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Unwanted Protection

Summary:

Everyone knows the Star Sanses: they're the Guardians of the Multiverse, and protect it from Nightmare and his minions, who only want to spread chaos and destruction.
They're kind, strong, brave, the good guys!
How can you not love them?

You can't. They deserve the world. They're perfect and selfless and precious, and must be protected at any (and I do mean ANY) cost. Not that they couldn't protect themselves, of course! It's just, the Multiverse doesn't give them the appreciation and respect they deserve, not really.
But Nightmare, Error, Horror, Killer, Dust, Cross... they know how much Dream, Ink and Blue are worth.
And they'll keep them safe.
Forever.

 

The credit of this story partially belongs to Stargazer_Nebula, who created a prompt on AO3 and helped me flesh out the story before I started writing.
If you're interested, you can check out the comment chain where we discuss ideas here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31988677/chapters/90524200
The story is also cross-posted on Wattpad.

Notes:

Alright, I'll try to always tag TW at the beginning of each chapter, please do tell me if I missed something!
For now, the only warning I can think applies is simply general creepiness (with some non-con touching, though it's not sexual).

(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: Unwanted protection

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ink was laying on his (not his, he didn't want it to be his-) bed, but didn't want to wake up. It was soft and comfortable, and as long as he was pretending to sleep he didn't have to-
"𝑔σσ𝓭 爪σяŇ𝐢ŇG ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."
The Protector (what kind of Protector was he, he couldn't even protect himself or his friends) tried his best to keep his breathing even and to not tense.
"ι 𝕂ŇσⓌ 𝕪σ𝕌'яE AⓌA𝕂E, 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩."

Ink recognized the warning for what it was, and opened his eyes.

Error was inches away from his face, with a (deranged) smile. Ink remained perfectly still and smiled (nervously) back. The Destroyer strings were uncomfortable, and couldn't wait to get rid of them; they were easy to ignore while he slept, but after he woke up he could feel them digging in his wrists and ankles, binding him, chaining him, shackling him, caging him, forever and ev-

The artist felt a bop on his forehead, and realized Error was watching him (when wasn't he? Watching him like a hawk, a predator-) with a frown.
"รσ爪Et𝓱𝐢ŇG ᵇσt𝓱Eя𝐢ŇG 𝕪σ𝕌, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢?" The glitch held his face in his hands gently, to avoid triggering his phobia; it wasn't as severe after spending so much time with Ink (lucky him), but fortunately Error still couldn't do much (yet). Unfortunately, that meant tying Ink down during the night to avoid any accidental touching.

Stopping himself from flinching, Ink smiled again and answered: "Don't worry Ruru, I'm just sleepy today. Maybe some breakfast can help me wake up?" And he didn't want to remain in the room anymore, he wanted to see other people, even if it was... them.

"ᗝⓕ 𝓬σ𝕌яşE 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩, Ⓦ𝓱AtEѶEя 𝕪σ𝕌 ⓌAŇt."

Liar.

Error got up (and away from him, thank the Creators) and held up two changes of clothes: one was his usual outfit, while the other was something Error had picked out for him.
"𝕎𝓱𝐢𝓬𝓱 σŇE Ⓦσ𝕌𝔩𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 𝔩𝐢𝕂E?" he said, raising his own a bit higher to indicate it was the correct choice, but Ink would keep wearing his clothes (his his his, something Error didn't touch) for as long as he was able.
"The one on the right."
"aяE 𝕪σ𝕌 ş𝕌яE?"
The Protector made a sad expression on his face, and sheepishly said: "I feel a bit more comfortable in it, but if you want me to wear the other one..."
Predictably, Error widened his eyes and hurriedly replied: "ภσ, Ňσ, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝓭σŇ't ᵇE 𝕌pşEt! ι נ𝕌şt t𝓱𝐢Ň𝕂 𝐢t Ⓦσ𝕌𝔩𝓭 𝔩σσ𝕂 şσ Gσσ𝓭 σŇ 𝕪σ𝕌, ᵇ𝕌t 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬AŇ ⓌEAя Ⓦ𝓱At 𝕪σ𝕌 ⓌAŇt!" He then leered and added: "үσ𝕌 𝔩σσ𝕂 Gσσ𝓭 𝐢Ň AŇ𝕪t𝓱𝐢ŇG."

Ink suppressed a shiver and said: "How sweet of you."
Error just chuckled and took a glass from the bedside table, full of colorful paint.
As soon as he was captured, Ink had had his vials and Broomie taken away from him, and hadn't been able to get back either of them: he was always watched (always always always, leave me alone-) during the day, and the one night he tried sneaking out of the room he shared with Blue and Dream, Error had been right in front of him, asking him what he was doing; he had managed to blurt out an excuse about being thirsty, and so the glitch had escorted him to the kitchen and made him hot cocoa, all the while cooing at him. After having his drink, Error had insisted on sleeping together (literal sleeping, thankfully. Error's haphephobia was a blessing).

Ink hadn't tried sneaking out again, but the idea of cuddling to sleep had been planted in Error's mind, and now Ink was lucky to sleep with his friends twice a week.

"ᗝpEŇ Ⓦ𝐢𝓭E ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."
Ink's hands were still bound, so Error held his glass for him and helped him drink.
Fucking creep.

=========

They were finally ready for breakfast. Ink sat at the table, at Error's side: the Destroyer still had a string loosely wrapped around Ink's left wrist, and it seemed to weight 100 times more than it actually did.

The Protector looked at his two (captive) friends: Blue was in front of him, flanked by Killer and Dust, and the two genocidal monsters were arguing with each other, constantly asking Blue for his input, while he awkwardly tried to both keep the peace and eat his breakfast, making himself as small as possible.

Dream was at the head of the table, at Nightmare's side, having a conversation about the last book they both read with a strained smile on his face; Ink noticed he was squeezing Cross's hand under the table, and the stoic Guard squeezed back.

"you should... eat..."
Prompted by Horror, Ink turned back to his breakfast and started eating: he didn't even realize what he was shoving in his mouth (it all tasted like ash anyway). It had been almost two months since they had been kidnapped (or was it? The days were starting to blur together) and he felt more and more numb; it scared Ink (it felt like when he was off his vials), so he tried to hold on to every little scrap of freedom he and his friends had left (it wasn't much), but at the same time, giving in to Error and do whatever he wanted sounded so easy and soothing-

"Ink?"
"Mh?" Dream was calling him, so Ink blinked a couple times and looked at him: he seemed worried.
"Cross and I wanted to have a lunch date, but someone" he sent an amused look at Nightmare, but Ink could see the tension underneath (he wondered how Nightmare couldn't sense it, maybe he was just that delusional) "decided we need a chaperone. Do you want to do it?"

The artist just nodded, not trusting his voice. It was a way for Dream to help him, he was so lucky to have such good and smart friends, he wanted to help Dream and Blue as well, but Error never left him alone (he had to fight for every minute, every second away from him).
"ᗷ𝕌t ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, tσ𝓭A𝕪 ⓌAş ş𝕌ppσşE𝓭 tσ ᵇE נ𝕌şt ⓕσя 𝕌ş." Ink felt the string tighten around his wrist (trapping him). As if today was different from yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that and all the days before when it was almost always him and Error, him and Error, him and Error, he wanted to be away from him please I just want him to go away-

Killer scoffed: "Error, shut up, every day is a day for you and your 'pwecious wittle Kiki', ugh, watching you two is sickening."

Error glared at Killer, snarling: "ιt'ş ŇσŇE σⓕ 𝕪σ𝕌я ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG ᵇ𝕌ş𝐢ŇEşş Ⓦ𝓱At ι 𝓭σ Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 爪𝕪 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, AŇ𝓭 𝐢ⓕ 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓭σŇ't ş𝓱𝕌t 𝕌p ι'爪 GσŇŇA 爪A𝕂E 𝕪σ𝕌!"
"You think I'm scared of you, Windows Vista? Bring it on!"
"үσ𝕌 ⓕ𝐢𝔩t𝓱𝕪 Aᵇσ爪𝐢Ň-"
"Boys."

Nightmare stood up from his seat, looking at the both of them with disapproval.
"Killer, stop provoking Error." The Destroyer smirked, but quickly frowned when Nightmare called his name. "Error, you can afford to let Ink out of your lap for a few hours." Killer started snickering, but a pointed glare from the negative Guardian made him stop.

Error whined: "ᶜAŇ't AŇ𝕪σŇE E𝔩şE 𝓬𝓱ApEяσŇE?"
Nightmare raised a brow, making a show of looking around, and the Destroyer blushed in embarrassment.
"ι 爪EAŇt ᗷ𝔩𝕌E! 𝓂A𝕂E 𝓱𝐢爪 𝓭σ 𝐢t!"
Blue cleared his throat and weakly said, scared: "W-well, actually, I-I wanted to cook with... with Horror, so..."

Horror let out a gravelly laugh and said: "Not... sharing... Ink's turn..."
Error pouted, so Ink tried to calm him down (he was so close to have a break, he had to make him happy again) and said: "Don't worry Ruru, after we can do... that thing you like."
Error smirked, and Ink focused on not throwing up.

Dream and Blue (and Cross) looked horrified, while the Murder Trio started jeering and laughing, and Nightmare just rolled his eye.
"Brother, I swear" he turned to Dream "they act like immature teenagers. It's honestly a miracle we ever managed to defeat you in our battles."
Dream let out a nervous laugh.
"Well, you're lucky it's all in the past, then?"
Nightmare's appendage curled protectively (possessively) around his twin's shoulders.
"Quite."

=========

After breakfast, his brother asked him to go to the library, and Dream couldn't agree fast enough: it may be selfish, but losing himself in a book and not think about the situation for a few hours was something he cherished; he could even forget Nightmare was in the room with him sometimes.

The love interest in his current book was a knight, serious, strong and just; it reminded him of Cross, and Dream smiled: the only positive thing about the whole situation was that Cross was on their side, having been a spy for the Council for about six months before... everything. Dream didn't want their relationship to advance this way, but not having to hide anymore was a relief; his brother was of the impression they "fell in love" during their captivity, and weirdly seemed to approve, though given his other minions, he probably thought Dream had chosen the best option available.

"I can see you're enjoying your book, brother. Some character in particular caught your eye?" Nightmare smiled in amusement. His brother acted so normally, and Dream still couldn't understand fully what went down.

While he didn't know why or how the behaviour of the residents of the castle changed from hostility to... this, Dream knew when everything started.

Five months ago, attacks on AUs had started decreasing greatly, and Nightmare's Gang (and Error sometimes) kept laying waste to the same ones over and over again. After being abducted, Cross had helped him fill the gaps and explained that they had wanted to lessen the Stars' workload, but at the time both they and the Council thought Nightmare was planning something huge. Tension was at an all time high, and the denizens of one of the Fell AUs that kept getting attacked were becoming frustrated: after the third raid, they started taking it out on the Council relief effort and on them, blaming Dream, Ink and Blue for bringing the fight to their door.

They tried to ignore it at first but things quickly escalated: at first they were yelled at, then after a while people started throwing things while they were trying to fix damages and recover survivors from collapsed buildings, and a few times they were actually attacked by an angry mob after the fight ended.
Dream could understand their resentment, and didn't harbor any in return, though their refusal to fight back against the people they had sworn to protect had earned him, Blue and Ink a fair share of bruises.

Turns out, Nightmare and his subordinates had become suspicious of the fact that Dream and his friends were injured and they didn't have anything to do with it, and after an attack had remained behind to spy on them, witnessing everything.
When he was describing it to him, Cross had said: "I don't think I had ever seen any of the others so angry. I was pissed, but they were something else. Killer, Dust and Horror were even more deranged than usual, Error was basically foaming at the mouth, and your brother..." he had then paused and shivered "...he was terrifying, Dream. I had never felt so scared in my life."

After that, Nightmare had decided that the Multiverse couldn't be trusted, and it was their duty to protect Dream, Ink and Blue, and all of the others had instantly agreed. What had triggered this change? Cross didn't know, but he said his twin thought of everything "scarily quick", and that made the former guard suspect he had had that plan in mind for a long time: he had Error lock the AU, preventing any of their assailants from escaping, and drafted a letter in which he and the others asked for a peaceful audience with the Stars, to propose a Truce.
Dream remembered how suspicious he had been, all the discussions with Ink and Blue, with CORE!Frisk (though they couldn't give them any information, since Error had shielded Dreamtale from them), with the Council, and how they had (stupidly) decided to give them a chance; Cross apologized numerous times for not warning them, but when they had recruited him they knew that it wouldn't always be possible to receive information.

They had arrived in Dreamtale, and everything had been so pleasant at first: they had actually sat down and discussed in detail what a peace treaty would entail, and they were so professional, and Error seemed happy to talk with Ink, and his brother was smiling at him, and Cross wasn't saying anything, and then they had made a toast and...

And Dream had woken up in an unknown room, with Cross guarding the door and Nightmare sat at the foot of the his bed, cheerily informing him that now he was safe inside the castle, and no one could ever hurt him or his friends ever again.

Dream had been very confused, but his brother's aura was as clear as day: he was genuinely happy and satisfied of whatever he had done to Dream, and the positive Guardian could feel a strong feeling of familial affection coming from him. Cross, as usual, was compartmentalizing and thus unreadable, but managed to mouth one warning while Nightmare had his back to him.
"Play along."

So Dream used his relief at the fact that he wasn't dead yet to mask his terror and worry, and smiled at his brother, asking for explanations.
The complicated answer was: the Multiverse is too dangerous for someone like Blue, Ink and Dream, so selfless and kind, and Nightmare and his minions had decided to take matters into their own hands.
The simple answer was: they were now prisoners, and weren't allowed to leave the castle.

Any attempt at logical reasoning was dismissed, any suggestion about leaving was shut down with ferocity, anything that wasn't complete acceptance of the situation was treated as an unreasonable reaction; after failing to reason with Nightmare, Dream had asked to see his friends, and was brought to the two neighbouring rooms, where he saw that Ink and Blue were in similar conditions.

Blue was with Horror, Dust and Killer, who kept talking over each other to get his attention, and he sat on the bed frozen in fear, not understanding the situation at all, while Ink had been bound and gagged by Error, who kept repeating that now Ink was safe, that they didn't have to fight anymore, the two of them could be so happy together, no one could ever separate them, wasn't the Protector happy?

Cross was a grounding presence: with him at his side, Dream could hide his disgust and panic under a veneer of happiness and calm his friend down a bit, making them understand they'd have to play it smart.
Though playing it smart was hard when your captors showed you all the torturing and slaughtering they did in your name; Error had shown the three of them, through one of his windows, exactly what had happened to the AU that had attacked them. Blue had puked, and Dream had barely managed to keep it down. Ink just looked away.

And there were also the prisoners: they had captured a few of the denizens, the ones that had been more involved in harming the three of them, so that they could "save them for later". At that moment, Blue had snapped and started attacking, knocking Dust and Killer out, and then tried to free the captives. He and Ink had helped him but, unsurprisingly, didn't get far, as Nightmare and Error stopped them immediately.

After that, they all went to the throne room to discuss their punishment; Killer and Dust put forth gory suggestions (that Nightmare shot dow immediately), while Horror proposed breaking their arms, but fortunately Cross spoke up and started talking about how this was a "first offense" and managed to make Nightmare decide to just lock them up in a room for a couple of days.
This, though, only proved one thing to Dream: they couldn't afford to fail, they had to have a plan and get it right the first time.

And that meant playing along with the delusion.

The situation was nerve-wracking, as they had to watch everything they said to avoid upsetting their captors and breaking the illusion, but for him and Blue it was easier, since they just had to be friendly with everyone around them.
Ink was stuck with Error, and the glitch had less pure intentions than the others, and was also extremely possessive.
Even Nightmare let him spend the day with other people without making a fuss, but Ink couldn't even sleep in their room anymore, the only place where they were actually left alone and could talk freely.

And he was getting worse, Dream could see him become more and more numb each day, more and more dependant on Error, more and more compliant.
He and Blue tried to organize group activities, so that the artist wouldn't be left alone with the glitch all the time, but it didn't always work. At least, today it did. And during the "date", he could tell Ink about his escape plan.

=========

Ink and Error were entering the greenhouse, while him, Cross and Nightmare were already there.

Dream was very nervous, but tried not to show it, both in his stance and in his aura. He thought about his excitement and happiness for his escape plan, and used it to disguise any other emotions that might tip off his brother: his aura was already dampened and weakened from being inside the corrupted Dreamtale, and around Nightmare himself, but the two twins had always been very attuned to each other, and Dream didn't want to take any chances.

Cross, as unflappable as ever, held his hand in a reassuring grip, and Dream smiled.
"Remember this is still my house, brother, and you have a chaperone; don't start snogging Cross as soon as I leave."

Dream laughed weakly at his brother's comment, but all his attention was focused on Ink, who finally had a spark of hope back in his eyes.
It was quickly squashed when Error pulled him closer and whispered something to him. The glitch then grumpily followed Nightmare back inside the castle.

The three of them waited a few seconds to be sure they were gone, and then Dream went toward Ink and hugged him. Ink started shaking and silently sobbing, so Dream soothed him.
"It's alright, don't worry, now you, me and Cross will stay here and relax, we can look at all the flowers, so colorful, isn't that nice?"
"I want to go home."
"I know."

Dream and Cross let Ink cry, and then all sat down on the table that had been brought in for the date. Ink was fiddling with the blue string on his wrist, and whispered: "I hate him."
After saying that, he tensed, as if expecting a blow. During the first week, his friend was extremely defiant, constantly throwing tantrums and screaming at Error, who in turn only treated him with condescension, until Ink had shouted: "I hate you!" right in his face. At that moment, Error had looked like they all remembered, full of deranged fury, and had wrapped Ink in his strings and brought him to his brother, who had trapped him in his worst nightmare for hours.

Both him and Blue could hear him scream himself hoarse, but since they were with everyone else in one of the living rooms, they had to ignore it. Dream remembered how his eyes had burned from unshed tears.
After that, Ink was completely cowed: he still tried to not cave in to all of Error's demands (he had told them about the clothes), but his attitude had completely changed, and he always made sure to keep Error in a good mood. It was taking a great toll on him. His pupils had become white dots permanently.

Cross put a hand on his shoulder, and said: "We hate him too, don't worry. He's a prick."
A laugh bubbled out of the Protector, and Dream's soul ached: it had been so long since he had heard Ink or Blue laugh.
The positive Guardian didn't want to erase his good mood, but what Ink had said that morning was nagging at him.

"Ink?"
His friend lost his smile, hearing his serious tone.
"This morning, you said, after this, you were going to do... something Error liked. Has he-"
"No no!" Ink looked horrified for a moment. "Thank the Creators he- he can't touch me too much, he hasn't even said anything about- that." Ink hugged himself. "He likes to... watch me play with his puppets. A lot. It's so weird, he has a puppet of me and a puppet of him and then he just makes me-" he closed his hands into fists and made them bump into each other. Dream felt sick, and could sense Cross felt the same way.

His boyfriend said: "That's better, I guess. Still fucking creepy."
Ink smiled a bit.

Dream took a deep breath and said: "Well, hopefully you won't have to worry about him anymore. I have a plan to get out of here."

=========

"Wash the... veggies..."
Sans grabbed the lettuce and went over to the sink.
He couldn't help but think of Dream and Ink, together with Cross and being able to talk without anyone breathing down their neck: it had been too much time since they had been able to spend time together, just the three of them.

Dream and Cross ran interference when they were able, though they managed to develop a reliable method only for him, not for Ink: they both tended to spend as much time together as possible, but if they realized Sans was being overwhelmed, Dream would go to his brother and Cross would argue with whoever was with Sans at the moment, taking him to a secluded part of the castle and giving him a break. Sans was grateful for it, as managing the Murder Trio was exhausting, and the only other time they were left alone was at night, when they went to sleep in their room.

Sans cursed his fate as a Swap!Sans, as all three murderers kept pestering him with puns and wild stories, and put their arms on his shoulders, and had started calling him "little brother", he was the same age as them thank you very much, he was an older brother, he already had a brother, they weren't his brother-

He missed Papyrus.

So much.

"Blue... don't waste... water..."
Sans came back to his senses, and put the lettuce to dry, taking a tomato and starting to wash that instead.

Nightmare and his minions were, somehow, more cruel in their misguided affections than when they were actually enemies: about two weeks ago, they had presented Sans with a phone, and told him it was a way to contact his brother, under supervision of course.

He had said he had to think about it, and neither he, nor Dream or Ink knew what to do: he was dying to hear some sort of outside voice, and his brother specifically, to ask for help in any way, but there were too many variables.
Sans took another tomato.

What if it was just one single call? What could he even say? Was it better to spare his brother the pain of not knowing, stopping him from thinking he was being brutally tortured? Or would he feel worse knowing what was happening and not being able to do anything? Would it even feel like a real conversation, with everyone listening in, with him keeping up this ridiculous charade?
Another tomato.

What if it wasn't a single phone call? What would the price for talking with his brother be? Would they withhold contact if he misbehaved?

...would they kill him, if they thought he was taking the attention away from them?
Sans felt juice running on his hands, and realized he had squeezed and broke open the tomato he was washing.
"What did... it do... to you...?" Horror started wheezing, and Sans laughed along, muttering an excuse about the vegetable being spoiled.
He took another tomato and kept washing.

After being tortured, Error had had the idea of bringing Ink art supplies to cheer him up, but the Protector had almost had a breakdown when he saw that Error had actually brought him his own easels and brushes.
The ones he kept inside the Doodlesphere.

No place was safe from them.

Though, if everything went according to Dream's plan, they could leave all of this behind.
By now, Ink was probably aware of everything, and would know to be ready.

As soon as Error let him sleep with them, they were out.

=========

"ภσⓌ ι 𝓱AѶE 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬σяŇEяE𝓭, ιŇ𝕂! ร𝕌яяEŇ𝓭Eя!"
"Never! The Protector will defeat you!"

Ink was having fun. Actual fun, not pretending so Error didn't get mad (and call Nightmare). When Error had taken out the puppets, Ink had suggested reenacting one of their old battles, instead of the domestic fantasy Error always wanted to do (maybe he hoped Ink would start acting like the puppet?); the Destroyer had been so happy that Ink had shown some initiative, and here they were.
Ink had, at first, wanted to use this as an opportunity to insult Error under the pretense of the game, but he had soon lost himself in the thrill of the scene: it was in his nature to like and appreciate all creative endeavours, and he really liked Error's puppets, so pretty and detailed.

Ink made his character dodge to the side, avoiding the attack of the Error puppet.
"Ah! See Glitchy, you won't win this battle!"
He took out the mini Broomie and bonked the other puppet; Error conceded defeat and made his character collapse.
"ᗝ𝕌𝓬𝓱! 𝓓A爪Ň 𝕪σ𝕌 รⓠ𝕌𝐢𝓭, ι'𝔩𝔩 GEt 𝕪σ𝕌 ŇE𝐗t t𝐢爪E!"
He then whispered: "ιŇ𝕂, 𝓬𝓱E𝓬𝕂 σŇ 爪E. үσ𝕌 𝓱𝕌яt 爪E pяEtt𝕪 ᵇA𝓭."
Ink made his puppet bend over its opponent, and whispered back: "What am I supposed to see?" Error didn't say anything, so Ink raised his skull to look at him, only to feel something on his face.

He was kissing him.
Error was kissing him.
Ink was paralyzed by dread.

Why was he kissing him, Error had haphephobia, he was alright with some touches but kissing was huge, he couldn't be okay with it, if he was okay with kissing then he would start hugging him and holding him and stroking him and-

Error broke the kiss and smirked, saying: "𝑔σt𝓬𝓱-"
Ink puked on him.

They both looked at the ink stains on their clothes for a moment, then Error glowered and started glitching (he was mad, he was in trouble).
"𝕎𝓱At t𝓱E ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂 ιŇ𝕂! t𝓱𝐢ş 𝐢ş 𝓭𝐢şG𝕌şt𝐢ŇG!" he looked at him, furious. "𝕎𝓱𝕪 𝓭𝐢𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG p𝕌𝕂E σŇ 爪E?! aяE 爪𝕪 𝕂𝐢şşEş t𝓱At ş𝓱𝐢tt𝕪?!"
Do you not love me? was the unspoken question, and Ink couldn't let Error think, even for a second, that his answer was No.

The artist stuttered: "No no no Er-Ruru! N-ne-nerves! You-you know I-I puke when I'm, well, nervous! It-it was une-unexpected!"
The Destroyer narrowed his eyes, deciding if he should believe Ink or not (please please believe me don't get mad don't call Nightmare-). After a long 5 seconds, he said: "รt𝐢𝔩𝔩, 𝐢t'ş ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG Gяσşş! үσ𝕌 ŇEE𝓭 tσ 𝓬σŇtяσ𝔩 𝕪σ𝕌яşE𝔩ⓕ ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢!"
Kiki. He was safe, but Error was still mad.

"ι 爪EAŇ, 𝔩σσ𝕂 At 爪𝕪 נ𝕌爪pEя! ιt'ş 爪𝕪 ⓕAѶσ𝕌я𝐢tE, AŇ𝓭 ŇσⓌ 𝐢t'ş я𝕌𝐢ŇE𝓭! ภσⓌ ι 𝓱AѶE tσ 𝓬𝓱AŇGE!"
There was something that Ink could do to put Error back in a good mood.
Ink gulped and said: "I guess... I have to change too." (Don't cry, don't cry) "Where did you put the clothes from this morning?"

Instantly, the glitch perked up.
"үσ𝕌 ⓌAŇt tσ ⓌEAя t𝓱E σt𝓱Eя 𝓬𝔩σt𝓱Eş?"
No, never.
"Sure, this way we can wash these ones."
Error grinned, and purred: "ᗝ𝓱 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝕪σ𝕌'𝔩𝔩 𝔩σσ𝕂 şσ Gσσ𝓭. ι 𝓬AŇ't ⓌA𝐢t tσ ş𝓱σⓌ 𝕪σ𝕌 σⓕⓕ At 𝓭𝐢ŇŇEя."

=========

Sans was getting nervous. Where were Ink and Error? They weren't coming down, and everyone else was already seated at the dinner table, waiting for them.
Suddenly, both of the twins looked toward the door, with curiosity (Nightmare) and worry (Dream).

Error strolled into the room, and Sans figured the two empaths had felt his smugness: his expression could only be described as cocky, and everyone realized why when they looked at Ink, who followed slightly behind, hugging his sides.

The Protector had changed his clothes, and was now sporting a red and blue striped T-shirt and thigh high yellow pants. The clothes left his arms and legs exposed, showing his tattoos.
The fact that he was dressed in Error's colors didn't escape anyone's notice.

The Murder Trio started laughing and wolf whistling, Nightmare raised an eyebrow in surprise, and Cross remained carefully blank (though Sans saw his fists clenching in the corner of his eyes). Sans locked eyes with Dream, and saw his resolve mirrored in his eyes: they had to get out, before the situation worsened even more.

After a few seconds, Error's mood instantly made a 180 and he shouted: "a𝔩я𝐢G𝓱t EŇσ𝕌G𝓱, 𝕪σ𝕌 AŇ𝐢爪A𝔩ş! ᶜAŇ't 𝕪σ𝕌 şEE 𝕪σ𝕌'яE 爪A𝕂𝐢ŇG 𝓱𝐢爪 𝕌Ň𝓬σ爪ⓕσяtAᵇ𝔩E?!"
He then put his hand around Ink's waist.
Error's hypocrisy would be funny, if he wasn't so delusional.

Satisfied, Error brought Ink to the table and held his chair out for him. Ink mumbled a thanks, but was on edge the entire dinner. Sans and Dream tried to distract him, to talk to him, but the Protector just gave them monosyllabic answers, even outright ignoring them a couple times. Sans felt like the other shoe was about to drop.

Dinner was basically over, and everyone was getting up.
"Ruru?" Ink's voice was a whisper, but all the table heard him.
"үEş, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢?"
"I... I want to sleep with Dream and Blue tonight."

Sans tensed, and looked at Dream and Cross: they all knew what Ink was really saying. He wanted to run that same night, but that all depended on how Error responded now.

The Destroyer frowned.
"𝕎𝓱𝕪?"
"I just need a bit of space. Please."
"รpA𝓬E? 𝕎𝓱𝕪 𝓭σ 𝕪σ𝕌 ŇEE𝓭 şpA𝓬E?"
Everyone at the table was watching it go down.
"I just-"
"t𝓱E ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂 𝓭σEş t𝓱At EѶEŇ 爪EAŇ?!"

Ink looked on the verge of tears, and said, with a wet voice: "I'm sorry. I just want to spend time with them. Please don't be mad."
Error, for lack of a better word, panicked, and started backtracking, holding Ink's face in his hands: "ภσ Ňσ Ňσ, 𝓭σŇ't 𝓬я𝕪, p𝔩EAşE 𝓭σŇ't 𝓬я𝕪, ι'爪 Ňσt 爪A𝓭, ι'爪 şσяя𝕪 ι 𝕪E𝔩𝔩E𝓭, 𝕪σ𝕌 𝕂ŇσⓌ 𝓱σⓌ ι A爪 şσ爪Et𝐢爪Eş, 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬AŇ ş𝔩EEp Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 t𝓱E σt𝓱Eяş, ι 𝓭σŇ't 爪𝐢Ň𝓭, яEA𝔩𝔩𝕪."

Ink raised his skull a bit to look into Error's eyes, and Sans managed to see his expression: his eyes had that glint he usually gets whenever his pranks are successful.
"Are you sure?"
Now that he had noticed, it was obvious how Ink was hamming it up, giving Error the biggest shiniest puppy eyes Sans had ever seen. The glitch fell for them easily.
"ι'爪 ş𝕌яE ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, ş𝔩EEp Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 t𝓱E爪 tσŇ𝐢G𝓱t."
Ink rubbed his eyes to wipe his (fake) tears away, and answered with a weak: "Thanks."

Ink got up from his seat and circled the table, going to stand near Dream and Cross. He seemed to hold himself taller and straighter, and Sans allowed himself to feel hopeful. With a bit of luck, they'd get out tonight.

=========

Cross was late.

Dream kept pacing in their room, going over their escape plan for the nth time to calm down.

Cross knew all the patrol routes.
Cross knew how to sneak around and not get noticed.
Cross had the key to the armory.
Cross would get their weapons and guide them through one of the back doors.
Dream would use his magic to dispel the force field around the castle.
Ink would make a portal for them to escape.

It was a simple, straightforward plan. If they were careful, they couldn't fail.

But Cross was late.

"Don't tire yourself out Dream." Blue whispered, mindful of the sleeping Ink on the bed.
The Protector had immediately relaxed after they had closed the door to their room, and told them he was going to sleep; they both knew Ink was a really light sleeper, so they weren't worried about it hindering the plan.

"Blue." Dream took a deep breath, stopping any of his anxieties and fears from polluting his aura and alerting Nightmare. "Cross is late."
"Less than 10 minutes late, Dream. Have some faith in him. Don't you trust his abilities?"
"Oh, I trust him, the problem is everyone else!"

Ink squirmed and opened his eyes.
"Is Cross here?"
"No Ink." "No Ink, sorry for waking you up."
Ink rubbed his eyes and sat up.
"Don't worry, we have to go soon anyway, right?"

Dream didn't answer, but something about his expression seemed to tip him off.
"Right?" he sounded scared; Dream wasn't sure the artist's psyche could withstand a failure.
"Of course!" Blue answered. "Cross is running a bit late, but that's completely fine."
His friend chuckled, before adding: "I'm sure he underestimated how much Broomie weights, and now he's struggling to pick it up."

Dream could sense Blue didn't actually believe what he was saying, but Ink laughed anyway.
"Remember when Stretch kept bragging he could make it twirl better than me, and instead it fell on his foot?" he laughed harder "A-and then he couldn't- he couldn't free his fo-o-o-ot! And fell on his bu-u-u-utt trying to- trying to- to pull it free!"
Despite themselves, Dream and Blue also started laughing at the memory.
"Maybe," Ink said "when we get out he can give Cross some pointers."

Blue was filled with longing, and sighed: "When we get out, the first thing I'm going to do is hug my brother."
"The first thing I'm going to do" Ink countered "is burn these stupid clothes and then go shopping with Lust for new ones!"
Dream decided to join in.
"The first thing I'm going to-"

He suddenly felt breathless and fell to his knees, and Blue quickly followed suit, while Ink panicked.
"What's happening?!"
Dream got up on shaky legs, and managed to rasp: "Nightmare..."

His brother's aura was erratic, a jumbled mess of fury and betrayal, so intense that they encompassed the whole castle, influencing everyone inside. Blue was holding his skull, whimpering, and Dream felt extremely weakened.
"Nightmare what?!" Ink was unaffected due to his soullessness, and helped him sit on the bed. "Is he using his powers? Are we busted?"

The realization once again chocked Dream, and made him clutch Ink in desperation.
"Cross-!"

He couldn't lose Cross, his unshakeable knight, his lover, his-
Dream's hand drifted to his chest.
If his brother killed Cross, he knew he'd break.
He closed his eyes and tried to feel Cross presence, but he couldn't: he was blinded, wandering inside the thick fog of Nightmare's rage, looking for something that could guide him, something to light the way.
Dream's left hand joined the other on his chest, as if in prayer.
"Please" thought Dream "help me find him."

Channeling his magic, he finally located Cross; he was near the center of the horrifying black hole that was his brother, and neither of them was moving; for once, his twin's flair for dramatics was working on their favor, as Nightmare was no doubt monologuing about all the very graphic ways in which he would punish Cross, while the former Guard was unable to run or attack.
That could buy them some time.

Dream focused even more, trying to transfer even just a speck of positivity to his lover, to give him the strength to fight back. After what seemed like hours, Cross's positivity inexplicably spiked, and he started running away, Nightmare chasing him.
Dream followed them, feeling them run toward the exit of the castle: he didn't even care that they couldn't escape anymore, they could make another plan, but for now Cross needed to run away, run and don't look back, please, just stay alive.
Cross's presence disappeared suddenly, but his brother's frustration made it apparent that Cross had escaped. Dream let out a sigh of relief and opened his eyes.

"-eam! Dream!"
Ink was shaking his shoulders, crying.
The positive Guardian felt drained, but still managed to put his hands on Ink's wrists, to stop him.
"Ink... I'm fine."
"You weren't waking up! And Blue's still-"

Turning his skull, he saw his friend had been moved to the other bed and was now laying down, still affected by Nightmare's aura.
"He'll be... fine when... when Nighty..." he slightly shook his skull to rid himself of his exhaustion "Cross was... found but... he's safe now..."
"...What?"
"He escaped..."

Ink started shaking his skull and backing away.
"No no no no, they found out, they weren't supposed to find out, we're gonna be punished, it's gonna be bad, we did something very bad-" he put his hands over mouth to block out his cries, ugly keening sounds that combined with Blue's whimpers to create a jarring symphony.

Dream felt completely worthless: if he were stronger, he'd have enough power to try and snap Blue out of his current state, or he'd at least be able to reassure Ink, but instead he just closed his eyes again, tired.

=========

Nightmare was near.

It felt like only seconds had passed from when Dream had closed his eyes, but Nightmare's presence was waking him; the empath could sense his twin coming closer, though his aura now was more under control.

Dream opened his eyes.
Blue was conscious again, and had managed to calm Ink down: they were both seated on the foot of the bed, with Blue stroking Ink's back, while the artist stifled some sobs.
"Guys-"
"Dream! You're awake!"

Both got up and hugged him, and Dream melted into the embrace for a few seconds. He then let go and said: "Nightmare is coming."
Both of his friends froze, and the positive Guardian kept talking: "I'll do the talking. I'll try to make him give us a more lenient punishment, don't worry, I'll take the blame-"
"No!" Ink cut him off, panicked. "Don't do it, it's bad, it's bad, he-he-" he began whining again.
Blue soothed him, and Dream instinctively tried using his aura to calm Ink down, even though it was useless.
If anything, that display made him even more determined to shield the artist from any punishment his twin was going to mete out.

They didn't have time to say anything else, as his brother opened the door. Killer and Error were with him.
The Destroyer made a beeline for the Protector, but Ink backed away from him in fear. Blue held him in his arms.
Error growled: "𝕎𝓱At 𝓭𝐢𝓭 ᶜяσşş 𝓭σ?!" He spat Cross's name with revulsion, and Dream became instantly confused, as did Blue.
Nightmare sensed their changing emotions and explained, gently: "Cross is a traitor, Dream. He tried to kidnap you all tonight."
Everything seemed to tilt sideway: Nightmare apparently thought Cross acted on his own, and his aura seemed to confirm that, as Dream could sense some rage and betrayal lingering from before, but his brother's most prominent feelings were relief and sympathy. He decided to take a gamble.

"Is... is that what happened? Oh stars, we were all sleeping, and then your aura went crazy!" Blue shot him a look, unsure of his strategy. "I knew something was wrong with you, but I was too weak to do anything, and Blue was trapped in your visions, and Ink didn't know what was going on and didn't know what to do." He caressed Ink's back. "After you reined in your powers I could use my aura to calm Blue, but I couldn't do anything for him. The poor dear is still shaken up."
Error seemed pacified, and didn't try to approach Ink again, deciding to lean against the wall near Killer.

He then let his sorrow seep through, so Nightmare sat on the bed and hugged his side with his appendages.
"Is Cross really a traitor?" he looked at his brother with sadness. "I just- can't believe he'd ever..."
His twin stroked his skull and answered: "I'm sorry brother. I caught him trying to steal your arrows from the armory, and he confessed to wanting to use them to incapacitate me. He said" his anger spiked "that he'd take you and your friends away, and that he'd make sure we'd never find you again." His rage was then replaced by regret. "I'm sorry for using my aura on you, Dream, I just wanted to paralyze him; I realized that I had actually used it on the whole castle only after he escaped."
Dream faked shock.
"He escaped?! But how? I thought only people like Ink were immune to empathic attacks. Could he come back and try again?!"
He needed to know how Cross defeated his brother.

Nightmare hugged him tighter.
"Don't worry, it was just a lucky break. The bastard stabbed his hand with one of your arrows, and their positivity made him strong enough to snap out of my control. That rat knew he couldn't fight me, so he ran like the pathetic coward he is."

Dream started feeling angry about his brother insulting his lover, and decided to use the opportunity not hide his feelings, knowing Nightmare would think it was directed at Cross.
"I'm sorry Dream. I know you love him, and I'm sure he still loves you in a way, but you have to understand that he's dangerous. He wanted to take you away from your family."
Dream managed to not laugh hysterically.
"But you, Blue and Ink don't have to trouble yourselves with this. For tonight, you'll sleep with us, and then tomorrow morning we'll increase security. He won't get to you."

He got up, taking Dream with him. Killer and Error moved toward the bed, grabbing Blue and Ink respectively. Blue reluctantly let the artist go, while Ink just went limp in Error's grasp: the glitch was extremely pleased, murmuring sweet nothing to the unresponsive body in his arms and kissing his forehead.

They needed to start thinking of another way to escape; they should probably have Blue take on the offer to contact his brother, work on ways to communicate with him without letting Nightmare and the others understand what they were doing, find out what security measures will Nightmare be employing...
Dream decided it was a problem for tomorrow him, and followed his brother out of the room, still enveloped by his appendages in a constricting grip.

He was so tired: their escape had failed before even starting, they had lost Cross and Ink's mental state was deteriorating fast.
On the other hand, they hadn't been punished, and Cross was still alive.
He had to remember that: Cross was alive.
Cross was alive, and he'd go straight to the Council, and he'd organize a rescue and then they could be together.

The three of them.

He discreetly moved his arm over his chest, feeling the presence of his daughter inside: so faint and fragile, and so precious.
She had his (and Nightmare's) original form, a sphere of pure energy, and he kept her inside his chest, near his soul, just like his mother had done when he and his brother were little; just like them, she'd need a body eventually, but there wasn't any rush, as his instincts were telling him that she still needed to develop, and to let her remain dormant.
For now, he'd keep using his aura to conceal her existence from his twin. He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if Nightmare found out what (who) he was hiding; he hadn't even told Blue and Ink, for fear they'd let something slip.
The only one who knew was Cross.

"Don't worry baby" he thought "your dad is getting us out of here; I don't know where he is, or what he's doing, but trust me. He's on his way."

Notes:

Just to clarify the timeline:
-8 months before this chapter: Cross becomes a spy
-5 months before this chapter: Attacks decrease
-2 months before this chapter: The Stars get kidnapped

Chapter 2: Communication

Summary:

We see some new prespectives.
No TW needed.

Chapter Text

Sans wasn't sure he was ready.
He kept looking at the phone in Nightmare's hand: after he took it, there was no turning back.
Having a chance to talk to his brother should make him happy, but after two months isolated, the thought of hearing someone from outside actually scared him a little; he was, however, quick to dismiss this nonsensical idea.
That was a sign that he really needed that phonecall.

He looked from Nightmare to Dream, who was at his brother's side: the positive Guardian held his gaze, urging him to start.
He then glanced at Ink, who was seated on the couch leaning on Error: the Protector was completely limp and lifeless. Today Error had decided to make him wear a blue sundress.
Ever since their failed escape 4 days before, Ink seemed to have completely given up: he always did whatever Error told him to do, without question, and the glitch was obviously estatic.
The Destroyer had become a lot more tactile and open, always kissing Ink's forehead and hugging him; it made him and Dream very worried, and eager for any hope of an escape.

Sans looked back at Nightmare and smiled, hoping he was convincing. He extended his arm and said: "I-I'm ready."
The negative Guardian smiled back and handed the phone; Sans started making the number with shaky fingers.
It started ringing, and then-
"Hello?"
Papyrus's voice filled the room.

They had discussed what he should say, but Sans had forgotten everything, even how to breath: that was his brother's voice, he was right there-!
"Who's this? How did you get this number?"
He sounded irritated, but Sans couldn't blame him, he was probably worried sick. His brother didn't like prank callers even on the best of days, and he was probably about to hang up.
"...Papy?"
Silence.
"Sans?! Sans, oh stars you're alright! Can you talk?! How much time do you have?! How did you get a phone?!"
Forcing some cheer in his voice, Sans said: "Silly, I was given a phone! Nightmare thought I'd like to talk with you. Very thoughtful, isn't it?"
"Sans? What are you-"
"We really missed you, me, Ink and Dream." Dream perked a bit at that, Ink didn't care. "We're all happy to hear your voice!" Sans put emphasis on the word 'all'; his brother had to realize quickly that they couldn't talk openly anymore.
"...I see." His brother's tone mimicked his, becoming forcefully light. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about? How are you?"
Do you have any informations for me? How are they treating you?
"I'm fine. Everyone here is very attentive! But let's not talk about me! I wanted to hear from you!"
I'm safe. They're controlling. I want to know what's happening outside.
"So I guess you just wanted to... Pick my brain?"
Alright. Don't worry.
Horror and Dust snickered at that; Sans could almost feel his brother tense at hearing their voices.
"Har har. Your puns are awful, as usual."
I miss you.

"Well, what can I say... it's in my bones. Anyway, I wanted to tell you not to worry about me, Alphys and Undyne are here with me and they make sure I eat my veggies, clean my room and all that good stuff. Undyne is a bit busy at the lab, and Alphys has her responsibility with the Guards, but they manage to come by often."
Lab? Guards? Undyne and Alphys had decided to take on human jobs after coming to the surface, a teacher and a police officer. What was Papy trying to tell him? Was he referring to someone else?
"That's good brother, I know you can be sloppy, and you need all the help you can get around the house! Though Alphys is a bit of a neat freak, I'm sure when she saw your room she saw Red."
Dream widened his eyes in understanding.
"You got it in one, bro!"

So Sci and Red were with him, helping him, and Sans doubted it was with house chores. They hadn't been the only ones busy trying to make a plan, then.
"Are there maybe some more of our friends helping you?"
Are there other people from the Council in on this?
"Almost everyone, really. It's like they don't trust me to do anything alone. Makes a guy lose confidence in himself."
I wanted to save you on my own, but they stopped me. We're all working on it.
"That's a lot of people."
"True, but the human keeps us all in line. They're doing a pretty good job organizing everything."
CORE is taking care of the planning.
"Hear this: even Temmie is helping."
Fresh.

Sans sputtered: "F-Temmie?!"
What was Fresh doing helping the Council?! What was his motive? Dream didn't seem surprised, so Sans decided to ask him about that after.
"I know, right? Everyone else was surprised too."
Fresh's presence made Sans recall one of the things Dream had told him to ask.
"And what about Monochrome?"
"Monochrome?"
"Don't you remember? That guy with that awful landlord and the terrible housemates? Who wanted to come live with us? My pen pal!"

Dream wringed his hands, and Ink furrowed his brows.
It had been an inside joke Stretch had started, since Cross only ever left written letters with informations.

There was a moment of silence.
"Oh, that Monochrome. You caught me off guard bro, I hadn't heard from him for some time." Sans was aware. Cross had been just as trapped as them, and hadn't wanted to risk them all by sending messages to the Council.
"But he showed up a couple days ago."
Sans was very careful to not show his relief and euphoria, but he trusted Dream to hide any strong emotions from Nightmare.

"Did he?" he said, carefully neutral.
"Yep, got himself evicted. His landlord kicked him out, and he had to move away. He said it was very sudden, and that he had to basically leave behind all his things."
"Oh, that's terrible!"
"And he can't even get them back. They changed the locks."
He can't enter Dreamtale again, Error locked him out.

Dream frowned at that: they had suspected something like that, but hearing the confirmation wasn't pleasant.

"And how is he?"
"He's really down." Papyrus's tone sharpened. "He told us everything that happened while he lived there, and he was right in his letters: his housemates are really awful."
Knowing his brother and the others knew... Sans felt sick, but realized why Cross had done it: on the bright side, now he wouldn't have to explain what happened himself.

"He feels really guilty." His brother's voice mellowed. "The things he couldn't get were very precious, and he's scared his housemates are gonna destroy them now, as revenge."
Were you punished?
"I can see how he'd be worried about that, but I don't think they'll do it, if they're as precious as you say."
No, we're fine.

Nightmare cleared his throat and said: "Enough chitchatting. If you don't have anything of value to say to your brother then I guess we can stop this call for today."
"Today?" Sans felt cautiously hopeful. "Does that mean we can talk again?"
"I don't see why not, you've always been on your best behaviour."
It was a clear warning, but Sans couldn't care less; it was leagues better than having only one phonecall.

Ink slightly raised his skull and softly said: "So, we can talk with Stretch every day? That's nice."
Error narrowed his eyes a bit, and hugged Ink closer to him.
"乇ѶEя𝕪 𝓭A𝕪 𝐢ş A ᵇ𝐢t 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱 t𝓱σ𝕌G𝓱, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢. ᗝŇ𝓬E A 爪σŇt𝓱, 爪A𝕪ᵇE."
Dream quickly inserted himself in the conversation.
"I'd say once a week is reasonable, don't you think so, brother?"
The guardian of Negativity hummed, and then said: "That's acceptable."

Sans let out a sigh of relief; he was going to build Dream a shrine after getting out. Their leader had already helped them so many times during their captivity, and he seemed to always know what to say to his twin, be it to calm him down or to convince him to do something.

"W-well brother, did you hear that?"
"Yes. I guess I'll hear from you next week then."
They both knew it was no use to try and get more time for the day: they couldn't risk it.
"Bye Papy. I love you."
"Love you too, bro."

They both remained on the call for a few seconds, neither of them willing to get off the phone, till Nightmare took the device and hung up for them.

=========

Papyrus looked at his phone on the conference table, and then put his skull in his hands.
"So, I've been promoted to Captain of the Guards now? Boss is gonna be so proud."
Sci slapped Red's shoulder, but Papyrus appreciated his attempt at lightening the mood, and quirked a smile.
"Be serious, Red! This is no laughing matter."
"C'mon babe, everyone can see that tall[rad] over here is feeling like [shoot]."
"He's right hun, I think we could all use some laughs. And let's focus on the bright side, now we know the Stars are as alright as they can be."

Papyrus glanced at Lust, who had a forced smile on his face.

Him, Red, Sci, Epic, Cross, Fresh and CORE were all seated with him in one of the meeting rooms of the Council in the Omega Timeline, listening to the phone. Papyrus had moved there after his brother and his friends had been kidnapped, two months prior: CORE had basically forced him to, telling him he wasn't going to do his brother any favours by obsessing, and that he could help make a rescue plan with the others.

Not that they were making any progress. Dreamtale had been shielded from CORE's sight for as long as Error had joined forces with Nightmare, decades ago, so they didn't have a clear layout of his castle, let alone any clues about the condition of the Star Sanses. Not to mention that access to Dreamtale was regulated by the Destroyer himself: only Nightmare's Gang could get in and out without issues, anyone else was simply unable to teleport without Error's explicit permission. CORE had mentioned that they had asked some Gasters and Sci work on it, but that they had to have a flawless plan ready first.

They had heavily implied that, should the scientists succeed, they'd have just one shot before Error wised up and modified the defenses; say what you want about the glitch, he's extremely good at what he does.

"I dunno, brah, Inkblot didn't sound too rad." Fresh crossed his arms, and his glasses changed from YO-LO to WOR-RIED. "Remember what Criss-Cross said? Glitchy is one creepy dude, and he's messin' with mah boi's brain." The glasses changed again to UNF-RESH.
A somber silence fell on the group.

No one could forget what Cross had told them: he had appeared in Underswap, frantic, and called for CORE. The kid had immediately appeared and guided him to the Omega Timeline, to know what was happening at the castle and why he hadn't contacted them at all.

The information was disturbing: they had always known that Nightmare and his minions were crazy, but this was a whole other level.

Apparently, Sans, Dream and Ink were being forced to play a fucked up domestic delusion, and would be punished if they went off script; Cross explained that he had tried to shield all of them from the worst of it, and that Dream and Sans had managed to keep a level head, but Ink was spiraling fast.

Papyrus didn't particularly like the Protector, and never bothered to hide it: he was flighty, untrustworthy and irresponsible, and dragged his big brother into this whole multiversal mess. However, Ink wasn't a bad person, and certainly didn't deserve what Error was doing to him; Fresh was right, Ink had only spoken for less than ten seconds, and everyone could hear he wasn't alright.

"Hey bruh." Epic took Cross's balled hands in his and pried them open, showing everyone the spy was digging his digits into his palm with enough force to draw marrow. "You did yo best, okay?"
Cross scowled and grumbled: "It wasn't enough, obviously."
"Cross" CORE said "no one is blam-"
He stood up and yelled: "Well I am! I left them, Frisk! I left them behind! Blue is the babysitter of three genocidal maniacs, Ink is a prop in Error's fantasies and Dream-" his voice cracked. "-Dream needs me and I'm not there."

Cross slouched back down, gripping his forearms.

"Cross." CORE's voice was firm. "The information you gave us was invaluable, and now that we know where they're kept and how, we can start working on how to get them out. We will save them. All of them." The kid put a weird emphasis on the word 'all', but Papyrus honestly didn't care to find out CORE's secrets.

"Of course!" Lust said, suddenly empowered. "We have faced other impossible situations before, and we won! We can do it, together!"

"Mah X-rated brah's right, Criss-Cross." Fresh gave him some finger guns. "Ya know wat dey say, teamwork makes da dream work, and ya'll can count on me! Nightlight and his homies did sumthing nasty to my best brah Inkblot" his glasses became black, and the parasite lowered them, showing the soul of his host to all the presents. "And I don't appreciate people messing with what's mine."

Papyrus tensed, as did everyone else. Fresh's grin had sharpened, and seemed to split his skull in two, and the soul in his eyesocket pulsed creepily. The parasite put his glasses back on and said: "Well, das all from me, brahs. Ya'll make da plan, and den mah homie Frisk will call me up."
He disappeared in a fresh poof.

Sci broke the silence, nervously saying: "I'm glad he's on our side."
Red casually put an arm on his shoulder, and added: "I'd be happier to never see his creepy ass ever again."
The scientist leaned a bit into the embrace, and then adjusted his glasses.
"Frisk" he said, turing to the child. "I'm going to talk with Nebula, see if he has some new ideas about bypassing the firewall."
He and Red got out of the room to go look for the Outer!Gaster that resided in the Omega Timeline.

CORE looked at the remaining monsters in the room and said: "It's been a stressful situation. It won't do us any good to start planning now, we'll meet again tomorrow with the rest of the Council."
There was silence for a moment, then Lust got up and answered, smiling: "You're right sweetie, me and Epic are gonna get some food for all of us, and then we can all eat at my place."
He motioned for Epic to follow him.
"Good idea bruh, we'll ask some Grillbys. There's one from a Fell timeline that makes some mean corn dogs!"
"You don't say!"

Their voices faded while they walked away.
Now only CORE, Cross and Papyrus were left in the room.
The kid looked at them with sadness, and then simply disappeared.

Papyrus and Cross both remained in the room; the tall skeleton felt unable to muster the strength to get up. It seemed Cross felt the same way, but Papyrus didn't care about him, he could only think about his brother.
His big brother, who was now stuck with murderers and psychopaths, who constantly worried about his two stronger friends even if (or maybe because) they were godly entities and would defend them with his life, who taught him how to cook (though he still couldn't reach his level), who always had a kind word for everyone, who had understood his hidden messages in a second, who was still being brave and strong and-
"Stretch?"

Papyrus raised his skull and locked eyes with the spy, who looked drained.
"How do you stand it? Knowing he's there and you can't save him?"
He didn't know what to say. Papyrus rose from his seat and put his right hand on the other's shoulder.
"You just... take on day at a time. And work hard to bring him back. Cross" he gripped harder "we will bring them back. And make those bastards pay."
"Dream is pregnant." Cross blurted out.
"What?!"

Papyrus was completely blindsided. How was that even possible?!

"He and I- I mean we- when I was still there-" he started stuttering and blushing, and gripped onto his hoodie "It was a magic thing, we kissed and then the baby just-" his hands fumbled in the air, mimicking an explosion "And- and apparently Dream isn't actually a skeleton, he's pure energy, because the baby is a literal ball of fire, and-" he smiled "and she's the most perfect thing I've ever seen, and I love her, and I love him-" he then started to cry "-and now I left them alone, with Nightmare! Nightmare! He's gonna hurt her, and I can't- I can't-"
Cross started heaving.

Papyrus panicked and started shaking the skeleton.
"Cross! CROSS! You need to breathe! Look at me!"

He took Cross's skull in his hands and turned it toward him: tears were running down his face, and he was trembling. Papyrus couldn't help but see his brother in the spy, and hugged him tightly.

"It's gonna be okay." He whispered. "It's gonna be okay. We'll save them."
And, for the first time in two months, he believed it.

Chapter 3: The games we play

Summary:

One normal day at the castle.
TW: dollification (?), Error's general creepiness

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Dream was very tired.

It had been ten days since Cross had left, and the empath was starting to realize just how much he relied on his lover: seeing Cross, or even just feeling his presence made him feel... not exactly safe, especially not with his brother around, but at ease.
He knew they had an ally, someone who could help, they weren't the only three sane people in this madhouse.
Now, instead, Cross was gone and they were left at the the mercy of Nightmare and his goons.

Error chuckled, and Dream tightened the grip on the book he was holding; the Destroyed was so pleased, and it made the empath sick to his stomach. The glitch was watching a movie with Ink at his side, but it was mostly an excuse to drape his arm around the artist and cuddle.

Everyone else was busy somewhere else: Horror and Blue were in the kitchen (where the Swap!Sans now spent most of his time to stay away from everyone else), Killer and Dust were sparring (another thing his brother had taken from him, he missed training and pushing his limits), and Nightmare... didn't want to be disturbed.

That left Ink alone with Error, as usual, and Dream quickly inserted himself to keep an eye on his friend: the only thing he could do was pretend to read his book, but it was bad enough that Error now was able to decide what Ink was wearing and had started touching him all the time, Dream would make sure Ink wouldn't be pressured to do anything... untoward.

The Protector was wearing an orange sleeveless jumpsuit today, and Error kept dragging his fingers up and down his arms and kissing his cheek, while the other looked numbly at the screen. He was still extremely complaint and apathetic due to their failed escape, but it seemed he was beginning to wake up from his dazed state, as whenever Error's hands drifted to his chest or his hips, he gently pulled them away, lacing his fingers with the Destroyer.
He wasn't letting him have his way, and Dream hoped that an audience would discourage Error from becoming bolder.

A lack of sounds from the television caught Dream's attention, and he realized that the movie was now over.
"It was a nice movie." Ink's voice was very subdued, but Error didn't seem to mind.
"ι'爪 G𝔩A𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 𝔩𝐢𝕂E𝓭 𝐢t, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢. ᗝŇ𝔩𝕪 t𝓱E ᵇEşt ⓕσя 爪𝕪 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩." The Destroyer grabbed the Protector's chin in his hand and went for a kiss; Ink let him, closing his eyes in resignation. Error kept them open.

He then glanced at Dream and said, full of want: "ι t𝓱𝐢Ň𝕂 𝐢t'ş t𝐢爪E ⓕσя 𝕌ş tσ яEt𝕌яŇ tσ σ𝕌я яσσ爪 ŇσⓌ, я𝐢G𝓱t 𝔩σѶE?" He squeezed Ink's forearm, who just murmured: "Whatever you say."
"Oh, are you leaving so soon? What a shame!"

Dream was panicking. He couldn't let Error take Ink away, he didn't want to think about what was going to happen in that room, he had to find a way to keep them both there with him.

"I- I wanted all of us to play a board game this afternoon! Wouldn't that be fun?"
Error frowned, annoyed, and opened his mouth, but Ink took the bait and said: "I like board games."
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢-"
"Can we play Pictionary? I'm good at-"
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢." Error's tone was harsh, irritated, and Ink wilted. "ι ⓌAŇt 𝕌ş tσ Gσ tσ σ𝕌я яσσ爪. t𝓱E σt𝓱Eяş 𝓬AŇ p𝔩A𝕪 σŇ t𝓱E𝐢я σⓌŇ." He then smiled, eager, and caressed Ink's cheek with the back of his hand. "𝕎E 𝓬AŇ 𝓱AѶE σ𝕌я σⓌŇ ⓕ𝕌Ň."

Dream suppressed a shiver and tried again, saying: "But, Error, my brother already agreed!"
It wasn't true, but Dream knew that he just needed to tell Nightmare he wanted them all to play together, and his brother would indulge him. He had to tell Error that it was already decided though, otherwise the glitch would make himself unavailable, and his twin would just let him be.

Error looked at him, miffed.
"𝕎𝓱AtEѶEя." he grumbled, crossing his arms. "𝓱E ᵇEttEя 𝓬σ爪E şσσŇ t𝓱EŇ, şσ ⓌE 𝓬AŇ p𝔩A𝕪 𝕪σ𝕌я şt𝕌p𝐢𝓭 GA爪E AŇ𝓭 ᵇE 𝓭σŇE Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝐢t."
Dream was relieved his plan worked, and said: "I'll go call him right away!"
He then internally swore, realizing his words. It was too late to back out now, though.

Dream got up from the armchair and went to fetch his brother.

==============

Dream walked down the stairs as quickly as he could, and the deeper he went the worst he felt; underneath Nightmare's castle, his brother kept both the dungeons and his personal labs, and both were full of prisoners, and Dream could feel all of their despair and suffering.
He was sure his brother liked it, as it made him stronger, but Dream just felt himself weaken: he tried to never go there unless absolutely necessary, both for that reason and because he knew he couldn't help any of the captives.

The empath rapidly crossed the dungeons, ignoring all the people inside the cells pleading and screaming to be let out: instinctively, he made his aura flare, more to protect Lux from the negative feelings that to actually comfort the strangers, but was still glad when some prisoners passed out, free from the anxieties that made them unable to fall asleep even if they were exhausted.

Dream then reached the hermetic door that separated the dungeons from the lab and pressed the intercom. Nightmare had used a number of spells to make sure his lab was impenetrable: even if Dream still had enough magic, he wouldn't be able to teleport.

"Killer, I told you I didn't-"
"It's me."
"Dream? You know you shouldn't be here, this place is bad for you! Did something happen? Do I need to punish Dust again?"
"No, nothing of the sort, I just wanted to ask you something. Would you like to have everyone play a board game before dinner?"

His twin remained silent, and Dream started feeling nervous and dizzy. The place really was bad for him.

The door then hissed, so Dream moved away to let it open. He was engulfed by a sterile smell mixed with blood, and that only made his headache worse; the positive Guardian put one hand over his mouth and the other on the nearby wall, closing his eyes.
He opened them again after feeling Nightmare's displeasure, glancing at his twin: he was as impeccable as always, as if he hadn't spent all of the afternoon butchering and experimenting on people from his dungeons.

"Really brother? You made yourself sick for a board game?"
He gently hugged Dream with his appendages, and made him lean on his shoulder. Something that had always been amusing to Dream before was how they were twins, and yet Nightmare was a good few inches taller than him, even before his corruption; prior to the Incident, that was something that made him feel protected, like he had an older brother always looking out for him, but now, the height difference only made Nightmare loom over him.

His twin's exasperated fondness engulfed him, and Nightmare tutted: "Dream, you never take care of yourself." The two Guardians started walking back upstairs. The prisoners in the cells weren't shouting now, only whimpering. "You always think you have to do everything by yourself." Nightmare caressed the top of his skull. Dream carefully relaxed, instead of tensing. "You can let your big brother take care of things, now." They started climbing the stairs. "You just enjoy yourself, read some books, go to the gardens, and don't worry about anything else." They were almost at the top of the stairs now. "Doesn't that sounds nice, brother?"

Dream nodded, and Nightmare felt a deep satisfaction. It did sound nice, and it was a problem; he couldn't let himself go like Ink did, if he did then he wouldn't think about escaping anymore, he would forever remain under Nightmare's thumb, he'd leave Blue on his own, facing the rest of the castle alone. His hand drifted to his chest.

Lux deserved better.

With newfound confidence, he and his twin reached the living room.

But Ink and Error weren't there anymore.

==============

As soon as Dream left the room, Error took Ink's hand and tugged him away.

"ℓEt'ş Gσ, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."
Ink let himself be dragged (listening to Error was easy, he didn't need to worry about messing up), but was confused. They were supposed to wait for Dream, right? He had said he was going to call Nightmare, so they could play a game (all together, he wouldn't be alone with Error, he didn't care what game they were playing as long as he wasn't left alone)

"Where are we going?"
"ᗝ𝕌я яσσ爪. ι 𝓭σŇ't ⓌAŇŇA p𝔩A𝕪 şσ爪E şt𝕌p𝐢𝓭 ᵇσAя𝓭 GA爪E, EşpE𝓬𝐢A𝔩𝔩𝕪 Ňσt Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 t𝓱E t𝓱яEE รtσσGEş."
"Dream said-"
"ι 𝓭σŇ't 𝓬AяE Aᵇσ𝕌t 𝓓яEA爪. ᗷEş𝐢𝓭Eş, 𝓱E'ş GσŇŇA tA𝕂E A Ⓦ𝓱𝐢𝔩E tσ 𝓬A𝔩𝔩 EѶEя𝕪σŇE, Ňσ şEŇşE 𝐢Ň ⓌAşt𝐢ŇG t𝐢爪E Ⓦ𝓱EŇ ⓌE 𝓬AŇ 𝓱AѶE A 𝔩𝐢tt𝔩E ⓕ𝕌Ň 𝐢ŇştEA𝓭."

Ink couldn't even muster the strength to be disappointed that Dream's idea didn't work, what did he expect, they couldn't win, why even try anymore, holding onto hope only hurt because that hope got crushed again and again and again and-
Ink blinked, and they were inside Error's (it wasn't his room, it wasn't it wasn't) room.

The glitch grinned (not good not good) and gently made him sit on the bed, before (luckily) turning to the wardrobe. So it was going to be one of those times.

After Ink had relented and allowed Error to decide his clothes, the Destroyer had started pushing for Ink to change multiple times a day, always trying on different outfits: sometimes it was pants, other times dresses, jumpsuits, skirts, shorts, overalls, jackets, scarves, gloves, just about anything.
The only things Error didn't want him to wear were shoes (and Ink was disgusted by the fact that he was grateful about that, as shoes were something that felt awkward to him) and hats, for whatever reason.

Error turned back around, showing Ink a warm yellow sweater and long black leggings. They weren't the worst clothes he had worn, but the presence of the leggings made Ink realize that Error also wanted to do another thing he had recently started to propose (order) to Ink.

"They're very pretty." They were always pretty (only the best for Error's doll).
The artist remained still, knowing that Error liked to dress him up himself, and the glitch placed the other clothes on the bed and started unbuttoning the jumpsuit: he was always so giddy every time he shed Ink's clothes (leaving him vulnerable), always leering with an hungry look (it made him feel sick), touches always lingering (stop stop), and every time Ink wondered if this was the moment he dreaded the most, when Error decided he didn't really care for clothes anymore, and would also undress himself, and-

The feeling of the sweater being slipped over his skull made him come back to reality, and relax a little. The leggings were already on him, and Ink spared a moment of worry for this new dissociative episode (they were becoming more frequent, he needed to remain focused-), before looking back at Error, who took a couple steps backwards and admired his work.

"ᗷEA𝕌t𝐢ⓕ𝕌𝔩." he purred, approaching him again, and Ink just rose from the bed and exchanged places with him: now Error was the one seated, and Ink was facing him, standing up.

Without being prompted, the Protector started stretching a bit, to prepare for the show.

Ink had always been extremely agile, it was one of the things that helped him during battles, he always dodged, jumped, twirled, and sometimes even avoided some hits with cartwheeling; to stay in shape, whenever he and Dream and Blue trained (he missed it so so much, it was always fun to train with his friends), his friends would spar, and he would do some routines to keep himself limber.
It was so fun, doing splits, handsprings, summersaults in the air, standing on one hand, folding himself in the most unusual ways, it was something he loved.

Error loved it too.

He had told him that, before, he used to spy on him during training, admiring how flexible he was, and that (during battle) he purposefully attacked him so that he was forced to bend in particular ways to avoid his strings. Now though, Ink wasn't doing either of those things anymore, and Error missed it, and started asking the artist for a private performance.

After stretching and delaying it for as much as he could, Ink braced himself and did a vertical split, avoiding looking Error in the eye and seeing his desire, just going through the motions.

This was something he enjoyed, something he was passionate about, and now Error tainted it, making him feel dirty every time he went through his routine.

He wanted to cry.

==============

Sans was inside the kitchen spending time with Horror, as he usually did now. The giant was the member of the Murder Trio that Sans disliked the least, and now that Cross couldn't help him anymore, Horror was the person Sans sought protection from: the cannibal was usually calm and collected, and whenever they were in the kitchen the two of them spent the time in silence, away from the other two more violent members of the Trio. It was probably the only thing keeping Sans sane.

They were making a stew, when Dream and Nightmare entered the room.
"Blue? Horror?"
Sans turned, and could see Dream enveloped by Nightmare's appendages, looking restless.
"We, we wanted to have a game afternoon all together." Dream said, urgently. "Are you done with dinner?"
"Yes... We are..."
Dream perked up.
"Good, good! Then, you can go call Killer and Dust and we'll go call Error and Ink!"
Ah, there was the real reason. Sans knew that, with Cross gone, Dream had taken on the task of protecting him and Ink, as Nightmare gave him considerably more freedom to roam the castle. Sans had told him to focus on the artist, they both knew how fragile the other was.

"Sure... we'll do it... now..."
Horror started walking, and Sans quickly followed him.

The Swap!Sans didn't like the idea of interacting with the two other members of the Murder Trio, but if they wanted to give Ink a break, he'd have to.

"You don't... like Dust... and Killer... very much... right?"
Sans tensed, and forced himself to keep walking.
"What gave you this idea?"
Was this some kind of test? Did Horror want to catch him in a lie, or punish him for being disrespectful toward his friends? They had never done something like this, but who knows what went on inside the mind of these psychopaths?
"You don't... have to... lie... I know... they're brats..."
He then put his arm on Sans's shoulder; Horror was at least twice his size, and Sans couldn't help but feel dwarfed.
"I know... you miss Cross... because he... called them out... on their shit..."
Sans started to panic at the mention of Cross's name, but he also had an inkling of where the conversation was going, and so he tried being sincere.
"I, I didn't want to say anything but... they can be, a lot."
Horror guffawed, and Sans let out an internal sigh of relief.
"They never... know when... to stop... I always... see them... pester you... "Blue this"... "Blue that"... You ain't... their mom..."

They had almost reached the training grounds, and could hear Killer and Dust shouting, and battle sounds.
"Don't worry..." Horror was smiling at him, with what was probably intended to be warmth, but it only managed to scare Sans. "The kitchen... is always open... for you... and the others..." Horror then scoffed. "Stars knows... Ink could use... some time alone..."

Sans started feeling hopeful: had they found a new ally? Was Horror beginning to see the madness inside the castle? Could they convince him to help them escape?
He smiled.
"Thank you Horror!"
"You're welcome... little bro..."
Sans's hope crashed and burned.

==============

Ink was in the middle of a Handstand Scorpion Pose (one of his favorite, forearms on the ground, back arched in the air, feet touching the back of his skull; it was a move Storyshift!Undyne had showed him), when he heard someone knock on the door.
Error ignored it, keeping his (hungry) eyes on Ink, and so he held his pose and tried to smile, but Ink could feel it all wonky on his face.

Another knock. Ink's smile dropped, Error didn't like interruptions, he would get angry, he didn't want him to get angry-
"千𝕌𝓬𝕂 σⓕⓕ!"
The door opened, and Dream and Nightmare appeared.
"ι şA𝐢𝓭 tσ ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂 σⓕⓕ! t𝓱𝐢ş 𝐢ş 爪𝕪 Gσ𝓭𝓭A爪Ň яσσ爪!"
The twins were silent, just looking at him. Why were they looking at him? Dream looked very sad (ever since Cross went away, Dream never smiled anymore), and Nightmare was... smirking?
"While I hate to cut your private fun short" Oh right, he was still doing his routine. "I'm sure you know Dream wanted all of us to have a game afternoon, don't you Error?"

Error crossed his arms, frowning.
"aŇ𝓭 Ⓦ𝓱At 𝐢ⓕ ⓌE 𝓭σŇ't ⓌAŇt tσ נσ𝐢Ň 𝐢Ň σŇ 𝕪σ𝕌я ş𝓱𝐢tt𝕪 GA爪E AⓕtEяŇσσŇ?"
Suddenly, Dream and Error tensed slightly, and Nightmare spoke, slowly: "In that case, I'd be very displeased. This was Dream's idea, after all."
Dream tapped on his brother's shoulder, and Nightmare looked apologetic; Error and Dream relaxed again.
"𝕎𝓱AtEѶEя, ⓌE'яE 𝓬σ爪𝐢ŇG, Ňσ ŇEE𝓭 tσ ş𝓱σⓌ σⓕⓕ, Aşş𝓱σ𝔩E." He turned to Ink. "ℓEt'ş Gσ, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."

It seemed Dream's plan kinda worked after all, it had been Ink's shortest routine yet. The Protector fluidly got back to his feet, and he approached his friend, smiling a bit. It still came out wonky, but Dream didn't seem to mind.
"What..." Ink tried to raise his voice, but it was taking a lot of energy to just speak "what game are we playing?"
"Pictionary."
"𝑔σσ𝓭!" Error slung his arm around Ink's shoulders, and the artist felt weak in the knees, so he leaned against the Destroyer. "ιⓕ ⓌE 𝓱AѶE tσ p𝔩A𝕪 A ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG GA爪E t𝓱EŇ ⓌE ᵇEttEя Ⓦ𝐢Ň! ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝕪σ𝕌 AŇ𝓭 爪E AяE A tEA爪."
"Sure."

It wasn't like he had a choice.

Notes:

If it wasn't clear, Error and Dream tensed because Nightmare used his aura to "flex". Ink doesn't realize because it doesn't affect him.

Chapter 4: Retributions and rewards

Summary:

Somedays things are good. Today... they were bad.
TW: torture, Error keeps being creepy, implied rape

The torture is not graphic (I think) but if you want to skip it, it's in the second paragraph of this chapter (marked with ===), and I'll write a small summary in the end notes.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The day had started well.

Ink had, for once, slept in their room with them, and he had woke up smiling (actually smiling!), and had put on his old clothes. The three of them had gotten up very early, aware that most residents of the castle liked to sleep in; Sans had taken up Horror's offer, and so he and his friends holed up in the kitchen, preparing an elaborate breakfast.

The cannibal was already awake, and remained as supervision and as a buffer against everyone else: he had even stopped Error from entering, claiming the glitch would only be in the way, and Ink's time away from him had helped the artist tremendously, making him regain some light in his eyes. They had jokes, laughed, reminisced about fun times, and the kitchen had felt like a reprieve.
The good mood had remained even after sitting at the table with everyone else, and Sans had allowed himself to think that, maybe, possibly, the day could be good.

He never learned, did he?

The twins had gone to the library, while Sans and Horror had pushed for everyone else to watch a movie, so they were all on the couch in the living room.

It had only been 30 minutes, before they started hearing an argument, and Nightmare walked into the room, followed by Dream. Everyone watched in anticipation.

"Nightmare, please."
"No."
"You can accompany me, you can even let Error tie my wrists!"
"I said no, Dream, and this is the last word on the subject."
"I haven't seen her in 500 years!"
"Then one more year won't make a difference now, will it?"

Sans couldn't understand what they were talking about, and it seemed no one else did either.

"Why are you being so unreasonable?!"
Nightmare stopped walking away and faced Dream.
"I'm not, the rules are here for a reason!"
They were both gesticulating wildly, and Nightmare's appendages were moving restlessly.
"You made these rules, you can make an exception!"
"This isn't exception worthy!"

Sans started feeling a bit sick, as Dream and Nightmare's auras were reacting to their emotions, and he both felt like smiling and curling up in a ball. Dream became enraged, while Nightmare looked exasperated.

"Nightmare! I will pay my respects to Mother tomorrow, with or without your permission!"
"You aren't leaving the castle grounds!"
"Watch me!"
The twins started moving closer to each other.
"I will! You won't be left alone even for a second, let's see how you'll sneak out then!"
"Like I don't have any experience escaping from you!"

Dream had to stop, he was letting his frustration get the best of him; he would end up saying something he would regret, and then he'd get punished, like Ink had been.
Glancing at the artist, Sans saw his barely disguised panic, and knew he was thinking the same thing.

"Stop being stubborn! It's for your own good!"
"What good?! You're stopping me from visiting Mother's grave!"
"The castle is the safest place for you!"
"I don't care! I want to visit Mother!"

The sick feeling evolved in a splitting headache, and everyone but Ink started holding their skulls. The twins didn't notice.

"You never listen to me! One would think 500 years would be enough to learn, but you're still the same spoiled brat! I'm trying to protect you!"
"Why can't you escort me if you're so worried then?! Do you hate Mother that much?!"

Sans and Error laughed with tears streaming down their face, Killer had put his skull between his knees, Dust and Horror seemed unconscious, and Ink was just holding his forearms tightly, frightened and confused.

"How dare you! I always protected Mother, you were the one who kept handing out apples as if they were candies! You let those disgusting peasants exploit her, and you never listened to my warnings! You never stopped them from hurting me!"
"I was a child!"
"We were both children! You're the reason I'm like this!"

The tension was suffocating, it was a string being pulled taut.

"YOU'RE THE REASON MOTHER DIED!"
Tauter.
"HOW DARE YOU!"
Tauter.
"YOU WERE BORN ROTTEN!"
Tauter.
"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANOTHER WORD FROM YOU!"
Tauter.
"WHY?! IT'S THE TRUTH! YOU'RE A MURDERER! I HATE YOU!"
It snapped.

Nightmare's aura flared for a moment, making everyone else feel even sicker, and both twins took a step back as if struck.

Dream put a hand over his mouth, wide-eyed, while Nightmare reined in his aura and composed himself. His gaze was ice cold.
"I-I didn't mean it, Nightmare!" He started shaking his skull, and backing away. "I'm sorry!"
Nightmare matched him step by step, holding himself straighter.
"Sounds like you meant it, brother."

It was surreal, how quickly Dream was pleasing and cajoling now that he had realized his mistake, but everyone (even Dream himself) knew it was pointless to backtrack now.
The positive Guardian took another step back, and Nightmare's appendage caught his wrist. Sans winced, while Ink was breathing loudly.

"Error." Nightmare said, without looking at him. "Dream needs to be punished. Come to my office."
Without waiting for a response, the negative Guardian walked away, dragging a crying and struggling Dream with him.
"NO! NO! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY! NIGHTMARE, PLEASE! BROTHER!"

Error took a moment to compose himself after being subjected to Nightmare's empathetic attack, then looked at Ink panicking and kissed the top of his skull.
"𝓓σŇ't Ⓦσяя𝕪 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, ι ⓌσŇ't tA𝕂E 𝔩σŇG."
He left the room.

Sans also regained his bearings and moved beside Ink, trying to calm him down.
While he coached Ink to breath, Sans wondered when it was going to be his turn.

==============

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I SWEAR, I WON'T DO IT AGAIN!"
"You most certainly won't."

How could he have been so stupid?! Dream kept trying to free himself from Nightmare's grip, but being inside Dreamtale made his brother strong, and him weak, not to mention all the negative feelings he was emitting.
His twin was at his angriest, and Dream finally understood what Cross had meant when he had said that Nightmare had been terrifying in his fury: his brother's rage was chocking him, and Dream struggled to even walk.
"PLEASE!" he was sobbing in earnest now "I-I'LL BE-EH-EH GO-OH-OH-OD! DON'T, DON'T HU-UH-UH-URT ME-EH-EH!"
"I'm sorry Dream, but some lessons have to leave an impression to be really understood. Until you've been punished, your apologies mean nothing."

They finally arrived at Nightmare's office, and he closed the door behind them, locking it and sealing with a spell; the feeling of magic that washed over the room felt like dread.

"Error." Dream hadn't noticed he was already in the room, his tears were blinding him "You can do whatever you want, just no severed limbs."
Nightmare relinquished his grip, but Error's strings quickly caught his wrists and ankles, keeping him spread eagle in the middle of the office. Dream panicked and tried to free himself, but the strings were like barbed wire and dug into his bones.
He whimpered in pain, feeling his marrow running down his arms and hearing it drip on the ground.

Error was oozing pride.
"𝓱𝕌яtş, 𝓭σEşŇ't 𝐢t? ιt'ş A ŇEⓌ t𝕪pE σⓕ ştя𝐢ŇGş ι'ѶE 𝓬яEAtE𝓭. t𝓱E𝕪'яE ѶEя𝕪 ş𝓱Aяp AŇ𝓭 𝓱Aя𝓭, 𝔩𝐢𝕂E 𝐢яσŇ t𝓱яEA𝓭."
Error created another string and made it caress Dream's face: it stung, leaving a trail of marrow on his cheek. The empath hissed.

"aŇ𝓭 ŇσⓌ ι'爪 GσŇŇA 𝕌şE t𝓱E爪 σŇ 𝕪σ𝕌."
Error generated a string on each finger, long, threatening wires that made a screeching sound while they dragged on the floor.
Dream turned to his brother, pleading, but Nightmare simply looked at him with disdain.
"Error, do get on with it."
Error rolled his eyes, and then whipped him.

Dream screamed in agony.

His whole body was on fire, Error had cut him everywhere, his arms, his legs, his face, his chest- Lux! How could he have forgotten about his baby! If he was hurt, then she was hurt too! He was a horrible parent, so selfish, he had worked so hard to keep his daughter safe and hidden from his brother, and it was all going to be for nothing! The physical pain was nothing compared to the idea of Nightmare discovering his daughter, of his front being damaged and of Lux purple light shining through, of his aura weakening and Nightmare feeling her presence. He cried harder at the thought, fear flooding him, and his tears made the cuts on his face sting even more.

Error whipped him again, and Dream felt some scraps of clothes fall to the ground. Nightmare was going to find her, and hurt her, bring her to his horrid lab and experiment on-

Error whipped him again, and the surprise tore another pained scream from Dream's throat. His struggle made the strings binding him dug into his bones even more.

Error whipped him again and again, making the minutes blend together; Dream couldn't distinguish up from down, left from right, who was there with him, where he even was, the only constant was painpainpainpain, but a sudden change in Nightmare's aura made him focus again. His twin was feeling satisfaction.

Error's strings loosened and Dream keeled over; Nightmare caught him before he could hit the ground. Dream tried to look at Error, but could only see a blurred black shape, as marrow was leaking over his eyes.

Dream heard the door open and close, and then weakly turned his skull toward his brother, who was feeling anticipation.
The empath forced himself to speak and said, with an hoarse voice: "I'm... sorry..."

Only then, Nightmare's magic washed over him, and his injuries began to heal. Dream became more aware, and felt his brother's contentment, and his clothes still hugging his chest, barely hanging on.

Lux was still safe.

With the little bit of strength he had regained, Dream brought his arms to his chest, holding his clothes in place.
He then heard Nightmare's murmurings.
"I forgive you, I forgive you, you did so good Dream, I'm sorry you made me hurt you, I'm sure you understand, now you're better for it, you're such a good brother, it's over now, I forgive you-"

Paired with the healing magic, they were extremely soothing, and Dream felt disgusted by himself. It wasn't soothing, Nightmare had him tortured! He was a bad brother, a horrible brother, even if he was helping him now, he wasn't good!

Nightmare is the enemy, Nightmare is the enemy, Nightmare is the enemy.

Don't you ever forget it.

==============

Ink was crying, because Dream's screams were very scary. He knew what was happening in the room, Dream was being punished (please stop it hurts), because he had been bad, why did he act bad? Didn't he know that being good (my doll my doll) was better? That it was painless? Blue was rubbing his back, telling him to breathe, but Ink couldn't breathe, because every time he gained a bit of rhythm a new scream would startle him and make him lose track on how was he supposed to breathe.

Ink didn't know what to do, he needed Error. It had been the longest time they'd ever been apart (it wasn't true now, was it? Ink had had a whole life before being here, and sometimes he didn't see Error for weeks, and he didn't care, but now it was different). Even if Error was creepy, and made him feel slimy and trapped, he needed him to tell him what to do: if he did what Error said then everything would be fine, he wouldn't be punished, he didn't even had to think, just do what Error says.

"No no no no, Ink, please don't say these things!" Blue whispered.
Ink quickly looked around, scared that now Blue was going to get hurt too, but the only one in the room with them was Dust, who was busy talking with his brother, and wasn't paying attention to them. He was sure there were also other people before though, where were they? Where was Error? He needed Error.

"No Ink, you don't need him. You just need to breathe with me alright? Can you do that for me?"
Ink tried to, once again, mimick Blue's breathing, and finally managed to get his bearings. That's when he realized the screaming had stopped, and that was almost enough to make him panic again. What was happening to Dream now?!

"I'm, I'm sure he's gonna be fine Ink. Dream is strong."
Of course Dream was strong, but Error was stronger, Error was untouchable, Error was the one hurting Dream-

Ink felt a hand caressing his skull, but the feeling was a particular kind of weird, as if the hand itself wasn't as solid as it should be.
Error.

"tσ𝔩𝓭 𝕪A ι Ⓦσ𝕌𝔩𝓭Ň't tA𝕂E 𝔩σŇG, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."
He then sat down beside him, and Ink immediately leaned into him. He felt Blue trying to hold him in place for a second, but he ignored him. He needed Error to hold him and tell him everything was good.

"ᗝⓕ 𝓬σ𝕌яşE EѶEя𝕪t𝓱𝐢ŇG 𝐢ş Gσσ𝓭, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢. ภσⓌ 𝓓яEA爪 𝓱Aş 𝔩EAяŇE𝓭 𝓱𝐢ş 𝔩EşşσŇ. ι'爪 ş𝕌яE t𝓱E ş𝓬яEA爪ş ⓕя𝐢G𝓱tEŇE𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌, я𝐢G𝓱t?"
Ink nodded, tears forming again in his eyes.
"ι'爪 şσ şσяя𝕪 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩, ι 𝕂ŇσⓌ 𝓱σⓌ şEŇş𝐢t𝐢ѶE 𝕪σ𝕌 AяE. 𝕎𝓱𝕪 𝓭σŇ't ⓌE Gσ tσ σ𝕌я яσσ爪, AŇ𝓭 ι 𝓭σ şσ爪Et𝓱𝐢ŇG tσ 爪A𝕂E 𝕪σ𝕌 ⓕEE𝔩 ᵇEttEя?"
"Yes please."

Error got up, and Ink whined at the loss of contact. The glitch then held him bridal style and carried him away. Ink put his skull on Error's chest, and listened to the irregular beat of Error's glitched soul until they reached their room.

The Destroyer sat him in the bed, and then took a floral patterned dress from the wardrobe, changing Ink.
"үσ𝕌'яE şσ pяEtt𝕪 ŇσⓌ, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢. 𝓓σEşŇ't t𝓱At 爪A𝕂E 𝕪σ𝕌 ⓕEE𝔩 ᵇEttEя A𝔩яEA𝓭𝕪?"
It didn't make Ink feel anything, but he nodded anyway, because he knew Error wanted him to tell him that (so easy, just agree and comply).

"𝑔σσ𝓭. ᗷ𝕌t t𝓱𝐢ş ⓌAşŇ't Ⓦ𝓱At ι ⓌAŇtE𝓭 tσ 𝓭σ."
The glitch shot a couple of strings from his hand and grabbed one of his puppets, plopping it on Ink's lap.
It was a very unique puppet, because it didn't depict a real monster, but it was entirely a product of Error's imagination: it was a black skeleton puppet, with splotches of yellow and pink on their cheeks, yellow and pink phalanges, yellow teeth and colorful eyes. It was also way bigger than Error's other puppets, the size of Ink's forearm.

"ι 𝕂ŇσⓌ 𝕪σ𝕌 𝔩𝐢𝕂E ᗷAᵇ𝕪 ѶEя𝕪 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."

Error had told him it was supposed to be their child, or how their hypothetical child would look like: it had a lot more of Error than of Ink, since the glitch was a narcissist, but it still was a clear combination of their traits.
When he had been shown the puppet, Error had started rambling about how a child would be a perfect testament to their love, a physical proof of how deep their bond ran, how much he wanted one, and how unfortunate it was that Ink's soullessness made him sterile.
Ink had been really scared at that moment, because he was afraid he'd somehow give away the fact that they already had a child, technically.

About ten years ago, a Gaster that resided in the Omega Timeline had somehow acquired both Ink's ink and Error's strings, and had started experimenting with them. Because monster children are made by the fusion of souls, and souls are made of magic, and both Ink and Error aren't exactly normal, the combination of their magic attacks was enough to generate a little boy, Gradient, and the Gaster had decided to adopt him and raise him.
Gradient looked a lot like Error (sometimes people in the Omega Timeline mistook him for his "father", and tried attacking him as revenge), but he couldn't be more different: he was shy, kind, and loved to draw (that was definitely something he got from Ink).
The Protector had met him when he was already six years old, and he had decided to not interfere, even if he technically was the boy's parent: he could see that Gradient was happy with Gaster, and he knew he wouldn't be a good parent, as his first duty was to the Multiverse. Still, Gradient knew who he was, and liked spending time with him.

He had never thought of asking himself what would Error do if he knew, assuming he'd just see Gradient as another "abomination" and try to destroy him, but since Gradient lived in the Omega Timeline, the most protected place of the Multiverse, he was supposed to be safe.
Ink couldn't have known how obsessed he was, and hoped Error never found out about Gradient, because then he'd surely kidnap him too, and bring him here.
Ink might not be the best parent, but he knew that bringing sweet Gradient to Dreamtale, and being subjected to Error's undivided attention, would shatter the child. For now though, Error seemed unaware, and contented himself with the Baby doll.

Ink held it in his arms, like one would a newborn, and kissed its forehead. It did bring him a little comfort. Error smiled and put his arm around Ink's shoulders, purring: "ᗝ𝕌я 𝔩𝐢tt𝔩E ⓕA爪𝐢𝔩𝕪."

==============

Before anyone realized, it was dinner time.

Sans looked at his friends at the table, and wanted to scream and cry and smash the dinner table in teeny tiny pieces.

Was it too much to ask to have one day of peace in this hell? Dream had been punished, and now had scars across his face, faint but there nonetheless: three slashes on each cheek, as if an animal had clawed him, and Sans nastily thought that Error fit that descriptor perfectly.
Ink had spiraled even further, and Sans didn't know what could they do to help him, short of escaping and keeping him away from Error for good: hearing the Protector cry for the Destroyer, and seeing him find comfort in his presence, had chilled him to the bone.

And the worst part was that he was... fine. He hadn't been punished (yet), he had a space where he wasn't disturbed (much), he wasn't the object of someone's personal obsession, he could even talk to his brother once a week! He almost (almost) wished something happened to him, to somehow even the score.
Why was he lucky, why couldn't he help his friends, why all he could do was being a shoulder to cry on, why wasn't he stronger, why why why why?

"Hey Blue."
Sans turned to the his right, facing Dust.
"Paps wanted to learn how to make tacos. After dinner we'll go to the kitchen and you'll make some."
Sans frowned and snapped: "No. I won't."

The table went pretty quiet. Ink didn't seem to care, and kept pushing the food in his plate, Dream looked at him in panicked disbelief, and everyone else just seemed confused.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to."
He was a person, for fuck's sake, he could make his own choices.
"But you like to cook!"
"Well, maybe I'm tired of cooking all the time, ever thought about that?"
He wanted to push, push, push those motherfuckers till they snapped at him too!

"Why are you-"
"Dust..."
Horror spoke up.
"Let him be... it's late now... I'm sure he's... tired... maybe tomorrow... not at night..."

The cannibal then looked at him with a knowing look, and Sans felt all of his anger flow out of him; what did he want to prove with this stupid stunt? He'd just make his friends more distressed. He mumbled an apology to Dust, who shrugged, and said he could wait until tomorrow, no big deal.

He had gotten off scot-free.

What did he do to deserve this?

==============

It was finally night. Ink now just had to let Error change him in his pajamas, and then he could sleep. He was so tired.

He let himself be manhandled and placed on the bed, and Error slipped the dress over his head and folded it precisely, before putting it away. He then moved to take Ink's nightwear, but paused.

He gave the artist a once over, and then slowly grinned.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢." His eyes were hungry, hungry, hungry, and Ink fought the urge to cover himself. "ร𝕌爪爪σŇ 𝕪σ𝕌я E𝓬tσ."

Ink felt paralyzed by dread, and unconsciously shook his head.

"ᗝ𝓱, 𝓭σŇ't ᵇE 𝓬σ𝕪 ŇσⓌ." Error's tone sharpened. "ร𝕌爪爪σŇ 𝐢t."
Ink obliged, defeated. The Destroyer's eyes widened in pleasure.

His ecto felt weird and uncomfortable, and seeing Error looking at it in that way made him feel ashamed. He felt a touch on his chest and flinched.

"үσ𝕌'яE şσ tEŇşE. 尺E𝔩A𝐗." Another hand joined the first, and then both started moving down, down, down on his waist, then his thighs, then his knees, then they rose again, tracing his back, till they reached his shoulders.
"ᗝ𝓱 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢..." Error said, breathless "үσ𝕌 яEA𝔩𝔩𝕪 AяE A Ⓦσя𝕂 σⓕ Aяt."

He then pushed him on the bed, and started quickly taking off his jacket and jumper.
Ink closed his eyes.

==============

Sans heard a sob. He couldn't sleep anyway, so he quickly got up and went to shake Dream awake from his nightmare.

Only, Dream wasn't sleeping, but rather clutching his chest and crying.

"Dream? What's wrong?"
"Oh, Blue!"
Dream flung himself at him, hiding his face in his chest, and Sans patted him on the back, unsure.
"Error- Error-" the empath couldn't explain, but Sans had pretty good idea of what happened.
"Don't worry Dream, it wasn't real, just a bad-"
"No! It's not me! It's Ink!"
"... what?"
"Error is-" he gulped. "He's feeling pleasure right now."

For a moment, Sans couldn't understand what Dream was talking about.
Then it hit him like an avalanche, and he strengthened his hold on Dream.

Things really took a turn for the worst today.

Notes:

Nightmare brings Dream to his office and has Error whip him with his strings, that he managed to make like barbed wire. Dream is afraid Lux will be discovered, but it doesn't happen. Nightmare heals Dream, but only after he apologizes.

Chapter 5: Pinocchio

Summary:

It's the day after. The situation is... peculiar.

TW: delusions, some violence

Chapter Text

Dream and Blue looked at each other from across the table, uneasy, as did everyone else when Ink and Error entered the room.
The two of them had tried to brace themselves for how Ink would act that morning, but this was... unexpected.

"Ink..." said the empath "What do you have there?"
Ink tilted his skull and answered: "Our baby."

Dream looked at the doll in Ink's arms, and how he was absentmindedly rocking it. Blue was distraught (and trying to hide it), his brother was fascinated, and all the Murder Trio felt various degrees of confusion. Error was the only one feeling a positive emotion, endearment.

"They're beautiful." he said, trying to not shatter Ink's precarious mental state. He was unsure as to why Ink had chosen this coping mechanism after Error had... done what he did the night before, but they'd have to tread lightly. Ink smiled faintly and replied: "I know." He then turned to the doll, kissing its cheek. "Hear that, Baby? You're beautiful. Yes, you are. Yes, you are."

Error put his hand on the small of Ink's back, and guided him to the table; the artist tensed slightly, and held the doll closer, but didn't object and sat down. Everyone was still looking at him cooing at the baby, until Killer, exasperated, shouted: "Alright, is anyone gonna say it? This is fucking weird!"
Ink flinched and hugged the doll tighter. Error noticed and glared daggers at Killer, furious.
"үσ𝕌 Gσt A ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG pяσᵇ𝔩E爪?!"
"Yes! Take away that shit, it's creepy!"
Error stood up and tried jumping at Killer from across the table, but Nightmare caught him with his appendage by the waist.
"Killer!" He yelled. "Do you have to always pick a fight with Error?! Are you a toddler?! Incapable of playing nice for 30 minutes?!"

While his brother was scolding Killer, Dream turned to look at Ink, who was rocking the doll and murmuring reassurances against its forehead. Horror, who was seated at Ink's side, put his hand on the artist's shoulder, and Ink seemed to calm down.

Dream tried listening in on their conversation.

"Don't... worry... Killer is... a brat... Your baby isn't... creepy..."
"Thank you, Horror." He rocked it more "The noise is scaring them. Hush now, don't cry, don't cry..."
Dream then got up and moved at Ink's side.
"Why don't we go to the living room for now? So the baby won't get scared."

He looked at his twin for approval, and he gave a quick nod, so the two of them walked away. Error was too angry to notice them leaving, still swearing at Killer and trying to attack him.

Dream and Ink sat on the couch, and the positive Guardian tried to think of a way to approach the subject without upsetting the Protector.
"What's- what's their name?"
"Baby."
"...Descriptive."
Ink chuckled and took the doll's hand in his, rubbing its palm.
"Well, we all have descriptive names here. Blue, Killer, Error... It's fitting."
Dream felt conflicted: Ink seemed way less apathetic and passive than before, but this delusion didn't seem a good trade-off.
Still, it was best to leave it alone for a few days, and avoid taking any action that would distress him. Maybe Ink would snap out of it on his own, even if it seemed unlikely.

==========

Ink wasn't getting better.

It had been three days, and Ink carried his Baby everywhere, talking to it, playing with it, and never letting it go.
When Dust had tried touching it, Ink had yelled: "NO!", terrified, and burrowed his face in Error's shoulder.

Sans knew that Dream didn't want to rock the boat, but the more they waited, the worst it would get, because Ink wouldn't want to lose his only defence.

They had finally understood why the artist always had the doll with him: it was a way for Ink to refuse to Error's advances without repercussions.
Every time the Destroyer tried touching him in a sexual way, or suggested spending time alone in their room, or made lewd comments, Baby would always start crying and fussing, at least according to Ink, and the Protector would direct all of his attention to it.
Error, though, didn't look bothered by this, and kept indulging Ink, even if it was clear he knew the doll was just a doll: he'd ask how Baby was feeling, if it was happy, sad, and sometimes he'd even bring some baby food for the doll to "eat", all the while making sure that no one tried breaking Ink's delusion.

Dust and Horror were no trouble, as Horror understood that Ink needed to believe that Baby was real, while Dust seemed to think that the doll was an actual child; given his own hallucinations, it wasn't really surprising. The only real problem was Killer, who kept making snide comments about Ink's "game of pretend", and that upset Ink greatly. After Error threatened to kill him if he made another remark though, he had shut up.

At the moment, Error had gone to the kitchen to get some more baby food for the doll, and Ink, Dream and Sans were all seated on the couch.
Ink was, as usual, rocking and bouncing Baby on his knee, giggling a bit. It hurt to finally hear Ink laughing and smiling again after almost three months, and to know it was all fake.
"Is- is Baby having fun?" Dream said, smiling awkwardly.
Ink smiled back and answered: "Of course, Baby is always having fun while they play with their mommy. Don't you, Baby? Sure you do!"
He then peppered the doll's stomach with kisses.

Hearing Ink referring to himself as the puppet's mother was so unnerving. Sans couldn't take it anymore.
"Ink?" he asked "Can I hold Baby?"
Maybe separating the two of them would help him.
The artist froze, and then hugged the doll to his chest.
"Why- why do you want to take my baby? They're my baby, you- you can't have them!"

Ink was about to cry, so Dream quickly reassured him.
"We don't want to take your baby, Ink! We just want to have fun, as a family!"
"...Family?"
"Of course! Blue and I, we're like, Baby's uncles! We want to play with them, too."

Ink calmed down.
"Oh... that's nice, then." He relaxed his hold on the puppet, and started rocking it. "You like your uncles, Baby?" He smiled "You do, you do!"
He then stopped for a moment, and looked at Sans.
"I... I trust you, Blue. You're my friend."
He hesitantly extended the puppet to him, and Sans thanked him.
Before he could take it in his arms, however, a voice shouted: "SLAM DUNK!", and someone slapped the doll away from Ink's hands, making it fall to the floor.

Killer started laughing cruelly, while Ink fell to his knees with a painful cry and immediately held the doll in his arms, crying.
"My baby, my baby, you hurt my baby!"
Sans and Dream helped him sit back on the couch, trying to tell him that his baby was alright, but Ink just kept wailing, so Killer started mocking him.
"You're so stupid! It's not real, moron! It's a puppet!"

Dream turned his skull toward the door, and huddled closer to Ink in fear; Sans quickly understood why, as even he could feel Error's fury as soon as he laid eyes on him.
The Destroyer ran into the room and saw Ink in distress and Killer laughing, drawing the inevitable conclusion: his expression became murderous, and he started glitching violently; Killer only had a second to realize that Error had wrapped his strings around him, before he was slammed with force against the wall of the room.

Sans flinched in sympathy, but didn't move from his spot near the Protector: even if he wanted to check on Killer (and he really didn't, seeing one of their captors hurt made Sans feel vindicated), going near Error right now would be a very stupid move.
Just like pestering Ink after Error has threatened to kill whoever upset his lover.

Killer was being repeatedly slammed against the floor, and Error was shouting all the while.
"ι tᗝℓ𝓓 үᗝ𝓾! tᗝ รtᗝᵖ! ᗷᗝt𝓱乇尺ιภ𝑔! ķιķι!"
Sans could see Killer had broken many bones, and the strings were digging into his skeleton, making him bleed marrow all over the floor. By how Dream seemed so focused on not looking at Error, Sans imagined that this was bringing up memories from the punishment Dream had faced a few days ago.

The empath was busy calming Ink down, stroking his back and murmuring reassurance about Baby's wellbeing, and it seemed to work: Ink was now only sniffling, rocking the doll and repeating: "you're alright, you're alright, you're alright"

"Can someone explain what is going on in here?"
Sans turned toward the speaker, and saw Nightmare holding Killer with his appendages, stopping Error from plummeting him into the ground again.
The injured skeleton coughed a bit, spitting marrow, and only grunted.
"ι tσ𝔩𝓭 𝓱𝐢爪 tσ ştσp 𝓱AяAşş𝐢ŇG ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢! 𝓱E Gσt Ⓦ𝓱At ⓌAş 𝓬σ爪𝐢ŇG tσ 𝓱𝐢爪!"

Nightmare groaned and dragged his right hand across his face.
"Children, literal children. Killer! You brought this upon yourself." He laid him on one of the armchairs "Now you'll wait here, without moving, and Error will wait with me in the lab until he doesn't feel like killing you anymore. After that, I will heal you. This is your punishment. Dream" he turned to his twin "can you make sure he doesn't try to do anything moronic?"
Dream nodded, nervous.
"Of course, brother."
"Good. Error, follow me."
The glitch put his hands in his pockets and stomped after Nightmare.

==========

Stupid Killer, he always ruined everything!

Error felt like he was about to glitch out of existence, that's how angry he was. He knew if he stayed in the room, then he would have ended up permanently damaging Killer's body, and that would make Nightmare furious: even if he had used some sort of spell to make his stupid minions immortal, that just meant that they couldn't dust, no matter the injury; they still needed to be healed if they were harmed, and Nightmare was the only healer of the castle (all of the Stars were good at healing too, but their magic was restricted, so they didn't count).

The Destroyer didn't want to antagonize his most powerful ally, so he usually listened to what the negative Guardian told him (after all, the castle was his house), but they both knew that didn't mean that Error was under Nightmare's rule: just like Dream had been the leader of the Stars, even if Kiki was the most powerful of the trio, Error lent his services to Nightmare and his band of fools, despite the fact he could easily kill the empath if he wanted.

Nightmare was a very useful puppet to have: he was strong, both physically and magically, very intelligent and knowledgeable, and his castle had all sorts of luxuries that the Antivoid lacked, and though Error liked it that way, he couldn't deny that sometimes he preferred sleeping in a bed instead of his beanbag, or eat something other than stolen chocolate (the glitch made a mental note to raid Abomination #13's fridge, his stash was almost gone).

And besides, this was the best place for him and Kiki to live.

Thinking about his lover, Error immediately relaxed, and who could blame him? He was the most beautiful and perfect monster of all the Multiverse, such a matchless contradiction, so unassuming at first sight, and yet so powerful, so sweet and caring to his friend, and yet brutal and merciless to his enemies; whenever Error fought with his doll before, he'd always try to goad him into drinking his red vial (though he rarely succeeded), because whenever he did, the Protector transformed into a majestic avenging angel, and Error delighted in being the only one to prompt such a change in him.

At first, Error had seen his Kiki as any other abomination of the Multiverse, an even worse one because he couldn't kill him: the soulless monster was always matching him blow for blow, never letting up, and Error lost just as much as he won against him.
Initially, that had frustrated Error to no end, leading him to obsess over the artist, trying to find his weakness, something, anything that would give him the upper hand, but nothing seemed to work, it was almost like he was fated to never defeat Ink, to always be locked in an endless dance, with Error chasing after Ink, and Ink remaining out of Error's grasp.

Two opposites, forever clashing.
After realizing that, Error started noticing so many other things about the Protector that he had previously brushed off, and the more he found, the more fascinated he became: how could he have never seen before how Ink was so interesting, so special and unique, so stunning.

They were two halves of the same whole, completing each other, even more than simple lovers, because they were both born from nothing, and they'd never die.

After Error destroyed all of the Multiverse, only the two of them would remain.
For all eternity.

Kiki didn't seem to understand yet, but Error was patient: after all, hadn't the Destroyer also started out wanting to kill him? Hating him? But he had learned now, and he could wait for Kiki for as long as he needed; the glitch wanted nothing more than to take him and bring him to his domain, forever keeping him inside the Antivoid and away from prying eyes, but his poor doll was scared of the empty and white place, and the last thing he wanted was for his Kiki to be in distress.

Nightmare's castle, on the other hand, was perfect for them: an impenetrable fortress, where the stupid Council couldn't try and take his Kiki away from him.

The only downside was that they had to live with other people, who never minded their fucking business, who always upset his Kiki, stupid Killer, he should have cut off his hands, bastard!

"Error" Nightmare chimed, without raising his skull from his dumb chemistry set "while your rage is delicious, I wanted you to calm down, not to get worked up again."
"𝕎E𝔩𝔩, 爪A𝕪ᵇE 𝕪σ𝕌 ş𝓱σ𝕌𝔩𝓭 爪AŇAGE 𝕪σ𝕌я 𝔩A𝓬𝕂E𝕪ş ᵇEttEя! ภE𝐗t t𝐢爪E, ι'爪 Ňσt GσŇŇA ştσp!"
Nightmare sighed, and then put aside the vials he was holding, turned to him and said: "You know that Killer is an idiot-"
"𝓓σEşŇ't ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG 爪AttEя! ι tσ𝔩𝓭 𝓱𝐢爪 tσ ştσp ᵇσt𝓱Eя𝐢ŇG ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 Aᵇσ𝕌t ᗷAᵇ𝕪, t𝓱At ş𝓱σ𝕌𝔩𝓭 ᵇE EŇσ𝕌G𝓱!"

Kiki needed Baby, was that so hard to understand? His lover was depressed because he couldn't have children, and Baby was helping him feel better.

Kiki had told him before that his infertility didn't bother him, but Error knew that wasn't true: his doll would be a perfect mother, he was just too focused on his work before to really think about it.
But now there wasn't anything to distract him, and the more their relationship developed, the more the idea was brought to the forefront of Kiki's mind. Everything came to a head the morning after they had made love, when Kiki had started crying and couldn't stop; Error had tried hugging him, but he simply pushed him away and cried harder.
The idea of never having children of their own must have been too much to bear for him.
Kiki had only calmed down after Error had given him Baby, telling him he could just spend time with their child and not worry about anything else.

Though Error didn't like his puppets leaving the bedroom, Kiki's peace of mind was more important.
But if Killer kept insisting that Baby was fake then it was all for nothing!

"About the doll..." Nightmare hesitated, and Error narrowed his eyes.
"𝕎𝓱At?!"
"This has gone on long enough. You can't let Ink behave like this."
"𝕎𝓱𝕪 Ňσt?!"
Why was this such a big deal? Kiki treated the puppet as a real baby, so what?! Everyone just had to care about his private business!
"For stars' sake Error! Do you want Ink to keep caring for a puppet for the rest of his life?! That thing will never become a real child, no matter what he does!"
"үσ𝕌 t𝓱𝐢Ň𝕂 ι 𝓭σŇ't 𝕂ŇσⓌ t𝓱At?! ι 𝓭σŇ't 𝓬AяE! ιt'ş t𝓱E σŇE t𝓱𝐢ŇG t𝓱At 𝐢ş 爪A𝕂𝐢ŇG ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 𝓱App𝕪, ι'爪 Ňσt tA𝕂𝐢ŇG 𝐢t AⓌA𝕪!" He then conjured some strings in his hands. "aŇ𝓭 ŇE𝐢t𝓱Eя AяE 𝕪σ𝕌."

Nightmare was a very useful puppet, but ultimately inconsequential in the grand scheme of things: if it came down to him or Kiki, Error would simply kill the empath and his three dumbeteers, taking control of the castle. He was sure Nightmare would try to do the same if he ever threatened Dream, but he would never win against him.
Kiki was the only one who could ever defeat him.

The negative Guardian took a step back, raising his appendages in an attempt at intimidation; Error simply smiled, aware that Nightmare could sense he wasn't afraid of him. His ally forced himself to relax, lowering his appendages, and said: "I have no intention of upsetting Ink, Error, I apologize if it came across that way."
The Destroyer waited for a second, then made his strings disappear; Nightmare was useful, after all, and he'd hate for him to die.
"t𝓱EŇ 𝕪σ𝕌 ᵇEttEя ⓌAt𝓬𝓱 𝕪σ𝕌я 爪σ𝕌t𝓱, 𝕪σ𝕌я 𝓱𝐢G𝓱ŇEşş" he snarked.
"I only meant to say that... that Baby might seem to make Ink happy for now, but it will end up damaging him in the long run, let me finish." He raised his hand to stop Error for interrupting him. "Think about Ink, caring about a child for years yet never seeing them age. That wouldn't be good for him now, would it?"

No, it wouldn't. Error hated to admit it, but he hadn't thought about that, he had only been worried about keeping Kiki happy now.

"үσ𝕌'яE... Ňσt ⓌяσŇG, ᵇ𝕌t ι 𝓭σŇ't 𝕂ŇσⓌ Ⓦ𝓱At tσ 𝓭σ Aᵇσ𝕌t ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."
The glitch crossed his arms and frowned. He'd give his Kiki anything he wished for, but he couldn't give him a baby like he wanted, a baby that was part him and part Error, that just wasn't possible.

Or was it? Error had heard a rumor that he hadn't been able to confirm, about someone messing around with him and Kiki's magic, and somehow creating a monster. That was, technically, their child: Error had wanted to see this supposed kid, to check his code and actually look at him, but this clone (if they existed) was in the Omega Timeline, out of Error's reach.

Still, that meant that it was maybe possible for them to have a real child, one who actually looked like Baby even. That would be even better than this other fusion; after all, Kiki wanted an infant, not a toddler.
It would be the perfect gift.

"ภ𝐢G𝓱t爪AяE." Error asked "𝕎σ𝕌𝔩𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 ᵇE 𝐢ŇtEяEştE𝓭 𝐢Ň A ŇEⓌ E𝐗pEя𝐢爪EŇt?"

Chapter 6: An inky mistake by any other name (is called a paper jam)

Summary:

Congratulations, it's an experiment!

TW: needles

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Papyrus was looking at the phone, while Cross, Lust and CORE where in the room with him, all waiting for the call; it was the third one so far, and Papyrus couldn't wait for Sci and his team to find a way inside Dreamtale.

Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern; that was the only thought inside his skull, a great fear of the weekly phonecalls becoming the only way of ever having contact with Sans.

Lust noticed his anxiety and patted his arm in comfort.
"Cheer up hun, you're about to hear from your brother."
Papyrus simply looked at the other skeleton, and Lust flinched. He appreciated the efforts of everyone around him, but he couldn't deal with these half-assed attempts at cheering him up: they weren't going to bring his brother back.

The phone ringed, and he quickly answered, while the other people present held their breath.

"Sans!"
"Hello Papy."
His brother's tone was more tense than the two previous calls, and that worried him.
"Hi Stretch."
Cross inhaled sharply, hearing Dream's voice.
"Hi Dream, fancy hearing from you. Is your brother there as well?"
Why is he letting you speak?
"Nightmare is occupied at the moment. Actually, it's just me, Blue and Horror on the phone right now."
The four of them looked at each other with apprehension, asking themselves the same question: what happened?
Knowing that Horror was the only one present, Papyrus decided to risk being a little more open.

"So, everyone else is busy? What are they doing?"
There was a pause, then Horror said: "You can... tell him... it's not a... big deal..."
"A-alright then." Sans became more nervous. "Well, Dust is doing his own thing, he simply didn't want to be on call today. Killer is... he's grounded. And Nightmare is, in his lab, I think."

Papyrus felt on edge. They had known about Nightmare's lab for quite some time, it was one of the first things Cross had told them about when he had become their informant, and the fact that the negative Guardian was spending time there instead of monitoring what Sans and Dream were saying to Papyrus (who was, by all account, a big liability), meant that he was preparing something big.
Sans also avoided mentioning what Error and Ink were doing, and that was cause for concern too. What was so horrible that his brother couldn't say? He then felt someone poking him, and turned to look at Cross, who had a pensive expression. He mouthed Ask about Killer.

Unsure, Papyrus asked: "Killer got... grounded? What do you mean?"
There was another pause, then Dream said: "Well, he upset Ink, and Error" Dream's voice shook at the name, and Cross glared at the phone "beat him up. Nightmare decided to not heal him completely, because he had been warned multiple times. He's stuck in his room until he gets better."

The tension in the room rose. They all knew Error was a violent person, but Cross had told them he always restrained himself from hurting Nightmare and the others, to not strain his alliance with the Guardian. Had Killer done something drastic, or was Error becoming more volatile? Were the Stars in danger?

"Why was Ink upset?"
The other line remained silent. Why weren't they responding?! Lust started pacing, anxious. Then they heard Sans's voice.
"Ink is... not well." Papyrus was filled with dread. "He had a breakdown five days ago and now... he, well-"
"He thinks... his doll... is a baby..."

...What?

The others seemed to sense their confusion, as Dream clarified: "Error made him a puppet and, and Ink treats it like a- a real child." The Guardian sounded on the verge of crying, and Papyrus couldn't blame him. He felt sick, thinking about Ink, the strongest person he knew, basically a god, being reduced to a delusional loon. CORE's eyes were widened, and they froze in place, Lust was covering his mouth with his hands, distraught, and Cross was tightening his fists and staring at the phone with murderous intent.

"It's not... good..." The fact that even Horror recognized how severe the situation was spoke volumes. "He never... puts it down... and it's only... getting worse..."
Sans sighed, and then said: "Killer likes to mock him for it, and a couple days ago he threw to doll on the floor, making him cry. You can imagine how Error reacted."

It wasn't difficult to imagine, though it selfishly made Papyrus feel better: Error wasn't about to hurt his brother unless he did something stupid, and Sans was the smartest person he knew. He'd be fine, all things considered.

He only wished he could give him some good news, maybe some reassurance that they were one step closer to rescue them, but the truth was that they were still stuck. Error was one smart bastard, and his defenses seemed impenetrable.

=================

Ink didn't like staying in Nightmare's lab, it felt spooky. Baby also didn't like it, and started whining. Ink calmed them down, caressing their head.
"Don't worry Baby, it's alright it's alright."
He just wanted to go back to the living room, and stay with Dream and Blue, but Error had told him he needed to go to the lab; Ink was seated on a stool with the Destroyer at his side, and Nightmare was at his workbench, reading various books and messing around with vials and other sciency things.

Error put his right hand on his right shoulder, slightly hugging him, and Ink felt the usual weird swirl of emotions he experienced every time the glitch touched him: it disgusted him (don't touch me don't touch me), but it also soothed him (please don't let go stay with me), making him feel dizzy and confused. It made him think that Error was maybe messing with his vials (adding more pink than he should), but since he was the one preparing his daily dose, Ink had no way to be sure.
He decided to simply ignore it and hugged Baby tighter.

His beautiful, perfect Baby: Ink knew it was selfish to find comfort in his own child, but he couldn't help it. He and Baby had a very special bond, and just being near them made him feel safer.

"Ink."
The Protector raised his skull, looking at Nightmare. The empath had a very menacing syringe in his right hand, and started moving closer. Ink curled in on himself, and Error put his other hand on his left shoulder, effectively pinning him down on the stool.

"t𝓱E ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂 𝕪σ𝕌 t𝓱𝐢Ň𝕂 𝕪σ𝕌'яE 𝓭σ𝐢ŇG?"
Nightmare sighed.
"Error, we've been over this. I need a sample-"
"𝕎𝐢t𝓱 t𝓱At 𝓱𝕌GE t𝓱𝐢ŇG?! үσ𝕌'𝔩𝔩 𝓱𝕌яt 𝓱𝐢爪!"
"Not if he stays still."

Ink couldn't see it, but he felt Error's glare anyway.

"Listen Error, I agreed to help you because this is a very intriguing experiment, but if you don't trust my experience then we'll stop. I know what I'm doing."

Error gripped his shoulders harder for a second, and then released him. He knelt in front of Ink, and softly said: "ιt'ş A𝔩я𝐢G𝓱t ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, AⓕtEя t𝓱𝐢ş ⓌE 𝓬AŇ ⓌAt𝓬𝓱 t𝓱At 爪σѶ𝐢E 𝕪σ𝕌 𝔩𝐢𝕂E." He grabbed Ink's forearms to keep him still, while Nightmare stepped behind him.
The artist felt the cold needle touch his spine, and tears formed in his eyes: why were they hurting him again, he was good, he had been good, he did everything Error said, he never talked back, he had been good, he had been good!

"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓱AѶE tσ ştA𝕪 şt𝐢𝔩𝔩."

Even before realizing it, he did what Error told him and froze. Nightmare hummed, and the needle went in: it felt very uncomfortable and itchy, but he didn't dare move, not even as he could feel his marrow being extracted.

He remained still, but also started whimpering: he didn't like this, it felt weird, why were they doing this?
Error glared at Nightmare.
"үσ𝕌 şA𝐢𝓭-"
"Error, shut up and let me work, unless you want me to mess up and paralyze Ink."
Error snarled, and then turned back to Ink, rubbing Ink's arms with his thumb and hushing him.
"𝓓σŇ't Ⓦσяя𝕪, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝐢t'ş A𝔩я𝐢G𝓱t, 𝕪σ𝕌'яE ᵇE𝐢ŇG şσ Gσσ𝓭 я𝐢G𝓱t ŇσⓌ. ιt'ş A𝔩爪σşt 𝓭σŇE."

Nightmare removed the needle, and made a surprised sound.
"How peculiar."
Ink didn't care to know what was peculiar about him, he was just glad he could move again and cradled Baby, closing his eyes.

He felt Error hugging him and stroking his skull, murmuring reassurances. The glitch then gripped his arms and raised him to his feet, saying: "ℓEt'ş Gσ, 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩."

Ink opened his eyes again, and glimpsed Nightmare putting his marrow into some vials and mixing it with other things; Error turned him around and guided him outside the lab.

=================

When Dream and Sans entered the living room, they found Ink and Error on the couch, watching an animated movie.
Ink was wearing tight, black pants and a green blouse with long, poofy sleeves, and he was barely looking at the television, as he was busy "feeding" a bottle to Baby; at his side, Error was also not paying attention to the movie, preferring to cuddle with Ink.

Ink noticed them and greeted them warmly: "Hey guys! Come sit with us!"
The two of them did, but Ink's upbeat (fake) demeanor made Sans feel sick and enraged. He felt angry all the time now, seeing his two best friends waste away, and had to restrain himself from snapping at their jailers, or attacking them; he knew that it would only make things worse, but damn if it wouldn't be satisfying to sock Nightmare in the face, or to bash a chair on Error's skull.

He felt Dream squeezing his forearm, and glanced at him: the empath was giving him a warning look, so Sans forced himself to relax. Dream didn't really need his negative emotions poisoning him. The Guardian gained a strained smile.

Ink tilted his skull and asked: "How did the call go?"
Sans didn't say anything, not trusting himself to not snap and shout, so Dream answered for the both of them: "Oh, it- it went well. It was... normal."
"Oh." Ink's fingers tightened on the bottle. "That's nice."
The artist looked back at the puppet and kept feeding him; Sans noticed the bottle was already empty.

"And... what did you and E-Error do while we were on the phone?"
Before Ink could respond, Error glared at him.
"ภσŇE σⓕ 𝕪σ𝕌я ᵇ𝕌ş𝐢ŇEşş."
Dream flinched after hearing Error's harsh rebuke, and Sans took a deep breath to calm himself. The glitch then smirked at the silence, and kissed Ink's cheek, while Ink didn't react: the Protector looked lost in his own head, only having eyes for his puppet.

Sans tried to control himself and to stay, not wanting to leave Ink and Dream alone with Error, but he couldn't do it. When he felt about to rip Baby from Ink's hands and throw it in Error's face, he knew that being with the "happy couple" would bring more harm than good, so he got up and asked, almost seething: "Dream, would you like to cook something with me? I wanted to make a chocolate cake."
Dream nodded and quickly moved away from Error, following Sans to the kitchen.

The more he walked away, the more Sans stomped his feet and clenched his fists, muttering curses and profanities under his breath.
He felt Dream's aura flare up, trying to calm him down, so he sharply turned around and said, through gritted teeth: "Don't. Try to make me happy right now."
"Blue-"
"My feelings are my own. Everyone is already controlling enough, you are not going to change me to suit your needs."
As soon as he said that, Sans was filled with regret.
Dream was hurt (with good reasons), and looked down.

"Dream, I'm sorry."
Dream simply shook his skull, wringing his hands. Sans gently grabbed his face and said: "Dream. That was uncalled for. You're not like them, alright? I was angry, and I took it out on you."

They couldn't allow themselves to fight, they had to stick together. The situation was already stressful enough.

Dream didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway. He wasn't meeting his eyes.
"Let's go make that cake, alright?"

=================

Nightmare had holed himself up in his lab; it had been three days since the call, and Dream nor anyone else had seen him since.
It was extremely worrying, but Dream knew there was nothing he could do about it, so he and Blue decided to make the best of a bad situation and subtly look for weak points in the castle's defenses: Blue was keeping the Murder Trio occupied, so Dream could walk around and investigate.

That wasn't the only reason Dream was on his own; spending time with Ink felt artificial, and when he was with Blue the air was very awkward, so Dream hoped that giving each other a break for a bit would help.

At first, it seemed to work. It had been a long time since Dream had been actually alone, without anyone at his side watching him, and it was freeing, like he had just rid himself of a load weighting him down. After a while though, he began to feel unbalanced: it scared him, because a part of him wanted Nightmare at his side.

He didn't want to become Ink.

Dream stopped walking and closed his eyes, putting his hands on his chest and focusing on Lux.
She was counting on him to remain level-headed, to be strong, to not give in, just like everyone else was, all of his friends and all the people he swore to protect.
Like Cross.

Dream's eyes snapped open, and he started walking again; he hadn't allowed himself to think of his lover till now, because the thought was too painful.
Nightmare had forbidden all mentions of him, and his room had been declared off limits.
Dream wanted him to still be there, to be held by his strong arms and to hear his low voice reassuring him. Even if Cross was, by all accounts, way weaker than him and Nightmare, Dream felt as if nothing could hurt him as long as Cross was at his side.
Making a decision, Dream quickened his pace and turned around, going to Cross's former room.

When he arrived, he stood in front of the door for a moment. Nightmare hadn't put up any spell or barrier, trusting that his word to never go inside again would be enough, but now Nightmare wasn't there, and Dream refused to be controlled by his fear. He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The room had been emptied of everything personal, there was no more furniture, no more clothes in the wardrobe, no more weapons, no more art supplies, no more drawings on the wall, no more secret stash of sweets.
No more Cross.

The only thing that remained was the bed, and a black and white quilt.
Dream sat down.
"Hey. I miss you."
He started stroking the blanket, trying to believe it was Cross's jacket instead.
"We all miss you. I don't know what to do without you. You always seem so sure and confident, and you make me feel so safe. I need you. We both need you."
Even alone, he didn't dare talk about Lux openly. He wouldn't let his child be discovered by a slip of the tongue.
"I know you're doing all you can right now, but-"
He started crying.
"But I want you here with me."
Dream laid down, covering himself with the blanket. He remained there for a while, until he suddenly felt... a new presence inside the castle?

He quickly sat up, trying to narrow down where it was. Was it a rescue mission? Nightmare didn't seem alarmed, but he had to have felt it as well. The new presence (and it was weirdly positive and carefree) was inside the lab, with Nightmare and Error (and Ink by default) very near it. Both his brother and the Destroyer felt very satisfied and happy.
Dream got to his feet and ran back inside the living room.

What was going on?

=================

They were in Nightmare's lab again.

Error and Nightmare had started talking and discussing things, but Ink hadn't been able to follow their conversation very well; they had started to become very technical, and Error had even started manipulating some code for whatever they had to do.

Ink was sure this had to do with him somehow, but he didn't have a clue. A suspicion came to his mind, and so hugged Baby a bit tighter; after he had puked on Error (after he had been kissed, disgusting, just thinking about it made him feel sick all over again), the glitch had told him Nightmare could maybe solve his "problem" with some spells or medicine, but Ink had been so scared of being experimented on that he had started crying, begging Error to reconsider.
He had seemed to relent, and hadn't brought it up again, but Ink wasn't so sure now.

After all, Error didn't have any problems doing other things that Ink didn't like (stop please stop don't touch me I don't like it it feels rotten-), and Ink wouldn't be able to stop him (but now he had Baby, Baby was safe, Baby would protect him).

A soft light made him look to the workbench, where Error had created a save point.
"This isn't what I asked for."
"𝕎E𝔩𝔩, ι'爪 Ňσt A 爪𝐢яA𝓬𝔩E Ⓦσя𝕂Eя! ιt'ş t𝓱E 𝓬𝔩σşEşt t𝓱𝐢ŇG tσ A şσ𝕌𝔩 ι 𝓬AŇ 爪A𝕂E, şσ 𝕪σ𝕌'𝔩𝔩 𝓱AѶE tσ 𝓭EA𝔩 Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝐢t!"
A soul? Was that... was that for him?
Nightmare sighed: "I guess it could work, theoretically. Put it in the cistern."

Error carried the yellow star to the small clear pot they had on the bench, already half filled with something Ink could only describe as black sludge: the save point slowly sunk inside, and its light dimmed.

"Now get the doll."

Did he mean him?! Error always called him doll, he was going to experiment on him! Ink leaned back on the stool as far as he could when the Destroyer came near him, and shut his eyes in fear.
He felt Error's hands on his arms, and he said: "ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, G𝐢ѶE 爪E ᗷAᵇ𝕪."

NO!

Ink's eyes snapped open, and he stood up and tried getting away from Error, but his hold was firm. He wasn't going to take his baby, he couldn't take Baby, everything Error touches is poisoned and tainted! Error looked at him with annoyance.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢." his tone was irritated "𝓓σŇ't ᵇE şt𝕌ᵇᵇσяŇ. G𝐢ѶE 爪E ᗷAᵇ𝕪."
Ink couldn't move, too scared of angering Error, and only managed to shake his skull.
Error growled and grabbed Ink's neck, ripping Baby out of his hands; Ink tried reaching for Baby, who was crying and squirming, but Error was stronger than him. Nightmare took Baby from Error, and moved back to the workbench.

"No! NO! BABY! BABY! DON'T HURT THEM!"
"ιŇ𝕂!"
Ink froze in place, aware that now Error was pissed. Tears were streaming down his face.

Error's glare softened, and he wiped Ink's face with his left hand. He started reassuring him, but Ink could only hear static, trying to see what Nightmare was doing to his child, but unable to as Error blocked his view.

Error liked Baby, he had gone on and on about how he wanted a child, why was he letting Nightmare hurt them? Was he bored of them? Was this what was going to happen from now on? Error would force Ink to have children again and again (nonononono), and then would hand them over to Nightmare as soon as he lost interest? The thought brought fresh tears to his eyes.

A wave of magic engulfed the lab, and Error turned around, still not allowing Ink to see what was happening. He smiled and looked back at Ink, letting go of his neck and moving his hands on the artist's shoulders.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝔩σσ𝕂."

Ink was moved in front of the pot, and looking inside he could only see a baby.
His Baby.
Alive.

Mechanically, he reached inside and took Baby back in his arms. Baby looked him right in the eyes (their pupils were like his, a circle and a star) and smiled, touching his face with their tiny hands. It was cool to the touch, and left a little inky handprint on his cheek.

Error did a double take and started arguing with Nightmare.
"𝕎𝓱At'ş ⓌяσŇG Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 t𝓱E𝐢я 𝓱EA𝓭?! ιt'ş A𝔩𝔩 爪EşşE𝓭 𝕌p! ι t𝓱σ𝕌G𝓱t 𝕪σ𝕌 𝕂ŇEⓌ Ⓦ𝓱At 𝕪σ𝕌 ⓌEяE 𝓭σ𝐢ŇG!"
Ignoring Nightmare's angry rebuke, Ink focused on the newborn: Error was right, the left side of their head was barely connected to the rest of their body, forming a blob of sort that ebbed and flowed. The artist brushed it, not feeling concerned. As much as he hated admitting it, it seemed similar to Error's glitches, and if that was the case then it wasn't something that would harm the baby.

It was like a fog lifted from his mind: seeing Baby (and they really needed a new name now) actually moving and laughing made him realize what had happened during the week, and he felt horrified. How could he have ever believed that Error's puppet was alive?

His child kept lightly slapping his face with their hands, babbling happily, and Ink smiled back at them. He had fallen in love, just like when he had met Gradient for the first time.
"𝓓σ 𝕪σ𝕌 𝔩𝐢𝕂E t𝓱E爪?"
Error's voice filled him with dread, but Ink did his best to keep the smile on his face and look at the glitch. The Protector nodded.
"ι 𝕂ŇEⓌ 𝕪σ𝕌 Ⓦσ𝕌𝔩𝓭. ภσⓌ ⓌE 𝓬AŇ ᵇE A яEA𝔩 ⓕA爪𝐢𝔩𝕪."

Ink inhaled slowly.

He couldn't allow himself to spiral anymore. He had to protect his child.

"𝕎𝓱At ş𝓱σ𝕌𝔩𝓭 ⓌE 𝓬A𝔩𝔩 t𝓱E爪?"
Ink thought about it: Error had never expressed a preference for a name, but knowing him and his narcissistic tendencies, he'd want something that would reference him, even if Ink loathed the idea.
"Paperjam. PJ, for short."
"ᵖApEяנA爪?"
"It's... a kind of error. I thought it might be nice to give them a name like that, kinda like junior."
Error became pensive. Ink held his breath.
"ᵖApEяנA爪... ι 𝔩𝐢𝕂E 𝐢t."

The Destroyer kissed the top of his skull.
"ℓEt'ş Gσ tE𝔩𝔩 t𝓱E σt𝓱Eяş t𝓱E Gσσ𝓭 ŇEⓌş."

=================

Dream felt Nightmare, Error and the new presence approach the living room, and so quickened his pace: his brother wouldn't appreciate him being on his own.
All the while, his mind kept going into overdrive: he was frantically concentrating on the new presence, trying to understand exactly who he was feeling, but he couldn't.
The aura was still happy and positive, full of curiosity, and it was moving right at Error's side. It felt very foreign as well, similar to whenever he sensed other outcodes, like Frisk, Error or Fresh, people who had weird soul situations.

However, something nagged at him, he felt like it was almost the same as someone he knew, but couldn't remember who.

Dream entered the living room silently, and sat on the couch without drawing the attention of the Murder Trio; the three of them were busy playing a card game with Blue, who glanced at him when he entered. Dream felt his brother get even closer, so he patted around the couch to look for a book he had left there before, and pretended to read it just in time.

Nightmare crossed the door, and everybody turned to look at him. Dream tried looking for the new presence, but it was so very strange, as it seemed to come from Ink, and that just wasn't possible.

Dream saw Ink adjust Baby in his arms.

And Baby moved.

Dream jolted, unwittingly yelling: "Oh my stars!"
This startled everyone else, including Baby (or what looked like Baby), and so the infant started wailing.
Shock engulfed the room, while fury oozed from Error, who was glaring at Dream; however, luckily for him, Dust, Horror and Killer scrambled toward Ink and the glitch redirected his attention to them, shouting at them to stay back and to give Ink and "PJ" space.

The artist was soothing the child in his arms, but Dream could see a difference in his movements: they were more confident and assured, less stilted.
Even so, the baby (PJ, apparently) was still crying and whimpering, obviously distressed by the ruckus; Dream saw Ink square his shoulders and call: "R-Ruru?"
The Destroyer quickly turned toward the Protector.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢?"
"Can you stop shouting? You're scaring PJ."
As if to emphasize Ink's statement, PJ let out a particularly loud wail.

Dream was stunned: Ink had stood up for himself. He had told Error off. The empath could see Ink was slightly shaking, but his hold on the baby was firm. His eyes held a spark Dream thought was lost forever.

Error frowned, displeased, and then turned back to the Murder Trio, who had fallen silent. Dream noticed that Blue was by the table, having gotten to his feet when PJ started crying but wary of approaching Error.
He was looking intently at Ink, and Dream could feel he was deep in thought. However, there was a flicker of something in his aura that Dream hadn't felt in a long time.

Hope.

"үσ𝕌 𝓱EAя𝓭 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢." The Destroyer said, his tone almost a whisper "үσ𝕌 ᵇEttEя ş𝓱𝕌t 𝕌p AŇ𝓭 Ňσt 爪A𝕂E ᵖј 𝓬я𝕪."
Dust opened his mouth, so Error rapidly summoned his strings in his hands. Dust closed his mouth.

Now that it was quiet, PJ settled, and burrowed themselves in Ink's chest.
Ink looked at everyone, and gave an awkward smile.
"I guess you have questions?"

=================

"Hello?"
"Hi Papy!"
"Sans? It's been three days, why are you calling now?"
"I just had to share the news! Nightmare gave me permission, I was so excited!"
"Sounds important."
"Remember when I told you Nightmare was busy in the lab? Now we know why. Nightmare made Baby real."
"...he what?"
"Turns out, he's very handy at biological engineering. Now Ink and Error have a real baby! Isn't it tremendous news? I just had to tell you!"
"I see what you mean. How are the new parents holding up?"
"Oh, Ink is the one who does most of the work, and he's doing a very good job. He's so lively now. This baby, their name is PJ, is a real blessing. I just wish you could see them."
"Maybe see if you can send some pics?"
"I'll ask. Well, I really have to hang up now, we'll talk more next time. Bye Papy, love you."
"Love you too, bro."

Notes:

For anyone wondering, to Dream PJ's aura is very similar to Gradient's.

Chapter 7: It could be worse (it could be better)

Summary:

An addition to the Castle changes the routine.

TW: non-con touching, breastfeeding (not graphic, I guess), baby in distress (a bit)

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ink held PJ to his chest as Error escorted them back to his room. As soon as they entered, the artist noticed something. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Ink said: "Ruru?"
His tone must have shown his displeasure, as Error put his (filthy) hands on his shoulders, and cooed: "𝕎𝓱At'ş ⓌяσŇG 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩?"
"We don't have a crib."

Not only that, Ink realized, they were missing anything necessary for a newborn, like baby clothes, toys, a pacifier, every moment two more things popped up in Ink's mind; it was bad enough that PJ had been born in awful circumstances, Ink would be damned if he didn't give his child the best possible treatment.

Error hummed, and moved his hands to hug Ink's waist, trapping PJ in between them. The glitch asked: "ᶜAŇ't t𝓱E𝕪 ş𝔩EEp 𝐢Ň t𝓱E ᵇE𝓭 Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝕌ş?"
The idea was tempting, as Ink doubted that Error would try to initiate anything with a baby in the bed, but the Protector shook his skull.

"No, it's dangerous to have them sleep in the bed with us, we might move and crush them, or even suffocate them."
Ink felt strangely calm and collected: while before, even thinking of objecting made him terrified, he was now holding a discussion with Error, and he wasn't afraid of speaking his mind. He felt so much more empowered and optimistic about the future now, and it was all thanks to the little bundle of joy in his arms.

Ink's grip tightened a bit: he had no illusion of the fact that things would be easier now, with a baby thrown into the mix, but having PJ there with him made him want to fight again.

Error shrugged and said: "𝕎𝓱AtEѶEя, ⓌE'𝔩𝔩 ᵇE 𝓬AяEⓕ𝕌𝔩 tσŇ𝐢G𝓱t AŇ𝓭 ι'𝔩𝔩 ştEA𝔩 𝕪σ𝕌 A 𝓬я𝐢ᵇ tσ爪σяяσⓌ."
Ink smiled in what he hoped was a convincing way, and then answered: "Thanks Ruru. We'll probably need a lot of other things as well, babies are hard work."

Error released him and opened the closet, taking out their pajamas.
"үEA𝓱 𝕪EA𝓱, 𝕪σ𝕌'яE t𝓱E 爪σ爪, נ𝕌şt 爪A𝕂E 爪E A 𝔩𝐢şt σⓕ t𝓱𝐢ŇGş AŇ𝓭 ι'𝔩𝔩 GEt t𝓱E爪 ⓕσя 𝕪σ𝕌."
Ink sat down on the bed, grimacing at the phrasing; he didn't have any problem being PJ's parent, but he knew Error gave the word "mom" very different connotations in his mind.

The Destroyer moved toward Ink, to change him as usual, but then the artist had an idea.
"Ruru, I think it's better if I dress on my own."
Predictably, Error frowned and asked: "𝕎𝓱𝕪? үσ𝕌 𝔩σѶE 𝐢t Ⓦ𝓱EŇ ι 𝓬𝓱AŇGE 𝕪σ𝕌."
It was the opposite, but Ink didn't say that and instead explained: "If you change me, I'll have to put down PJ, and they won't be watched by either of us. It's best if you hold them while I change."
"尺EA𝔩𝔩𝕪, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢? ιt'ş נ𝕌şt σŇE 爪𝐢Ň𝕌tE, t𝓱E𝕪 ⓌσŇ't 𝓭𝐢E."
Ink insisted, even if he felt like alarm bells were ringing in his skull.
"But that's the thing, they could! What if they roll off the bed? Or put their face against the sheets? PJ doesn't have enough strength in their arms yet, they'd suffocate!"

He could see Error was about to disagree again, and so he tried something else. He started blinking fast, as if to ward away tears, and then apologized with a small voice: "Sorry, I'm- being stupid right now. They're perfectly safe, it's no big deal. It shouldn't be a big deal." He then forced a small tear out of his eyes "I just want the best for them, you know?"

PJ heard the shift in his tone, and babbled in confusion, trying to wipe his face with their hands. Ink internally smiled, as it almost seemed like PJ was helping him with his act.

As usual, Error didn't know how to deal with his (fake) tears or how to console him, so he did the next best thing, giving Ink what he wanted: "ภσ Ňσ Ňσ ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝐢t'ş A Gσσ𝓭 𝐢𝓭EA, 𝓭σŇ't p𝕌t 𝕪σ𝕌яşE𝔩ⓕ 𝓭σⓌŇ 𝔩𝐢𝕂E t𝓱At! tE𝔩𝔩 𝕪σ𝕌 Ⓦ𝓱At, ι'𝔩𝔩 𝓭σ 𝐢t, AⓕtEя A𝔩𝔩, 𝐢t'ş נ𝕌şt A 爪𝐢Ň𝕌tE."
"Thank you Ruru, you're so sweet."

Ink moved near the glitch, and instructed him on how to hold PJ. He then passed the baby to him, and quickly changed his clothes. What he said to Error held some truth (the idea of PJ falling from the bed was terrifying), but he still didn't trust him with his child, and wanted them back in his arms (safe) as soon as possible.

While he put on his pajamas, Error stood there awkwardly, slightly glitching because he was touching PJ, and PJ themselves looked very annoyed at being away from him, so much so that they started to whimper and their lower lip started to wobble.

Error called for him in distress, and Ink enjoyed the fact that his kidnapper was feeling even a smidge of the mental anguish he had been feeling for the past three months. However, he didn't want his child to be upset, so he took them back in his arms immediately, sitting down on the bed.

Even if PJ wasn't being held by Error anymore, the waterworks were opened, and they started to cry. While Error sharply turned around to change as well, Ink rocked his baby and shushed them, and they calmed down.

Once again, PJ burrowed themselves against Ink's chest, and the artist smiled softly, caressing their head.
He then felt the bed dip, and Error put his arm around his shoulders.
"𝓂σt𝓱Eя𝓱σσ𝓭 яEA𝔩𝔩𝕪 ş𝕌𝐢tş 𝕪σ𝕌, 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩."

Ink's smile wobbled, and put himself under the covers, keeping PJ closest to the wall. Error did the same, and spooned him.
Ink felt trapped, Error's arms were like vices against his body, digging into his bones and sapping away all of his strength.
During the last week, he had felt like he was floating all the time, and it had been easier to pretend, but now he was hyper aware of every little touch, of Error's glitching against his back, of Error's breath on his neck, of Error tangling their legs together, Error Error Error-
The Destroyer kissed the back of his skull and said: "𝑔σσ𝓭Ň𝐢G𝓱t ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."
The Protector didn't respond.
His grip tightened.
"ι şA𝐢𝓭, Gσσ𝓭Ň𝐢G𝓱t ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."
Ink mumbled: "Goodnight Ruru."
Error let out a satisfied hum.

================

PJ was bawling.

Ink was awake as soon as his child started to cry, and disentangled himself from Error with minimal difficulty; the glitch kept sleeping like the dead, and Ink took note of this. He tried rocking them, talking to them, even singing to them, but nothing seemed to work.

They just kept crying and crying, clawing at Ink's chest with their little hands. Ink was scared that Error would wake up and be angry, and so he doubled his efforts to make PJ be quiet. He was so concerned, that at first he didn't notice how his magic was reacting to PJ's distress, but soon he felt a pull in his chest, and a female ecto formed unexpectedly.

Ink let out a quiet gasp of shock, and PJ started sucking on Ink's chest from over his clothes, so the artist quickly got over his surprise and raised his pajama shirt, so that PJ could feed. It took him a few tries to make PJ latch correctly, but as soon they got the hang of it, they let out a happy gurgle and started sucking.

It was a very weird experience: Ink had never done something like this, and it was also kinda painful. Not to mention that seeing breasts on himself made him feel uncomfortable, he wasn't a woman, he was a man; when Error made him wear dresses and skirts it didn't faze him, but a female ecto was too much for him. He gently put his pajama front over PJ and his chest, so he didn't have to look.

"𝓓σŇ't 𝓬σѶEя t𝓱E爪."

Ink let out a yelp, and swiftly turned to his side, only to find Error awake, watching him (he's always watching, always watching, Ink was so sick of it!). He tried to buy some time.

"Er- Ruru, you startled me. How long have you been awake?"
"ℓσŇG EŇσ𝕌G𝓱. 𝕎𝓱𝕪 AяE 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬σѶEя𝐢ŇG 𝕪σ𝕌яşE𝔩ⓕ? үσ𝕌 𝓭σŇ't ŇEE𝓭 tσ ᵇE ş𝓱𝕪, 𝐢t'ş נ𝕌şt 𝕌ş 𝐢Ň 𝓱EяE."
Error grabbed the hem of his pajama and started pulling it up, but Ink still had one hand on it, and pulled it back down; seeing Error was beginning to get annoyed, he tried to make a joke.

"He-ey now, these are n-not for you."
Error simply gave a sharp look and tried to raise his shirt again, and Ink resisted for just another second, before letting him do what he wanted.

Error's glint in his eyes was very disturbing, and even more disturbing was the fact that he was reaching to touch Ink's chest, so the artist moved back a bit and weakly protested: "Seriously, Ruru, not now, PJ is feeding. Give me a few minutes, please?"

"t𝓱𝐢ş ᵇAᵇ𝕪 𝐢ş ᵇE𝓬σ爪𝐢ŇG A яEA𝔩 Ň𝕌𝐢şAŇ𝓬E." Ink was engulfed by terror for a second, but then saw that Error was slightly smirking, and realized he was (probably) kidding. He weakly chuckled and answered: "W-well, being a parent is a full time job."

The two of them fell silent, the only sound in the room was PJ feeding; Error kept staring at his chest (without even blinking, so creepy), while Ink didn't know where to look, and simply decided to close his eyes a bit and lean on the wall behind him. He was tired, after all.

After a couple minutes, PJ unlatched and Ink simply moved them to his other breast: he wasn't exactly sure of what he was doing, but he figured leaving one empty and one full would be weird, right? Error huffed, but since PJ latched on immediately he didn't comment.

After about 10 other minutes, PJ's sucking slowed down, and their eyes started drooping. Ink gently pulled them away from his chest, and Error immediately came closer, touching him.

It felt wrong on so many levels.

Ink tried to ignore him and awkwardly maneuvered PJ so that they were in a good position to be burped: they always did it in shows and movies, that was something you're supposed to do, right? Oh, Ink didn't have any idea of what he was doing, he really needed Blue and Dream right now, they were way better at this than he was.

A sudden harsh squeeze made Ink hiss in pain.

"aяE t𝓱E𝕪 şEŇş𝐢t𝐢ѶE?"
Why was Error like this? What did Ink do to deserve this?!
"Yes. Please don't do it again."
"үσ𝕌 ş𝓱σ𝕌𝔩𝓭 𝕂EEp t𝓱E爪 σŇ A𝔩𝔩 t𝓱E t𝐢爪E." the Destroyer murmured, still keeping his hand on Ink's chest. "үσ𝕌 𝔩σσ𝕂 ѶEя𝕪 pяEtt𝕪 𝔩𝐢𝕂E t𝓱𝐢ş."

Fuck no!

Ink's mind frantically tried to come up with an excuse to avoid this, and he said: "I... don't think that's a good idea. It would be really tiring to... keep my ecto all the time."
"ιt Ⓦσ𝕌𝔩𝓭Ň't ᵇE t𝓱At t𝐢я𝐢ŇG, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢. үσ𝕌'яE ştяσŇG."
"I really don't think I can do it Ruru."
"үσ𝕌 𝓬AŇ tя𝕪."
"I- I don't want to." Ink tried once again to make Error feel sorry for him, and gave him big puppy dog eyes. "It feels weird."

Error simply kissed his forehead.
"ιt'ş A𝔩𝔩 ŇAt𝕌яA𝔩, 𝓭σŇ't Ⓦσяя𝕪. үσ𝕌'𝔩𝔩 GEt 𝕌şE𝓭 tσ 𝐢t."
Ink felt himself tearing up, and tried to salvage the situation.
"Can I... can I unsummon it for now? It's gonna hurt to sleep."

Error gave him another squeeze (it made him want to hurl), and then finally removed his hand and said: "千𝐢ŇE."

Ink unsummoned the ecto as quickly as he could, and then immediately turned away from the glitch and went back to sleep.

================

Dream was at the breakfast table, not knowing what to expect from the morning.

The situation was so bizarre and delicate, and he was scared for his friend: Ink had seemed better the day before, more aware and confident, but what if he had spiraled again? And that was without even considering the baby. This child wasn't a doll, it was a living, breathing being, and regardless of how they were born, they didn't deserve to suffer.

During the night, Dream had been woken up by spikes of distress multiple times, and he was pretty sure they were coming from PJ; Blue had reassured him, telling him that babies don't sleep through the night, and that was obviously the reaction of a baby waking up unexpectedly in a dark and new place, and while he was pretty sure he was right, Dream couldn't shake his feeling of worry.

The empath felt his twin react to his distress; Nightmare patted his skull with fondness, to reassure him. It only made Dream feel like a pet.

He put his hand over his chest; it made him feel like the scum of the Earth, but he was glad PJ was born, in a way, as he could see how a baby would be treated by their kidnappers, and what the new boundaries and rules would be. Dream hadn't lost hope of an escape (if anything, Ink's apparent recovery had renewed it), but he wasn't sure it would happen in the short term, and the possibility of Lux being born in the castle was becoming more and more likely as time went on.

Dream felt two presences approach the dining room, and turned to see Ink, Error and PJ enter.

Ink was wearing a button down white shirt with flowing sleeves and a long navy skirt, walking a bit awkwardly as if he was trying to maintain balance.
Error, on the other hand, was stomping and cursing under his breath, emitting an aura of extreme annoyance and displeasure.

The only one who was happy was PJ, who was squealing in Ink's arms.

Error harshly pulled out Ink's chair for him, and then angrily sat down.

"Error" Nightmare said, nonchalantly "something the matter?"
"t𝓱𝐢ş ⓕ𝕌-ⓕяEA𝕂𝐢ŇG ᵇAᵇ𝕪 𝐢ş t𝓱E 爪AttEя!" Dust snickered at Error's self censoring. "t𝓱E𝕪 𝕂Ept 爪E 𝕌p A𝔩𝔩 Ň𝐢G𝓱t!"
Killer drawled: "Oh wow. Babies cry and don't sleep through the night." The Destroyer turned to him, full of fury. "Who would have gue-!" Nightmare put his appendage around Killer's neck and squeezed, stopping him from speaking and raising him in the air. His twin was very irritated, but also slightly uneasy (Dream almost thought he was scared of Error, but that would be absurd, right?). Killer clawed at the appendage, panicked, but to no avail.

"I thought you had already learned your lesson Killer. What are you NOT supposed to do?"
Killer let out some gurgles that vaguely sounded like "Error" and "bother".
"Exactly. And what did you do?"
More strangled gasps.

His brother's grip tightened, and Killer started to kick frantically.
"I tire of your insolence. You're not just disrespecting our very esteemed guest, you're disrespecting ME. When I give an order, I expect you follow it, have I made myself clear?"
Killer wheezed.
"Answer."
"Yeees... Bosssss..."

With a satisfied smirk, Nightmare let go, and Killer fell on his knees, hacking and desperately gulping air. Dream felt almost sorry for him, he looked so pitiful like this. So unlike the sadistic murderer he actually was.

Well, he had it coming.

Dream blinked as his thought surprised him, but decided to let his feelings out this time: Nightmare certainly wouldn't begrudge him for it, and suppressing negative emotions was bad for him, and even worse for Lux.

Looking at the rest of the table, the positive Guardian saw that Error was now placated and was talking with Ink, who was busy holding PJ with one arm and eating at the same time. Blue was buttering a toast with faux indifference (though his feelings betrayed his vindication), while Horror and Dust simply felt unconcerned about their teammate and left the table after finishing their breakfast, to go do their own thing.

As soon as Killer recovered, he also got up and left the room. Now only Nightmare and Error remained, and Dream felt mocked: they were technically in the minority, and Ink and him had fought and won against them before, but now they were powerless.

"Ruru, it won't work."
"ᗷ𝕌t ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, ⓌE 𝓬AŇ't ş𝔩EEp 𝔩𝐢𝕂E t𝓱𝐢ş!"
Dream felt nervous hearing Error argue with Ink, but the artist seemed unbothered by the discussion.
"Moving them to another- PJ baby, don't move so much- another room won't change anything. I'll still have to get up if they cry, I can't just abandon them. And then we'd need a-a... baby monitor! That will make us hear if they cry, and you'd still hear them all the time, but then you'd have to wait for me to go to their room to make them calm down."
He paused to drink a bit of tea.
Error huffed and crossed his arms, pouting.
"ι'爪 Ňσt 𝔩σş𝐢ŇG AŇσt𝓱Eя Ň𝐢G𝓱t σⓕ ş𝔩EEp."

Ink looked pensive and said: "Well, we could- no, it's stupid."
His friend lowered his eyes a bit, but Dream could catch a glimmer of something in his gaze.

"tE𝔩𝔩 爪E 𝕪σ𝕌я 𝐢𝓭EA, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, ι'𝔩𝔩 𝓭E𝓬𝐢𝓭E 𝐢ⓕ 𝐢t'ş şt𝕌p𝐢𝓭 σя Ňσt."
"We could sleep in different rooms, just until PJ can get through the night. Me and them in one room, you in another. See, I told you it was dumb."

Dream couldn't understand why Ink was putting himself down like that, and at first feared he hadn't recovered as much as he thought, but he could feel Blue's aura giving out strange flickers of pride and encouragement. His brother probably couldn't feel them (they were very faint), but Dream was naturally more attuned to positive emotions, and he was even more confused. Then, he realized what Ink was trying to do, but doubted that the Destroyer could be so easily manipulated.

Error took Ink's face in his hands and said: "ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 Ňσ, 𝐢t'ş Ňσt 𝓭𝕌爪ᵇ. ιt'ş A Gσσ𝓭 𝐢𝓭EA A𝓬t𝕌A𝔩𝔩𝕪. ι 𝕂ŇσⓌ 𝐢t'ş Ňσt 𝐢𝓭EA𝔩, ᵇ𝕌t ι G𝕌Eşş ⓌE 𝓬AŇ tя𝕪 𝐢t tσŇ𝐢G𝓱t."
Dream should really give his friend more credit.

Without missing a beat, Blue said: "Guess you're back sleeping with us, Ink."

================

Dream and Nightmare had gone to the library, so now Sans, Ink and Error (and PJ) were on the couch.

As soon as breakfast ended, Ink had asked for his help into compiling a list of things PJ would need, and the two of them had been writing down a very long list.

"𝓓σ t𝓱E𝕪 яEA𝔩𝔩𝕪 ŇEE𝓭 şσ 爪AŇ𝕪 𝓬𝔩σt𝓱Eş?"
"Kids are very messy, Error." Sans said, glad to be able to talk back to Error for once "So unless you want PJ to walk around naked or dirty, yes, they need this many clothes."
The glitch huffed and crossed his arms; he had complained multiple times about the stuff they kept adding to the list, but Sans and Ink always explained why they needed what they needed, and he seemed to trust their judgement.

"I think that's everything?" Ink said, scanning the paper.
"千𝐢ŇA𝔩𝔩𝕪!" Error exclaimed, ripping the list from Sans's hands and reading it himself. "ιt'ş GσŇŇA tA𝕂E 爪E A Ⓦ𝓱𝐢𝔩E."
Ink actually batted his eye at him and said: "I'll miss you."

That made Error smile, and he kissed Ink's forehead. Then got up and created a portal in front of them: Sans gripped his knees harshly, looking at the other side but not recognizing the place. It was taking everything in him to not simply get up and run, but he knew he'd never make it, and that the punishment would be brutal.

Luckily for him, Error quickly crossed the portal and closed it, making the temptation disappear.

It was like a ten tons weight had been lifted from Ink, as he sighed in relief. Sans still couldn't believe his friend was back to normal: he had lost all of hope of him ever getting better, and now...

He couldn't resist and hugged him, mindful of the baby between them. The artist was a bit startled, but hugged back just as tightly.

"I'm glad you're back."
Ink had always been the shortest of the three of them (a fact that never stopped being funny to Sans), and so he usually burrowed himself into Sans's (and Dream's) chest whenever he hugged him. It was such a Ink thing to do, and Sans had missed it.
"Me too."

However, something was off. Ink was being a bit restless, and Sans felt something in between them that was not PJ; he leaned back a bit, and noticed Ink's shirt was somewhat form fitting, showing...

Sans's mood completely soured.

He knew this was all Error's doing, Ink never liked his ecto, especially his female one. He shuddered, trying to avoid thinking of the implications, and could see that Ink noticed him noticing, because his smile fell, and he looked away ashamed.

Sans hugged him again.
"Hey now, none of that. It's not your fault."
Ink tensed a bit as Sans pulled closer, but relaxed after a second.

They remained like that for a few minutes, simply happy to spend time together without anyone else hovering.

After that, they separated and Ink asked: "Do you want to hold them?"
PJ looked at him with starry eyes and a curious expression, and Sans felt himself melting. He loved kids.

"If it's alright with you."
Ink smiled and handed them over; PJ didn't seem happy about this change, and pouted, holding on onto Ink's finger and making a disappointed noise.
They both chuckled at that.
"Don't worry PJ, uncle Blue is nice."

This seemed to calm PJ down, and they sent Sans a judging look, as if to say: "Well? What are you waiting for?"

Sans bopped them in between their eyes, and they blinked and laughed. Sans kept playing with them, talking to them, making funny faces, while Ink simply leaned back on the couch and rubbed PJ's fist with his thumb.

"Hey."

Sans immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at Dust, who was in front of them nervously rubbing his hands. What did he want? Sans's expression became neutral and he handed PJ back to Ink, who quickly put them against his shoulder.

Forcing some cheer in his voice, Sans said: "Dust, do you need something?"

Dust was, in a way, the most passive of the Murder Trio, always keeping to himself and "Paps"; in contrast with Horror, who was somewhat kind, and Killer, who instead was a sadistic asshole, Dust was always in the background, remaining silent most of the time.

Whenever he spent time with him, Sans was asked to tell him stories of his exploits around the Multiverse, or to play games that didn't require speaking (like cards or a jigsaw puzzle).
It unnerved Sans a bit, but that also meant that Dust bothered him a lot less than the others, and he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Dust lowered his skull, almost embarrassed, and mumbled something Sans couldn't make out.
"I didn't quite catch that."
"Can I also, play with... PJ?"
"No."

Ink held the child closer and glared at him.
"You and Killer aren't allowed near PJ."
Dust looked at Ink in disbelief, as did Sans. What was Ink thinking, denying one of them so openly?! Sans couldn't blame him for wanting to protect PJ, but that wasn't how Ink should have responded, it wasn't safe! He wanted to say something, but he also didn't want Dust to get a hold of the baby, and couldn't think of anything to say that would salvage the situation.

Dust tilted his skull and turned toward his left, a clear sign that he was talking with his hallucination. Sans remained tense, waiting to hear what Paps was telling Dust.

The murderer looked... sheepish? He gave them a shy smile, and he said: "Paps is right, you got no reason to trust me. But I swear, I ain't like Killer. I really wanna spend time with the kid, I ain't tryin' to play a stupid prank or anythin'." His voice lowered a bit more "I like kids."

Ink glared harder, unconvinced, but Sans could see his hands tremble slightly. Even if Dust accepted Ink's refusal, who knew what would Nightmare and Error think? Would the artist be able to spin it in his favour (just like he did at breakfast), or would they see it as insubordination? Was it worthy it to risk it, when they had just gotten Ink back? Was it fair to weight PJ's safety against their own?

Sans put an arm around Ink's shoulders and forced out a chuckle.
"Ah, new parents, so overprotective! Ink, why don't you keep PJ in your lap while Dust plays with them?" It was a way to compromise, but his friends shot him a betrayed look anyway. Sans could only agree with him: he felt like the worst kind of coward.

Dust looked genuinely happy, while Ink reluctantly put PJ in his lap and turned them around. The Protector's arms were encircling PJ's waist in an firm grip.
Dust sat on his heels, and waved a little.
"Hey lil' pal."

PJ eyed him in confusion, and then reached to grab Dust's hand, inspecting it curiously. The murderer let it be examined, leaving limp in the child's grasp, and chuckled (the sound sent shivers down Sans's spine) when PJ let out a shocked noise, though Sans couldn't guess what had surprised the baby. Then, PJ opened their mouth and started to put Dust's hand inside; Dust pulled away and said: "No can do pal, my hand's dirty."

PJ pouted and slapped both of their hands on their knees, to show their displeasure. They then resorted to put their own fist in their mouth, slobbering all over it. Dust smiled again and patted their head. Ink tensed.
"You're a messy brat, you know that?"
PJ only slobbered more, and Dust got up, apparently done (for now).

He, once again, turned to empty air, then said: "Blue, I got a new jigsaw puzzle."
Sans nodded and got up as well, trying to inject some cheer in his expression, while Dust slung his arm around his shoulders.
He met Ink's eyes, but his friend quickly looked away and started talking to PJ in a hushed voice.
"PJ baby, why are you eating your hand, mh?"

Sans let himself be led away.

================

Dream was a bit hesitant to enter the library, as he and Nightmare hadn't spent time since last week, when they had (wires digging into his wrists, threads like fire on his body, fearpanicpainpainpain) argued; however, he didn't want to upset his brother, so he took a deep breath and went inside.

Desperately needing something relaxing, Dream didn't pick up the book he was reading the last time, opting instead to take a poetry book he had already finished and curling up on the comfy loveseat.

Nightmare looked at him and chuckled.
"You kinda look like a cat, Dream."
Dream gave him a strained smile and projected some of his positivity outwards, to make it seem as if he was happy; he tensed when Nightmare came near and moved his appendages out of Dream's field of vision, but he simply reached for a soft blanket and draped it over him.

His twin smoothed it with his hands, tucking him in, but Dream only felt smothered and constricted, even more so after Nightmare picked a book for himself and cuddled next to him; his brother's appendages curled around him, holding him in a stifling embrace and caressing his skull, and Dream had to concentrated more than ever to maintain control over his aura and pretend he was enjoying this.

He tentatively opened his book and started to read, but he kept looking at the same sentence over and over, too focused on Nightmare who was so close to him (Nightmare who had him tortured, Nightmare who was keeping all of them prisoners, Nightmare who had made Cross go away) and his aura: it was full of ease for now, and familial affection, and Dream could feel all of its minute shifts. Amusement, surprise, disappointment, interest, all related to the book he was reading.

Dream remained constantly on edge, the effort of hiding all of his negative emotions making him feel sick; he wasn't made to hold so much negativity inside of him. There was also the added risk that Nightmare would realize he was pretending and get suspicious. The time dragged on and on, hours stretching by, Dream's eyes blurring from effort.
The words on the page were dancing in front of him, and his skull felt heavy and stuffed.

"Dream?"
The positive Guardian jerked awake, and Nightmare chuckled again, full of fondness.
"It's time for lunch." He lightly patted Dream's skull, and finally freed him from his suffocating embrace. Dream stretched a bit, his limbs all sore.
"You know" he said, putting away his book in a shelf "it's nice to see that some things never change."

Dream knew what he was referring to: when they were little, him and Nightmare would cover themselves with their sun blanket and read together under the shade, and Dream would doze off and fall asleep every time, soothed by the warm weather and by Nightmare's presence.
Picture perfect afternoons.

After everything that had happened between them, remembering felt like trying to piece together a broken picture frame: it felt like picking jagged glass with his bare hands.

And, of course, he couldn't let Nightmare sense anything amiss.

His twin moved back at his side, and Dream could sense some concern. He cursed himself, as he had obviously slipped in his control. Nightmare put his hand on his (scarred) cheek, and he flinched away. His concern grew, but doubt also started to rise, and that only made Dream panic more.

"Dream." His tone was ominous. "Are you still upset from last week? You understand why you couldn't visit Mother, right?"
It's because you and your minions are psychopats.
"O-of course, brother."
Nightmare looked at him expectantly.
"I-it's... dangerous to exit the castle. You only want... the b-best for me, and my friends."

It made Dream physically sick to say those words like he meant them, but this time his aura was flawless, only showing acceptance. Nightmare smiled, fooled.

"That's right. I'm glad you got over your little tantrum, Dream." He, once again, hugged Dream with his appendages and started to direct him outside the library, to the dining room. "I do hate when we fight, you always make me hurt you."

================

After lunch, everyone converged to the living room to watch the show: Error struggling to build PJ's crib.

The Destroyer had returned just before lunch with almost all the things on the list Sans and Ink had given him, and had dumped them all over the living room rather carelessly, claiming he was hungry and that he'd take care of it after eating.

Most of the "purchases" were small, like toys, clothes and other things, and were put away almost immediately inside their room, but the baby bed Error had stolen was the kind you had to build on your own, and the living room was big, so he had decided to try and built it there, and bring it in their room only after.

Keyword, tried.

"รt𝕌p𝐢𝓭 ᵇAя!" Error grabbed one of the lateral bars of the bed and threw it across the room, since it wasn't fitting in its socket. The wooden bar fell to the ground with a clatter, almost breaking on impact.

Ink and Dream both flinched, but their kidnappers didn't notice. PJ started to whimper, so Ink quickly soothed them to not make them cry.
Sans sighed, not wanting PJ to not have a bed, but also reluctant to step in to help the Destroyer.
Horror and Dust were whispering to each other, while Killer was almost vibrating, clearly torn between making fun of Error and following Nightmare's orders from the morning. Nightmare himself was smirking, but wisely not saying anything.

Error got up and started pacing and muttering under his breath, slightly glitching; he glared at the crib and all the pieces scattered around like they had personally offended him, and Sans spitefully thought that it was pretty accurate, Error's ego was oh-so-fragile.

"Error" Nightmare drawled "Do you, perhaps, need any help?"
"ภᗝ! ι 𝓓ᗝภ't ภ乇乇𝓓 үᗝ𝓾尺 千𝓾ᶜķιภ𝑔 𝓱乇ℓᵖ!"

PJ let out a wail, and Error kept shouting: "ร𝓱𝓾t 𝓾ᵖ, үᗝ𝓾 千𝓾ᶜķιภ𝑔 ᗷ尺at!"
He stomped toward PJ, who was crying even louder. Ink and Sans both tried to shield the infant from Error: Ink got up and quickly started backing away, while Sans sprinted to put himself between Error and Ink, not caring he if the Destroyer took it out on him.

However, they weren't fast enough, as Error grabbed Ink's forearms to stop him and leaned down, yelling: "ร𝓱𝓾t 𝓾ᵖ, ร𝓱𝓾t 𝓾ᵖ, ร𝓱𝓾t 𝓾ᵖ!" right in PJ's face. Sans reached to yank Error away, but Dream grabbed his arms and started shaking his skull frantically. Sans felt ashamed, was this how he had looked to Ink when he had sided with Dust this morning? However, in a split second his guilt was replaced by fury, and snatched his arms back: the situation was completely different! PJ was in distress!

It was futile, as the whole ordeal was over in less then five seconds.

Error moved back and let out a satisfied huff; PJ had fallen silent, their eyes as wide as saucers, visibly trembling. Ink was shaking too, and glaring at Error with a mixture of rage and fear.

All of the others hadn't done anything, just watched. Sans glanced at them: Horror and Dust were looking at Error in slight disapproval, Killer didn't seem to care, and Nightmare looked intrigued.

Error ran his hands up and down Ink's arms.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 -"
As soon as Error spoke again, PJ let out a truly pitiful whimper, and the glitch glared at them.
"𝕎𝓱At'ş t𝓱E𝐢я pяσᵇ𝔩E爪 ŇσⓌ?"

Sans felt himself about to explode, and then Dream's aura immediately calmed him down. Thanks to the induced composure generated by Dream's powers, Sans could stop himself from strangling Error, and reminded himself to thank his friends the next time they were alone.

Ink was even more enraged, but managed a smile full of teeth and say: "They're probably tired, Ruru. I'll put them to sleep in my bed while you finish... that." He gestured at the half-built crib with his skull.
Being reminded of the mess, Dust let out a snort, so Error let go of Ink and stormed up to the murderer.

"รσ爪Et𝓱𝐢ŇG ⓕ𝕌ŇŇ𝕪, Aᵇσ爪𝐢ŇAt𝐢σŇ?!"
Dust looked at him with a bored expression and simply said: "Yes."
Error generated his strings, but Horror charged and slammed into him and sent him tumbling to the floor, leaving him glitching from the direct contact.

For a second, nobody moved.

"ᶜᗝภt尺ᗝℓ үᗝ𝓾尺 千𝓾ᶜķιภ𝑔 ℓaᶜķ乇үร!"
Error got up with a limp, and immediately started screaming at Nightmare, who shouted back: "CONTROL YOUR TEMPER! YOU'RE A GUEST IN THIS CASTLE, DON'T FORGET IT!"
Sans felt Nightmare's aura act up, making him feel sick.
"aภ𝓓 𝓓ᗝภ't 千ᗝ尺𝑔乇t t𝓱at үᗝ𝓾'尺乇 𝓓ιรᵖᗝรaᗷℓ乇!"
The Murder Trio moved closer to Nightmare, ready to fight back, so Sans quickly grabbed Dream and Ink and pushed them out of the room.
"YOU DARE THREATEN ME?!"
"ι 𝓓ᗝ 𝕎𝓱at乇𝐯乇尺 t𝓱乇 千𝓾ᶜķ ι 𝕎aภt!"

The four of them were in the hallway and could still hear indistinct shouting, though no fighting. Sans didn't want to push their luck, so kept going. They'd go to their room and remain there till the situation was resolved.

Ink was walking at his same pace, eager to get away, while Dream seemed to be in pain and had to be led. The empath had one hand on his skull, eyes screwed shut, and another gripping his chest. Sans had his hands on his shoulders, pushing him forward and muttering reassurances.

"I really hope they kill each other."
Sans faltered for a moment and looked at Ink. The Protector was walking with purpose, keeping his eyes on the whimpering PJ in his hold, caressing their head with tenderness.
"Then we'll be able to leave."

Sans was a pacifist. He didn't like fighting in itself, he fought with Dream and Ink because it was right: he was capable of dealing considerable damage (for a mortal), but he tried to always incapacitate his opponent without harming them. He didn't have a violent nature.
Even after spending so much time captured, even after fantasizing about taking his revenge on their kidnappers, Sans wasn't sure he'd be able to intentionally kill them, even if it was to escape.

But he wouldn't cry for them.
Sans sighed: "Here's to hoping."

================

No one had killed anyone.

Dream was seated on the bed, already in his pajamas, watching as Error brought the crib inside their room.

The whole argument had ended up being a pissing contest, and it had resolved itself quickly. By that time, the four (five) of them had already gone inside their room. Going away from the hostility and aggression had been what Dream needed, making him able to relax and breathe. It was becoming more and more difficult to conceal Lux's presence, more and more taxing, especially if tensions were running high.

Error and Nightmare had gone inside at different times, to apologize to them and to tell them to come to dinner. Supper had been tense, but the knowledge that Ink would move back in their room had kept his spirit high (as high as it could be, anyway).

The Destroyer finished positioning the crib near Ink's bed and then kissed Ink goodnight.
"ι'𝔩𝔩 𝓬σ爪E ᵇA𝓬𝕂 tσ爪σяяσⓌ 爪σяŇ𝐢ŇG ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, tσ G𝐢ѶE 𝕪σ𝕌 𝕪σ𝕌я pA𝐢Ňtş."
"Alright Ruru."

The glitch exited the room, and Ink sat down on the bed, sighing in relief. PJ kept holding onto Ink's chest, scared, and the artist kissed their forehead.
"Don't worry PJ, the bad man is gone now." The child's aura was still full of fear, and they simply held on tighter. Ink exhaled.

Dream and Blue sat at either side of him, hugging him.

"Back together." Blue tried to lighten the mood, but his optimism was frayed. Ink gave him a weak smile, but quickly turned serious again.

"We have to go. Make a new plan. Now that I'm back here, we can try again."
Blue felt doubt, and Dream couldn't blame him: he understood why Ink had said it (all three of them were scared for PJ), but it still wasn't feasible.
Dream spoke with an even tone, trying to act as the leader he should be: "We can't. We lost Cross already" Dream felt a pang in his soul when saying Cross's name, and thought he felt Lux's pain as well. "and trying without him is too risky. We have to have trust in the Council."

Ink leaned on him.
"We can't wait forever."
Dream thought of the presence inside of him.
"No, we can't."
He moved his hand over his chest, took a deep breath and said: "Ink, Blue. I have to tell you something."

Notes:

Fun fact, when babies bite their fists it's a sign of hunger.

Chapter 8: Turning point

Summary:

turning point
noun
a time at which a decisive change in a situation occurs, especially one with beneficial results.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"A baby. A baby!"
"We know that. Saying "baby" another 20 times won't change that."

Lust, distraught, kept muttering "baby" under his breath, prompting Outer to pat him on the back, while G simply took a drag from his cigarette with unsteady hands.
The rest of the assembly was talking among themselves, disgusted mutterings floating in the air.

Right after Papyrus had received that unscheduled call from his brother, CORE had called for a meeting immediately. The monochromatic kid was the most distressed Papyrus had ever seen them, and he couldn't blame them.

Just thinking of what Sans had told him made him feel sick: to think that Error would go as far as to make himself a child... If he had ever needed proof that the Destroyer was a twisted madman, this was it.

The rest of the Council thought the same, and to say that the atmosphere in the room was tense was an understatement, especially because it seemed like they weren't making any progress regarding the barrier around Dreamtale; it was still as sturdy as ever, even after Sci and his equipe were working on it for three months.

Not for the first time, Papyrus cursed Error and his freaky glitchy powers: he was basically the only one of his kind, and had had so much time to practice and perfect his skills. CORE (and Ink) where somewhat able to fight back against him, but they couldn't actually counteract or reverse what he did. Ink had his own brand of powers who didn't seem to follow any rules (and could, at most, rebuild what Error destroyed), and CORE's one and only achievement at code manipulation was creating the shielding that protected the Omega Timeline.

Sci and most of the other Gasters trying to weaken Error's barrier were going in blind, only somehow helped by Astral.
Papyrus's eye drifted to the skeleton in question.

Astral had always been an oddity, even among people living inside the Omega Timeline; he had just appeared one day, and always kept to himself and CORE. His clothes and his overall appearance made it obvious that he had originated from one of the countless Swap AUs within the Multiverse, but he was a glitch (like Error), with black bones and stars on the right side of his face (hence the nickname).
He was also, clearly, not all right in the head: he had a rather morbid sense of humor, and was very erratic, but CORE had assured people he was harmless, albeit a little weird.

Papyrus always felt uncomfortable interacting with other Swap AUs, as they were too similar for comfort (Uncanny Valley, CORE had called it), and Astral especially creeped him out, so he had never actually talked with him, but gossip in the Omega Timeline travels fast: Astral couldn't come back to his original AU, had some kind of connection with the Destroyer and had the same glitch powers.

He was no match for Error, though.

CORE sighed, snapping Papyrus awake from his wondering thoughts.
"The situation has degenerated even more than we feared." CORE's voice lowered, but Papyrus was near them, and could still hear them. "I hoped we had more time." The child straightened up and spoke with determination: "We can't wait anymore, and we'll have to modify our plans. No more frontal assault, we need to send a small party directly inside Dreamtale. In and out. Astral" CORE turned to the glitch "would that be more feasible?"

Astral gave a nervous smile to the assembly.
"₥₳Ɏ฿Ɇ? ₩Ɇ ₴₮łⱠⱠ ₦ɆɆĐ ₮Ø ₣ł₦Đ ₳ ₩₳Ɏ ₮Ø ₳₵₮Ʉ₳ⱠⱠɎ ฿Ɏ₱₳₴₴ ₮ⱧɆ ฿₳ⱤⱤłɆⱤ, ₳₦Đ ł₮ ₥ł₲Ⱨ₮ ฿Ɇ ₣₳₴₮ɆⱤ ₮Ø ĐɆ₴₮ⱤØɎ ł₮ ₳ⱠⱠ ₮Ⱨ₳₦ ₮Ø ₱Ø₭Ɇ ₳ ⱧØⱠɆ ł₦ ł₮. ₩Ɇ ĐØ₦'₮ ₭₦Ø₩ ₣ØⱤ ₵ɆⱤ₮₳ł₦."

Well, that certainly put everyone in a good mood. CORE looked one second away from tears.
"W-well." Their voice shook "That just means we still have time to plan. First things first, we need to decide who we will send."

============

The meeting had dragged on and on, and Frisk couldn't take it anymore. They wished they could sleep again, but the only thing they could do was, instead, try to meditate a bit and relax before doing what needed to be done: they had to contact Fresh to update him on the Council's decision, they had to check on Sci's team, they had to talk with Cross, and (of course) they had to keep up with their usual duties as the head of the Omega Timeline.

Frisk missed Ink and Dream a lot; the two of them helped share the burden of responsibilities that came with protecting the Multiverse, and were two of Frisk's closest friends. The child sometimes felt longing for their original physical body (all of the projections people talked to weren't them, not really), usually in moments like this.

It meant that they couldn't cry, not in a way that felt real.

Frisk metaphorically shook their head and manifested near Astral, who was walking toward the lab.

"Hi Astral."
"₣Ɽł₴₭! ₩Ɇ'ⱤɆ Ⱨ₳₱₱Ɏ ₮Ø ₴ɆɆ ɎØɄ!"

Astral was alone, but Frisk knew he was referring to the Askers, the voices he heard. Most people dismissed them, thinking they were simply the harmless delusions of an insane person, but Frisk knew the truth; they just thought it was easier to let everyone else think otherwise.

After all, the Askers hadn't helped at all during this whole crisis, even after Frisk had begged them to look for the Stars: they had simply said they wouldn't interfere with the "plot".

It made Frisk feel insignificant and meaningless, as if they only existed for the amusement of others; they couldn't understand how Ink worshipped these entities so much.

Ignoring the bitterness they felt, Frisk said: "I need to ask you something, and I thought it would be best to do so while we're alone."
Astral made a confused face and gestured for them to continue.
Oh, this was gonna be hard.

"I wanted to ask if you would be willing to be part of the team that will infiltrate Dreamtale."
Astral flinched and glitched a bit. Frisk knew that the flinching was due to the onslaught of reactions the Askers had at the news; after all, they had just asked Astral to go up against their kidnapper.

It made them feel so scummy to do this, but Frisk had few options: beside the inherent danger of the mission, Nightmare himself was a big obstacle, as he'd perceive any new presence inside Dreamtale itself. Their only hope for success was to select anomalies, people with weird souls that would be able to hide themselves from Nightmare's sight, at least for a few minutes.

Frisk had had to fight with Stretch to keep him from joining the team, which only included Cross and Fresh for now. And they hadn't even contacted Fresh yet.

"₣Ɽł₴₭, ł-"
"I understand how difficult it would be for you to do so. That's why I asked now, in private. I won't judge you if you refuse."
Astral looked relieved, shook his skull and said: "ł'₥ ₴ØⱤⱤɎ. ł ĐØ₦'₮ ₮Ⱨł₦₭ ł'Đ ฿Ɇ ₳฿ⱠɆ ₮Ø ₣₳₵Ɇ... Ⱨł₥." Astral glitched a bit more. "ł'Đ ₣ⱤɆɆⱫɆ Ʉ₱, ₳₦Đ ฿Ɇ ł₦ ₮ⱧɆ ₩₳Ɏ."
Frisk sighed.
"I understand."

The child sat down on the ground, hugging their legs and hiding their face against them. Astral sat down next to them, making them lean on his side. The glitches running through him were tickling Frisk, comforting them just a bit.

"ł ₩ł₴Ⱨ ł ₵ØɄⱠĐ ₲łVɆ ɎØɄ ₴Ø₥Ɇ ₲ØØĐ ₦Ɇ₩₴, ł ⱤɆ₳ⱠⱠɎ ĐØ. ฿Ʉ₮ ł ₴₮łⱠⱠ ₵₳₦'₮ ₣ł₲ɄⱤɆ ØɄ₮ ⱧØ₩ ₮Ø Ⱨ₳₵₭ ĐⱤɆ₳₥₮₳ⱠɆ'₴ ₴ⱧłɆⱠĐ."
"Have you tried asking Cross for help? He escaped from the castle, after all."
It was a testament on how tired and stressed Frisk was, that they couldn't remember what happened during the last month.
"ɎɆ₴, ฿Ʉ₮ ł₮ ₩₳₴ Ʉ₴ɆⱠɆ₴₴. ₮ⱧɆ ₳₴₭ɆⱤ₴ ₣ł₲ɄⱤɆĐ ₮Ⱨł₴ ₩ØɄⱠĐ Ⱨ₳₱₱Ɇ₦, ₵ⱤØ₴₴ ł₴ ₳₦... ₳Đ₥ł₦, ₩₳₴ ₮Ⱨ₳₮ ₮ⱧɆ ₮ɆⱤ₥?" Astral paused for a moment, listening to the Askers's response "₳₦Ɏ₩₳Ɏ, ₩Ⱨ₳₮ ₵ⱤØ₴₴ ĐØɆ₴ ł₴ Đł₣₣ɆⱤɆ₦₮ ₣ⱤØ₥ ₩Ⱨ₳₮ Ⱨł₥ ₳₦Đ ₥Ɇ ₵₳₦ ĐØ. ØɄⱤ ₥Ɇ₮ⱧØĐ₴ ₳ⱤɆ ₮ØØ ł₦₵Ø₥₱₳₮ł฿ⱠɆ. ł₣ ⱧɆ ₩₳₴ ₳₦Ø₮ⱧɆⱤ ₲Ⱡł₮₵Ⱨ, ₥₳Ɏ฿Ɇ..."

A wave of despair washed over Frisk. Every day, the situation seemed to become worse and worse; Astral tried cheering them up, but Frisk didn't pay attention to him and let their consciousness wonder, focusing on other AUs, letting themselves forget their helplessness for just a few minutes, looking at beautiful landsc-

That was Error.

That was Error!

"Križana gora!" Frisk shot to their feet, the surprise making them slip back in their native tongue. Error had entered an AU, using a portal that opened straight inside Nightmare's castle, Frisk could see Blue on the other side!

"₣Ɽł₴₭?!" Astral got up as well, startled. "₩Ⱨ₳₮ Ⱨ₳₱₱Ɇ₦ɆĐ?"
The Destroyer had closed the portal immediately, but Frisk didn't care. They had just gotten an idea.
"Astral!" Frisk looked him in the eye. "If Error himself opened a rift in the shield, would you be able to replicate that?!"
Astral paused for a moment, widening his eyes in shock.
"ɎɆ₴. ɎɆ₴!" He started muttering "ⱧɆ'Đ Ⱨ₳VɆ ₮Ø Ʉ₴Ɇ ₳ ₭ɆɎ ₮Ø ĐØ ₮Ⱨ₳₮, ₮Ⱨ₳₮ ₩ØɄⱠĐ ₩Ɇ₳₭Ɇ₦ ł₮ ₣ØⱤ ₴ɄⱤɆ, ł ₵ØɄⱠĐ ₱Ⱡ₳₵Ɇ ₳ ฿₳₵₭ĐØØⱤ, ₮Ⱨ₳₮ ₵₳₦ ₩ØⱤ₭!" He then hesitated and faced Frisk again. "฿Ʉ₮, ł'Đ ₦ɆɆĐ ₮Ø ฿Ɇ ₮ⱧɆⱤɆ ₩ⱧɆ₦ ⱧɆ ĐØɆ₴, ₮Ø, ₮Ø ɆӾ₳₥ł₦Ɇ ₮ⱧɆ ₵Ⱨ₳₦₲Ɇ₴ ł₦ ₮ⱧɆ ₵ØĐɆ."

Well, he had gotten out, he had to go back in. Frisk focused their attention back to the Destroyer, and quickly scanned the list he held in his hand. Baby things.

"Error has entered an AU to gather supplies, and it's gonna take him a while. If I tell you where he is, will you be able to teleport there and do what you need to do?"

Astral glitched harder, but also seemed to regain some confidence after a few moments.

"ł... ł ₵₳₦ ĐØ ł₮."
Frisk was filled with determination.
"Perfect."
While they were giving Astral the coordinates, Frisk manifested inside different parts of the AU and alerted its residents, directing them away from Error. They couldn't stop him, but they could make sure that no one got hurt.

Their mind was frantically planning their next steps (contacting Fresh, revise their rescue plan with Cross as soon as Frisk could see inside Dreamtale, having Stretch somehow pass a message along to the Stars-) urgent but hopeful.

They were going to get them back.

Notes:

Yes, Astral is Blueberror. I gave him another name because I think, if I were him, I wouldn't want to be called "Blueberry" (since this is what Error called him) or "Blueberror/Berror" (and have the word Error in my name).

Chapter 9: The crushing wait

Summary:

Sitting and waiting for something to happen is the worst kind of torture.

No TW needed.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ink was nursing PJ on the couch, glad for the privacy the feeding blanket provided.
Error had made it for him after he had tried feeding PJ right in the middle of the living room, on the couch; the Destroyer had, of course, objected vehemently, and Ink had played dumb, using the fact that Error thought he was "pure" and naive against him.

What do you mean it's inappropriate, Ruru, isn't it supposed to be natural? I'm sorry I didn't go to our room, I just couldn't bear making PJ go hungry, even for a few minutes. My poor baby!

Trying to leverage Error's possessiveness had been a huge gamble (and Dream and Blue hadn't been happy he had done something so reckless), but it had paid off, and now Ink didn't have to deal with his rapist ogling him.

"aяE t𝓱E𝕪 𝓭σŇE?"

More or less.

The Destroyer was right next to him, staring at him and keeping his filthy arm on his shoulder.

"Not yet."

Error scoffed, irritated, and Ink felt PJ tighten their grip; what had happened a week ago, while the Destroyer was building the crib, was an exceptional blow up that hadn't happened again (yet), but that didn't mean that Error hadn't been aggressive and volatile, always getting angry at PJ for acting like a baby, snarling at them if they were "too loud", if they complained "too much", if Ink had to tend to them. PJ was terrified of the glitch, and became very quiet every time they realized Error was in the room, even more so if they heard his voice.

Error had traumatized his baby, and it made Ink furious: the Protector made sure to hold onto the rage and hatred he felt, letting them fuel him. It wasn't hard.

PJ had stopped eating, but Ink left them under the blanket for a little longer, giving them every bit of comfort and peace they could snag inside this hellish place.

Realizing he couldn't delay any longer, Ink moved his child from under the blanket to his lap, keeping them in place with one hand while he quickly readjusted his shirt and removed the blanket with the other. It was a bit tricky, but there was no way Ink was going to let Error touch PJ anymore, let alone hold them.

He was lucky the glitch didn't seem to have an interest in that: just like he thought, Error didn't care about PJ, he was just obsessed with the idea of a child, probably in an effort to complete the domestic delusion he created in his mind.

As always, he just liked to watch.

"үσ𝕌'яE ⓠ𝕌𝐢tE ş𝕂𝐢𝔩𝔩E𝓭 Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝕪σ𝕌я 𝓱AŇ𝓭ş, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢." Error said, taking the blue blanket from Ink's hand and folding it. Ink ignored the shiver of fear that ran along his spine and focused only on his disgust. Creators above, could Error go five minutes without being creepy?!

The artist simply chuckled nervously, burping PJ. Playing along now that Ink had snapped out of his apathy was extremely tough, especially after Stretch's call two days ago.

Error leaned closer and whispered: "ιt 爪A𝕂Eş 爪E t𝓱𝐢Ň𝕂 σⓕ 𝕪σ𝕌я σt𝓱Eя ş𝕂𝐢𝔩𝔩ş. ιt'ş ᵇEEŇ tσσ 𝔩σŇG ş𝐢Ň𝓬E 𝕪σ𝕌 pEяⓕσя爪E𝓭 ⓕσя 爪E, 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩."
Ink froze, wanting nothing more than to refuse, but he knew he couldn't; they were so close, so very close to escaping, and keeping their kidnappers happy was an effective way to make them lower their guard.

Besides, it wasn't... it wasn't too bad. At the very least, Error wasn't going to touch him.

Ink mustered a smile and said: "That sounds... lovely." The artist got up, holding PJ at his hip (and subtly stopping Error from putting his arm back on his shoulders). It was best to just get it over with.
"Well, we should leave PJ" oh, how it hurt to say that "with Dream and Blue."

Error smirked at him, and got up as well. PJ turned their face into Ink's chest when the glitch's shadow fell over them.

"乇AGEя, AяE ⓌE?"

==============

"You can't win, Dream."
Dream didn't answer, looking at the board, though he was pressed to agree: Nightmare had already won their last three chess matches, and he was about to win this one, too (he always won, Dream was powerless against him).

Dream had only four pieces now, his king, the queen, a rook, and a pawn, while Nightmare still had his queen, both rooks and a bishop.
The two queens were stuck, neither of them could move without being captured by the other, and then also being captured itself the next turn.
Moving the king was out of the question (Nightmare was trying to draw it out), and so Dream moved his rook, trying to make it escape from Nightmare's other pieces.

Nightmare smirked, smug, and kept cornering his poor rook: Dream had an idea, and started moving it toward his pawn, and subtly moving the pawn toward the end of the board. He didn't think Nightmare would overlook it, but his twin seemed happier to keep tormenting his rook, so Dream's pawn eventually reached the end of the board and was turned into a knight.

"Check."

Nightmare did a double take, surprised, and moved his king. However, Dream's rook was now one move ahead, and he used it to capture Nightmare's bishop. Nightmare frowned, irritated, and tried capturing Dream's rook again, but now he was in a disadvantageous position: Dream used his knight to capture both rooks, and Nightmare's queen was captured soon after.

Nightmare's king was the only black piece remaining on the board, and Nightmare huffed, turning it over.

"You win, brother."
Dream smiled slightly, having enjoyed the game despite everything.
"You should have payed more attention to my knight."

Dream then felt two familiar presences approaching the room and tensed. He wasn't sure why Error (and Ink) were coming, but both Error and PJ's aura were relaxed (Error's was actually a bit giddy), so it hopefully wasn't anything too bad.

A harsh knock was heard, and Error entered the room anyway soon after.
Nightmare was visibly annoyed by the blatant disrespect.
"Please, do come in." he said, in a sarcastic tone.
The Destroyer simply rolled his eyes.

Dream's gaze drifted to Ink, who looked defeated, and to his tight grip on PJ. The child was watching everyone around them with wide eyes, before grimacing and putting their face against Ink's chest. They probably didn't like Nightmare's aura.

"What do you need, Error?"
"𝓓яEA爪 𝓱Aş tσ ⓌAt𝓬𝓱 t𝓱E ᵇяAt."
Ink glared at the word "brat", and stroked PJ's head.

"Bold of you to presume my brother has to do anything he doesn't want to."
Dream ignored the hypocrisy of the statement, too worried about the current situation: ever since Error and Nightmare had argued, the two of them kept needling each other, in a stupid attempt at asserting dominance.

Dream didn't really care for when they'd eventually explode and fight, he just didn't want him and his friends to be caught in the middle.

Error rolled his eyes again.
"aş 𝐢ⓕ 𝓱E 𝓭𝐢𝓭Ň't 𝔩σѶE 𝕂𝐢𝓭ş. 尺𝐢G𝓱t, 𝓓яEA爪?"
Both his brother and the Destroyer turned to look at him.

The empath was put on the spot, and he didn't like it one bit: was it better to agree with Error, making him "win" and risking displeasing his twin, or lose the chance of a break?

Ink came to his rescue, softly saying: "It would really be appreciated if you could watch them Dream. I don't feel comfortable leaving PJ with your brother's men. No offense, Nightmare."
"None taken. I wouldn't trust them to look after a pet rock, let alone a child." Nightmare glanced at him, and Dream made sure to raise his anticipation and want.

Not one to admit he was wrong, Nightmare simply said: "I have work to do. I'll be in my office if anyone needs me."

His twin then left, and Ink reluctantly handed PJ over: they started to fuss and tried to grip Ink's red sleeveless shirt, not wanting to be separated from him. The child's aura was full of agitation and fear, but they didn't make a sound.

"It's alright Jammie, it's alright, m-mommy is coming back soon. You stay with Dream, and be good."
Ink kissed PJ's forehead and then Error gripped his wrist and yanked him away.

"รtσp 𝓬σ𝓭𝓭𝔩𝐢ŇG t𝓱E爪."
Error's aura was soured by jealousy, and it left a bad taste in Dream's mouth. The positive Guardian simply used his powers to calm down PJ, while Ink and Error walked away; Dream could only watch them climbing the stairs (towards the bedrooms), and hope for the least repulsive option.

He looked at the upset baby in his arms, and decided to find Blue: that way, both of them could catch a break.

They just had to wait a little while longer.

==============

"And then, that fucker fell down, and I stabbed him!"
Sans kept a polite smile on his face, though it was more of a grimace. Killer didn't seem to notice or care, and kept laughing hysterically.

Horror snickered, and Dust didn't react, but he did get an interested glimmer in his eyes. The four of them were supposed to be playing cards, but the game had been quickly forgotten in favor of the Murder Trio bragging about their best kills. Sans was getting very uncomfortable, but it seemed like the three murderers wanted to impress him, and when he tried changing the subject Killer kept bringing up gorier stories.

Killer stopped laughing and resumed his story: "Man, Asgores are always the best, they're so strong!"
Dust murmured: "Asgores are a lot of EXP."
"True! And the souls!" He turned to Sans "You know that they linger, for a few seconds after you kill them?" Sans nodded hesitantly, and Killer's smile turned manic "If you're fast enough, you can actually crush them with your bare hands. That's so intoxicating."

Sans could only say: "That's... interesting."
Killer preened, and Horror rolled his eye, leaning toward Sans and fake whispering: "He thinks... he's so... tough... Butchering... that takes... guts..."

All three of them started laughing at the pun, and they formed an unsettling chorus: Killer's laugh was shrill and annoying, like an hyena, while Horror's was guttural and coarse, echoing in the small room, and Dust's was almost a murmur, at the edge of Sans's hearing.

Sans was growing more and more annoyed by them, and felt about to explode. He was sure he was going to get up and punch one of them in the face (probably Killer); let's see how much they'd laugh then!

He had to resist. He tried thinking back of his phonecall with his brother, two days ago.

"Oh, and we're organizing a party for Outer, since today it's his birthday."
It wasn't true, Sans knew this for certain because they had celebrated right before they got kidnapped. It had to be a message.
"Oh, that's so nice of you! Are you going to be doing something special?"
"Yep, we want to have a surprise party."
Did that mean...?
"Something he's not expecting, bro, you know?"
It was! Blue met Dream and Ink's eyes, and they both realized as well. He felt weirdly empty; Dream had to be manipulating his aura, so that Nightmare wouldn't be suspicious.
"I understand exactly what you mean! You know I love surprises, when are you doing this? Today?"
"Unfortunately, no. Too much going on. Definitely during the week though, no sense in waiting."
One week at most. If it all went well, they would be free in a week. But it had to go smoothly.
"Please, tell me more! Who's in on it? What will you do?"
"Sorry bro, we don't have everything sorted out yet, so I don't know what to tell you. You'll have to wait, I'll tell you the next time we talk."
Hoping it wouldn't be on the phone anymore.

The wait was unbearable. The knowledge that it was going to be over soon, that they would be free again, was maddening.

Dream, Ink and him knew that they had to be on their best behavior, not making any of their captors suspect anything, but it was so hard: the knowledge of such high stakes made Sans incredibly nervous and restless.

"Am I... interrupting something?"
Sans turned his skull toward the door, seeing Dream with PJ in his arms. The laughter died down.

"Where's Ink?" Sans impulsively asked. Ink always, always kept PJ close, with good reasons.
Dream grimaced and answered: "Upstairs."

With Error, Sans's brain added. He really hoped Ink could take whatever was happening.

"Ah, so you're babysitting then?"
Dream smiled a bit and said: "Exactly, and I thought you'd like to help me. Come to our room, so we can-"
"Wait."

Dust stood up from the couch, gesturing to his spot.
"I'll bring the toys down."
Without waiting for a response, he walked past Dream and right toward their bedroom on the first floor. Dream hesitantly sat down next to Sans; Killer looked at PJ and let out a disgusted noise.
"I'm not gonna play nursemaid to some fucking kid."

He angrily stood up; Dream turned to shield PJ, and Sans was ready to stop Killer from hurting the child, but he simply swept the table with his arm, making all of the cards fall to the ground.
"Killer... stop being... a brat..."
Killer flipped him the bird and stomped off, muttering under his breath about how annoying kids were.

Dream relaxed from the protective position he had put himself in, and looked at Horror. He tentatively asked: "Will you stay too?"
"I scare... kids..." the cannibal answered neutrally, as if he was simply stating a fact, and Sans supposed he was. He didn't seem to care much for PJ one way or another.

Sans was just glad he wasn't thinking of eating them.

Horror remained with them till Dust came back, holding some of PJ's toys in his arms. While he dumped onto the cleared table, Horror simply left.

Dust didn't pay him any mind; the murderer tilted his skull, chuckled: "You're right." and grabbed a rattle.

He smiled in what he probably thought was a reassuring way, and shook the toy right in front of PJ's face.

"So, lil pal, you wanna play?"

==============

The clothes were uncomfortable.

Ink was in the middle of a split, stretching himself forward over his leg, and doing everything to avoid looking at Error. He tried focusing on the physical exercise, but the clothes that Error had made him wear were very form fitting, and they squeezed and pressed his ecto in a weird way, leaving him feeling cramped and exposed.

And Error was loving it, of course.

"ιt'ş A ş𝓱A爪E 𝕪σ𝕌 ŇEѶEя Ⓦσя𝕂E𝓭 σ𝕌t Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝕪σ𝕌я E𝓬tσ σŇ ᵇEⓕσяE, ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢." The glitch purred with a grin. "үσ𝕌 𝔩σσ𝕂 şσ... pяEtt𝕪."

Error's voice washed over Ink, leaving him dirty and raw: he never thought he could hate a word, but Error was always so fixated on that, on Ink being pretty, pretty, pretty, like one of his dolls. Ink never wanted to hear it, ever again.

Ink's next pose was a handstand, and even if Ink wasn't sure he could do it with the "added weight" on his chest, he knew that Error had his routine memorized (obsessive creep), and wouldn't appreciate a deviation from what he expected.

He tried, but just like he thought, his ecto body messed with his balance, and he fell backwards with a yelp.

Or he would have, if Error hadn't caught him with his strings. The blue threads were enveloping his wrists, his ankles, his waist, and there wasn't any give; the Destroyer used them to move him (like a puppet), and  put him on his lap.

"𝕎𝓱At 𝓱AppEŇE𝓭 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢?" he said, caressing his cheek with his hand "үσ𝕌'яE 𝕌ş𝕌A𝔩𝔩𝕪 Ňσt t𝓱𝐢ş 𝓬𝔩𝕌爪ş𝕪"
Ink hesitated for a moment, unwilling to draw Error's attention to his chest: it was bad enough that he was wearing a crop top and shorts.
"I must be tired, Ruru. The baby, you know?"

Error scoffed.
"t𝓱At ᵇяAt 𝐢ş tA𝕂𝐢ŇG σѶEя σ𝕌я 𝔩𝐢ѶEş. 千σя şσ爪Et𝓱𝐢ŇG t𝓱At 𝓭σEşŇ't 𝓭σ 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱, t𝓱E𝕪'яE A 𝔩σt σⓕ tяσ𝕌ᵇ𝔩E."
His tone was venomous, and Ink scrambled to think of something to put the glitch back in a good mood. They just had to survive a week, he has to keep PJ safe for a week.

The Protector made a big show of yawning and leaning against Error, even if the action repulsed him.
"We just have to make the most of our time together then. I really need a nap."
Ink hoped with all of himself that Error wouldn't escalate, but he was willing to endure it, if it would protect his child.

Error kissed the top of his skull and said: "ι 爪𝐢şşE𝓭 𝓬𝕌𝓭𝓭𝔩𝐢ŇG Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝕪σ𝕌, 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩."

==============

PJ had relaxed, and Dream was relieved.

The ever pervasive aura of fear had abated, and the infant was even laughing a bit. Dust wasn't all that good with kids, but he was at the very least gentle, and being away from Error had helped PJ tremendously.

Blue was holding them, while Dust was watching them munch on the plush book he had been showing them. They seemed to like it, but their aura was a bit restless, and Dream assumed they were hungry.

The empath kept his eyes on PJ, but he was simultaneously focusing on Error's aura, to try to understand what he was doing to Ink, but he could only perceive some sense of achievement and vindication, and he was unsure of what that meant.

PJ let out a giggle, and Dream could only put his hand over his chest and think about his own little girl: Lux was growing stronger by the day, and he wasn't sure he could keep hiding her for long.

PJ laughed again, and Lux reacted with a spike of joy. Dream subtly leaned against the couch and closed his eyes, allowing himself to feel her properly (like some parents would wait for their baby kicking): all of her happiness, her confusion, her longing for her dad.

"Ma!"
Dream opened his eyes again, startled by the surprise of Blue and Dust.
"Ma!"
PJ was pointing at the door, repeating: "Ma! Ma! Ma!" Sure enough, Ink appeared a second later, and PJ once again said: "Ma!"

Ink (dressed with a light green jumpsuit) quickened his pace and grabbed PJ back from Blue's arms with a smile.
"Oh Jammie, your first word!"
"Ma! Ma!"
"𝕎𝓱AtEѶEя."

Error had entered the room as well, his aura an oppressing fog of jealousy, and PJ immediately shut up and curled against Ink, afraid. Dream thought he could hear them whisper one last "ma...", but it was very faint. Ink had also deflated as Error grabbed him by the forearm.

"𝓓𝐢𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓱AѶE tσ я𝕌Ň σⓕⓕ 𝔩𝐢𝕂E t𝓱At נ𝕌şt ⓕσя..." he gestured at PJ with a disgusted look on his face.
"I'm sorry." the artist said, hollow "I was just excited."
Error rolled his eyes.
"ιt'ş נ𝕌şt A Ⓦσя𝓭, Ňσ ᵇ𝐢G 𝓭EA𝔩."
His aura, however, said otherwise: Dream could feel the jealousy and possessiveness swelling in him like a wave.

Ink hesitantly leaned against Error, and the glitch calmed down a bit.
"Why don't we watch a movie? Like a family."
At hearing the magic word, Error relaxed completely and answered: "ร𝕌яE." and sat on the couch.

Dust looked at Error, who glared at him (Dream felt his jealousy flare, but didn't understand why), so he muttered something about sparring and got away with a twinge of fear. Blue gathered some of the toys and gave him a look, so Dream did the same and they brought them up to their room.

When they were far away from the living room, Blue spoke.
"I'm worried about PJ."
Dream sighed.
"I know, Error is-"
"No, I said about PJ. Don't you think they're weird?"

Dream frowned.
"What?"
Blue gave him a condescending look.
"They said their first word, Dream."
"And?"
"And they're a week old! They shouldn't even be able to move their head!" Blue stopped in the middle of the corridor, leaning against the wall. His aura was full of concern. "I'm worried that, even after we-" he made a gesture Dream thought referred to their escape "that we won't know what to do with them, because they're not a normal child, who knows what Nightmare did to, to create them. We don't knows how will they grow, what powers they will have, hell, what will they even eat!"

Blue took a deep breath.

"I don't want to tell Ink right now, he hasn't noticed anything wrong with PJ, and pointing these things out to him would only worry him, but I thought you had seen it, Dream. Their clothes are a little too short at the wrists, but yesterday they fit perfectly."

Dream, stunned, only managed to say: "I don't think that's what people mean when they say that kids grow up too fast."
Blue barked out a short laugh, and then put his hand over his eyes and sobbed. All of the tension was oozing out of him, purging his spirit, and Dream hugged him.

"One problem at a time. We can figure things out after we're out of here."

==============

It was finally night, and Ink only wanted to sleep. PJ had settled, and was napping in their crib, while Dream had immediately fallen asleep. Ink and Blue thought it was because of Lux, as Dream seemed more tired these past few days.

Blue was also asleep, and Ink had his eyes closed, trying to finally relax. It was a bit hard though, as he was hyper aware of every little sound, like PJ's breathing or Dream rolling in his bed.

He then felt someone approaching his bed, and put a hand over his mouth. Ink panicked a bit, and opened his eyes, finding himself face to face with a very familiar face.

"Wazzup, Inkblot?"

Notes:

See you next week.

Chapter 10: The escape

Summary:

The moment you've all been waiting for.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Fresh and Cross crossed the portal, and Cross immediately started walking fast. Fresh followed him, as the former Guard knew where they needed to go.

Fresh didn't have a problem with admitting when someone was more knowledgeable than him, but he also carefully looked around and memorized the path and the room they just entered, to be able to make a quick escape: Astral had tried his best, but he had only been able to reopen a portal in the same place Error had opened it beforehand, and it wasn't exactly close to where the Stars were being kept.

Frisk had decided that only having him and Cross enter would be best (less people meant less chance of discovery), and that some other members of the Council (the more powerful ones, like Epic) would wait on the other side, should something go wrong.

Fresh looked at Cross, who was extremely tense, and would have pitied him if he could: unlike the monochromatic skeleton, the parasite didn't have any real stakes in this mission. True, he wanted to save Ink, because he was one of the most interesting companions he had had in a while, but he'd always put his own well-being first. If the situation became truly hopeless, he'd bail. He had made that very clear to Frisk, and though they didn't like it, they understood.

Thanks to their stealth, the duo quickly arrived to their destination, and they teleported inside to avoid making noises opening the door.

Cross remained frozen, looking at Dream, but Fresh knew they didn't have time to waste, and approached Ink's bed and went to wake him, mindful of covering his mouth to avoid him crying out loud in surprise. He knew Ink was a very light sleeper, and his soulless nature would make it impossible for Nightmare to notice his shock.

As soon as he touched his face, Ink opened his eyes and looked at him.

"Wazzup, Inkblot?" he whispered.

His friend froze for a second, then tears started gathering in his eyes. Fresh wasn't good at dealing with emotions, so he simply ignored them and kept talking.

"Criss-Cross is here wid me, we gonna getchu out. Imma take away mah hand, don' flip out."
He removed his hand, and Ink shot from the bed to hug him, and he started weeping (quietly, Fresh noted), blubbering a bunch of things that mostly boiled down to how glad Ink was that they were here.

Fresh patted him on the back twice, mimicking something he had seen people do when friends were upset, and then pushed him away slightly.
"Yo Inkblot, dis is rad an' all, but we gotta skedaddle, quick. Can ya wake dese two widout making dem too emotional? Nightlight would notice."

The artist wiped his tears and assumed a serious expression, then shakily said: "We... we s-should wa-a-ake Dream first."
Fresh turned to Cross, who was still immobile (honestly, he was supposed to be a Royal Guard, how embarrassing) and said: "Yo, Criss-Cross, try tah hide, mh? Else ya baby mama is gonna freak."

Cross blinked, and moved to the farthest corner of the room, in between the shadows. Fresh did the same, and saw Ink move to the head of Dream's bed to wake him. The empath woke up quickly, and him and Ink talked for a few moments, too quiet for Fresh to hear. Dream then scrambled to get out of the bed, and locked eyes with them. Fresh noticed Cross took a deep breath (as if he had been underwater) and relaxed his stance completely. The both of them met halfway and kissed, rather deeply. How time-consuming.

================

The kiss was everything Dream wanted (needed) and more: he knew they should be thinking of escaping, but whenever he had Cross by his side, Dream felt like he could be selfish, like he could be truly happy, and so he kept kissing his lover. Cross broke the kiss and put their foreheads together.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"
"Don't be. You're here now."

It was so unfair that he had to hide Cross's love for him, and his own love for Cross, but he consoled himself by thinking that they wouldn't need to when they got away. For the moment, Dream grabbed Cross's hand and put it against his chest, letting him feel Lux. The former Guard let out a quiet "oh", and Dream could feel he was very moved.

Cross looked him in the eyes, but his gaze drifted to his cheek, and Dream felt self-conscious about his scars; he could feel Cross's anger bubbling, but he quickly calmed down and put his other hand over it, caressing him, and Dream covered it with his own hand.

"Brahs?"

Fresh was looking at them with his arms crossed, his glasses saying HURRY-UP.
"We gotta scram. Like, now. Wake Baby Blue and lez go."

The parasite then turned to help Ink, who had already put on a baby carrier and was maneuvering a still sleeping PJ in it. Dream knew Fresh was right, they couldn't waste time now; he held Cross's hand and then moved to wake up Blue, ready to mask his emotions.

"Blue? Wake up, they're here."
Blue sleepily rubbed his eyes, but woke up immediately after he caught a glimpse of Cross at his side. As expected, his shock, hope and joy were strong, but Dream was swift, and used them to power himself and further mask Cross's aura.

Blue, however, didn't lose his smile and hurriedly hugged Cross. His lover simply said: "Stretch wanted to come, but Frisk forbid it. He's kinda mad about it."
Blue gave a wet chuckle, and looked at his pajamas.

"I don't think we need to change" he whispered, examining himself "these are pretty comfortable, we can move fast."
Dream hadn't even thought about that, and was glad Blue had. Ink came at his side, and Dream felt PJ about to wake, so he touched their head and put them back to sleep. Doing that, however, made him fatigued, and he leaned against Cross.

"Are you alright Dream?" the positive Guardian sensed that Cross was suppressing his worry, in an effort to not weaken him even more, and Dream smiled at him.
"Yes, using my powers is... taxing. Let's get out of here."

================

Sans felt so much tension that every step was almost painful; he thought he was about to snap in half.

The five of them were walking single file: Cross at the head, Dream right behind him, Ink, then him and Fresh bringing up the rear. After all the time Sans had fantasized about escaping, planned and endured and hoped, it almost seemed too easy.

Sans banished the thought from his mind, not willing to tempt fate. After all, Dream and Ink were still weakened and unarmed, so fighting their way out wasn't an option. Dream was still using Cross for support (the effort of concealing their auras, hiding Lux and keeping PJ asleep so that they didn't cry and alert their kidnappers was stretching him thin), while Ink now had PJ to worry about.

"Almost there." Cross whispered, and in no time they were into the living room, staring at a portal side by side. Sans distractedly noted that it opened over the AU Error stole PJ's things from, but the biggest part of him was simply overwhelmed by euphoria, and he just knew Dream and Ink felt the same.

Dream turned swiftly and said: "No-" before huddling behind Cross, who quickly drew his weapon. Sans understood why, as the oppressive feeling of Nightmare's aura choked him. He didn't want to turn, didn't want to see the King of Negativity and have the illusion of freedom robbed away from him. Ink was also frozen in place, arms curled protectively over PJ.

"Dream." The tone dripped with disdain, leaving a slimy feel all over Sans's body. "What is the meaning of this." For a moment, everyone remained still, then all five of them rushed at the portal, and Nightmare upped his aura, making Sans fall to his knees.

Dream and Cross also collapsed beside him, and Ink just stood there, and Sans could hear a baby crying out, and Nightmare said something, but he couldn't understand the words, he couldn't move, couldn't do anything, just like the last time they tried to escape, and it didn't work, it just made everything worse, this time Cross was going to die, and Ink was going to truly fall into dissociation and never wake up, and Dream was going to wither from all the negativity, and Lux would also be in danger, and PJ too, and Sans would remain all alone, alone, alone-

"VIBE CHECK!"

Sans heard a strong thud, and his despair eased for a second, so he chanced a glance at Nightmare: Fresh was standing behind him, a long bone in hand, while Nightmare was holding his skull with his hands.

"RUN!!" the parasite shouted, looking at something higher than Sans, and then he started running and grabbed Sans by the scruff, and they crossed the portal (that immediately closed behind them) and he could finally breathe again.

Sans got to his feet quickly, and saw Ink dragging both Cross and Dream. The former Royal Guard recovered fast, while Dream was breathing heavily and clutching his chest.

Something then smashed into him, something soft and orange and with a distinct sweet smell of tobacco and honey that made Sans think of home.
"Hey bro."

Sans hugged his brother and cried of joy.

================

Ink shakily took a deep breath, and sat down on the ground, feeling the snow wet his pajama pants. He was distantly aware of which AU they were in, and he was also somber at the thought that he had to leave Broomie, his vials and his old clothes behind, but for the moment he simply focused on the crying PJ in the carrier; they had woken up and were now looking around wildly, probably confused by all the new things they were seeing.

Ink stroked their head.
"Don't worry Jammie, we're safe now. You don't have to be scared anymore."
"Neither have you."

Ink raised his skull, smiling at the familiar grey face staring at him.
"Frisk, I missed you."
The child hugged him in an uncharacteristic bout of affection, wrapping their arms around his waist. Ink felt comforted by them. They then took a good look at PJ, who seemed fascinated by them. Ink realized they had never seen someone that wasn't a skeleton.

"They're beautiful."
"They are, aren't they?"

Ink hesitantly got up, and Frisk gripped his hand tightly. The Protector finally registered that there were eight other people: Ink saw Epic, Astral, Red and Outer, to name a few. They were talking amongst themselves, a bit hesitant to approach him or his friends.

Ink and Frisk moved toward Dream, who was still sitting on the ground, leaning on Cross with his eyes closed. Blue was hugging Stretch for dear life not far away, and he didn't seem to notice anything else.

"Dream?"
"I'm... fine, just... tired..." Dream burrowed closer into Cross's chest "we should... wait to... go into... the Omega..." he tried moving a hand to his chest before making it slump back down, and Cross stroked his back. Dream was right, even simply crossing a portal would take a toll on the already exhausted empath, and it was best to wait for him to regain his strength before trying anything that would endanger Lux.

"Ø₣ ₵ØɄⱤ₴Ɇ ĐⱤɆ₳₥!" Astral said. His glitchy voice send shivers down Ink's spine, but he tried to ignore them. "ɎØɄ ₵₳₦ ⱤɆ₴₮ ₣ØⱤ ₳ ₣Ɇ₩ ₥ł₦Ʉ₮Ɇ₴, ĐØ₦'₮ ₩ØⱤⱤɎ!"

He came closer to Ink, and the artist forced himself to remain still.
"ł'₥ ₴Ø ₲Ⱡ₳Đ ɎØɄ'ⱤɆ-" he put his hand on his shoulder, and it was too similar to Error's touch, so Ink sharply moved back "Ø₭₳Ɏ...?"

"Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't, it's just, you're..."
Astral looked confused for a moment, but then he understood and took a step back, looking guilty.
"ł ĐłĐ₦'₮ ₮Ⱨł₦₭-"
"It's fine. Just, let's give it some time." He gave Astral a small smile, to show it was alright.

The others (Blue and Stretch included) gathered around them, and started chatting while they all waited for Dream to get some of his strength back. The conversation was unnaturally light hearted, but it didn't matter. Some of the others cooed over PJ (who had become quite shy), but didn't try to touch them, and Ink was glad for that.

================

Dream could finally breath again. After three months, the weight pressing down on him had finally been lifted, and it left him almost too light, like he was about to float away. Lux was brighter and stronger than ever, and Dream felt guilty for not having realized his little girl was also hurting.

Cross was helping a lot, his presence grounding him and making him feel so safe, but the happiness and relief of all the people around him was reinvigorating, too.

He let out a contented sigh, then opened his eyes and looked at Cross.
"We can-"

The positive Guardian felt one of his brother's portals open, and he barely managed to glance in that direction as one of Nightmare's appendages shot out and grabbed him by the wrist. Dream let out a panicked shout as he was dragged into the portal, and swiftly took off his glove with his teeth and channeled as much positive energy as he could into his palm, slamming it against Nightmare's appendage.

His brother screamed in pain and let go, and at the same time Dream heard Ink shriek. He could only turn for a second, seeing him enveloped in blue strings and being dragged to another portal, before the empath was pushed to the ground by Outer, who was busy fighting Dust.

Dream made sure to break his fall and not hurt Lux, but between all the chaos he couldn't get up. His brother's men were all fighting against their friends, and even if they were in the majority, Horror, Killer and Dust were more vicious and ruthless. Dream saw someone slumped on the ground, but couldn't distinguish who they were.

"Dream." Nightmare approached him almost leisurely, but he wasn't fooled: his rage was a miasma, suffocating him, and his appendages were twitching wildly behind him.
"After all I've done for you, you betray me like this?"

He was hissing, but Dream could still hear him perfectly even in the midst of the battle. In fact, the fight seemed to almost flow around them, leaving Dream and Nightmare in the eye of the storm.

Dream didn't bother to think why and simply crawled backwards, trying to escape his twin. He unconsciously put his hand over his chest; the movement caught Nightmare's attention and he narrowed his eye, before being flooded by sheer shock. Too late, Dream realized he had stopped hiding Lux's aura, to collect more energy.

"Dream, you're-"
Nightmare arched his back and screeched, falling to his knees: one of Dream's arrows was buried deep in his back, and Cross was the one who had stabbed him. The former Guard immediately pulled Dream to his feet and hugged him.

In the blink of an eye, the two lovers were in the Omega Timeline, and while Dream was still feeling woozy from the teleportation, Cross started talking with someone and the empath felt himself be handed over to someone else.

The positive Guardian looked down, and saw Frisk supporting him. Cross held his face in his hands and said: "I'm sorry, my love, I have to go back."
"Wha-?"
Cross kissed him on the mouth, tenderly, and then pulled away. Dream regained his bearings a bit.
"Wait, no, Cross-!"

His knight was gone.

================

Sans tried to grab Dream's hand, but he was being dragged away too fast, and Sans stumbled while reaching for him. His relief at seeing him free himself was short lived, as he heard Ink shriek in terror.

He turned, and saw that the Protector was also being dragged away to another glitching portal, and he was desperately struggling against the blue threads wrapped around his body.

Sans's distraction cost him, as he felt himself being lifted off the ground and held by Horror at the waist, his arms pinned against his sides.
"Naughty Blue..." He growled, slowly moving back towards the portal.
"LET ME GO!" Sans couldn't muster enough magic to attack, so he kicked and kicked, but Horror was unfazed.

Sans frantically looked around, trying to see if anyone could help him, but Dust and Killer were somehow able to keep the other people present at bay (Sans tried to ignore the few laying on the ground, telling himself that they hadn't dusted, so there was still hope).

Sans couldn't see Error and Ink.

In desperation, he bit on Horror's wrist as hard as he could, and the cannibal let out a surprised wheeze and slacked his grip; Sans immediately elbowed Horror in the gut, jumping away from him, and the giant fell to the ground.

It took a moment for Sans to see the bone protruding from Horror's forehead. It seemed his bite hadn't done anything, after all.
Horror remained still, mouth slightly open and eye widened, his surprise permanently etched in his face.

"Headshot, fucker!" Red's voice echoed in the clearing, and it shook Sans's away from the shock of seeing one of his tormentors unconscious (or dead? Horror hadn't dusted yet, but he also had a caved skull, so who knew if he was dead or not. Sans supposed it didn't matter) and joined the fight, attacking Killer to stop him from harming Papyrus.

He was finally going to give those bastards exactly what they deserved.

================

Ink saw Nightmare's portal and immediately started looking around, panicked. If Nightmare was here that meant Error-

Ink felt strings slither over his wrists, ankles and waist, so he let out a terrified shriek. He couldn't go back, he couldn't!

"NONONONONONO!"

He tried extricating himself from the blue threads, but it wasn't working, and everyone was too busy to help him, and it didn't matter how much he was digging his heels and how much he tried pulling and resisting, Error was stronger than him, he always had been, and now he was going to be punished!

A sharper tug made Ink lose is balance and fall face first, but he had enough presence of mind to turn on his side to not crush PJ under him; his baby was crying and screaming as well, and Ink was hit by the sickening clarity that Error wasn't going to give PJ the same consideration (if it could be called that) that he'd give him: the Destroyer would already be pissed by the escape attempt, and be even more volatile.

His baby would die.

Ink stopped trying to hold on the ground to slow down the dragging and instead started unlatching the baby carrier from his chest: he knew Frisk was watching, they'd know to get PJ and bring them to the Omega Timeline, and they'd be safe.

With a tearful smile, Ink looked at the child and said: "Jammie, mommy loves you very much."

Inexplicably, Ink felt a slacking in the ropes, and looked behind himself to see the threads had been severed at a seemingly random length and the portal was gone, as if Error had closed it and it had cut the strings in the process.

"ł₦₭!" Ink turned and saw Astral banish a code window with a wave of his hand and helping the artist to his feet (Ink was too full of adrenaline to notice the glitching feeling of Astral's touch).
"ł ₵₳₦'₮ ₭ɆɆ₱ Ⱨł₥ ₳₮ ฿₳Ɏ ₣ØⱤ ⱠØ₦₲, ₩Ɇ Ⱨ₳VɆ ₮Ø ₲Ø!"
"But the others-!"
"₮ⱧɆⱤɆ'₴ ₦Ø ₮ł₥Ɇ!"

Moving his hand in a slashing motion, Astral created a portal to the Omega Timeline, so Ink kept a firm grip on PJ's half detached carrier and they both crossed it.

"ķιķι!"
Ink snapped his skull in the direction of the voice that had terrorized him for the last three months, and just before Astral closed the portal again, he locked eyes with Error for a moment.

The Destroyer was the angriest Ink had ever seen him, and his deranged gaze held a promise.

I will find you.

The portal closed, and Ink was numb. He swayed a bit from all the released tension, and felt a small hand on his back, steadying him. Turning his gaze to the right, Ink found Frisk talking with Astral. Wasn't he at Ink's side just now? When had he let go of his hand?

"-to the Hospital. I'm there with Dream."
Dream?
"₴ɄⱤɆ ₣Ɽł₴₭."

Astral gently refastened the baby carrier and Ink let him. He felt too tired to do anything. Astral linked their hands together and said: "₵Ø₥Ɇ Ø₦, ł'ⱠⱠ ฿Ɽł₦₲ ɎØɄ ₮Ø ₳ ₱Ⱡ₳₵Ɇ ₩ⱧɆⱤɆ ɎØɄ ₵₳₦ ⱤɆ₴₮."

================

Cross teleported back on the battlefield, ready to keep fighting. Frisk had told him that Dream and Ink were safe, and that Blue could handle himself, so the former Guard could let loose and fight at his best, without having to worry about having to protect anyone.

He made sure to teleport just outside the general area of the fight, so that he wouldn't hinder any of his allies, and his training kicked in as he surveyed the battle and made the needed considerations in a couple of seconds.

Nightmare, the biggest threat, was busy trying to extract the arrow he had stabbed him with (Cross was glad he had decided to keep them inside his inventory). Horror was down, and so were G, Outer and Dance. Epic and Red were fighting against Dust, but Epic was only fighting hand to hand, as his magic was too powerful to be used in such a crowded space. Stretch and Blue were fighting in a beautiful synchrony (honestly, Cross's internal Guard was jealous) against Killer, who looked like he was struggling.
Fresh was nowhere to be seen (two-faced bastard), and Astral was back in the Omega Timeline with Ink.
Error was also missing, but that was to be expected: now that Ink was out of his reach, he didn't have any reason to help Nightmare, and probably retreated to the Antivoid to stew and plot.

Cross quickly teleported behind Dust and stabbed him in the back with his sword, withdrawing it right after. The murderer crumbled to the ground with a choked gasp, but Cross didn't remain to watch him dust.

He knew what he had to do.

Just as Nightmare finally removed the arrow with a wet sound, Cross was in front of him, ready to stab his skull with another. However, he couldn't resist. He gleefully said: "Burn in hell."

That made him hesitate, and Nightmare took advantage of that.

As Cross brought down the glowing blue arrow, Nightmare melted into the shadows and disappeared.

Cross immediately turned around, expecting Nightmare to reappear behind him, but the King of Negativity was nowhere to be seen.
"Frisk!"
Frisk appeared at his side, with an unhappy expression.
"I can't see him. He's probably back in Dreamtale."

Cross put the arrow back in his inventory, letting out a deep exhale. He hadn't thought his blow had weakened Nightmare so much, but on the other hand, Dream always fought at a distance, the arrows never buried themselves that deep.

"Fuck yeah!"
Epic's yell shook Cross from his thoughts; his friend threw his arms in the air, celebrating. "We sent him runnin'! We are the best!" He turned to Red.

"High five, bruh!"
Red scoffed, but did high five him with a smirk.

Frisk wasn't at his side anymore, but they were instead checking on their unconscious teammates. Outer had woken up, but he still seemed disoriented, and Frisk offered him a healing item.

Cross approaches Blue, leaning against Stretch. The two brothers were looking at Killer, who was pinned to the ground by two bones impaled in his palms. Killer was still alive, snarling and mocking.

"You think you're so tough, don't you?! You and shitty Sunshine boy and that fucking soulless moron, you will fucking pay! Do you hear me?! You'll pay!"
Blue simply looked at him with hatred, not answering. Killer saw him.
"You too, traitor! Boss is gonna tear you apart, and I'm gonna watch and enjoy every fucking second!"

"Fuck!"
The charging and shooting of a Blaster was heard, and everyone turned around.

Red had shot Dust, who had grabbed his ankle, and the result was a gruesome sight: half of Dust's body was pulverized, but he still wasn't dusting completely.

Blue brought a hand over his mouth in disgust.
"My stars... what's going on with him?"
"Nightmare's spell." Cross answered. He should have remembered, and not have taken his sword out. "Horror, Dust and Killer can't die."

Frisk put their face in their hands.
"Of course." they grumbled. "Will they heal on their own?"
Cross shook his skull. They weren't invulnerable, Nightmare wouldn't bother with that. Why waste the suffering?
"Let's gather them up, then. I'll call some healers and we can put them in the holding cells in the Omega Timeline for now."

Notes:

The story isn't over yet. Nightmare and Error are still on the loose.

Chapter 11: Picking up the pieces

Summary:

Finally, some breathing room.

Chapter Text

Dream felt like crying.

Which seemed counterintuitive, given that he was finally free, with his lover and friends at his side, and he was holding his baby girl in his arms, but no one had ever said that emotions were something rational or logical.

It hadn't been a typical birth, at all. For one, it hadn't been painful, though it had been extremely tiring. Dream could have waited, he knew that, but after Nightmare had felt his daughter, Dream wanted her out of him and safe as soon as possible. As long as his twin was still on the loose, Dream knew he'd try to get him back, and if he ever succeeded, then Dream didn't want to damn his child too.

Dream had not even needed to undress, as he simply summoned Lux like one would with a soul, and then started gathering his magic to begin the ritual.

It has been quite the delicate work, to make Lux's body, as Dream was nothing less than a perfectionist, and he also wanted her to be unequivocally theirs (his and Cross's), so he tried his best to not only make her a functioning skeleton body, he also tried to make her look like a mix of him and Cross, and also like her own person.

Everyone had been there (except Ink, who had reasonably said that PJ's presence would only be distracting), and they all silently encouraged him and strengthened him with their positive feelings. Cross, in particular, had his hands on his shoulders (his hands had to be free, to work on Lux), and his support had felt like being in front of a fire after battling a blizzard.

Even then, Dream should really have waited.

Lux's body was ready, and Dream let go of the energies just a breath too soon, making her skull fracture and her aura leak out. Everyone understandably panicked, but after Dream managed to be heard over all the ruckus, he assured the people present that Lux would be alright.

He regrettably didn't have any strength left, so he couldn't fix the damage, but since Lux's body was still stabilizing, she wouldn't be hurt (why, when his mother first made him and Nightmare a body they exploded, and he had been fine). It would only become a cosmetic defect. Little Lux instinctively covered it, shaping her aura like hair. It was pretty cute.

After that, it was a bit of a blur (Dream was still pretty tired, after all), and all of a sudden Lux was dressed in a very nice onesie, and Dream was then made to lie down on a bed, Lux in his arms and Cross holding his hand. Most of the present had already left, giving him some privacy, but Blue, Stretch and Frisk remained for a bit.

Dream was so overwhelmed by joy that he just wanted to cry and laugh and never stop, but he simply beckoned Cross over and fell asleep, with their daughter snuggled between them.

================

Ink was a bit numb.

It was a good kind of numb, not like what he felt when he was with- It was the numb he felt after he worked hard and he was resting.

PJ was still in their baby carrier, and they also looked pretty tired; they were leaning against Ink's chest, eyes drooping and a slight smile on their face.

"Hi sweetie."
Ink looked up and saw Lust. Ink liked Lust, he was nice, and a good friend.
The other sat down beside him, and started to softly explain about Lux unprompted.

Lust was kinda like Dream, he seemed to always knew what to say to make people feel better. Ink didn't want to think about anything right now, because he knew that all of his thoughts would lead back to E- one way or another, so the Protector simply let Lusts's voice wash over him, soothing him.

Ink started petting PJ's head, and his gaze drifted to the pajamas he was still wearing.

"Lust?" he said, interrupting the story "I want to do something."

================

It wasn't like having Broomie back, but the small brush was still a comfort. Ink lost himself in his craft, focusing entirely on recreating his usual outfit (though he made it a little looser than it was before, form fitting clothes had become uncomfortable).

Lust had prepared everything, and now he was patiently waiting for Ink to finish, while PJ was gleefully looking at the clothes being made in front of their eyes. It was very adorable.

Ink was finally done, and after hesitating a bit, he unlatched the baby carrier and handed PJ to Lust, who took them in his arms and said, smiling: "We'll be just outside the door, hun. Do you want me to close it?"

Ink nodded, and Lust exited, taking his child away.

The Protector took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, and quickly undressed himself. He tried to not look at his bones, but his gaze fell on them anyway when he reached for the newly created clothes, and so he stopped and examined his body (his normal body, he was never going to summon his ecto again, he would try to get PJ to eat real food as fast as possible).

He looked at his hands, turning them palm up and palm down, he looked at his ribcage (running his fingers over it), his spine, his arms, his legs, and...

He looked the same.

Dream had slashes on his cheeks now, and Ink was fairly sure Blue also had some scars from the day they had been captured (the one time he tried fighting back, to save those poor people that had been-), but he was unmarked.

It felt wrong.

As if nothing happened to him.

Error... Error had done so much, had almost destroyed him, he could still feel his touch all over him, but there wasn't any sign of it on him.

He had made sure Ink remained pretty.

He puked a bit on the pajamas, left on a heap on the floor.

Ink wanted to slash his own face until he was bleeding, break his own arms, fall on his knees and scream himself raw, but instead he silently took his new (old) clothes and hugged them taking a deep breath.

He changed himself and then grabbed the pajamas in his hand, opening the door.

True to his word, Lust was there, and immediately handed him back PJ.

"Ma."
"That's right baby." Ink said, feeling more at ease already "Mommy is here." He then turned back to Lust. "Let's do it."
"Follow me."

The two of them got out of the Council's quarters Ink had used to change, and moved to the back of the building, where Lust had placed a small metal barrel. Ink threw the dirty pajamas in it.

His friends winked at him and produced matches.

"The honor is all yours."

Ink lit the match (keeping it away from PJ's grabbing hands), and threw it inside the barrel.

The clothes created nice flames, warm but not too warm, and the smoke formed mesmerizing shapes in the air. PJ seemed to like it as well.

As Ink watched the pajamas burn, he felt like a part of him (a small, ugly, dirty part) was burning as well.

It felt cleansing.

================

Sans didn't know what to feel.

After Dream had fallen asleep, Cross had whispered at them to leave them to rest, and they had obliged. Now, Frisk had disappeared to do whatever needed to be done (the Multiverse wouldn't stop on their behalf), and Sans and Papyrus were standing just outside the door of the room Dream was in. His brother didn't seem to know what to say to him, and that hurt Sans a bit: they had always been very close, and now there was a wall between them.
A thin one, but there nevertheless.

Scratch that, Sans did know how he felt.

Angry, mad, furious even, at the monsters (in the true sense of the word) that had robbed him and his friends of three months of their lives (he didn't want to think about all the other things they had taken, it was too painful and confusing. At least the time was quantifiable).

Just like with violence, Sans had never been prone to anger: Papyrus, despite his carefree attitude, was the one who was impulsive, and rash, and who felt everything ten times stronger than anyone else. Sans instead was of the opinion that being angry was too tiring, and that you should always look at the bright side.

Now, however, anger seemed the only thing able to sustain him. He almost wanted to go down to the holding cells and strangle Horror, or bash Killer's skull against the wall, but giving in and renouncing his morals felt too much like letting them win, so he instead hugged his brother tightly, because now he could.

Memories associated with smells are the strongest: Sans hadn't realized just how much he had missed Papyrus's distinct scent, and that all those times the Murder Trio came near him and pulled him close felt off because they smelled of dust, blood, death and decay. Nothing like the acrid and sweet mix of cigarettes and honey he was used to.

Now feeling settled, Sans released Papyrus from the embrace and walked at the end of the corridor, knowing that Ink was waiting for them.

Only, he wasn't there.

Sans took a couple of deep breath, there was no need to panic. Ink was surely around, he just needed to find him. His brother put his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey bro, what's wrong?"
"Ink isn't here."
"He's safe."

Trust Papyrus to know exactly what was bothering him: he knew they were safe now, he knew, but Sans still felt like he had to protect his friends. Dream was with Cross, and the spy would sooner die than let someone else hurt the Guardian, but Sans didn't know where Ink was.

He needed to see he was alright.

"We'll find him, don't worry."
His brother still had his hand on his shoulder, and gently pushed him forward.
"I can feel it in my bones."
Sans snorted despite himself.
"That was terrible."
"Oh really? Didn't tickle your funny bone?"
"Papy!"
He started laughing.
"Admit it, you do find me humerus."
"Ahahah stop!"
"Never. I like getting under your skin."
"Ahahaha!"

================

Frisk was nervous.

They were currently looking through the Multiverse, trying to get a glimpse of Error or Nightmare, but they couldn't see them anywhere.

They soothed themselves by turning part of their attention to Dream, Ink and Blue: they were all in the same room, with Cross, Stretch and Lust. Ink was cooing over Lux, while the kids were studying each other. Frisk didn't miss how the Stars made sure to hold onto each other at all times, as even when Dream moved to sit up in bed Ink and Blue had kept a grip on Dream's arms, and Dream had also grasped his two friends.

They were free, and it was enough for now.

That inevitably led Frisk to think about their prisoners, and so they decided to watch them.

Horror, Dust and Killer were inside their cells, isolated from the rest of the Omega Timeline. The cells had never actually been used, as Frisk obviously made sure to keep their pocket dimension as peaceful and safe as they could manage, but they didn't have the luxury of finding another place to put the Murder Trio in, so they had to make due.

The three murderers had been healed, and now they were all doing things to pass the time: Horror was sleeping, Dust was talking to his hallucination, and Killer kept trying to summon magical attacks without success.

They still needed to be interrogated, but Frisk didn't have the mental energy for that, and the child was also quite sure that they wouldn't have any useful information: they doubted that Nightmare would trust them with his plans or secrets, though it didn't hurt to try.

Frisk took a deep breath: they should call Astral again and made him modify two cells, to (hopefully) meaningfully contain Error and Nightmare.

Despite their pacifist nature, Frisk was aware that some people are too dangerous to be left alive. Protecting and defending the multiverse had thought them that, sometimes, you have to make difficult choices (they understood Asgore a bit better now). They wouldn't have taken too much of an issue if Horror, Dust or Killer had been killed in battle, or even if people asked for them to be sentenced to death for their crimes (and it was a very long list).

But they were still alive.

Frisk wasn't so stupid as to think that Nightmare would somehow make his grunts immortal, and not think of himself and, as much as it pained them to admit it, Nightmare was one of the best magic users of the Multiverse: the only one able to revert this infuriating immortality spell was probably himself, and Error, and Frisk wasn't exactly counting on that anytime soon.

And Error... Frisk had seen Ink and Error die and come back to life more times that they could count.

They could only hope that Astral's cells would be sturdy enough.

================

Nightmare was dazed.

He had managed to teleport back inside the castle, but the drain of energy he had experienced made him unable to get up, so he remained on the floor, kneeling.

Dream's arrows were one of the very few things that could hurt him, and that disgusting rat had stuck it in deep. He was ashamed to admit he had been taken completely off-guard, and in his frenzy (not panic, Nightmare hadn't panicked, he caused fear in mortals, not the other way around) he had left his subordinates behind. Nightmare could have gathered them and brought them back with him, and healed them, but he had lost the opportunity, and that traitorous snake would doubtlessly make sure to dispose of them and rob Nightmare of his minions.

Such a waste.

Nightmare had spent decades molding them into good enough paws, and now all of that hard work was gone, in an instant.

Nightmare closed his eye for a bit, tired, but almost immediately a sudden surge of rage and heartbreak gave him back some of his strength; the negative Guardian knew it was Error, and they also heard him yell and smash things. Despite the efflux of negative feelings, it took a while for Nightmare to actually attempt teleportation, and by that time Error was already gone.

Still, the King of Negativity reached the armory (where the feelings had been coming from), only to find it completely wrecked. Ink's brush and his vials were missing, and Nightmare was sure that if he checked Error's room it'd be in the same condition (and Ink's things wouldn't be there anymore).

Seeing his prized castle so damaged shook Nightmare from his stupor, and the rage at the mess triggered his wrath at the whole situation.

How DARE he!

A worthless mortal, someone so inferior, so much below him and Dream that he could be regarded as an animal, had dared go against him, not once, but twice, and took his brother away.

Cross wasn't going to be given the luxury of death when Nightmare caught him. No, death was too good for him. Nightmare was going to enjoy torturing him, making him suffer, bringing him to the brink of death and then heal him, again and again.

And Dream would watch. He needed to learn that his actions have consequences.

The King of Negativity loved his twin very much, and he understood that, despite being the same age, Dream was still incredibly naive, but that was no excuse for insubordination: he had told Dream time after time that he had to stay in the castle, that Nightmare would protect him, and yet he had run off with a, a, reprobate!

Though, given Dream's state, it was perhaps understandable.

Dream was with child.

It was still so surreal, and yet it explained so much; it pained Nightmare so much to think that his brother didn't trust him with this information, but the empath supposed he had been a bit harsh in his hatred of Cross (because it couldn't have been anyone else, and the traitor would be punished for that too, for sullying his brother in his own home), and Dream might have thought that Nightmare would make him get rid of the child.

Which was complete nonsense, the child was Nightmare's niece (at least, they had felt like a niece), and he would love her regardless of her unsavory parentage. If anything, Nightmare would make sure the girl would discard her mortal side, and help her flourish in a full fledged goddess, like she was meant to be.

His beautiful niece, she would be treated like a princess!

But Cross had poisoned Dream's mind, and now they were gone (hiding in the Omega Timeline, most definitely).

No matter.

Nightmare knew it was only a matter of time till his twin would be back where he belonged. His brother was too much of a goody two-shoes to not help others in need, so Nightmare would only need to cause some chaos and negativity.

Dream would come running, and Nightmare would bring him back to the castle. That vermin would try to, once again, take his brother away from him, and Nightmare would be ready for him.

And then, Dream would learn his lesson and never leave again.

================

Error was heartbroken, and as it usually was with him, what he was feeling turned into rage pretty quickly.

His Kiki had run away.

He had destroyed parts of Nightmare's stupid castle (it was supposed to be safe), but he was still so full of (sadness) rage.

His Kiki was in the Omega Timeline (where he couldn't reach him, he was apart from him, he NEEDED HIM-)

Error had retreated in the Antivoid, and was hugging Kiki's clothes (they still smelled like him).

He had taken all of Kiki's things from Dreamtale (he wasn't leaving them behind, they were his his his HIS), and for now they were laying on a miserable heap on the floor. When Error felt less (sad) furious, he would add them to his little Kiki corner, but for now they were on the floor, mocking him.

Especially the stupid brush.

What good were those stupid things, after he had experienced real bliss with his love? Without Kiki, nothing else mattered, nothing could ever compare to the feeling of Kiki's body against him, of Kiki's smile, of Kiki's beautiful form dancing for him.

It was all their fault, the stupid Council, with that insufferable brat, and that damned traitor Cross, and that little rat Blueberry (Error had opened his home to him, he had been his friend) and Stretch.

Fucking Stretch.

Error knew they shouldn't have allowed Blue to contact him, he knew it was a bad idea, but nobody had listened, and now Kiki was gone.

He knew it was Stretch's fault, somehow; he had sealed Dreamtale perfectly, nobody could come inside and ruin the heaven he and Kiki had for themselves (beside Killer, but he could deal with him), but the others just HAD to mess it up, and bring corruption inside.

When Error got his hands on that filthy glitch, he was going to completely annihilate him.

Focusing all of his thoughts on a single issue had helped Error focus and be calmer; he got up, and moved to the part of the Antivoid he had dedicated to his love.

It was something Error had used to soothe himself, back when him and Kiki still weren't together, and it was very precious to him; he had some keepsakes from Ink on top of a stolen crate (that he had covered with a cloth made from his strings): some small brushes, an empty vial, some drawings he recovered from Outertale (he had watched his doll draw the landscape, and then recovered the sketches he had left behind), even a piece of his scarf that he had managed to nick during a battle.

Error added the sash, the clothes and the brush to the small shrine, and then sharply turned around, unable to bear looking at it.

What used to comfort him now just seemed pathetic.

How could he ever go back to that, after knowing how it felt to finally be together with his Kiki? It was incomparable.

He HAD to get him back. And he knew just how.

Opening a code window, Error started looking for the Omega Timeline.

It would take him a long time, he knew that: CORE had managed to hide their little hidey-hole for centuries now, but Error had never been as determined as he was at that moment.

It wasn't the only method to lure Ink out. Error could have definitely started destroying AUs, or even enter the Doodlesphere and destroy the Multiverse in one fell swoop, but Error was too enraged to think about that. The glitch just knew that he wanted his Kiki back, and the Council to pay, and so he had immediately started searching.

The Destroyer started smirking while he looked.

He could only think about how he'd bring his love back inside the Antivoid (it would upset Kiki, he knew, but no place was safer for them than Error's domain) and then they could be together.

Forever.

Chapter 12: Monsters in my memories (monsters in my head)

Summary:

I'm a dumbass, and forgot to publish this chapter in between. You get a treat today, because I'm distracted lol
TW: cannibalism

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Ink, Dream and Blue were running.

They were running through the castle, frantic to get away. Dream couldn't even feel Blue's fright, that's how scared and panicked he was.

He could only feel Nightmare's oppressive aura, making him tired and breathless. His two friends didn't seem to have any problems, and kept running, but he was falling behind.

"Ink! Blue!" He called, but they didn't seem to hear him.

The corridor was becoming darker, yet darker, or was it just Dream's fatigue? And it seemed to turn longer and longer, and Ink and Blue were farther and farther away, and Dream couldn't see them anymore, but he kept running, because Nightmare was still behind him, he couldn't let himself get caught, he had to escape, run run run run run-

Dream tripped.

The empath let out a small shout, scrambling to get up.
"INK! BLUE!"

It was too late.

Just as he managed to get on his feet again, he felt himself being grabbed at the waist and pulled back. Nightmare's grip was unyielding, his goop drenching his clothes.
"NO! NO! LET GO LET GO!"

Dream tried to use his positivity against his twin, but two more appendages grabbed his wrists and pushed them against his chest, stopping him.

The empath started hyperventilating (even though he didn't need to breathe), struggling to free himself, but he couldn't.

"Dream."

Dream couldn't even close his eyes, he was paralyzed. He could only look at the corridor all around; only darkness stared back.

"I'm so very disappointed."

More appendages started wrapping themselves around Dream's body, a crushing pressure that left him breathless.

"Don't you know that I only want the best for you?"

Dream tried to shake his skull, to say that no, Nightmare just wanted what was best for him, but he couldn't.

"Why would you want to run away from your family?"

He could feel the goop hardening itself and locking him in place.

Making him a statue.

The positive Guardian wanted to scream, but even more appendages were covering his mouth, and they were starting to cover his eyes as well.

"I'm only keeping you safe."

The corridor was dark, almost an indistinct shape, but it was still something other than the complete darkness that would follow if Dream couldn't see anymore, he couldn't go back to that, when he couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't even feel, only be stuck and wait and wait and wait and wait-

Dream went blind.

=================

Dream awoke with a small shout, struggling against the person keeping him trapped.

"No no no no no!"
"Dream, it's me!"

Dream looked better at the figure snuggled next to him, and recognized his lover, looking at him with a tender expression.

Dream felt all of the fight leave his body, and burrowed himself into Cross's chest.

"Lux is still sleeping in her crib." Cross's voice was deep and calm. "Ink and PJ are down the corridor. Blue is in the other room with Stretch."

Dream let the reassuring mantra wash over him; it wasn't his first nightmare (the irony was not lost on him) and it wouldn't be the last, especially now that the three Stars had decided to start sleeping in different rooms.

They wanted to adjust back to normal life, but it was hard. It had been three weeks by now, and progress was still so very slow.

Ink was probably the most obvious, never letting PJ out of his sight, hesitant to touch and laugh when he was so full of life before, and always sticking close to either him or Blue. His pupils were still white dots, like they had been for almost four months now, and refused to change no matter what Ink was feeling.

Blue was more subtle about it, but Dream could feel him always being ready to run, to fight, to react. Always tense. Every time he entered a room, he immediately looked at the exit, Ink and him, mentally calculating the fastest way to escape.

And of course, he wasn't the exception. Feeling even slightly negative emotions brought back memories of Nightmare's aura. It made him sick.

Especially considering what his twin was doing.

Frisk tried to hide it, but every time they were around, Dream could feel their worry and apprehension, and they spiked (along with concern) whenever they looked at him. Not to mention the sudden influx of new arrivals in the Omega Timeline. Dream wanted to hope that Nightmare had given up on him after he escaped, but he wasn't so naive: the best thing his brother could do to lure him out was to start attacking AUs again.

And worst of all, he was actually considering it.

He couldn't allow his brother to ravage AUs, he had to stop him: it didn't matter it was an obvious trap, it was an opportunity to win against him, once and for all.

If only he wasn't so afraid.

=================

Sans was seated at the table, nervously wringing his hands.

He didn't have a very good feeling.

A loud thud startled him, and he blinked, seeing Horror put a bowl of stew in front of him. It smelled... off.

Horror moved at his side, and put a spoon in his hand.

"Eat... I put... a lot of... blood and sweat... into it..."

He then laughed at his own pun; Sans felt sick, now knowing what (who) he was going to eat, but Horror's steel grip on his shoulder made him shakily move his arm and dip the spoon in the bowl.

He just had to not think about it.

He opened his mouth (Don't think about it). Brought the spoon in front of his mouth (Don't think about it). It sat inside for a few seconds (Don't think about it). Sans swallowed. (Don't think about it).

The taste didn't seem different. Sans wasn't as relieved as he hoped by this.

Horror squeezed his shoulder, and Sans reluctantly kept eating, till almost half the bowl was gone; it seemed bottomless. Sans went to gather another spoonful, and Horror said: "Did you... like it...?" He chuckled. "You should... after all... it's your... favourite..."

Sans frowned at him, uneasy. He didn't understand what Horror mea-

The spoon's stirring had made something from the stew come to the surface.

It was a skull.

Sans looked at it, and found his brother's face staring back.

That was-

Horror had ki-

Horror made him eat-

He had-

He had eaten-

Sans screamed.

=================

Sans shot from his bed, and only managed to turn to the side before retching all over the floor.

Given that skeletons didn't have organs, and what they consumed was immediately assimilated by their magical bodies, it should be impossible for them to vomit, and yet, when confronted with very harmful magic or extreme disgust, they were able. Though it did mean that whenever it happened, it hurt. It was a last resort to purify the body, and it wasn't something a skeleton was meant to do.

Sans's soul felt raw and sensitive, and he almost put two fingers in his mouth to expell every single bit of his- of what he had eaten, before realizing he had had another nightmare.

Sans heaved, and flinched when he felt a gentle hand on his back.
"I'm sorry." he whimpered "I made a mess."
"Hey, you know me. I'm a messy guy."

Sans let out a broken laugh.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Sans paused; he usually told Papyrus what his nightmares were about, but this time he didn't feel up to it, so he weakly shook his skull.
"Alright. Wanna come to my bed instead?"
Sans nodded, and let himself be picked up by his brother and carried to the other bed inside the room.

After they settled, Papyrus summoned a book from his inventory and gave it to him.
"Wanna read Fluffy Bunny? I must admit, I miss it."
Sans held the familiar book in his hands, recalling all the times he had read it to his brother to put him to sleep, and how his little brother (who was not so little anymore) used to snuggle against him, lulled by his voice.

Papyrus positioned Sans against him, and murmured: "Go on."

Sans started reading, and Papyrus let out a small sigh, petting his skull fondly. Sans let himself focus on the familiar words on the page and the physical comfort, to avoid thinking of everything else.

Like the fact that their house was gone.

Papyrus and Frisk obviously didn't want him to know, but Sans could still read his brother like a book, and he realized immediately that he was hiding something form him, so he prodded a bit and Papyrus reluctantly told him.

Error had been to Underswap, and had immediately opened fire on their house, that was now only a pile of rubble.

Nothing else, nobody else had been targeted. Just their house. Papyrus hesitated again, and then told him that Frisk had explained that Error was looking for him, for revenge: apparently, while he was destroying their house, the glitch kept screaming about Papyrus and looking for him, blaming him for their escape.

His brother didn't add anything else, but Sans could easily imagine the sort of threats and gory revenge fantasies Error had in mind for Papyrus, and he was terrified. For once, he was glad for their slow recovery, has it had been a month since they had escaped, but they all remained inside the Omega Timeline to stay close.

Otherwise, Sans and Papyrus would have already gone back home, and then...

No use thinking about it.

For now, they'd just stay where they were safe.

=================

Ink was laying on his bed, eyes open staring at the ceiling.

Soulless beings can't dream.

Everything Ink sees in his sleep are just memories: his "dreams" are usually memories of him having fun around the Multiverse, either alone or with his friends; his "nightmares" used to be memories of before he became the Protector, half-forgotten images of a white expanse and deep-seated loneliness, that would leave him feeling lost and scared when he woke up.

That had obviously changed.

Ink was so scared of falling asleep now, sure that he would only see him. He had escaped, why wasn't that enough?

Tears gathered in his eyes, and he silently cried, curling on himself. He missed his old life, when he didn't feel so helpless and pathetic, he missed Broomie, his oldest companion and friend, and he missed his home.

He was too afraid to go back to the Doodlesphere, acutely aware that his tormentor could both spy on him and enter whenever he wanted. His home wasn't safe anymore.

He had taken everything from him.

"Mama?"

Almost everything.

Ink wiped his tears, and turned, seeing his child at the head of the bed. They had gotten up from the small bed at the other side of the room, and now they were looking at him with a frown.

"Mama, okay?"
Ink mustered a weak smile.
"Yes, don't worry Jammie, go back to sleep."
PJ pouted.
"No lie. Bad Mama."
The child crawled onto Ink's bed, and nuzzled into Ink. They then clumsily patted his chest, saying: "There, there." mimicking what Ink did when they were upset.

A real (if faint) smile appeared on Ink's face.
"Thank you Jammie, I feel better already."
PJ beamed at him, and almost miraculously fell back asleep.

The artist only stared at them, unable to do the same. He stroked their head, thinking back on all that had happened during this month and a half of recovery.

Now that they were free, not even Ink could avoid noticing the alarmingly fast rate at which PJ was developing: they were almost 7 weeks old, and yet they now reached Ink's hip, could walk on their own with minimal assistance and were even talking in short sentences. At least they ate solids now.

Ink had been very reluctant, but he had allowed Sci and some other Gasters to perform an examination on PJ, for their own sake, but it was inconclusive: only Nightmare knew what he had done to create PJ, and without any directions they'd have to make more invasive tests, something that Ink had strongly opposed.

Sci hadn't pushed, obviously unwilling to experiment on a toddler, but had hypothesized that the growth would, hopefully, slow down on its own with time, and then stabilize itself when PJ reached puberty. Ink really hoped so, he didn't want anything bad to happen to them.

Luckily, nothing else was seemingly amiss with PJ. The week they had spent at the castle was almost gone from their memories, and PJ was a very sweet and happy child, if a bit shy. They sometimes flinched if people raised their voice, but that was happening less and less.

Instead, Ink couldn't seem to get better.

He couldn't even look at Gradient anymore. His son hadn't been told what had happened to him, and it was normal for him to not see Ink for months at a time, so he hadn't been worried, but he was a very clever ten year old, and could see that Ink was uneasy with him, though he didn't know why.

It made Ink so ashamed of himself, being able to spend time with one child and not the other.

But just like with Astral, Gradient looked too much like him.

His chest hurt and Ink trembled, holding Paperjam tighter.

Being the Protector made him intrinsically connected to the Multiverse, and whenever an AU was damaged (or destroyed) he felt it, a spike of pain inside his ribcage, right where his soul should be.

It had been two weeks since he had started destroying again, and Ink felt so worthless. He should be out there, fighting against him, fulfilling his role, protecting the Multiverse.

But he was too weak.

Notes:

Now you'll wait two weeks for the next chapter instead of one/j

Chapter 13: Nightmare

Summary:

Two brothers meet.

Notes:

EDIT: Hey guys, just realized I skipped uploading a chapter, so please read the one before this "monsters in my memories (monsters in my head)". I feel so dumb lol

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Dream took a deep breath.

"You can still turn back."
The empath gazed sadly at the child, deeply grateful for the offer, but aware that he couldn't stand by and do nothing.
"I know."

Frisk frowned, and squeezed his hand once, before nodding and disappearing.

Now Dream was alone inside the AU. It was a very positive one, a True Pacifist timeline, and the Underground was empty.

It was the perfect place to face his twin.

It had been over two months since their escape, and while Dream would never feel safe enough (strong enough) to face Nightmare, he knew his brother had to be stopped, and he couldn't wait any longer.

He had a plan. It was risky, but Dream was reasonably sure he would succeed.

Dream gently sat down crosslegged on the golden flower bed at the start of the Ruins, and holding his hands in his lap, he started to sing.

It was a very old song, something he and Nightmare had known from the moment they had been born, something that was like a spell, but not quite, and it called on the bond they both shared (even now, tainted and frayed as it was). It was meant to help them find one another, but they had never used it, as when they were children they were always together, and after the Incident neither of them wanted to be found by the other.

However, it had always been there, at the back of both of their minds.

Now, Dream was using it.

And like a siren's call, Nightmare answered.

Dream felt him appear behind him, but didn't turn. He let himself enjoy the sun a bit more, allowing himself to feel its rays on his face.

"Dream."

His brother's aura was full of satisfaction, though there were lingering echoes of anger, frustration and condescension, like Dream was nothing more than a misbehaving child that finally saw reason.

"Nightmare."

Dream kept an iron clad grip on his own aura, not letting anything escape. He knew that now Nightmare believed he had won, and wouldn't attack him, so he took his time rising to his feet, smoothing his outfit and turning to his twin.

Nightmare's sharp and possessive stare made Dream feel like prey, prompting him to run and hide, but he resisted and instead placidly held his gaze.

"You Called me."
"I did."

Nightmare's face was split by a smirk.

"So, have you finally see the error of your ways?"
Dream assumed a contrite expression, and started parroting back what Nightmare wanted to hear: "I have. I know you're only trying to protect me, and that you only want the best for me, but I still acted irrationally and ran away. I'm sorry. I was just feeling... cooped up, and when Cross came" at the mention of his lover, Nightmare scowled "I didn't think and followed him." At that point, Dream worked up a little tear. "I guess, I still love him, even if he's dangerous."

Nightmare felt satisfied and smug, but still, he didn't move closer. That wasn't good, Dream needed him close for his plan to work.

His brother tilted his skull and asked: "What about my niece?"

The empath froze. What about Lux? He would obviously die before his daughter had to experience even a second of sadness, but what would Nightmare want to hear? He tried giving an honest answer.

"I... she's already born, you could probably tell. I'm sorry for hiding her from you, I was afraid of how you'd react, especially after Cross's betrayal."

Nightmare gave him a fond smile, and his aura expressed patronizing feelings.

"Oh Dream, she's your daughter." He made a step forward, opening his arms. "She's family."

He then frowned again.

"That rat will probably try to stop us, but he should know to not interfere and let us take her back home, where she belongs." He smiled again. "What's her name?"

Dream was reluctant to give any information about her to his twin, but he needed to make him come closer; at least, Nightmare didn't seem to have any malicious intentions about Lux.

"Lux."
Nightmare twisted his mouth.
"It's a fine name, but maybe you could change it to a more suitable one, like Dawn. Or Aurora."

Dream resisted rolling his eyes: Nightmare had always been a bit obsessed with the whole "sun-moon" motif they used to have. Instead, he took a step forward (he hoped it looked steady). Dream felt himself almost starting to shake. He needed Nightmare to be just a little closer.

"You can help me choose when we're home again, the three of us. You'll see her, and decide which fits more with her appearance."
Nightmare felt so pleased, and he smiled again.
"I'm glad you're finally seeing reason Dream."

He started walking closer.

Dream smiled, and drove the last nail in the coffin.

"I'm so grateful you decided to forgive me."

At every step, Dream felt more and more impatient, and it was becoming harder and harder to keep a lid on his aura.

Dream clasped Cross's hands, and looked at Lux, who was sleeping in her crib.
"She will act as a conduit. She won't even feel it, but you might faint. Still, it won't have any lasting effects."

Nightmare was coming closer.

Cross looked at him with firmness. "What do you need me to do?"

Closer.

Dream let go of his hands, and handed him Lux. "Just two things. First, you need to maintain physical contact, at all times."

Closer.

Cross nodded, sitting down on their bed and adjusting their daughter to have her skull laying on his chest, right over his soul. "And the second?"

Nightmare opened his arms and went for a hug.

Dream smiled, and put his forehead against his. "That's the easiest."

Dream met him halfway, and made sure to hold him tight, so that he couldn't escape.

"You just have to love me."

Dream focused on all the brimming positive energy Cross had transfered and he had accumulated up until that moment, and then

Let

It

OUT

 

 

The resulting bursts of energy made all of the golden flowers and the grass they were standing on wither and die, scorched and shriveled beyond recognition.

Nightmare screamed, and Dream wasn't sure if he did as well. Regardless, he held onto his brother and didn't let him go until he stopped struggling. Then, he opened his arms and Nightmare crumpled to the ground.

The positive Guardian felt himself tremble, and looked at his arms to see that they were glowing a soft golden color. He felt warm all over.

Looking around the room, he saw that he had left scorch marks all over the stone walls.
He then turned to his brother, and froze.

The attack had been so potent that Nightmare's corruption had been all but obliterated, and Dream was gazing at his brother's real face for the first time in over 500 years.

Dream didn't let himself be fooled, though. Rivulets of corruption were dribbling from his mouth and leaking from other parts of his body, trying to coat his figure again.

Corruption chunks were scattered all around, and they had become hardened and lucid, almost like obsidian, and Dream caught a glimpse of himself: like he thought, his whole body was shimmering, and his eyes were solid gold.

Nightmare's breathing was haggard, his eyes were half lidded, and he was watching him with a disbelieving gaze.

It was peculiar, how Nightmare loved to reference their motif, and yet always forgot that Dream was the Sun.

Dream regretted never using his powers this way before, and avoiding a lot of unnecessary suffering, but he supposed that a small part of him wanted to believe that the Nighty he knew was still there, and he couldn't bring himself to harm his brother.

The worst part was, he was right. The Nightmare he knew, the Nightmare of his childhood, was still there, but he had grown, and changed into a dangerous person.

And he had to accept it, and let him go.

Dream sighed and then called: "Frisk." He paused when he heard his voice, but carried on unconcerned. "Please come to collect my brother. I don't think I can safely touch him in this state."

"Brother..."
The positive Guardian ignored Nightmare's groan, and waited for Frisk to send someone to him.
"How could you... do this to me... You betrayed me... Again!"

Dream closed his eyes for a brief moment. Despite what Nightmare had done to him, the accusation still hurt. Dream would always bring the guilt of what happened to his twin with him.

But that didn't excuse his actions.

"Traitor... I'm your brother... Your family..."
Dream didn't answer.
"DON'T IGNORE ME!" Nightmare shouted, and then started coughing, corruption falling from his mouth.

Dream still didn't answer, and Nightmare kept spouting abuse at him and hacking, until a portal opened and Fresh came out.

Immediately he acquired a very wide smile, and he stopped mid-step, touching his face in confusion, his glasses saying FRE-AKY, and looking at him up and down.

"Rad glow, brah."
Even his tone was unnaturally cheerful.
He then approached Nightmare and gently grabbed him bridal style.

"UNHAND ME YOU PARASITE!" Nightmare's corruption was coming back, so Dream flared his aura a bit and his twin groaned.
The goop that had gathered till now fell to the ground with a wet sound.

Nightmare turned back to Dream, and his betrayed eyes (on the face Dream only saw in his memories) were a gut punch.

"DREAM! STOP THIS NONSENSE AND HELP ME!"
He was squirming pathetically, looking like a fussy child being brought to bed.
Dream remained still, watching as Fresh carried him away, his glasses saying CHI-LL.
"DREAM! DREAM! DRE-!"
The portal closed, leaving Dream alone.

He felt the energy starting to leave him, and his glow subsided. He'd probably be back to normal in a few minutes. The empath sat down hugging his knees, and found Frisk at his side.

"That was... something."
"It was. I think I'll wait a bit before coming back inside the Omega Timeline, don't want to overwhelm people. That's why you sent Fresh, isn't it?"
Dream didn't want to talk about what had just happened, all of his emotions were all over the place (literally and figuratively), and Frisk graciously indulged him.
"Yes. I already informed Cross, Blue and Ink, so they won't worry if you don't come back right away. You can rest for a bit."

Frisk hesitated.

"Do you want me to stay?"
"You'll be here even if I can't see you, won't you?" he said, trying to make a joke "Please stay. I could use a friend."

Frisk nodded, and leaned against him.

They remained in silence, listening to the wind coming from the opening above them.

Notes:

1 down, 1 to go.

Chapter 14: Error

Summary:

It's Error's time to shine.
TW children in distress

Notes:

Also, I don't know how many have noticed (I'll stop after this, I promise lol) but last week I skipped a chapter, so I'm telling everyone to go read chapter 12 "Monsters in my memories (monsters in my head)" before this one.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

He had done it.

He had finally done it.

Error grinned, looking at the coordinates of the Omega Timeline displayed on his code window.

It had taken him months (at least, he thought it was months, time moved weirdly inside the Antivoid), but now he could finally meet his Kiki again. There was nothing he wanted more than holding his beautiful doll in his arms again, bring him home where he would stay forever and ever, with him, and never leave him. The thought made him so giddy.

Strangely enough, Error also found himself somewhat missing the brat; having a child was way more difficult than Error had expected, and took away a lot of time from him and Kiki. The kid had to be fed, clothed, rocked, always entertained, it was so annoying! And yet, Error supposed PJ was... cute. He liked it when they were silent, and they made Kiki happy, so he had decided it wouldn't be that much of a hassle to keep them.

Error pictured a scene in his mind, of his Kiki seated on his blue beanbag, on his lap, while he was feeding their baby, and the thought made him aroused.

He couldn't wait.

He immediately opened a portal: if the glitch had taken a bit more time, he could have also located Kiki with accuracy, and created a portal right in front of him, but Error didn't care, as he knew his doll didn't have his brush with him, and so he couldn't fight him or escape.

Besides, finding the Omega Timeline had been one of the Destroyer's greatest goals.

He wanted to have a little fun with all the other glitches. He has started destroying AUs again, but he couldn't enjoy it like he used to. It just wasn't the same without Kiki trying to stop him.

Error entered the Omega Timeline, and didn't waste time in capturing some random souls with his strings and shattering them. Glitches started screaming and running, and Error felt elated, and started laughing.

"a𝓱A𝓱A𝓱! 尺𝕌Ň, я𝕌Ň, я𝕌Ň, Aş ⓕAşt Aş 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬AŇ, 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬AŇ't Eş𝓬ApE 爪E, 𝕪σ𝕌'яE A𝔩𝔩 GσŇŇA ᵇE 𝓓乇a𝓓!"

He shot his strings left and right, conjuring Blasters all around, all the while looking for his Kiki. It was so exhilarating, the sound of the screams, the smell of dust and blood in the air, the feeling of magic buzzing inside of him. It made him feel so powerful.

Nobody dared to approach him or attack him. They all knew it would be pointless.

Error walked around leisurely while his blasters kept firing, admiring his work and nonchalantly peeking behind crumbled buildings to find glitches. He saw the grey brat out of the corner of his eye multiple times, appearing and disappearing near abominations, but for every group he found and killed, at least three other were directed away from him.
It was annoying, but he didn't really care, as he had another, more important objective in mind.

He paid attention to the feeling of his strings being touched: like a spider on a web, he was waiting and ready to capture his missing butterfly.

================

It had all happened too fast.

One moment he was spending the day with Fresh, trying to relax, the next they started hearing screams and then Ink saw blue strings and simply got PJ and ran.

He ran as fast as he could, not thinking straight.
"Mom?! What's going on?! Mom?! Mom?!"
Ink covered PJ's mouth and ran faster.

The first alley he saw, he shot inside and hid, sliding on the ground and heaving. He then felt wet, and saw that his child was hiccuping and crying.

Ink quickly removed his hand, wiping it on his chest, and caressed their cheek as an apology.
"Mo-oh-oh-oh-m, it's sca-ah-ah-ah-ry-y-y."
"I'm sorry Jammie, I'm sorry I'm sorry" he whispered "I'll explain but you have to stay quiet, alright? Very very quiet."
PJ sobbed a couple more times, and then nodded.

Ink hugged them tight, putting their face against his chest, and then murmured: "There's a very bad man. He wants to..." Ink shuddered "to do very bad things, so we have to hide, so he doesn't find us, alright?"
PJ nodded, their sobbing muffled against Ink's shirt. The Protector kissed the top of their head.
"Don't worry, I'm sure everyone else will stop him, so we just have to wait. We'll stay here, be quiet, and wait for help, okay baby?"

His child nodded again, and so they waited. After about ten minutes, Ink hesitantly called, in a low voice: "Frisk?"

The monochromatic child took a few seconds to appear, and they looked frantic, turning their head left and right without reason.
"Ink, I'm sorry, I can't- go left! help you! I'm directing at least 20 other- go right, then right again! people, taking them away from Error! Any more and I won't be able to- hide! focus!" The child took a breath and said: "The rendezvous point is the hospital, but don't move for now. Stay put!"

Frisk disappeared, and Ink felt dizzy. He tried focusing on the bright side, that the fact that Frisk simply told him to stay put meant that Error wasn't near.

"Mom?"
Ink looked down at PJ, and they had a scared expression on their face, so he cuddled them to soothe them.
"Is the bad man... the black man?"
Ink's eyes widened, and he felt a chill run down his spine.
"The... black man?" Did PJ actually remember Error from before? The artist thought they had forgotten him.
PJ nodded, with new tears in their eyes.
"He's mean a-ah-nd sca-ah-ah-ry-y a-ah-nd he yeh-eh-eh-ehlls, I doh-oh-oh-n't lih-ih-ih-ke him."

Ink felt a familiar anger surface, the same rage and helplessness he had felt when he was still in Dreamtale, unable to stop Error from harming his child.

Ink hugged them tight and promised: "He won't hurt you, Jammie, don't worry. I'll protect you, in any way I can."

Even if it meant... Even if it meant surrendering himself to Error. If it would save his baby, Ink would do it.

PJ calmed down, and almost dozed off (tired after crying so much), when Frisk appeared again, frenzied.
"Ink!" They whispered harshly "you need to move, now!"

Ink got to his feet, and Frisk started to hurriedly pushing him toward one end of the alley. PJ clutched his shirt with a steely grip, but remembered to stay quiet.

================

Error was becoming very pissed off.

He should have paid more attention to CORE, now they had gone and evacuated all the abominations away from him!
Crumbled buildings (and dust) were all around, but nothing more.

The glitch felt cheated: he couldn't do what he wanted, and he STILL hadn't found his Kiki!

Error roared in frustration and started creating blasters, shooting everywhere at once to blow off some steam (and maybe some stray abomination).

He heard a small yelp.

The Destroyer smirked, and shot his strings in the direction of the sound, quickly catching his prey and bringing them in front of him. After all, every victim deserves to look their executioner "dead" in the eyes.

He was, however, very surprised when he found his own eyes staring back at him.

The glitch in front of him was an almost identical copy of himself, though the markings on his cheeks were different (more geometrical), he wore glasses and he was obviously panicked; Error's copy was crying and snivelling, and it pissed him off.

Error tightened his blue threads, and the copycat whimpered, and he started to cry out: "ɖ-ɖ-ɖǟɖ! ɖ-ɖ-ɖ-ɖǟɖ!"

That made Error pause: the height of the copy had made him think he was an adult (one of those useless swap versions of him) but it seemed he was a child instead. A child that looked like him.

He had a pretty good idea of who this was.

Gently, to avoid triggering his phobia, Error took the kid by the chin (the child glitched a bit) and made him look him in the eye, then he grinned and asked: "𝓱E𝕪 𝕂𝐢𝓭, Ⓦ𝓱At'ş 𝕪σ𝕌я ŇA爪E?"
The kid seemed too freaked out to answer, but Error wasn't in the mood to play games. He jerked the brat forward with a glare and said: "ι Aş𝕂E𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 A ⓠ𝕌Eşt𝐢σŇ, ᵇяAt. 𝓓𝐢𝓭 Ňσ σŇE tEA𝓬𝓱 爪AŇŇEяş?"

That got his attention, and he managed to stammer: "ʍ-ʍ-ʍʏ ռǟ-ǟ-ǟʍɛ ɨֆ ɢʀ-ɢʀ-ɢʀǟɖɨɛռ-ռȶ."
Error smiled again and let go of his face. "ภσⓌ, t𝓱At ⓌAşŇ't şσ 𝓱Aя𝓭, ⓌAş 𝐢t? 𝓱σⓌ σ𝔩𝓭 AяE 𝕪σ𝕌?"
"ɨ-ɨ-ɨ-ɨ'ʍ ȶ-ȶ-ȶ-ȶɛռ."

Oh for fuck's sake, was he gonna do this every time he opened his mouth? Honestly, that was pretty pathetic, how could a child made from him and Kiki be such a wimp?

"ℓ𝐢ştEŇ ᵇяAt, 𝕪σ𝕌я şt-şt-şt𝕌ttEя 𝐢ş ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG AŇŇσ𝕪𝐢ŇG, şσ ŇσⓌ ι'爪 GσŇŇA Aş𝕂 𝕪σ𝕌 𝕪Eş σя Ňσ ⓠ𝕌Eşt𝐢σŇş, AŇ𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌'яE GσŇŇA AŇşⓌEя Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 A ş𝓱A𝕂E σя A Ňσ𝓭, 𝓱AѶE ι 爪A𝓭E 爪𝕪şE𝔩ⓕ 𝓬𝔩EAя?"
Gradient quickly nodded; he was still crying but at least he was silent now.
"𝑔σσ𝓭, ι şEE 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬AŇ ᵇE ş爪Aяt. ℓEt'ş ştAяt Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 AŇ EAş𝕪 σŇE: 𝓭σ 𝕪σ𝕌 𝕂ŇσⓌ Ⓦ𝓱σ ι A爪?"

Gradient shook his skull, so Error assumed a faux hurt expression, putting his hand over his chest.
"ᶜAŇ't şEE t𝓱E ⓕA爪𝐢𝔩𝕪 яEşE爪ᵇ𝔩AŇ𝓬E?" he then smirked "ι'爪 𝕪σ𝕌я ⓕAt𝓱Eя."

At that, Gradient wildly shook his skull and started crying and sobbing again. The fuck was his problem?!
"ռ-ռ-ռ-ռ-ռօ!"
"𝕎𝓱At 𝓭σ 𝕪σ𝕌 爪EAŇ "ภσ"? ι a𝓂 𝕪σ𝕌я ⓕAt𝓱Eя!"
"ȶ-ȶɦɛ ɖ-ɖ-ɖօƈȶ-ȶօʀ ɨֆ ʍ-ʍ-ʍ-ʍʏ ɖ-ɖ-ɖ-ǟɦ!"

Error tightened his strings around the kid's soul, and he cried out in pain. Did this stupid brat think he could go against him without consequences?! And this "Doctor" that had usurped his role, he would make him pay too, like every last disgusting abomination that was in his way-

"Error, stop!"

That voice. That beautiful, ethereal voice.

Error and Gradient turned to the right, and the Destroyer saw his Kiki.

Error suddenly felt at peace: finally, his doll was here, and they could be together again.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢..." he breathed out.

His love was as beautiful as always, and he was coming out from behind a pile of rubble; Error could glimpse CORE behind, gesturing at Kiki to come back, but his doll was ignoring him. That just went to show that CORE and all of his little minions could do whatever they wanted, and his Kiki would always come back to him, and the two of them would be together.

As they should be.

================

Ink was quickly reaching the hospital, but then he heard a very familiar voice crying out: "ɖ-ɖ-ɖǟɖ! ɖ-ɖ-ɖ-ɖǟɖ!" and sharply turned around.
"Gradient?!"
"Ink, keep moving please!"

Frisk was trying to pull him forward, but Ink was rooted on the spot, seeing Gradient in Error's grasp. His torturer, in complete control of his child.

Ink hesitated, for a few long, shameful seconds, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from Error as he could, but then batted tears away from his eyes and crouched down, pulling PJ away from him and loosening their grip on his shirt.

Frisk looked at him and frantically whispered: "No! Ink, don't even think about it, I have already told some of the others to come for Gradient, you don't have to do this-!"

Ink kissed PJ's head and told them: "Stay here with Frisk Jammie, be good."
"Mom?"
"Ink, come on, we're almost there!"

"Frisk." That shut them up. "Please keep my child safe."

Frisk tried to say something else, but a pained shout caught all of their attention and Ink emerged from the rubble they were hiding behind yelling: "Error, stop!"

Both Error and Gradient turned to look at him; his son was terrified, tears streaming down his face, and Error...

Error looked mad. He had such a wide smile and a crazed look in his eyes, and he breathed out: "ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢..."

Ink felt himself about to lose it, and barely managed to not have a panic attack. He was transported back to all those months ago, when every little action, every word had to be tailored to Error's taste.

He was sure his expression showed how scared he was, but Error didn't seem to notice: like usual, he only saw what he wanted to see.

"Error, please. Let him go."
Ink hated how his voice shook.

Hearing that the artist wasn't focusing all of his attention on him made Error frown, and so he slightly tightened his hold on Gradient's soul, making him gasp.
"ɨ-ɨռӄ!"
His Gradient, his sensitive little boy, was crying even harder than before, and Ink couldn't do anything.
"ร𝓱σⓌ 𝕪σ𝕌я 爪σt𝓱Eя şσ爪E яEşpE𝓬t, ᵇяAt!"

"Please, let him go! I'll do-" the artist had to pause and take a couple of deep breaths, before continuing, defeated "I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt him."

Error relaxed his grip on Gradient, and repeated: "aŇ𝕪t𝓱𝐢ŇG?" with a frightening glint in his eyes.
"A-anything. I'll come with you, we'll be together forever, just like you want."
Error's grip slacked even more, and then he gained a questioning expression.
"𝕎𝓱At Aᵇσ𝕌t t𝓱E ᵇяAt?"

Ink forced himself to not look at the pile of rubble he had just exited, to not give away PJ's hiding place.
"Nevermind them, we... we only need each other."
It was the right thing to say, as Error gave him a wide smile, and started moving towards him.
Ink took a shaky step back, and hurriedly said: "But! But you have to let Gradient go, first!"
"aŇ𝓭 t𝓱EŇ 𝕪σ𝕌'𝔩𝔩 𝓬σ爪E Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 爪E?"

Ink took one last calming breath (his last breath as a free monster).

"I give you my word."

It was the only thing the artist could do, Error was too strong for him to fight.

The Destroyer slowly, slowly released Gradient's soul, and his son took a couple of hesitant steps away from Error, before running into Ink's arms.

"ɨ-ɨ-ɨ'ʍ ֆ-ֆ-ֆօʀʀʏ." he cried, his grip so tight his hands were shaking "ɦɛ ƈ-ƈǟʊ-ǟʊ-ǟʊɢɦȶ ʍ-ʍ-ʍɛ, ǟ-ǟ-ǟռɖ ռ-ռօա ʏ-ʏ-ʏօʊ-"
"...it's alright."

It wasn't.

Ink heard Error approach, and so he squeezed Gradient one last time, letting him go and pushing him behind him.

Seeing him taking his time, coming closer and closer, made Ink feel about to faint. He tried to move towards him as well, but he could only take an unsteady step before something latched to his legs.

"Mommy no!"

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no nO NO NO!

PJ was supposed to be safe, what was Frisk doing?! Hadn't they brought them away, to the hospital, why were they HERE, in DANGER?!

Error stopped a couple feet away and glared, saying: "𝑔σ AⓌA𝕪, 𝕂𝐢𝓭! t𝓱E GяσⓌŇ𝕌pş AяE tA𝔩𝕂𝐢ŇG!"
PJ glared back and collapsed in a puddle of ink (when had they learned to do that?!), only to reappear in front of the glitch and deliver a swift kick to the shins.

"You're a bad man!"

Error let out a cry, and then started glitching.

"үσ𝕌 ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG ᵇяAt-!" he snarled, reaching toward their neck with his hands, and PJ had lost all of their resolve and remained frozen in fear, Ink had to do something-!

The slap echoed in the clearing full of debris.

The Destroyer's hand remained in mid-air, suspended where it had been whacked away by Ink, and Error was looking at it as if he couldn't believe what had happened.

Neither could Ink.

It was like something had just clicked in his mind, and in a second all of his battles against Error flashed in front of his eyes.

He had been... Error's nemesis before being kidnapped.

How could he have forgotten?

He had fought him before.

He had hurt him before.

He could fight back.

All of the helplessness, the despair, the frustration, the repulsion, the resentment, the misery he had felt while he was being held prisoner, while Error was forcing him to fulfill his sick fantasies (he didn't want to do it, he didn't WANT to!) started bubbling and stirring inside of him, merging together into a boiling fury that needed an outlet.

Ink didn't notice that he had started heaving, or that Gradient had grabbed PJ and took them away, or even that his pupils had finally changed from those lifeless white dots he had had for months and turned into a crosshair and a big red cross, and that his mouth had grew fangs.

The one thing he could focus on was Error, his kidnapper, his torturer, his rapist, his enemy, he hated him, hated him, hated him, HATED HIM SO MUCH!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The Protector roared and lunged at the Destroyer, making both of them fall to the ground and started relentlessly punching Error in the face, then choking him, then scratching him and trying to blind him, then punching him again, without giving him a moment of respite, only focusing on hurting him as much as he hurt him; Ink's vision was almost obscured by a red fog, and he couldn't stop hitting Error, and he had now grabbed the other's skull and was smashing it against the ground.

He was dimly aware that he was screaming obscenities at Error and crying, but the cracking of Error's bones breaking was covering every other sound for him.

The smell of marrow in the air was overwhelming.

Error had stopped moving eventually, but Ink kept going and going and going, until someone put their hand on his shoulder and said: "Ink. That's enough."

Ink startled and suddenly reality came back in focus; he realized how tired he was, and his throat felt raw from all the screaming.

Error, straddled under him, was a mess: part of his skull was caved in, multiple ribs were broken, and he was barely breathing, letting out air in short, pained gasps.

Disgusted, the Protector got up with a trembling stance and let himself lean against the person who had touched him.
For good measure, he kicked Error in the side, making him let out a groan.

Dream rubbed his hands over his arms, and Ink let out a shuddering sigh.

His fingers were dripping marrow on the ground.

Looking around, Ink noticed many people were around, and absentmindedly noted that they were probably the reinforcements Frisk had called to help Gradient.

"It's over." Dream whispered, almost in awe.

Some of them were approaching Error with hesitance, probably to cart him away.

"It's over."

Notes:

And now all of the bad guys are behind bars! The story is not over yet, I'll write another 1/2 chapters to wrap everything up, so stay tuned for next week. Also, would anyone be interested in a little extra, like deleted scenes/storylines?

Chapter 15: Not with a bang, but a whimper

Summary:

This is the way the story ends.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

It took CORE a few days to finally check on them.

Sans had been surprised at being healed after being blasted to hell, but he supposed that CORE and the others were too nice to leave them in agony.

He only remembered bits and pieces of the aftermath; the next thing he knew, he was in a cell (it didn't have bars, but there was some kind of transparent forcefield over the threshold), being awoken by Killer's curses and insults.

Paps had told him how relieved he was that Sans was well again, and explained what had happened, how him, Horror and Killer had been (abandoned by the Boss) captured and nobody had come since.

Not that Sans expected anyone who wasn't the Boss to come (and even then, he wouldn't waste his time breaking them out, they'd have to take care of that themselves). He was glad he had a cellmate he liked to keep him company, so he simply talked with his brother to pass the time. Not like he could do anything else, his cell only had a bed (and his sleep had never been peaceful, even before he killed all the Underground).

Eventually, Killer stopped screaming and being a nuisance (Sans still didn't know what was going on with Horror, but he was probably in another cell). The quiet was... fine.

He was recounting one of his old missions to his brother, when he heard Killer starting to shout again.

"Oh, finally deigning to show your face to us lowly monsters, CORE?!"

Oh brother, it's the grey human child! I like them!

Sans nodded, to show Paps he was listening to him. He also somewhat liked CORE, they were different enough from his own human to not send him into a murderous rage whenever he saw them, (maybe, if CORE had been his human, he wouldn't be in a cell right now) and what they did with the Omega Timeline was nice (though Boss and Error didn't think so): Sans liked raising his LV and EXP just as much as his two friends (and he'd probably get a nice boost if he went on a rampage in the Omega Timeline), but he couldn't deny that the idea of a place where everyone could be safe and be friends with each other was appealing.

Sans couldn't hear exactly what CORE was saying to Killer, but he could certainly hear Killer's responses.

"The fuck I know?!"
"I'm gonna get out of here and get all of those sweet, sweet EXP from all your little rejects!"
"As if!"
"NO!"
"FUCK YOU!"

He's always so vulgar, brother. Especially in front of children, so immature.
"Killer is a brat."
Hope you won't disappoint me, Sans. Being detained is no reason to forget your manners.
"Yeah, you're right."

"WHERE DID YOU GO, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!"

Sans came closer to the threshold, trying to look out of the cell and leaning over the barrier, and he could glimpse that CORE had simply moved one cell to the left (closer to his own cell), and was talking with the occupant (Horror, obviously). Now Sans could hear them clearly, though it was a very one-sided conversation.

CORE was asking the cannibal about Boss's plans, any information he might have, but Horror wasn't saying anything. This didn't surprise Sans, as Horror had always been the most loyal to the Boss out of the three of them. Not that Sans himself wasn't, but (just like Killer) the Boss was simply a means of escaping his dead AU and obtain more LV.

Horror, on the other hand, had been the first of Nightmare's minions, and held him in very high regard. Figures he hadn't realized yet that Nightmare had discarded them, and that it wouldn't make a difference if they told CORE what they knew (not like Nightmare shared his secrets or plans with them).

I thought your other friend was more polite, brother. Ignoring the grey human like that! The height of rudeness!
"Yep. Pretty rude."
No matter, it will be our turn soon enough!
"You're right, Paps."
Try to be cooperative, brother. We need every advantage we can get if we want to get out of this cell. Then you can become stronger!

Sans smirked a bit when Papyrus reminded him of their mission. He didn't care if Nightmare had left them to rot. The priority now was escaping. To hell with everyone else, he had Paps at his side.

So, when CORE came to him next, and interrogated him, he gladly told them everything he knew, even if it wasn't much.

He could hear Killer mock him for being a snitch, and he was sure Horror was glaring at him, but he didn't care.

Sans would come out on top, like he always did.

====================

Stupid cell, stupid Stars, stupid CORE, stupid Horror, stupid Dust, fuck everything!

Sans was pacing his newly improved cell, hating the clock, the desk, the few books he had been given, and so very tempted to smash them to show CORE he didn't need their shitty pity, but he had been very bored this past weeks, and he was pretty sure nobody would bother replacing these things (beside the bed, probably) if he broke them.

Once again, he tried summoning some magic, anything, and didn't manage to. The stupid cell blocked all of his powers, so he only looked like a moron putting his hand forward for no reason.

He missed having his knife to fiddle with.

Their only hope was Boss coming to free them.

As if.

Sans was twitching for a fight, to get some EXP, he felt a craving for some violent interactions, even just someone to shout at, but CORE had got all the information they needed from Dust (fucking snitch), so they weren't coming anymore, and both Horror and Dust ignored him: Dust was talking with his freaky hallucination, all the fucking time, and Horror simply never responded, not to him and not to CORE.

He then felt footsteps approaching, and grinned.

Finally, someone new!

Who could it be? Maybe it was Cross, coming to gloat. Or maybe Stretch, he had looked soooo mad when they had fought before. Or even-

A familiar blue-clad skeleton stopped in front of his cell, and Sans's smirk widened.

"Hey Blue, missed us?"

As soon as he said that, Sans could hear movement from both of the other cells, sure that the Horror and Dust were now trying to peer at their visitor.

Blue was glaring at him with such hatred in his eyes, it was so thrilling. Goody-goody Blue, looking so murderous.

"What, nothing to say?"
Blue was clenching his fists, still silent, but he did avoid his gaze, looking down. Sans knew why he had come down to see them, so put his index under his chin and faked a thoughtful expression, to see if he could make him blow up.
"That's so strange, why would you come here and just stare at us?"

Blue still didn't answer, and so he gasped especially loudly.
"Oh, wait! Could it be that you're... scared of us?"
Ah, a reaction! Blue flinched, and started shaking slightly, though Sans couldn't tell if it was from fear or anger; it didn't matter either way, but now he was curious whether Blue would yell at him or cry.

"Aww, isn't he just adorable, guys? He wanted to come here and show us that he's in charge now."
Silence. Honestly, Dust and Horror were useless. Sans kept goading Blue.

"Does it make you feel better about yourself, seeing us behind bars, being imprisoned? Are you a big boy now? C'mon, tell us baby bro-"
"I'm not your brother."

It had been just a whisper, but everyone had heard it loud and clear. Blue raised his gaze, looking him in the eyes again, and he looked very pissed off.

Sans came closer to the forcefield, greedily drinking in the aggression Blue was oozing.

"Oooh, baby Blue is maaad! What are you gonna do now, uh? Nothing, that's what, you couldn't do anything before and you can't do anything now!"
"Shut up, shut up!"

Blue marched toward Sans, and got right in his face, only the barrier separating them.

"Truth hurts, doesn't it?"
"I said shut up!"

A fist shook the barrier, and Sans slammed his own in retaliation, grinning when Blue flinched.

"Why don't you make me, Blue?! How much time has it been, seven weeks?!"
Blue reflexively corrected: "Three!"
"And you're still afraid?! PATHETIC!"
"SHUT UP!"
"FIGHT ME!"

"Sans!"
They both turned toward the voice, and Stretch came into view, putting his hands on Blue's shoulders. That bastard CORE had probably snitched.

Blue took a step back from Sans, and started shaking.
"Sans, you shouldn't be here."
"Papy, I- I just wanted to..."
"C'mon Stretch, he just wanted to visit! We're all friends here, aren't we?"
Stretch glared at him, but ignored him.
"Bro, let's go."
"But I-"
"Sans."

Blue nodded, so the two brothers started going away.

"Oh Blue, come visit us again, it's been fun!"

Blue flinched again, and Sans started laughing.

====================

Sans was waiting.

He knew that the Boss would come for them, he just had to wait, and trust him.

Sans wasn't stupid, no matter what Killer and Dust thought, he knew they thought Boss had abandoned them, but that wasn't true.

His situation was different from their own, they didn't have an AU to return to, or a family to care for, but Sans had, and Nightmare had come through and helped him.

He gave them food, so much food, and Sans almost didn't care that he couldn't see his little brother ever again, because he knew he was fed and happy.

Nightmare was good to his servants, and he would come for them.

Meanwhile, Sans didn't have anything else to do, and so he slept the days away.

Until Nightmare came.

It had been just another day, but then Fresh had came down to the their cells and opened a portal right in the middle of the corridor.

All three of them had leaned against the forcefield over their thresholds, and they could hear some faint shouting coming from the other side.

Fresh entered, and then came back a minute later with another skeleton squirming in his arms.

"DREAM! DREAM!"

The portal closed, and the stranger started struggling harder.

"REOPEN THAT PORTAL RIGHT NOW!"

That voice was unmistakable, it was Boss!

Now that Sans looked closer, he could see the black goop that always covered Boss leaking from his eyes and mouth, though he was in complete shock.

Who had hurt Boss like this?!

Fresh simply walked to an empty cell and threw him inside, dusting his hands and quickly turning around.

"YOU PEASANT, YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

When Fresh finally went away, Sans, Killer and Dust tried asking the Boss what had happened, if there was any plan, anything, but he didn't seem to hear them, he just kept muttering about his twin and pacing, his appendages hitting the forcefield with aggression.

Killer and Dust stopped trying to talk with him, but Sans kept pressing for much longer, worried for Papyrus, but Nightmare still wasn't answering, didn't even notice he wasn't alone, and so he eventually stopped trying.

He turned back to sleep, hoping his brother would be alright.

Dream never came to visit.

====================

Cross was doing his weekly rounds.

It was something he hated with a passion, but knew it had to be done, and that he was the one most suited for it.

He certainly wasn't going to have the Stars do it.

With a sigh, Cross walked down the stairs and entered the cells.

As usual, Killer noticed him and slammed his palm on the forcefield twice.

"Hey hey hey, it's our FAVOURITE Guard! Any news, Crossy?! Or did you just miss us?!"

Cross didn't even stop in front of his cells, simply slowing down his pace and looked inside: nothing out of the ordinary, though the desk looked more banged up than last week. The former Guard shrugged, Killer knew he wouldn't get a new one if he broke it.

"C'mon man, not even a 'Hello'?! For old time's sake!"

Cross was already in front of Horror's cell, and he also wasn't a surprise; the cannibal seemed to always sleep, unless he was eating his meals.

Dust was talking with his hallucination while solving a Rubik's cube, and barely glanced at Cross when he walked by, giving him only a piercing look.

Cross paused before walking in front of the next cell. He couldn't deny that that particular prisoner made him afraid, but he had to do check on him.

The former Guard took a deep breath and stopped in front of Nightmare's cell, clenching the amulet Astral had made in his hand. The glitch was confident in his craftsmanship, but he had also been very considerate, giving Cross a smooth rock that would start to burn if the code of the cell started weakening or was modified.

Nightmare was pacing and snarling, his appendages twitching and writhing in anger and frustration.

Cross stopped in front of him, trying to see if the Guardian of Negativity was planning something, using some spell, but he was simply brooding as usual.

He caught Nightmare's eye and the empath roared, throwing himself at the forcefield.

Cross jumped away, biting back a startled scream while Nightmare screamed and hit the barrier that protected the Guard from him.

"COME TO GLOAT AGAIN, RAT?! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE, I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD! I WILL BREAK ALL YOUR BONES ONE BY ONE, I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THEM, I'LL MAKE YOU FEEL TERROR LIKE YOU NEVER FELT BEFORE!"

He didn't do it all the time (sometimes Nightmare contented himself with glaring at him, and ominously telling him to watch his back) but he did it often enough that Cross should be used to it already.

Still, Nightmare was very frightening. Even from inside the cell, Cross could still perceive faint echoes of negativity, and that was proof of how much rage and hatred Nightmare was feeling.

Cross felt like he was in front of an overflowing dam, ready to burst and drown him at any moment.

Still, he waited for a couple of minutes and the amulet remained cool, so he moved to the last prisoner.

Error was playing with his strings (everyone had been surprised he could still use magic inside the cell, but Astral had assured them he couldn't anything with them), sewing himself another Ink puppet. There were now 6 of them in the corner of the room, not to mention the drawings on the wall.

It creeped Cross out so much.

Just like Nightmare, the Destroyer didn't pay attention to anyone and kept muttering, but his rantings weren't thoughts of revenge.

"-𝕪σ𝕌'яE şσ pяEtt𝕪 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, 𝕪σ𝕌'яE A𝔩ⓌA𝕪ş pяEtt𝕪, ι 爪𝐢şş 𝕪σ𝕌 şσ 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱, ι ⓌAŇt 𝕪σ𝕌 ι ⓌAŇt 𝕪σ𝕌 ι ⓌAŇt 𝕪σ𝕌, ι ŇEE𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌, ι ŇEE𝓭 tσ 𝓱EAя Ѷσ𝐢𝓬E, 𝕪σ𝕌я ᵇEA𝕌t𝐢ⓕ𝕌𝔩 Ѷσ𝐢𝓬E, ι 𝔩σѶE 𝐢t Ⓦ𝓱EŇ 𝕪σ𝕌 ş𝐢ŇG ⓕσя 爪E 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩-"

Cross shuddered and waited in front of his cell too. Usually, Error didn't notice him, but when he did-

"ᶜяσşş!"
The glitch smiled at him, as if they were friends. Cross ignored him.
"ιt'ş ᵇEEŇ A Ⓦ𝓱𝐢𝔩E ş𝐢Ň𝓬E 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬A爪E 𝓱EяE. aŇ𝕪 ŇEⓌş ⓕяσ爪 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢?" Cross remained silent, and Error started glitching, but tried to maintain a pleasant demeanour "ภσ? ᶜяσşş, ι tσ𝔩𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 tσ tE𝔩𝔩 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 tσ 𝓬σ爪E şEE 爪E, Ⓦ𝓱𝕪 𝓭𝐢𝓭Ň't 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓭σ 𝐢t?" Error frowned, and his voice sharpened for a few seconds "үσ𝕌 𝕂ŇσⓌ Ⓦ𝓱At 𝐢t ⓕEE𝔩ş 𝔩𝐢𝕂E, ᶜяσşş, Ⓦ𝓱EŇ 𝕪σ𝕌 𝔩σѶE şσ爪EσŇE şσ 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱 t𝓱At 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬AŇ't ᵇE ApAяt. 乇ѶEя. ι 𝕂ŇσⓌ 𝐢t'ş t𝓱E şA爪E ⓕσя 𝕪σ𝕌 AŇ𝓭 𝓓яEA爪. 𝕎𝓱𝕪 𝓭σ 𝕪σ𝕌 σppσşE σ𝕌я 𝔩σѶE, ᶜяσşş?"

The amulet was still cold, so Cross decided that it was enough time and turned back. Error threw himself against the forcefield, looking at him.

"ᶜAŇ't 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬σŇѶ𝐢Ň𝓬E ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 tσ 𝓬σ爪E şEE 爪E?! 𝓓яEA爪 𝐢ş 𝓱𝐢ş ᵇEşt ⓕя𝐢EŇ𝓭, ş𝕌яE𝔩𝕪 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓬AŇ 爪A𝕂E 𝓱𝐢爪 𝓭σ 𝐢t! ᶜяσşş! ᶜ尺ᗝรร! 𝕎𝓱ү 𝓓ᗝ үᗝ𝓾 𝓂aķ乇 𝓂乇 ร𝓾千千乇尺 ℓιķ乇 t𝓱ιร?! 𝕎𝓱乇ภ ι 𝑔乇t ᗝ𝓾t ι'ℓℓ 𝑔乇t 𝓂ү ķιķι ᗷaᶜķ, aภ𝓓 taķ乇 𝓓尺乇a𝓂 tᗝᗝ!"" Cross faltered a bit, but kept walking away. "t𝓱乇ภ үᗝ𝓾'ℓℓ ķภᗝ𝕎 𝓂ү ᵖaιภ!"

Cross told himself to ignore him and reached the stairs, almost running away.

"Bye Crossy, see you next week!"

====================

PJ looked at the door with conviction.

It was "night" in the Omega Timeline, so that meant that Frisk wasn't as aware as they usually were.

It was the perfect time to sneak in.

PJ turned into a puddle of ink, and teleported on the other side of the door; they found themselves at the top of a flight of stairs, and started walking down to not lose their nerve.

Every part of them was telling them it wasn't a good idea; in fact, multiple people had told them this wasn't a good idea, but they just had to see.

Ever since PJ had found out, a month ago, they had been obsessing about their father.

The teen knew that they had to have two parents, but they had always been with their mom for as long as they could remember, and he had always said "I'll tell you about your father when you're older", but that seemed more and more like an empty promise.

Lux was also of the same opinion, so the two best friends had started discreetly looking for answers themselves.

The first logical step had been asking Gradient, since him and PJ were siblings, but the 24 year old hadn't been very forthcoming, and simply told PJ to stop what they were doing.

Asking Lux's parents, Blue or CORE was out of the question, even if they probably had all of the information they needed, because then Ink would immediately know about it and stop them.

All the adults they asked either didn't know, or didn't want to tell.

In the end, PJ and Lux had contacted Fresh, and he had told them that PJ's father was in prison with some other guys, that he was "sick-nasty", and that they should forget about him.

And PJ maybe would have, maybe it would have been enough, if they hadn't asked Fresh to tell them his name.

Error.

PJ knew that name.
It was a name their mother sometimes called in his sleep, saying "Error no!" and "Error stop!" and "Error don't hurt them!"

PJ already hated this Error person, and wanted to make them pay for hurting their mother, but knowing it was their father...

The teen wasn't going to let this go.

PJ stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and found themselves at the head of a long corridor, with cells on both sides.

PJ then felt two loud thuds and turned toward the noise, startled.

"Crossy come out! I heard you go down those stairs!"

PJ slowly moved closer to the first cell on the right, seeing a skeleton with dripping black sludge coming out of his eyes and a weird target shape hovering over his chest.
Was that his soul?

The stranger turned his skull in PJ's general direction (without pupils, it was hard to tell where he was looking at) and then tilted his skull and started laughing hysterically.
"Ahahaha, no fucking way! This is priceless! I bet your mommy doesn't know you're here, does he?! Ahahaha!"

His laugh was shrill and annoying, like an hyena, and PJ glared at him. That just made him laugh harder.
"Aww, you think you're scaring me?! Ahahaha, that's cute kid!"
"Are you Error?"
PJ suspected he wasn't, but they wanted to be sure. That generated another round of laughter.
"AHAHAHA, you're killing me kid! Name's Killer, the asshole you're looking for is down in the last cell."

PJ stopped paying attention to Killer and quickly walked down the corridor.

The next two cells had a giant skeleton with a hole in his head (he seemed asleep), and another who was fiddling with a puzzle and called: "hey lil pal, long time no see." when PJ passed.

The fourth cell held a weird goopy skeleton, with four appendages sprouting from his back. Since he was black like them, PJ thought this was who they were looking for and paused.

The skeleton was pacing and muttering, and so PJ moved closer to the cell to hear what he was saying.

"-and I'll put him right by the throne, he won't be able to escape again, oh no, he won't even speak, he'll stay by my side, and the statue will be fit for a king, it won't be stone anymore, silver, silver is very elegant and regal, a beautiful silver statue, you asked for it Dream, no more Mr. Nice Guy-"

PJ was beginning to think they had stopped in front of the wrong cell, because they had heard Dream's name being mentioned, so they turned their head to the left and saw that there was still one more occupied cell.

Leaving the weird skeleton to his whatever, the teen finally arrived in front of their father's cell.

The first thing the 14 year old thought, upon seeing him, was that he was small.

It was almost disappointing, seeing the person that haunted their mother's nightmares look so unassuming. He was facing away from PJ, humming, and he seemed like an ordinary skeleton, even though his bones were black instead of white.

PJ felt hesitant to actually call him, and scolded themselves: they couldn't lose their resolve right now, they were already here!

"Are you... Are you Error?"
The humming stopped, and the prisoner sneaked a glance at them, his eye widening; he quickly turned around, smiling at them and purring: "ᵖApEяנA爪..."

And Paperjam took a step back, terrified.

They didn't even know why (he wasn't scary, he looked a lot like Gradient) it was out of pure reflex, but something in those eyes, in that tone, had made them feel small and afraid, as if the person in front of them was about to attack them at any moment.

Trying to avoid looking his father in the eye, PJ looked around, and only then seemed to realize the sheer quantity of Ink present inside the cell: there were multiple drawings on the walls, crude sketches of their mother in various poses and outfits, and a magnitude of Ink puppets laying on the ground.

In fact, Error was holding an half finished puppet in his hands right now.

"үσ𝕌'яE 𝓱EяE tσ Ѷ𝐢ş𝐢t 爪E."
PJ was really regretting ever coming down there.
"үσ𝕌 𝓱AѶE GяσⓌŇ şσ 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱."
Every time Error spoke, a shiver ran down their spine.
"ιş 𝕪σ𝕌я 爪σt𝓱Eя Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝕪σ𝕌?"

PJ unconsciously shook their head. Error frowned, and that made PJ even more afraid.
"ι 爪𝐢şş 𝓱𝐢爪 şσ 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱. 𝓂𝕪 ᵇEA𝕌t𝐢ⓕ𝕌𝔩 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢. tE𝔩𝔩 爪E 𝕂𝐢𝓭, Ⓦ𝓱At 𝐢ş 𝓱E 𝓭σ𝐢ŇG ŇσⓌ? 𝓓σEş 𝓱E şt𝐢𝔩𝔩 𝓭AŇ𝓬E? 𝓓σEş 𝓱E şt𝐢𝔩𝔩 ⓌEAя şσ爪E σⓕ t𝓱E 𝓬𝔩σt𝓱Eş ι GAѶE 𝓱𝐢爪? 𝓓σEş 𝓱E şt𝐢𝔩𝔩 t𝓱𝐢Ň𝕂 σⓕ 爪E?"

His tone became more and more manic as he talked, and PJ felt more and more creeped out. Error was obsessed, and PJ felt genuinely afraid for their mom.

"𝓓σ 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓱AѶE AŇ𝕪 p𝐢𝓬t𝕌яEş, Ѷ𝐢𝓭Eσ Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝕪σ𝕌? ι ŇEE𝓭 tσ şEE t𝓱E爪, G𝐢ѶE t𝓱E爪 tσ 爪E. ᵖј! ℓ𝐢ştEŇ tσ 𝕪σ𝕌я ⓕAt𝓱Eя! 𝑔ι𝐯乇 t𝓱乇𝓂 tᗝ 𝓂乇!"

Error slammed a fist into the forcefield, and PJ took another step back, starting to have a panic attack. Error's face was contorted by rage, and PJ felt they had already been at the receiving end of his fury, at least once, and they were frightened.

Error kept yelling at them, so PJ kept backing up until they reached the wall and slid down, hiding their face in their knees. They could have just walked away, but they felt too scared.

They weren't sure of him much time ha passed, but suddenly Error stopped shouting and PJ felt a hand caressing the top of their head.

"Jammie? Are you feeling better now?"
PJ raised their head a bit, and met their mother's gaze with teary eyes.
"Mo-oh-oh-oh-m, I'm so-oh-oh-rry."
Their mother sighed, and then said: "Don't worry about it, now we'll go home and everything will be alright."
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢!"

Ink tensed, but didn't turn or acknowledge Error in any other way.
The prisoner was leaning against the wall, almost trying to phase through it.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢, ι 爪𝐢şşE𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 şσ 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱, ι 𝕂ŇEⓌ 𝕪σ𝕌'𝓭 𝓬σ爪E ᵇA𝓬𝕂 tσ 爪E 𝓭σ𝔩𝔩, ι ⓌA𝐢tE𝓭 ⓕσя 𝕪σ𝕌, ι'𝔩𝔩 A𝔩ⓌA𝕪ş ⓌA𝐢t ⓕσя 𝕪σ𝕌!"

Ink ignored him and took PJ's hand in his, pulling them up to their feet.
PJ felt grateful for the grip, and didn't let go.

"Come on."
Error started pounding again.
"ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢! ķιķι! 𝓓ᗝภ't ℓ乇a𝐯乇 𝓂乇! ι ℓᗝ𝐯乇 үᗝ𝓾! ι ℓᗝ𝐯乇 үᗝ𝓾!"

Ink tensed even more, but didn't grace Error with any attention and walked away.

Only when they were on the other side of the door, did he lean against it and took a deep, shaky breath and covered his eyes with his free hand.

"PJ, why did you come here?"
Ouch, PJ knew that tone, it was the "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" tone. It made them feel even worse.
"I'm sorry, I just- I was just curious, I guess. I wanted to know who he was."
"How did you even find out about him?"
"Fresh told me."
Ink sighed: "That... Of course he did."
"To be fair, he also told me to not come here."

They remained silent for a few minutes.

"Guess I have to tell you now. Tomorrow though, tonight has been eventful enough."
"Ok."
Ink smiled sadly and said: "Don't be so hard on yourself, alright Jammie? Maybe it was unreasonable to think you'd never find out. What he did..." Their mother squeezed their hand "I can never forget, but I don't let it control me anymore. I have my work, my friends, and most importantly, you. I'm fine."

PJ didn't quite believe that, but they didn't press.

Ink moved away from the door and said: "Let's go home, I think we both deserve some hot cocoa."

Notes:

Oh boy, almost can't believe it's over! It's been a wild ride you guys, and I'll miss it. I was pretty nervous to post this at first, given the subject matter, but I have to admit, writing it has been really fun! I loved all the comments and the kudos, and I hope you'll like my next stories (not connected to this one, though) just as much! See you onn the flip side!

Chapter 16: Ask event

Summary:

I did say I would share deleted scenes.

Chapter Text

Alright guys gals and non binary pals, the story is over, but I still have lots of ideas and little tidbits of info about it, so now it's your chance to find out inedit things! I have always wanted to something like Q&A with the characters of a story, and that's exactly what I'm going to do: you readers will be able to ask questions and get answers!

Now, some ground rules:

- You have till 20/06, midnight EST (meaning, I will include only questions asked BEFORE the 20th) to submit questions
- You can ask questions to any characters you want, the Stars, the Gang, CORE, heck, even Lux if you want
- You can ask questions directly to me about plot points or deleted scenes/storylines
- You can ask WHATEVER you want, but keep in mind that this is a "in-character" ask, meaning that maybe some characters won't divulge informations to you, both because they don't know or they don't want to
- This event will be set after the final chapter, meaning that PJ and Luz are 14, Gradient is 24 and PJ already went down to see Error. Ink has already told them who he is and (some of) what he has done
- There's no limit to the amount of questions a person can ask, but please do try to comment. If I receive only 2/3 questions, it would make for a poor chapter
- If you want to know something about the general condition of the Multiverse (I remember one comment wondering if Horror!Papyrus was okay), ask CORE

I think that's all, hope you all have fun!

Chapter 17: Ask, and ye shall receive.

Chapter Text

"They what?"
Astral rubbed his left forearm in embarrassment.
"₮ⱧɆɎ ₩₳₦₮ ₮Ø ₳₴₭ ₴Ø₥Ɇ QɄɆ₴₮łØ₦₴. ł'₥ ₴ØⱤⱤɎ, ฿Ʉ₮ ł ĐØ₦'₮ ₮Ⱨł₦₭ ₮ⱧɆɎ'ⱤɆ ₲Øł₦₲ ₮Ø ₲łVɆ Ʉ₱. ₮ⱧɆɎ ₵₳₦ ฿Ɇ... ₱ɆⱤ₴ł₴₮Ɇ₦₮."

Frisk sighed and looked at the glitch, not envying his situation at all. The Askers seemed to have moments of highs and lows, sometimes not speaking for months to Astral and then suddenly bombarding him with questions or opinions. They rarely sought out other people though.

"If the Stars are alright with it, then fine. But you better tell Them They have to behave."
"Ø₣ ₵ØɄⱤ₴Ɇ, ł ₳ⱠⱤɆ₳ĐɎ ₮ØⱠĐ ₮ⱧɆ₥! ฿Ʉ₮, ₮ⱧɆɎ ĐØ₦'₮ ₩₳₦₮ ₮Ø ₮₳Ⱡ₭ ₩ł₮Ⱨ... JɄ₴₮ ₮ⱧɆ ₴₮₳Ɽ₴."

Frisk grumbled and put their face in their hands. Of course it wasn't that simple. Frisk would have just ignored Them, but they knew the Askers would just keep pestering Astral.

"ł₮'₴ ₦Ø₮ JɄ₴₮ ₮ⱧɆ₥ Ɇł₮ⱧɆⱤ, ₮ⱧØɄ₲Ⱨ. ₮ⱧɆɎ ₩₳₦₮ ₮Ø ₮₳Ⱡ₭ ₮Ø Ø₮ⱧɆⱤ ₱ɆØ₱ⱠɆ ₮ØØ. ɎØɄ ₮ØØ, ₳₵₮Ʉ₳ⱠⱠɎ."
"...fine. I'll get everyone in one of the conference rooms, you get a pen and some papers. Any questions They have for our prisoners, write it down and I'll pass them along."
"ØⱧ!" Astral looked pleasantly surprised, and Frisk reassured him.
"I wasn't going to make you go down there, of course, especially not near Error. The Askers can see two places at once, can't They?"

Astral tilted his skull, listening for a few moments, and then nodded.
"₮ⱧɆɎ ₴₳Ɏ ł₮'₴ ₲ØØĐ, ₮ⱧɆɎ ₵₳₦ ₴₩ł₮₵Ⱨ ₣ⱤØ₥ Ø₦Ɇ ₱Ⱡ₳₵Ɇ ₮Ø ₮ⱧɆ Ø₮ⱧɆⱤ ₦Ø ₱ⱤØ฿ⱠɆ₥."
"Then we'll do it like this. Try to not let the others notice, it would probably upset them."
"₴ɄⱤɆ!"

============

Sans didn't have a very good feeling about what they were about to do, especially since Frisk hadn't told them why they were there. His brother squeezed his shoulder in support. Cross and Dream were near them, silent like he was, though they were constantly checking on Lux, while the girl and PJ were, as usual, talking and showing each other memes on their phones; Gradient was quietly chatting with Ink. Finally, Frisk, Fresh and... Astral? entered the room.

"Hey-yo, brahs!" the parasite said, saluting them with finger guns.
Everyone waved back, the kids more enthusiastically than the adults, then they all sat down; Frisk remained standing for a few seconds, seemingly collecting themselves.

They then sighed and sat at the head of the table, gesturing to Astral and getting straight to the point: "The Askers contacted Astral."
Immediately, Ink perked up and looked excited, his pupils changing to yellow stars, while Dream and Cross looked suspicious. The kids didn't seem to know what to think, and Fresh's glasses changed to SAY-WHUT. Papyrus's grip on his shoulder tightened.

"They want to ask all of us questions about your... about the Gang."
The mood immediately changed, and everyone (kids included) got into a somber mood.

============

While they were talking inside the conference room, Frisk manifested inside the prison, in front of the cells that contained their most dangerous (and only) prisoners.

"Oh oh oh, CORE is here! What do you want, you little shit?!"
Killer was as charming as always, but at least his outburst was good for getting everyone's attention, even Error's and Nightmare's.

Again, Frisk went straight to the point and said: "Error's Voices want to ask you questions."
This time, Killer was too surprised to utter a retort. Dust and Horror seemed nonplussed, while Nightmare was intrigued and Error frowned, asking: "aŇ𝓭 Ⓦ𝓱𝕪 Ⓦσ𝕌𝔩𝓭 t𝓱E𝕪 tA𝔩𝕂 tσ 𝕪σ𝕌 AŇ𝓭 Ňσt 爪E?! 𝓱σⓌ 𝓭σ 𝕪σ𝕌 EѶEŇ 𝕂ŇσⓌ?!" Before Frisk could respond, the glitch leaned on the forcefield and tried looking around. "t𝓱E𝕪'яE tA𝔩𝕂𝐢ŇG Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 ᗷ𝔩𝕌EᵇEяя𝕪, AяEŇ't t𝓱E𝕪?! t𝓱At tяA𝐢tσя! 𝕎𝓱EяE 𝐢ş 𝓱E?!"
"ASTRAL" the child emphasized "is not here. You'll talk to me and that's it. I'll pass along the questions."
Error looked ready to argue, and Frisk snapped: "You know how stubborn They can be, it's just better if we just get it over with!"
Error huffed and crossed his arms, leaning over the forcefield with his back.
"𝕎𝓱AtEѶEя."

"Someone else wants to complain?"
Horror and Dust shrugged, and Nightmare shook his skull, arms crossed behind his back, but Killer found his voice again.
"I'm not gonna answer your shitty questions!"
"Do it and I'll let you have your knife again."
"Deal."
Frisk sighed again and said: "Let's start."

============

"ⱤɆ₳ĐɎ?" Astral asked.
The room gave various signs of assent, and so the glitch reported to first question.

To Core, is everything okay now? Nothing weird happening elsewhere in the multiverse?

To Dream and Ink, are you guys continuing your jobs as guardians or have you decided to retire or something? Not pressuring either of you to work tho lol, you deserve the rest.

To Blue, do you still cook? I think your food is pretty good.

To PJ, Gradient, and Lux, what are your favorite hobbies? Tell me EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM-

Also, does everyone have a therapist now? It think they all need one, especially the Stars-

(Author here, I won't bother saying every time 'Astral said' and rewording your comments, just assume he's saying it normally, and he's instead writing down every question for the Gang and not saying them aloud)

Frisk was taken aback by the fact that the first question was for them. They quickly said: "Well, there hasn't been any major threat or enemy in the Multiverse for a long while, so I suppose everything is alright. Don't want to jinx it though."

Dream took over for the next question and said: "Ah no, me and Ink are still Guardians. In fact, the three of us are still the Star Sanses, though given everything that happened" Cross reached for his hand and Dream smiled in gratitude "our workload has lightened considerably. And we do have individual therapy. Frisk had been so kind as to look for suitable therapists for us, and they helped a lot."

Blue smiled and said: "Of course I still cook! It's one of the things I like the most! Thank you for the compliment too!"

PJ and Lux looked at each other and laughed, the girl saying: "Creepy much?"
The two teens kept snickering, and Gradient answered in their place: "ա-աɛʟʟ, ɨ-ɨ ʟɨӄɛ ȶօ... ȶօ ɖʀǟա ǟ-ǟռɖ աǟȶƈɦ ǟ-ǟռɨʍɛ. ռ-ռօȶɦɨռɢ ɛ-ɛʟֆɛ, ɨ'ʍ ռօȶ ȶɦǟȶ... ɨռȶɛʀ-ʀɛֆȶɨռɢ."
"C'mon big bro, that's not true!" PJ said "He's also training his powers, he wants to learn to create like mom!"
Gradient blushed a bit.
"As for me, I like to explore the Multiverse. I'm also learning to use my powers, and fight. Cross is teaching me." PJ playfully punched Lux's shoulder. "But Lux is still better than me."
"And don't you forget it, dingus!" their friend answered "Papa taught me how to use a bow, and Dad taught me hand to hand combat. Those are things I really like! That, and reading. Oh, and sewing! I want to learn to make my own clothes."

To Lux, are you aware you have an uncle?

To blue, are you and your papyrus back in your au now that error is locked up.

To gradient, have you been able to spend any time with ink?

To error, nightmare, and the murder trio, what do you guys think is going to happen to you?

To core, what’s going on with omega timeline. How many people/monsters survived/didn’t survive Error’s invasion.

To ink/anyone are you/they still taking paints? Are your/their eyelights still permanently white?

Also, just to reiterate, I loved this fic.

Astral paused before repeating the question, writing down what Frisk had to say to the Gang to gain some time. It was foolish of him to think that all questions would be lighthearted and easy to answer.

As soon as he spoke, everyone tensed. Dream leaned against Cross, blinking away tears.
Lux drummed her fingers against the table and said: "I... do, now. After PJ went down to meet- to the cells, Papa decided to tell me, to avoid me going down there as well. And honestly? I'm fine with it." She glared at the table and clenched her fists. "I don't want to know him." She could only think of her Papa's scarred cheeks, and how they were her uncle's fault. How could a sibling do that to another? She couldn't even imagine Gradient or PJ hurting each other like that.

Stretch tried to move everyone's attention away from the topic by answering his question.
"Sans and I are back home, yes. It has been ten years, after all; our house is brand new, all thanks to Ink. Eh" he snickered "you shoud have seen Undyne's face when Ink used his big[rad] brush, her eyes were sparkling like an anime character. She wanted to know everything about how Ink's magic worked."
Ink giggled as well, his pupils changing to a yellow star and a dark pink circle.
"She was very passionate about it, it was fun. Also, yes, me and Gradient started spending more time together, since I have to work less. We make a point to have family time at least once a month, but of course I love spending time with my baby boy!" Ink pulled Gradient closer and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

His pupils then changed to a green spiral and an orange circle.
"My eyes got back to normal, and I still take my paints. Can't go without, after all. Frisk was very kind to collect them for me every day before... before Error got arrested; I felt too scared to go inside the Doodlesphere back then."

Frisk looked down and said: "The Omega Timeline is fine now. We saved so many people that day but... even one victim is one too many."

============

"What's going to happen to us? Really?" Killer mocked "The fact that we're in a cell didn't tip you off yet?! Hey Windows Vista, your Voices are pretty stupid!"
"ร𝓱𝕌t t𝓱E ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂 𝕌p, ķ𝐢𝔩𝔩Eя!"
Dust rolled his eyes at the two of them bantering even when they were five cells apart.
"Just like Killer said, we know what's gonna happen. We'll be here forever, CORE said as much."

To Nightmare, his gang and Error :) what do you think life could've been like if the stars had never escaped, and to Nightmare specifically what do you think would've happened if Lux had been born while Dream was still in the castle with you and the gang?

Also To Paperjam and Gradient whats it like having siblings if you guys ever hang out with eachother anyway :D

Annnd to just Paperjam speciifcally does your strangely fast growth make you feel weirder than other people or do you just not care about it lol

"What would have happened..." Dust thought, tilting his skull to listen to his hallucination, while Killer and Error didn't pay attention and kept arguing. Frisk was glad for that, because they didn't want to listen again to Error's creepy rendition of his "perfect life" with Ink.
"Well, I guess life woulda continued like when the Stars were with us. I mean, it was a pretty good life: havin' Blue around again would be nice. Paps likes him. Lux and PJ woulda grown up with us, that woulda been fun." The genocidal smiled faintly "Lux especially, there ain't many female skeletons runnin' around the Multiverse. Havin' a little girl in the Castle woulda been nice."
Horror grunted in assent.

Nightmare's appendages started curling and writhing, a sign that he was angry despite his outwardly calm demeanor.
"Obviously, if my niece had been born in her home, her education would have been excellent for one. I don't doubt that Cross" he spat out the name in contempt " doesn't know what to do with her, and my brother is probably making her be "in touch" with her mortal side. Pathetic. My niece deserves to be the goddess she is meant to be, live in luxury and being revered, not... frolicking in meadows or whatever Dream is making her do right now. That's beneath her."

============

"Graaaadient!" PJ said, poking him in the side "Do you wov meeee? Am I yuow favowite sibwing?"
The teen was obviously hamming it up to lighten the mood again, so Gradient ruffled their head with a laugh, playing along.
"ɨ-ɨ ɖ-ɖօռ'ȶ ӄռօա. ʍǟʏɮɛ ʟ-ʟʊӼ աօʊʟɖ ɮɛ ǟ... ǟ ɮɛȶ-ɮɛȶȶɛʀ ֆɨֆȶɛʀ."
PJ gasped loudly, in fake shock, while Lux snorted.
"How could you say that!" They tickled him a bit "Take it back!"
"ǟɦǟɦǟ, ʄ-ʄɨռɛ ʄɨռɛ, ɨ ȶ-ȶǟӄɛ ɨȶ ɮǟƈӄ! քʝ ɨֆ ʍʏ ʄǟʋ-ʋօʊʀɨȶɛ ֆɨɮʟɨռɢ!"

Ink smiled softly, happy that his children were so close despite the age difference.

PJ, thanks to their less than average height, put their crossed arms over Gradient's skull and used him as a headrest.
"We get along very well. If anyone ever wants to mess with him, they can answer to me."
"ǟ-ǟֆ ɨռӄ ǟʟʀ-ʀɛǟɖʏ ֆǟɨɖ, աɛ... ɦǟʋɛ ʄǟʍɨʟʏ ȶ-ȶɨʍɛ օռƈɛ ǟ ʍօռȶɦ, ɮ-ɮʊȶ քʝ ǟռɖ ɨ ɦǟռ-ɦǟռɢ օʊȶ ǟ ʟօȶ օʊȶ-ȶֆɨɖɛ օʄ ȶɦǟȶ. ա-աɛ ȶɛռɖ ȶօ ɖօ ʟ-ʟօա... ֆȶʀɛֆֆ ǟƈȶ-ȶɨʋɨȶɨɛֆ, ʟɨӄɛ ɢ-ɢօɨռɢ ȶօ ռǟȶʊʀɛ ǟʊֆ, ա-աǟȶƈɦ ǟռɨʍɛ ǟ-ǟռɖ ֆ-ֆȶʊʄʄ."

"He's a big nerd! And I don't feel weird. I don't even remember growing up faster than other kids."
"Their growth slowed down significantly after they were 8 months old." Ink explained "At that point, PJ was physically 3 years old, and kept growing at a normal pace, fortunately. The only thing that might be a little unusual is how tall they are, given that-"
"-That you're the shortest person ever!"
"PJ!"
"It's true!"

To demonstrate, PJ moved closer to Ink and straightened up, showing that indeed, Ink only reached their chest.
The artist gained a rainbow blush, pupils changing to a red cross and a purple exclamation point, and the rest of the room laughed a bit.

"Next question, please." Ink pouted.

hii! (this series has been amazing btw thank you so much for making it)

to dream, first of all- how are you doing ? i know you have no intention of doing so but will you visit nightmare some day in the future, surely you two should converse after what happened. ly, :D

to nightmare, opinions on cross- completely honest. i know you hate him but surely you know that if you kill him dream would only dislike you more and you'd be a worse brother. adding to that has lux ever come to visit you??

fresh, if the stars wouldnt have escaped in time -i know it briefly explains- would you have left or stayed to help them more and out of dust, killer, horror, nm and error who do you hate most and why?

and lastly, dust/murder. hi <3 your such a sweet person, is papyrus doing ok? with capturing the stars how did you feel about the whole thing seeing as you clearly dont care much about anything. do you still love blue (as a brotherly figure of course) if you ever did in the first place?

thats all!

Ink looked guilty and said: "Sorry Dream."
Dream sighed, and unconsciously moved his hand to his scarred cheeks. Cross put his own over it.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to, love."
The positive Guardian smiled at him. "It's fine." His expression then turned firm.
"I won't ever visit him. And I don't want to talk with him, I already know exactly what he's going to say. He always was stubborn, he'll just keep trying to convince me that he's right and I'm wrong. I don't know what made him snap, but frankly I don't care. I don't need closure, I just need him gone."

"Man, homies, ya all up an' asked da hardest questions! Da Stars don't need all dis unfresh vibes. As fah me, nah fam, if things got too bad, I woulda left Criss-Cross and peaced out." his glasses changed to OUTTA-THERE, and he made a peace sign "I ain't a hero or whatevs. An' hate... I can't "hate", just like I can't "love", but the nastiest brah haz to be Glitchy. He messed with Inkblot, mah best brah. Ya don' do that."

============

"Honest opinion?! You think I don't hate that traitorous snake?!" Nightmare roared "A slave is only as good as his ability to follow orders, all his training doesn't mean anything! He deserves death, and Dream will just have to deal with it!" He then deflated and hissed: "And my niece hasn't ever visited me."

Frisk waited for him to calm down a bit before asking Dust his question, and the murderer smirked: "Sweet, uh? Never heard that one before. Paps is fine, even if we're both bored. And "capturin'" ain't is the right word. We were just keepin' them safe; they don't want our help, but sometimes people need tough love." Frisk pursed their mouth, but remained silent. "Even if we're in a cell, I'm not that mad about it. Blue's still my brother, and hope he'll come visit again. The one time he came Killer ruined it, like he ruins everythin' else."
"I heard that, asshole!"

I wonder, does Dream ever feel remorse for never visiting Nightmare?

 

Does PJ wish he could have a 'normal' family?

 

Does Nightmare like chicken nuggets, and does he still hate Cross?

 

Has Lux gone through... any 'phases' yet?

 

I love my baby, Dream- is he getting intense therapy? It looked like he and Ink were starting to develop some Stockholm syndrome.

 

Does Blue feel left out that he doesn't have a baby... does he have a significant other at this point?

 

Is Fresh still existing? Freshy-weshy...

 

I don't think Horror deserves to be locked up (as he helped), does Blue/Dream/Ink feel the same way?

 

This is less of a question, but the idea of turning Dream back into a statue is terrible! The universe would be a dull place without his smile...
What was the ideal ending to all of this? If you did manage to keep the stars hostage, was there a greater goal in mind?

 

Why was 6 afraid of 7?

Nightmare blinked in surprise at the first question, saying: "I... don't know what "chicken nuggets" are, though I can guess it's food. I like fowl, so maybe?" Frisk then told him the next questions, and he gritted his teeth, his appendages hitting the walls in frustration.
" Of course I still hate him. I won't be satisfied until I have tortured him so much that he'll beg me to end his miserable life. And shut up about Dream! I am his older brother, I know what's best for him! The "greater goal", as you say, was to keep the Stars safe, not "hostage"! And if Dream can't be trusted to not run off and stay out of trouble, then I'll employ ANY means necessary!"

============

Dream paused for a second.
"I just answered this question."
"₴ØⱤⱤɎ, ₴Ø₥Ɇ₮ł₥Ɇ₴ ₮ⱧɆ ₳₴₭ɆⱤ₴ ₵₳₦'₮ ⱧɆ₳Ɽ Ɇ₳₵Ⱨ Ø₮ⱧɆⱤ, ØⱤ ₴Ø ₮ⱧɆɎ ₮ɆⱠⱠ ₥Ɇ. ₩Ɇ'ⱠⱠ ł₲₦ØⱤɆ ₳₦Ɏ ⱤɆ₱Ɇ₳₮ QɄɆ₴₮łØ₦₴ ₣ⱤØ₥ ₦Ø₩ Ø₦."

"Then it's my turn!" PJ said, putting an arm around Gradient and the other around Ink. "And I don't care about what's normal or not, I love my family and friends!"

Lux stammered: "Phases? What phases? Never went through any phases!"
Cross smirked and said: "Oh really? Then what about your-" "Shut up!" "-dinosaur phase-" "SHUT UP!" "-when you'd dress up as dinosaur for days on end?"
"Noooooo..." Lux put her face in her hand, embarrassed.
"You did what?!" PJ exclaimed "How did I not know this?!"
"ɨ-ɨȶ ɦǟքք-քɛռɛɖ աɦɛռ ʏ-ʏօʊ աɛʀɛ ɮօȶɦ ʋɛʀʏ ʟ-ʟɨȶȶʟɛ... ǟʀօʊռɖ 5?"
"4" Dream corrected with a grin "she was really obsessed with The Land Before Time."
"Oh yeah, I remember, I painted you that cute pterodactyl costume Lux!"
"Why must you shame me so!" Lux wailed, and the room was filled with laughter.

"Don't worry Lux" Blue chuckled "we'll move on to the my question now, since we already said that Ink, Dream and me do attend therapy. As for feeling left out? I don't, because I also have a child, though not in the traditional way. Shamrock, the human of my AU, has been living with me and Papy ever since we came to the Surface. Asgore would have taken them in, but he didn't feel ready to care for another child." He shook his skull fondly "They're a handful, but we wouldn't have it any other way. And as for a partner..." he blushed "I think Outer is pretty neat."

"ɨ-ɨ ӄ-ӄռɛա ɨȶ!" Gradient shouted, pointing a finger at Blue "քʝ, ʏ-ʏօʊ օաɛ ʍɛ 5 ɢ!"
Another round of laughter.
"Mah question iz easy-peasy, I'm az real az I can be!"

When Horror name was mentioned, the carefree atmosphere of the room disappeared once again.
Ink narrowed his eyes.
"Don't be fooled, Horror is as psychotic and cruel as his two other friends. You're lucky you didn't see the state in which Aliza arrived at the Omega Timeline. Why do you think she has a prosthetic arm?!"
Blue sighed and wringed his hands. "He might hide his bloodlust better than, say, Killer, but Ink is right; the mere smell of blood sets him off. Once during a fight, a human civilian was running away and he fell, scraping his knee." The three Stars and CORE shuddered at the memory. "He didn't make it, let's leave it at that."

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Astral also told everyone the last joke question.
PJ and Stretch both opened their mouths and said in unison: "Because 7 8 9!"
Lux was the only one who giggled, but the room felt less oppressive.

to core/ maybe ink, whoever knows the answer to this, will the bad sanses + error stay imprisoned forever? or will they have some kind of execution if that’s even possible?

to ink, will you continue creating things, or are you more concerned with taking care of pj and yourself?

to paperjam, do you know lux well? are you two friends or do you just kinda hang out with her because both of your parents are friends?

to error, do you hear voices? if so, do they talk a lot? what do they say?

to blue, have you and the other stars gone to therapy for what you all went through? also, what is your favourite food currently?

to anyone/random, if you chose someone and you could see what happened when the stars were captured through their eyes and see their perspective, who would you choose? why? (i hope this makes sense)

to killer, if you could go anywhere in the multiverse where would you go? would you like to go with anyone?

to horror, is there anything you regret? what would you do differently?

to dust, how would you feel if someone like blue could also see papyrus?

to nightmare, how would you react if dream somehow also became corrupted? would you try to reverse it?

have a good day, i hope these are good questions!

Frisk decided to answer the question: "The five of them will remain imprisoned forever. They can't be allowed to roam free, and none of them can be executed."

Ink's eyes became a green question mark and a yellow spiral.
"I think there's a bit of confusion there. I'm a Protector, not a Creator. I can't make AUs like some of you seem to think, I just make sure they're safe. In any case, like Dream already said before, the three of us are still the Star Sanses, and we'll keep helping the Multiverse. Though, I have to admit, we did take a long break before getting back to our duties."

Lux moved toward PJ and hugged them from behind, putting her skull over their shoulder.
"Am I your best friend PJ?" she quipped with a smirk.
"Unfortunately." They answered, and the girl stuck out her tongue.
"We did start hanging out because our parents are friends, but then she grew on me. Now I can't get rid of her."
"Ditto!"

Blue ignored the mention of therapy again and answered: "Well, my favourite food are fries, if you can believe it. Though they're very greasy and unhealthy, so I tend to not eat them often and cook tacos instead. At least they have vegetables in them!"

Everyone remained silent, considering the question.
"Yeesh." Stretch said "You sure know how to pick them. I'll answer this one. Probably... Dream. I don't think I could be in Sans or Ink's place, and I definitely don't want to know what those [rad]holes thought or felt."

============

Error had stopped arguing with Killer, and so this time he could answer Frisk's question.

"үσ𝕌 A𝔩яEA𝓭𝕪 𝕂ŇσⓌ t𝓱At!" Error yelled, seething "үσ𝕌'яE t𝓱E σŇEş Ⓦ𝓱σ AяEŇ't şpEA𝕂𝐢ŇG tσ 爪E AŇ𝕪爪σяE! 乇ѶEя ş𝐢Ň𝓬E ι'ѶE ᵇEEŇ 𝐢Ň t𝓱𝐢ş ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇG 𝓬E𝔩𝔩! 𝕎𝓱𝕪 AяE 𝕪σ𝕌 ş𝐢𝔩EŇt ŇσⓌ?!"

Frisk shrugged, and Error snarled, turning away and playing with one of his Ink puppets.

Killer smirked and looked directly at Frisk while answering: "If I could, I would get out of this cell, and slaughter everyone inside the Omega Timeline. So much EXP."

Horror moved a little on the bed, turning slightly away from the doorway.
"I regret... some things... just like... everybody... I should have... never left... my brother..."

Dust looked at his left, and then said: "It'd be nice. That would make Paps happy."

Nightmare narrowed his eye.
"Of course I would reverse it, that would hurt him. Why are you asking that? Is something happening?! CORE! What's going on with my brother?!"
Frisk decided it was best to calm Nightmare down, and not give him more reasons to try to escape, and said: "Nothing is going on with Dream, the Askers are simply fond of hypoteticals." The King of Negativity didn't look like he believed the child, but remained silent.

============

To Blue: do you think you’ll go back to Underswap now that the Bad Guys are taken care of?

To Dream: How did lux come to be? And do you think she’ll ever get a brother?

To Cross: when was the moment you realized that the plan was a bad idea, in the very beginning when the bad guys kidnapped the stars?

To Ink: do you think you’d ever go back to creating? And is there a Balance in this multiverse?

To Stretch: how do you feel about what blue had to go through? Do his nightmares happen frequently?

Blue was relieved by the fact that the next question was less heavy than the previous one.
"As we already said, as soon as Ink felt well enough to remake our house my brother and I moved back to Underswap. We mostly stay there these days, though we still visit the Multiverse and I kept my duty as a Star Sans."

Dream and Cross blushed when they heard the question, as did most of the adults. PJ and Lux looked confused.
"W-well, Lux wasn't born through... traditional means. The best way to explain it is that she's the literal physical manifestation of our love; the stress of the situation and the proximity to the Tree probably triggered something. And as for having another child, that's a very private question, which we won't answer!"

PJ leaned over Lux and whispered: "Your parents are the cheesiest couple ever. You are loooove incarnate."
The girl snickered and shoved her friend. "Shut up, you lab rat."

The room was, once again, filled with tension. Cross's past as Nightmare's goon was a sore spot for a lot of people.
"I always knew the plan was bad." the former spy said "I am not delusional. When I joined Nightmare" Lux, PJ and Gradient looked extremely shocked at the news "I was desperate, and grieving and not thinking straight. And after realizing what a [funking] idiot I had been, I was in too deep and couldn't leave. Being a spy seemed the best option, but it didn't actually help." Cross started becoming frantic "Believe me, I tried my hardest to prevent the kidnapping, but Nightmare put everything together too fast for me to sneak away and warn the Council, and while the Stars were there everyone's eyes were on them, so I couldn't talk to them, and I even tried to switch the drugged glasses, and I thought Ink at least would be immune to it, and-"
"Cross." Blue put his hand on Cross's shoulder and stopped him "We know. It wasn't your fault."
"If I had just been better-"
"There's no use dwelling in what-ifs."
Cross didn't look convinced, and Dream held his hand in a gentle grip. Lux and PJ were whispering furiously, while Gradient looked deep in thought.

Frisk gestured to Astral to continue, and the glitch nodded, relaying the next question to Ink. The artist nervously looking around the room, and then answered: "Again, I don't create AUs. I know that many Creators love the concept, and that some Multiverses function this way, but here no Balance exists. I'm... I'm glad it doesn't."

Stretch huffed: "How do you think I feel? What happened to Sans was [funking] awful, and I wish he, Ink and Dream never had to go through that. But he's alright now. The nightmares are gone." He let out a short laugh. "In both senses."

To the bad guy sanses: What would you do if you could get the star sanses back? And also what do you do while stuck in your cells?

To nightmare: Would you care for Lux if you got her and dream back?

To error: Do you think of Gradient as your child too?

To Lux: would you ever want to visit Nightmare?

Astral saw that Lux was still quietly arguing with PJ, and since she had already expressed her disgust at the prospect of meeting her uncle, he didn't repeat the question.

============

As soon as the question left Frisk's lips, Error perked up.
"ι ⓌAŇt Ňσt𝓱𝐢ŇG 爪σяE t𝓱AŇ tσ GEt ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 ᵇA𝓬𝕂! aş şσσŇ Aş ι GEt σ𝕌t σⓕ 𝓱EяE, ι'𝔩𝔩 tA𝕂E 𝓱𝐢爪 tσ 爪𝕪 aŇt𝐢Ѷσ𝐢𝓭, AŇ𝓭 Ňσᵇσ𝓭𝕪 Ⓦ𝐢𝔩𝔩 şEpAяAtE 𝕌ş EѶEя AGA𝐢Ň. ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 Ⓦ𝐢𝔩𝔩 𝓭E𝓬σяAtE t𝓱E p𝔩A𝓬E AŇ𝓭 pA𝐢Ňt t𝓱E ⓕ𝔩σσя, AŇ𝓭 ι'𝔩𝔩 GEt 𝓱𝐢爪 EѶEя𝕪t𝓱𝐢ŇG 𝓱E 𝓬σ𝕌𝔩𝓭 EѶEя ⓌAŇt." He started stroking the head of the puppet he had in his hands "ι 爪𝐢şş 𝓱𝐢ş 𝓭AŇ𝓬𝐢ŇG, AŇ𝓭 ι 𝕂ŇσⓌ 𝐢t Ⓦ𝐢𝔩𝔩 ᵇE EѶEŇ ᵇEttEя 𝐢ⓕ 𝓱E ş𝐢ŇGş. 𝓂𝕪 ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢 𝓱Aş ş𝕌𝓬𝓱 A ᵇEA𝕌t𝐢ⓕ𝕌𝔩 Ѷσ𝐢𝓬E..."
The Destroyer looked down at the doll and started muttering other fantasies, losing himself in his head once again. Frisk was glad, they didn't want to hear anymore of his deranged delusion.

Nightmare sneered: "When I get Dream and Lux back, they will be punished: I will make them watch torture and kill Cross, and they will learn what happens to traitors. Then, I'll take over Lux's education, something that my brother surely neglected, he always was lousy at any magic that wasn't healing. She will learn what it truly means to be a deity." the empath turned his mocking gaze at Frisk with a smirk. " It will be hard to undo all the damage you did, CORE, but I'm up to the task."

He fell silent, trying to intimidate Frisk, and the child didn't remind him or Error that they hadn't actually answered the second part of their question; given their obsession, it was obvious that both of them simply spent all of their time either plotting an escape or planning their ideal future.

"I don't think I'd do anythin' different than what we did when we were free." said Dust "Though we should probably find another place to stay. And CORE sometimes gives us things if we ask, so I just read and solve some puzzles with Paps."

Horror rose a bit from his bed and said: "I sleep..." and then laid back down.

Killer leaned over the forcefield and said: "Same. Maybe we should break their legs though. Can't run if you can't walk! Ahahaha!" The laughter was brief "And when CORE gives me my knife back, I can finally do something to pass the time."

Forgoing Nightmare's question about Lux (they already had their answer, after all), Frisk turned back to Error and asked him the other question.

Error glared at being interrupted, and then scoffed: "𝕎E𝔩𝔩, 𝓱E 𝐢ş 爪𝕪 şσŇ, ᵇ𝕌t ι 𝓭σŇ't 𝔩𝐢𝕂E 𝓱𝐢爪, 𝐢ⓕ t𝓱At'ş Ⓦ𝓱At 𝕪σ𝕌 爪EAŇ. ᵖј tσσ, t𝓱E𝕪 ᵇσt𝓱 t𝕌яŇE𝓭 σ𝕌t tσ ᵇE AŇŇσ𝕪𝐢ŇG ⓌEA𝕂𝔩𝐢ŇGş." He faced away from Frisk and resumed playing with the puppet. "ι σŇ𝔩𝕪 ⓌAŇt ķ𝐢𝕂𝐢."

============

To ink: Where you able to get your broom back from the Anti-Void or is it still their? If you got it back how? If not, are you trying to find a way or don't wish to?

Ink took Broomie out of its holster, and hugged him with a smile, his pupils turning to yellow stars.
"Of course I got Broomie back, I could never leave it behind!" His smile then dimmed. "It wasn't easy though. After Nightmare was arrested, Frisk sent a small party inside his castle to retrieve the prisoners in his lab, any useful information they could find about PJ or some of Nightmare's experiments, and any of our things. My stuff wasn't there, so we knew that Error had to have taken it to his Antivoid, but we couldn't just waltz in and take it back."
"No kiddin'! Inkblot asked me, but I waz like "na brah, Glitchy's totally gonna kill me and stuff!", so we waited till he got himself thrown in da slammer."
"And now I finally have my best friend back by my side!"

Astral waited a bit, but it seemed the Askers were done for now.

"ł ĐØ₦'₮ ₮Ⱨł₦₭ ₮ⱧɆⱤɆ ₩łⱠⱠ ฿Ɇ ₳₦Ɏ₥ØⱤɆ QɄɆ₴₮łØ₦₴."

The glitch subtly tapped the paper he was writing on, to hint to Frisk that there was still a question for the prisoners, but the child didn't care, they were relieved that this experience was finally over, and so was everyone in the room.

"Finally!" Stretch said "I can't wait to go back home to the squirt. They must be bored as [heck]." The skeleton frowned and turned to Fresh. "I can't even say [heck]?"
Fresh's glasses changed to NO-PE. "Still ain't kosher lingo, broski." The parasite got up and waved at everyone. "Welp, it waz pretty rad today. Imma peace out, Inkblot, I'll see ya tomorrow for our radical hangout!"

Ink waved back, and the parasite disappeared in a fresh poof. The artist sighed and leaned a bit on his chair, then tapped PJ's shoulder and told them: "Do you want to stay with Lux or come home now?"
The teen stopped talking with their best friend, and when she shook her head they said: "I'm coming with you. Gradient?"
"ǟ-ǟɦ, ɨ ǟƈȶ-ǟƈȶʊǟʟʟʏ քʀօʍ-ʍɨֆɛɖ ֆ-ֆƈɨ ȶօ ɦɛʟք ɦɨʍ ɨռ ȶ-ȶɦɛ ʟǟɮ ȶօɖǟʏ."
"Cool. Then I'll see next Saturday."

Ink called Blue and Stretch over, offering to drop them off in Underswap before going back to the Doodlesphere, so the four of them said their goodbies and went away as well.

Lux turned to her parents with a grave face, so Gradient and Astral also took off; Frisk withdrew their presence from the room and tried tuning out the private conversation the family was having about Cross's past, to focus on asking the last question of the day.

============

To Nightmare way are you so obssessed with dream? Sorry for my english.

Nightmare snarled and slammed his appendages against the forcefield and yelled: "I'm NOT obsessed! He's my little brother, my only family, and I want him back! You all act like this is irrational behaviour, to care for your family! YOU BETTER STOP WITH YOUR ACCUSATIONS!"
"Don't worry Nightmare, we're done."

The child was relieved that they could finally stop with this charade, and so ignored Nightmare's surprised "What?" and spoke with a slightly louder tone: "The Askers have no more questions for you; Killer, I'll bring you your knife in a minute."
"Sounds good to me!" he shouted back.

Frisk survieyed the room one last time: Error had stopped paying attention to everyone else after his last question, and was still playing with the puppet, Horror had turned his back to the corridor and appeared to be sleeping, Dust shrugged and took back his Rubix cube, Killer leaned over the forcefield looking at them, and Nightmare snarled and started pacing again.

Not for the first time (or the last), Frisk felt a pang of pity for their prisoners. If only they could have been helped sooner, so much suffering could have been avoided...

No use dwelling in what-ifs. Frisk withdrew their presence from the dungeons and left them to their sorry fate.

============

Hello guys, Author here. Now that the in-character part is over, I also got a couple questions for me! So here they are.

To Lisetta888:
Was there supposed to be a plotline where the bad guys would have SAVED? Or at least let the stars go? I feel like it was foreshadowed in an earlier chapter by CORE.

Ah no, that was never my intention. From the start, the idea was that the bad guys would be irredeemable. On the other hand, me and Stargazer_Nebula (who helped me work with the story, as said in the description) did discuss the possibility of a bad ending, where the Stars would be somewhat brainwashed into remaining with the bad guys. In that case, Ink would have fully dissociated and became completely numb, kinda like Pale if you will (only showing the barest of emotions to PJ), Dream would have been corrupted by the prolonged proximity to Nightmare and would have become Shattered!Dream, and Blue would have succumbed to the stress of the situation and be all smiley and cute, seeing no problem in how his new "brothers" were keeping him and his friends prisoners. Hope I explained myself well.

This is an off-topic question, more of a hypothetical: What if Error wasn’t so yandere or insane, and actually came to realize how he was hurting Ink at the very start? How (and how differently) would the story have progressed if Error had been genuinely caring of Ink from the beginning, like right after the kidnapping?

That is a very interesting and complex question! I never thought about it, because in my mind Error is always some degree of obsessive/insane for Ink, even when he's "good" (see my other story for reference), but I can make some speculations on the fly.

PJ definitely wouldn't exist, and the story would probably be over way faster, because the main problem the Council faces when rescuing the Stars is that Error cut off all access to and from Dreamtale. If Error realized that he was hurting Ink, Ink would probably be able to convince him to help them all escape, and then you'd have the Star Sanses (with their weapons, cause Error and Cross would have taken them back), Cross and Error against the Murder Trio and Nightmare. I always headcanon the twins as being weaker than Ink and Error, so Nightmare and his goons would get their butt kicked pretty easily, and then the Stars can simply waltz back out.

Of course, one could always device a way to make Nightmare have control over Error, not allowing him to rebel/fight back, or simply nerf him: if Error were unable to make the Stars escape right away, he'd be selfish and only focus on keeping Ink safe, as he's the only one he cares about. A real relationship between them wouldn't be on the table (we don't endorse Stockholm Syndrome in this household), but maybe they could have become friends, with Error having some sort of arc of realization that you can't make people love you. Probably there would also be a showdown between Error and Nightmare. Maybe I could have had Lux born faster for added drama, and of course, Cross would still be present in the castle, so that would modify all the dynamics. Many possibilities.

There were also many tidbits and scenarios I had to leave out, because I plotted this story in very broad strokes, so it was mostly:
1) Stars get caught
2) fit all my various ideas for angst into a semi-coherent timeline
3) Stars get free
4) revenge
Honestly, Ink's revenge against Error was one of the very few scenes I had planned from the beginning, everything else was made up chapter by chapter. Let me tell you, thinking things isn't the problem, cutting things out is.

Some of the ideas that didn't manage to find their way into the story were:

  • The aformentioned bad ending. I don't like when stories end too badly, I like to have at least some hope.
  • Errorink wedding. This would have been cool, but it would have taken place very far into the story: PJ would have been the ringbearer, Nightmare the officiator, Dream the "man of honor", Blue Error's reluctant best man (he wouldn't want any of the Murder Trio, and it's not like he has any friends), and the guests would have been randomly kidnapped to make it seem there were people in attendance (and later used by Nightmare as test subjects). Lust too, would have had a small role as the maker of Ink's wedding dress (headcanon that Lust is a seamster), and maybe he would have helped the Stars escape, maybe not
  • Ink singing for Error. All those "bird in a cage" parallels, very juicy
  • Horror's backstory with Nightmare. It's hinted in the last chapter, but it felt too clunky to just infodump at the very end. The main idea (and this is an headcanon that I always use for Horrortale unless plot demands it), is that Nightmare supplies Horrortale with JUST enough food to keep people from dying, but doesn't try to usurp Undyne as the Queen because then the AU wouldn't suffer as much. However, when Horror questions him, Nightmare talks circles around him, giving him excuse after excuse, and in the end Horror simply concludes that the Boss knows best, since he's much smarter than him, and if he doesn't do more he must have a good reason.
  • Dream and Blue being asked by the Council to interrogate Nightmare and the Gang, to get informations out of them. In the end, I felt it cheapened their decision to move on (especially Dream)
  • At first, Ink was the one who was supposed to show up in the cells, to show he wasn't afraid of Error, and then get overwhelmed, not Blue. Same reasoning as above
  • Dream confronting Error after he's arrested, using his aura on him to make him suffer and telling him that he'll never let him hurt Ink ever again.
  • Fresh cheering Ink up by hanging out after everything.
  • The Murder Trio startling Dream while he's leaning on a balcony, and him falling and breaking his arm. Those three would have earned themselves a nice stay into Nightmare's lab, as tests subjects.
  • A "Ghost pottery scene" with Error and Ink (I like writing Errorink, if it wasn't already clear), with Ink knitting while sitting in Error's lap, and Error guiding his hands.

And well, I guess that's it!

If you still have more questions, I will answer in the comments, I love interacting with readers! Hope you will like my next fanfictions too, bye!

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