Nightmare observes many changes in the Castle with the new addition. Shattered gains some sanity and the bonelette discovers some new delicious food

——-

"Children are louder than I remember from our AU..."

Nightmare itched to drink some of his echo flower tea that he kept under lock and key, to keep away from his idoctic sons. The flower acted as a potent sedative and calming agent, that is if you consumed only a small amount and didn't try to drown yourself in it.

He really should have known better than to keep something like that out in the open but he had been young and oblivious to mental health in his younger years. That he had let the sons of his heart, choose their own names with Cross being the most creative of the lot, spoke a lot to his past mistakes.

He was leaning against the wall as he watched the Sci try and soothe the screaming bonelette, young children's emotions too hard to pinpoint with how they ping ponged around with the grace of a wild horse. Rubbing his forehead in futile hope to push away the stress and yet it didn't help when his idiot sons ran around the room like headless chickens.

He had been forced to throw out and lock up so many items after many past incidents with his troubled sons. His 'child proofing' options for fully grown monsters was effective but now he was wondering if he was out of his depth trying to raise a bonelette. Being gentle was a learned concept, with the sound of Killer's pained noises when he held on a bit too tight in the first days, still rang in his mind some days.

He had believed he had grown better than his past self, especially after he had learned of his brother's suffering and had stepped in to take them under his wing, it didn't feel enough. Especially when he looked at the tiny form screaming its head off with no pause.

"Youngeters were always rather mercurial. Babies prefer to hear a SOUL beat when they are younger, as they can't register the rest of the world quite yet. I often babysat most of the children in the village"

Shattered's voice was smooth and yet still a broken mix of corruption and how he sounded like before any of this happened. The clearest sign of his instability even though his gaze was sharp as he watched the tiny form be swapped between the monsters in the room.

Keeping his gaze on the last thing truly connected to Ink, one of his first true friends who was now long gone.

A part of him reminded him that he could go to Life's garden and ask if Ink's SOUL was still out there. Perhaps he would be able to bring them back like he had done with Cross months ago...and yet a part of him that he hated to acknowledge, pointed out how unlikely that would be to do. Cross had been a random mortal in the grand scheme of things, Ink was a protector. It was a miracle that he hadn't felt the consequences of bringing Cross back to life just yet despite Death's warnings...or perhaps this was his punishment.

Watching one of his friends dust and left to pick up the pieces by himself....

Nightmare bit back a scowl at the past being brought up. At how quickly Dream was forced to grow up with it only recently he had been able to convince them to sleep more than a few hours a week. Having to repeat over and over that Guardians needed food and rest but it was a slow process and harder to achieve then he wished.

Shattered seemed oblivious to anything in the room but the screaming bonelette, stepping in when the screaming took on a wheezy tone. It was getting to the dangerous point when the bonelette could harm themselves if they didn't calm down. Using his arms to grab the screeching child from Dust's arms and gently pressing their head against his chest where his SOUL lay.

He hummed an old nursery rhyme that an old rabbit monster had taught to him while baking cookies. One of the few monsters who hadn't asked him to do jobs for them and let him simply exist.

He looked down when the screaming turned into frustrated hiccups. Narrowing his eyes on the smooth orbital bones and the softness of the cheek bones. Using his free hand to truly examine the tiny digits that were slightly sharp, although still soft and malleable under his own more hardened bones.

"Seems we have a little girl in our home"

He softly cooed as he gently wiped away tears, pausing as blunt teeth bit his fingers searching for more food, before the tiny face scrunched up yet again.

"There there. No need to cry. Lets get you some more magic"

He crooned as he grabbed a glass feeding bottle from his Inventory, keeping nearly everything he had ever owned on his person to keep it from being taken from him. Learning that lesson early on the hard way.

"...wait, skeleton monsters can be girls?!"

Killer spluttered with his SOUL shuddering at the news. Gaining a new resident to the castle the less surprising news then that skeleton monsters weren't all males.

"Of course they can be, Killer. How did you think any of you were born? Did you all really think that skeleton monsters could only be male..?"

Nightmare sighed as he rubbed his forehead even harder to get rid of the persistent migraine.

"Thought the crazy old fart simply cloned me"

"I was born from Code"

"..aren't we born from the stalk?"

He bit back his sigh with great effort and wanted to smack himself in the face for not teaching such a simple thing to them. Although, he had wrongly assumed that most monsters were more educated then he and Dream had been in their backward AU.

Today was turning into a long day gaze, drifting to Sci was slumped onto the sofa and fitting in wonderfully once they weren't so twitchy.

Perhaps this day wouldn't be as bad as he predicted.

———

Days dragged into weeks until months had passed and some sort or routine was formed. Nightmare had finally decided therapy was a must and finally put his foot down so all residents of the Castle had it. That it was all done by Sci who was learning psychology while talking to them, was the best he could do right now. Hesitant to find another monster to bring here, the multiverse at large giving a strange mix of hope and uncertainty right now.

"Bah!"

"Thats right, darling. That's a flower. Let's try not to eat these ones"

That had been an unexpected change, watching his twin stabilise as they took over raising the bonelette who was growing faster than he predicted. Already trying to eat solids and after a scare, learning that they could in fact eat practically anything.

Shattered cooed at the tiny bonelette who was angrily gnawing on a leaf, gently trying to tug it away and getting bitten in response.

"So very feisty and still as delicate as a flower. How about a flower name? Maybe Petunia? Lily? Lotus? You are so very hard to name. Your magic just won't accept anything I suggest. Such a picky little darling, even before you are a year old"

He rattled out with a fond tone, not expecting a response but the slight pink in the child's eyes made his smile widen into something almost sane. Yes, the bonelette deserved a name that wasn't a shackle, one no one could leash them by.

"My little, Ren. My pretty little flower"

He quietly decided, feeling the click of magic in the air as the name slotted into place. Nuzzling the tiny skull and earning a growl when he disturbed the oh so very important leaf gnawing time.

~~~~~~

Nightmare: *False confidence* I've raised mentally unstable monsters. I can raise a baby!

OC: *Screaming like its her life goal*

Shattered: *Still shellshocked and dealing with so much trauma*...ah yes, this reminds me of old times

-

Shattered: *Monster of many talents and quickly identifying the bonelettes gender*

Everyone else: *Flabbergasted* How can you even tell?!

-

Shattered: *Cooing* How sweet you are, Ren. Like a little flower

Ren: *Stuffing a rose in her mouth and growling like a dog when someone tries to take it away*

Nightmare: *Sweatdropping* Well, there could have been worse coping strategies