(Neil's POV)

I watched the little boy stare at the lights of the tree. Even from our distance, I could hear and feel his harsh breaths. Poor thing sounded like he was holding back from choking.

"My light, dimmer than the rest. Should have figured it would end up like this." He whispered to no one. I could see Dream and the other guardians come up closer, but I waved them off. He looks too distracted, one move could make him scared.

"Hello there. Are you okay?" With my quiet voice, his head whipped to me. The lost guardian, and he was looking at me.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Neil, nice to meet you. We haven't met before, but I know a lot about you." He half scoffed, half growled at me. I tried to keep my posture as calm as possible, my heart beating faster.

"Please, you don't know anything about me! Nobody does!"

"Yeah, I do. Your brother Dream is my friend, and he told me a lot about you." That got his attention, but he was still solemn.

"I see. You probably hate me~."

"I-"

"Everyone usually is, even ones I don't know." His solemn expression quickly turned to anger as he took a step forward. "Just leave me alone. I don't want to cause any more bloodshed."

"I actually want to talk to you. I feel like you want to talk about something. And if you don't talk about what's bothering you, it can get unhealthy." The lost guardian came right up at my face, whispering harshly in my ear. He was shaking from refraining himself.

"Don't force me into hurting you if you keep bothering me."

"Then tell me what's wrong."

"NOTHING'S WRONG!!" He pushed off to the side, and I hit my head slightly on a rock. That's when I heard Dream call out to his brother. The brothers then faced each other.

(No one's POV)

All the brothers did was stare at their eyes. No one moved or even spoke a word, and Nightmare looked away. Dream kept his confident stare, but felt hurt at seeing his brother in such a painful state. To have your emotions and raw power constantly fighting is painful even for him. How would reach out to him.

"Nightmare, please stop running away. Let's talk about this."

"I don't...want to."

He attempted to run in the opposite direction, but vines sprouted out and a magic whipped him around. Lanny stood closer, but she instead looked at him without any anger. She looked sympathetic; now looking at him, she truly just saw a hurt child.

"Please Nightmare. We've all been in pain. Just talk to your brother, he'll understand." She nearly got hit in the face with one of the tendrils, being smacked against a tree harshly.

"How would he know?"

Dream sighed deeply before walking slowly toward him. However, Nightmare only tensed up and aimed his tendrils at everyone around.

"You told me your story, in your soul." He ignored the confusion from his brother, and had to walk off the searing pain of one of the tendrils grazing his cheek. "And now please let me tell my side."

"There was a boy who loved his brother very much. The two would always talk about each other, and were always there for each other."

"What are you doing?"

"The little boy wanted to keep everyone around him happy. Which was easy for him and his brother. After all, they would always have each others' backs." Nightmare start backing up, an annoyed expression creeping on his face. He wrapped his tendrils around his waist, trying to ignore him.

"Stop it."

"But as the world grew up around them, the little boy saw new people, and wanted them to be happy as well. His happiness grew on the people, and everyone grew to love him. Even his brother seemed happy. And that made him happy."

"I said stop!" The tendrils extended farther than Dream ever saw, and they grabbed everyone. Lanny, Quetz, even Neil were pushed in. Then, there was black for a second and everyone hit hard ground. It took a second before Dream realized he was back home. Their original home with the black sky and destroyed houses. And Nightmare was standing on the stump of the dead tree. Thunder rolled in as blue lighting illuminated the sky. If it wasn't for the area they were in, Dream would've said it looked pretty. The dark silhouette of his brother was illuminated by the lightning, but Dream got up and continued to slowly walk toward him. Lanny was groaning in pain and Quetz ran to protect Neil.

"But what the ignorant boy didn't know is that the people that grew up around them were selfish. Due to his go lucky nature, they wanted him to themselves. That meant they were pulling him away from his family. And his best friend and brother."

Nightmare gasped and growled slightly. Lighting flashed brightly behind him, the thunder growing louder. The sharp shadows blinded the guardian for a second.

"At first, he wanted his brother to come along, but was so arrogant, he couldn't see the pain in his eyes. His brother was suffering, but because of his naïve nature, the brother kept it a secret from him. Because he wanted to keep the pain to himself and not let anyone get in his way!"

"I...leave me alone Dream." Nightmare sadly backed away. The lightning started disappearing, tiny droplets hit their skulls. His voice became more normal as he backed away.

"I'm not leaving. Why didn't you ever tell me you were hurting? I could've helped you!" A flash of yellow lightning intertwined with a blue one.

"What could you have done? Make everyone mad at you and risk yourself getting hurt because of me?! No, I've done enough pain. J-Just let me go, okay? I can leave, and you'll won't have to bother with me, okay? I can become a bad memory to everyone, the best gift I can give..."

Silence was interrupted by Lanny, stepping forth and scaring Nightmare. "Don't say that Nightmare! You are willing to isolating yourself all your life and die? You think this is going to fix anything, just running away?"

"I'm trying to make up for what I've done, and you all just won't let that happen!" He retaliated.

"Because this is not the way! You're just making another big mistake, and it won't fix anything."

"I already made a mistake by killing all those that hurt me!"

"If you do that brother, then you'll be worse than the people who did hurt you!" Dream ran closer. Lighting at this point was flashing through the clouds. "All it'll prove is that you're a bully-"

"I'm not! I-"

"And that you're...you're..." He choked out the words. "A coward!"

"I'm not a coward!" He grabbed Dream with his hands and pushed him to the other side of the tree stump. Blue and golden lighting struck nearby houses, starting mini fires. Quetz started being thrown around by the air.

"I can't keep this up! We need to do something!" Neil spoke up from under his cloak.

"No, let them have this."

Nightmare gripped his arm trying to hold back his power, his tendrils spazzing again. Dream simply got up and dusted his clothes off.

"Look, I get it. You did some pretty bad stuff, and they were the cause of it, but that doesn't mean you should lock yourself away. If you do that, then your soul will only hurt more until you become a monster again."

"..."

"Please Night. Just open up to us."

Lanny and Quetz inched closer, Nightmare turning sharply and aiming the tendrils straight at them. "What are you doing?!"

"Calm down Night." Dream managed to get close enough to him, only inches apart.

"K-Keep away from me! Please!" He gasped as he felt his brother hug him tightly from behind. At first the tendrils wrapped around the two, constricting tightly until they had trouble breathing. Dream didn't let go of the hug, and soon Nightmare's eyes dimmed. The tendrils loosened their grip, and Quetz came right up to him. He gently put his hand on his head, catching him off guard.

Lanny slowly came up, the two giving uncomfortable glances. Nightmare remembered her as the person who tried to kill him, what was she going to say. He was shocked when she hugged his shoulder and patted him on the back.

"I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me."

"I don't understand." He said. Dream realized there was no distortion in his voice anymore. The goop started to completely disappear from his body. His clothes started going back to normal, the tendrils retreating into his back. He fell slowly from the hug, the last of the goop disappearing.

All there was left was a crying Nightmare on the grass.

"Why should you apologize for something I did?"