Ever since Soul escaped from the AU with the meeting hall, Ink has been acting......... off. Dream has been catching Ink mumbling to himself more often. That kind of thing isn't too unusual for Ink, but it sounds more agitated than before. Dream tries to be understanding of the fact that Ink has no soul. Most of the time, Ink manages well enough, but every now and then, he gets bad ideas stuck in his head as if someone had glued it in there. This particular idea is just plain awful.

Ink decided that he wanted to stop Error permanently. Error could be captured, maimed, or killed with how loosely the 'plan' has laid out that part. Ink has never planned something so drastic before. Since Error always comes out more injured in their battles, Ink believes himself to be the better fighter. Ink will take on Error and keep fighting until he surrenders. Once Error really starts taking a beating, Nightmare and his crew will show up just like they always have for Ink and Error's worst fights. They will fall right into a trap. Ink has created groups of monsters from original AUs to counter each of the bad Sanses. They will be unable to help Error, and Error won't leave the AU while they are still there.

A battle like this is the last thing that Dream wanted. The Undertale AU copy around him is in ruins. A majority of Snowdin has been leveled. Most of the residents fled at the beginning of the fight, but some of them were surely dusted. Dream doesn't know much about the battle aside from his own role. Ink assigned Dream to keep Nightmare busy. Fighting his brother is nothing new, but the six other monsters attacking Nightmare are making Dream uncomfortable. Nightmare is a close to mid-range fighter. His tendrils give him extra reach, but he struggles to manifest the long-distance bone attacks that most Sanses can.

The battle was viscous despite Nightmares's disadvantage with numbers. Partway through, Dream realizes abruptly that this might be the first time Nightmare has fought with all his strength. Nightmare disables one monster by brutally breaking both their arms. He dusts another with weak bone attack at close range. Even as he fights, Nightmare takes more and more damage. Not even the thick layer of corruption can hide it anymore. Still, Nightmare is focused. Calm. Dream is hoping that Nightmare will actually win and stop Ink's crazy plan.

Someone yells Nightmare's name. He jerks his head too look and so does Dream. Yards away, Dust is on the ground, covered in wounds and barely conscious. Horror is standing over him and trying to fend off both groups created to counter them. Dream feels a whirlwind of emotions from his brother in that moment. Surprise. Anger. Protectiveness. Fear, but not for himself. In that moment while he's distracted, one of the Sans in Dream's team lands a brutal hit to Nightmare's head. He drops to the ground. The monster moves to  strike Nightmare again. Dream is running before he can think. He tackles the other monster to the ground.

Dream does not like to fight. He's always put aside his own thoughts for what others say is the greater good, but the things that Soul said to him are swarming around in Dream's head. What if? What if? What if there's a reason? A reason few know. A reason that Ink doesn't know.

"What-"

"He's already down!" Dream snaps, "Leave Nightmare be!" Drawing an arrow taunt, Dream puts his back to Nightmare and keeps the bow pointed at any one of his 'teammates' that try to get closer. They argue, and Dream can feel the rising tension slowly turning on him. More than one of these monsters want Nightmare dead.

With his back turned, Dream doesn't see Nightmare twitch. His entire body jerks, and Nightmare slowly gets up onto his hands and knees. The black corruption coating his body has become unstable and is dripping off his form. Dream only turns to look after the others fall silent in shock.

Nightmare has staggered to his feet. The corruption runs down his arms and chest revealing moonlight-lit bones. Nightmare claws at his own face in pain and confusion. Even has his magic destabilizes, the four black tendrils on his back seem to lengthen and grow. A third shorter set sprouts lower down on his back. The corruption slides off half of Nightmare's skull and reveals an old injury that left a gaping hole in the side of his skull. His eyelight on that side does not work. A lucky hit right beside the old injury is what knocked Nightmare down. Nightmare looks terrifying. In reality, his eyes aren't quite focused yet, and he seems disoriented.

Dream is frozen just feet away. There's a moment of silent shock before it all dissolves into disorder. Someone tries to attack Nightmare. He snaps to attention an reacts too fast for anyone to intervene. Nightmare uses one lengthened tentacle to snatch the monster up into the air. He slams them back down, crushing their rib cage and dusting them instantly. Nightmare locks eyes with Dream.

'I'm too close,' Dream abruptly realizes. He tries to lurch away, but a long tendril wraps around his chest and yanks him up into the air. Dream drops his bow in surprise. The limb constricts tighter around his ribs. Dream gasps for air. Nightmare hasn't yet said a word, but he keeps staring at Dream as he struggles. Dream is in too much of a panic to try summoning an attack. He claws at the black tentacle, but it's solid as stone. A surge of energy abruptly runs through Dream's body and then retreats just as quickly. He's dropped to the ground. Dream gasps for air. He tries to surge to his feet but can't manage to sit up. It feels as if all the energy has left his body.

"Stay down," Nightmare hisses. His voice is rough and guttural. Dream looks up and meets Nightmare's eyes again. That's not his brother.

Soul was not prepared to handle Nightmare's vicious instincts and knee-jerk reactions. There's no time to contemplate the fact that Soul just killed someone. He only snapped out of the murderous, hazy rage when being faced by Dream. Dream is one person that Nightmare would never want to kill.

Nightmare is in terrible shape. It's all Soul can do to keep standing. The bleeding and cracked wounds make it hard to think. Soul didn't even know quite what he was doing when he sent a wave of magic through Dream. For a moment, it feels like he might be switching bodies, but then he snaps back into Nightmare. Along with him comes a copy of one of Dream's abilities. Weak green magic shimmers along the worst of the injuries. Soul is trying his best to repair the damage that Nightmare has taken and continues to take as Soul pushes his body to the limits.

Another monster tries to fire off a long range attack at him, but Soul just bats it out of their air with a long tendril. He doesn't have time to fight all these monsters. Nightmare shouldn't be able to stand right now. Soul feel unconscious tugging at the back of his mind. Soul has to get everyone out of here before his body gives out. He scans the battlefield for a moment before spotting Horror.

Charging forward, Soul knocks over a few monsters and throws another out of the way. Some monsters take one look at his half-corrupted form and wild eye before running off in the other direction. A few more attacks are aimed at him, but Soul does his best to dodge them. He hisses after ripping out one bone that lodged itself in his shoulder blade. More green magic sparks in the wound and tries to dull the pain. Soul is tiring fast. He snatches up the next monster to get too close. Just like he did with Dream, Soul uses his magic to steal some of the monster's energy and copy a skill. Soul drops them and immediately calls up that new ability to create sharp bones that surge from the ground and hit half a dozen monsters around him. After tossing the last monster out of the way, Soul has finally made it to Horror. The monsters that were attacking him have been decimated by Soul's rampage. Dust is unconscious in the dirt.

"B-Boss!?" Horror stutters. He's worked up from the current situation and alarmed to see Nightmare in such a state.

"Stay close to me," Soul manages to growl out. It's hard to speak, or even think, through the hazy pain. "Where are the others?"

"Separated," Horror grunts. He points across the battlefield with his axe. Ink's forces managed to herd the three of them quite far from the others.

Soul can't bite back Nightmare's instinctive growl of fury. One of his shorter tentacles leans down and curls around Dust's waist, picking him up and holding him close against Soul's body. The weight throws him off balance, but there's no way that Soul could open a portal right now with how weak he is. Soul gives Horror a resolute nod before plunging back into the fray.

The teams created to fight Dust and Horror are no match for Nightmare even with his weakened state. Soul tosses most of them away or pins them in an awkward position before continuing on. Horror fights with renewed ferocity at his side, and if Horror notices that Nightmare isn't finishing off his opponents, he doesn't point it out. Dust groans as he's jostled in Soul's grip. All the jerking around isn't doing any good for his wounds. Soul tries to hold Dust a little steadier and spares some green magic to ease the worst of his wounds.

Killer is not fairing very well when they reach him. One of his arms is obviously broken, and blood trickles into his eyes from a nasty crack on his skull. The leaking is making him half blind. A group of monsters are circled around him and taking turns attacking. Killer can't retaliate without leaving his back vulnerable. He hisses and spits unintelligible words as he fails to break free of the circle.

Nightmare's rage has Soul seeing red. It's hard to rein it in and resist crushing the neck of the next monster he throws. Horror tackles another to the ground, and then Soul is close enough to grab killer with an extended tendril. Soul grabs Killer underneath his arms and plucks him up and out of the circle. Using more narrowed magic, Soul shoots off bone attacks to give them some breathing room.

"Thanks," Killer manages to get out as he's set down next to Horror. Killer is breathing heavily after fighting so many opponents at once. He notices Dust's unconscious form and winces. If Killer had gone down even a minute earlier, there would have been no one to save him.

"Where's-" Soul starts to ask.

"I'm here!" Cross cuts down one more monsters before stumbling out of the fray and joining the group. He has a slight limp when he walks. Cross has faired a tad better than the others with his quick short ranged and devastating long ranged attacks. When Cross saw Nightmare charging across the battlefield, Cross started fighting his way over to meet back up with them.

Soul just nods in acknowledgment. Words and thoughts are getting harder as Nightmare's body is failing. Soul has to come up with a plan fast to find Error and get them all out. Being too slow now will spell disaster for them all.