Nightmare Saga

Nightmare Saga is a ditched, non-canon Permafrost arc that has been instead turned into an au/alternate story. Reason for being ditched was that it didn't fit with the canon storyline.

It focused more on psychological horror that went too deep even for what Permafrost usually did in terms of dark elements, and was supposed to contain a lot of angst.

Overview
The main character of the story is Thorne, who, over the course of the arc, slowly starts turning into a xeno inkling (a variant of inkling made by lesbian-octoling on tumblr). He tries to figure out what is going on, and he is now willing to side with anyone to get out of this place. He does eventually meet more familiar faces (including the other Wave Crashers), but some of them are already too far mutated or just have a little bit of their own will left in them. Thorne eventually finds out that there is a way to wake everyone up, but it's very risky. He ultimately sacrifices himself to let everyone else go, letting everything around him go dark.

It is revealed that everyone was in a coma from grave injuries caused by powerful villains, and that they were all indeed suffering a realistic nightmare. They all wake up in the hospital they were sent to and immediately check up on Thorne, who is still unconscious. Whether or not he survives or suffers worse has not been decided, and character deaths have not been decided either.