Nightmare's gang was being opposed heavily at the moment, and it wasn't pleasant at all; we didn't have to spread negativity as much, since everybody was negative towards us, but we came home with more injuries than we had in a long time every time we returned. Ink was probably the most empowered by our being opressed, which wasn't good for Cross and me, since we had to fight him. Error helped out when he could, but we were still overpowered almost every time we went out; I hoped it was just a bad time - those didn't last too long. We didn't have too much time for games when we were home, since we had to heal from our battles for longer periods of time than usual, and it was becoming quite a struggle; we would endure, though - we were a family, and our family could get through anything. At the moment, we were in battle once more, and we were once again losing the fight. Cross and I fought hard against Ink, but even without the use of his paint - Papyrus is the best - he was a tough opponent; I believed he had broken one of my arms, but I couldn't think about that at the moment - I had to focus. The battles were getting longer as the opression continued, which only served to weaken us.

Cross was great at fighting, and he was a huge help when it came to fighting Ink; I couldn't have done these battles alone, and he said he couldn't have done them alone either, which meant we were both required. Ten minutes into battle, we were still going strong, yet it didn't seem to make much of a difference with the opposition we were facing. Twenty minutes in, nothing seemed to be changing. Thirty minutes of battle was nothing to us; we could handle that. Forty minutes was pushing it a bit for me and Horror, but the others could pick up a bit of slack for us - we were appreciative of that. When the battle had raged for fifty minutes, I wasn't doing as good as I could have been, but I still pushed on. After sixty minutes of battle, it was obvious that even Killer was getting a bit tired out; it seemed as if Ink was the only one who wasn't. Seventy minutes through this battle, Cross was beginning to sweat, and I was beginning to succumb to exhaustion. What felt like eighty minutes into battle, an unfortunately large crack was heard; that was Cross, and he couldn't stand anymore, leaving me to deal with Ink. When I had believed ninety minutes had passed, I noticed that Horror wasn't doing well, but I couldn't help him; I was running on pure determination, and it was only enough to keep me at half performance.

Ninety-five minutes into battle, Ink began to show signs of tiredness, which strengthened my determination and myself a little. One hundred minutes after the start of the battle, Horror passed out; he surpassed his old record by about an hour. Killer was left alone against the swap brothers, but he could handle them in their tired state; he had the most endurance of anyone here. When the battle had continued for 105 minutes, my determination was wavering; I could hold on, but I didn't know for how much longer. One hundred ten minutes into the heat of battle, Ink looked more tired than I had ever seen him. One hundred fifteen minutes since the beginning of the mini-war, I felt like I was going to be genuinely sick from this. One hundred twenty minutes through the battle, Killer took a devastating blow to the legs and fell; I had to fight the trio. I wished Nightmare could help me; he was looking exhausted as well, fighting his brother. When the time passed reached 125 minutes, my determination was certainly getting a workout; blocking three attackers with one arm was certainly not my favorite thing to do. As the time passed reached a minute count of 130, I felt like I was going to pass out.

One hundred thirty-five minutes into battle, Papyrus was keeping me in the game by redirecting a lot of attacks; he's the best. One hundred forty minutes through the battle, I felt like my legs were going to buckle at any moment; I was blocking attacks with pure instinct from my determination, and I could barely attack. When the time elapsed reached 145 minutes, I heard Nightmare and Dream fall; I only had Paps now, and he was doing amazingl! One hundred fifty minutes after the point at which this battle began, I was down to my last knife, and I believed I had suffered a couple fractures in my skull and already broken arm; I could barely stand, but I had to keep going. One hundred fifty-five minutes after the accursed fight began, I was leaning on a tree to keep myself standing; I had broken a leg. One hundred sixty minutes into battle, I heard a portal open; it sounded glitchy. Before I knew it, my friends had been transported back home, and a portal under me provided an escape; I had to thank Error for that later. Paps quickly followed me through the portal, and we found ourselves at home. As I fell to the ground, I was helped up by the glitchy family member and set on a couch; he sat next to me.

"Sorry I couldn't get there sooner; I'd make an excuse, but I don't think there's really any excuse for this." Error sighed.

"I-it's okay.." I clutched my broken arm. "I'm just glad you d-did come."

"How late was I?"

"P-Paps?" I would have told him, but Paps deserved credit.

"Almost three hours, brother." Papyrus answered. 

"Thanks, Paps, you're th-the best. Paps says almost three hours.."

"Three hours?!" Error was shocked. "How did you manage to stay up that long?! Not that I'm complaining, but that's way past your endurance levels!"

"Determination doesn't c-care about endurance..I'm surprised, too."

"You should probably get some rest; you must be exhausted."

"I would, but i-it hurts t-too much.."

"Agh..I wish I had some way to heal you. Sorry."

"I-it's okay..I might just p-pass out.."

"Well, I'll get Nightmare to look at you once he wakes up."

"The others..need m-more help. I'll be fine."

"Dust, there's a crack in your skull that's a quarter of an inch wide and three inches long; you're not going to tell me that you'll be fine."

"Mmm..good night.."

"Good night, Dust."

After this exchange, I shut my eyesockets and fell asleep, into another dusty nightmare; this soothed me. The battle had worn me out to unhealthy levels, and I wasn't going to be getting up confidently for a while. I was glad that we spread more negativity than we needed to, because I didn't feel like I could do that again if I had to. When the dust of my nightmare passed, I saw the faces of my family, and I smiled.

"Heya, Dusty!" Killer was overjoyed to see me awake; he looked like he was being resigned to crutches for a while.

"How long was I out?" I yawned. 

"Two days." Error replied. "You were really exhausted."

"Real hurt, too." Horror sighed.

"Wh-when is he going t-to heal?" Cross questioned. 

"This could take a while.." Nightmare responded. "I believe I've healed his leg enough to enable movement, but he's going to need to rest his arm for a while. His skull should heal naturally with time. Overall, it wasn't too bad, but it was bad, nonetheless."

"He sure fought long!" Killer complimented. 

"Yes, close to three hours is quite an accomplishment; you should be proud of that, Dust."

"I only lasted because of Paps." I smiled at him. "He fought the hardest."

"Oh, brother!" Paps laughed. "You really should give yourself some credit!"

"Nah, Paps, it was all you. You're the best."

"I say you both fought hard." Error compromised. "In any case, you've surpassed your previous record by more than an hour; that's impressive."

"So, can we play now?" Killer was eager.

"Fine, but keep it relaxed!" Nightmare reminded. "Your legs are less than healed!"

"Don't need legs to play backgammon!"

"All right; I'll go fix a meal; you boys play safe."

"Okay, Dad!" We harmonized; Error laughed at our childishness.

"Let's play!" Killer got a backgammon board from nowhere and set up a game.

We played backgammon for a while in alternating teams, having a ton of fun as we did. Error was the acting referee; I wasn't sure if we really needed a referee for backgammon, but I wouldn't question it. After a few hours of playing, Nightmare came into the room and announced that the food was ready; we were certainly hungry. Killer and Cross didn't bother with walking, since they both had suffered one or more fractures in their legs, and they found it much easier to simply teleport. I, unfortunately, had to walk the way to the dining room, which wasn't that bad, really; my room was close enough, and I could walk without too much help - I had a bit of a limp, but I made it work. When we were all seated at the table, we began to eat our food, engaging in conversation as we did; we were really a family. Our wounds would certainly heal, and we didn't have to go out again for a while, which meant we had time to play games.

My family was happy.

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Dust bean ow.

They shall be children soon, no worries.

Thanks for reading my fighting writing!

Bye!