Still (Y/N)'s POV
"Nightmare!?" I exclaimed fearfully, now seeing that this black liquid was in fact blood. I couldn't see much since I was a fair distance lower than he was, but I was quickly overwhelmed with both worry and curiosity. I firmly grabbed the nearest bar of the cage and began to quickly, yet awkwardly, clamber my way up. It didn't take long for me to reach 'eye level' with Nightmare, and after seeing him I felt sick to my stomach.

He was suspended in the air by a noose around his neck, and yet his eyes remained open as they lifelessly gazed ahead. The left one had a dark orange iris and bright yellow sclera, where as the right's iris was dark pink and the sclera was purple - but both eyes were equally cold and lifeless. He was also no longer wearing a suit, instead he had returned to the ragged and torn clothing he wore before our agreement. There were three knives in his body, one was in the upper back of his right shoulder while the other two were in his left - one in the front and one in the back. He was also bleeding from both his forehead and his scalp, the blood contrasting greatly against his blue hair and red skin. But all of this wasn't the cause of the horror I felt, that came from two other things. The first was the weapon that was impaled through his stomach. It was a katana, and an eerily familiar one at that.

It didn't take me very long to understand that all of his injuries mirrored my own, and as I stared on in horror an incredible pain shot through my head. My mind flashed in and out of some familiar yet unrecognised imagery, the sight of corpse piles and butchered bodies flashed between the view of Nightmare in front of me. My whole body tensed up in agony, and I gripped the bars in my hand tight as I tried my best to brace through the pain. Eventually, after around a minute, the pain began to subside and as I panted heavily I slowly returned my attention to Nightmare's face. I was ready to throw up, since the horror I felt moments ago came back in full as I was reminded that his body was a copy of my own. Then it hit me, a horrific realisation that I couldn't have even began to prepare for. That 'second thing' was staring me in the face. Technically speaking,

I was staring back at my own corpse.

My eyes widened at my realisation, and in my state of shock the grip that I had on the bars loosened. Before I had noticed, I was already in the middle of a speedy descent and even an idiot could tell that I was already a few seconds away from hitting the ground. I fearfully braced for the impact, but after a few seconds nothing happened. Noticing this, my eyes snapped open and I was shocked to see that the area around me had changed. However, I couldn't exactly take in the scenery due to the fact that I was still falling. In a panic, I flailed in the air and reached out in the hopes I could catch myself before I became an imaginary splat. As my right arm extended out, I felt something solid touch my palm and my eyes lit up in hope. I grabbed ahold of whatever it was, and quickly pulled myself closer before I could figure out how close I was to the ground.

As my right hand came into contact, I looked to see that I was now gently swaying several feet in the air. I turned my attention to what I was holding onto, and upon noticing that it was a rope my heart sank. Not even noticing the bars ahead of me, my attention shot straight down. Much to my horror, I now understood that I was swinging on the rope that formed Nightmare's noose just a few feet below me. Without thinking, I inelegantly lowered myself down and within a few seconds I was almost stood on Nightmare's shoulders. I adjusted myself slightly before lowering myself to face him, taking a deep breath in a feeble attempt to prepare myself for the sight I was about to see up close. I held the rope just above the knot before gently lowering my feet, using his hips as a sort of ledge to park a small amount of my weight. I 'crouched' down to be at eye level with him, and my eyes widened in surprise to see that his own had changed. The color scheme was the same as before, however the eyes had seemingly swapped their colors and that certainly didn't go unnoticed.

"Ha!" I exclaimed, a smile making its way onto my face. "I knew you couldn't be dead! Let's get you outta here!" I added, yanking a knife out of his shoulder and using it to saw through the rope. In my excited state however, I didn't think about how we would get down safely. In turn, as I sawed above the knot, I hadn't realised the drop was a fair few feet. The second the rope was roughly half severed, it violently snapped in two and we both quickly fell and hit the bottom of the birdcage. A metallic *CLANG* rang out and my back hit the base of the cell, but I simply chuckled to myself as I stood back up to face Nightmare. As I got to my feet, I saw him semi-raised off the ground by the katana that remained in his stomach. It had penetrated the base of the birdcage, so while his feet touched the ground the rest of him didn't.

I quietly waited for him to do something for a few seconds, before turning my attention to the katana. I wasn't exactly sure what I was seeing, but it looked as if there was a faint white glow outlining the whole sword. This both confused and concerned me, and yet I found myself subconsciously approaching and reaching out for this weapon. As my hands hovered over the hilt, I looked back at the motionless Nightmare and let out a small sigh. "You better have a good explanation for all of this" I mumbled, tightly clutching the katana's hilt. As soon as my hands wrapped around the handle, a burning sensation that stemmed from my palms enveloped my whole body. And it hurt. It really really hurt. I let go almost immediately and jumped back, wincing as I shook my hands in pain. "Shit..." I mumbled, looking at my bandaged hands in bewilderment.

I looked back up to the katana for a moment, only to see that the faint white glow had become somewhat stronger. It was thicker, and seemed like a purer shade of white than before. 'That's...' I thought, stepping closer once again. As I reached my hands around the hilt once again, this aura seemed to expand as they got closer. I slowly moved my hands away and, as I expected, the aura died down as I did. "Weird..." I thought aloud, repeatedly moving my hands closer and further as I watched the aura expand and retract responsively. 'A weapon, shrouded by pure white aura, stabbed through the stomach of a demon...' I thought, stepping to the side and analysing the blade. 'It's almost biblical' I thought, chuckling to myself at the comical scenario.

I stood up straight and hovered my hands besides the katana's hilt once again, taking a deep breath to ready myself. 'Given that he's a literal demon, I don't like the holy irony here' I thought, staring at Nightmare's expressionless face. With my resolve steeled and my mind made up, I put a foot on Nightmare's stomach and gripped onto the sword tight. The burning pain returned in full the very second my hands made contact, but I knew what I had to do. Through gritted teeth and with the maximum amount of effort available, I pushed Nightmare to the ground with my foot whilst I pulled the blade from his stomach. His back hit the ground before I had made any sort of headway with the sword, but the sudden thud of his body seemed to come in handy. The impact seemed to have shaken the weapon slightly, loosening it from the base of the cage.

Despite the agony coursing through every inch of my body, I knew I couldn't let up. I moved my foot from Nightmare's stomach and instead I now had both of my feet planted firmly beside both outer sides of his knees. Upon entering my new stance, my body felt weak but I felt the katana finally begin to move. I let out a yell of exertion, and after using what felt to be the very last bit of my might I finally pried the sword from his abdomen. Once the blade was fully removed, I simply let go and allowed it to be launched behind me from the last of the force I was applying. It let out a shy *tink tink tink* as it bounced across the cage, and the second the noise finished it was replaced by another. I was quickly soaked in Nightmare's black blood, and it spat out of him with such force that it made a similar hissing noise to a pressure hose.

I jumped back to avoid the unpleasantry, but before I could wipe my face I had fallen to my knees. I was initially confused, however I was quickly caught up to speed when I felt a stabbing pain running straight through my stomach. "Fuck..." I muttered weakly, using my right hand to apply pressure to where I felt the pain. I quickly used my left sleeve to wipe the blood off of my face, and as I looked down I saw that I was bleeding. 'Did my cut open from all the tension?' I wondered, the burning pain from the katana now subsiding. 'Not like that matters' I thought, chuckling to myself a little. I wiped the remaining blood from my eyes before looking back to Nightmare, we were now a good few feet apart but due to my injury I didn't feel the need to rush over to him just yet.

I looked up to see how he was doing, and when I saw him my expression dropped immediately. He was now stood up, but he was also hunched forward a little as he stared at me. His arms dangled freely in front of him, much like the noose that still hung around his neck like a necklace. There was a gruesome squelching that rang out as his wounds swiftly closed themselves, a cringeworthy sound that was only amplified as the knives that were still embedded in his shoulders had their blades snapped as his body healed through them. I looked to his eyes, which were still as cold and lifeless as they were when he was strung up. But despite all of this, what concerned me most was his smile. Or lack thereof. I quickly racked my brain, and it occurred to me that the only time he wasn't smiling was when he lost the upper hand in a fight. Even then, it became a frown. But now his face was as expressionless as his eyes, and something about that was a cause for concern.

"Nightmare?" I asked weakly. "You doing alright?" I asked, shakily rising to my feet. He remained silent and unmoving, only following me with his eyes. "Hell of a wake up call, eh?" I joked, hoping to offset the looming feelings of fear and dread that I felt. Once again, he remained silent. "Are you... doing alright, buddy?" I asked, genuinely concerned. "I pulled that sword out of you with the hopes you'd come back, you've been 'gone' for almost a day and I was starting to get worried" I explained, shifting to the side and pointing at the weapon in question. His eyes slowly shifted from me, to the katana, and then back to me - his blank expression unchanging. "I assume it has some significance?" I asked, taking a single step forward. As my foot hit the ground, Nightmare's entire demeanour had shifted. His posture had changed so he was now stood upright, but what concerned me the most was the fact that I didn't see him do so much as twitch.

I froze for a second, unsure of what was occurring before me. 'That's... different' I thought, eyeing Nightmare up and down. 'Something's wrong... again' I noted, planning my next move carefully. Admittedly more curious than cautious, I wondered what his next move would be if I repeated my last. Unbeknownst to me, such a small movement spelled big trouble. After my foot was replanted, Nightmare had suddenly appeared in front of me. His eyes were so wide that it looked as if his eyelids were glued open, and he was less than an inch away from my face. His cold and lifeless stare shook me to my core, and as a reaction I quickly jumped back and raised my guard. After I regained my balance, I lowered my fists slightly so I could have a clearer view of Nightmare's new 'state'. Much to my dismay however, he had up and vanished.

I quickly span around in search of him, and as I looked behind me I was met with his cold gaze once more. I jumped away again, but this time keeping focus on him as opposed to raising my guard. He was about six feet off of the ground, gripping onto the bars as he sat effectively crouched on top of them. His expression remained blank and unmoving, but this truthfully put me more on edge than any of the hate-fuelled clashes that we shared. "What's gotten into you!?" I yelled, noticing that despite his clear advantage he was yet to attack. He tilted his head slightly in confusion, and at this point I wasn't sure if that could be considered progress or not. But it was something, and I was confident that pushing further could lead to what I was after.

"You got a screw loose or something!?" I yelled, stomping my foot for dramatic emphasis. He remained unmoving once again, his head still tilted as he stayed stuck to the wall. "I've had it up to here with your bullshit!" I yelled, holding my hand all the way up as my tone was unintentionally laced with some demonic emphasis. 'Well that's a start' I noted, watching Nightmare still remain in place. "You gonna explain yourself, jackass!?" I yelled, changing my stance slightly. My eyes soon widened in panic, since the very second my foot had moved he'd vanished from view again. I quickly whipped around and was met with his wide gaze again, our eyes only an inch away from one another. Realising words would no longer work, I decided action was the next best decision.

In the same way someone would face a wild animal, I decided to hold my ground. I turned my whole body to face him straight on, and I widened my eyes to stare into his. The silence and the closeness made me feel somewhat awkward, but that feeling was soon offset as I took a deeper look into his pupils. They remained black, but as I stared into them I felt a wave of mental fatigue building in my mind. I heard the fearful screams and the pained cries of women and children, accompanied by the crackling of fire and the booming of thunder. The war cries of soldiers echoed in my mind, and their screams of agony soon followed. I held my head in pain, quickly stepping away from Nightmare who remained the unmoving. My breath quickened as faint imagery overtook my vision, seemingly accompanying the sounds I just heard as they began to replay.

I saw villages up in blue flames, charred corpses littering the streets as a storm raged above. I raised my hands to hide the horrors I saw, only to see my hands unbandaged and soaked in the blood of the innocent. The rain of the storm clouds above did nothing to wash it off and, as thunder distantly boomed and the flaming huts crackled, my vision changed again. My perspective was thrown between numerous battlefields simultaneously, and I was in the shoes of a soldier every time. I felt comrades die in my arms, I watched enemies die by my hand and I watched as innocent lives were taken. Be it by me, or my enemy at the time. I experienced both modern and ancient weapons of war in my hands, and I watched on in horror as I was forced to coat them in blood.

I felt tears well up in my eyes before the imagery began to finally fade, leaving me stood three feet away from Nightmare once again. I began to panic once again, frantically looking around as my skyrocketing heart rate echoed in my ears. After a moment, my breathing began to slow and I began to collect myself. Not wanting to think about it, I forced myself back into the situation at hand. I looked to Nightmare, who remained unmoving and unemotional, and as my gaze fell upon his gently swaying noose my soul screamed out to for me to run. I began to hyperventilate once again, and after taking a few steps back I turned away. I sprinted over the the edge of the cage, now stood beside the katana I had torn from Nightmare. I gripped onto the bars tight and, with tears in my eyes, I looked over my shoulder to see Nightmare had remained in place this time. With nothing else on my mind other than fear, I turned back to the lashing flames of the arena and screamed out in terror. "Zalga! Please help me!" I cried fearfully.

"...ZaL... gA?"