#aitrpft!mal

Someone else who does not like JR figured it out first, and kidnapped Nova and Mal as an attempt at bargaining.

Blue, in a panic, calls Dream. Because while he has limited interaction with Dream while raising the kids to prevent associations that would lead people to making exactly this realization, he knows this isn't something he can handle himself.

somewhere before this, positive Nightmare ending happened, so the Parental Units is sort of just figuring out their issues in JR. Dream and Ink have not mentioned Mal and Nova, because this is a lot to lay on Nightmare and Error and they're waiting for a good time.

...the kids getting kidnapped was not a situation they were hoping for (quite the opposite) but since they're immediately on the situation (Dream a little more urgently because children in danger, not that Ink doesn't care, she's just calmer on the outside/not as attached to her kid at this time) and are far more interested than they should be in two "random" kids, they have to explain.

Aaaannnnddd then all four parents team up to kick the kidnappers' asses and retrieve their children.

Once the kids are safe and the kidnappers are dealt with, the bio parents + Blue have a quick discussion and decide that the kids are old enough to know, and at this point it might be more dangerous to keep it secret. After all, they've been kidnapped once and their immediate response to the situation/seeing the kids and their parents together is probably going to make the relation clear.

Once Nova recovers from the panic of "holy shit we got kidnapped and might die," he's ecstatic to meet Dream in person. Him!! Nova's idol! He's so cool!!

...WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S HIS BIO DAD- (shock/excitement)

(And Nightmare's here too. but sorry dude Nova is more excited to meet Dream than you)

Ink may have popped in to check on Blue and the kids, but she’s not there when Lucidity arrives. He warns Blue, but it’s like “hey I’m going to be over there in like sixty seconds don’t freak out”

Blue’s more mad than anything though. He thought Lucidity was DEAD. JR exploded, no one could find him, Blue never heard a word from him, and now he’s just going to show up to visit?? Where the McFlurry has he been???

he keeps it mostly contained but even the kids can tell he’s mad. And Nova’s freaking out over goddamn DREAM being IN HIS HOUSE

(“You know him?? Like, personally??!? Why didn’t you tell me!!!” - “Nova, i promise, i will explain later. But right now I need to ask him why he didn’t bother to tell anyone that he’s still alive for an ENTIRE MONTH.”)

Lucidity is. Quite surprised by how excited Nova is.

Once Lucidity explains (but it’s far from the whole truth; just that he was trying to find the culprits, and at some point got lost in another multiverse where a couple of chaotic assholes kept bothering him), and Blue calms down, they also tell nova everything. Lucidity is real sure the culprits are in the other MV, so he’s going to stay there until he can find them and bring them to justice. And since this whole MV thinks he’s dead, it’s not as much of a threat for Nova to know who his biological/magical parents are. Or at least, one of them. Nova is vibrating so intensely the rest of them are afraid he’s going to explode

Blue probably notices that something’s wrong, but he chalks it up to Lucidity still being very shaken by what happened.

Nova begs Lucidity to come visit once in a while, if he can, and Lucidity promises he will. When he can. But he can’t promise it’ll be often. Aside from being very busy trying to track “those people” down, he’s trying to keep a lot profile, which is already pretty hard when you have giant glowing golden wings.

The more he visits, the more sure Blue becomes that something is very wrong. Lucidity’s changing. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise, he lost everything, but…

Nova and Mal don’t really notice, but they didn’t personally know Lucidity before. They don’t know why Blue seems to be wary of Lucidity visiting anymore.

Lucidity meanwhile eventually starts feeling kinda bad about what he’s doing, just because of how much Nova looks up to him. Or, the person he was before he lost JR. The person he’s still pretending to be in front of them.

But he doesn’t feel bad enough to stop.

Nova probably won’t ever find out. And if he does, it’s not like he’s going to be a threat. He’ll be horrified, probably crushed that his father and idol has turned into a (metaphorical) monster, but he will survive. Lucidity still hopes for Nova’s sake that he never finds out.

And yknow what.

Maybe on one of those visits, after the Meme Squad has put together all the information on the Diabolicule as they can find despite not knowing what to do with it, Ink happens to pop in to check on the kids at the same time.

By Lucidity’s request, they haven’t even told her than he’s alive. He hides it well, but he’s not super happy to see her.

He’s glad to see that she’s alive, and doing pretty good! But she could be a huge problem if she finds out what he’s up to. And she very well might.

And she does notice that something’s wrong. He’s not really explaining what he’s been up to, or why he hasn’t come back to tell the survivors he’s alive. Get backup. Something. “oh I just want to keep a low profile” but why? And once she starts asking those questions he gets really evasive, changing the subject entirely.

He asks her not to tell anyone.

She grudgingly promises that she won’t. She mostly means it, too.

But she happens to run into her old friend Error, with Cross and Nightmare.

They didn’t expect her to care, like, a lot, but she’s completely unsurprised to see that Nightmare’s alive and well. She doesn’t even really comment on it. No “oh, I guess Dream’s still alive then. That’s good.” or anything.

They tentatively ask if she’s perhaps seen him, and while she doesn’t answer Nightmare can sense her unease, uncertainty, and suspicion.

He goes “He told you to keep quiet, huh?”

“…Have you seen him?”

“Yep. Unfortunately. Did he actually tell you anything? I’m guessing no, judging by your emotions.”

“He said he was looking for the people who blew up JR, that they were in another MV and he’s been staying there, and that he’s trying to keep a low profile. And he didn’t answer any of my other questions and got really dodgy when I tried to get him to tell me what, exactly, he was doing, and why he hadn’t told anyone that he was alive. Other then apparently Blue and-“

freeze

Cross: Wait, he told Blue? Really??

Error: …Blue and who?

Ink: …uh, you guys?

Cross: Well. He didn’t really tell us. More like we heard some shit then caught him red-handed.

Ink: Wh- ‘caught him red-handed’?

Ink: The hell is he doing???

Nightmare, local lie detector: We’ll tell you if you tell us who the other person—or people—is who knows Dream’s alive

Ink:

Ink: fuck.

In a more crack timeline we transition to Blue’s house with him and the Boyes chilling, and then Nightmare and Error just Appear like “WAS NOBODY GOING TO TELL US WE HAD KIDS?!?” and scaring the shit out of the other three. And cross is just behind her friends watching this like ‘lol’