RE: NIGHTMARE

CONTENT WARNING This article contains content that may be upsetting or triggering for some readers. Such topics include: Death, torture & physical abuse, and child abuse.
RE: NIGHTMARE, also known as RE-NIGHTMARE or previously NIGHTMARE, is a discontinued webcomic and animated series primarily focusing on Sleepykinq's (aka TWISTED-DOCTOR) original characters, Alfred, Kao, and Mystery.
==History==
===2014-2015===
There was originally a Sonic-based fan comic called 'Nightmare: Unbound Skies' that revolved around Sleepykinq's Sonic OC named Jessy 'Skrillcreeper' The Hedgebot. It also revolved around her ill and drunk father (Jack) and an outdated version of Alfred.
There appear to be other characters, one being Splendorman. He seemed to help Jessy after she woke up from her 5-year coma (which Alfred's torture put her in). Jessy also meets the other Slenderman brothers. The comic was 45 pages (plus 2 cover images and a “bad ending” page) until its deletion.
===2016-2017 ===
The comic was deleted later on and was titled “NIGHTMARE” as it was implied to be a remake of Nightmare: Unbound Skies. It was originally published on DeviantArt (including Facebook), the exact date of both webcomics is unknown, but it was released somewhere around 2015. The last comic pages were released in 2016, then the animated series came out in mid or late 2016, it only had 7 episodes. 
Jessy is not the exact main focus of this story anymore and is likely to be a side character, but showcasing a backstory of hers similar to NIGHTMARE: Unbound Skies. This time, Alfred is the protagonist now, and we are introduced to other characters that take a huge role in the webcomic, that being Sleepykinq's most known characters, Mystery and Kao.
It was criticized and often viewed as 'the worst webcomic/series', as it had a poor introduction to the characters and overall lackluster storytelling, the webcomic was lazily made and lacked effort. On the other hand, the animated series was average at best, and new characters were introduced between some episodes.
After episode 7 was uploaded, Sleepykinq paused RE: NIGHTMARE for a while and figured out what to do with it.
On July 24, 2017, Sleepykinq uploaded on YouTube a video titled “what's the deal with RE-NIGHTMARE?”https://youtu.be/OGCzYQXksV8?si=YFlr7srAUx2DUvJT. He explained he disliked it and the work behind it, stating that the project was now officially canceled. Claiming that he will rewrite it, and start all over again. Sleepykinq decided to private all the animated episodes and took down the webcomic.
===2024===
On February 29th, 2024, episodes 6 and 7 were temporarily public on the playlist 'CANCELLED'. 
Later on March 1st, episode 7's YouTube title was changed to “;-)”, and the description said, “cancelled…?". TWISTED-DOCTOR hinted that a RE: NIGHTMARE finale was coming out in April on his official Instagram account in late March.
On April 1st, TWISTED-DOCTOR uploaded on YouTube a video titled "RE-NIGHTMARE: THE FINAL EPISODE",https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuJOhB-V9VY&t=374s as it was a continuation of episode 7. Another video titled "THE ENTIRETY OF RE-NIGHTMARE, I GUESS..."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwJa6w94Ygc&t=0s was linked in the description, showcasing the entire RE: NIGHTMARE webcomic and the animated series in one video as the description reads "Not my proudest work, but still worth archiving!".
==Plot==
The comic starts with Mystery telling Alfred that he is late for work. Alfred wonders what he should use as a test subject, Mystery tells him 'a child'. Alfred protests slightly, asking Mystery if he's crazy, refusing the idea of wanting to use a child. Mystery becomes frustrated and pulls out a knife, asking Alfred if he's a 'rebel'. He replies by saying no.
Meanwhile, it cuts to Jack being thrown out of the bar, then it shows Jessy waking up in her bed, excited, knowing that today is her birthday. She runs downstairs to her father, Jack, coming home. She runs up to him and mentions that today's her birthday, but Jack tells her to shut up. She attempts to tell him again but gets punched in her left eye. Jessy starts crying as she shouts "Why?!".
On the next page, Shia walks in on Mystery torturing Alfred, and screams out for him. He stands in front of his father mentioning that he will 'save' him. But that didn't last long as Mystery drives a knife straight through Shia, instantly killing him in the process (this scene is later redone in the SUNSHINE PMVhttps://youtu.be/Yqz-sU548xw?si=2KxceUoin6b4xVGK). 
Then we see Shai, Shia's sister, wondering where he currently is right now, coming off as angry. Her mother, Yuki, suggests that he could just be playing hide and seek. We return to Shia dead on the floor. After this, Alfred builds up the courage to stand and charge himself at Mystery, winding his fist back to punch him. Mystery easily catches his fist and possesses Alfred, warning him that if he doesn't want to do the work, he'll do it for him instead.
Kao comes in, not aware of what was happening earlier. He notices that Alfred looks wounded and offers to help him, but he has no idea that he is currently possessed. A small time skip happens when Alfred is given robotic ears. Kao begins to think that he is acting rather 'strange'. 
Alfred vaguely mentions he has to do some 'things' before leaving, ordering Kao to clean up everything as Shia's corpse is seen. Kao's response to the scene is "..Ew..".
Later in the evening, Jessy is still seen at her house, in her bedroom. She looks across the street and notices Shai's house, climbing out of her window as she's determined to visit her. Jessy shouts happily, "Finally! Nothing will hurt me anymore!". Unfortunately, Alfred sees her and approaches her from behind by proceeding to inject Jessy with something to knock her out and kidnap her. Shai eventually witnesses this and desperately runs outside her house to help Jessy, following Alfred. 
It cuts to Jack coming home and reaching out for his beer. The beer poofs into a character known as Beer Boy. He blames Jack for Jessy's disappearance to which Jack gets angry and yells at Beer Boy that it's his fault instead. 
Now we see Jessy, strapped down onto a table. She wakes up and sees Alfred standing over her, asking if she's ready. She manages to free an arm and attempts to hit him but fails. Alfred pulls out an axe and chops off her arm. 
Shai quietly approaches the building that they're in, as Alfred turns on a giant saw and watches it cut into Jessy's body. Shai walks in and immediately sees what's happening, greatly upset. 
Mystery then unpossesses Alfred, he is no longer possessed. While not remembering a single thing, he wonders what happened to his son and Jessy. He snaps back to reality as Shai screams at him, mentioning that she hates him, and interrogates Alfred regarding Jessy on their way home. He assures her nervously that he'll try to do something about it later. Once they got home, Yuki asks Alfred where Shia is. He anxiously tries to finish his sentence by telling her that he's dead. She kicks him out of the house before he can even do so.
Alfred is left alone outside to cry and think to himself. Kao approaches him and offers to let him stay at his place to which Alfred accepts. This causes Kao's nose to bleed in excitement as he fantasizes romantically about him. They both arrive at Kao's house and eventually head to sleep. 
Kao lies in bed remembering all the things Alfred's done for him in life, "Company.. A job.. Love..?". He recalls how everything got bad when HE showed up. When Mystery was first introduced into their lives. That day, he announced that he was their new boss, coming up to Alfred and asking him if his 'best friend' had missed him. The flashback ends. Kao mentions it'd only been two years since he'd known him and was saved by him. Now, it's his time to save Alfred. He slowly falls asleep.
The page switches to Jack in the bar, getting served by Oliver. He goes ahead and hands him a beer but Mystery barges in dramatically. He sits at the counter and orders some 'fish'. Oliver tells him there is no fish on the menu, so Mystery proceeds to bite into Oliver's arm and takes a chunk out. Oliver attempts to shake him off while he's screaming, refusing to give Jack another beer.
Now morning, we see Kao sleeping until he wakes up to someone screaming "THIEF" downstairs. He runs to the room and sees his brother, Howaito, beating Alfred with a book, mistaking him for an intruder. Kao stops Howaito, introducing him as his brother, and introducing Alfred as his 'boyfriend'. He is disgusted. Kao asks Howaito if he can beat up Mystery for him. Howaito doesn't manage to pay attention while reading. Kao gets upset and takes his book. This makes Howaito angry once Kao sees what he is reading and he throws him out of the window, falling next to Alfred. Kao brushes this off and they head over to work after.
At work, Mystery is seen standing outside. He greets the two and Alfred starts to put himself down. Anger takes over him with the impulse of wanting to hurt Mystery, he attempts to attack him. Failing miserably, Mystery pushes Alfred against the wall and holds a knife to his throat. Alfred tells him to do it, but before he can, Mystery orders Alfred to give him the eye of the shinigami. Kao mentions Alfred would never do such a thing when he throws a magic spear through Mystery. He takes it out with no issue and snaps it in half. He runs towards Kao and claws one of his eyes, proceeding to pin him down to the floor. Problematic dialog is later shared between the two characters before Mystery is shot with a tranquilizer by Nya and Neko, as he passes out. Nya is shown to be happy that she gets to keep Mystery 'forever'.
Alfred is confused, Kao later explains to him why he called Nya and Neko. His original plan was to 'kill himself' to save Alfred, but since that didn't happen, Nya and Neko are keeping Mystery away from them at last.
But Alfred thinks otherwise, that it isn't the right thing to do.
We are introduced to a narrator, who refers to himself as Jeremy. It is revealed to be Mystery describing his past. It showcases a flashback where Mystery and Alfred used to be best childhood friends. One day, Jeremy desperately called Alfred to come over and help him, because his dad, Arthur, was trying to hurt him. Alfred rushes to the door to leave but his parents, Emily and Gerald, stop him from doing so, telling him to do his homework and not taking his claims seriously when he mentions he needs to save Jeremy because he's in danger. This causes Alfred to blame himself and think it's his fault that Jeremy is probably dead by now when he notices he isn't answering his calls.
After a few minutes, Jeremy picks up, scarred and torn up. He wonders why Alfred didn't come, and Alfred tells him it was because of his parents. Jeremy says he hates them, while Alfred says he hates them too, sometimes. Jeremy suggests he has an idea and hangs up. 
The next day, Alfred happily comes home from school. But upon opening the door, he drops his books out of shock once walking into a gruesome scene of his parents who were now dead. 
His mother's throat is slit open, and his father has a knife stabbed inside of him. Despite this, Jeremy greets him happily, saying they can now be together forever. Alfred is terrified, but Jeremy mentions he can fix this and that it'll be okay. Alfred knocks Jeremy out in defense. He runs away, hiding behind a bush until nighttime. His uncle, Mike, managed to find him. He takes Alfred with him to live in another city, where he most likely not see Jeremy again.
Jeremy wakes up and goes home, assuming Alfred will return tomorrow. The next day, Jeremy comes back to Alfred's house and finds a note on a table. It reads: "Dear Jeremy, please forgive me, I don't think I can stay here anymore. Please leave ME ALONE - Your best friend" Jeremy starts to tear up, hoping that it's a joke. He threatens suicide if Alfred doesn't come out, but nothing happens. He decides to not take his own life and promises that he can fix everything. He prepares himself to leave and is now ready for his 'adventure', but Arthur shows up, incredibly angry that Jeremy only ever thinks about Alfred, thus making Arthur rip out Jeremy's eye for not wanting to stay with him and burning him alive.
Jeremy appears in a dark void, catching a scythe as it falls onto him. He meets Skull, a shinigami who's supposed to take his soul. Jeremy attempts to take his scythe, injuring Skull in the process of taking out his eye and putting it into his empty eye socket. He woke up again, with a pair of X's on both sides of his hands.
===RE: NIGHTMARE, the animated series===
The animated series picks up where the comic left off. Arthur sees Jeremy and grabs him, wondering how he's still alive when he was supposed to die, threatening him. Jeremy shoves him away and knocks him out. He runs off to go find Alfred, determined to find him. On his journey, it's implied Jeremy was abused by people around him, strangers he'd met while traveling.
There's a time skip where Jeremy is now a teenager. He's sleeping in a trashcan for shelter but is kicked out by someone who was there first. This character's name is Rex, he hopes to know his name and Jeremy replies that it's a 'mystery', implying his name is Mystery now. 
Rex introduces himself, which Mystery thinks his name is meant to be for dogs. Rex notices he's hungry and is willing to take Mystery to the fair to get food. Mystery thanks Rex, but mistakes him as a girl. This makes Rex yell at him and kick him in the face. A few minutes pass, and Mystery wakes up at the sight of Rex crying, apologizing.
He leads Mystery to a carnival to surprise him, his reaction is rather disappointing since he still wants food, and lashes out at Rex because he held his hand without his permission. Once getting closer to the carnival, Rex gets himself distracted upon seeing a pink teddy bear. He tries to win to get it yet fails. Of course, Rex is upset and we are introduced to another character, Henry, who is sleeping. He brings up that he can't give Rex the plush, but Mystery pays little to no mind and shakes him until he gives Rex an undeserved prize. He manages to get him his beloved teddy bear, Rex thanks Mystery for it.
Moving forward, Rex invites Mystery to his house, where they can rest together. Mystery finds him weird for wanting to sleep with someone he doesn't even know. Rex is confused as to why Mystery has to leave so suddenly and explains that he's his only friend. Mystery 'promises' him to come back one day, leaving behind his necklace next to Rex the next morning.
A time skip occurs where it shows Rex, as a narrator, mentioning that he began to wait for Mystery to come back because he trusted him for such a long time until he was an adult, hoping he'd come back, but Mystery never came. 
Some years later, Mystery is seen waking up from 'another' nightmare in an alleyway. He notices Vincent walking by, inquiring him if he knows any details regarding Alfred, showing him a picture of when he was younger. Vincent says he does and mentions he's his boss, but denies Mystery's constant requests to take him with him as he continuously begs. Vincent refuses again and calls Mystery "trash boy", which he takes very seriously. He decides to follow Vincent around and gets a chance to murder him so he can take his clothes. 
Alfred and Kao conversate with each other, wondering where Vincent went because he's never late. Mystery introduces himself and brings up that he's the new boss of the workplace. Alfred is in shock, wondering how he got here, and assumes he must've been dead before.
Mystery comes up to Alfred, asking him if he missed his 'best friend'. Alfred, discomforted, stands up for himself and interrogates Mystery about how is he still alive and how did he find him, he mentions he searched for Alfred for 20 years because that's what 'best friends' do. Alfred begins to shout at Mystery about what he's done. Mystery rushes to hug Alfred, begging to give him the time to fix everything. Alfred refuses to and reminds him about the letter he previously left him, wanting to be left alone, but Mystery isn't willing to. 
Kao interrupts their argument, suggesting that they should just go back to work. Mystery rudely asks him who he is and what he thinks about Alfred, Kao replies by saying that Alfred's a good friend.
Mystery accuses Alfred of replacing him with Kao, so he decides to use his powers to grow out a much bigger arm and punches Kao across the room. He holds Alfred up and tells him to beg for his life until he squeezes him and throws up blood in the process. Alfred mentions he will do anything for Mystery, as long as he doesn't kill him.
They both eventually agree to the deal. Mystery leaves Alfred behind, but Kao wakes up and finds him bleeding, assuring Alfred that he will try to protect him. 
We switch to a scene where Mystery is sitting in a corner somewhere, crying about Alfred not forgiving him. He breaks down and makes sure that he will make him suffer and cry every day like how he did to make him understand what it feels like.
Nya yells at Mystery to wake him up, and he perceives he only had a nightmare this entire time. Nya decides to introduce herself, explaining to Mystery the reason why he's here. Mystery suddenly realizes that he's inside a cell and threatens Nya if she doesn't let him out, although, as he is not able to do anything, he heads back to sleep.
Meanwhile, Alfred is seen at a funeral that appears to be Shia's. Expressing his grief, Kao comes up to tell him that he will always be there for him. Alfred thanks him and mentions he has to get going, Kao hopes he gets better soon and starts to weep, worried for Alfred's well-being.
We return to Mystery waking up again and ask Nya if she has any pillows. While she goes searching for one, he notices Kao and Alfred standing outside of the cell, as they both want an apology from Mystery. Alfred mentions that it's fine, but Kao says otherwise since Mystery can't hurt either of them due to him being in a cage. He then reconsiders and says that an apology would be nice. Mystery gets slightly offended by this but brings up that he's been a disgusting person. He goes on about what he's done to Alfred. Murdering his parents, his boss, and his son, right in front of his very own eyes. Mystery starts to tear up, saying he has 'fucked up' and finally apologizes to Alfred, hoping to give him one last hug.
Alfred finds distrust in him despite his apology, yet tells Mystery that he was his best friend for a reason. He knows deep inside that it's still him and can't wait to see Mystery grow back into the best friend he used to be. 
Mystery promises him that he will. Alfred suggests one last hug for now and asks Neko for permission if he could let him in, but Kao thinks this isn't the best idea while Alfred hesitates, saying it's the least he could do for Mystery.
As he's let inside, he instantly hugs Mystery, mentioning that he did miss him. Mystery brings up how he's sorry again, before having the opportunity to try and pull out a knife on Alfred.
===Plot lines that were only told through animation memes and artwork===
===The torture and death of Glitch and Tenshi===
It's hinted that Mystery kidnapped Glitch and Tenshi in the middle of a forest, as seen in the video "OKAASAN". He tortured Glitch first and then murdered Tenshi in her sleep. Both were resurrected during a ritual performed by Mystery, thus making them become a mix between a demon and an angel.
=== Mystery being sent away to an asylum and his death ===
In the video "LOSING MY MIND| MEME", Mystery has shorter hair and is in a straight jacket. He's seen like this in another video, "RIDE MAP| PART 15". There's also an artwork of Mystery with this exact design where he is drowning to death, most likely in his shinigami form, and is chained up.
==Lost media and the Tumblr purge==
The entire RE: NIGHTMARE webcomic (and 'Nightmare: Unbound Skies') was not properly archived at all after its deletion in 2017, thus making the comic itself harder to find in decent quality for a couple of years.
As for the animated series, there are multiple re-uploads of it on YouTube or alternative video streaming sites.
Despite RE: NIGHTMARE's webcomic being deleted along with the animated episodes, Sleepykinq did not delete any information regarding the series (headcanons, concepts, facts, designs, etc.) on his old Tumblr (sleepy-kinq) up until May 2020 when he decided to change his online alias to TWISTED-DOCTOR.
To this day, the majority of RE: NIGHTMARE content remains lost, and some media is yet to be found. The webcomic and the animated episodes are no longer considered to be lost anymore since TWISTED-DOCTOR has decided to re-upload it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwJa6w94Ygc&t=0s
==Timeline==
There is not a confirmed timeline but it's been implied a couple of times that it takes place around the 2000s, primarily the year 2006.
==Trivia==
* RE: NIGHTMARE's last episode was published on February 28th, 2017.
* Before it got canceled, Sleepykinq wanted to make a storyboard for the series instead.
*Jessy was the main protagonist before RE: NIGHTMARE was published.
*The characters had their very own role-play blogs on Tumblr in 2017, mainly Alfred, Mystery, and Kao.
*RE: NIGHTMARE was most likely never canceled in August 2017.
*Most background music heard in the animated episodes originally comes from Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea OST.
*RE: NIGHTMARE takes place in a town named Treelight.
*It had a RPG game revolving around the main three where you could play as Alfred, titled "Alfred Simulator".
*RE: NIGHTMARE and NIGHTMARE: Unbound Skies are likely to be two separate stories.
==References==