...

Writer's Block and Procrastination decided to work together to make the Author's life hell. Forgive them if this was a bit late.

:):

Waking up from a nightmare was one thing, but waking up to find Nightmare on the edge of your bed was another.

Face flushed, you whisper-shouted, "How long were you sitting there??" Nightmare's eye glittered, and he shrugged. Something in his posture, the way he was slightly slumped, gave it away.

"...Couldn't sleep?" You asked, trying to keep your time as far from 'soft and understanding' as possible. There was no way in hell you were going to go soft on him.

"Hm. Something like that," he admitted, shrugging again. "I honestly don't know what happened. One minute I was trying to sleep, the next I was awake and..."

...Came to my room, for some obscure reason. Folding your arms, your eyes narrowed. "And why exactly do you find comfort in coming to my room of all places?"

Nightmare smiled again, and it looked almost uncomfortably forced. "To see if you were awake, of course." Then he slid off of your bed, walking to the door. "Welp, better get going—"

"To where?" He stopped in his tracks, door half open, eye glaring at you. Despite the danger, you leaned closer to the dark figure by the door. "To where?"

The king sighed, and sighed for you to follow him. Leaping out of bed, two pairs of feet glided lightly across the floor; one leading and one following behind, a door opened.

You and Nightmare were now in a huge, empty room with nothing in it—except for the orb that floated delicately, ominously in the center. A chill ran down your spine as Nightmare ushered you in, closing the door silently behind the two of you. Walking to the ebony ball in the middle, Nightmare spun it around. Then tapped it. Made a swirl. Glancing at you, he lifted the orb into the hollow air.

The world exploded in starlight.

Falling backwards, a hand caught you before you could hit the ground. Your eyes trailed over every inch of the room, stars flashing from every corner. The only blots of darkness in the room were from the tiny patches of night that dripped out, and the shape of Nightmare. His tendrils were drawn in, making him normal sized.

Now on your feet, no words escaped your lips as the stars twinkled and glimmered all around you. Everything was filled with sky, including the floor. It was like flying, but better. In that moment, you felt a wave of euphoria, a splash of happiness. Laughing you twirled around the star-speckled room.

Nightmare simply watched, his face in a curious expression. Your aura was a bright gold, tinged with orange. He was genuinely surprised that you had actually enjoyed the room: the last person he showed... didn't exactly appreciate it. His personality crashed with theirs, and they came to quite the sticky end.

But you... You shared a lot of the traits he had. Ambition. A need for excitement. Easy to violence. Brave. Definitely brave. Everything that he admired... No no, that wasn't the right word. He didn't exactly admire you, but...

But how will they react when you tell them what really happened? How will they feel then?

"—ver thought someone could take the sky and put it in a room!" Your lilting voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he went back to watching you stargaze on the floor. A few moments later, you were joined on the right of said floor by the skeleton himself.

Silence lingered as the two of you simply lay there, staring at the elaborate pattern. "...How?"

Nightmare turned to you, neon eye glowing softly. "Pardon?"

"How did you do..." You waved your hands around wildly, gesturing at everything. "This? It's... Its amazing! I've never seen anything like it before, and I'm pretty sure I'll never see it again—"

"...I don't know, (N/N)," Nightmare admitted, suddenly interested in a certain constellation to his left. "It just sorta... appeared. Out of nowhere. So I did I bit of poking around and tampered with a few things and— well. You get the point."

Smirking, you got up. "I'm guessing that this place isn't exactly timeless," you stated, taking a sweep of the room. "...I could fall asleep in here, but then again, the floor isn't exactly soft and feathery."

A low laugh surprised you, and apparently the laugher as well. It wasn't the slightly cold, almost brash laugh you had heard many times before, but a real laugh; soft and glowing with an unnameable emotion. Nightmare seemed slightly surprised, maybe even a bit embarrassed, that he had let a laugh like that slip through. As a slight blush dusted his cheekbones, he turned away again. "Well, goodnight (N/N)," he sighed, almost sounding... disappointed? "Or at least what's left of it."

Frowning playfully, you stepped out and mock-slammed the door. Another laugh, this time that one you were used to. Sighing, you began the short trip back to your room. Maybe I imagined the blush. Maybe I imagined his laugh being different. Maybe nothing happened. Buuuut maybe something did. No, it didn't. Yes. No. Yessssssss. Noooo.

Your thoughts argued all the way to your room, all the way until you almost fell asleep. Emphasis on almost.

As you were taking off your hoodie, a slightly crumpled folded piece of paper fluttered to the ground. With a sweep of your arm and a pinch of your fingers, the paper was in your hand. Staring tiredly at it, a sudden surge of curiously prompted you to take the insane amount of energy needed to open the paper.

Yawning, you rubbed your eyes and read the paper. Rubbed your eyes again. What? 

The paper was barely intact; it was a wonder it had managed to stay whole while you and Nightmare were... hanging out. Crumbling at the edges, the page was more like scrap. But something caught your eye. There was a picture on it, inked in at the top. Squinting hard, you could just barely see it.

Vaguely, you made out a... tree? It was a semi-tall tree, with two colors for dots on each side. Somehow, your tired mind managed to think those were fruits. Laughing softly to yourself, you crossed your legs on your bed. A tree with two different fruits? Well, I have seen some pretty weird things, at this rate a two-fruited tree isn't exactly surprising. Hell, I've even seen a universe where everyone is a robot.

The words were faded and dull, barely readable. In fact, as you squinted even harder, you realized it was in a completely different language. Sighing, you rubbed you eyes—and the words shifted. Sitting up abruptly, your eyes widened as the words turned to actual words and not abstract marks.

Alas, the words remained faded. But you could make out the first few words and the title.

Dreamtale

'This is the story of Dreamtale, the universe where the Tree of Feelings lived, whose fruits were apples, half black and half golden...'

Reading through the story (although it took many, many re-reads), you found out quite a few things. 1: There was a universe where all feelings the entire multiverse had were held. 2: The universe has two guardians to protect the Tree of Feelings. 3: Whoever found this page first had crossed out a lot of things.

That was about it. Yep, quite a lot of things.

Something caught your eye, however. One figure on the page, a figure opposite the guardian of positivity. He wore a crown like his brother, except slightly thicker and with an engraved silver moon in front.

Where have I seen that before? Tapping the paper, you read the paragraph under the picture: 'Dream and ————-, guardians of the Tree of Feelings, are bound to the Tree by soul. However, there have been pulses of —— and ——- from ————-, jeopardizing the relation ship of not only them and the tree, but the tree and the multiverse. If anything were to happen, then —- ———- — ———— —— — ————-. —— ——— —— —- ——- ——.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw something move. Whirling around, knife clutched tightly in hand, you faced—nothing.

Nothing but a wall and a table covered in violet buttercups.