nighty involved, huh? Show you what he really wants out of Horror?” The other sneered, watching the two. Dust didn’t reply. He just turned to face Horror, patting him down almost to check if he had any injuries. Thankfully, apart from his neck, nothing had been hurt.

“Dust, I can get you hurt too if you don’t listen,” he shouted, spitting at them both. This time, Dust didn’t ignore the other. Without turning around, Dust used his magic to throw a bone at the other, sharper and bigger than the ones Dust usually created, before sending many of the same types of bone towards the other. Seconds after Horror realised the situation and that Dust was trying to dust Killer, the arm grabbed him, and the two took off in a run.

They kept running for a long time, longer than Horror would’ve liked. It got darker and darker as they continued, and it didn’t appear as though Dust was going to stop any time soon. Yet, he trusted the other and his judgement, even if he had no idea what was going on. Neither of them even spoke to one another. They just kept running, running and running away.

Dust eventually began to speed up, and he almost dragged Horror to the point that the larger didn’t feel he was in control of his legs anymore. That was until he realised that Dust could see Cross in the distance. He sped up himself, knowing that Dust also trusted the other. The two finally slowed down after getting to Cross, and the two stared at him, one in panic and the other in slight confusion.

“You both need to keep running,” he told them, glancing back to the way the two had just been. Dust’s face twisted. “No, you need to tell us what the hell is going on,” he angrily spoke, getting close to the other. Cross sharply turned to stare at Dust and then at Horror. “How am I supposed to explain something to you that I don’t even understand?” He asked, glaring hard at Dust.

“Guys… Calm down…” Horror mumbled, glancing between the two. The two took a long look at the other before nodding, and Dust took a step away from the other. “But why… Run?” He frowned as he glanced back at where he was himself. “You haven’t escaped yet; I don’t want you guys to wake up this time; I need you guys to escape… Because that will wake you… In another way,” Cross vaguely explained, sighing as he fidgeted where he stood.

“Why aren’t you coming with us? You know where it is,” Dust questioned, his eyesockets narrowing as he watched Cross. The other only shook his head in response before speaking about his concerns. “Killer and Nightmare are still stuck in… Whatever this place is, but if you guys go out now, you’ll be able to prepare us all for… Whatever’s out there,” Cross murmured, glancing back to where the others had been.  It was quite away in the darkened distance now, but a speck of black and white could be seen.

“...Alright, just make sure to follow us soon, okay?” Dust whispered, glancing at Horror with hesitance. Cross nodded absentmindedly. Sure, that would happen eventually. He didn’t want to be stuck in this place forever. “Now go, go! They’re still running after you two,” Cross muttered, using his hand to motion them to leave the area.

Both of them nodded and began running away again, towards the place they’d been before. They didn’t look back this time; they only kept going forward. It was just them and the darkness surrounding them. Eventually, their eyesight of one another began to darken, and Dust realised they were getting out. As his legs began to give up, and the area around began to darken even further impossibly, the two disappeared from where they were, leaving Cross and the imitations to be rinsed and repeated.

“So, how long are they supposed to be out?” Ink asked, watching the lifeless bodies of all the ‘Bad Sanses’ held behind Dream’s prison. Dream glanced over at Ink before looking back to Nightmare nervously. “Well… Sci didn’t exactly explain that much to me, but hopefully soon,” he whispered, feeling nervous about the situation they had in front of them.

“Don’t forget that C is supposed to be out even more than everyone else - he woke up whilst I was still bringing them over here,” Ink irritatedly replied. Dream hummed a little, glancing over to the monochrome. They were all on the floor of their rather large prison. There was some food and a chair or two inside with them, but due to this new ‘tech’ they’d gotten from Sci, there was a severe unlikelihood that it would ever be used.

It wouldn’t dust them apparently - but it would put them under hallucinations - dreams. It was the only way to get them behind bars properly, and the positive cage they’d put them in would weaken Nightmare from getting out as well, leaving this to be the best way to keep them all away from the AUs and keep them safe.