DragonCat

Lanny stood there for what felt like hours, a mixture of rage, betrayal and heartbreak pooling within her when suddenly Knile spoke up

’I can’t believe he’d come over here and take them like that, Marigold I understand but the outcode— Shut up’ Lanny interrupted coldly

’This… This is your fault, he would’ve understood if she was already dead but because your failure as a warden my own apprentice is going to take their side!’ Lanny raised her voice

’What are you saying? It’s clearly the guards fault!’ Knile responded sounding offended 

Lanny clinched her fists tightly as she began hearing a sharp ringing from inside her head due to the sheer amount of anger she was feeling

’And they’ll be punished accordingly, you however should’ve seen this coming, I don’t care how but you should’ve! And now some elves will have to become permanently mortal just so I can power the barrier!’ Lanny shouted

‘No it was the Qalupalik who failed! I did everything right, please now you’re acting like Cúis with how loudly you’re shouting, do you really want to be like him?’ Knile responded

’Like Cúis…?’ Lanny said as she briefly remembered being shoved to the ground into a puddle of mud by Cúis as he and his two monster lackeys laughed

’Wow I can’t believe that you’re a guardian of magic, I mean look at you… you look like a blueberry!’ Cúis had said before she tried using her decretive wings to block another punch only to receive a black eye.

further dissociating Lanny then remembered threatening to tell Quetzalcoatl how he was acting only for them to laugh harder 

‘And who will he believe? me, or the pompous ugly blue elf who calls monsters lesser beings simply because two of them are a bit rude?’ he had said before he and his lackey’s finally left her alone, later that day Nim had come to visit her on her side of Sapios, although the guardian of feelings didn’t share the same views of humans and monsters she did view all mortals as greedy and/or foolish to some extent, Lanny had always viewed Nim as a mother figure with her being the oldest out of the three guardians 

‘Who was it this time?’ Nim had asked 

‘Cúis, Rex and Oni… they started it! All because I told Rex and Oni that monsters shouldn’t even be allowed to use magic because they wouldn’t be quiet while I was taking a nap that one time…… I don’t even know why Cúis cares, I never said anything to him’ Lanny had responded as she hugged her knees 

’He thinks you’re an easy target, you mustn’t take it to heart mortals are practically children, he’s just a foolish human who treats others like tools’ Nim had said with a sigh 

‘Don’t worry though I’ll talk with Quetzalcoatl about keeping Cúis away from your tree but you must also promise not to discriminate against monsters and humans’ Nim had added kindly brushing Lanny’s hair with her hand

’You're I brave girl and I know you’re stronger than you know, kinder even… just don’t become the monster they fear alright?’ Nim had added lovingly.

The day after though was when Rex and Oni had shown up by themselves looking smug

’What do you two want?’ Lanny had said 

’nothing, we just thought this spot would make a good place to play catch- Oops!’ Rex had said pretending to accidentally throw the ball in the direction of the tree 

‘Hey! Watch it!’ Lanny had responded angrily as she deflected the ball only for Oni to hit it back this time hitting her directly in the chest and causing her to stumble back 

’I SAID BACK OFF!!’ Lanny had yelled firing a wave of magic that she had meant to be completely harmless, but when it hit the two it had sliced completely through them, their bodies hadn’t even hit the earth before they began disintegrating into dust and it wasn’t long before the guardian of the tree of life, Quetzalcoatl came over and confronted her

‘You’re lucky I don’t have the heart to tell Nim what you’ve done’ he had said visibly holding back his anger 

‘It was an accident! And they started it, if they hadn’t thrown that ball I wouldn’t have—‘ Lanny’s voice had caught in her throat 

‘I don’t care if it was an accident!’ Quetzalcoatl responded raising his voice before sighing as the two headed snake guardian stared down at her with both his heads, Lanny could see a mixture of pity and fear behind his eyes which were contorted into a disapproving glare, sighing Quetzalcoatl spoke up again 

‘I’ll leave you alone for now to think about what just happened…’ he had said.

Finally snapping back into reality Lanny stared Knile down hatefully 

’You think I’m like that son of a bitch?! I was going to just banish you to Sapios but now…’ Lanny growled

’Now you can go straight to Mythos, or live on a boat the rest of your life, see if I care’ Lanny spat angrily 

’But I’ll die there!’ Knile pleaded 

’That isn’t my problem… you have til tomorrow morning to pack up and leave’ she said

’W-Wait! Please reconsider! What if I help find a new alternative to the barrier issue? I’m sure we could use any remaining monsters or even misbehaving elves this time’ Knile offered

’SHUT UP! I DON’T FUCKING CARE KNILE AND IF YOU AREN'T GONE BY DAWN I’LL SEND YOU THERE MYSELF!’ Lanny screamed at the top of her lungs which seemed to shut him up for now.

(Waxwing’s pov)

When they finally returned to the island to regroup with the others Waxwing practically tackled Dust who was helping Blue, Color and Cross look for any outcodes or prisoners that were still hiding or trapped, they also made sure to evacuate any elves they could find after all if any of the crueler ones tried to sneak to the pocket dimension with the other elves their were plenty of outcodes who could testify against them

’So what happened with Error, and is he alright?’ Dream asked Blue as they finally entered the last building 

’He’s safe, they were keeping him unconscious but he went back to the anti void after I bribed him with chocolate and reminded him that he destroys the tree of magic he’ll be stranded here’ Blue responded as Marigold seemed to zone out 

’Hey don’t let her get to you, Lanny is like that to everyone… besides I think those scales look pretty cool!’ Blue said to her 

‘Huh! Oh thanks, and sorry again for kidnapping your friends’ she responded 

’It’s okay, it’s still better than being kidnapped by Corrupted, he doesn’t even like cats’ Waxwing said 

‘Neither does Lanny but I’m guessing Corrupted is a bit more violent towards them’ Marigold responded

‘I guess you could say that…’ Waxwing said as she and Dust both exchanged a look as she remembered Horror telling her when she was seven or eight about how Killer adopted two cats only for Corrupted to murder them and serve them to the three of them before revealing what they’d been eating, Horror had told her this as a warning about why she and Passive should always be on high alert to avoid Corrupted finding out the two of them were talking for extended periods of time.

As the six of them walked through the empty building they eventually came across the one testing room Waxwing heard someone screaming in earlier

Opening the door Dream suddenly took a step back his eyes growing wide with shock as he stared at the gaster variant immobilized in the middle of the room covered in his own blood and various injuries in different stages of healing 

’oh, it’s you…’ Cross muttered underneath his breath as they all entered the room 

on the far wall Waxwing spotted a filing cabinet next to a desk and out of curiosity she opened up one of the drawers and took out a piece of paper before gagging as she read the words on the paper 

’Waxwing? What’s wrong?’ Dream said as he and Marigold rushed over to check on her while Cross approached XGaster with Blue and Color right behind him 

‘What the hell……’ Dream said gripping a paper that detailed the use of searing hot thumbscrews that had been stabbed into XGaster’s fingers and removed only when he answered a question correctly

Cross poked XGaster in his chest to try and get his attention but he barely reacted

’I-I’m sorry I didn’t even know this was happening’ Marigold said looking like she was about to throw up

’It’s okay, you couldn’t have known… besides you tried saving Waxwing when you realized how bad this place was and that’s enough’ Dream said as they gathered as many of the files as possible before as Cross walked away from XGaster clearly disappointed and unnerved by his reaction or lack there of, even Dust flinched at the sight of another file that'd been left on the table which detailed how to preform temporary lobotomies.

As Marigold and an invisible Waxwing rushed towards the Docks Waxwing caught a glimpse of Error near the town, the Adikia barrier was currently in the process of being deleted with various fractures forming across the Elvenheim barrier as well whenever it was struck by one of Error’s strings or gaster blasters.

Finally they entered the Dock’s building where various A1, B1 and C1 outcodes were being shackled together and led outside towards a large ship

’Shit, it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to sneak onboard’ Marigold said quietly as they both noticed the guards and scientists boarding a large vessel made from mahogany wood with and decorated with silver and gold, some outcodes were already on the vessel

‘Over here, they probably already sent someone ahead to warn the mainland but as long as you stay invisible you should slip through just fine’ Marigold said bringing Waxwing over to an unguarded part of the docks

’Wait where will this take us?’ she asked 

’to an outpost located among the roots of the tree of magic’ Marigold responded as Waxwing stepped onto the silver platform that had runes etched into the sides of it

’Marigold! What are you doing?’ a familiar voice sounded as a pair of Qalupalik agents came running over 

’Nothing, I was just trying to let Lanny know what was happening’ Marigold responded 

’… Marigold…’ Calid sighed 

’I know 1031 is nearby wearing your armor, I can tell because you’re not wearing yours but you have to understand that this is the lesser of two evils… it’s wrong yes, 1031 shouldn’t have to die nobody should but if we don’t keep the barrier up then the shades from Mythos will invade’ Calid continued as Waxwing tensed up preparing a green attack in case the duo tried stopping them

’How is it the lesser evil when we’re preforming sadistic experiments on them?! And couldn’t we just use the tree to power the barrier?’ She responded angrily which seemed to cause Nox to tilt her head thoughtfully 

’I—…I don’t know… but Lanny has her reasons and I won’t be the one to invoke her wrath’ Calid sighed

‘Wait actually that’s a good point, shouldn’t we do that instead?’ Nox asked 

’I don’t know okay! But if you aren’t going to kill her at least come to the ship with us, we can say 1031 escaped on her own’ Calid responded as Waxwing felt a wave of pity for them, Calid almost reminded her of Horror

’I hope he’s okay…’ Waxwing thought sadly 

’No’ Marigold responded turning away from Calid and Nox as she stepped onto the platform and summoned an orb of light 

Calid took a step forward magic crackling around their hands, even without seeing their face Waxwing could picture the look of desperation on their face especially when Nox put a hand out infront of them as a silent signal to stop as the orb of light drifted from Marigold’s hand and floated down to the platform, then in a flash of light they were gone.

(Marigold’s pov)

As she and Waxwing appeared on the platform in the middle of one of the many outposts that surrounded the tree of magic she spotted Warden Knile talking with a pair of elves who were likely one of the ones in charge of removing Armillaria (a parasitic fungus) and other types of growths from the tree while also removing any rotten roots 

’we should probably go before he notices me’ she whispered to Waxwing

gladly, also how come the tree of magic is so big? From what I heard the tree of feelings and tree of life were way smaller’ Waxwing responded in a hushed voice as they made their way through the enclosed space that consisted of a watchtower next to the teleportation platform

after the two had climbed over the wall of roots Marigold responded 

‘considering what I’ve seen today I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s from her keeping too much magic in the tree’ she replied 

’Too much? I thought the tree dispersed magic evenly’ Waxwing said confused 

’It does, or at least it tries to… but Lanny’s been able to redirect some of the magic that goes to monsters and other magical beings so that it goes to elves instead… she claims they take to much and has even been using the tree’s magic to keep us young forever, my mom arrived from Sapios before she even knew she was pregnant with me so she was excluded from the spell at first and after her… passing me and any other young elves were allowed to age until we turned 25’ she explained 

’How long have you been 25?’ Waxwing asked as they walked through a tunnel of roots

’I lost count but since the death of Quetzalcoatl— no wait that was when my mom first arrived with the other refugees… I think before or after the birth of Reapertale’ she responded 

’Cool! wait what happened before Reapertale formed and should I be concerned?’ Waxwing responded her voice quickly changing from intrigue to worry 

’People stopped dying but new life stopped being created… everything was immortal but also infertile for that time, that’s why Lanny made us stop aging at first because everyone was essentially growing too old to even move around properly… then once balance was finally restored she’d already decided that she’d rather we be immortal, I’m pretty sure Knile was one of the elves that became crippled from age before Lanny cast that spell, at least judging from how old he is’ Marigold responded

’I’m sorry that happened…… what about your mom? What was she like’ Waxwing asked 

’One of the most compassionate and loving elves from what I’ve heard, but Lanny always called her a naive fool and said that she hoped I would make up for her actions, she never said what they were though’ she responded 

‘What about your parents?’ Marigold asked 

’oh me? I never had any that I knew of, some guy I later found out was XGaster overwrote my au and that overwritten code fused together and absorbed itself into me while I was still a just a soul, I still remember the sudden sensation of gaining sentience as the process was happening and when XGaster left’ she responded 

’damn, I’m sorry’ Marigold said sympathetically

’it’s okay It was kinda boring my first few years of existence, I’d often pass the time reading, exercising, playing games or even just sleeping’ she said as the tunnel turned inwards 

’what about your time on Mythos, if you feel comfortable talking about it’ Marigold questioned 

’Stressful, I had to weaponize my adhd and autism just to keep me and Passive safe, I couldn’t ever leave the castle due to not being able to teleport but I could still see the destroyed village that surrounded what remains of the tree of feelings’ Waxwing replied 

’as for the inhabitants, the shades weren’t much for conversation unless you wanted to willingly talk to Corrupted and Killer was a complete dick but Horror and Dust were nice, one time Dust brought me and Passive a lego set from an au he and the other two had destroyed but Killer stole it weeks later only to get caught playing with it by Corrupted who fed it to Q’ Waxwing responded

Marigold opened her mouth to speak only to hear a twig snapping somewhere nearby so without hesitation she point towards a gap near the bottom of the tunnel and quickly stood in front of it to try and limit the sight of the roots shifting and dirt moving as Waxwing squeezed through

’Ah, I thought I saw you earlier… why’d you come here I already told one of the elven scouts to go tell Lanny about the breach, by the way you did take care of 1031 did you not?’ Knile asked 

’No, she wasn’t in the cell when I got there but shouldn’t you have warned her yourself?’ she asked 

’And climb all the way up to the canopy? Nah, why do the work yourself when there’s plenty of scouts to do it for you, and besides breaches always end after a few hours so I don’t see what the big deal is, I just hope 1107 will be alive when I get there, he’s quite reactive’ Knile responded causing a chill to run down Marigolds spine, something felt off about his words like he was implying something horrible, Knile didn’t seem to care and instead started going on about everything he’d discovered from his research on outcodes while Marigold just stood there and listened waiting patiently for this one sided conversation to end.

(Dream’s pov)

As Dream, Blue, Cross, Dust and Color finally arrived on Joy island via a boat (while Ink and the harmony guard evacuated everyone on Sapios to a waterfall and ruins themed pocket dimension before safely bringing actual refugees to the omega timeline) Dust immediately summoned a ring of gaster blasters around a mahogany boat 

‘EVERYONE OFF! Where is she?!’ Dust demanded as Dream noticed Error standing on top of his own gaster blaster in the distance 

‘Dust wait-‘ Blue started attempting to grab him by the sleeve as a few scientists and guards left the ship only for Dust to pull away still glaring at the elven scientist who spoke up

’w-we don’t know! Who are you even talking about?!’ One of them stammered causing Dust to summon a jagged bone in his hand 

’Dust wait! I understand your angry but he’s telling the truth, Blue you and Color go talk to Error I’ll deal with this’ Dream said as Dust seemed to relax slightly after hearing that the elf who spoke up wasn’t lying 

‘Everyone else off the ship, we aren't here to hurt you but you took someone my friend here deeply cares about so please just come out, It’ll be safer that way’ Dream continued as he felt strong feelings of hatred and anger coming from Dust

Dream was glad he had his brother and Neil stay behind, Neil didn’t want to come near this place and Passive was still learning magic attacks and likely wouldn’t survive an accidental hit from Error

as everyone slowly left the ship many with broken armor similar to the shard Blue had found Dream also noticed various outcodes among them, a few with bruises around their wrists and ankles, a few of the outcodes he even recognized 

‘Alright, now tell us what the hell you’ve been doing on this island!’ Cross said raising his voice so they could all hear them

‘W-We were just trying to protect our home!’ an armored guard blurted out 

‘By kidnapping Waxwing? Tell me where you’re holding her or else!’ Dust demanded 

‘… isn’t that the name of outcode 1031?… a scientist whispered only for their soul to turn blue as they were lifted into the air 

‘STAY DOWN! AND YOU, WHERE IS SHE?!’ Dust yelled the gaster blasters aimed directly at the scientist 

‘Dust wait! You’re scaring the outcodes, they’re victims to also please don’t kill them, some of these people could be forced to do this’ Dream explained, Dust didn’t put the scientist down but the grip on their soul seemed to loosen and he even unsummoned all but two of the gaster blasters

’Excuse me but what’s your name?’ Dream asked calmly 

‘N-Nudi… I-I didn’t even want this job when I found out what was happening but I thought maybe I could help outcodes get lower threat levels so they could live peacefully in the town after draining…… please don’t kill me!’ Nudi responded causing Cross to sigh

’We won’t, just tell us where Waxwing is’ Cross responded 

‘Solitary from what I heard, I’m sorry but that’s all I know’ Nudi responded as in the omega timeline a few more elves got unbanned unbeknownst to them 

‘She’s not, Marigold helped her escape, they’re heading for Sapios but you guys should probably evacuate the others as well, I think the A5– I mean Error stopped erasing everything’ an armored agent said as Dust released the guard 

‘Thank you’ Dream said sighing in relief that nobody died 

‘Dust, Cross I’m gonna go confront Lanny, can you two please evacuate and outcodes and elves who don’t agree with whats going on here to the pocket dimension Ink set up’ Dream asked 

‘By yourself?! That woman already gaslit you for the past 10,106 years!’ Cross said

’I’ll be alright I promise, just make sure you get everyone out safely’ he insisted 

‘Alright just make sure you kick her ass for me’ Dust responded before summoning several blue bones to pin any guards and scientists in place just as Dream walked over to the teleportation platform he’d seen elves use to travel from village to village and tapped his bow on it before being teleported to the outpost.

(Waxwing’s pov) 

Waxwing sat in a narrow rocky passage behind the wall of roots listening to Knile go on and on about what XGaster told him about the overwrite button, eventually after he began describing how XGaster told him about it after an entire day of water droplet torture she got up and walked through the passage hoping to get far enough she wouldn’t have to hear him until finally she emerged into a tightly compacted dome of roots with only a few gaps that let in the sunlight which illuminated the Armillaria growing along the infected base of the trunk where a root had encircled the trunk and begun burrowing into it, for some reason it felt like the tree was calling her

’Poor fella… wait do trees even have genders?’ Waxwing thought to herself feeling bad that the tree couldn’t get help like most mobile living things, making her way over to the trunk she began plucking off the parasitic fungus while wondering if said fungus was edible, she heard from Horror that some were but couldn’t remember if this was one of those 

then after all the fungus was removed she tried pulling the root out before resorting to summoning her scythe and cutting it off and then weakened the root with a tiny spark of fire so she could pull it out and quickly smother the tiny flames left behind 

’Sorry about that’ she thought before gently placing a hand over the infection and using healing magic to heal the area which gave off a strange blue glow that began to resonate with her soul almost as if it was trying to connect to her before suddenly being interrupted by a blast of pure magic that knocked her from the trunk and destroying the armor she was wearing in the process 

’And just what do you think you’re doing to my tree!’ An accusing voice said as Waxwing spotted a blue elf practically irradiating magical energy 

‘I was just healing it, I’m sorry but one of it’s roots was going through the trunk’ Waxwing responded as the elf twitched her decretive wings in disgust 

’Lier! You were probably using your magic to create that infection, don’t think I don’t know who you are Waxwing’ she said as Waxwing began to realize who she was talking to, suddenly they both heard the sound of rustling coming from down the passage and then Marigold came rushing in with Knile not far behind her 

’Good you’re here, now do your job and kill her or you’ll both be spending 10 years guarding Sapios’ Lanny said 

‘What no, I saw what you were having us do on that island! At first I thought it was the only way but you— Silence half breed! If you won’t do as your instructed then you’re no better than your treacherous father! Knile restrain her while I deal with this one’ Lanny interrupted as Waxwing quickly got to her feet only for rings of pure concentrated magic to swirl around her as she was lifted onto the air telekinetically

‘Wait half breed? What do you mean by that’ Marigold asked as Knile grabbed her by the arms and pinned them behind her back before summoning threads of light to bind Marigold’s wrists and ankles together 

‘Tch, I suppose since you’re already going to Sapios you might as well know who your father is… your mother and Quetzalcoatl were pretty close after all, close enough to have a child’ Lanny spat as Waxwing struggled against her telekinesis 

‘My dad was— Yes, honestly I thought your elf side would be stronger but apparently you’re just as bad as him… instead you’ll be stripped of your immortality and live out the rest of your life in Sapios’ Lanny interrupting her

’Wait a second, why are you upset at her for what her dad did? She wasn’t the one who— Enough! You’ll speak when you are spoken to!’ Lanny shouted 

‘Aren’t you speaking to me right now? And I really was just trying to heal the tree’ Waxwing responded

’I don’t care if you were trying to heal Dream! You brought his brother back, the one responsible for this mess and not to mention you worked for the human that killed Nim in the first place!’ Lanny screamed visibly enraged to the point she threw Waxwing hard against the earth and quickly summoned a floating guillotine blade 

‘Reaper if you’re listening please take my soul instead of Passive’s should I die’ Waxwing prayed quietly in her head

’WAIT! DON’T!’ Marigold cried out as the blade fell, only it didn’t land

‘I thought you said it was me and my brother who killed our mom…’ Dream said unsummening the forcefield he had used to protect both himself and Waxwing

’Dream I— It’s not what it looks like! This outcode was about to destroy the tree, do you want that?’ Lanny said as Dream stared at her with a look of disbelief and anger as Waxwing stood up behind him 

‘Stop, just stop okay… I saw the island, or at least enough of it… it’s true isn’t it what Neil said, everyone who goes to that island never returns’ Dream said gritting his teeth as his fist tightened around his staff

’They murdered elves! It was for their protection, if I simply punished the monsters and humans like everyone else they would’ve gotten killed by the victims families’ she pleaded 

’Even if that was the case you don’t spirit people away to a death island! And kidnapping Error?! What the hell were you thinking?!’ Dream shouted 

‘He’s a destroyer Dream, they’re inherently dangerous!’ Lanny responded as though scolding a child 

’So? Dangerous doesn’t mean evil, plenty of destroyers only destroy to maintain balance while trying to minimize harm! And some like Error are easily talked down if you don’t kidnap them! And also without Error the multiverse could’ve become unstable’ Dream responded 

’What about her? She’s killed people on purpose and just because she brought your brother back all she has to do is help Reaper, and you’d let Error erase timelines instead of stopping him?’ Lanny said coldly with a hint of disappointment 

’Of course not, that’s why we evacuate timelines and aus before Error gets there, and also he’s agreed to only go after one’s that are already in the process of decaying! And as for Waxwing what do you think would’ve happened to her if she refused to kill?’ Dream asked 

’I don’t care what would’ve happened she shouldn’t have done it! She should’ve been stronger’ Lanny replied angrily, Waxwing flinched at her words but this time she held her ground 

‘She was a child, both her and my brother were… so tell me, why did you kidnap her if you knew she was under a contract with Reaper for my brother’s life’ Dream asked 

’I was going to do what was necessary, his life is an insult to the balance and is that the only reason you’re protecting her?’ Lanny responded trying to turn the conversation on Dream

’No and honestly Reaper would probably take her soul if she died because unlike you even he cares for Passive which is why I want them both alive! And what was that earlier about how it was a human who killed Nim’ Dream said 

‘It was nothing, a simple slip of the tongue’ Lanny replied as Knile stared uncomfortably at the ground 

’You know what I’m talking about Lanny’ Dream responded but Lanny didn’t speak 

’Waxwing let’s go, I think we’ve had enough of this place… and you, release her she’s coming with us’ Dream said to Knile

’What no! You can have the half breed and your brother but that outcode is staying here!’ Lanny said 

’No she isn’t, and you’re not gonna kidnap any more outcodes, we are going to evacuate the island and Sapios and you’re going to disband the Qalupalik and NEVER do anything like this ever again! And if so much as one more person goes missing it won’t be just me you’ll be answering to, you’re lucky I’m physically incapable of feeling hatred Lanny because I’m feeling pretty damn close so do something right for once and back the fuck off!’ Dream responded glancing back at her

Lanny stood there for a moment dumbfounded, even Knile was looking a little pale as he unsummoned Marigold’s restraints

’fine, but don’t come crying when she kills someone…’ Lanny said sounding defeated as she glared daggers at Waxwing 

Waxwing continued to glare at the main Qalupalik until she heard the sound of the door opening drawing her attention away as an elf dressed in a white scientist trench coat wheeled in a metal tray containing a scalpel, measuring tape, a small handheld bone saw, notepad and a vial

‘Hello Captain Calid, sorry I’m late’ the new elf said in an oily voice that caused Waxwing to shutter uncomfortably 

’It’s no problem Warden Knile’ Calid responded bowing their head as Knile stopped the cart a few feet away from Waxwing before picking up the measuring tape 

’This is the one Lanny wants killed correct?’ Knile asked 

’Yes sir’ Calid responded 

‘ah, well I’ll see what Lanny says but I doubt she’ll change her mind about this one’ Knile replied with a chuckle before measuring the length of each part of Waxwing’s wings and tail while writing it down on the notepad 

’Why did you bring me here? I was perfectly fine under my contract with Reaper I need to— Shh Shh, yes we know you’ve run away from Nightmare but Lanny doesn’t really care about that, in fact she kinda preferred it when the real Nightmare was dead’ Knile responded as he started measuring each individual part of Waxwing’s limbs

’Wait who? Wasn’t that goopy thing we hear about Nightmare’ the nicer guard asked 

‘Ah, I see even with Calid’s teachings Marigold here still has a lot to learn…… no little flower, in fact from what we’ve gathered the entity there had a ever so slightly different stolen magical signature which became even more distinct a century ago…… in fact it reminds me of that one human who would bully Lanny when she was a wee lass, I believe his name was Cúis, he had such lovely cyan eyes as well’ Knile said as he measured Waxwing’s skull

’But why blame Passive for this? He didn’t do anything wrong!’ she said angrily 

’So? Besides look at it this way, if we do kill you Reaper will probably take pity on him and accept your soul as payment, not to mention I saw in your file you killed 48 people, think of it as making up for all the lives you took’ Knile said putting the tape measure back as Marigold clinched her fist

’Hey shouldn’t we sedate or numb her before that?’ Marigold asked as Knile picked up the small bone saw and one of the vials

’Nonsense, besides I’ve learned that the best results come from when the subject can feel everything that’s happening to them’ he said using the bone saw to scrap at the top layer of her ulna until it began leaking dark purple blood all while Waxwing recoiled in pain, she hadn’t even noticed Marigold had quickly left the room with Calid not far behind her 

’so what’s it like knowing Lanny herself wants you dead and is hoping Reaper will kill Passive as a result’ Knile asked as though he were interviewing her 

Waxwing decided not to give him the satisfaction of responding as he put the bonesaw down and picked up the scalpel so he could more gently open the wound on her arm and allow some of the blood to flow into the vial

’In fact she’ll probably have us capture him next if Reaper doesn’t kill him, I wonder how many things Passive could tell me…’ he wondered only for Waxwing to turn her head as best as she could and spit on the warden 

’Touch him and I’ll make sure you’re the one being dissected instead’ she threatened 

’Okay yeah, I think I kinda agree with her on that one, even if we’re supposed to be enemies with outcodes you probably shouldn’t threaten their friends’ Nox suggested

’I wasn’t asking you! Also 1031 what makes you think you’ll live long enough to do that? One of the outcodes being drained is almost finished meaning we’ll have a room open just for you, then once you’re safely drained you’ll be brought to the tree of magic so she can kill you herself’ Knile said his tone growing more dangerous 

’I never said I’d be alive, besides I don’t think Dream would like you torturing his brother’ she responded as Nox attempted to quietly leave the room 

’You mean Lanny’s former student? Please, she’s got him wrapped around her fingers, last she checked he was off creating rainbows and fighting the corruption so we don’t have to’ he responded dismissively

’I doubt he’ll be wrapped around them when he finds out what Lanny’s been doing’ she pointed out 

’What’s he gonna do? Tell me I hurt the feelings of nearly every outcode here? Have me think about my actions, please! how could a guardian of positivity possibly hurt me? He’s too busy having tea parties with rainbow skeletons to be a threat even if he wasn’t deemed off limits’ he laughed, in a surge of protective rage Waxwing yanked her tail out of the light tendrils causing her prosthetic tail to come off as she hit Knile hard in the side of his ribs causing him to stumble back with a startled expression 

Then she felt a stinging sensation from the restraints followed by paralysis 

’How dare you, I’ll have the Qalupalik lock you in isolation until that draining room is open!’ Knile scoffed before stabbing her in the shoulder with the scalpel and putting it back

he then placed a cap over the top of the vial and hurried out of the room. 

by the time the paralysis began wearing off Waxwing was already being carried out of the facility, however she decided to remain still as they carried her back to the other building and even when they brought her to the solitary area which housed eight cells with two runes next to each door, one rune was already activated at the very end of the hall where they placed Waxwing in the cell across from the one that was already occupied, Marigold even placed Waxwing’s prosthetic tail next to her. Then once the door was closed leaving her in a pitch black room she refitted the prosthetic over the stump where her tail blade used to be.

however as she got up Waxwing noticed two of the runes next to the cell door across from her’s starting to glitch as if being corrupted by something.

(Marigold’s pov)

Marigold paced around her dorm room located in the docks area, the other two beds were empty aside from her’s where she tossed her armor onto it to allow herself to breathe

‘Maybe I’m overreacting…… they must have a reason for this, all of this’ she said out loud, then a knock on the door suddenly interrupted her from her thoughts, opening the door Marigold confronted Calid

’What?’ She asked still visibly distressed 

‘It’s about 1031, Kniel got an emergency letter from Lanny, apparently she wants 1031 killed… tonight…. I’m sorry, I tried to ask her otherwise but Lanny said that she sensed the portal to Sapios opening and she… she thinks it’ll toughen you up… I’m so sorry Marigold…’ Calid said remorsefully, they tried reaching a hand out to touch her shoulder in a comforting manner only for Marigold to slap his hand out of the way 

‘Why? Why do anything she fucking tells you?!’ Marigold spat angrily 

‘What else am I supposed to do? She’s the guardian of magic, I can’t just disobey her! Besides at least 1031 doesn’t have to worry about her magic being drained’ Calid responded

Marigold opened her mouth to respond when suddenly they both heard the sirens stationed all over the island go off followed by the distant sound of screams, using this to her advantage she quickly cast a sleep spell on Calid making sure this one would only last a few minutes, then she activated the invisibility on their armor before going over to reclucantly put on her own while double checking that the invisibility was on on both their armor’s

’I’m sorry, but I can’t risk you trying to stop me… I just hope you’ll survive this’ she said quietly before quickly making her way back to the holding area.

(XGaster’s pov)

XGaster didn’t blink or move as he slumped against the tendrils of light that kept him contained in the lab, it wasn’t that he was paralyzed he just gave up on fighting back long ago, he had even been struggling to remember his name sometimes forgetting it wasn’t 1107 

he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been let out of this room, he still remembered the day he tried manipulating them into having him help with experiments, he had begged and pleaded that since his magic was gone they could just simply keep an eye on him and when Warden Knile was granted permission XGaster was immediately escorted to the “Interrogation method testing room” and at first he tried to persuade them to let him work alongside them only to be subjected to more physical, mental and emotional torture methods than he could count to the point they had to force feed him so he wouldn’t starve himself

’If this world wants to reject my perfection so badly then fine, let it rot if it means the pain will be over’ he said out loud as his mind recalled the method his captors had used on him earlier today which involved Knile summoning a horde of tiny maggots that burrowed inside him making XGaster want to claw off his own skull, Knile even had the audacity to ask him a list of questions ranging from how he was currently feeling to more personal questions and every time he answered incorrectly (even by accident) the maggots would multiply at an alarming rate to the point XGaster had even thrown some of them up along with his own blood which lay in a dried puddle on the ground in front of him

even the very first interrogation method they tried wasn’t as bad as the one today and that had involved forcing him to relive his worst memories 

‘Someone must be trying to escape…’ he thought to himself when he finally noticed the sirens going off, part of him hoped whoever it was would break inside the laboratory and kill him.

(Waxwing’s pov)

Waxwing darted through the halls of the facility just barely having avoided Error when he broke out of the solitary cell across from hers with a broken glitchy collar in hand

honestly she was just glad he didn’t check her cell after throwing the door to his cell into hers which had dented the door just enough for her to squeeze through, she’d even gotten dressed back into her hoodie she found in a supply closet that contained belongings from various outcodes, she even found a crossbow with several explosive bolts and temmie flakes that healed twice as much hp

stopping suddenly Waxwing spotted the orblike soul of an elf just up ahead causing her to raise the crossbow hoping to scare whoever it was into leaving 

’I’m glad I got a chance to change to purple mode before they recollared me earlier’ she thought remembering back to the invisible Qalupalik agents that had brought her here in the first place, and for some idiotic reason thought kidnapping Error was a good idea

’It’s okay… I’m not here to hurt you, my name’s Marigold and I wanted to help you escape’ said the agent as she deactivated her invisibility and removed her helmet, despite being a taller than her Marigold was surprisingly short for an elf (most elves were 7-9 feet tall with Marigold being 6’9)

Waxwing couldn’t help but find her dark ginger hair beautiful against her cinnamon colored skin and her eyes were a dark blue, she also had odd black freckles on her face 

’Damn she’s kinda hot without the helmet…’ Waxwing thought to herself blushing slightly 

‘You’re that one guard from before… can you remove my collar first, if you feel comfortable that is… my name’s Waxwing by the way’ she responded before allowing Marigold to approach, and as she used light magic to remove the collar Waxwing caught a glimpse of a v shaped patch of black scales against the back of her neck

‘Is that a birth mark?’ she asked curiously 

’hm? oh that, nobody knows what it is, Lanny thinks it’s some kind of infection from when my mother died but she wouldn’t give any details’ Marigold responded

’Oh… sorry I didn’t know your mom died, I’m sorry for your loss..’ Waxwing responded feeling awkward as they started hurrying towards the now unguarded exit 

’don’t be, I barely knew her… don’t get me wrong I still miss her, wait before we go outside you should put on my armor, it may feel a bit awkward against your wings and tail but it’s probably safer you’re invisible right now… the um, the entire island is kinda on orders to kill you’ Marigold responded

’But don’t you need that? And it might be a little suspicious when you’re not wearing your armor’ Waxwing replied

The Adikia institute was set up into six sections, The outcode housing bay that was town located in the center of the island and surrounded by the five main buildings as well as a protective barrier that sat within Elvenheim’s barrier 

Draining which was only accessible within the Adikia barrier and had ten cells designed for draining magic and transferring it first to the Elvenheim barrier than secondly all the way to the Sapios barrier on the other continent nearby while any remaining magic powered the Adikia barrier which the drained outcodes stayed as far away from as possible

The holding area which was designed like a prison with forty cells to hold outcodes while they waited for their magic to be drained and was only accessible from within the barrier, the holding area also held regular humans and monsters who’d committed violent crimes 

The security wing which could only be accessed from outside the barrier was where elven guards monitored the patient’s through magical orbs that illuminated the halls and town of the prison and was where the magic inhibiting collars were kept 

The docks which acted as a passage through the barrier was where Marigold currently was.

Marigold passed around the lobby of the Adikia institute holding a folder as she anxiously recited the information in it

‘Outcode 1031, 48 known kills and counting, threat level C4, is a Sans type with draconic wings and a tail, 1031 can’t summon bones but has been known to summon gaster blasters and fire in a fight… it can also change its eye color and the purple one seems to help with tracking…’ she read passing by a window with vains of silver running through the glass which shown beautifully against the marble and quartz building she was in

’Wait what does C4 mean again….. A is when the lv of an outcode isn’t visible, B is when they’re over Lv 20… oh C is for outcode under level 20’ She thought to herself 

‘number 1 is for relatively obedient outcodes, number 2 is for one’s who are dangerous but easily subdued, number 3 is the standard threat level for them while number 4’s are killed after being drained of magic which has to be completely drained from all of them or else it’ll regenerate and number 5 is for outcodes that are to be killed if they don’t make it to draining and normally meet the same fate as the previous number even when they are’ Marigold thought with a twinge of confusion

’wait, why kill them though when they’re drained? Yeah they might try and escape but isn’t it their magic that causes outcodes to be aggressive’ she thought before hearing someone clear their throat behind her causing Marigold to flinch 

‘Marigold you’ve been out here for five minutes, it’s time to leave come on’ the captain of her group “Calid” said their green crystalline armor glittering in the light that shown through the window 

‘oh sorry, I’m just nervous… here let me put these files away’ Marigold responded her helmet hiding the red forming on her cheeks as she retreated to a nearby office

’Good now let’s get moving, our reports detected 1031’s magic signature in genocide run number 567, oh and remember to use your magic sparingly even with training I’ve seen new recruits run in a heartbeat’ Calid said barely a hint of emotion in their voice.

As Marigold followed the captain and the two other Qalupalik agents through the abandoned capital of the au Calid signaled for them to go invisible before pressing two fingers against their shoulder and down to their wrist their armored form fading from view 

the three of them then did the same while making sure not to accidentally walk into each other by mistake 

’Alright here’s how this is gonna go, Marigold since you’ve scored the highest in your knowledge on outcodes you try to sneak up on 1031 and knock her out with a sleeping spell, Rulu and Nox will follow behind in case something goes wrong and I’ll watch so I can open a portal in case you three run out of mana while we’re away from the tree’ Calid said in a hushed voice before they continued on with Marigold being much further ahead as far as she was aware 

Walking through the judgment hall she passed by a hoodie that was laying folded next to a dust pile that looked like it had been sitting there for ages before someone had seemingly scooped some of the dust and scattered it on the folded hoodie 

from what Marigold could recall from her studies it looked as though whoever did this attempted to preform a monster funeral rite for whichever Sans variant had died 

continuing onward she eventually found herself in a throne room where a similar rite had been preformed, only instead of being folded up the royal garments belonging to an Asgore variant had been carefully draped on the throne with a crushed up withered flower in the center, the rest of the flowers were also wilted due to having nobody to water them, continuing through the room being carful not to accidentally step on any dry vegetation Marigold eventually made it to the other side of the room eventually finding 1031 standing infront of six soul jars

five of the jars were empty and the glass seemed to have been melted

’Damn’ Marigold thought as she stared at the outcode’s translucent wings as the light from the sunrise outside shown through them reminding her of a bonfire 

she then watched as 1031 raised a light gray scythe that seemed to be made of flames and swung it at the last soul and burning through the soul jar in the process and causing the soul to disintegrate in a peaceful looking manner, her eyes then traveled down to 1031’s tail where she noticed a prosthetic tip at least a few inches long and made of metal, she also noticed a purple translucent scar along the bottom edge of one of her wing membranes

Marigold then prepared to cast a sleep spell as she watched the outcode pull out a phone about to text someone only for the both of them to hear the crunch of flowers outside the throne room causing Marigold to tense up as the outcode turned and looked in her direction and she finally noticed a massive hole on the side of 1031’s face where that eye should be, it was also slightly bigger than her intact eye and the two large scars and spiderweb of smaller scars around the missing eye kinda looked eerily beautiful

’Who’s there?! If that’s you Killer I’m not going back to Corrupted so either fuck off or this time I won’t let you live that easily!’ 1031 snapped angrily as her eye shifted from green to purple, that’s when the outcode’s head turned to look directly at her 

’Shit shit shit— wait why isn’t she attacking?’ Marigold wondered as 1031 took a step back

’Who are you? Are you a survivor… your soul is different from any monster soul I’ve seen’ she called out cautiously but Marigold was too startled to respond 

’Are you a ghost?’ 1031 asked before suddenly looking at something behind Marigold before leaping out of the way as a sleeping spell shot past just barely missing Marigold by an inch

’Hey watch it!’ Nox hissed at Rulu as if speaking in a low voice wouldn’t give them away 

suddenly 1031 summoned four gaster blasters three of which fired down the hall accompanied by the sound of crystal armor chipping while the fourth fired at the floor infront of Marigold forcing her to leap back as the outcode pressed one of the contacts in her phone depicting a friendly looking skeleton wearing armor as her pupil turned green

but just as she hit the call button Marigold managed to hit her with a sleep spell and as 1031 fell to the ground Calid caught her by the wing as their armored form materialized before Marigold followed by Nox and Rulu sprinting into the room, Nox was carrying a few shards of crystal plating that had fallen from her armor 

‘Sorry for nearly hitting you with that spell’ Rulu said as Calid picked up the phone from the ground and pressed the red button to cancel the call 

’Leave it’ Calid ordered when Rulu tried to pick up the phone while Calid summoned magic restraints around the outcode’s arms, wrists, legs and ankles

’let’s go before any of her friends show up’ Calid continued staring disapprovingly at Nox and Rulu as they threw the outcode over their shoulder and summoned a portal to a more secure section of Sapios.

After taking a boat to Elvenheim to get back to the institute Nox and Marigold were tasked with collaring and bringing the outcode over to the holding area where several other outcodes already were, one of them however was an A5 threat and was currently in solitary where violent outcodes were kept unconscious until draining.

 The holding cell they dropped 1031 off in was a bit too bright for Marigold’s liking but at the same time the building was only meant to temporarily house the patients, however it probably wouldn’t hurt to give them a comfier bed instead of a slab of marble sticking out of the wall that had a pillow and two blankets on it

’How come the rooms look like this?’ Marigold asked 

’I dunno but we should probably report back to warden Knile’ Rulu responded looking bored as Marigold tried to make sure the outcode’s body was in as comfy of a position as possible, then the two of them left making sure to lock the door behind them.

(Dream’s pov)

Dream, Passive, Cross and Neil were currently sitting underneath a tree talking when suddenly Blue and Ink came running over to them

’Blue? What’s wrong?’ Dream asked sensing Blue’s anxiety 

‘It’s Waxwing and Error, Ink told me he disappeared but Waxwing tried to call me but when I answered someone hung up and I thought I heard voices on the other end’ Blue responded anxiously while gripping something in his gloved hand 

‘Did the voices sound like Killer or Horror?’ Dream asked 

’No but we went to the au Reaper dropped her off in and we found this’ Blue responded holding out his hand to show him the strange crystalline plate made from green amethyst with a thin layer of green calcite on one side, engraved into the amethyst was what looked like the top of a pear

’I think I’ve seen that symbol, it looks like what the elite guards wear whenever they transported criminals from Sapios to the reformatory that was built on Joy island, though they never came back’ Neil said his voice edged with suspicion 

’Did they ever say why?’ Passive asked 

’not as far as I’m aware of’ Neil responded trying to lower his voice as Dream’s soul thudded in his chest 

‘No, Lanny wouldn’t do that… she’s a harsh but surely she has an explanation’ whispered part of his mind 

’… she also didn’t let me leave Elvenheim to visit Neil until my training was complete… but maybe she was just focused?’ he thought to himself as Neil gently placed a hand on Passive’s shoulder 

’We’ll find Error but maybe Reaper picked Waxwing up and she just left her phone behind’ Dream said 

’We can go look for them, I think you should stay here for now’ Cross suggested 

‘No, I’ll be alright… thank you’ Dream responded taking a deep breath.

(Waxwing’s pov)

Waxwing woke in a brightly lit sterile cell entirely made out of marble, floating in the center of the room just a centimeter from the ceiling was a glowing sphere of light that Waxwing could’ve sworn was turning to look at her as she walked around the room and around her neck she could feel some kind of collar with either runes or symbols etched that seemed to be preventing her from using magic

making her way over to the steel door she thought she heard the faint sound of footsteps passing by followed by a yelp of pain 

’Please I promise it was an accident! Just send me back to Sapios please!’ someone begged 

’Silence!’ another voice said 

’Please I didn’t mean to lose control of that wagon, the wheel broke, I didn’t mean to kill that elf! Just please don’t put me in a room with one of those things!’ the voice pleaded again followed by a scream of pain and zapping 

’The captain told you to be quiet’ another voice said followed by the sound of whimpering as the footsteps faded. Then after what felt an hour of exploring her cell Waxwing heard the sound of footsteps followed by the sound of the door unlocking, once it was open Waxwing found herself face to face with three figures wearing green crystalline armor like the one she tried to escape before she woke up here 

’Outcode 1031 please exit the cell and follow us’ one of them ordered 

‘Where am I?’ Waxwing asked 

’You're in— Did we give you permission to speak? Exit the cell now or we will use force’ the guard demanded as they spoke over the other one

Waxwing took a hesitant step forward as she made her way out into the hall, one of the guards then made a few hand movements as they summoned a long tendril of light which immediately struck out at Waxwing’s wrists binding them together and causing her to wince in pain as the tendril tightened 

‘Hey carful! You don’t need to hurt her’ the nicer guard said disapprovingly 

’Whatever…… 1031 follow!’ the guard responded tugging on the tendril which briefly crackled with electricity when they tugged it

Waxwing let the soldiers lead her through the prison area and passed the other guards and orbs of light that she was now definitely sure were watching her, making their way through a security checkpoint Waxwing was led outside where Waxwing could see a town in the center of the barrier guarded by elves, the town itself seemed to be mostly white and gold with the only other colors being provided by various flower gardens, that’s when she realized where she might be 

‘I didn’t know they had this over here…’ she thought to herself as she was led around the village the presumably elven guards taking her over to one of the buildings in the distance which was guarded by two elves wearing white robes reinforced with silver patterns that resembled vines, she also now noticed both the guards in the green armor and the ones in the cloaks had the symbol of a pear either embroidered or carved into the shoulder of their garments

One of the guards that was escorting her then placed a hand on a rune carved into the door and it gave off a warm blue glow before dematerializing until the four of them were through and as she was guided through the facility Waxwing could hear sounds and voices coming from some of the rooms 

‘Please just make it stop! I said I’d help you with your studies if you let me live, not this!’ A voice cried out from a room marked “Potential capture and interrogation method testing”

 ‘Why you are helping us 1107, after all you did say you’re harmless without your magic and buttons’ an oily voice said

both voices faded as Waxwing was led further down the hall until they stopped at a room marked “power testing” guarded by two robed guards 

’Finally, the monster in there won’t stop whining’ one of the guards complained, Waxwing recognized his voice from earlier

‘Really what’re they in for’ asked one of the armored guards as the first armored guard unlocked the door 

’manslaughter’ said the second robed guard

’wait but I thought it was only murderers who have to help with tests’ said the nicer sounding armored guard 

’murder, manslaughter… it’s the same thing especially considering it was an elf he killed, just think of it like a court ordered punishment’ one of the robed elves said as Waxwing was led into the room where four short pillars were projecting a dome shaped barrier in the center of the room where a hoofed bull like monster sat, his head buried in his knees 

‘I guess as long as neither of them get hurt…’ the nice armored guard responded quietly as the barrier deactivated momentarily and the bull monster looked up trembling with fear 

’Don’t try anything, we have more than enough guards to take you down if you attack’ the first armored guard said before removing her collar and shoving her forward so the barrier could be reactivated and they could leave the room 

after a few moments of silence the monster stood up and Waxwing could see the heavy scarring along his arm as well as a dent in one of his horns 

‘1031 before you is inmate M009, would you kindly demonstrate your ability to resurrect others on them’ someone asked 

‘Even if I wanted to I can’t, my tail blade was cut off’ Waxwing responded allowing the disgust to show in her voice 

(Marigold’s pov)

Marigold, Calid, Nox and one of the elven scientists Unalla watched from behind an illusionary wall as 1031 stared in their general direction seemingly inspecting the walls while keeping her distance from M009 who looked terrified 

‘This is wrong isn’t it? It’s supposed to be murderer’s and they’re supposed to assist with testing not be tested on! Am I overreacting? Nobody else seems worried’ whispered Marigold’s mind

‘Fine, then demonstrate the durability of your wings, M009 attack 1031’ Unalla instructed causing 1031 to take a step back now watching M009 carfully 

’What? No! I’m not going anywhere near one of those things, The last time I did I almost died! M009 shouted causing 1031 to look at the ground ashamed 

’You’ll do as you’re told Murderer 9, now attack 1031 or we’ll be forced to execute you’ the scientist threatened causing Marigold to tense up horrified 

’1031 demonstrate your pyrokinesis and burn M009’ Unalla sighed in annoyance 

’No’ 1031 responded much to Marigold’s relief 

’neither of you are leaving until you do’ the scientist said as 1031’s eye turned from green to purple and she stared straight at them 

1031 then sat down her tail curled around her legs as she and M009 began talking with M009 seeming to relax especially when 1031 used healing magic on him

’Okay that’s it… You two don’t move an inch or else, Qalupalik take M009 back to the M ward and bring 1031 to the examination and operations room, I’ll ask warden Knile to send a request to Lanny for 1031 to be relabeled as a C2’ the scientist said.

1031 didn’t put up a fight as she was recollared and escorted out of the room, in fact she seemed to be intently observing her surroundings from what Marigold could tell which was a nice change considering to she was currently rethinking ever wanting to work here

‘Is it okay if I set this one out?’ Marigold whispered to Calid

as Nox guided 1031 into the room and gave her a white sleeveless gown to change into

’no, we’re required to observe our designated outcodes remember?’ Calid said before they both entered the room where Calid instructed 1031 to stand in the middle of the room where eight runes had been etched into the floor and four had been etched into the ceiling 

’why?’ 1031 asked suspiciously 

’Just do what you’re told and this’ll go by quicker…… for all of us’ Calid responded somberly 

’Actually I think I’m feeling kinda feverish and nauseous, maybe I should go lie down in my cell in case I have something contagious’ 1031 said as Nox stood next to a pair of runes on the back wall 

’you can lay down after, besides I can assure you that our armor keeps us perfectly safe from any pathogens‘ they responded 

‘so what’s your armor made out of anyway?’ she asked 

‘I said go over there or I’m required to use force’ Calid responded raising his voice as two orbs of electricity manifested in his hands causing 1031 to tense up and finally walk over to the runes followed by Nox using light magic on one of the runes

Marigold then flinched and covered her face as twelve tendrils of light shot out of the runes on the floor and ceiling, two of the bottom ones ensnared 1031’s wings and another four ensnared her legs and the last two ensnared her tail as two of the top ones ensnared her arms and the other two ensnared her neck before all twelve tendrils shortened until 1031 was completely immobilized 

An entire week had passed since Killer’s incident and Corrupted was busy waiting to catch wind of either Waxwing, Passive or even Dust to leave the omega timeline so he could finally track them, he’d even sent shades to aus he had dominion over like GzTale and Horrortale but nobody had seen them

(ironically he doesn’t have dominion over Underfell because it’s not only in a pacifist timeline right now but it’s a lesser negative au)

Sighing he got up from his throne and made his way to the dungeon the crack in Killer’s emotional shield giving him a steady stream of negativity as he descended 

unsurprisingly neither Killer nor Horror spoke as he passed by him, the crack in his emotional shield would also serve to prevent any more rash decisions the next time he’s sent on a mission, watching as Horror removed the bar from the door Corrupted noticed his arm was almost completely healed.

Corrupted walked through the dungeon passing by the mostly empty cells, as for the prisoners that were locked up he already decided would make good shades once he was done with them

he then stopped at the cell of a monster who he could no longer feel negative emotions from, let alone positive ones 

the monster inside the cell had a glazed over look and was severely malnourished and dehydrated 

unlocking the cell with a tentacle he opened the door causing the monster to visibly flinch despite the look of resignation on its face 

’Prisoner 189 exit your cell’ he ordered before watching as the prisoner struggled to stand up before grabbing him by the neck and dragging the monster out of the cell when he didn’t move fast enough.

making his way through the maze like structure of the dungeon Corrupted eventually arrived at the torture chamber which was a large room full of various kinds of torture devices, it was also directly underneath the throne room so he could feed off the negativity of those trapped inside the torture cells which were five rows off eight oubliettes, each one was covered by a heavy reinforced trapdoor to prevent both light and sound from entering.

Walking over to the back wall Corrupted shackled the prisoner to the wall before going to grab a fire poker and a blowtorch 

’w-why?…… why are you… like this?’ the monster asked their voice raspy from a lack of use

’What do you mean 189’ he responded with an evil smile 

’why do you…… hurt us, what causes you…’ they said, deciding to humor the prisoner for his own enjoyment Corrupted spoke up

’Oh, well you see it all began long ago with a guardian known as Quetzalcoatl who guarded the tree of life… however his paranoia led him to fear the guardian of magic would go down a rather dark path, that’s why he held a little competition and when a human one he told them to abandon their current name and sent him to kill the guardian of the tree of feelings so that Nim wouldn’t interfere…’ Corrupted began as he heated up the fire poker

’…Unfortunately even with the weapon given to him the man died in the process, but not before his spirit latched onto the tree… so once the guardian was done creating two replacement guardians and had died all I had to do was wait until one of the two younger guardians did something stupid and once he was at risk of being killed it was pretty easy to manipulate him into eating one of the apples, and that 189 is the connection I needed to force the rest to absorb themselves into him, unfortunately I couldn’t risk his soul getting resurrected so I absorbed it as well and used his memories to impersonate him to try and confiscated the last apple from his brother…’ Corrupted said as he jabbed the burning metal into the monster’s midsection earning a yelp of pain 

’…His brother however fought back and after the battle which resulted in him being turned to stone, preventing me from taking the last apple without destroying it I travelled back to “visit” Quetzalcoatl back in Sapios, the poor fool thought I was going to give him the power, he even felt bad about Nim and Passive’s deaths and planned on resurrecting the two once he was finished dealing with Lanny, so I killed him and turned him into the first ever shade, then afterwards I destroyed the tree of life and uprooted the seed that grew it and fed it to my new pet thus ensuring what I thought was a victory against Passive…… this action however even after a few centuries of chaos caused the birth an au called Reapertale which was the multiverse’s way of correcting itself… but the damage has already been done and nobody from this multiverse can ever be resurrected or reincarnation without a price’ Corrupted said casually twisting the weapon around trying to generate as much pain and fear as possible

’Then that outcode came along and resurrected Passive!’ he hissed angrily saying the word “outcode” as if he was talking about a cockroach infestation

he then ripped the fire poker out of the monster’s body causing their soul to start cracking 

Without hesitation Corrupted grabbed the soul with one tentacle and forcibly held it together while also letting his corruption soak into the soul as the monster’s body turned to dust, finally once the fragments were loosely stuck together he let go and watched as the tall thin figure of a shade formed, it’s long claw like hands hung at its sides while it’s hallow milky white eyes stared blankly ahead

’But you won’t tell anybody, right?’ Corrupted said mockingly.

(Dust’s pov)

Dust sat in the hospital bed, despite being told he could walk around the hospital and even go outside when he felt ready he still couldn’t even bring himself to step outside his room unless it was to get something to eat or drink 

He didn’t want to face those he hurt in the past and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t want to see him either

’but it’s not like I can go back, even if Boss doesn’t want me dead he’ll still be angry if I come back without Waxwing and Passive especially if he finds out I was in the Omega timeline and didn’t destroy it…’ Dust thought to himself, still he had to admit it was great not hallucinating this past week.

Dust laid back down on the bed staring at the window, yesterday when Waxwing visited him she told him about how Reaper was teaching her how to properly wield a scythe that was specifically designed to only be able to reap the souls of those who were already dead, suddenly the sound of something knocking on the door to his room startled him out of his thoughts 

’Come in’ he said watching as the door opened and a human nurse came in holding a tray of food as well as a cup of water with an ibuprofen pill next to it

’Can I get you anything else?’ they asked politely as Dust took the tray and set it on the nightstand next to him while being carful not to accidentally knock over the temmie themed snowglobe Passive and Dream had gotten him 

’No, thank you though’ Dust responded as he downed the pain med and began eating the burger and fries he’d been brought, afterwards he grabbed a book titled “The disappearance of XGaster” that sat on a shelf nearby and had been written by multiple authors who put all their theories into the book about what might’ve happened to XGaster

opening to a random page Dust read the content quietly in his head 

“The XEvent had ended quite abruptly even for its victims, But why did it end so suddenly? And what happened to the gaster who caused it? Well you see I think XGaster was taken by something much darker than him, perhaps Nightmare or perhaps something far more ancient found him, after all nobody’s seen so much as an overwritten au for all we know he could be simply taking a break before targeting his next au…”.

(Ink’s pov)

Ink was excitedly scribbling away on a notepad drawing inspiration for a new au that revolved around the concept of Undertale but instead of humans and monsters the humans were called scavengers and had sealed away dragons instead of monsters, the leader of the dragons was King Gill who took over the role of Asgore while Queen Coral took over the role of Toriel and instead of Flowey the main antagonist was a flower from a plant called “the breath of evil” and was secretly a dragonet named Freedom

’Hey I should ask Error for some advice on who should be Undyne and Frisk!’ Ink thought to himself before quickly using his brush to open a portal to the antivoid.

’Error?’ Ink called out, no response and infront of Error’s beanbag chairs was a tv that was still on and currently displaying season eight of Undernovela, pausing it Ink tried to listen for him thinking he wandered off but the only sound came from the gentle hum of the souls strung up high above him 

opening another portal Ink made his way to Outertale which was currently being guarded by the Harmony guard just in case Killer, Corrupted or even Horror showed up.

Ink searched for Error for what felt like hours before he finally got the idea to ask one of the guards if they’d seen a glitchy looking skeleton anywhere

’Nope haven’t seen em but we’ll keep an eye out’ said OverShift Toriel 

Ink then headed for Underfell next wondering if his reclucant friend was stealing chocolate again but finding no sign of him anywhere he returned to the anti void, although Ink was forgetful he knew Error wouldn’t just leave his favorite show running while he wasn’t around to watch it, even if he was planning on destroying an au so Ink decided to head back to the omega timeline to ask for help.

(Core’s pov)

Error had a fifty percent chance to notice the Qalupalik agents sneaking up behind him, the same agents who eventually took XGaster who went on a rampage after Fell tried to taunt him when the overwrite and reset button were finally destroyed, in a majority of timelines Fell had been rendered unconscious by an attack which would’ve led to a less traumatic future for the former creator 

Waxwing was now up next and that future didn’t seem to be changing unlike the rest that were constantly moving and shifting to the point even they couldn’t keep up with what would happen sometimes, that was why Core had primitively banned Lanny and her agents from coming into the omega timeline, all except one agent who wasn’t aware of the cruelty she was getting herself into.

Unfortunately nearly every future involved Waxwing leaving either by asking directly or sneaking out through the door area to fulfill her contract to Reaper luckily the futures that ended in her death were rather slim

’She’s leaving soon’ Core thought to themselves as they watched the portal open from the other side of the omega timeline as Waxwing entered an abandoned undertale timeline that had experienced a genocide run.

Background:

The au consists of a globe with three Australian sized contents where each respective tree lives. Originally however all three trees existed on the main continent Sapios but due to Lanny’s bigotry towards monsters and humans she moved her tree to a different but close by continent called Elvenheim and her elves followed suit.

Nim then began to notice Quetzalcoatl was exhibiting feelings of aggression and stress especially when he talked about Lanny and he’d constantly stare at the tree of feelings as though planning something so Nim moved to the third distant continent Mythos and the monsters stayed behind

Paranoid Lanny’s bigotry would spiral out of control and harm the beings he cared for and believing Nim was compromised he selected the most skilled human and gave him one of his own scales and had it welded into the human’s sword, disturbed by the plan the monsters left for Elvenheim as the human left for Mythos. Quetzalcoatl thought he could temporarily kill Nim so she couldn’t interfere and that he could go after Lanny once the human brought back an apple he could use to restore the tree later, he even planned to reward the human by making them the next guardian of magic only for the human to be killed and for Nim to become fatally wounded but still alive just long enough to create two guardians by copying the code from a skeleton named Blue from an au called Underswap

However it was only after dying that Nim found out that the ghost of the nameless man who had killed her was attached to the tree

And unbeknownst to Quetzalcoatl he had only sent Lanny on a downwards spiral which caused her to banish the monsters who then headed for Mythos

Dream and Nightmare were now a year old when the monsters arrived and while Dream was more extroverted and spent time away from the tree Nightmare was introverted and preferred to stay and guard the tree

the villagers not liking that they couldn’t have free access to the tree since one of the twins was always nearby and because they hated the negative side of the tree they used the young skeleton to take their anger out on only stopping whenever one of them warned that Dream was about to leave the village. Nightmare not wanting his brother to become a target hid this from him, however the bullying did subside for a few months when Dream had met a cat monster named Neil who treated Dream and Nightmare like his own children, Neil lived in a house on the outskirts of the village with his entire family and since the villagers didn’t like Nightmare being treated fairly they burned down Neil’s house and killed anyone who survived before chasing Neil off

Nim who could only observe the bullying but never do anything had actually grown to care about her sons prior to their first year and she hoped for the day either Nightmare or Dream finally put the villagers in there place not quite realizing what that would entail. Dream however had noticed his brother acting differently and Nightmare was having trouble hiding the bruises so Dream tried to ask him what or who was doing this but Nightmare always claimed he fell or literally anything out of fear of what the villagers could do to Dream

by year five the bullying escalated and Dream spent countless nights awake trying to figure out how to help his brother, he even began to suspect that some of the villagers had been harming Nightmare but he didn’t know who would be doing that or how he’d even stop it from happening

by year six Nightmare began to hear the nameless man’s voice whispering to him from the tree in his mother’s voice, he told Nightmare the only way to prove himself to the village was to take one of the golden apples and prove he could take care of it. The innocent boy not realizing it was a trick touched one of the apples causing all of them to turn black, the villagers seeing this turned on Nightmare once more and swarmed the tree even going as far as to trample Dream and shove him out of the way when he tried to get their first to protect Nightmare

that’s when the nameless man tricked Nightmare into eating the apple with the false promise of safety, one bite was all it took for a connection to be established as the nameless man transferred himself from the tree to Nightmare while having the apples forcibly absorb themselves into him

then after killing the surrounding mob that was still standing there unsure what to do Dream spoke up trying to reason with Nightmare who’s spirit was trapped inside the nameless man and the corruption

taking advantage of the situation the nameless man pretended to be Nightmare to fool the brother only for Dream to eat the last golden apple to try and keep him from getting it.

In his anger the nameless man cut down the tree of feelings and threw it at Dream, then two of them then fought with the original Nightmare using his rapidly fading control to turn Dream to stone in a last attempt to save him.

Any remaining monsters fled to Sapios with corrupted nightmare not far behind them.

Upon seeing the nameless man’s new form Quetzalcoatl praised him and treated him like a misguided soul who made a few mistakes while telling the nameless man not to worry about whatever he did and because he’d restore the tree and fix everything after Lanny was killed, but Corrupted nightmare had other plans as killed Quetzalcoatl right infront of everyone and grabbed his soul with one tentacle intending to absorb it only for his corruption to sink into the guardian’s soul just as it cracked, after realizing he had just made a shade Corrupted named the shade Q than instructed Q to cut the tree of life down as the monsters and humans fled to Elvenheim to warn Lanny

Corrupted nightmare then tore the seed from the tree and tried to destroy it only to realize the seed was indestructible so he fed it to his new pet Q, the two then killed any survivors one of whom was Neil, however corrupted nightmare failed to turn Neil and a few others into shades due to them getting killed via things like falling off a cliff or drowning

The multiverse however sought to correct the absence of life and death then created Reapertale as a result.

Furious, Lanny forced the monsters and humans to live on the islands surrounding Elvenheim while she overtook Sapios which was easy since Corrupted nightmare had left to return to the now desolate Mythos. Lanny then forced the monsters and humans to live on Sapios while under the constant watch of elven guards.

494 years later Lanny made a deal with Reaper to give him several monster souls in exchange for Neil’s resurrection so she could send someone who actually knew Dream to not only unfreeze him but also so she knew more about Dream in the process.

Info:

Sapios: Under the rule of Lanny but overseen by elves who are usually sent to guard Sapios as a form of punishment, Monsters and Humans live here and are forbidden from entering Elvenheim without permission, attacks by shades and corrupted nightmare’s subordinates are frequent.

Mythos: Completely taken over by negativity, the seed for the tree of feelings is locked away somewhere secret and corrupted nightmares castle can’t be entered from the outside without teleportation, at least 987,654,321 Shades roam the lands both inside the castle and outside.

Elvenheim: The tree of magic (Yggdrasil) has grown so much it takes up 1/3rd of the continent, Lanny refuses to allow monsters or humans into Elvenheim as she views humans as life’s failed attempt at elves and monsters as vermin compared to when she only saw them as lesser beings. This is why after saving Dream she banished Neil to Sapios and has been a harsh if not cruel teacher to Dream for the past centuries and eras.

Adikia institute: A large island southwest of Elvenheim where captured outcodes are imprisoned and drained of magic to power the barrier protecting Elvenheim as well as the other barrier just barely protecting Sapios. After being completely drained of there magic inside the Adikia facility outcodes are then allowed to live on the island for the rest of their existence only ever being killed if they break the rules or escape, the island is located behind the Elvenheim barrier. (Note: Dream isn’t aware this place exists as most elves, even some who work there believe it’s a reformatory)

‘Are you here to kill me?’ Waxwing asked causing the skeleton she realized was Reaper to let out a nervous chuckle which made her feel bad especially when she noticed the question seemed to make him uncomfortable 

’no, but I do want to propose a deal, Dream offered but it has to come from the person who preformed the resurrection so in exchange for Passive’s life I want 999,999,999 souls collected from dead aus and timelines, specifically from neutral and genocide runs where the human souls are still contained within soul jars but with nobody around to use them, this also extends to the shades inhabiting Corrupted’s domain’ Reaper said as Waxwing’s shoulders and wings relaxed 

’Can I have help?’ she asked 

’Sure’ Reaper responded as Dream seemed relieved that the conversation was going well 

‘Wait! Before I forget Corrupted telepathically entered my dreams and he said that Killer and Dust are coming for me and Passive, he worded it a bit more manipulatively though and said me and Passive should just go with them’ Waxwing said 

‘So that’s what it was… it’s okay once we leave Outertale the Omega Timeline should be able to block out any of his attempts to hurt you’ Dream responded having previously thought the negative emotions were coming from his argument with Reaper

’I’ll go check on my brother, he should be finished by now’ Dream said before leaving 

’I’m sorry for not saying anything immediately… Corrupted showed me a mental projection of your conversation and I thought… and I’m sorry for everything I did in the past’ Waxwing responded apologetically

’It’s fine, just be glad you didn’t lose yourself to it’ Reaper said 

‘here I should get going, but if you truly feel up to it here’s the contract that’ll bind your soul to mine until the deal is complete’ Reaper said carefully placing a rolled up piece of parchment next to her 

‘It should teleport itself to Reapertale once you’ve checked the box just above where you’re supposed to sign’ Reaper informed her 

‘thank you’ Waxwing responded as he opened a portal 

‘You’re welcome’ he responded.

(Dust’s Pov)

Dust and Killer hid behind a building within view of the hospital which was protected from any kind of debris by a glass dome

’We could just kill her, I doubt Boss would be that upset’ Killer said his voice wavering a bit 

’Scared she’ll immobilize you again? Also you did mutilate her so I doubt it was unearned, especially with that rivalry you two have’ Dust responded with a sigh

’Don’t tell me you’re getting sedimental Dusty, after all look where that got Horror’ Killer teased

’whatever… I’ll sneak in and find the generators, you wait here until you see the power go out oh and try not to do anything reckless this time’ Dust responded feeling annoyed.

Teleporting from the massive asteroid to the smaller one where the hospital was located, then after locating the generators behind the hospital he summoned a volley of bones that emerged from the ground and impaled the generators which sputtered before going out casting the entire hospital area in complete darkness

then making his way inside through a back door marked “utility” he entered into the employee only section of the building where from a few floors above he could hear a gaster blaster firing as well as the sounds of running and the occasional cry for mercy, searching around he finally located where the patient files were kept and after finding out where Waxwing and Passive were he headed towards the elevator letting a monster or two run past him and only killing the one in the elevator when she tried to fight him.

once he reached the floor where the two were being held Dust saw a familiar tail with a prosthetic tip disappear around a corner causing him to summon a row of bones down the hall as well as another row behind him just in case Waxwing tried to make a run for it

‘Waxwing, enough of this… You’re coming back to the castle with us whether you like it or not!’ Dust said making his way towards the room while making sure to stay out of view of the door frame 

when she didn’t respond Dust let out a sigh and summoned a row of gaster blasters to fire at the wall burning through it and activating the fire alarm and sprinklers

(Waxwing’s pov)

Waxwing unwrapped her wings from around her body the gaster blasters having caused them to sting slightly despite the lack of damage from Dust’s attack, she had luckily already signed the contract earlier before the power went out so she didn’t have to worry about it being incinerated unlike the bed and medical cabinets behind her 

’I said I’m not going back there’ Waxwing said her eye turning from purple to orange as Dust used several bone attacks to destroy the nearby sprinklers and fire alarms

’I understand you don’t want to but if you don’t Boss could likely resort to killing you, or worse… at least if you go back willingly you can feign regret for leaving and act like you missed being there and maybe he’ll lighten the punishment’ Dust said as Waxwing glared defiantly but not hostilely at him 

’You know as well as I Corrupted doesn’t do light punishments, The moment me and Passive step foot in that place he’ll probably cut it off’ Waxwing responded her tail lashing in anger 

’I get that but as long as we just do what we’re told we have nothing to fear, it’ll hurt yes but it’s better than being killed and turned into a shade or torturing you for the rest of eternity’ he said trying to reach a hand out only for Waxwing to take step back fully prepared to attack him if necessary 

’No, I’d rather be tortured than kill anyone else… but I guess you’re fine with that’ she responded her voice wavering between anger and sadness 

’You don’t need to though… Corrupted can’t even reach our minds if we flee to the omega timeline, maybe even Killer could find peace there… assuming he stops killing’ Waxwing continued

’unfortunately I can’t exactly go back to the castle and grab Horror at the moment, and even if I did his au would be in danger’ Dust responded

’We could evacuate his au’ she offered 

’heh…… she almost sounds like you Papyrus…’ Dust said sadly to himself before suddenly turning her soul blue and attempting to drag her out of the hospital only for Waxwing to graze his shoulder with a ball of fire breaking his concentration 

‘Ow! Hey get back here!’ Dust yelled as Waxwing dove through the bones only taking a small amount of damage as she ran for the exit only for her soul to turn blue again as Dust threw her into a the wall before slamming her hard into the floor and holding her there, fighting back against his telekinesis she shakily forced herself onto her hands and knees and looked up at him 

‘Just stop okay, there’s no reason to make this harder than it already is…’ he said his eye sockets going dark as Waxwing summoned a gaster blaster which she kept aimed at his head 

‘Please, I don’t want to kill you… just let me and Passive go, you don’t even have to go back to the castle you just have to retreat’ she said as Dust’s telekinesis wavered for a moment 

(Dust’s pov)

Dust stared at Waxwing, his phantom Papyrus hallucination urging him to kill her as his vision was overcome with a brief hallucination of Papyrus with his arms wide open and the hospital changing to that of Snowden as his vision flickered between reality and a long buried memory 

Dust hadn’t even noticed he stopped using telekinesis on Waxwing as she unsummoned the gaster blaster and her eye turned green as she approached with a look of caution and worry on her face 

his mind then flashed back to the hallucination where he was holding his brother’s head in his hands as it slowly turned to dust

’I-it’s going to be okay…’ Waxwing said as Dust vividly felt her hug him before he suddenly felt her get pulled away snapping him out of his trance just as a knife went through his ribs and soul 

‘Don’t worry, I’ll complete the mission’ Killer said as Dust’s vision went dark.

(Waxwing’s pov)

Waxwing immediately fired a gaster blaster at Killer preventing him from finishing off Dust and forcing him to teleport behind her where she swatted him in the eyes with her tail, the prosthetic getting him right in the socket and giving her an opportunity to leap out of the way

as Waxwing turned around Killer attempted to stab her through her shoulder only to get batted aside by one of her wings before she turned his soul green 

‘This again? I thought you turned over a new leaf with your new family’ Killer laughed tauntingly before summoning a gaster blaster and firing it near Dust’s unconscious body when she tried to walk away 

’Don’t you have anything better to do? She said summoning her gaster blasters to restrain Killer’s hands just as Ink came running from down the hall

’Sorry! I was getting hungry and I got distracted, shit… did you actually manage to beat both Dust and Killer at once?’ Ink asked much to Waxwing’s annoyance 

‘I subdued Killer because he stabbed Dust, where’s Passive?’ she asked

’probably dead by now if Reaper’s stopped by during all this’ Killer said before Ink could speak 

’The floor below— oh hey Dream!’ Ink said waving at Dream, Blue and Passive as they ran towards them from down the hall, Waxwing happy to see them unintentionally released Killer from his immobilization only to feel a gust of air behind her back as Blue used telekinesis to throw Killer out of a nearby window the low gravity of Outertale causing him to float towards the glass dome outside

’Come on, everyone has already evacuated the building’ Blue said as Dream walked over to Waxwing who was healing Dust, Waxwing noticed Dream’s eyes dart towards the stab wound that went through the back of his ribs a brief look of recognition falling over his face as he helped her carry Dust

’wait Dream what are you doing? Didn’t he just attack us’ Ink asked 

’That wound is from Killer he tried to kill Dust, now let’s go before he’s able to orient himself enough to teleport in here’ Dream responded before they all quickly made their way towards the stairs.

(Killer’s pov)

Killer stood in the throne room as Corrupted let out an aggravated sigh 

’That doesn’t mean kill him, I decide who lives and dies’ Corrupted said 

’He was letting her hug him, he might as well have opened a portal to the omega timeline himself and hopped in, also he kept repeatedly apologizing as she approached him and I wanted to see the look on both their faces when I stabbed him… besides Dust clearly survived considering I haven’t gained any exp after that’ Killer responded

’A… Are you a moron? No seriously what part of you’re only allowed to maim Waxwing sounds like kill Dust?’ Corrupted asked pressing two fingers against his forehead 

’Dust was just gonna end up like Horror’ Killer said with a shrug unsure why Corrupted was so upset 

then without warning he felt a stabbing feeling in his chest, not a physical one but an emotional one that caused him to collapse to his knees as his soul reverted back to an upside down heart and he was hit by a wave of raw negativity emanating from Corrupted

the room darkened as Corrupted stood up and slowly approached Killer who was on his hands and knees as tears formed underneath his eyes and he started to feel guilt

’Do you remember when you took your first life? Flowey wasn’t it… how ironic, the both of you hide from your emotions…’ Corrupted said as Killer then felt remorse followed by self hatred 

‘… but the moment that shield is down you break, and you broke quite quickly… do you think ANYONE will ever forgive you? No, not even Dream… who do you think you reminded Dust of back in Outertale? go on, guess’ Corrupted taunted him knowing full well he was in too much emotional pain to speak

placing a foot on Killer’s back he let out a quiet laugh as he watched him cry 

‘You were always a dirty brother killer, You’re own brother probably hates you for what you’ve done and the fact that you haven’t taken your own life is thanks to me so remember that the next time you behave impulsively, or you’ll be dead where you stand’ Corrupted said deliberately saying the last part to hurt him 

Killer let out a shutter as Corrupted removed his foot and used his tentacles to forcibly turn his soul back into it’s target shape 

’Now that that’s settled why don’t you go help Horror guard the dungeon until told otherwise’ Corrupted sneered

Waxwing fired several gaster blasters at Killer just barely grazing him as he tossed her against a nearby wall only for her to shield herself with her wings as several bones shot out from it before dodging a torrent of fire that was weakened by the damp environment 

‘Huh, I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long… but just because you were able to beat Dust and Horror when sparring doesn’t mean you’re gonna last more than an hour against me’ Killer said taking advantage of her hesitation when he said Horror’s name to teleport right next to her and slash the side of her face just above her right eye resulting in her trying to stab him with her tail only for Killer to grab ahold of it and punch her across the face before cutting off Waxwing’s tail blade

‘Huh, I wonder if that’s an outcode thing or if you’re just defective’ Killer said as the tail blade disintegrated into dust

Waxwing glared at him as she wiped away the dark purple blood gushing from the gash above her eye, she was about ready to turn his soul green when her soul was turned blue and she was thrown against a nearby stalagmite as Killer laughed before summoning a gaster blaster directly infront of her 

quickly scrambling to her feet Waxwing tried to dart out of the way only for a second gaster blaster to come out of nowhere and clamp around her body it’s jaw digging painfully into her body as her purple blood dripped from it

’Defective it is, awww what’s wrong? You angry cause you can’t teleport?’ Killer taunted smugly

’I’ll fucking rip your teeth out and shove them into your eyes if you don’t fuck off right now!’ Waxwing yelled

’Ha! as if you could reach that high even if you weren’t restrained right now, you’re like what? five feet and one or two inches’ Killer responded as he made his way over to her the gaster blaster biting down harder as Waxwing tensed up in response to his approach 

‘How about this, since you care about Passive so much and he’s already missing an eye…’ Killer started as he grabbed her by the skull

’…How about I do you a favor and remove this one for you’ Killer said cutting her across her right eye with his knife before burrowing it into her eye socket as she screamed in pain fighting desperately against the gaster blaster

’Shhh, shh it’s okay, you have more than enough hp to keep this going for quite a while’ Killer said as he carelessly chipped away a few tiny pieces of the edge of her eye socket 

‘I-I’ll fucking end you! I’ll—‘ she started before wincing as he twisted the knife around causing cracks to form around her right eye, specifically in between the two cut he’d already given her 

Once he had his hand at the correct angle Waxwing lurched forward biting down on his hand much to Killer’s annoyance 

‘you know what just for that I think I’ll remove one of your wings’ Killer said pulling the knife out of her now empty eye socket which was dripping with blood making Waxwing feel lightheaded

pulling her left wing out Killer dragged the knife along the membrane pushing into it with all his strength as he slowly and steadily shortened the membrane when suddenly she managed to get her hand free and thinking quickly she summoned a ball of fire floating just above her hand and punched him in the face with it causing Killer to scramble back as clutching the burn mark on his face before his soul suddenly turned green 

‘You could do that this whole time?! I knew it you were just letting them escape!’ Killer said as Waxwing summoned four gaster blasters to destroy the bigger one that was restraining her, she then summoned a warhammer made entirely out of fire as she approached him her four gaster blasters biting onto his hands and arms and forcibly holding them in place 

’Tch, what are you gonna do with that?! You can’t kill me, nobody can!’ Killer said letting out an amused laugh

’I never said I was going to kill you’ she responded her voice filled with rage and hatred as she brought down the hammer on his head the flames phasing the his body 

’Wow you really are a freak, wonder how Dream or Passive will react when they find out you’re willing to do something like this’ Killer said staring into Waxwing’s remaining eye which was green

’Oh thanks for that’ he said mockingly as she healed him to speed up the regeneration before swinging again then healing him while barely even aware of what he was saying as she grew more tunnel visioned as blood ran from her wounds 

’heh…heh… you can stop now, I’m getting bored’ Killer said his voice cracking as his soul started to distort but Waxwing ignored him and kept swinging, this time she didn’t even bother to use healing magic relaying purely on Killer’s determination to keep him from dying as her breathing grew more angry and erratic

’P-Please! I SAID STOP! Look I’m sorry okay, I-I’m just following orders’ he said almost sounding fearful which only made her more angry 

‘He’s lying!’ she thought to herself not realizing she said it out loud as tears fell from the right side of her face 

’I’m not! I- I…. I was okay! I’m sorry, please just make it stop!, It burns!’ He cried out the flames turning blue to match the rage and humiliation she still felt

when suddenly she noticed he was trembling and his recently target shaped soul was now an upside down heart that was still green

’stop it, stop trying to trick me…’ she said bringing the hammer down by her side and stared at him trying to find any sign of deceit.

(Dream’s pov)

Dream unsummoned his wings after he landed spotting Waxwing who was emitting strong feelings of stress, distrust, anger and fear while Killer was emitting strong feelings of fear and regret 

‘Leave’ Waxwing said tears and blood running down her face as Killer’s soul changed back to its normal color and he teleported away, then her body began swaying back and forth, running forward he managed to catch her just as her head was an inch from the ground 

‘I’m sorry… I didn’t want to kill anyone…’ she said quietly as Dream held her close 

’I know, you don’t need to apologize you’re safe now…… just hang in there…’ Dream said remembering back to when he, Blue and Ink were evacuating an au probably fifteen hours ago 

‘She could’ve stopped us then with an ability like that but she just stood there’ he thought to himself as he used healing magic on her causing her wounds to heal but leaving behind scars before finally picking Waxwing up and making sure her arms and wings were wrapped around his shoulders and neck as he made his way back to Snowden.

Once he made it back to the others Dream noticed Dust was gone likely having retreated and that his brother was still safe with Blue and Ink who was trying to heal an aggravated Fell.

(Horror’s pov)

Horror stood near the left wall of the throne room his punishment having ended due to the arrival of Dust and Killer 

‘So let me get this straight, not only did you both return empty handed but you also let the star sanses take them?’ Corrupted growled as he aimed all four of his tentacles at them both 

’It’s not our fault! We were outnumbered and Waxwing only managed to overpower me because she used a green attack and her gaster blasters to immobilize me’ Killer responded his soul returning to its target shape

’Excuses! Also— Wait, can you please repeat that last part again’ Corrupted said any emotion draining from his voice 

’she used a green soul attack on me’ Killer responded

‘Really now? So this entire time she was fully capable of preventing the star sanses from escaping and yet she didn’t even bother using it…… Horror, do you know anything about this’ Corrupted asked his voice dripping with cruelty

’no sir’ Horror responded genuinely surprised 

‘Well I guess it makes sense, after all she already betrayed your trust’ Corrupted laughed, but his laugh wasn’t that of amusement or mockery it was of anger which made Horror a little scared about what he might do next 

’Killer, tell me how much damage you managed to inflict on her’ he asked 

’I managed to gouge out one of her eyes and cut off her tail blade, oh and I also flayed one of her wings starting at the bottom of the membrane’ Killer responded 

’Good… that’s tame compared to what I have planned, after all if she wants to lie about trying to recruit Passive how about they switch places and only when I’m sure Passive is finally molded into the perfect killing machine she can join him’ Corrupted said 

‘As for you two keep searching for them, and Horror you’re on guard duty until they get back’ Corrupted said sinisterly as Horror noticed Dust bowing his head slightly a look of discomfort plastered on his face.

(Waxwing’s pov)

When Waxwing woke up she noticed that bandages had been wrapped around one of her wings as well as her tail which now had a prosthetic tail tip to cover the stump where her tail blade once was, sitting up in the hospital bed she looked around only to see that everything was covered in dust and blood 

Suddenly the bandages turned a dark red and the lights started flickering rapidly above her as she quickly climbed out of bed 

‘Do you honestly believe they’d forgive you after everything you’ve done? Dream has his brother back so what’s the point in keeping you around… no matter where you go you’ll always be a murderer’ Corrupted’s voice said scornfully from all around her as she quickly realized the room didn’t have a door, Corrupted then let out a senister laugh as several shadowy chains shot out of the walls and wrapped themselves around her limbs as she was pulled to the ground 

‘Remember your first mission Waxwing? Because I do, you hesitated in a rather hostile tyrannical au and got yourself captured by the humans there… then like an obedient little subordinate you snapped’ Corrupted laughed as the room burned away and she found herself surrounded by black silhouettes with red eyes and mouths who screamed insults and threats at her before suddenly becoming engulfed in flames which caused the chains binding her to the ground to become searingly hot 

‘I don’t care! Just go away!’ She shouted managing to cover the sides of her head only to notice her hands were drenched and blood

’How about instead we go onto one of your more deliberate kills then’ he said the chains turning into dust as Waxwing quickly got back to her feet only to find herself face to face with a variant of Snowdrake who was cowering against a wall before suddenly being decapitated by her tail causing Waxwing to quickly turn around to find herself staring at a slightly younger version of herself flanked by Killer and Horror

‘You’ve always been a monster, I just helped you see it… and Horror got to see just how monstrous you are when you betrayed him… don’t worry though he’s alive no thanks to you’ Corrupted sneered as everything dissipated leaving her alone in a dark void 

‘You even went as far as to let the star sanses escape, you had such a powerful ability and yet you squandered it for some morality you lost long ago’ he continued as she clinched her fist despite the tears forming underneath her eyes 

‘We’re not going back to you even if everyone in the multiverse hates me I’d rather die than live in that place!’ she shouted angrily

’Oh! speaking of dying you won’t be but if you and Passive don’t return back to the castle a certain individual… Reaper might try to kill him, in fact he’s already here as we speak’ Corrupted said as two silhouettes suddenly formed right in front of her slowly gaining color as she began to make out their conversation 

‘I know it’s your job and he already told me about how he was resurrected but that’s my brother in there! I can’t lose him again’ Dream’s voice said 

‘I know but the last time I didn’t do my job Life died Dream, resurrection always comes at a cost but this one was but this one was done without one so if I don’t reap his soul he could end up like my Chara did, is that what you want?’ Reaper said followed by a moment of stunned silence 

‘s-sorry I didn’t mean it like that… but unless you have a better option I have to do this’ Reaper responded 

‘Wait, what if we make a deal I’ll—‘ Dream started before the forms suddenly dissipated 

Soon I’ll have enough undertale au’s to create an entire dnd party using the protagonist’s

Kat — Barbarian

Prism — Bard

Waxwing — Cleric

Laying down Passive stared up at the ceiling as he waited for Waxwing to return when finally he heard the sound of the door to the prison opening followed by a pair of footsteps as Horror and Waxwing came into view

‘Come on, apparently boss has given permission to Waxwing to try and recruit you’ Horror said looking as though Waxwing had just woken him up, Passive could also sense guilt radiating from her as Horror unlocked the cell

’Hm? What’s that look for, you’re the one who asked permission to get him to join not me’ Horror said noticing how Waxwing was glancing away from him

’Is it okay if he brings a book? He’ll need a weapon’ Waxwing said as Passive took a step towards the door

’Sure’ Horror responded with a yawn, after Passive selected the book Waxwing brought him a week ago the three of them exited the hall and ascended up the stairs as one of Waxwing’s green pupils turned purple.

‘What if he actually hates me after everything?’ Passive thought to himself worriedly as they made their way through the relatively empty hallways

’Even if Dream hates me though I can’t stay here forever, even if Horror is surprisingly hospitable’ Passive thought briefly remembering how Horror defended him from Killer trying to use him as target practice when he was nine, Waxwing was furious when she got back from a training session but their wasn’t much she could at that age, when she did try to fight back it often resulted in Passive being punished instead.

As the three of them made their way into the courtyard Horror paused for a second before turning to the both of them

’What au did you say Boss wanted you to train him in’ Horror asked

‘Underfell, Boss said that Passive will have no choice but to fight back’ Waxwing responded as Horror pulled a vial of liquid negativity from his pocket and poured it onto the blade of his axe

just as he swung it to open a portal Waxwing started to emmet an intense feeling of fear as she suddenly grabbed Passive’s hand

‘Horror? Just what do you think you’re doing’ Corrupted’s voice hissed from one of the two shades guarding the entrance to the castle

‘I’m letting Waxwing try and recruit Passive, she said you gave her permission to’ Horror responded sounding confused and tired

‘I never said— HEY! STOP THEM!’ Corrupted yelled as Passive and Waxwing ran through the portal but before Horror could do anything Waxwing summoned a pair of gaster blasters on either side of the portal and fired them distorting the portal and forcing it shut.

Passive reached a tentative hand out towards Waxwing who stood there motionless, still staring at the place the portal had been, the regret and shame she felt were nearly overpowering and it took him until he was ten to believe he even deserved to escape Corrupted let alone be alive

’I-I’m sorry…’ she choked out rubbing her eyes as Passive rested a hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner

’Horror… I’m sorry…’ Waxwing continued her wings and tail drooping as tears ran down her face, all she could think about was whatever Corrupted had planned for him

’I know, it’s okay… there was nothing else we could have done, let’s just go alright’ Passive said his voice twinged with sadness.

‘… okay…’ she sniffed as the both of them made their way up the snowy path.

(Horror’s pov)

Horror hung limply in the air suspended by Corrupted who held onto his wrists with a pair of tentacles

‘So let me get this straight, not only did you let them trick you but you also thought I’d let HIM leave the dungeon?’ Corrupted growled as he tightened his grip on Horror’s wrists

’Don’t forget about how he neglected to check with you’ Killer responded only for Dust to shush him

’They’re just confused! Besides maybe we should try recruiting Passive, it wouldn’t hurt’ Horror pleading only for Corrupted to pull against his arms causing him agonizing pain before dropping him onto the floor of the throne room

’I don’t care what they are, You’ve let your attachment to them get the better of you and look how she repaid your kindness’ Corrupted responded mockingly as Horror forced himself onto his hands and knees

while Horror did feel angry about her tricking him like that he also knew what it was like being under Corrupted’s thumb with the threat of his loved ones being killed

’Now, unless you want me to destroy your au you’ll tell me where those two went’ Corrupted said quickly stabbing Horror in the shoulder with one of his tentacles

’What are you gonna do with them?’ Horror asked only for Corrupted to burrow the tentacle deeper into his bone while using his other tentacles to hold him in place

’Underfell! They’re in Underfell!’ Horror blurted out fearfully as Corrupted started to burrow the tentacle in deeper into his humerus

‘Dust Killer go retrieve the traitors, I want them back alive but you’re allowed to maim Waxwing if necessary’ Corrupted said retracting his tentacles as Horror sat up and clutched his upper arm while staring down at the floor

‘As for you, I think some time in one of the torture cells should be enough to correct your behavior’ Corrupted sneered as he coiled a tentacle around Horror’s neck, Horror didn’t bother fighting back as he was hoisted into the air while Corrupted stood up from his throne.

(Waxwing’s pov)

Waxwing and Passive walked through the snow towards Snowden, surprisingly their weren’t many monsters however she also heard someone complaining about the ones that went to go live on the surface and calling those monsters weak for wanting to live with the humans

’Heh, I’m glad we’re here post X Event, I wonder how it ended though’ Passive said looking around as they walked

’I think I heard from Dust that XGaster tried to overwrite a decoy au a year or two after mine was overwritten and it destroyed his overwrite and reset button, but I could be wrong I was only twelve when Dust said that’ Waxwing responded before stopping suddenly when she sensed the soul of someone heading their way

‘Wait, I think someone’s following us… Who’s there!’ She said staring in the direction she could sense them while protectively putting a wing around Passive and uncoiling her tail from its prehincile shape

Instead of answering a ring of bones suddenly shot up from the ground surrounding the two in a wide circle before a skeleton she quickly identified as Fell teleported inside

’so you’re the one Blue texted me about, heh Lv 10? Impressive… but don’t think for a second that’ll help you kill me’ he said as Waxwing placed herself infront of Passive

’We aren't here to fight, we just escaped Corrupted’s realm’ Waxwing said

’Really? Then why are you level 10, also is that a new recruit?’ Fell asked gesturing to Passive much to the annoyance of both him and Waxwing

’Of course not! Also we escaped because Corrupted kept using Passive as leverage so I’d kill people, oh and before you ask why I don’t call it Nightmare or Boss it’s because he essentially stole Passive’s identity centuries ago’ Waxwing said just as Fell took a picture of them with his phone

‘Can you at least let us go? You’re just being a dick at this point’ Passive said sounding annoyed

’Uh huh cool, hold on I need to tell Blue how lame this fight is…’ Fell said barely paying attention to them

turning away from him Waxwing summoned all four of her gaster blasters and fired them at the wall of bones breaking enough of them that they could squeeze through

‘Hey! I’m not finished talking to you! Now stay right there’ Fell shouted summoning a significantly larger gaster blaster in front of the gap so they couldn’t escape

‘Does he seriously not think I can handle a level 10 outcode and her level 1 friend’ Fell muttered with a scoff as he turned back to face them

‘We really don’t want to fight, just let us find our own way out of here on our own’ Waxwing responded

’Also Corrupted has likely already sent someone after us so you should probably let us leave, preferably as soon as possible’ Passive warned but Fell only laughed

’Please! I’m not scared of a few of genocidal crybabies, Awww boo hoo my Frisk killed everyone! Let me just make a deal with Chara and then put myself in the same situation with Nightmare!’ Fell said arrogantly just as Waxwing thought she saw Dust through the tiny gaps in the bones

’Fell I— Let me finish!’ Fell interrupted

‘Ha! And don’t get me started on Dust, Oh look I’m having a little nightmare! Hold on while I kill everyone to save them from being murdered, oh no they’re dead who could’ve seen that coming?!’ Fell said before his soul suddenly turned blue and he was thrown into his own wall of bones by Dust

‘That’s better… I hope you two enjoyed yourselves because you’re coming back to the castle, Now’ Dust said his voice bordering on pity and disappointment

’HEY! Let me the fuck go!’ Fell shouted from where Dust was pinning him down via light blue bones which had caused Fell’s bones and gaster blaster to disappear

’We’re not going back to that place, do you have any idea what Corrupted will do to Passive?!’ Waxwing said as Dust ignored Fell

’Forget what he’ll do to Passive, you should’ve seen what he did to Horror’ Killer said circling around from behind him until he was right next to Dust

’Killer shut it, Boss is already going to guilt trip her the least you can do is have some decency’ Dust hissed causing Waxwing to stiffen up

‘Carful, you almost sound like Horror… you wouldn’t want your arm broken as well would you?’ Killer teased much to Dust’s annoyance

‘Waxwing the both of you are coming home whether you like it or not’ Dust said just as a portal opened nearby catching there attention, Waxwing however didn’t bother looking at the portal as she was too upset at Dust for implying that place was her home

’That wasn’t a home it was a prison! And if you drag me there I- I’ll kill Corrupted myself!’ She said tears forming underneath her eyes as she tried to block out the flashbacks of her time in that place

‘Hey! Get away from my brother!’ Dream said firmly but not threateningly, at first Waxwing thought he was talking about her so she instinctively stepped away only to notice Dream and Blue walking over to them both as he kept an arrow aimed at Dust and Killer while Ink went to go help Fell

’Can we not do this right now? Horror’s already— KILLER WAIT!’ Dust shouted just as Killer teleported behind Waxwing and Passive with his knife drawn fully ready to attack Passive only for Dream to swat Killer out of the way with his staff as Blue summoned a gaster blaster to counterattack Dust’s own gaster blaster which was quickly destroyed by Fell’s only for Dust to throw Fell into a tree knocking him unconscious as he fired a pair of gaster blasters at Ink who quickly dodged out of the way

‘How noble of you to protect her considering how many people she’s killed, you should’ve seen that one monster she ruthlessly slaughtered… I don’t even think Boss would’ve had the time to feed of their negativity with how quickly she ended them’ Killer taunted as Ink and Dust fought

’That’s enough, she’s already stressed out and besides even if you they’ll just try to escape again’ Blue said as he and Dream stood infront of Waxwing and Passive who looked like he was ready to hit Killer with the book he was holding

’That’s what makes her entertaining, besides it’s her fault Horror is being tortured… he practically raised the two and yet she had no problem betraying him’ Killer taunted causing Waxwing to flinch and stare down at her feet ashamed as her tail curled around her legs

‘Not mention Reaper will probably want Passive back after Waxwing resurrected him a hundred years ago, oh and don’t forget about how Boss has been having her use her resurrection powers to revive prisoners so they can be killed repeatedly so I think you should just hand them over then you can rest easier knowing they’re alive’ Killer continued

’and I don’t think someone trying to get away from him would do that willingly’ Dream responded

’I-I’m sorry…’ Waxwing said quietly

’It’s okay, you don’t need to apologize’ Blue said sympathetically

’It’s not and an apology isn’t going to bring back those forty-eight people’ Killer taunted

’Killer stop, that’s enough! I get you can’t disobey orders but she’s clearly traumatized level 10 or not’ Dream responded

’Then in that case let me do what I came here to do’ Killer responded as Waxwing’s soul suddenly turned blue and she was thrown deeper into the forest slamming hard into a tree a mile away

With shadeing

Without shading

Waxwing walked through the halls of the castle, the shades that stood in the halls always gave her a sense of unease whenever she’d pass by their unmoving forms

Sticking a hand inside her hoodie pocket she clutched the list of names she’d gotten from her victims in that au

’It’s the least I can do… even if some of them gave me fake names’ she thought to herself as she headed in the direction of her room to place the list inside the draw she used as a makeshift shrine, just as she rounded a corner however she saw Killer leaning up against a wall next to her door causing her to lash her tail in annoyance 

’Hey Boss said he wants you in the throne room, apparently he’s disappointed about something’ Killer responded tauntingly 

’And? I did what he said, it’s not my fault I can’t teleport or open portals’ she responded using her irritation to mask her anxiety 

’And yet you let me and Dust do the hard work of trying to capture Dream who managed to evacuate most of the au before escaping with Ink and Blue, Ya know the targets that Nightmare told us about in briefing’ Killer responded accusingly 

‘You mean the briefing I zoned out in’ Waxwing responded, while it was true that she zoned out she still recalled most of it but she kinda wanted to see if she could annoy Killer into fucking off

’Whatever, just don’t keep Boss waiting you know how he is’ Killer responded with a shrug as he left, changing her pupils purple she headed inside her room and placed the paper inside the bottom drawer of her dresser before changing her eyes back to their normal green and heading out making her way towards the throne room where Corrupted Nightmare was waiting for her on his throne.

Entering the throne room always made Waxwing uncomfortable due to it being where she took her first life when she was only six, she still remembered Passive Nightmare being forced to watch as Corrupted ordered her to kill a human who had been restrained to a chair and although she tried to kill the human quickly she could still hear their screams as they begged for mercy and the sound of Corrupted chuckling as Passive covered his eyes.

‘Waxwing, Killer told me you let Dream escape’ Corrupted said malevolently as he stared down at her from his throne 

‘Sorry but he was aiming an arrow at me, and he seemed strong so I thought I’d let Dust and Killer handle them’ Waxwing responded 

’Oh? So you were too scared to face him’ Corrupted responded challengingly 

’Well yeah, Like I told Killer, I zoned out during the mission briefing so I didn’t know we were supposed to capture them let alone who they were’ Waxwing responded

’And how is an aura of positivity scary, explain that to me’ Corrupted said the room getting darker as the shadows pressed in

’I thought it was a luring tactic, how am I supposed to know a positivity aura isn’t a mechanism to lower someone’s guard in the face of a dangerous opponent, besides Dust and Killer have been here longer than me so I thought they’d have it handled’ she responded genuinely confused at the lack of forethought to the possibility of predatory type au using emotional auras to lure people into a false sense of security, letting out an aggravated sigh Corrupted spoke again

’Well next time don’t hold back like that fear or no fear otherwise I’ll have Passive spend the night in the torture chamber, or maybe I’ll just kill him’ Corrupted said evilly his cyan eye staring straight at her just to trigger her sensory issues 

’Yes sir… I understand’ Waxwing responded 

’That’s what I thought, you’re dismissed’ Corrupted said as the shadows retracted.

Waxwing was quick to leave the throne room heading towards the kitchen where Dust was sitting at a table silently eating as Waxwing grabbed one of the rations from the bottom drawer of the fridge that was specifically meant for prisoners 

’You should stop doing that’ Dust warned as Waxwing hallowed out the stone hard piece of bread with a knife 

‘It’s not a big deal, besides even Horror thinks Passive should get more food than a loaf of stale bread and a bit of water’ Waxwing responded as she put a few carrots and raspberries inside the loaf as well as some scraps of turkey that were raided recently from an au like the rest of the food in the fridge 

‘I’m just saying you should be more careful, that kind of compassion will only get you killed’ Dust responded, Waxwing felt a twinge of empathy, she remembered him telling her about his au when she was younger but she also knew he would likely try to stop her and Passive from escaping even if he didn’t tell Corrupted 

And as for Horror he couldn’t come otherwise Corrupted would destroy his au, or refuse to send food there (not that Corrupted sent much in the first place)

Grabbing a steak from the fridge she set it on a separate plate from the loaf and cup of water 

’Don’t worry this is for Horror’ Waxwing said as the microwave started beeping.

Making her way to the spiral staircase Waxwing spread her wings slightly for balance, although she couldn’t fly her wings were incredibly durable and she often used them as shields as well as to glide.

Once she reached the bottom of the steps she turned her eyes purple to better detect for patrolling shades as well as to see better in the dimly lit dungeon

’Horror I brought you some food, is it okay if I spend extra time with Passive’ Waxwing asked feeling guilty about never telling Horror about the escape plan they’d been working on for the last 96 years

’Thanks, here’s the key just don’t get caught’ Horror responded as she handed him the plate with the steak on it

’your welcome, and thank you’ Waxwing responded as she made her way to the door and removed the bar holding it closed making sure to shut it behind her. Making her way down the hall Waxwing noticed the lack of prisoners being held in cells which usually indicated they’d been killed and sent to Horrortale the moment they weren’t producing enough negativity for Corrupted to feed off of.

Nearing Passive’s cell she noticed he was currently reading a book that she was given permission to bring him a week ago, some of the books contained small pieces of paper hidden in the pages that were written in a cypher that only the two of them understood 

‘You okay?’ Waxwing asked as she handed the food to him through a slot in the cell door so he wouldn’t have to reach through the bars to eat like how Dust served food to the prisoners 

’Honestly I’ve been worse, how are things outside?’ Passive asked 

‘they…… they could be better, I know we’re almost done but that monster…… I accidentally missed my attack and cut off her hand when she dodged…I know I shouldn’t be surprised considering the situation but……’ Waxwing said her wings shuttering as she remembered chasing down the fox monster as they slowly succumbed to their wounds, she remembered her begging and crying for help as Waxwing finished her off

’… maybe we should leave now, we’re prepared enough we just need to be careful…’ Passive responded worriedly while making sure to lower his voice 

’but what about the others? Horror essentially raised us but even if he cares both Horror and Dust are required to stop us while Killer might just use us escaping as an excuse to kill both of us… and I don’t want to think about what Corrupt might do…’ Waxwing said anxiously while also lowering her voice as well 

’I know but we have to try, Killer already came down earlier and said that Corrupted plans on torturing me tomorrow, he said something about him being disappointed by the results of that mission’ Passive responded

Waxwing hesitated unsure if it was worth the risk, but she also didn’t want to risk Passive actually getting tortured again if Killer was right 

’Hey while we’re on the topic did you see my brother?’ Passive asked trying to change the subject 

’I did, I didn’t attack him though… but we can escape tonight while almost everyone is asleep… actually wait, does Corrupted even sleep’ Waxwing said curiously 

‘I’m not sure, before you accidentally resurrected me I was barely even aware of what he was doing while my soul was essentially being held hostage’ Passive responded

’I guess maybe if he gets bored enough— Wait I think a shade is coming, I’ll see you later okay’ Waxwing replied quickly getting up and running for the door as Passive quickly went back to reading.