#demitale

Once he reached the fight, he saw Abyss, fighting these monsters that looked to be a mix of a monster and some kind of demon, chains coming out of cuffs around their wrists and chokers around their necks. Their emotions shows that they didn't want to be doing this, but they had no choice, and they couldn't stop. While Reality felt sympathy and a bit of pity for them, he also knew that he needed to prioritize his allies and his brother's safety more than on whether or not these monsters were upset about this. Dream would of course be concerned with it, but Reality wasn't Dream, and Dream wasn't here, so Reality had his priorities straight.

Reality jumped into the fray, going back to back with Abyss, alternating between shields and blades, and it didn't take too long for the two of them to fight the monsters off. Once they all retreated, Reality turned to face Abyss, the blades coming out of his knuckles vanishing as him and Abyss fist-bumped. In all honesty, Reality had truly enjoyed reading with Abyss and learning more about the multiverse and it's inhabitants. He never really had anyone to read with, so having someone who shared his interests and was willing to read with him... it was incredible. Dream dressing up as an emo made that day even better, too; Reality didn't think he'd ever laughed that hard...

"thanks." Abyss thanked him, and Reality nodded.

"anytime. what's the deal with these guys?" Reality asked.

"best guess? demitale. never seen one of the monsters in person, but from what i've heard... this seems like it's them, and it's not good news." Abyss sighed, looking down, "it means nothing but problems for us."

"i sensed their emotions before. they didn't want to fight, but it seemed like they didn't have much of a choice, and the mutations... is it some kind of spell?" Reality asked, holding back his second and third questions of 'Could it spread to others? Could it spread to Dream?'

"yeah, it's something the asgore did and it infected his au. there's not much information on it, but i think it gave him control over all of them from those chains on them." Abyss grimaced.

"any ways of freeing them?" Reality questioned, "can it spread?"

"no, it can't spread outside of it's au," Abyss, informed, and Reality sighed in relief, "and i think enough hope and determination can break them free. how much, i don't know."

"it's still something to go off of. we just need to focus on knocking these guys out, and then finding shattered." Reality informed, and he tensed as he sensed a dark aura nearby.

Him and Abyss both looked around, the blades between Reality's fingers returning while Abyss's scarf morphed into turquoise wings, strands on DNA in the centers of them. The trees in the area started withering and dying, some dead branches snapping off and falling to the ground, and his jaw clenched as he recognized the aura. A jet of black zipped across the ground, only to form up into Shattered, who sharpened his tentacles behind himself, a smirk on his face.

"i was wondering when you'd show up, brother." Shattered hummed.

"you're not my brother." Reality glared, voice low in anger.

"hmm, maybe not, but calling you that pisses you off." Shattered chuckled, no doubt enjoying Reality's frustration, "we really can't be civilized about this?"

"that possibility went out the window a long time ago." Reality informed, "and no, there's no going back to that."

"i suppose not." Shattered sighed, "oh well, it won't matter once you're back safely in stone."

"that will never happen again." Reality hissed.

"never say never." Shattered smirked, and his theme started as his tentacles stabbed down into the ground, surging up under Reality's and Abyss's feet.

The two of them jumped up, Abyss using his newly-formed wings to fly in the air, sending bones and Gaster Blasters at Shattered in rapid succession. Shattered brought up a tentacle, which expanded into a shield, and the attacks that hit it were absorbed into it like an infinite void.

"abyss! attacking him won't do anything! only positivity can hurt him, just focus on dodging and keeping his attacks off my back!" Reality called out, and he started focusing on cutting down Shattered's tentacles, trying to get close enough to land some slashes on his main form.

He made a mental note to not hit Shattered's left eye socket, especially after the reaction he got last time, so instead he settled for stalling until Dream could arrive and help out. He knew Shattered was probably feeding on his negativity, and while Reality knew he could do the same, he didn't want to find out what would happen if he tried. That much concentrated, corrupted negativity... he didn't want to know what that could do to him. And he never intended on testing it out.

Reality couldn't fly like Abyss, so he had to alternate between running, jumping, and leaping forward in order to evade and attack, Abyss doing a good job at keeping most of the attacks from overwhelming him, with Reality picking up the ones Abyss missed. They overall made a very good team, and Reality could tell that that was pissing Shattered off to no end. That just made this even better, honestly. However, the momentary enjoyment didn't last, as Shattered eventually got the upper hand after Reality got in a few good- but useless -slashes across his chest.

Abyss kept attacking while Reality was pinned by tentacles, which was actually pissing Shattered off a decent amount, and Reality smirked at his irritation. Abyss summoned some Gaster Blasters, blasting them at the tentacles holding Reality down, which allowed him to free himself and get back into the fight. Reality hadn't figured out how to use positivity yet, so all him and Abyss could really do right now was stall Shattered, keep him from terrorizing anyone, and wait for Dream to show up. Reality hated how much Dream had to handle and do, but he was the only one capable of fighting Shattered and that thing.

At least Reality could try and help out as much as he could, like the others did, even though Reality wished he could help more. After a while of fighting, as Shattered sent a tentacle at Reality, a glowing yellow arrow shot through the air, shooting straight through it before it could hit him. Reality looked up at Dream, who was standing on a roof, another arrow summoned, and to Reality's slight disappointment, Dream was back in his regular clothes. Now, if Dream had shown up in those emo clothes, no one would've been able to be serious, there would barely be a fight, and their enemies would have blackmail. 

"dream! just in time!" Reality grinned, and Dream smiled back with a nod, sending more arrows at Shattered, firing them after him as he dissolved into a puddle of goop and zipped around in attempts to dodge.

"are you two ok??" Dream asked as he teleported down, looking over the two of them, checking on them.

"yeah, we're alright." Reality reassured, "abyss says it's demitale terrorizing this au this time."

Dream muttered a few curses in Spanish, and he sighed, "that means they worked out some kind of deal. not good."

"not for you, maybe." Shattered smirked as he formed again, sending several tentacles at them from all directions.

Reality, Dream, and Abyss countered them, Abyss summoning eight Gaster Blasters and firing them at Shattered, creating a massive explosion and a brief blinding light. That was probably seen across the AU... . . . And it was a flare to the other Darks that there was a fight over here. Crap.

Sure enough, Cross showed up, attempting to stab Abyss through the back, but the glowing red knife passed harmlessly through him. Reality had barely even processed Cross being there before it had happened, and he was momentarily panicked before seeing that nothing had happened, the knife vanishing. Instead, Abyss summoned several bones with a turquoise DNA-shaped indent in the middle, a glow around it that was the same color. Cross yelped, getting launched back and through several trees. He pushed himself up, looking at Abyss with wide eye sockets, and Reality was smugly pleased that Cross got some karma for that move.

"how?...." Cross muttered, rubbing his skull as he pushed himself up, looking at Abyss in bewilderment.

"simple: i've got no code for you to alter." Abyss smirked, DNA-like tendrils expanding out from his back, sharpening at the tips, and the wings turned back into his scarf as he and Cross started fighting.

Shattered's theme was still prominent, Reality and Dream's mixing into it, and Reality saw Abyss chasing Cross further away from the fight, isolating him and allowing Reality and Dream to focus on Shattered. Someone else showed up, though: A Sans wearing a black hoodie with a gray hood, gray sleeves with two purple stripes on the upper arms, and there was a broken upside-down purple heart on his chest. Under the hoodie was a dark gray turtleneck, and he was also wearing black fingerless gloves and black pants with a white stripe down each side, a chain attached to the left side of the waistband, and he was wearing purple sneakers. He had black liquid dripping from his eye sockets, and his left eyelight was a dark orange rhombus while the right was a circle of the same color. He was giving off a dark aura, and Reality didn't like it one bit.

"who the hell is that?" Reality questioned after a moment, glaring at Shattered.

"ah, right. this, brother, is scoundrel, some of my newest help, and you haven't met him yet. i'd introduce you to him, but he's already well aware of who you are." Shattered smirked, "scoundrel, do me a favor and hold off my brother, i'll handle dream."

Scoundrel nodded, snapping his fingers and summoning black Gaster Blasters with dark orange eyelights and blasted them at Reality. The skeleton jumped back, summoning a purple shield to block the blasts, and he summoned two purple daggers in his hands, throwing them through the shield and at Scoundrel. Scoundrel dodged the knives, creating sharp bones, and Reality created multiple daggers to counter, the two sharp attacks meeting each other in explosions, and Reality teleported out of the shield in a plume of black and gold smoke. He reappeared up in the air, creating purple claws at the end of his fingers and slashing them down at Scoundrel, trying to grab him to swing him around like a ragdoll.

Scoundrel, annoyingly, dodged again, using blue magic to pull Reality the rest of the way down to the ground as he fell, slamming him into the dirt before sending bones up at him. Reality jumped up to avoid it, firing several knives at Scoundrel, causing him to lose concentration on his soul, allowing him to teleport behind him. Reality summoned the purple blades from between his fingers, slicing them at Scoundrel, only for him to whip around holding a thick fallen branch in his hands, Reality slicing straight through it instead. With an internal apology to the tree it was from, Reality kept attacking, Scoundrel discarding the branch by summoning a wooden baseball bat with barbed wire around the bat, and he swung it at Reality's skull. Reality created a shield, blocking the attack, and he slashed at Scoundrel through the shield.

Ink was looking over the fight between Shattered and Dream, Scoundrel and Reality, and Cross and Abyss. He wasn't expecting Abyss to get involved, but he really should've been. Abyss had a habit of helping others, and he should've anticipated Abyss getting involved. Ink crouched down a bit further, gripping onto the tree branch he was perched on, feeling the bark beneath his gloved hands, and he readied himself to intervene should Shattered order it. He'd been told to stay back until otherwise prompted to get involved, so he took to watching the scene, hidden by the tree he was using as a lookout. Ink heard motion next to him, and he looked over, seeing Hate manifest himself, looking out over the fight. 

"hey." Ink greeted, glancing over at him before looking back at the fight.

"hey." Hate responded, and he settled down onto the branch, legs hanging over the edge, "you're not fighting?"

"boss told me not to unless he called for me." Ink replied, "what are you doing?"

"well, since bill blocked me from being sensed by dream and reality, and my involvement is supposed to be kept secret, i get my entertainment out of these things by watching the fights." Hate shrugged, "it's been nice seeing mare getting his tailbone kicked."

Ink paused, trying to think about what that would be like to feel that, "it probably is, considering you two are bitter exes. would a vacuum work on you?"

"i don't believe so. then again, i haven't used soap on him. i guess there's some lines neither of us cross." Hate said.

"i guess so." Ink hummed, watching Shattered block some of Dream's arrows, silence replacing the conversation for a few moments.

"it's odd." Hate muttered after a moment, and Ink looked back at him, seeing Hate's red eye sockets and eyelights evaluating him.

"what is? that nightmare hasn't used a vacuum on you?" Ink asked, tilting his skull a bit.

"pfft!" Hate was taken off guard, and he laughed a bit, "no, no. different conversation. it's odd how invisible you are. killer at least has something coming from him, but you... you have no soul, no emotions... you might as well not even exist."

The thought of not existing- or his existence being forgotten about, it always used to fill him with dread, followed by the need to be obnoxious or get as much attention as possible. Could he be annoying for it? Yes, but then at least people wouldn't forget about him if he annoyed them in a way no one else could, and he wasn't annoying all of the time. He didn't think. Is that why no one came for him down in Shattered's dungeons? Ink wasn't sure, but the dread and worry that used to exist was replaced by the same thing that replaced him: empty numbness.

"but i do." Ink shrugged, "so not much to think about."

"heh, even that didn't get a reaction. you really are dead inside now, aren't you?" Hate mused.

"i don't feel anything, no." Ink's mind went back to when Shattered let him feel emotions that game night, the fun he'd had.

They were emotions Shattered had generously granted him, and Ink needed to remember to thank him again for that later, just infrequent enough as to not annoy his boss. Shattered didn't like it when Ink annoyed him.

"huh. he really did turn you into his own personal mindless tool." Hate chuckled, and Ink rolled his eyelights, feigning being annoyed.

"i'm not his 'mindless personal tool'. are you just here to mess with me or something? i thought you liked watching the fights?" Ink asked, "you should get back to that."

"oh don't act annoyed, we both know you aren't. i just like poking at that empty shell of a mind of yours; it's entertaining! not as entertaining about shapeshifting into a bird while bill creates a bird, and we drop bird crap on the stars, but it's still entertaining. besides, i also came to tell you that error was looking for you and he might come here, and i don't want to get caught. error does not like me, not to mention how my involvement with you guys is supposed to be a secret." Hate informed, and Ink sighed.

"of course.." Ink mumbled.

'boss? should i go fight error? hate says he's here.' Ink questioned mentally.

'go ahead, just be careful. don't get captured, and if you're about to be knocked unconscious, give me a warning so i can keep you from being kidnapped.' Shattered permitted.

Ink stood up on the branch, jumping up a bit and dissolving into a swirl of paint, purposefully making the branch shake and almost send Hate flying off of it, and he went to another high point in the AU to look for the glitch. Error was never difficult to find, especially not for Ink, who knew everything to look for. Ink surveyed the area around him from his current perch; a spire on the castle at New Home, eye sockets narrowed as he looked around for any signs of him.

"looking for me?" Error asked from behind Ink, and he sighed quietly before turning to look at him, seeing him sitting on a swing made of blue strings.

"yes, actually. don't you have anything better to do? chocolate? undernovella? knitting?" Ink questioned, "all better than playing hero."

"i'm not 'playing hero'." Error rolled his eyelights, doing air-quotes at the last two words.

"you have stars next to your right eye socket, making you a 'star'. who is a hero." Ink deadpanned.

"oh that? that's just me gaslighting them!" Error lied.

"you're such a liar." Ink scoffed, rolling his eyelights.

"i lie less than you do. you lie to yourself constantly, squid. be it about dream, shattered, or something else." Error countered.

"i don't lie to myself." Ink told him, "especially about dream or my boss."

"sure you don't." Error rolled his eyelights.

"are we gonna fight or what?" Ink asked, trying to move this along.

"someone's impatient." Error smirked, summoning several of his Gaster Blasters and firing them at Ink, his glitchy theme starting.

Ink jumped up, doing a flip in the air as he avoided the blasts, grabbing Broomie and slashing it at Error, sending a wave of paint at Error, who brought up a wall of red bones to block it. Their ends glitched, and they became sharp, pointing at Ink before firing. Ink brought up a wall of paint, jumping up as Error shot bones up from under his feet, summoning several Gaster Blasters and firing them at Error. Error summoned his own and fired them, the two blasts meeting in the middle, creating a large amount of blinding smoke.

Ink could hear objects moving towards him, and he brought up Broomie to block several red bones shooting at him, and he spun around, blocking more as they shot at him, using his hearing to predict their directions. Ink brought up a paint bubble as they shot at him from all directions before teleporting out of it and behind Error, slashing Broomie at him. Error teleported out of the way, standing on a platform of red bones before firing more of them at Ink as he fell. Ink blocked them with Broomie, but a Gaster Blaster hit him from behind, sending him shooting up, several other Gaster Blasters forming and blasting at him while he was in the air.

Ink plummeted to the ground, hard, and he groaned a bit, feeling the pain in his bones, which were chipped and scorched. He pulled himself up, albeit shakily, and he looked down at himself, finding his clothes burnt, ripped, and tattered, and he grunted as he stood up. He put his hands on his lower back and pushed down with his fingers, wincing as he felt his back pop. That... had been a good attack, he'd give Error that. He looked around wearily, summoning Broomie into his hand again, looking for the glitch.

He could feel his wounds slowly mending, but he was still bleeding from various wounds, not that that would give Error much of an advantage. Ink wasn't limited by pain. Ink spun around as Error formed and fired another Gaster Blaster at him, and Ink used Broomie to make a shield to block it. Unfortunately for him, Error teleported behind him, and when Ink turned to slam Broomie into him, Error vanished and a Gaster Blaster had taken his place, blasting Ink into and through his own shield.

"stop doing that!" Ink snapped, making himself sound and look angry.

"you stop acting! and stop being a damn tool!" Error shot back as he teleported a bit away from him.

"i'm not!" Ink made himself hiss.

"you are! squid, i know you're not this stupid! you're an idiot, sure, but you're not this stupid! dream didn't abandon you, you know that! shattered is manipulating you like a puppet, and you're letting him!" Error spat.

"dream's using you to fight me because he didn't-" Ink started, but Error cut him off.

"no, he's not! he wanted help saving you, you imbecile!" Error snapped.

"i don't need saving!" Ink responded.

"yeah, you do. you just don't realize it. you can't get it through your damn skull that shattered is controlling you, that he's manipulating and controlling you. you've been reduced to a pet, ink. an attack dog. you're nothing to him but a weapon." Error glared.

"shut up!" Ink lunged at him with Broomie, slashing it at him, and Error teleported out of the way, "you have no idea what you're talking about!"

"yeah, i do. y'know how? because i, as much as i hate it, i know you. ink, look at what he did to you." Error teleported back, and he gestured over at a store window that somehow hadn't broken, and Ink looked at it.

He saw himself, clothed in all dark gray with the amber accents along his shoulders and waist, the light gray tattered scarf darkened from soot and being burned, and his whole outfit was tattered, ripped, or scorched. He still had the black tentacles next to his eye socket, along with some bleeding cuts and scrapes from Error's attacks, and the empty, white eyelights were looking back at him.

"does that look like you to you?" Error questioned, and Ink looked back at him.

"it looks like who i am now." Ink replied.

"but that's not you. this is the complete opposite of you, and you can't even see it because you're so damn brainwashed. look, everyone has said it, not just me. why can't you just listen to us on this?" Error asked, "if not me, why not everyone else?"

"because you're enemies, and you can't be trusted." Ink informed him of the obvious, and Error sighed.

"you're an idiot, ink." Error sighed.

"you're one to talk." Ink countered, lunging at Error with Broomie again, but Error dodged, blue strings wrapping around Ink, and he found himself quickly being swung around the area before being thrown into a building.

Ink summoned several Gaster Blasters and fired them at Error, and Ink made himself smirk as he saw Error get hit. Ink pulled himself out of the wall a bit, having been laying half in and half out of the building, and he used his arms to push himself up, feeling some debris under his hands, some shards of glass stabbing him through his gloves. He grunted as Error teleported next to him and planted his foot against Ink's chest, slamming him back onto the floor with a quiet 'thump'. Ink started to push Ink off, only for him to be met with the paints of two of his vials being forced into his mouth and down his throat.

Ink froze, looking up at Error with wide eye sockets as his theme abruptly ended, seeing the glitch smirking, and Ink immediately knew which vials these were. He forced Error back, bringing his legs up and kicking him in the chest and out of the building, and he felt the emotions forming. He tried spitting the paints out, but he'd already swallowed too much, so the small bits of light blue and purple paints he was coughing up didn't alleviate the quickly forming emotions. His breathing quickened as he felt the pain from before escalate into an agony he hadn't felt since the dungeon.

Ink felt his eyelights turn light blue and purple, and he grabbed at his throat as it closed up, feeling like he couldn't breathe. His eyelights shot around, expecting to see the cobblestone floor and walls he'd come to associate this pain with, along with who he'd come to associate this pain with. His grip around his throat tightened, trying to stop the bleeding he'd had from Shattered's tentacle stabbing his neck, and that had to be the cause of his inability right now, right? Ink had ingested his vials, and now Shattered was torturing him again. Ink had disobeyed, and now he was getting punished again, and he was going to keep getting tortured again for his disobedience. He was-

Ink screamed as he felt contact on his wrists, opening his eye sockets as he instinctively kicked at the source- when had he closed his eye sockets? -and he saw Error crouched there, hands covered by his sleeves and looking at him in surprise. Ink was pressed against the wall now, his back against it, and he could still feel the slick wetness of his blood under his hands, the wound making it impossible for him to breathe, and Error was saying something, but Ink couldn't comprehend it. He could see that he wasn't in the dungeon, though, that Shattered wasn't there, but he must have been, right? He had to be, because this pain was from nothing else, his throat must have been stabbed again, and Shattered was... was.... where was he?!

"ink, my god, calm down!" Error snapped loud enough for Ink to hear him over his own panic, "you're gonna claw your skull off at the neck if you keep that up!"

What?...

Ink felt around on his neck, not feeling a stab mark there, just... scratch marks. Scratch marks from his own fingers clawing at his throat trying to breathe... he'd been hyperventilating, that was why he couldn't breathe... Error moved a bit closer, and Ink whimpered, curling up against the wall with his arms raised over his skull defensively, trying to protect himself, and his bones rattled as he trembled uncontrollably.

"maybe giving you those specific ones wasn't my best idea, but i figured those would be the only ones that could get through your damn skull..." Error mumbled, and Ink curled in on himself a bit more as he heard Error approaching, and he yelped as Error put a covered hand on his shoulder, "hey, idiot. it's fine. i'm not gonna hurt you."

Ink shook his skull no, burying his face in his knees as he trembled, tears pouring from his eye sockets, every single wound he'd received from his fight with Error causing him agony. A choked sob left his mouth, and he wasn't sad, he was just that scared, that terrified that he was about to be tortured again because he'd disobeyed a direct order from Shattered. Shattered had told him to never drink the vials again because he didn't need them, and now he's swallowed the paint and now he was going to get hurt. He was going to get punished for it and it was going to hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt-

Ink lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Error tightly, and he heard him yelp this time, and Ink buried his face in Error's chest, clinging to him for dear life as he whispered frantically, the words pouring out without him even processing what he was saying, "please, please, please,  please, please, please, please, please, please don't let him take me again. please, i'm begging you, please. i don't wanna get tortured again, please. please i'm gonna get hurt, i don't wanna get hurt again, please he's gonna be so mad, please error, i'm begging you, please..."

The words kept coming, Ink not even aware of most of them, and he felt arms around his back, which caused him to yelp and flinch before burying himself in Error's chest even further, tears streaming from his eye sockets unceasingly. 

"damn, he really did mess you up..." Error muttered, and he sounded a bit uncomfortable, but Ink couldn't make himself move away from the one source of comfort he had right now, even if said source had beaten the crap out of him a few minutes ago, "look, ink, you're gonna be ok, alright?..."

Ink shook his skull no, "no i won't. he's gonna find me, he's gonna bring me back there, and i don't want to go back there, please, error, please... you can't stop him, no one can stop him. i can't, you can't, no one can, please..."

"how am i supposed to protect you if i can't stop him?" Error asked, and Ink gripped onto him tighter.

"i don't know... i don't know, i don't know, i don't know, i don't know, i don't know..." Ink whimpered, hiccupping a bit.

"saying you don't know doesn't help." Error sighed.

"sorry." Ink whispered.

"not something you need to apologize for, squid. the hell did that guy do to you?" Error questioned. Memories flashed through Ink's skull, and he whimpered, curling into Error tighter as a few more terrified sobs slipped out, and he immediately started to block out those memories. "ok, alright, i get it. it was bad.."

'oh ink, i expected better from you...' Shattered sighed in Ink's mind, and he screamed into Error's chest, clinging to him for dear life.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no...

"ink, what the hell?!" Error exclaimed.

'shattered- boss, please. please please, it wasn't my fault, i'm sorry, it-'

'enough.' Shattered cut him off, and in a split second, everything went black. 

Error was sitting there in stunned silence as Ink suddenly went limp, looking at him with wide eye sockets. Error wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it hadn't been this. He'd thought that by grabbing the light blue and purple vials from Ink's sash back at the Omega Timeline that he could use them to make Ink realize how idiot he's been, and it might have worked, but... he hadn't expected this. He's expected something to happen, but not that.

Not for Ink to have some massive panic attack/flashback, scratch at his own throat until it bled, and back himself into a corner crying. Not for Ink to lunge at him and hug him, trying to find some form of comfort or safety from the guy who hates him almost more than anyone in the multiverse. None of that even crossed Error's mind! Now as Error loosely held Ink's unconscious form, barely holding off a crash, he was trying to figure out how the hell Shattered messed him up this bad.

Error had seen Ink with those vials before, and that was nothing compared to this. That... Error knew Ink had been tortured, yes, but he wasn't expecting that reaction. He was tempted to push Ink away, but that would probably just make Ink easier to kidna- Error grunted as something wrapped around his waist and threw him back into a building across the street, and as he looked back at where Ink was after pushing himself up from the ground, he saw Shattered there, and in a swirl of black goop, he was gone with Ink. Damnit!

"oh come on!!!" Error shouted, glaring up at where Shattered had been, flipping the location off.

He made a mental note to not tell Dream about this, even though he probably already knew due to being an empath, and speaking of empaths... Error narrowed his eye sockets and clenched his jaw as Nightmare teleported a bit away from him, the strings in his eye sockets already itching impatiently.

"shattered's a real piece of work, you know that, right?" Error remarked.

"oh i'm aware. i've given him some... talks about his behavior, but he's almost as stubborn as you in regards to not listening." Nightmare responded, and Error scoffed, rolling his eyelights.

"sure you have." Error muttered, and he summoned and fired several Gaster Blasters at Nightmare, the goopy jerk's theme starting.

Nightmare raised his tentacles to block the blasts be expanding them into a shield before separating them again, sharpening their tips before stabbing them at Error. Error teleported away from them, using Gaster Blasters to destroy them before sending waves of sharp bones at him, and sure, the fight was futile, as neither could kill the other, but Error liked beating up Nightmare and vice versa. Besides, Error still wanted more pay-back from when he'd messed with his head. Nightmare made tentacles stab up from all over the ground, through the buildings, and they all converged at Error with no wiggle room.

Error opened a glitching white portal to an abandoned genocide timeline underneath himself, dropping through it, and he jumped out of the way as the tentacles followed him, stabbing down at the ground. Nightmare took form from the tendrils once the portal closed, sending more of the sharp appendages at Error, who blocked them with walls of red bones, firing Gaster Blasters at Nightmare past them. He then teleported out of the way as the tentacles went around and between the bones, trying to stab him. Error blocked them with more bones, teleporting from behind the wall, and he summoned and fired Gaster Blasters at Nightmare, using blue magic to keep him in place.

The blasts hit, causing a large amount of smoke, and Nightmare's tentacles shot out of it at Error. Error dodged them, narrowly avoiding getting grabbed/stabbed, and he went through another portal. Nightmare followed after him, the two now in another abandoned timeline, this one in a Judgement Hall with some purple liquid- blood, maybe, by one of the far walls, but Error wasn't concentrated on that. He dodged more tentacles are Nightmare followed him to the AU, Error using more Gaster Blasters to attack Nightmare, and he blasted a large hole in the windows.

Error leapt out of it, Nightmare shooting tentacles after him, the goop merging into a giant wave that descended towards him. Error made another portal midair, falling through it, and he was quick to teleport back as the wave of goop followed him through the portal. Error had gone to another abandoned timeline, this time in Snowdin, and he teleported up to the trees to dodge most of the floor. It all went up, though, making a giant goopy wall with a distorted version of Nightmare's face on it, and several massive tentacles shot at Error, some wrapping around the tree he was on and pulling it out of the ground, throwing it towards the river.

Error teleported away, landing on one of the rooftops in Snowdin and summoning massive Gaster Blasters, firing them at Nightmare. He hadn't used those since before the truce, and it was kinda nice to use them again. Nightmare absorbed the blasts, sending more tentacles at Error, making them thorny and sharp around all sides, and he tried grabbing Error, which he narrowly evaded. Error went to another AU, then another, and another, and another, each time having Nightmare chase him, and they eventually wound up in the Antivoid, Error firing Gaster Blasters and bones at Nightmare, while he tried stabbing him with tentacles.

Error glanced over and saw PJ watching with wide eye sockets, and he sighed. Damnit, he probably shouldn't let that anomaly get hurt. Error went through another portal, Nightmare following him, and Error greeted him with several Gaster Blasters. Nightmare responded with several more tentacles, some coming from his main form, others coming from the ground, and Error got ready to block them, but a black paint shield formed around him, PJ teleporting to stand next to him.

"what are you doing?! i teleported here to prevent you from being around the fight!" Error snapped.

"hey! i can help!" PJ fired back, "i've seen you and nightmare go at it in my multiverse, and it gets ugly."

"he is ugly!" Error said, pointing at Nightmare as the shield and bones vanished.

". . . who the hell is that?" Nightmare questioned, looking between them.

"nightmare, pj. pj, nightmare." Error briefly introduced before blasting Nightmare in the face, earning a snicker from PJ.

The fight continued for a while, Error focusing on attacking while PJ made shields and blocked attacks, and Error got an idea. He spread his strings through the dead AU, descending them from the rock walls that made up the 'sky' of Undergrounds, and countless Gaster Blasters formed throughout the whole Underground, each one the size of The Core, and they fired up, ready to blast down and annihilate the code of this timeline, but he paused. Damnit, he couldn't do this. He snapped his fingers, getting rid of the attacks before going back to firing at Nightmare. His skull whipped to PJ as he felt him tug on his sleeve, tugging his arm out of their hand.

"what the hell? why didn't you do it?" PJ questioned as they brought up another shield around them.

"truce with ink, i can't." Error sighed.

"is it for you not to destroy any aus, or just in general?" PJ asked.

"just me. why-?" Error was cut off as the black paint shield shot up to the top of the Underground, expanding rapidly across the timeline, and it started quickly closing in on them, leaving a void of black behind it.

"come on!" PJ yelled, and Error teleported them both out in a glitching white portal, taking them back to the timeline under siege. 

Error had never seen a timeline get destroyed like that, and he was honestly kinda impressed. He looked over at PJ, who was looking off to the side, holding up their left hand, and Error blinked a bit before sighing, giving them a quick high-five. PJ froze, looking at him in surprise before smiling slightly, their left eyelight turning into a star shape.

"that never happened." Error informed him.

"awwwwwwe!" Error flinched as he heard Dream nearby, PJ's left eyelight becoming a circle, and Error turned and saw the skeleton watching, both of his eyelights yellow stars.

Reality was next to Dream, smiling a little as he watched them both, and Error rolled his eyelights, sighing.

"shut up, emo." Error grumbled, but then the ground shook.

Nightmare emerged from a black pool on the ground, his form shooting up and becoming monstrous. Reality summoned the blades from between his fingers, and Dream summoned his bow and arrow.

"i think we pissed him off." PJ mentioned.

"language." Error teased, and PJ huffed.

"you're one to talk!" PJ glared.

"at least we know where they got it from." Reality snickered.

"we've got nightmare, guys." Dream informed, "shattered disappeared earlier and we haven't been able to find him. he's not here anymore."

"uh... heh... about that..." Error trailed off, looking off to the side, and Dream looked back at him, confused.

"what happened?" Dream asked.

"i'll tell you later." Error responded, and Dream sighed.

"ok, fine..." Dream accepted.

"who the hell is that?" Nightmare questioned once there was a break in conversation, looking at PJ, and Error sighed.

"none of your business!" Error responded.

"I wanna know, too!" Bill piped up as he appeared next to Nightmare, floating a bit above the ground, and Error clenched his teeth in annoyance.

"i thought you were at the other timeline?" Nightmare asked him.

"I was, but something happened- No one's hurt! Don't give me that look!" Bill responded as Nightmare started giving Bill a scolding expression, "But anyways, yeah, that one's over, so if you wanted to wrap everything up here?"

Nightmare nodded, and he sent several sharpened tentacles at Dream and Reality while Bill summoned several bones and fired them at Error and PJ. The two groups, PJ bringing up a wall of paint to block the attacks while Error summoned several Gaster Blasters, firing them at Bill. Error hadn't fought Bill in a long time, so this would be interesting. He also never really had help during a fight before recently, so that was another change.

Once they'd split off to fight in separate areas, Error's and Bill's themes were the main ones playing, mixing into a glitchy mess, and neither of them held back. PJ handled blocking Bill's attacks while Error handled attacking Bill, and like with Nightmare, it wasn't a horrible system. That is, until Bill started pulling out his stupid reality altering attacks. Buildings rose up out of the ground, the road shaking under Error's and PJ's feet, and the two of them had to teleport out of the way as Bill started slamming the buildings down at them.

Error managed to wrap his strings around one of them and swing it back at Bill, but he disintegrated it with a Gaster Blaster before it could get close. The pieces of debris from buildings rose up from the ground, wrapped in a blue glow, and they suddenly turned into spears. PJ quickly brought up a black paint shield, blocking the pieces as they rained down at them, and Error gritted his teeth even more from frustration. This was why he hated Bill, this right here.

That stupid anomaly could bend reality to his will; he could turn anything into something dangerous, and there was no way of preventing him from being able to do so. He could make something from nothing, basically, and while Error wasn't weak by any standards... he couldn't beat Bill. Error yelped as the ground suddenly gave out from under him like it was quicksand, and he sank down to his skull before it hardened again, leaving him unable to move. Bill teleported into the shield, looking down at him in a mix of a smug and demanding expression.

"The Rift, Error! Tell me where it is!" Bill snapped.

"no idea what you're talking about." Error responded innocently, and he winced as the ground tightened around him.

"Don't lie! Paint Splatter told me he threw it to you when Shattered got him, and I know you still have it! There's no way that you would just leave something that powerful just lying around! So, where is it?"

"up your coccyx." Error spat, "i'm never telling you where it is. not with what you would do with it."

"Baseless accusations!" Bill acted offended, and Error rolled his eyelights.

"cap." PJ responded.

". . . Ok, seriously, who are you?" Bill asked.

"the all knowing being doesn't know?" Error questioned with a smirk, antagonizing him.

"Shut it!" Bill snapped, and Error stabbed several glitching red bones into the ground around him, cracking the hardened ground and giving him enough room to teleport out.

Error summoned several Gaster Blasters next, blasting them at Bill while he freed PJ, and then he went back to attacking. This was gonna be a looooong fight...

Swap looked out over the Snowdin of this timeline, seeing that almost everyone had thankfully been evacuated by this point and now it was just a matter of fighting the Darks. He could hear explosions from somewhere else in the Underground, could feel the suffocating aura filling the world from Nightmare, along with from Shattered. Swap was still upset with Nightmare after what he'd caused to happen in his timeline- who he'd gotten hurt- killed. Swap didn't let it define his actions, though.

He refused to. He wasn't going to let himself be lowered down to them. He looked around and saw another Sans, and his odd appearance isn't what caught his attention, but his expression. Papyrus had been great at reading expressions, and he's taught Swap how to do the same, especially when it came to recognizing whether someone was a friend or foe. The Sans had horns on the top of his skull, a crack straight down on his forehead, and his eyelights were bright yellow.

He was wearing a black sleeveless vest with a fluffy black hood, and there was dark purple armor over his left shoulder and forearm. His arms past his elbows were wrapped in gray tape, and his hands had black fingerless gloves. His waist had dark purple armor over it as well, spiky and sharp like the armor on his left arm, and he was wearing boots in the same style, black pants below them. He also had a black choker around his neck, a few glowing dark blue chain links coming down from it before they turned invisible.

His expression, though... he didn't want to be doing this, Swap could see it. He could see as he checked houses, looking worried before entering and relieved when he exited when no one was there. He was certainly willing to do things he felt he had to, but he didn't want to do them... So maybe, just maybe... . . . Swap decided to approach him, teleporting down, and he was immediately met with a horned, yellow-eyelighted Gaster Blaster, charging up with a bright yellow light.

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! TAKE IT EASY! I'M NOT HERE TO FIGHT!" Swap told him, holding his hands up, "JUST- IF YOU WANT TO FIGHT, WE CAN DO THAT, BUT I WOULD ALSO PREFER WE TALKED FIRST?"

"i don't have that option, kid." The Sans responded, and the light grew brighter, and Swap teleported out of the way as it fired.

"I'M NOT A KID! LOOK, I KNOW YOU DON'T THINK THAT, BUT I THINK YOU DO!" Swap said, summoning a shield of bones to block some incoming ones from the Sans.

"you don't know anything. i don't have a choice." The Sans said, looking at him with a look that screamed 'please don't make this harder for me than it already is'.

"WHY NOT? IS IT THAT CHAIN THING? IT SEEMS MAGIC." Swap guessed, and the Sans looked off to the side before nodding a bit, "WELL THEN LET'S BREAK IT!"

"it can't be broken. look, it's magic. nothing can break it, nothing. if it could be broken, i would've broken it by now, but i can't." The Sans sighed.

"MAYBE WITH THAT ATTITUDE IT CAN'T BE!" Swap replied, and he had to duck as another yellow blast from a Gaster Blaster shot over his skull, "OK, OK, SORRY! I MEAN IT, THOUGH. DETERMINATION AND MOTIVATION CAN BE A POWERFUL THING! IT CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING, BE IT BENDING TIME, REMEMBERING SOMETHING FROM ANOTHER TIMELINE, OR BREAKING SOME STUPID CHAINS! IF YOU BECOME DETERMINED ENOUGH, YOU CAN BREAK FREE! I BELIEVE IN YOU!"

"please, stop." The Sans pleaded, and he sent a large swarm of bones at Swap, and he summoned a barrier of bones around himself to counter it.

"WHY SHOULD I STOP? BECAUSE YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF?" Swap asked, "LISTEN, I CAN SEE THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THIS, AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO! JUST-!"

"stop talking!" The Sans snapped as he used blue magic on his soul, and Swap made a large barrier of bones over himself as several Gaster Blasters formed around him, all blasting down at once.

The explosion shook the shield Swap had created, and he squeezed his eye sockets shut, hearing the bones he'd summoned cracking from the power of the Gaster Blasters. He let the bones vanish, and he saw someone in front of him- it was a Papyrus, a sight that send a twinge of sadness through his soul. He had small horns on his skull, wore a red scarf, and he mainly wore dark purple armor with gray tape wrapped around his arms and legs where the armor didn't cover. The Sans didn't look happy to see him, but he certainly didn't look angry. He looked scared.

"paps-" The Sans started.

"NO, SANS." The Papyrus cut him off, "LISTEN TO HIM, HE'S RIGHT. YOU CAN DO THIS. I... I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU HATE THIS, BROTHER."

"we don't have any choices. papyrus, listen to me, you know what the king'll do to us- to you. we can't just magically break free!" The Sans responded.

"I NEVER SAID THAT YOU COULD. I NEVER SAID IT WAS AN 'EVERYTHING WOULD BE OK' SCENARIO, BECAUSE IT WON'T BE. YOU'VE STILL HURT PEOPLE, BUT YOU DON'T WANT TO. I CAN SEE THAT. SO CAN YOUR BROTHER. ALL I'M SAYING IS THAT YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND LET YOURSELF TRY."

"look, if i try and fail, do you realize what asgore could do? he is evil in my au. he could make me hurt- make me kill my brother as punishment. you have no idea what it's like to-" The Sans started, but Swap cut him off.

"YES, I DO. THE HOODIE AROUND MY WAIST? IT BELONGED TO MY BROTHER." Swap sighed, and he didn't want to talk about this, but this was necessary, "HE DIED A BIT AGO DURING ONE OF THESE SIEGES, THIS ONE ON MY WORLD."

". . . sorry for your loss." The Sans mumbled, "but that still-"

"I TOLD EVERYONE ELSE THAT HE DIED IN MY ARMS AFTER HE TRIED SAVING THE HUMAN OF OUR WORLD FROM ONE OF THE MONSTERS, BUT THAT WASN'T ALL THAT HAPPENED. THAT ISN'T WHY SEEING A PAPYRUS HURTS SO MUCH. . . . IN MY WORLD, I REMEMBERED THE RESETS. ALL OF THEM.

"I REMEMBERED WHEN THE HUMAN WAS CONTROLLED BY SOMEONE ELSE, FORCED TO HARM OTHERS REPEATEDLY, OVER AND OVER. I REMEMBER WHEN MY BROTHER REMEMBERED THEM TOO, AND HE TRIED TO STOP THEM THROUGH KILLING. I REMEMBER ACCIDENTALLY KILLING HIM TO DEFEND MYSELF, AND THEN THAT'S WHEN ALL THE MEMORIES CAME FLOODING BACK." Swap took a deep, shaky breath, "HE WASN'T KILLED BY THOSE CREATURES, NOT COMPLETELY. AFTER I FOUGHT THEM OFF, I HELD HIM IN MY ARMS, AND HE HAD A FRACTION OF HP, AND WAS IN SO MUCH PAIN, AND HE WOULD DIE IN AGONY, SO I... I..."

"you killed him." The Sans realized, eye sockets wide, and Swap nodded a little as he looked off to the side.

"I WAS TRYING TO BE MERCIFUL ABOUT IT. I KNEW HOW TO END IT QUICKLY. AFTER THAT TIMELINE, THE HUMAN.... THEY STOPPED. THEY RESET. PAPYRUS DIDN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING, AND EVERYTHING WAS PEACEFUL, BUT I STILL REMEMBERED. IT WAS BECAUSE I'D GAINED THE DETERMINATION MY BROTHER HAD HAD, AND THAT ENDURED THROUGH EVERYTHING, SO WHEN I SAY THAT IF YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO BECOME DETERMINED, ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, IT'S TRUE."

". . . you had a happy ending. after all the pain, you had it, and you lost it. how are you still going? you had everything i ever wanted for me and my brother, if only for a moment, and you lost it. it was ripped away from you. how are you still going?" The Sans asked.

"LIKE I SAID, DETERMINATION IS A POWERFUL THING. I WANT TO AVENGE MY BROTHER AND WHAT HE LOST, BUT NOT BY GETTING REVENGE FOR HIM, THAT NEVER ENDS WELL. I JUST WANT TO STOP ANYONE ELSE FROM LOSING THEIR BROTHERS, AND KICK NIGHTMARE'S GOOPY TAILBONE IN THE PROCESS!" Swap responded.

"HE'S RIGHT, BROTHER. WE NEED TO STAND UP AGAINST KING ASGORE, AND I BELIEVE IN YOUR ABILITY TO BREAK FREE! HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF, BROTHER! JUST LIKE YOU'VE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN ME." The Papyrus pulled his scarf down, revealing an absence of a collar and chains, and the Sans's eye sockets widened.

"what... when did that happen?..." The Sans questioned, eyelights pinpricks.

"A BIT AGO. I DIDN'T WANT TO SAY ANYTHING JUST IN CASE, BUT I NEED YOU TO BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, SANS. JUST LIKE I DO, AND JUST LIKE THIS OTHER VERSION OF YOU- SORRY, WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" The Papyrus looked back at him, and Swap noticed one of his teeth was chipped.

"I'VE BEEN GOING BY SWAP." Swap informed, and the Papyrus nodded.

"JUST LIKE SWAP HERE! COME ON, SANS! I BELIEVE YOU'VE DONE YOUR JOB FOR LONG ENOUGH. LET'S GO RAISE SOME HELL AND DO WHAT WE WANT FOR ONCE!" The Papyrus encouraged.

The Sans looked down at his neck, raising a hand to the chains, and he narrowed his eye sockets, tightening his grip around them before he broke through them, the chains snapping and sparking before sizzling out of existence, and he ripped the choker around his neck off, "let's do it."

Swap grinned, and he teleported over to him, giving him a high five, "YOU DID IT!"

"yeah, i guess i did.... . . . thanks." The Sans mumbled.

"YOU'RE WELCOME!" Swap responded.

". . . if my brother were in that much pain, i would've done the same thing. i'm... not exactly happy with what you did, but we've all done some messed up crap, and i know you had your reasons just like me." The Sans told him.

"I KNOW. I DON'T ENJOY HARMING ANYONE," Except for briefly during that timeline when he'd gone a bit.... insane, "I PREFER TO DEFEAT EVIL VALIANTLY- WITHOUT KILLING!"

"AS DO I! I PREFER TO NOT HARM ANYONE EITHER, AND NOW MY BROTHER DOESN'T HAVE TO! THANK YOU FOR BELIEVING IN HIM, SWAP. HE NEEDED IT!" The Papyrus thanked him, "NOW WE JUST NEED TO SAVE UNDYNE!"

The Sans nodded, and Swap said, "AND I'LL HELP YOU- SORRY, UM, DO YOU HAVE ANY NICKNAME IDEAS? SO I KNOW WHAT TO CALL YOU?"

"hmm... what about rebel?" The Sans suggested, "i mean, it's gonna be damn nice doing what i want to now."

"AND I SHALL BE RENEGADE! REBEL AND RENEGADE, THE REBELIOUS DUO OF SKELETONS, FIGHTING A TYRANICAL MANIAC THAT I CAN NOW OPENLY CALL HIM!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" Renegade grinned, and Rebel smiled a bit, cracking a smile.

"heh, yeah. has a good ring to it, bro." Rebel smirked, "oh, and swap? you don't have lv problems, do you?"

"NO!!" Swap exclaimed, honest, "BELIEVE ME, LV IS SOMETHING I ACTIVELY AVOID! I ASSURE YOU, LIKE I SAID BEFORE, I HAVE ZERO INTEREST IN KILLING!"

Rebel observed his face for a moment before nodding, "alright. let's go then."

"NOT SO FAST!" Swap's skull shot up as he heard another version of himself yell, and he looked up, seeing who he guessed was Violet, looking down at them with another, taller version of himself who was in all red and black armor, and there was a Papyrus with him in black and yellow casual clothes.

"DAMNIT." Swap muttered.

Violet jumped down, summoning a glowing purple scythe, and he grinned at him, "I DON'T BELIEVE THIS LITTLE TREACHARY OF THEIRS WILL GO UNPUNISHED. I HOPE YOU'RE READY TO DEAL WITH THE PAIN OF KNOWING YOU GOT THEM HURT!"

"OH THEY WON'T BE GETTING HURT." Swap responded, "YOU WILL BE."

"OH REALLY? HOW? YOU'RE JUST AN UNDERSWA-" Violet was cut off as a purple sword materialized in Swap's hand for the first time in a long while, and he let his left eyelight turn cyan and yellow with a ring of red around it, "OH CRUD."

"YUP. HEY REBEL? RENEGADE? WANNA BE IN YOUR FIRST FIGHT AS HEROES?" Swap asked, looking at the two of them.

"I LIKE THE SOUND OF THAT! WE'LL BE SUPERHEROES!" Renegade grinned, "DON'T YOU LIKE IT, SANS?"

"sure do, bro." Rebel nodded, and he summoned his own black sword, "let's kick some coccyx."

Swap smiled a bit, and he leapt into action, Rebel and Renegade following behind him.

Anyone could be a good person, if they just tried. Swap was happy he'd gotten Rebel to try. It gave him more hope for himself.

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