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Blue knew that he should feel something. Ink was holding off Nightmare’s subordinates. Killer, Dust, and Horror came at the artist with an onslaught of wicked blades and blaster fire while their boss targeted his twin. Dream met Nightmare blow for blow, the entity of positive emotions equally balanced with its counterpart for now. It was up to Blue to support Dream, to give his friend the advantage they needed to send Nightmare and his gang packing.
But Blue was hesitating. No, this was something deeper than hesitation. He should care, he should fight, but he was empty inside. When he reached for his magic, his soul trembled with strain.
The AU was cracking around them. Error’s attack had been swift and deadly. Ink had felt the AU destabilizing and transported them here from the Doodlesphere just in time for Nightmare to arrive, presumably to harvest the fresh despair. Error was already gone onto the next AU on his hit list. Blue watched as everything crumbled around him.
“Blue! I need your help!” Dream called out. Nightmare grabbed them with a tentacle, flinging them back into a building. The stone wall cracked with the small skeleton’s impact. Dream collapsed forward, stunned and vulnerable.
“What you hope to gain by this meaningless struggle remains a mystery to me, Dream.” Nightmare slowly advanced on his twin. Two tentacles held him up off the ground, the rest menacingly waved above his skull.
“You do the same things over and over again, expecting that you’ll get a different result. It would be amusing if only it wasn’t so entirely pointless.”
Blue started shaking. He was numb, detached from his own body. Not a single emotion left to motivate him to move. Nightmare’s words swirled in Blue’s mind. Joining Ink and Dream had been a mistake. Blue wasted his life to help others, just for the cycle of AU hopping destruction to continue on endlessly. For every person Blue saved, there was another lost. Lost like -
His head filled with white noise. There had been a thought in his head, but it was replaced with unintelligible static. He could just barely feel the shape of the hole in his mind. He had lost something. What was it? Why couldn’t he remember?
He clutched his skull. Breathless laughter pealed out across the carnage. Nightmare and Dream were staring at him, but Blue couldn’t stop. Dream looked horrified, their yellow eyelights guttering like burned out candles. Nightmare’s usually leering mouth, frowned.
A black goopy tentacle barreled towards Blue. He didn’t dodge. The shell-shocked skeleton was roughly snatched up and dragged towards Nightmare and Dream. His chalky, weak bones nearly fractured under the pressure. Blue hung in midair, a marionette with its strings cut.
“What’s so funny?” Nightmare glared at him.
“Brother, please.” Dream begged, but Blue didn’t understand what for. They struggled to stand, using some rubble to prop themself up on shaky legs.
“Answer me.” Nightmare demanded, ignoring Dream’s pleading. The entity of negativity was focused on Blue. Blue drew in a breath and then started laughing again. The noise was wet and painful. Nightmare gave him a hard shake.
“P-pointless! Mweh-heh-heh.” Blue choked out. “You’re right. It’s all been pointless. I don’t want to do this anymore.”
The tendrils of black energy slackened, not enough to let Blue go, just so it felt less like his bones would snap. He was pulled even closer, until Nightmare could reach out to touch him. Nightmare’s hand rested on Blue’s cheekbone. Blue realized he was crying.
Nightmare inspected him as if looking for a broken part in a defective toy. Blue laughed. Blue cried. Blue shook. But Blue didn’t feel happy, sad, or scared. He was numb.
“Interesting.” Nightmare muttered. “I thought you didn’t approve of torture, but look at what you’ve done to him.” A sneer spread across his skull.
“This is cruel even by my standards.”
Positive energy crackled through the air. A bright arrow of purifying light plunged into Nightmare’s tentacle. Blue dropped and Nightmare roared in agony.
“Leave Blue alone!” Dream yelled. They had another arrow knocked on their brilliant bow. Dream drew their arm back, ready to let it fly. The shot went wide as Ink grabbed Dream from a fresh spatter of paint. Ink didn’t even look at Blue as he pulled Dream through the AU portal. Blue watched Dream’s outstretched hand disappear as Ink erased the link to the Doodlesphere, leaving Blue behind with no exit.
Nightmare grunted in pain, his hand was pressed against his chest as if the arrow had landed there instead. Blue didn’t move from where he had fallen down. Maybe this truly was the place he would dust, far from home and alone.
“Nighty!” Killer’s voice was just audible over the noises of destruction. “Error did a number on this one. It’s collapsing, let’s scram.”
Nightmare didn’t reply. His dark teal eyelight was fixed on where Ink and Dream had disappeared. The expression on his face was twisted and ugly.
“Boss?” Horror rasped. The large skeleton lumbered over to where Nightmare knelt on the ground. Killer and Dust followed close behind. None of them asked if the entity of negativity was alright. Instead they fell into a practiced defensive position, shielding their boss from further attacks even though there was no immediate threat.
“Bring him.” Nightmare pointed at Blue as his gang surrounded him.
“What? He’s a Star. Let 'em take care of it - or not. It's not like ya to show mercy.” Killer’s hands were on his hips and his soul was a shining bright target. Blue closed his eyes in silent agreement.
So he was surprised when he felt himself lifted up into a pair of boney arms. Blue looked blearily into deadened flat eyelights. Dust’s face was obscured in the shadow of his hoodie, but Blue felt his soul being checked. Those eyes narrowed.
Killer groaned in exasperation, but didn’t stop Dust from carrying Blue closer. Horror wrapped his arms around the entire group and grunted, giving Nightmare the all clear. Nightmare’s tentacles surrounded them in impenetrable darkness, squeezing the skeletons until they were small enough to pop through a rift in the AU. Blue would've screamed if he had any feelings to spare, as he was condensed into almost nothing. The AU disintegrated behind them, closing off any connection Blue might have had to Ink and Dream.
But maybe that was for the best.