The fortress is quiet this late at night. The scritch-scratch of Nightmare's pen on the page is the only noise beyond the occasional faint creaking from the old timbers in the wind. It didn't take long for the others to find their beds after the events of the day. Killer is still snoring on the couch. Nightmare himself doesn't require as much sleep as a normal monster. He can stay awake for days in a row without much effect. In quiet times like this, Nightmare prefers to catch up on work that's difficult to do during the day with so many loud and annoying monsters running around.
     Paperwork is a mind-numbing task that allows Nightmare's thoughts to drift away even as he's crunching numbers on the page. Gathering up enough resources to keep four idiotic monsters alive is a tad difficult when walking into a grocery store is an open invitation for attack. Any common foodstuff and healing items must be stolen. Nightmare keeps careful track of what needs to be stolen at the next raid. Keeping the balance between negativity and positivity also uses some advanced calculations. It's difficult for Nightmare to know exactly what the scales are at. His senses only give him a vague feeling of uneasiness. Nightmare has developed several mathematical methods to check and double check where exactly the balance is. The numbers are not good. The last couple months have all ended with a net negative for Nightmare's side of the balance. How ironic.
     Nightmare also uses this time to decide which AUs he will target. Lately he's been trying worlds where the 'Star Sanses' tend to appear less often. Nightmare has also taken to raiding AUs that are already quite negative.  It doesn't have as much effect on the balance, but it takes longer for Dream to notice that way. Those AUs are good for larger supply runs.
     A change in the emotional presence of the fortress drags Nightmare away from his thoughts. He drops his  pen and stands up. Nightmare's tendrils wave around as he makes his way towards the source. Nightmare quickly finds himself standing in front of Dust's room. He extends his senses to get a good idea of what's going on before opening the door right up without knocking. Dust's room is shrouded in darkness, but that has never been a problem for Nightmare.
     Dust has thrown all his bedding onto the floor in his sleep. He tosses and turns while muttering in his sleep. Dust's bright purple magic is leaking from his eyes as he faces some long-dead opponent. Nightmare quietly approaches and uses his tendrils to still Dust's twitching arms. Nightmare then places one hand on Dust's forehead. The Guardian would be lying if he said that Dust's negativity didn't feel good. One person's distress doesn't have much sway on the balance, but Nightmare's proximity to it certainly helps. Nightmare used to ignore his subordinates's night terrors. As time went on, Nightmare found himself starting to care about their haunted looks in the morning.
Blue magic swirls around Nightmare's hand. When he pulls his hand away, the nightmare comes with. Dust relaxes as he falls back into a deep and dreamless sleep. He has no idea that Nightmare has been the one taking away the sleepless nights. Nightmare shuts the bedroom door quietly as he slinks away.
The Guardian finds himself making a circuit of the fortress, lurking outside of doors and making sure nothing else is amiss. Nightmare sticks his head into the living room just to see Killer sprawled out across as much of the couch as possible, snoring. Nightmare snorts at the sight. He turns away and heads back to his office.
Nightmare is in the hallway and nearing his office when a sudden coughing fit takes him. He has to lean against the wall with the force of the racking coughs. By the time he gets control of himself, Nightmare is breathing heavily. He pulls his elbow away from his face only to find a worrying sight. Nightmare had coughed up a mixture of magic, tar, and a bit of blood. He sighs in exhaustion and pushes off the wall to continue to his office. This is nothing more than side effect of the day's failures. Nightmare has much more important things to worry about than a little cough.

*******************

Nightmare awakens to an incessant prodding against his skull. When it comes again, one of Nightmare's tentacles reflexively grabs the offender while he opens up his eye with a hiss of aggravation.
     "Morning Boss!" Killer chirps with a cheeky grin. He's not at all bothered about his tightly restrained arm. "You fell asleep at your desk. Doesn't look very comfy." Nightmare is slumped across his desk and only sits up when Killer points it out. Nightmare doesn't remember falling asleep. It's very unusual for him to drift off like this.
     "Who told you it was okay for you to be in here?" Nightmare says darkly, trying to piece his dignity back together. The Guardian's eyes narrow. "And why are you standing on that leg?"
     "Oh no....." Killer mutters.
     Nightmare lets go of Killer arm only to transfer his grip around Killer's waist and hoist the much younger monster into the air. Killer squeaks in surprise and alarm. Nightmare stands up and takes a few steps around his desk only to deposit Killer back down into a chair against the wall. Nightmare kneels down on one leg to get a good look at the wound. It looks better than it did yesterday.
     "Cross took a look early this morning and I used a couple healing items," Killer blurts out defensively. "It's a lot better. Probably doesn't even need healing magic."
     Nightmare hums in acknowledgment but doesn't yet speak. He looks over the remaining damage with a critical eye. The damage is a lot less than Nightmare was expecting. It's more similar to Dust's arm that Nightmare ignored last night. It will only take a few more days and more healing items for the fracture to completely disappear. "Alright," Nightmare says as he stands up, "You can walk, but no jumping around or acting like an idiot. I'll tie you to your damn bed if I have to." As Nightmare thinks about it more, he finds it odd that both Cross and Killer woke up before him. "What time is it?"
     "It's just a bit after 10," Killer answers a bit nervously. "That's why I came looking for 'ya."
It's odd for Nightmare to nod off to sleep without realizing, but he hasn't slept in this late since before the incident. He must have been more tired then he initially thought. The sleep has helped to reenergize the Guardian.
     Killer happily plods down the hallway, not at all minding his leg like he should. Nightmare follows behind and grumbles a bit at the display. The two of them walk down the grand staircase and into the living room. Dust and Horror are lounging on the couch while Cross stands against the wall. A few wounds sport bandages here and there. Nightmare notices with some satisfaction that one of them has attempted to scrub the new blood stain out of the couch without having to be told.
     "I found sleeping beauty!" Killer cackles happily. He drops down onto the couch between the other two. Killer jumps when Nightmare smacks him on the back of the skull for the insult.
     "More like the beast," Dust says quietly. He also gets a smack. The warning strike doesn't carry as much command as it used to now that Nightmare doesn't hit nearly as hard.
     "I saved some breakfast for you," Horror speaks up, "It's still warm."
     Nightmare is glad that there are no other empaths nearby. The gesture touched him, but he can't let Horror know that. "Thank you," Nightmare states simply instead. He leaves the room and heads towards the kitchen. While he doesn't necessarily need it, the Guardian will occasionally eats normal monster food.
     Nightmare can hear his boys chattering as he leaves. Over the last year, they have all gotten really close and have come so far from the antisocial and crazed monsters Nightmare plucked from awful AUs. Seeing them come together is a tad bittersweet for Nightmare. It reminds him of his twin, Dream. Nightmare was betrayed by the one person he trusted more than anyone or anything. Nightmare can't bring himself to trust like that again. He holds the line of authority between himself and the others. As far as they know, Nightmare still sees them as simple tools to carry out his will. That is how it must be.