Nems ponders, thinking back to a couple days ago, when he first brought it up with Ink. All he wanted was to investigate what was going on with AUs that were in danger of disappearing. As each week went on, the books in his library decreased, which is a reasonable cause for concern⌠Where are these AUs going? Why are they disappearing? Whoâ
âWell you canât do that alone.â Ink replied, crossing his arms as he stared at the books on one of the shelves.Â
âuh⌠why? is it that dangerous?â
Ink smirked at him in Ink-fashion, âYeah! I canât risk another one of my most precious partnerships dying too!â
Partnerships? Too? Was he just a co-worker to him?
âbut i gotta know whatâs going on.â
Inkâs eyelights lingered on Nemsâ face for a while as they stared at each other in silence.Â
â...Iâll tell you what, you can go investigate, oooonly if you go with someone.â
Nems had a bad feelingâŚ
âplease donât tell me itâsâŚâ
âHereâs to our first mission together!!!â
Loud and pretentious as he is, Trickster loudly commemorates as confetti shoots everywhere, some landing on Nemsâ skull.Â
Here they are, on some random mountainside forest they had just stepped foot in 3 seconds ago, and this guyâs already getting on his nerves. Nems stares at Trickster holding a now empty confetti cannon. Where does he even keep those?
Trickster laughs at his face, âCâmon, whereâs your whimsy? Your sense of wonder??? Youâre gonna get older if you donât smile, ever heard of that?â
âever heard of being quiet? stealthy?â Nems says with a scowl. âfor all we know, we could be in enemy territoryââ
Trickster hits his shoulder, cutting him off. âPshhhhhh chillax, you worry too much!â
Nems rubs his shoulder, looking away from him. Heâs clearly holding back his annoyance. Whatâs with this dynamic? Is he supposed to watch over this guy? Heâs a loose cannon!
â...why the hell did Ink pair us up again?â
Trickster smiles at Nemsâ question like he was gonna ask the same thing. âAww⌠do you not like little olâ me?â
âdo i have to answer that?â
âWell, youâll be happy to know that I donât agree with this arrangement either! Whyâd I get paired up with a boring guy like you?â
Why did Ink think this was a good idea?
âthe guy that broke into my library??????â Nems stood up from his seat, not even trying to hide his concern (and vexation.)
Ink laughed up a storm, âYeah!!! That guy! Heâs really not a bad guy, and plus⌠heâs knowledgeable.â
What, the guy who kept shooting confetti and blowing party horns in his library without so much as a Hi??? He basically broke into his house. He tried searching the library for anything that came remotely close to this guy, but got nothing.
Well, all that was important to Nems was that he was the only way he could get out there. Which brings him to the present. Now standing right in front of Trickster, covered in confetti. Joy.
Heâll just file a complaint letter later, one that Ink wouldnât read anyway. But then again, when has Ink ever listened to anyone?Â
Trickster starts walking ahead of him without looking back, his cloak flowing with the wind. Nems follows in uncomfortable silence.
Tricksterâs surprising silence and swiftness while passing through this forest isnât what he wouldâve expected⌠and itâs getting awkward. It isnât until several minutes pass when Nems decides to finally start up a conversation.Â
âink said there are signs of corruption here; objects disappearing, people missing⌠checks all the boxes. same stuff was happening in all the other universes that disappeared.â
Nems notices Trickster kicking several rocks, getting distracted by small branches on the dirt still ahead of him. Is he even listening?
âink also said that this is the first big pacifist timeline that virus is coming for.â
So far, this âvirusâ had only been going after smaller AUs, feeding on them to grow its power. Could it be that itâs gained enough strength to chase after bigger spoils? How much does Trickster know about this?
Itâs then when suddenly a low-pitched rumble, discernible from behind one of the trees, stops both skeletons in their tracks.
Corrupted, glitched, unrecognizable⌠A slouched over monster slowly approaches them. Itâs like a zombie straight out of a video game, except itâs probably not after their brains. No, it's after something else, something that must be connected to that virus. Is this person trying to talk to them? It quickly becomes apparent that it wonât be a pleasant conversation.
Nems steps forward towards them, those questions repeatedly playing in his head. Can it be that they can establish some sort of connection with it? âuh, heyââ
That is when Trickster comes up from behind the entity and slashes it in half with ease, giving no time to even let Nems see the weapon. The entity falls onto the dirt, the top half of its body still reaching its arm to Trickster, grabbing the fluffy end of his cloak. Its rumbling noises continue unsettlingly. Trickster steps his sharp heel into its back, pressing against it until it stops moving. The glitches, seemingly âmeltingâ from it, flow upward into the sky. Itâs dying. Wait. Shit. Itâs dying!
âwhyâd you kill it so fast? what even is it?!â Nems inveighs, âwe couldâve saved themâŚâ
And maybe it had useful information.
Trickster looks at Nems, his expression hidden under his hood as always.
âRiiight right, this is your first time seeing something like this!â he says condescendingly. âYouâve only witnessed these AUs after they get eatenâŚâ
Trickster steps off the body, the last remaining pieces of it dissipating into the atmosphere. âTheyâre called doppels. People become those when they get corrupted. The one we just saw⌠These types arenât people anymore. Whoever they were, theyâre long gone.â
Thatâs when reality hits. These worlds arenât only disappearingâŚ
Theyâre getting consumed from the inside out. And yet why does he sound like he doesnât have a care in the world? Heâs saying it like itâs normal that these people are getting turned into zombies. Itâs infuriating.Â
âŚIs what heâs saying even true? For all he could know, he couldâve just killed a person.Â
âWhatcha lookinâ at?â Trickster crosses his arms, noticing Nemsâ apparent disdain. Even so, Trickster keeps that stupid smile on his face.Â
Nems clears his throat, âi see now why Ink is so interested in you.â
Silence follows the odd exchange.Â
They continue walking, sunlight leaking through the leaves and hitting their skulls. For Nems, it has been a while since he last felt that warmth. For Trickster⌠who knows where heâs been. Itâs been a long time since Nems has had so much trouble reading someoneâs visage, not like he makes it easy. But heâll put that aside for now. Theyâre finally reaching the end of the forest, to find a cliff thatâs overlooking a city.
They stand over the precipice as the rising sun paints the city in shades of fiery orange. Now then, what do you have in store this time, Underfell?