WARNING: This chapter contains hints at self harm. If this triggers you in any way, skip down and I'll give the okay.

This wasn't what he wanted. It was never what he wanted. But he was a being of negativity. He couldn't help it. He had depression in the worst case. He didn't want to kill himself, not at all. But he had his days.

Nightmare was about to make an incision with the blade, but just as he felt the tip on his arm, he heard Abyss calling him from upstairs. He jumped, accidentally making the blade go significantly deeper than it should have. He breathed sharply, dropping the knife onto the floor and holding his arm in agony.

"Nightmare? Are you down there??" He heard Abyss's voice turn worried when Nightmare grunted in misery.

Nightmare knelt down, clenching his fist and scavenging quickly around his desk drawers for bandage. When he found some, he yanked it out and wrapped several layers around his wound, finally finding his voice to call up to Abyss, "I'm alright, love, just- I'll be up in a second!"

Abyss didn't respond for a few moments but a second later Nightmare heard him reply, "Okay... I'll wait here.."

Nightmare didn't say anything back. He plucked the knife off the ground and tossed it into his dresser drawer, rolling down his sleeve quickly. It looked wrinkled but it was alright; it probably wouldn't raise suspicion.

|| You're good! ||

Switching off his light, Nightmare ran up the flight of stairs leading to the hallway. When he saw Abyss, he put on a smile. "Hey, love."

Abyss's wings spread out in surprise. "Hi..! Are you alright? You look like..." Abyss looked Nightmare up and down, searching for words. "You look... Shaken."

Nightmare tilted his head. "What? No, I'm alright. I was just finishing up some paperwork is all," he lied. Abyss looked skeptical for a moment but his expression turned confused.

"Paperwork? For what?" The winged one asked.

"Work," Nightmare replied with a chuckle, "I have papers on pretty much everyone in the worlds. I just write things down about them so I can do my job more efficiently. You know... give them... scarier nightmares." He smiled almost shyly. 

Abyss nervously chuckled, averting his eyes. "How do you get certain notes on people?"

"I watch when they go through nightmares. You'd be surprised what certain people do in certain cases of danger... Even the most arrogant people will bow down and beg for their lives in some select situations, saying they'll give anything to live even if they don't deserve it." Nightmare shook his head disgustedly. Abyss smiled sympathetically.

"You must have to deal with lots of obnoxious people," Abyss said softly, to which Nightmare snorted.

"You have no idea. Now... what did you need?" Nightmare felt kind of guilty for lying to Abyss, but he decided it was for the best anyway.

Abyss's feathers ruffled up like the hackles of a dog. He suddenly looked nervous, avoiding Nightmare's eyes and clutching his blue coat. He seemed... scared.

"Ah... Oh, I forget! You know my mind..." Abyss lied, smiling tensely. Nightmare raised an eyebrow. Abyss had never forgotten about anything for as long as Nightmare'd known him.

"If you say so." Nightmare shrugged obliviously, then his eyes lit up like a child's. "Now that I'm up here, I have a question." Abyss looked at him expectantly. "Do you read?"

That earned a thrilled smile from Abyss. "Of course I do."

* * *

Nightmare had a feeling Abyss would like the library. But he wasn't prepared for just how excited his friend would get over it. Abyss loved every part of the library, apparently. The expanse of shelves that reached so high there were stairs to aid them reach every level; the nice furniture in the main clearing for when you've found the perfect book and want to sit and read; the coffee tables and mats on the floor for if you want to sit down on the ground in comfort while enjoying a nice drink.

Needless to say, Abyss clearly was thrilled. He hadn't gone to the library yet, but he definitely wasn't disappointed. It made Nightmare happy just seeing how eager Abyss was to explore every inch of the place... And they'd only just taken a step into the vast room.

"You like the library, I take it?" Nightmare said with a grin, his arms habitually folded behind his back. Abyss turned to him, mouth curved in a bright smile and eyes shimmering much like a young child's.

"I love it."

Nightmare smiled. Honestly, Abyss was adorable. Nightmare moved his arm to gesture to the inside of the room to sort of put it on display, but the movement made his cut arm start to sting, and agonizingly so. He made a short, cut-off, pained grunt and grit his teeth but kept smiling. "Go on and explore, then.. There are several types... They're organized by genre, and then by last initial."

Abyss was about to do so when he noticed Nightmare was clearly in pain. He glanced at Nightmare with a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

Nightmare shook his head, maintaining his charming grin. "It's nothing," he lied, "I just bumped into my desk earlier and the bruise is coming back to haunt me. Don't worry about me so much, love." He nudged Abyss. "Go look at some books. I'm gonna go make some tea or something... Any requests?"

Abyss shook his head. "I'll just have whatever you brew up. Thank you, by the way..!" He added, watching Nightmare leave the room with a kind nod.

* * *

When Nightmare came back into the library, he was holding a tray consisting of a nice pitcher of tea and two mugs. He glanced around and saw Abyss already sitting at one of the couches in the semicircle of furniture, his nose buried in a book. On the coffee table stood a small tower of more books. This sight made Nightmare laugh to himself as he walked over to his winged friend. 

"Already, you've found this many books?" Nightmare remarked, "Impressive."

He noticed Abyss blush a tad bit, smiling. Nightmare loved it when that happened, if he was being honest. If he could make Abyss smile, that per se made Nightmare happy, but anything more than that; a laugh, or in this case, blush, was even better. Nightmare didn't know why he felt that way... But he wasn't concerned about it.

Abyss averted eyes again, nodding. "It wasn't hard considering I had an efficient way of making my way around..." The smaller skeleton extended his wings. "Though... It was kind of tiring, having to read all those book spines.. You have so many books here it's extremely hard to believe you live here alone."

Nightmare chuckled, moving forward and settling down on a mat at the coffee table. Abyss followed suit and sat next to him. "I've read every one of them, you know." The prince set his tea tray on the table. Abyss looked up at him with wide eyes.

"You have not." Abyss's voice was incredulous.

Nightmare's voice was laced in a laugh as he replied, "Yes, I have! I promise you!"

Abyss shoved Nightmare's shoulder, grinning. "I don't believe you! There are at least a million books here! You can't tell me you've read every single one front to back!"

"What do you think I've been doing here alone for several years?" Nightmare laughed, submitting at Abyss's shove, hands raised defensively. "I had a lot of free time on my hands."

"Where did you even get all these books??"

"I bought most of them, and some I got at libraries that were giving away free books that were either too old or didn't really get checked out much. There were a few I just found in random places." Nightmare eyed down Abyss's stack of books and he pointed to a battered-looking leather-cover book. "This one was way back in an alley in Underfell. I found it after a tussle with one of the Snowdin residents.. The first few pages looked good so I kept it." He cleared his throat. "Anyway. Drink your tea," he digressed with a laugh, taking a mug of his own to sip from.

Abyss shook his head in disbelief, but conformed anyway. "This is a lot of books, Nightmare."

"Did I seriously just blow your mind that much?" Nightmare chuckled, looking at Abyss with a smile, his mug still up to his face.

Apparently, he stared just a split second too long because it was evident Abyss got a little embarrassed, slowly lifting the tea up to take a drink, eyes averting again.

"Sorry," Nightmare said softly, to which Abyss replied, "Wh-what? No, it's okay..!"

* * *

Nightmare and Abyss had talked for a good half hour before Abyss looked over and noticed a golden swirl of color flash briefly in Nightmare's right eye. The prince blinked, and he murmured, "Dream's here. One second." Nightmare rubbed his eye, getting up and walking over to the library door. He leaned out the doorway, glancing up and down the hallway until he saw Dream turn the corner.

The younger twin took one look at Nightmare then took off running down the hall toward his brother, leaving Cross, who was behind him, to follow.

"Dream? Are you alright? What's--" Nightmare's words were cut off when he was hugged so tight he almost fell to the ground. Dream had his arms wrapped snugly around Nightmare's waist, his face buried in his brother's chest. He was saying something but his words were muffled by not only Nightmare's coat but he also seemed to be upset. Steadying himself, Nightmare automatically returned the hug though he didn't know what was wrong. He waited for Dream to be ready to talk.

Cross was silent. Abyss got up from the coffee table and made a beeline for the doorway, looking worried. "Is everything okay...?"

Nightmare looked up and made a face as if to say, I don't know.

After a few moments, Dream looked up with tears in his eyes, trying to find the words to tell them what's happened.

---END OF CHAPTER 17---

A/N:

COUNTDOWN TO CHAOS (not really) HAS ENDED - AAAA NEXT CHAPTER I'M SO EXCIT E D 

This chapter was happy for the most part and I had a lot of fun just having Nightmare and Abyss be book nerds for a while, if only a few hours. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooooon! :'D