The field was bathed in a ghostly silver light, the long grass swaying in a rhythmic, mournful dance. Nightmare sat perfectly still against the trunk of the ancient tree, his dark, goopy form appearing like a hole cut out of the world. Beside him, Error was a frantic mess of flickering pixels and jagged movements.

Error suddenly reached into a glitching rift and pulled out a stack of heavy parchment. He slammed them down onto the grass between them. The adoption papers were official, stamped by a multiversal council, and featured two signatures at the bottom. One was Error’s chaotic scrawl; the other was a perfect, elegant replica of Nightmare’s own handwriting.

Error didn't wait for a reaction. He exploded.

Nightmare didn't speak. He simply tilted his head, his single cyan eye-light tracking the way Error’s hands trembled. He looked at the forged signature, then back at Error. There was no anger in his expression—only a deep, quiet perplexity. To him, the concept of "family" was a tactical weakness, a flicker of positivity that usually tasted like ash. He didn't understand why Error was vibrating with such intensity over a piece of paper.Error paced back and forth, his boots leaving charred, glitched patches in the dirt. He turned back, his sockets leaking tears of liquid data.

Nightmare remained silent. His tentacles drifted lazily behind him, occasionally twitching, but he made no move to defend himself. He watched Error’s breakdown with the clinical curiosity of a scientist watching a star collapse. He felt the ripple of Error's genuine pain—it tasted sharp and metallic—but he couldn't connect it to the "love" Error was mourning. He was confused why Error expected a personification of terror to act like a sentimental mortal.Error stepped back, his form blurring as he prepared to force open a portal.

With a final, violent rip in reality, Error vanished into a shower of red pixels.

Nightmare stayed exactly where he was. He didn't call out. He didn't reach for the papers. He simply watched the spot where Error had been, the silence of the night rushing back in to fill the void. He blinked slowly, his mind trying to process why the absence of Error's chaotic noise felt, for the very first time, like a heavy weight