Brush your teeth before you cross the road

Beatific = extremely happy and peaceful

Desolation = great unhappiness or loneliness

Rueful = expressing sorrow or regret

. . .

Heh, this is probably the least beatific oneshot of them all.

Enjoy =)

---

Sometimes Dream and Nightmare got into pointless arguments. They never physically hurt one another but occasionally there was a bit of damage done emotionally- for example last month when the two were arguing about who would choose what to watch on the television. That ended up with Dream running upstairs into his bedroom, crying for almost an hour. Or this other time when they were both arguing about who was the better brother. That ended up with Nightmare becoming distressed because Dream refused to believe that he was the better brother, yet Dream insisted that Nightmare was better.

The arguments were never that bad and usually the two would either just forget that it ever happened or apologise and go about their day.

But this time, their arguing had gotten out of hand.

The day had started normal enough, birds were singing, flowers were blooming- perfect weather to play outside. Of course, that's what Dream and Nightmare were doing, playing outside in the tall grass laughing and giggling as they played their favourite game, Tag.

"You will never catch me!" Dream proclaimed with a beatific expression. Nightmare chuckled at the statement, rolling his eyes playfully. He was much faster than Dream was however he liked to see Dream proud of himself for beating him at pretty much every game they played therefore he'd let Dream outrun him.

Nightmare continued to chase after Dream, gradually becoming tired. He stopped momentarily, watching as Dream continued to run. He may have been faster, but Dream definitely had more stamina than him. Nightmare decided to end the game by teleporting in front of Dream, yelling "boo!" to surprise him and capture him in a hug. Dream squeaked in surprise, pulling away to glare at the grinning Nightmare.

"You can't do that, that's cheating." Dream mumbled. Nightmare chuckled again, releasing Dream and stepping back to look at him with a lazy smile. "I can do anything."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can."

"No you can't."

"Name one thing I cannot do." Nightmare huffed, folding his arms and glaring playfully at Dream.

Dream hummed thoughtfully. "You can't outrun me!" He chimed.

Nightmare exhaled, glancing sideways as he answered "I suppose you're right."

Dream giggled in a child-like manner. "You also can't make your eyes go starry!"

"I suppose you're ri-"

"You can't draw as well as me either!"

Nightmare frowned slightly and looked downwards. "I didn't ask you to give me a list of things I can't do..." He mumbled.

Dream noticed the slight hurt that flashed in Nightmare's eyes and instantly felt bad. "Oh, I'm sorry!" He apologised, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Nightmare glanced back at Dream and gave him a small, reassuring smile.

"It's okay." He replied.

Dream visibly relaxed when he heard Nightmare's answer, glad he hadn't upset him.

"Well, what should we do now?" Dream asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.

Nightmare shrugged, glancing upwards at the sky that had started to become dull and clouded.

"Do you want to go inside? It looks like it might rain." Nightmare asked, meeting Dream's gaze again.

"Okay- we can do some drawing!" Dream suggested, his eyes sparkling with excitement. Nightmare smiled at this and nodded softly.

"Yeah, okay. Let's do some drawing." He mumbled, turning to head back to the house. Dream cheered, running ahead of Nightmare. Nightmare chuckled quietly, following after Dream.

Dream gracefully kicked the back door open, entering the house and rushing towards his bedroom, presumably to get some art supplies. Nightmare inwardly sighed, entering the house and closing the door gently behind him. Poor door. 

Nightmare headed towards the living room, approaching the couch and flopping onto it, groaning tiredly. He hadn't been to sleep in two whole hours. You probably think that that's not so bad, but when you only get around three to four hours of sleep then it's a pretty big deal. Nightmare closed his eye-sockets, wanting nothing more but to rest now. He felt calm.

"Brother! I got the coloured pencils and paper!" Dream announced, jumping down the stairs and bounding into the living room energetically with starry eyes. Nightmare sighed, reopening his eyes and sitting up to stare at Dream. If it were any other person then Nightmare would not have thought twice about completely ignoring them and going to sleep, alas, this was his brother, Dream, and he loved his brother too much to do that. Instead, Nightmare gave Dream a lazy smile.

"Okay, let's do some drawing then." He mumbled, yawning and stretching his arms. Dream cheered happily, grabbing Nightmare's hand and dragging him down onto the ground. Nightmare yelped slightly in surprise at the sudden action and Dream giggled. "It'll be easier to draw on the ground than on the couch!" He stated. Nightmare recollected himself and nodded slightly. 

The two made themselves comfortable before they began to draw. Dream crudely scribbled three- no, four figures in different colours. One was yellow, one was blue, one was brown and one was dark purple. 

Nightmare began to draw in an intricate way, careful to make sure all the lines were smooth. However, Nightmare was tired and drawing carefully proved difficult.

Dream giggled slightly as he began to add colour to his masterpiece, not caring too much about how he went over the pre-drawn lines. He coloured one of the figures blue and grey, another one teal and yellow, another one brown and a darker variant of brown and the last one purple and yellow.

Nightmare soon finished creating the line art of his drawing. Some of the lines were a little wobbly however it didn't look too bad. Yet Nightmare still frowned down at his drawing, not satisfied with it. He released a loud yawn, his tiredness increasing.

Dream glanced at Nightmare momentarily.

"Don't fall asleep, Night!" Dream huffed, folding his arms and unaware about how little sleep Nightmare has been getting recently.

Nightmare met Dreams gaze and mumbled something incoherent.

"What?" Dream asked, dumbfounded.

Nightmare released a slightly irritated sigh. "I'm tired, Dream."

"But night time is for sleep, not day!" Dream obnoxiously stated.

Nightmare's eye twitched slightly and his eyes narrowed.

"Well maybe I don't like sleeping through the night. Maybe I enjoy being awake at night."

"But it's dark at night, and day time is pretty!"

"Night time is pretty!" Nightmare growled, startling Dream slightly.

"In fact, night time is a lot better than day time because it's the only peaceful time there is for me!" He ranted, glaring at Dream.

Dream stared wide-eyed at Nightmare, feeling intimidated. He remained quiet before having the courage to say one last thing.

"B-But... Day time is more welcoming..." 

Nightmare stood up, glowering at Dream who trembled slightly at the glare.

"Day time is the worst time because it's when you're awake and I have to deal with you for ages!" Nightmare snapped without processing what he was saying.

Dreams breathing hitched and his eye-lights vanished, leaving blank, empty eye-sockets. Tears welled up in the corners and he whimpered, trembling even more. He didn't mean that... right?

Nightmare's eyes suddenly widened as he realised what he had said, covering his mouth with his hand and staring at Dream with a regretful expression.

"D-Dream, wait, I d-didn't mean- DREAM!" Nightmare cried out as Dream pushed past him, running out of the house and crying hysterically.

Nightmare gulped, shaking. What had he done?

---

Dream ran. He didn't know where he was going as his vision was blurred by the overwhelming amount of tears that built up in his eye-sockets, dribbling down his cheeks like waterfalls. He seemed to be in some kind of forest area, running past trees and tripping every now and then over rocks he barely had time to register.

He wheezed, coming to a halt as he noticed a familiar setting come into view. He had somehow found his way to the lake him and Nightmare had visited in the past. Dream staggered towards it before breaking down and collapsing to the ground in front of the beautiful lake, hugging his knees to his chest and releasing a strangled cry of choked desolation.

"W-Why would he s-say something l-like that..?" He stammered, sniffling and hiccuping as he sobbed uncontrollably.

Dream looked down into the pristine waters of the lake with bleary vision. His eye-lights were back however they were dull and lacked their usual golden-yellow tint.

"I-I should've just k-kept my m-mouth shut.." He whimpered dejectedly, voice wavering.

---

Nightmare stood frozen in place, his hands were shaking and he was blankly staring forwards, breathing heavily. His mind was racing- his thoughts loud and deafening as he desperately tried to calm himself. He began to take deep breaths as best as he could, gradually easing his mind. After a few more moments of trying to calm himself, he released a rueful sigh, closing his eyes momentarily before reopening them and quickly rushing out of the house to find Dream.

---

Dream released a tormented cry. He had been weeping continuously for a while now and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the tears to stop flowing. It was frustrating to say the least.

"W-Why can't I j-just d-do something r-right..!" Dream wailed, glaring down at his reflection that glared back at him from the pristine waters. "T-This is all y-your fault..!" He exclaimed, grabbing a nearby rock with twitching hands and throwing it at the reflection, distorting it. He emitted a noise of distress, closing his eyes tightly and clenching his teeth to try and muffle the wretched, unhappy noises he was making.

Dream remained there, cowering and shaking like a leaf, all the while endless tears streaming down his cheeks.

---

Nightmare checked everywhere. He checked the tall grass, he checked The Tree Of Feelings, hell he even checked the village where he received dirty looks from the villagers. He didn't care about that though, all he cared about was finding his brother. 

Nightmare sighed, leaving the village and beginning to walk aimlessly. He didn't know where to look and this whole situation was making him tear up. 

"Where are you, Dream..?" Nightmare whimpered, a stray tear rolling down his cheek as he surveyed the area. It was beginning to become dull and cloudy, and as Nightmare had earlier predicted, it had begun to rain. The wind was howling dismally, an unsettled breeze causing the leaves and branches of trees to sway and waver in distress. Nightmare shivered from the harsh, cold air, hugging himself to try and keep himself relatively warm. Taking in a deep breath, Nightmare began to tread forwards, heading towards the lake that him and Dream had visited together. It was the only place he felt would help ease his distressed mind. 

---

It had taken some time, but Dream had progressively managed to soothe himself. The once endless tears had almost come to a stop, though there was the occasional tear that escaped. He was still shaking and hugging his knees, peering into the lake with a distant look.

Droplets of rain gently pelted Dream as they descended from the darkened sky however they had no affect on him. Dream didn't bat an eye as the raindrops trickled down his skull and dampened his clothes.

He was beginning to regret running away so suddenly, wanting nothing more but to be back at home with Nightmare, laughing and joking around like they usually did. Or maybe even sat reading a book together- or building a pillow fort or simply sat together watching television. Hell, all he wanted was to be in the presence of his beloved brother.

Dream sniffled, closing his eyes momentarily as his mind lingered on the blissful thoughts before reopening them again and gazing into the lake wistfully.

The slight rustle of leaves caused Dream to perk up, shifting slightly so that he could see behind him and peer into the eerily dark narrowing of trees where the dirt path was. Despite the slight difficulty in seeing past the shadows of the trees, Dream could scarcely make out the outline of a figure standing there, most likely staring at him.

Nervously, Dream wiped away the tears that had built up in his eye-sockets, squinting faintly to try and see better.

"I-Is s-someone there..?" Dream stammered meekly, sniffling once again. When he received no response, he started to doubt his vision and wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him.  Yet he proceeded to call out to the darkness.

"H-Hello..?" He stammered, voice barely audible.

Slowly, the shadowed figure edged forwards before breaking out into a sprint and running towards Dream.

Dream squeaked, closing his eyes tightly and preparing for impact however he was not expecting the shadowed figure to embrace him firmly.

Confused and shaken, Dream opened his eyes and leaned back from the hug so that he could see who it was. His pupils widened and his breathing hitched as he was met with Nightmare, an expression of sorrow, despair and relief showing.

Nightmare had tears pooling out of his eyes in an unbroken stream, gazing at Dream and unable to express the overwhelming sadness he felt as well as the relief he had for finding his brother. All that he was able to say was "I'm sorry" before breaking down and crying hysterically, hugging Dream close again.

Dream couldn't prevent the build up of tears once again forming and he clenched his teeth to stop himself from releasing a choked cry, wrapping his arms around Nightmare and burying his face in his shoulder.

The duo remained like that for a while, not speaking a word and instead just releasing all of their pain through sobs and small whimpers.

"I'm so s-sorry..." Nightmare quietly repeated after some time had passed. Dream half opened his eyes, pulling away so that he could look at Nightmare.

"...Why are you sorry?" Dream asked softly, glancing downwards at the ground momentarily.

"F-For what I said!" He cried out in frustration, noting the startled look on Dream and sighing, glancing sideways. "I-I'm sorry, I just... I feel h-horrible, I shouldn't have s-said what I did."

Dream's frown deepened. "It was my fault you said it, I shouldn't have kept on provoking you like I did... I really am irritating aren't I?" His voice cracked, letting out a sad laugh.

"No you are not!" Nightmare exclaimed, re-positioning his arms so that he was holding Dream's shoulders firmly, causing Dream to stare at Nightmare.

"Dream you mean so much to me- I don't ever want to hear you say something like that again!"

"But I-"

"But nothing! You are not irritating- you are the only positive aspect I have in my life and I could never replace you in any way. Hell, if you were gone then I don't know what I'd do! You are a ray of sunshine Dream and I'm just a problematic grey cloud that's preventing you from further spreading your light... I don't know why you put up with m-me." Nightmare trailed off with a look of sadness reflected in his downcast eyes.

"Because I love you, Nightmare!" Dream cried out, fresh tears dripping down as he hugged Nightmare again, burying his face in his chest.

"I love you too, Dream... I love you too." Nightmare mumbled softly, closing his eyes momentarily.

"I'm s-sorry..!" Dream sobbed, dampening Nightmare's already wet shirt from the rain. 

"I'm sorry as well." Nightmare replied, sniffling slightly. He hated seeing and hearing his brother cry like this.

"How about we go home and forget about all this?" Nightmare suggested quietly, opening his eyes again and glancing upwards at the dark, tearful sky.

"I-I'd like that.." Dream mumbled, sniffling.

"We can do some drawing when we get home as well if you want." Nightmare mumbled, looking down at Dream.

Dream looked up at Nightmare, frowning still. He could see the tiredness on his brothers face and puffed out his cheeks.

"No. You are tired therefore I need you to sleep!" 

"But... It's day time, day time's not for sleeping." Nightmare mused, recalling their argument.

Dream blinked before frowning sadly, remembering the argument as well. Nightmare's eyes widened slightly at the sudden change in Dream's expression and smiled sheepishly. 

"Ah, sorry... I didn't think that through." Nightmare muttered apologetically.

"It's fine..." Dream replied, offering a small, reassuring smile. "Let's just go home.."

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Nightmare replied, giving a small smile back in return. Nightmare pulled away from the hug and offered his hand for Dream to take. Dream grinned and grabbed Nightmare's hand, and together the two began to walk away from the lake hand in hand towards their home.

---End----

This took me two weeks to write. I usually don't have trouble writing sad stories yet this was so difficult for me to write. If the same happens in future oneshot(s) then I may have to not do what I initially had planned for the end of this oneshot book.