#multiversemadness

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.

Discord server: https://discord.gg/wQfvxyEuvj

First

Previous

Evil rulers were locked away, Player making prisons they couldn't escape from while Dream helped find better alternatives for leaders before heading to the next AU. Zombie AUs were cured with a snap of Player's fingers, along with repairs being made to damaged or run down houses, and they typically did this while Dream and the others were in another AU where they didn't need their help. Dream lost count of how many AUs they helped, how much positivity they were producing, and he felt... much stronger than he normally did. Reality's left eyelight was half teal from all of the positivity and absorbing some negativity, and Dream knew it was good for his brother to be around all of the positivity after all of the anger he'd been feeling since seeing how much Shattered had hurt Ink.

Ink... he was hanging in there. Top and Aster were with him constantly, and he was mainly sleeping, occasionally eating, or talking with them a bit when he felt up to it. Sci set up a TV by the cell for entertainment, since Ink still refused to leave it, so they had something to watch when they wanted to. Ink hadn't asked for art supplies or to draw anything, he hadn't asked for a fidget toy, and he hadn't even shown any signs of changing into his usual clothes again.

He even regarded his vials carefully, like he was afraid of them, or more specifically, of some consequence from drinking them, something Dream didn't doubt was Shattered's fault. He still drank them after some gentle and coaxing, but otherwise he kept his distance. Dream didn't witness it in person, but Sci and Top gave him frequent updates, and they only made Dream more and more determined to get Shattered out of this multiverse. Ink was just... not himself, and while it made sense given what he'd been through, and he was processing having emotions again and dealing with all of his trauma, but knowing Ink was suffering this much was soulbreaking.

While Dream was reading one of these updates in an Outerfell AU, the update a picture Ink eating some pizza while watching a cartoon, tucked tightly against Aster's side, using his scarf as a blanket, he felt a sudden, suffocating amount of negativity that took his breath away and almost sent him down to his knees. Swap teleported next to him, catching him and holding him up, and Dream sensed a lot of protectiveness coming from him. Dream steadied himself, looking around warily, and he could see the stars themselves dimming, a dark shroud washing over the AU. Asteroids and meteors cracked and fragmented from the weight of the power washing over the universe, the Vegetoids of the AU rotting and dusting, and Dream knew who was behind this.

Nightmare's aura darkened things, sure, which was probably what was dulling their view of the stars, but Shattered's... it rotted, it killed, and it burned. Dream felt some of the strength he'd gained leaving him, and his eyelights shot around, looking for the source of the auras. Karma pulled out his phone, typing something, and Dream's phone pinged. He looked down at it, reading the message Karma had sent, that being 'we pissed them off! get to dream NOW!'

Dream looked up, seeing Killer crouched on a meteor in thee distance, watching them, and Stretch sent a barrage of bones at him, which were blocked by a wall of sharp, bloodied bones, no doubt from Horror. Sure enough, the wall vanished, Horror standing next to Killer, and a blur of purple flashed over them, Dream seeing Dust flying above them, purple wings summoned again. He was wearing a new jacket, this one having a gray hood, denim blue base, and fading to black towards the sleeve cuffs and the lower edges of the jacket, and he was... fast. Very fast.

It was hard to keep track of him, especially when he'd go into the dark fog clouding over the area, eliminating Dream's visibility of him. Dream saw Cross appear a bit away with Fell and Violet, Scoundrel next to him with his baseball bat, Axe, and another Sans- a Negativetale Sans -appearing next to him. They were being surrounded; evaluated, and Dream summoned his knives trying to keep track of all of them. Dust landed next to Horror and Killer, saying something to them that Dream couldn't catch from here, likely something about a plan, and Killer teleported over to Cross, Violet, and Fell while Horror teleported to Scoundrel, Axe, and the Negativetale Sans, likely spreading the strategy out.

Dust's wings folded, and he lowered himself down a bit before leaping from the meteor, wings snapping open as he shot across the sky again, Dream quickly losing track of him. Murder and the others thankfully teleported there, circling around him defensively and looking around for the Darks. Dream saw the Reapertale Chara standing on an meteor a bit away from them, closer than the others, and he internally cursed. Reaper thankfully teleported by the rest of them, and once he saw them, they quickly started fighting, Reaper taking the fight away from the rest of them to avoid any unintended casualties.

The Darks all vanished from sight, teleporting away, and Dream's inability to sense them didn't ease his nerves. The meteors suddenly exploded, the dust and rock fragments momentarily obscuring their vision, Dream shielding his face with his arms. When he lowered them, it was a good thing he had, as sharp black tendrils came shooting at them through the dust clouds, Dream quickly bringing up a shield as Shattered and Nightmare's themes started, washing over the area. Dream kept the shield up, Reality adding his own and sending purple knives out from it, slicing through the tentacles.

"everyone, be ready! i have no idea what they're doing!" Murder warned.

"well that's really [dang] reassuring!" Knife responded, "you have a plan?"

"not yet!" Murder answered, and Dream's shield started cracking, ". . . everyone, spread out! get to meteors and try and find opponents you can relatively easily take down! color, you get to have fun with the murder time trio with me, delta, and knife! abyss, you get cross; neutralize his overwrite ability! stretch, karma, story, epic, watch scoundrel, axe, fell, and that new guy, violet will probably join in with them after abyss heads for cross! swap, i need you helping dream and reality with shattered and nightmare, and player's gonna be taking on bill once they get here!"

"now that's a plan!" Knife smirked.

Everyone scattered, teleporting or being teleported to different locations, Dream taking himself, Reality, and Swap to a meteor a bit away from the asteroid they were on, bringing up another shield as more tendrils shot at them. Dream's blood boiled as Shattered showed himself, manifesting from over the edge of the meteor, a glare on his own face.

"hey shattered, lose something, or well, someone?!" Reality taunted, Shattered bristling before vanishing.

Dream had to teleport them again as a tendril shot up from the meteor, Shattered breaking it apart as they abandoned it for another one, Dream firing several arrows at him. Dream felt another dark aura behind him, and he dodged tentacles just in time, Nightmare sending them at him. Dream summoned his knives while Reality summoned his blades from between his fingers, Swap summoning several bones. They sliced, stabbed, and pierced through the tentacles as they shot at them, sharp and aiming to grab or stab, and the three of them watched each other's backs.

Swap brought up bone walls to block tentacles aiming for their backs while Dream and Reality blocked anything in front of them, waiting for Shattered or Nightmare to show themselves. It didn't take too long, Shattered lunging at Dream after another meteor exploded, Swap bringing up a bone shield in front of Dream as he dove out of the way. Shattered skidded to a stop on the meteor, turning around to face him with sharpened tentacles, the goop of his form rapidly running down his body, his eyelight bright, toxic amber as he glared at Dream, an expression Dream returned. So, it seemed they were both pissed at each other.

"you are going to pay for what you did to ink." Dream said lowly.

"and what did i do, exactly?" Shattered growled, Dream's grip on his knives tightening.

"don't you dare play stupid! you tortured him! manipulated him! brainwashed him!! he's [funk]ing terrified!" Dream snapped, "don't you dare act oblivious to the pain you've caused him!!"

"he wouldn't be hurting so much if you hadn't interfered! if anything, he was thriving!" Shattered responded.

"thriving?!" Dream exploded, "you broke him! you turned him into your own personal weapon! your pawn! he was not 'thriving'! he was broken! is broken! because of you!"

"no, he was broken, and then i fixed him. you broke him again." Shattered grinned, "and now you have to watch him suffer, knowing that there's nothing you can do, and then i'm going to get him back, and there'll be nothing you can do then, either."

"you will never get near him again." Dream hissed, "i'm going to make sure of that."

"i doubt that." Shattered replied, mouth curled into a snarl as he lunged at Dream again, Dream teleporting out of the way and slicing his knives across his side.

He hissed, form sizzling a bit before his form mended itself, and he extended several tentacles at Dream again, more diving down into the meteor and shooting up out of the ground under his feet. Dream leapt back and jumped up, dodging the attacks while Swap sent several bones through them, teleporting out of the way as Shattered sent several tentacles at him in retaliation. Nightmare and Reality were fighting off to the side, exchanging blows and while neither of them showed any signs of beating each other, it kept Nightmare busy so Dream could focus on Shattered. The fight continued for a while, Dream slowly running out of strength from the suffocating aura from both Shattered and Nightmare, and despite how much Swap was watching his back... Dream grew sloppy.

He dodged a second too late, and a tentacle snagged his leg, slamming him down onto the meteor. He yelped, the tentacle burning him as it coiled up his leg and then around his body, agony ripping through him as it squeezed and burned him like Shattered's form was made of acid. He tried getting away, but Shattered only tightened his grip, and despite how much Dream tried holding it back, a scream tore it's way out of him. He could see Swap struggling, also wrapped up in a tentacle, and Reality, when looking at Dream, had lost focus on his fight with Nightmare, getting stabbed through his arm.

Dream wanted to help him, just like he could sense how much Reality wanted to help him, but Reality couldn't get away from his fight with Nightmare, and Nightmare wasn't going to let him help Dream. The pain kept intensifying, and then all of a sudden, there was a burst of bright white light and a loud BOOM, and the pain was gone. Dream blinked, a bit blinded from the flash and dazed from the explosion, and he looked around, rubbing at his skull with an aching hand, his entire body hurting. He saw a shadow in front of him, and his eye sockets widened when he saw who was standing in front of him.

Error was standing there, blue strings pulled from his eye sockets and coiled around his fingers as he stood with his back to Dream, Blue's scarf wrapped around his neck with his other one, tied into a knot at the back. His glitching theme had blended into Nightmare's and Shattered's, making the music in the area unstable and sporadic, and Shattered bristled at the interference. Dream tried pushing himself up, only to gasp in pain, body screaming in protest.

He felt a hand on his back, and he looked up, seeing PJ there, trying to support him while their other hand held out a healing potion. Dream shakily grabbed it and drank it, and he relaxed a little bit as his pain started lessening, PJ waiting for a minute as it took effect, Error summoning and firing several Gaster Blasters at Shattered in the mean time. Once Dream regained his bearings, he started helping Error fight Shattered, Swap jumping back into the fight while PJ went to help Reality with Nightmare.

"i didn't think you were coming..." Dream admitted to Error as he teleported next to him, blocking Shattered's tentacles with a shield, "thank you."

Error shrugged a little, looking off to the side, "don't mention it."

Dream wanted to, but he could sense Error's emotions, and he decided that it wouldn't be a good idea. Error was grieving Blue, more than usual and more than he would usually let himself feel, and based on Blue's scarf tied around his neck, Dream knew Error wasn't doing this for him.

"it's what blue would want, anyways. he'd want you and the stupid squid safe, and since he can't do it himself, it falls onto me. you're really lucky he was a tolerable anomaly, you know that?" Error continued, and Dream smiled sadly, Error's words bittersweet.

"yeah... seriously, thank you, error." Dream thanked him again, and Error shrugged a bit before teleporting away, creating a circle of Gaster Blasters around Shattered and firing them.

Dream took that as an end to the brief conversation, and he morphed his knives into his bow, creating several positivity arrows as he rapidly fired them at Shattered, trying to keep him in one spot so Error could hit him with his Gaster Blasters, Swap helping Dream by repeatedly impaling Shattered with bones, and despite how his form quickly melted them down, they still briefly occupied him. Dream knew he had to wear him down, try and weaken him enough, and after another barrage, he knew that the time was right.

"FRESH, NOW!!!!" Dream shouted, shooting one of his arrows into the air as a signal, watching it crackle into the dark fog over the AU like inverted lightning.

One thing they'd come up with was for Fresh to be waiting off to the side, hidden and indiscreet with the Rift safely in his possession, a mark on the Rift for where he needed to crack it to send Shattered back to his multiverse. Fresh didn't show up to fights often, anyways, so no one would notice him missing, and he could keep his distance enough to where no one could take it from him. Shattered looked around in confusion, the air behind him crackling with multicolored energy before a black void appeared behind him, a circular portal forming amidst the swirls of bright colors, a sight that made Shattered's eye socket widen, a look of panic on his face that made Dream smile.

"you gave fresh the rift?!" Error exclaimed, looking at Dream in bewilderment, and Dream nodded, "you're insane!!"

"but it worked!" Dream responded, "now get him through the portal!"

"NO!" Shattered yelled, lunging away from it, only for Error to summon and fire several Gaster Blasters at him, trying to force him back through the portal, Dream and Swap both firing arrows and bones respectfully, "NIGHTMARE!!! HELP!!!"

Nightmare melted into the ground, away from Reality and PJ, and he formed a goopy shield around himself and Shattered, a shield Dream and Reality worked to pierce through with their arrows and knives. Error continued to help, as did Swap, and PJ brought up ink shields to block tentacles that shot out from the shield and ground, them and Swap working together for defense. Dream concentrated, thinking back on all of his good memories with his friends- going camping with Ink and Blue in an Outertale AU, gazing up at the stars, Murder falling asleep next to him the night Blue brought him to Underswap to stay their for the night, him and Error exchanging their favorite stories about Blue after he... Error agreeing to help them against Nightmare to avenge Blue, who was such a kind soul that he had even befriended the Destroyer of Worlds.

He remembered Murder slowly opening up to everyone, first meeting Reality while saving Murder from Nightmare, and all the time they shared after that, along with how hard his brother had laughed after Error dressed Dream up as an emo, a sound Dream would never forget and would always hold dear. He focused on his friends- his family, and he pulled every bit of happiness up from within him, and he summoned it into one bright arrow that outshined the sun, and he fired it. The result was a blinding flash, and it tore through Nightmare's shield, sending him flying off to the side while Shattered stayed rooted to the ground, tentacles stabbing down into the meteor as he gripped his fingers into the rocks, leaving gouges in the rock as something was pulling him back.

Dream could see something- rainbow strings extending out from the portal, coiling around Shattered's body in multiple places, dragging him back towards the portal, his form deteriorated and weakened from Dream's arrow- too much to fight back. Dream wasn't sure who was trying to help them drag Shattered through the portal, but he knew they were probably on their side, and he felt relieved in the knowledge that Reality really would have allies over there. Dream started firing arrows at Shattered's tentacles, piercing through them where they dug into the ground, separating the goop from Shattered, slowly but surely allowing the stranger at the other side of the portal to drag him through, Reality using his knives to do the same.

"NO!!" Shattered yelled, clawing at the rocks desperately as he tried to remain here, like an animal trying to gain traction on a tile floor or ice, trying and failing to create more tentacles as Dream and Reality kept cutting through them, "NIGHTMARE!"

"he's not helping you, [ash]hole!" Error yelled, Dream looking over his shoulder to see him fighting with Nightmare; grappling with him with his strings and glitching red bones, keeping him back, "dream, get him!!"

Dream nodded, and he called out, "hey, shattered!" Shattered's eyelight snapped to him, looking livid and desperate, "this is for ink!"

Dream sent another powerful arrow into his chest, knocking him back and off of the ground, more rainbow strings coiling around him and yanking him through the portal, Dream faintly hearing a glitching voice yelling, "come here, mother[funk]er!! we have unfinished business that involves your [ash] getting kicked!!"

Shattered was ripped through the portal, vanishing into the black void, and Dream looked over at Reality, relieved that Shattered was finally gone, but also sad because now Reality would be too. Reality gave him a sad smile, and he pulled him into a tight hug, Dream quickly returning it.

"until next time." Reality said, and Dream nodded into his shoulder, yellow tears leaking from his eye sockets and into Reality's shoulder.

"i just missed you so much... i don't want to lose you again..." Dream whispered, and Reality's grip tightened.

"i know, i don't want to lose you either, but we won't be. i'm still alive, and so are you. we aren't losing each other again. i'll be back, i promise you that, brother. i will find a way back to you someday." Reality reassured him, and he rubbed his back before pulling away from the hug, "stay strong for me, ok?"

"i will." Dream replied, "you stay strong for me too, ok? please."

"i will." Reality told him, "i might have my hands full, but i'll be fine. show ink the emo thing maybe, that might help him out."

Dream laughed a little bit before nodding, and Reality stepped back as the portal crackled and sparked, slowly shrinking, Dream whispering, "goodbye, brother..."

"see you later, brother." Reality said, a promise, and he dove towards the portal.

"see you later..." Dream echoed as Reality reached it, vanishing into the black void just as it closed, a bright flash following.

Nightmare watched past Error and his attacks as Shattered got pulled through the portal, Reality hugging Dream before diving through it, and he winced from the bright flash of white light. He saw and sensed the others noticing as well, especially Scoundrel, who was in the middle of fighting Epic on a meteor. Shattered's theme was gone from the area, now Nightmare's and Error's being the remaining ones mixed together, a spastic and unstable blend of the two that Nightmare could only distantly hear over explosions. He was tired of Error's interference; of him being such a pest that now one of his strongest allies was gone, and he hadn't been able to do anything about it! Bill's theme suddenly joined in, and Error was yanked back by blue magic, Bill teleporting next to Nightmare while forming several Gaster Blasters, using them against Error's.

"now you show up! now that shattered is gone!" Nightmare snapped, glaring at him.

"Wait, he's what?!" Bill exclaimed, eyelights shrinking, "HOW?!"

"the rift, i'm assuming! shattered said that error gave it to them!" Nightmare answered in exasperation, "dream yelled for fresh and then that portal opened!"

"[SHIRT]!" Bill yelled, his voice darkening and echoing, and he summoned more Gaster Blasters as he looked around for Fresh.

"get the rift from that parasite, i'll deal with dream." Nightmare instructed.

"Ironic of you calling someone a parasite." Bill snickered, and Nightmare glared daggers at him. 

"don't start with me, cipher." Nightmare hissed, Bill snickering before he teleported away, and Nightmare rolled his eyelight.

Dream seemed to steel himself from his crying, and he turned to Nightmare, summoning an arrow and pulling it back to fire. Shattered had left Dream weakened- evident by the burns marking his bones, faint cracks spreading out from them, not to mention the slight but evident shivering of his body as he forced himself to stay standing. Error standing in front of Dream was irritating, though, and Nightmare took their brief cease of attacks as a moment to figure out how he wanted to fight them, as they were likely doing towards him. He looked around the area, watching Abyss and Geno fighting against Cross, Dust interfering, only for Abyss's scarf to form into wings, chasing Dust through the area, high above everyone else as they fought mid-air.

Killer was fighting Knife and Murder while Horror was fighting Color and Delta. Scoundrel was fighting Epic, Karma against Slick, Fell going against Stretch, and Violet fighting Story. Nightmare watched as Killer shot his Gaster Blaster up into the air as a signal, and he watched them use Dust's plan, rotating opponents. Killer went for Stretch, Story and Karma quickly moving to back him up while Horror fought Epic.

Dust went right for Delta and Color as they started gaining an upper hand against Horror, leaving Abyss in the air before sharp bones and Gaster Blasters were fired at him by Scoundrel, who stood on a Gaster Blaster, targeting him. Slick and Fell teamed up against Murder and Geno while Knife fought Violet, and Nightmare could see explosions in the distance where Bill and Fresh were fighting each other. Nightmare watched as Swap left go to help Knife against Violet, Error and that strange skeleton staying with Dream.

Nightmare spread his aura out, feeding off of Error's negativity as he sent his tentacles out from all directions, his goop covering the underside of the meteor to allow him  more ways to attack. Nightmare dodged Error's Gaster Blasters and Dream's arrows, tried maneuvering his way around the other skeleton's shields, and blocked most of Error's bones. Dream's team had a lot of positivity due to Shattered being gone, and then... it happened. Killer and the Bad Time Trio were close enough to where Nightmare could hear Killer taunting the three of them, and he smirked at what he heard.

"you really think you can stop me? what are you hoping to achieve by beating me up, anyways?~ some form of revenge for what happened to your brother?" Killer taunted, and Nightmare felt Stretch's negativity increase.

"don't you dare mention him." Stretch hissed, firing Gaster Blasters at him.

"why? it wasn't my fault he died, you know. we really did go easy on him. shows how pathetic he was, really. the second things get serious, he dusts." Killer continued.

"shut up!" Stretch snapped, "he was not weak or pathetic! shut your mouth!"

"stretch, don't listen to him!" Story yelled, "he's just trying to [hiss] you off!"

"and it's working." Stretch grit out.

"oh come on, i'm just telling the truth!" Killer said, dodging some of Stretch's angrier attacks, "you can't bring him back; nothing can. why are you even trying anymore, hmm? why haven't you given up yet? i know you want to."

"because he wouldn't want me to." Stretch replied, "that's why."

"so not much motivation. got it." Killer smirked, sending a wave of sharp bones at the three of them, which they dodged, "i wonder how much motivation he had to keep going, considering he approached me like that. he gave up his life- gave up you, all for nothing. how much did you mean to him, anyways? that he'd throw his life away just like that; cause you so much pain so easily."

"SHUT THE [FUNK] UP, KILLER!!!!" Stretch snapped, and he dove at Killer.

Nightmare's smirk widened into a grin as he saw Killer pull his knife out of his pocket, and he sensed the growing horror between Story, and then what came from Dream when he pieced together what was happening.

"STRETCH!! WATCH OUT!!!!" Story screamed, attempting to tackle him out of the way, but it was far too late.

The slash attack surged forward, the close distance making it unavoidable, and Killer's attack met it's mark- or rather, marks. It wasn't intended to kill more than one of them, but it worked all the same. That was the plan after all. Rotate opponents until Killer was facing off against Stretch, making him lose it and close the distance, allowing Killer to get in the hit. It would cause a massive amount of negativity to make up for how much positivity Dream and the other Stars had caused, something Nightmare was still bitter about. He felt a bit better about the situation now.

"STORY!! STRETCH!!!!!!!!" Karma and Dream both shrieked, Dream vanishing from in front of Nightmare as Error unleashed a massive barrage against him.

"you did this on purpose, didn't you?!" Error questioned, and Nightmare just chuckled, dodging the attacks, watching from his peripheral as Dream crouched next to Stretch's dust and Story's body, Karma trembling and crying next to him, with Killer teleporting over to Horror, who was at the largest of the meteors, for good reason.

"KILLER!!!!!!!" Swap screamed, teleporting over to the large meteor and unleashing hell.

Gaster Blasters, sharp bones, and Nightmare didn't miss a purple sword in his hand as he sent a massive wave of attacks at Killer, attacks Horror and Killer both blocked, Dust flying over from his fight with Color and Delta to help Killer fend off Swap, along with Murder, who had teleported over as well, rage radiating from him. A massive fight broke out, the negativity rushing into Nightmare and allowing him to more easily fend off Error, gaining an upper hand. Shattered may be gone, but the Stars would not consider this day a victory if Nightmare had anything to say about it.

The grief was intoxicating, the sadness as refreshing as it would be to drink their tears as Nightmare absorbed his lost strength from them, despite the fight Error was putting up. Error wasn't upset about Stretch, not really, Nightmare could tell. Error felt no care or attachment to him, no grief, but he was upset that he couldn't protect Blue's brother, since he'd been annoyingly stubborn about doing what Blue would want him to do.

Oh well, at least Nightmare would have a decent amount of negativity to feed on for quite a long time. Then, something Nightmare hadn't been counting on happened. Murder's attacks got too strong and rapid, and it seemed like accidental additional deaths were a trend, but this was one that pissed him off. A sharp bone hit Fell in the ribcage, straight through his soul, and Nightmare could sense the realization wash over the area.

"[shirt]!" Knife yelled, teleporting over and abandoning his fight with Violet, grabbing Murder by the shoulders as he started to spiral from the likely massive amount of LV he'd just obtained, not to mention the shock and horror with himself.

Knife teleported himself and Murder out of the AU immediately, Nightmare no longer able to sense their presences in this AU, even though he could sense Murder's growing panic attack mixed with LV-induced mania from elsewhere in the multiverse. Nightmare was far from pleased as he watched Fell's dust fall, as was the rest of his team, and it was hard to see anything past the explosions and attacks over there, Dream too close to Karma's massive amounts of grief to sense or process what had just happened, which would likely be fun for him to discover later. Bill teleported over to him after dodging a massive amount of exploding soft plushies thrown at him by Fresh.

"What the [funk] just happened?!" Bill questioned, standing next to Nightmare as he brought up a shield with his tentacles to block more incoming explosives.

"killer managed to kill stretch, story as a bonus, and murder just accidentally killed fell!" Nightmare hissed, tempted to go over there himself, but he knew he had to remain here and stay with Error so he wouldn't make things difficult.

"[SHIRT]!" Bill cursed, "That wasn't part of the plan!"

"you don't say!" Nightmare snapped, blocking incoming glitching red bones with his tentacles, and he flared the shield open in an attack, catching his three opponents off guard, the skeleton Nightmare couldn't remember the name of making a black shield to block Nightmare's tentacles as they stabbed down at them.

The meteor cracked and broke off from the force of his tentacles, and they teleported to different ones, Bill lunging at Fresh as he continued trying to get the Rift from him while Nightmare held off Error and the other skeleton, preventing them from interfering. Several explosions followed, rapid attacks still present from the large meteor, not mentioning the fights Nightmare and Bill were involved in. Nightmare saw an opening and he took it, shooting a tentacle out from the goop covering the bottom of the meteor and managing to wrap it around Fresh's leg, slamming him into another meteor as hard as he could, seeing if he could break the Rift while Fresh was known to have it.

. . . That didn't happen, however. A large area started crackling and sparking with sparks a multitude of colors, some Nightmare wasn't even aware existed, and a large black void opened, something large and pink shooting out of the portal before rising up. It was... a giant axolotl? It's body itself was similar to a giant galaxy, filled with bright, glimmering stars, cosmic purple and pink clouds, and it was almost translucent. It was a creature that, for some reason, terrified Bill. It also gained the attention of everyone else, as the creature was larger than one of the largest asteroids here.

"N-No! It's impossible!!" Bill yelled, eyelights going out.

"Bill..." The creature spoke, "I've been looking for you for a long time..."

"No! I already know what you want, and I'm not going back!" Bill snapped, bones rattling and trembling as fear radiated from him.

"Bill, you don't belong here, you know this. Not only should you not be here, but you still have to repent for your crime. You're coming back with me, that is a promise."

"Nope! Nuh uh! No way, not a chance, NO!" Bill refused, "I have a body here, Ax! You can't take me without taking my host, and you won't do that, will ya?! Nuh uh, I locked myself in here! I'm not going anywhere!"

The creature frowned, before sighing, "You always make things difficult, don't you? You make things much harder than they need to be, you know this is true. You don't belong here, Bill, so come with me. Let everything return to how they should be."

"Still, no!" Bill refused, and Nightmare didn't miss the way Bill was hiding behind him.

"If you insist..." The creature sighed, and suddenly Bill doubled over with a gasp, coughing.

His soul pried it's way from his chest, the white upside-down heart engulfed in a yellow glow, one that was flickering and fading, a pink one coiling around it, seemingly trying to pry Bill off of the soul.

"Nightmare!" Bill got his attention, Nightmare easily able to sense his desperation and struggle, "I need- brx- you to make a ghdo- deal with me! another one!"

"that'll do what?" Nightmare questioned.

"That'll keep me here! That'll bind me permanently to this body unless one of us cancels the deal!" Bill explained, holding out his left hand as it lit up in a weak, cyan flame.

"you know deals have to be mutual, what should your term be?" Nightmare asked, as though he didn't already have the perfect idea.

"That I'll stay brxu- your ally and I'll help you with Dream and the vwxslg Stars!" Bill responded, hand trembling.

"alright, i accept. you'll remain bound to that body permanently, locked in this multiverse with nothing able to force or allow you to leave, and in exchange you'll remain my ally..." Nightmare lowered his voice to a whisper as he extended his own hand, "and you'll obey every command i give you, completely loyal to me."

"Deal!" Bill shook his hand before he processed the second part, which was evident by the look of realization and horror on his face as he looked up at Nightmare's grinning one.

The yellow glow around the monster soul stopped fading, and Bill seemed to be processing exactly what had just happened. The axolotl creature sighed, gills drooping.

"If you insist on remaining here through a deal like that, I suppose I cannot bring you back with me... But know this, Bill, I will be waiting. Once your deal absolves, I will find a way to get you and return you to where you belong. I will be waiting, no matter how long." With that, the creature swam through the large expanse of outer space, going back into the portal, and it closed behind it, a bright white light flashing across what was likely the whole AU.

Bill stood there, trembling, looking at Nightmare in shock while Nightmare grinned at him victoriously.

"Y-You-..." Bill started, seeming unable to figure out how to continue, taking a shaky step away from Nightmare as reality crashed down upon him.

"mmhmm, i did." Nightmare smirked, "you'll remain in this multiverse exactly as you wanted, only now, you are mine, cipher."

Bill shuddered a bit, and as he went to say something, but Killer shouting from the distance silenced him, "boss! we need to get outta here!"

Nightmare looked up, seeing his and Shattered's teams running away from the large meteor and across several smaller ones, the Stars hot on their heels, now joined by Player, who had just shown up. They were all injured to some degree, and the Stars were all pissed, even if they were injured as well.

"BUT SHATTERED IS GONE, WHERE WILL WE GO?!" Violet questioned.

"probably with us!" Cross answered, "unless you wanna stay here with them?"

"HECK NO!" Violet responded immediately.

"welcome to the team, then!" Killer said, "they're probably gonna be out for blood for a while now!"

"no [shirt]!" Scoundrel replied.

Nightmare extended tentacles out to them, coiling around and teleporting them back to the castle, and Nightmare grabbed Bill and teleported them both back just as several Gaster Blasters shot at them. 

Knife teleported them both to a forest around a Snowdin in an abandoned genocide timeline, Sheath panicking inside of their shared consciousness.

'oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!!' Sheath yelped, Knife trying to block him out as he felt himself growing more worried as he looked down at Murder, who was caught in a mix of a panic and manic episode, hands clutched over his mouth, eye sockets wide and eyelights shrunken, red and cyan pinpricks.

His breathing was a mix of hyperventilation and repressed laughter, and Knife may not know a lot about emotions, but he knew that Murder was not ok right now.

"murder murder murder, hey hey, look at me. look at me, murder." Knife told him, gripping his shoulders tighter and shaking him, "come on, hey, look at me. not just look at me but look at me."

Murder's eyelights focused on him a little, something Knife viewed as progress, and Murder whispered, "i wasn't trying to- oh god dream, he's gonna... i promised-"

"hey, no. it was an accident." Knife told him, voice firm as he tried to ignore Sheath's frantic shouts, "they just killed two of ours; them losing one is fair, even if it wasn't intended. i don't think dream'll be all too upset."

"but-!" Murder started.

"nope. no buts." Knife cut him off, "it was an accident. you weren't trying to kill him. killer just killed two of your friends, murder. you were... you were upset, and you weren't in full control."

Knife wasn't entirely certain what Murder was feeling other than showing physical signs of a panic attack combined with a mental breakdown, and that was more than enough to tell him that Murder wasn't ok right now. Murder's breathing evened out for a moment before it hitched, shaky, high-pitched giggling coming from him as he fell back against the snow, starting to laugh. Knife grimaced slightly while Sheath's panicking grew worse to the point Knife couldn't think straight, and sure, Knife knew he wasn't doing it on purpose, but damnit Sheath shut up already! Knife paused, unsure of how to handle this, and he crouched next to Murder, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him to try and snap him out of it.

"murder, damnit, quit spiraling! i don't know how to deal with this!" Knife snapped, shaking him even more, pulling him to sit up, and Murder curled in on himself, laughter more stiffed now, but still present.

Knife cursed under his breath before pulling Murder against his chest in a tight hug, grip unrelenting as he held him there, trying to ground him. It seemed to work to some degree, the laughter that had been prying itself from his mouth simmering down into quiet, shallow and rushed breathing.

"it was an accident." Knife repeated, "there was no intent to kill, murder. the only reason he's dead is because it was a lucky hit. you were angry, but there was no intent to kill, just harm."

"i-i st-still..." Murder started.

"hey, no. it was an accident. dream won't blame you for that. he's an empath, dumby. he's gonna know how much you didn't mean to do it." Knife said, "it wasn't your fault, murder. unlike them, you didn't kill on purpose today."

"god... stretch, story..." Murder's breathing hitched, and Knife tightened his grip a bit as Sheath started getting louder, and despite knowing it would come back to bite him, Knife shoved Sheath into a deep corner of their mind so he could think.

"yeah, i know..." Knife mumbled, not really upset about their deaths, but he could tell Murder was, and that was enough for Knife to know Murder probably needed something that comforted people, like a hug, which was what he was trying, "i'm sorry, pal."

Murder trembled a bit, and he started to break down even more, a few sobs leaving him. Knife rubbed his back, trying to help him, but it only seemed to make him cry harder.

"damnit, sorry i wasn't trying to make you worse." Knife muttered.

"n-no, it's just... j-just i m-must be r-really messed up i-if y-you are tr-trying to help m-me..." Murder said, a small laugh leaving him.

Knife wasn't sure if he was supposed to be offended or not, so he settled on being indifferent, holding Murder closer and saying, "yeah, well, you're kinda obvious about it. besides... . . . aren't friends supposed to help each other when they're upset?"

". . ." Murder was quiet before mumbling, "yeah... yeah, they are..."

"so is this helping?" Knife questioned.

". . ." Murder's breathing hitched and stuttered again, before he managed, "y-yeah..."

"doesn't sound like it." Knife noted.

"it's helping... it just... god..." Murder trembled a bit more, Knife squeezing him slightly, "i- i can't believe that...."

"yeah, i know.." Knife sighed, "i know. . . . at least he won't be able to tell anyone you cuddled with me."

"seriously?" Murder hissed, glaring at him.

"sorry. too soon?" Knife asked.

"duh!" Murder snapped.

"sorry, i'll shut up!" Knife sighed, rolling his nonexistent eyelights as he held Murder closer, pressing his forehead against his shoulder again.

Murder started crying a little bit after that, and Knife sighed again, holding him tighter, rubbing his back, still trying to be somewhat comforting at least since no one else was really here, and if they were, they weren't fit to deal with this. Murder, for the next.... half hour or so, alternated between, sobbing, laughing, a mix of the two, and being silent except for quiet sniffles, and Knife's grip didn't ease once. He was holding off the worse of the manic fits, so there was that, but Knife could tell he'd be here for a long while. Knife sat there with him for... he lost track of time, riding out the effects of the LV with him, trying to remain grounding even as Murder delved into laughing fits so severe he was almost passing out, and then sobbing episodes that soaked Knife's shoulder.

Knife eventually managed to scoot them under a pine tree, brushing the layer of snow covering the both of them off that had been making Murder shiver, but he didn't let go of Murder for a moment. Except for when he was still shivering, and it was only to remove his own jacket, draping it over Murder as a blanket, but Murder was immediately pressed against his chest again. Knife didn't feel cold, anyways, and it seemed to help Murder a bit, since he seemed like he was trying to hide beneath it, his shivering lessening. Murder finally had one last crying fit before he slowly calmed down, body losing it's tension, and with a few more shudders and trembles, he was out cold.

Knife kept his grip tight on him regardless, getting lose in thought for... he wasn't sure how much time passed before he was brought back to awareness by a hand shaking his shoulder. He looked up, blinking slightly as he saw Color crouched next to him. His body felt stiff and jerky when he tried to move, the cold seemingly stuck his joints together a bit, and he could feel pieces of ice between his bones that dug in when he tried to move, not that it bothered him.

"color?" Knife questioned, making sure he was seeing the identity of the other skeleton correctly or if his head was messing with him after putting Sheath in time-out earlier.

"yeah, hey buddy." Color confirmed, and he looked down at Murder, "is he ok?"

"yeah, he uh... he had a bad reaction to all of the lv, which didn't help after what killer did, but i managed to calm him down after a while." Knife answered, looking down at Murder's sleeping form, "player's gonna need to fix his code again."

"yeah..." Color sighed, sitting down on the snow next to him.

"dream upset?" Knife asked.

"no, he's... more-so worried about murder right now. he knows what happened with fell was a complete accident... he's been looking for him for a while, but with you emotionless and murder asleep, he can't pinpoint him."

"so you came looking for me?" Knife questioned, "didn't take you very long."

". . . buddy, it's been over a day since... you know..." Color informed, and Knife blinked at him.

Oh, so that's why his body felt so stiff...

"huh." Knife said simply, before amending, "took you long enough."

"well you're in a completely random au, deep in the forest off of the path of anything near here, sorry it took me a while." Color apologized flatly, and Knife smirked a bit before frowning, looking down at Murder, who had apparently been sleeping for the last day.

". . . what'd we miss?" Knife questioned.

"well, we had a funeral for stretch and story. they're in a memorial park core made, and starry is staying with karma at the other side of the omega timeline, and everyone... they're all grieving. dream is staying at sci's lab with ink, he's been there since the funeral, and i don't know if he told him about what happened or not... i honestly hope he didn't, not yet, at least..." Color sighed.

"yeah, that wouldn't go over well..." Knife agreed, skull thumping against the bark of the pine tree.

"yeah... i uh... i moved your stuff to the new apartment, too, and i grabbed murder's while i was there. there's a bedroom and everything set up for him, and player's been waiting for you two to be found so they can reset murder's lv." Color informed.

"good, he's gonna need it." Knife looked down at Murder, remembering how upset he'd been, "i dunno if he's ever slept this long... guess breakdowns take a lot outta someone..."

"yeah, and so does dealing with the cold." Color added with a frown.

". . . i gave him my jacket." Knife pointed out.

"yeah, and that left you cold." Color sighed, pinching the bridge of his nasal cavity, "come on, let's get you two outta here."

"teleporting's gonna wake him up." Knife informed.

"i know, you've mentioned that, but it might not be a bad thing. it's been over thirty six hours since you two vanished, buddy. he's gonna need some food, not to mention getting warmed up." Color mentioned, and Knife sighed, adjusting his grip on Murder to have an arm around his shoulders and an arm under his tailbone.

He stood up slowly, bones creaking, and he held Murder up against him, he paying close attention to if Murder stirred or not, which he didn't, before nodding to Color. Color nodded back, opening a rainbow portal, and Knife walked through it and he looked around. It was a bedroom with dark gray carpets, light gray walls, and three windows with dark blue curtains, two of three completely drawn, the furniture consisting of a bed, two night stands, a desk and swivel chair, a couch, and a coatrack. The wooden furniture was spruce, and the couch was a stormy blue, the blanket of the bed a bit darker, the sheets and pillowcases white.

There were a few boxes in the corners of the room, not to mention in front of the closet door. Color went over to the bed and pulled back the blankets, Knife walking over to it and settling Murder down on it, the skeleton subconsciously trying to hide in the extra hood Knife's jacket gave him. Knife covered him up with a sheet blanket, not using the thick quilt for him so he wouldn't heat up too quickly, and Knife gave Color a small nod in thanks. Color nodded back, and Knife headed over to the couch, flopping down and laying down on it.

"you have a room too." Color informed quietly.

"yeah, but now i don't have to fight murder over the couch." Knife replied, Color snorting a bit and shaking his skull, "besides, i like watching him sleep."

"and he hates when you do." Color mentioned.

"that's his problem." Knife responded, and Color sighed.

"will you at least eat something? put on drier clothes?" Color requested.

"not hungry or cold." Knife informed, "i'll consider eating once murder wakes up."

". . . or i'll bring you a donut from ccino's." Color offered.

". . . fine..." Knife relented reluctantly, but it was worth it when Color smiled, seeming relieved.

"thank you, buddy." Color thanked him.

"you're welcome." Knife replied, and Color left.

Knife turned to lay on his side, having a relatively good view of Murder's sleeping face from here, and he got comfortable just laying there, watching him sleep while watching Color sprint past the slightly cracked window, likely bolting to Ccino's before Knife could change his mind about eating. In all fairness, that was reasonable, given his past quickly changed decisions regarding food, and he sighed quietly, watching Murder's chest rise and fall evenly, the rhythm relaxing. Knife might not even get to change his mind about eating, Murder's breathing might put him to sleep first! It didn't, but it had been close to doing so when Color came back with the donut, which Knife reluctantly ate, and once he had and Color left to dispose of the container, that's when it put Knife to sleep. 

Discord server: https://discord.gg/wQfvxyEuvj

First

Previous