Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A pen clicked as Nightmare continued to write down what he had observed.

Purple eye lights scanned the market full of fruits, vegetables and goodies for Nightmare to buy. Neither him nor Dream required food, so he wouldn’t, but he still liked to observe how the market thrived. Even if these villagers despised him, Nightmare couldn’t help but be so curious as to how they move, talk, act and just their overall behaviour. Him and Dream weren’t like them, and that’s why he was interested.

Although, he still had to be careful, as yet again it’s because of the hate that this village has for him. He doesn’t know why. He never did. But he tries his best anyway, because maybe one day they’ll like him, maybe one day because he does what they want they’ll finally like him. He knew they wouldn’t though.

They’d never like him, especially not how they like Dream. 

With a gentle huff, his back scraped against the tree he was hiding behind, body sliding down until he was fully sat down. Monitoring the villagers was nice - monster-watching, he called it - but he couldn’t do this forever. They always found him, and then they..

Well, it varied. But bad things, always bad things.

His eyes snapped back open the second he heard a twig snap nearby. Very nearby. With one swift movement, he stood up and looked around, ready to summon a weapon if he needed to defend himself. If it was them, then he’d need to. He was quick to sense the anger right next to him, quick enough that he could dodge the swipe. 

He quickly moved out of the way of arm’s reach, the wolf monster grumbling in frustration, “Come on, Nightmare, give me that journal of yours. You know what I’ll do if you don’t.”

He refused to answer, the silence stretching onward and onward until he was caught off guard by the villager pouncing on him and fighting for the book. He held it as tight as he could, even as their grip remained strong and continued to pull hard. But he wouldn’t give in so easily, it was his and therefore his property. He could do what he wanted.

That confidence faded as quick as the journal was snatched from him. He immediately stood up, fighting against the taller one but they just pulled it open and read through the entries. As they dog-eared the pages, scrolling through, they were eventually met with the latest entry. The one just made, and not yet finished.

Nightmare’s eyes furrowed, a kick reaching them. But it was already too late, they dropped the book and growled at him, “You’re a freak, you know that? A freak.”

As they ran off, all Nightmare could do was watch in terror as they spread the news to their fellow villagers. He never meant to do anything wrong, he really didn’t.

Speaking of wrong, something caught his attention. And so, he watched from behind the tree.

A bunny monster quickly ran into sight, out of breath by the time they got to the market; hunched over and taking a moment to heave, “I- Dream,” they started, “He’s.. he’s in danger, get help.. GET HELP!” They screamed, quick to panic just as the other villagers did.

That same wolf monster was quick to glare at Nightmare, a furious glint in their eyes as they marched over to him with heavy and loud steps. As their stomping ceased, Nightmare could only back up against the tree, only to be lifted up off of the floor and strangled by the wolf. 

“You did this, didn’t you?” They spat, “FIX IT!” And with that shout, Nightmare was let go. Even as he sat on the grass and collected himself, he let out coughs and his vision span. Once he finally got up, his head was still in utter agony, but he had to go anyway. For his brother. The village had already began their march, leaving him behind. Yet the wolf stayed for a moment or two, staring back at him with a feral rage in their face.

I have to fix it, he thought as they stomped away, Not just for his safety, but for mine.

He took another moment to relax, leaning on the tree for support and preparing for the terror that was about to come. He was still dizzy, but he had to go. He couldn’t stay here forever.

With a sigh, he took in the fresh air and held back tears as he joined the line of villagers. 

And yet, that fixed nothing. That fear and pain fixed nothing.

The air was heavy with tension, the breeze blowing by the two skeletons as their staring contest didn’t cease, it only strengthened. Dream’s frown grew, tears beginning to drip down his face as the consequences of his actions finally caught up to him. The thick, black goop that was soon to encase him whole began to crawl up his leg, and all he could do was whimper in pain and sorrow.

”..I-“ Dream swallowed, “I’m.. I’m sorry.” He just barely got out, the corruption soon to cover the entirety of his leg.

Nightmare couldn’t move, he couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t real, this was a dream, it wasn’t reality it- the villagers were tricking him. Surely, this was just some sick joke, another hit to the gut by them - emotionally this time - because they hated him more than he could possibly comprehend. They seemed so panicked, but it was just an act, a joke, this..

..This couldn’t be real.

Looking back though, it all seemed so real, especially now that he was witnessing it happen in real time. It had all happened so fast, yet he still recalled the events in vivid detail, negativity forever implanting itself into his bones.

Dream’s life shattered before Nightmare’s very eyes, his brother’s future being wiped out in one bite of an apple. A golden apple. He had been eating so many that Nightmare knew the positivity would overwhelm him and his senses, it’d become toxic. Corrupting.

This wasn’t right. This wasn’t right at all.

The goop continued to travel up Dream’s leg, gradually blurring in Nightmare’s vision until it became fully out of focus.

The world around him slowly became nothing but a blur, eyes seemingly focused yet on the inside everything was blurring together in a swirl of colours and shapes. Black was the most prominent colour of all, slowly mixing with the white before fully overtaking it. 

His breathing became heavy, he didn’t know how to cope! He- he was scared. Scared, yes. Scared of what was happening.

What was happening? He.. didn’t know. He knew nothing about what was happening because it never happened before, this was new, a new thing to be documented and recorded in history.

But, that wasn’t right. He couldn’t let this become history, he couldn’t let this become reality.

The rattling of his bones was the last thing he heard as he charged forward, summoning a glistening, shiny and twinkling moonstone blade that had light bounce off of it as it sliced through the corruption that encased his brother whole. He was not letting his fear bring him down, he was not letting his brother die. Not right here, not right now, and especially not to some stupid corruption.

The negativity shot out of him in waves and blasted down the monster that replaced his brother, an actor sent to trick him and deceive him into believing that was really his brother. It wasn’t, it was a beast posing as him, and keeping his real brother captive.

Not for long, he thought as a larger frown than before found it’s way onto his face, I’ll get my brother back.

Purple magic shot out of his newly formed staff with a moon on top, having appeared in his hand in place of the moonstone blade. The creature was weakened, and with this last shot he could get his brother back. Smoke filled his nose as it plagued the area with both it’s existence and scent. A crater had formed, having been made visible as the smoke cleared up. His brother would be there, safe and sound, he just knew it!

But, what he saw when it cleared up made him quickly realise he had overestimated himself. He had overestimated himself a lot.

Tendrils sprouted out of the back of the creature that had replaced his brother, the smoke finally revealing them as one by one they waved him hello. Just as the joyful glint in Dre- the creature’s eye did, a grin forming. Thick, black goop covered his left eye, dripping down onto the ground as he finally took a step forward onto the dead grass.

The staff dropped and softly clanked on the ground, metal colliding with grass as he truly had no other choice when being tackled to the floor. The tentacles rose high up, dripping with the same black liquid that spread itself across the entirety of his body, “Don’t worry, brother,” he softly spoke, “I’ll make you feel better.”

Nightmare couldn’t do anything, he was frozen, terrified for his life. All he could do was thrash underneath the one who pretended to be his brother, hand reaching out to grab his staff.

It was too far.

His breathing quickened, the guardian attempting to get his telekinesis to work as the staff rattled and shook, slowly floating up. It wasn’t stable, but he had to try, for him. For his brother.

Finally, with one last grunt, it flew up in the air and slammed itself into his hand. Yet, it didn’t hurt. Either way, a blast of his negativity managed to get the beast off of him. A good distraction, yet distractions were temporary. He quickly rose to his feet, staring over at the creature who shrieked in agony. His purple eye lights went up and down, fully scanning the monster, and he was quick to notice the corruption process wasn’t done. Maybe that was some sort of weakness?

A second glance made him realise it was incredibly close to the clifftop. Which was.. very convenient for him, but also gave him a horrifying idea. One that might just work.

He huffed, “Dream, if you’re still in there..” he swallowed, “I.. I’m sorry.”

The beast seemed to stop at that, tilting its head as if curious. Then, he grinned, laughing with an overly sweet tone as he approached. “Oh, silly brother.. I am Dream,” the creature spoke, Nightmare backing up with a shiver in his bones, “Don’t you get that?”

He had to force himself to not cry, holding back tears yet again before letting out a different kind of cry. A scream came out as he charged forward, tears still beginning to form in the corners of his eye sockets as his staff shot the other directly in the gut. He seemed shocked at that, a bit of his goopy flesh dripping off and revealing the eye that lay underneath. A yellow eye light stared back at purple ones, going thin in horror before a muffled scream was heard, the eye getting covered back up.

Only then did Nightmare realise the sin he had committed.

”DREAM!” He shrieked, a blood curdling scream as he desperately tried to reach forward. It strained his arm but he did anyway, his magic forming subconsciously and lifting up the beast, bringing it to him. Noticing this, he bit his lip yet tears still fell, the telekinesis bringing the cre- no, his brother to him and quickly embracing him in a hug. He stepped back a bit so the two wouldn’t fall, Dream still being held up by purple magic.

He let out shaky breaths as his grip tightened on his brother’s back, holding him close as if letting him go would make him disappear, “You’re.. you’re okay.” He muttered, the reassurance applying more to him, “You’re.. fine.” He let out one last exhale before his breathing got relatively normal.

The other hugged back, and he knew right then and there that was his brother. The head resting on his shoulder helped ground him, both figuratively and literally. And he wished that this moment would stretch on forever, and ever, for he loved his brother so much. He never wanted to hurt him, only the beast that posed as him.

The one that stabbed him in the back.

Terror filled his bones much as pain did, groans of agony coming out of him. He just barely held back a scream, and considering that reaction he knew he made a mistake. He made many mistakes in this fight, but this one cost him quite a lot.

That much became obvious when he summoned his soul and a gaping hole was right in the middle of the purplish black apple, bony hands began clawing deep into his shoulders, picking him up with the help of the tendrils before throwing him off the cliff.

”NO!” He screamed, tears erupting faster than ever just as his blood did and becoming one with the wind. A head peeked out from over, and one of the tentacles innocently waved, just as “innocent” as the look on the deceitful one’s face.

“Goodbye for now, brother. I hope to see you again!” He beamed, continuing to wave until Nightmare’s vision began to blur, the black shape he recognised as the newly corrupted Dream slowly walking off. Tears fell so fast that his cheeks were soaking wet, some refusing to burst out of how stubborn he was. Yes, stubborn, very stubborn. And as his vision began to fade, one last thought dawned on him, one last terrifying thought.

Truly, he had no idea what to do.

Chapter Text

His vision was pitch black, darkness consuming the entirety of it because he knew if he opened his eyes a terrifying sight would greet him. His death.

He never thought that he, the Guardian of Negativity, would have such an embarrassing and humiliating death like this, but it is what it is. He’d try and fight back but the blood loss was getting to him, droplets of it becoming one with the wind. He couldn’t fight back, how could he? He felt exhausted. How about he just went to sleep for a little while? Yeah.. yeah, that’d be good.

Rather than remaining tense, his bones relaxed, body going limp in the air and eyelids remaining shut. Yet they weren’t squeezed shut, nor paired with a frown; his expression was calm, content. He was content to meet his death, who wouldn’t be when all he could muster up the energy to do right now was sleep? Sleep forever. For.. ever.. jeez, he was tired, no wonder he couldn’t fight ba-

“What? How is this happening?”

Immediately, his eyes snapped wide open to scan the area for any origin of this voice. Was he so loopy he was hearing voices? Perhaps.. maybe his brain was trying to entertain him falling off this cliff? After all, death wouldn’t come very soon considering the height.

“This is going against the script of Dreamtale, what do we do? Should we send him to a random AU to heal?”

“Sure, that’d work. This is entertaining anyway, let’s make it go on for longer!”

“Yeah!!”

..Script? What? Even the voices in his head sounded loopy. Not in tone, but rather because of the nonsense that spat ou-

In an instant, his thoughts were put to an end as the guardian felt a shift in his body, atoms and codes being reworked in a second before he landed on cold, white snow that quickly got stained lavender purple as he coughed. Unfocused eyes sluggishly scanned the area, blood pouring out of his wound and all he could do was lay there as his vision got blurrier and blurrier. 

His bones rattled, shaking. He was barely able to recover from the literal backstab, yet now his body was roughly tossed onto the ground. The snow.. sort of cushioned his landing, at least.

He bit back tears, body aching yet still he crawled; bony fingers grasping the snow for dear life as he slowly shuffled into a dark, shaded area. He could barely see, but it seemed as if the shadows that it wielded were large enough to hide his vulnerability.

Time stretched onward, leaving him behind with a cloud of dust that barely cleared up. Yet still, he found himself backed against the wall of one of the buildings; a trail of blood staining the snow just as it did with his clothes.

His breath hitched, curling up in on himself. What could he even do? He was pathetic, weak and stupid, just like all those villagers told him every single day of his miserable life. Dream was the beacon of light in his life, his brother always there for him - but he wasn’t here anymore, and he wouldn’t ever be again.

Tears shed out, the Guardian clutching his chest as he couldn’t hold the sobs back anymore. They poured out just like the blood, eyes squeezed shut.

It hurt. Everything did.

Thin pupils watched as shaky hands rose up from shielding his wound and came back wet and stained lavender. He was so tired, exhausted to the point where he couldn’t help but accept death. Guardians were powerful, but not powerful enough to stop another from killing them.

To think that it’d be his brother to do it. He was so, so stupid, no wonder he would die here. Not just because of the beast that his brother had became, but because of his pathetic mista-

A twig snapped, and instantly he shot back. Not just out of his thoughts, but physically too, cowering in the corner so the shadow could act as a shield and mask his existence. He didn’t want to be seen right now, not by anyone, he’d rather be alone as he died. It’s what he deserved. Still, going against his wishes, a silhouette towered over him. A skeleton. A large hole was sat on the right side of his head, cracks in his bones and a smile that was stretching far too wide across his face than it should be. His left eye socket was blank, empty, while the other had a crimson red eye locked inside of it.

He looked like a Sans variant, but Nightmare wasn’t sure which. ”Heya, haven’t seen you before. You new around here?” He asked.

Nightmare remained silent, blood dripping out of his heaving mouth. He opened his mouth to speak yet all that came out was a shaky breath, he.. he needed sleep. So, he laid himself atop the soft snow, head nestling in it like a pillow. The skeleton above stared down in what looked to be confusion, but Nightmare needed to sleep. Maybe just for a little while..

The anonymous figure seemed to contemplate saying something, before his gaze met the wound and puddle of blood that littered the ground. Then, his expression shifted to one of concern.

He could barely comprehend being picked up as his vision swirled in and out of existence, unintelligible murmurs coming from the one carrying him. He was moving.. but still tired. How about a nap? It might be worrying, but whatever.. negativity was his thing anyway. Well, was his thing, he was going to die. It seemed his body agreed, as his vision was quick to go black and his body went limp.

Just a few more minutes.

-

From black to white, his vision returned and he could feel the familiar texture of bandages on him. His chest, this time.

Nightmare didn’t expect to wake up, in all honesty. He was laid atop something, but he couldn’t see what from this angle. It didn’t feel like the world of Dreamtale he was used to, though. Not at all, not the warm, bright green grass that had been baked in the sun for centuries and more to come, not his home which he shared with the villagers and..

..Oh, his brother.

Maybe he shouldn’t think about that right now, it was a lot to process and- he was still tired. He should adapt to his surroundings anyway. So, he will; oddly enough, the non-existence that he assumed to become familiar to him was.. not there, his vision was black yet he could snap open his eyes and see. He wasn’t dead? Why? Was he perhaps blessed by Nim? Was this was a package deal that came with being a Guardian? Maybe, but despite the changes to-

He sighed.

..Despite the changes to his brother, he was still a Guardian at heart. Different person, same role. Guardians can kill other Guardians easily, but it isn’t as easy for the rest of the people in the multiverse to kill them off - not unless they are some other important role like a Protector, Destroyer, and much more. No ordinary civilian can destroy any of these, for chaos would spread throughout the multiverse.

But that further proves how impossible it is that he isn’t dead - unless that Sans helped him? He was suffering far too much from blood loss to sense any sort of emotions from him, nor could he read any expression on his face due to lying down.

Wait- he vaguely remembered being carried, was this that Sans’ house? It added up, so most likely. 

With that thought, it was all the affirmation to relax the non-existent muscles - really, just his bones - he didn’t know were tense in the first place. Laying back, he stared up at the ceiling. Blankly staring was doing him no good nor helping him heal or help his brother but, he needed to just sit and think for a moment. Really, what was he going to do? Guardians were powerful, but this had never happened before, how could he solve something that no one had ever dealt with? Maybe someone had, but he hadn’t heard of anything like that.

He grumbled, grabbing both sides of the pillow and smothering himself in it as he rolled over, trying his best to ignore the ache as he moved. Not really ‘smothering’, but still, he was angry. It wasn’t unlike him to be miserable, but usually that was more of a sorrow than a rage. He just felt so angry at himself, but sad at the same time, angry at what he could’ve done and sad at how he was so, so close to saving Dream.

But he didn’t, and he could never go back. That’s why it hurt so much, he couldn’t fix this. Ever. He truly had no idea what to do.

After a moment or two of uncomfortable silence, he huffed once more and sat up, grunting as he did so. The pain was intense, and that’s why exactly with a flick of the wrist he summoned his purple apple soul. The shade was so dark it was easy to mistake it for black. But, that’s not what he was focused on, obviously not.

A giant, tendril shaped hole was right in the middle of it, and as his gaze met it his breath hitched.

Dream did this, he reminded himself, Dream did this and it may never fix itself. How could you forgive him? Feel sympathy for him? He did this to you. He couldn’t help but feel bad, and that was the only answer he could give. It was his brother, how could he not?

Instantly, he unsummoned it, he didn’t want to be reminded of it anymore. He did this to himself, and that was that - but it didn’t mean he wanted to be reminded. His bones ached and rattled as he laid down once more, rolling onto his side with a low, almost silent groan. It hurt so bad, but maybe he deserved it. Maybe this was just what he deserved after all he did. But.. what did he do?

He wasn’t entirely sure. Exist, he supposed. Either way, it didn’t matter, he was far too tired. And so, his vision once more faded to bla-

“You’re finally awake!” A voice said.

He bit back a grumble, whoever it was sounded nice enough and he didn’t want to ruin more potential friendships. So, slowly, he rolled over and tried to ignore the pain that seeped through his bones as he shuffled. It was a different skeleton this time, a thinner and taller figure, blood-stained teeth that were crooked and worn from lack of care. Still, a bright smile remained on his face, gloved hand waving over to the Guardian. He looked like a Papyrus variant.

“..Yeah.” He muttered, shakiness and exhaustion clear in his voice.

The Papyrus frowned, “You seem tired, or maybe hungry..” Before his face immediately lit back up. “Oh! I know, would you like some spaghetti?”

Nightmare yawned, turning to face the ceiling once more. It was hard to ignore the ache this time as he laid onto his back, but still he did. “I don’t need to eat.” He finally spoke up.

Only just now he noticed how truly negative this AU was. The negativity this universe ate up like a ravenous beast was quite a lot, and he was concerned but.. at the same time it energised him. So he wasn’t truly upset over it, but still, the concern remained. What happened here?

”Not hungry? Then the great Papyrus will store it in the fridge so you can have it later!” He said, the Guardian far too tired to correct him and reword the earlier statement. He wouldn’t be hungry, ever, because he didn’t require food.. Oh well.

He blinked, blinked once more, and a couple more times. Papyrus had already began walking away, yet still Nightmare itched to ask something.

”So, your name’s Papyrus?” He started.

Instantly, the other stopped, turning around and smiling. “Yes!! That is m- oh, I never introduced myself.. What bad manners! As you know, I am Papyrus, the great Papyrus!”

”Nice name, I’m Nightmare.” He mumbled, strength gradually coming back to him because of the ounces of negativity that rest in his bones as soon as he step foot into this AU, yet still his vision faded in and out. Traces of positivity remained inside, staining his soul with an invisible scar and coating the very atoms that made him up with a hint of toxic positivity. Only now did he notice the change in clothes, the purple jacket he once wore now being switched to a plain white shirt, oversized - and therefore loose - black pants paired with light pink slippers. All of these clothes looked.. worn out, this AU worried him.

Interrupting his thoughts, Papyrus hummed. ”Hm.. I have never heard of a ‘Nightmare’ before, how did you get here?” 

He looked over at the other, formerly dim purple eye lights now glowing with a faint liveliness. He felt less weak, the negativity powering him. “I’m not sure myself, honestly.” His gaze once again met the ceiling.

The other had nothing to say to that, remaining silent for a moment or two before visibly getting an idea. “I just realised, you must be so cold! Would you like a blanket?”

Nightmare was used to the cold, in fact he embraced it. But blankets were nice, comforting. “Sure.” He replied.

Papyrus smiled at that, running off to the kitchen and opening the fridge, a plate of spaghetti Nightmare didn’t notice he was holding being shoved in before he sped off; zooming up the stairs and coming back just as fast with a blanket. Before Nightmare could process it all, the familiar warmth of a blanket that reminded him of his brother before that embracing him just as he embraced it, snuggling into it.

”Thank you for this.” Is all Nightmare thought to say.

His smile grew. ”Of course!” It just as quickly contorted into an expression of confusion, the skeleton visibly thinking. “You know, you sort of look like my brother..”

He stayed silent for a moment, contemplating what to say. It showed in his face. “Just a coincidence.” Nightmare finally replied.

The silence stretched onward and onward, time but a blur as the two basked in the quiet. There was nothing to say after all, and so the self proclaimed great Papyrus scurried away; leaving Nightmare to think some more. He had to figure out a way to fix this, but how? Brainstorming would be necessary.. It’s not like him or his brother had allies or anything of the so-

..Wait. He didn’t have one right now, but he had an idea as to who could be one.

The negativity that grew from this AU rest inside his very bones, soul growing stronger the longer he stayed here. He knew that the healing process here wouldn’t be very long due to the negativity powering him up considering his origins as a being made up of pure negativity - if he went out of control, it’d burst out in a similar way to what happened to Dream - but that’s just it, this AU was so negative that it gave him strength just like a certain pair of skeletons did. He’d have to pick one, but.. who? Clearly, more research was necessary.

Either way, his Guardian origin came in handy, as he could sense negativity and therefore recruit the right people to form a team - a gang, you could say. The negativity part was important in order for balance to return to the universe, as the positivity that radiated off of Dream once he became.. that. To say the least, it was toxic, not the right amount of positivity.

Looking back, he did feel quite weak. That was probably why.

Either way, rest was all he needed right now. He just needed a recharge, you could say, his soul is likely not to repair due to the damage it faced, but, that was okay. As long as he properly healed then he’d be fine.

Even as that affirmation forced itself into his head, a bead of sweat dripped down his skull.

Ache returned to his body, encasing it whole as he rolled over. He tried so desperately to ignore it each time, yet it made him sore all over. Still, it was better than the first time he got that sharp pain, it was more faint now - once again due to the negativity that this AU had. It concerned him, but also helped him, could he really be upset? 

As that thought entered his head, it left just as fast, vision fading in and out with fluttering eyelids before the darkness came for him once more.

-

Days passed by, day turning to night. Sun and moon basking him in warmth and cold, it all felt too familiar, and that’s all he could focus on as each day passed by. Truthfully, he was scared, not just for himself but for his brother. What even happened? However, before he could get his hopes up only to get them crushed, he needed to set this plan into order. The Sans of this- wait, what AU was this anyway? As quick as that question was thought of, it got answered, as the AU name spilled into his head in an instant. Horrortale, this was Horrortale, and he knew it ever since he stepped foot into the AU yet it got muffled. Blocked. Maybe he was just too focused on everything else. Still, the negativity planted into his head and formed into those words, which was useful.

He rose up from the couch, eye lights glowing bright as the moon. No ache remained as he shifted around, and because of that he couldn’t help but let a smile form, escaping him as easily as usual. Easier than it would be now that.. Never mind, there was no need to dwell on his brother’s situation, sulking wouldn’t fix it.

It was nice to be treated like this, he wasn’t used to it because the village never liked him and.. Dream? Dream wasn’t able to do that anymore. It was unfortunate, but that’s exactly why he was going to fix it.

“Enough sulking,” he mumbled under his breath. And so, he pulled out a black shirt and a pair of the same dark purple pants he always wore. Then, in an instant, the door leading to the wardrobe shut with a single swing and he walked to the coat hanger; his purple jacket hung up on it, stained with lavender purple blood. Despite its state, he put it on anyway. He’d have to go to Laundrytale, was that an AU? Laundrytale? Probably, he’d go there after recruiting one of the brothers. Maybe Sans? Yeah, that’d work - how about.. Horror, for short. After all, Sanses were in every single universe, but Papyruses were too.. Papyrus could be Paprika. Paprika and Horror.

Only a second after those thoughts planted into his head did he step out into the cold winter breeze, newly put on purple and golden boots accompanying him as he walked, the same ones he always wore - shutting the door behind him first, of course - and making snow crush underneath him.

As his eyes scanned the area, his concern grew bigger and bigger. Everyone looked worn out, unhappy and it started to make sense why this AU gave him so much strength with its large quantity of negativity. He didn’t exactly know why but.. he had to fix this too.

So, his body shifted in place, atoms and codes silently reforming to make a new patch of snow greet him. Horror was sleeping at his post, snoring the day away with what looked to be an axe behind him - but it was barely visible, Nightmare just assumed. Still, despite the weapon beside him, he approached with no bit of fear resting inside of his bones, no tremble that shivered through his whole body; instead he confidently walked up to the skeleton and-

THUD!

The axe swung down onto the wooden stand that built his station, a new crack forming as Nightmare jolted back, beads of sweat dripping down his skull. “Ah.. you’re awake, good,” he muttered. “I was hoping to ask you something.”

He laughed. “Sorry about that, got a bit surprised there.” The other grinned from non-existent ear to ear, axe lifting back. That was.. a strange reaction, he had known the brothers for only a couple of days and was still unsure what exactly went on in their minds. Paprika seemed friendly, Horror did too, but they both had a twisted way to their words. “Go on.” Horror continued.

”Well, long story short, I come from another universe. It’s why I look exactly like you, and I- I know this may be hard to believe but-“

”I believe ‘ya.”

A blink. Then another, and his eyes widened. He.. what? “Really?” Nightmare questioned, the fellow skeleton nodding.

”It explains some..” Horror trails off at the end, narrowing his eyes. “Visions. But that’s another story, one I’d prefer not to tell - now, continue.” He smiled - the Guardian decides not to press on the way it ever so slightly faltered at the mention of his so-called ‘visions’.

“Okay, er- long story short, my brother from that universe looks exactly like me - or, well, used to - and ate one of these.. magical apples?” That’s a big oversimplification but it’ll have to do for now. “His are golden and positive, as he is the Guardian of Positivity, and mine are dark purple and negative, due to my title as Guardian of Negativity.” And here came the frown. “But, he ate too many of them, the positivity becoming.. toxic, and now he looks like- wait, do you have a stick?” Nightmare asked.

Luckily, one is thrown to him, Horror having just bent over and picked up one from the snow. “Thanks.” He nodded, crouching down and tracing a figure in the chilly, white snow, tendrils and tentacles and goop and a crown atop it all to form the familiar silhouette of the beast his brother had become. “That, that’s what he looks like.”

He could only assume Horror made a mental note of it, nodding along.

“And, he’s against me now, despite being so..” He swallowed. “So nice before, and I have to fight against it, to stop this chaos from happening otherwise the balance of the universe will break. So! I’m recruiting people, and you seem good, do you want to join? I could offer you something. Anything you want at all. Really, anything.”

Horror seemed.. shocked at that, eyes widened and eye lights going out for a minute or two before a blink. And another. And back to reality he comes, smile brighter than usual. “Anything? It’s a deal, then.”

-

What Horror wanted was for the underground to be repaired, healed back to life as if watered like a plant. Food, the CORE to have power once again, and everything else that can and will fix his AU. Despite the happiness Nightmare felt, he couldn’t help but hope at least some of the negativity remained, his recruits being so negative could help fuel him and make his goal a reality. It felt cruel to think that, but - he couldn’t help it.

Anyway.. yeah, that could work. He could go to an AU as long as it resided in negativity, plaguing it yet also giving him a gateway directly into it, so residents from those AUs could be recruited by him.. Good plan. He also washed his jacket, no longer stained with blood, Laundrytale is a thing. Luckily.

Regardless, it took a lot less time than it would if he didn’t have such high power and the ability to teleport - or in Sans language, as he technically is a Sans, a shortcut - he started off with the Ruins, encountering a manic Toriel who calmed down significantly so after the good news; then he moved back onto Snowdin, the residents thanking him excessively and celebrating. The Waterfall residents were happy to hear the news as well, the tension that Undyne left before attending the throne being dimmed down by it. Then, Hotland, the residents watching as he lit the CORE back up.

Finally, he could leave, the mix of positivity and negativity warming his heart. With the flick of a wrist, a portal materialised right in front of him, but he did not look yet. Not before observing the happy attitude of the residents, and smiling. He had already said goodbye to Paprika and Horror, saying he’d be back - of course he would, and he looked at the portal with a bigger smile.

His smile had never faltered as fast as just now.

No, the dead grass and smell of soot and ash that plagued the air of Dreamtale was enough to get him bursting in with one foot after the other and close the portal behind him. A battlefield for a battle that the Guardian had missed, once bright and warm with critters and woodland creatures frolicking around yet now his home(?) was deserted and rendered to dust with nothing to tell what universe it was apart from the Tree of-

Oh.

Oh.

Tears threatened to fall as the Guardian’s newly unfocused gaze met what used to be the Tree of Feelings. It had been destroyed so much so that it was unrecognisable, but a stump that the Guardian walked over to and kneeled next to and cried over. But it was just a stump, just a stump and nothing more, nothing less, no sort of importance to this stump that housed no apples; the remains of the aforementioned fruit scattered across the dead grass. The air was thick with smoke, and heavy with tensi- wait, smoke?

All at once, another sense hit him like a truck. The village, once lively, full of energy and a figuratively warm presence that added to the positivity - the very same waves of positivity that weakened him so the second he stepped into this AU - which burnt his bones, filling them with an artificial fire. That fire was no longer artificial.

”He.. did this.” The Guardian mumbled under his breath, completely quiet other than that and the sobs that escaped him just as he stood up with a wobble; hands clutching so tight onto his face that it might as well crack. “He did this.” He repeated.

”Brother.”

The whiplash that filled him to the brim until he overflowed was as sharp as the tremble of thunder, newly uncovered head jolting back up to view the village once more. Shaky hands lowered as his eyes widened, the small silhouette of Dream creeping ever so closer, growing in size as that same word rung through his metaphorical ears. Brother, brother, brother, br-

Interrupting his spiralling thoughts, an explosion of positive energy came out from inside of Dream and burst out towards the fellow Guardian, blasting him enough for a wobble and trip. Before he got the chance to stand, let alone gather the energy to, a familiar figure towered over him; having just teleported over with a golden, almost mesmerising light that followed him around.

Thud! went the Guardian, tipping over from one swing of the arm from the beast who posed as his brother, wearing Dream’s face as if it were a mask and stretching it with a smile far too wide. It was uncanny.

His body hit the dead grass, but not for long as he rose and materialised his staff right in his hand; casting Dream away with a large blast of negativity and causing a sharp grunt to spew out of his mouth. Still, he only slid back a.. little bit, the positivity in this AU was toxic but it was still positivity. It weakened him but also fuelled him at the same time due to it’s origins being negative yet a cover of positivity.

”You..” Dream growled, “You will pay for trying to disobey me, Nightmare!”

With a scream, he charged forward and summoned his as well, the two’s respective staffs colliding with a clank of the metal each time. Dream was stronger, slowly pushing Nightmare back yet still he fought and struggled. Nightmare’s expression was one of pure determination, yet an undertone of sorrow hidden inside, something he could focus on later.

Dream’s staff rose up, and in one swift motion collided with Nightmare’s head. He wobbled and tried to stabilise but got swept back under with a kick and sat atop the grass once more. The beast’s golden, shiny staff began charging up a crackling ball of pure positive energy, being his largest one yet. At first sight, it seemed like at this rate winning was wishful thinking due to it’s size, but..

He had a plan.

Bony fingers gripped tight onto the other’s staff, his own dematerialising. His grip was weak at first, Dream easily fighting back, before inevitably the Guardian of Positivity slowly got pushed back and his smile became crooked.

CRASH!

Smoke filled the air, heavy with both tension and the aftermath of the explosion. He was getting major deju vu from the way it took its time to clear up, revealing..

An arrow? It just barely missed him. That’s stra-

Pain hit him all at once, agony in his left shoulder yet still he powered through with a groan of pain. He clutched onto it, knowing he could heal it later. Or just.. go back to Horrortale? No, no, he didn’t want to be a bother. Still, he needed some cover, and despite how much it pained him to see it in this state he avoided the several arrows that shot out of the smoke and ducked behind the remains of the Tree of Feelings.

Perhaps healing it now while smoke obscured Dream’s vision was a good idea? It seemed like it. So, he braced himself before yanking out the arrow and bit his lip to keep quiet - which usually wouldn’t be safe but a purple aura surrounded his hands and immediately clung to the wound.

The blood poured back in, body repairing and going back to normal in an instant. Though, he was slower than usual due to the positivity that held him back, it’d be easier in Horr-

“Nightmare.. where are youuu?~” Dream hummed, footsteps being heard nearby and taking his attention away from the healing process. Blood began leaking out once more, but he was quick to aid it and bite back noises of pure, unbridled pain. Unbridled no more, however, as the wound fully fixed itself and he let out an almost silent sigh of relief.

His moonstone blade got summoned, placed into his hands. A weapon was needed before he got out from hiding.

Hesitantly, the Guardian slowly stood up and tried his best to look around. Golden, glowing eye lights stared back at him, and he had to run in the other direction; dodging more arrows as he ran and ran, blocking some with the blade as it twinkled and shone in the now mostly cleared up smoke. Once it fully did, a bow and arrow wielding Dream awaited him with a grin.

More and more got shot at him, frowning. Ranged vs. melee was not the most fair fight, as he had to get close while Dream could stay as far away as he wanted; though, those thoughts quickly faded when he remembered a very special ability.

In an instant, his body reformed right behind Dream and he swiped, cutting the back of his neck as blood poured out in ropes. The whiplash was intense, turning around in an instant to try and pounce on Nightmare, though the blood loss was getting to him and he missed, falling.

He.. he didn’t want Dream to die, though.

So, hesitantly, he stepped closer once more, crouching down to look at the collapsed form of his brother who was fading in and out of consciousness. Quickly, the purple aura returned to his hands, and he slammed them onto the wound. The blood evaporated in the air, turning into golden particles that floated up and above before fading.

A minute or two of silence. Then another.. and finally, Dream rose, sat up. Golden eye lights looked back at him once more, the glow soft and sweet in nature.. though, it was overly sweet, wrapped in a sinister ribbon to top his new attitude.

”Dream?” He finally spoke up, tilting his head. “Are.. are you okay?”

He remained silent, blankly staring at Nightmare as his tendrils flicked behind him and more goop dripped. He inched closer, reaching out, maybe Dream was just scared? Maybe he was okay.. Maybe he wouldn’t be this way anymore? Would things go back to normal? He didn’t seem.. hostile, so a hand touched his shoulder-

And got tightly gripped by the hand that his other shoulder wielded, those golden eye lights not looking so friendly anymore.

”Perfectly fine, Nightmare.” He grinned, crushing and crushing until the other screamed.

Though, his joy was quick to fade into a crooked smile that was a facade of his anger the second a blast of negativity shot at him, Nightmare’s free hand summoning his staff and raising it in a matter of seconds. He breathed heavily, backing away from Dream despite his attack shoving him far, far back already. He felt weaker by the second, positivity reaching out to him as if it were a poison - which, for him, it was in this situation - and he groaned. He needed to get out, he needed to get out.

Dream’s grin became more crooked by the second, flickering to a scowl for a split second before his mask got repaired and he stood up with a smile uncannily big. “Don’t you understand? Why fight positivity? It’s needed for the balance.” Dream cooed.

”The balance includes both positivity and negativity! You are going against the balance by doing this, Dream!” Nightmare hissed.

Dream’s head tilts at that, an eyebrow raising. “Balance is positivity and nothing else, brother. Negativity is not needed in this world, don’t you know that? You serve no purpose, an empty, shallow reason for your existence as only I am important as Guardian of Positivity.” He laughed. “Negativity is an afterthought.”

He remained silent yet his eyes spoke louder than words as they furrowed, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. His staff dematerialised for the last time just after yet another blast is sent over to Dream, stunning him and allowing Nightmare an escape. 

One last portal is made, right underneath Nightmare. And as he falls into it, the last thing he hears from that wretched world is the blood curdling scream of the one he cherishes most. 

Chapter Text

The sunlight shone down onto the skeleton brothers, the two sat atop the warm, sun baked grass and resting near the Tree of Feelings. Despite the warm setting - a wince came from Nightmare, frowning at the shots of pain.

”Try and stay still, brother.” Dream cooed, “I know it hurts but.. it’ll hurt much less if you stop struggling.”

Nightmare hesitantly obliged, staying as still as possible as the bandages were applied onto his arm. The bandages were already stained in lavender, more layers being applied. The two didn’t speak to each other much during these, Dream learnt long ago not to prod at whatever kept getting Nightmare so hurt.

“Nightmare.” Still, he was.. particularly curious today. The aforementioned hums in acknowledgement, cueing Dream to continue, “You.. never really talk about where these injuries come from, why is that?” Dream mutters, staring at the other in concern.

Nightmare frowns, ”I just-“

”Please brother, don’t lie again.” Dream frowns too. ”What are you hiding?”

Silence filled the air, and Dream took that as a sign to just let it go.

-

A soft thud echoed throughout the living room, portal closing just above Nightmare as he fell onto the couch of Paprika and Horror.

He groaned, weakly rubbing his head and turning over onto his side, eyes widening a bit just as Paprika’s did - the aforementioned peeking in from inside the kitchen - by seeing Nightmare. “Oh, NIGHTMARE! I didn’t expect you to return so soon!” Paprika smiled.

”I..” He grunted, grip tightening on his skull before his hand lowered. “I didn’t plan on coming back so soon, honestly.. Sorry if staying here bothers you, I- I can lea-“

He quickly shook his head. ”Bothers me? Not at all! Doesn’t seem to bother Sans either, but you can ask him yourself when he returns! I doubt he’d say it does though- anyway, he’s helping out in giving supplies to everyone.”

Nightmare slowly nodded. “Right.. okay, I’ll have to talk to him anyway. I think I need to train more, and I should probably train him too..” He mutters, lying back. It felt as if he wasn’t giving it his all, but he was, Dream just matched his strength like no other did. Maybe that apple even.. made him stronger? Nim, he hoped not.

”Well then, make yourself comfortable!” He smiles, going back into the kitchen.

Nightmare never really thought about it before, considering his lack of hunger, but Paprika offered him food when he first got here despite their shortage of it at the time.. Good thing he was not only here to help them but happy to do so, they really deserved it.

He sighed, hesitantly summoning his soul and shuddering at the sight of it, his breath hitching and eyes widening as he experienced the shock all over again. Why did he even check when he knew what he’d see? Did he think it’d somehow heal? Of course not, of course the hole was still there, and just as fast as he summoned it he forced it to disappear from his sight; as well as an attempt to force the image out of his mind, though it had already stained into it.

..He should probably look for Horror.

As Nightmare thought that he decided right then and there not to waste any more time - you know, maybe he should make a pocket dimension for him and his future team? Like.. his own realm, maybe a big castle! ..That big part kinda depended on how many people he can manage to recruit, though.

He can talk about that with Horror, though. And so he pushed himself off the comfy sofa and headed straight for the door. With a light push, it swung open and he marched out into the snowy path with a target his eye sockets locked onto almost immediately.

It didn’t take much walking to spot the skeleton, snoring at his sentry station and therefore most likely done with helping the other monsters. He hesitantly stepped over, and knocked on the wood, hoping not to get axed this time.

One of his eye sockets opened, and then the other.

”You’re back already? Didn’t realise it’d be so soon.” He shrugged it off, “Sup, Nightmare.”

”Hey Horror.. oh- Right, I should probably say, I’m gonna call you Horror to differentiate you from all the other Sanses, and your brother Paprika for the same reason, got that?” Horror just nodded in response, and Nightmare took that as his cue to continue. “I had an idea.. I could train you! I’m pretty strong, but I could use more strength to fight my brother, and so could you.”

Horror sits upright, having previously had his head resting on his arms though now switching to his elbow sitting on the stand and his cheek resting on his hand. “Hm.. sure, why not? Could prove to be useful, especially if fights are.. common with him.”

”They are now I guess, ahah.. I just got back from one, actually- it didn’t go.. entirely well. But I’m not as injured as last time, at least!” 

Horror looks him up and down with a suspicious look. “Ahuh.” He mutters.

Nightmare just rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, “..Yeah, still bad. He doesn’t even seem like my brother anymore..” He sighs, though rather than dwell on that he shakes his head and puts on a determined look. “So.. just a question, do you know how to travel AUs?”

”Yep, I have a shortcut.” Of course.

Nightmare claps his hands together, ”Great! Well, that means we can start spreading more negativity!” He starts, “For.. the balance, of course.” Horror nods in agreement. 

“I should probably get on that, actually.. Ah, a quick favour- could I.. stay with you? Just for now?” Nightmare tilts his head.

“You’ll have to sleep on the couch.”

Nightmare just softly smiles. ”That’s fine, thank you.” He looks away, though just as quickly glances back at Horror for a second before waving and turning around; the Guardian flicks his wrist, extending his hand forward and allowing lavender particles of magic to materialise, swirling in and out of each other until it formed into a portal. And he stepped in.

This cycle became muscle memory very quickly the more and more time he spent living with Horror and Paprika, every day he’d wake up, train both himself and Horror, go out to AUs he sense have large amounts of negativity, sleep, repeat. From monsters to humans bit by bit he restored the balance, and of course did some chores along the way! He got familiar with the feeling of cleaning gloves and the sound of water running, scrubbing and scrubbing to earn his place here. Soon, the balance would be.. well, balanced!

..Is what he wanted to believe, at least, but he.. wasn’t too sure about that last part. Sure, he was doing his job well, but he wasn’t sure what Dream’s progress was at the moment.

And so as his eye sockets snapped open, one day he had enough. 6 months of training, surely he was strong enough now.. right?

He extended a hand to rip the fluffy blanket off of himself, getting into his usual outfit; a black shirt and pants, dark purple boots with traces of gold, and of course - his signature dark purple jacket. His golden crown with a moon emblem too, yes, but he wore that no matter what, so it wasn’t of note.

Lavenders and purples swirled in and out of each other, growing bigger and bigger to form a passage, a portal. It twinkled brightly oh so brightly as his wrist flicked to form it, though this time as he stepped in and the snow once again greeted the bottom of his boots he sensed.. a disturbance. This AU was being disturbed, he could feel it from the way toxic positivity weakened him ever so slightly; luckily, his training helped his body grow a bit stronger, though it still hurt.

Still, the AU was negative enough to strengthen him even more than he already was from the training and of course his Guardian roots. It seemed rather.. edgy? A lot of reds too, like - a lot. He was never one to judge, thoug-

He froze at the sound of bushes rustling, gaze immediately flickering to a few snow coated bushes that sat alongside similarly snow coated trees. A bead of sweat ran down his cheek, as he knew fully well by this point that this was an Underfell timeline, and well.. considering his experiences for the past few months - residents of Underfell were never particularly friendly.

He summoned his staff, a brief glow as it materialised in his hand and he gripped tight onto it. Slowly but surely, he stepped closer, only to flinch back at the sight of a silhouette stepping towards him, immediately making him switch to a defensive stance.

”Who are you?” Nightmare spoke, narrowing his eyes and aiming his staff. The lack of emotional aura coming from inside was.. worrying.

”No need to get all defensive!” They just chuckle, eye lights glowing in the shadows they resided in. Wait.. what? Their eye lights.. changed? At first they were a red exclamation mark and orange oval, though flickered to a yellow splash and green oval in the blink of an eye. Literally too, they blinked and it changed.

They step out, smiling widely and waving as Nightmare took in their appearance. A large brown gradient scarf that transitioned into a cream colour that was way too long for the short skeleton, dragging behind them; speaking of behind, a large paintbrush sat on their back, a few splatters of ink just like the splatter of ink on their cheek. Some overalls that got tucked in and instead used as pants, a white undershirt though dark brown overlay, some gloves - and.. a lack of shoes, huh.

”I’m Ink, but don’t worry- I don’t bite!” Ink jokes.

Nightmare relaxes ever so slightly, though was still slightly distrustful. Oh well, maybe answers would make him feel better? “I’m Nightmare. Why are you here, Ink?”

”Uuuhhh..” He puts a finger on his chin as if thinking, “Let me see if I wrote it down-“ He sticks a finger on the inside of his scarf, stretching it and peeking inside. “Ah, right here! I’m looking for someone, that’s all. I came here with a friend, but I lost him.”

He scans Ink’s body language, slightly more trusting considering his alibi was.. well, not suspicious at all. “Care to elaborate? I might be able to help.”

”Right, of course.. I’ll tell you what I remember.” 

-

The Guardian reached and reached out for the purple portal, stumbling forward and-

Nothing.

He was met with nothing.

All he could do was sit there, and wallow in self-pity. His goop began to melt more out of frustration, though all he expressed on the outside was a frustrated laugh and crooked grin, cackling to himself as his palm reached out to his head and gripped it oh so tight. He was still weakened from a mix of the fight and the traces of negativity left behind by that parasite.

And so he looked, and he looked, and he looked and he looked and for the past 6 months there were no sights of Nightmare. Traces, of course, but no sightings. Of course, his duties went well but.. it wasn’t enough. He needed Nightmare gone.

..But what he also needed was a break, so he opted to go to Dreamtale and sit by the remains of the Tree of Feelings. A stump, by this point. He.. didn’t really care though, it never meant anything to him, it never meant anything at all, it didn’t anymore it didn’t it-

“Something the matter?”

Dream froze, golden eye lights shrinking as his hand lowered and his head turned to the side. A.. skeleton? A small one at that, so small that his brown scarf dragged behind him. Dream decided not to dwell on the details though, more on the fact that he didn’t sense him.

No sort of emotional aura was radiating off of him like the others, no, no.. he was.. different. Now this piqued his interest. “..No, I’m.. just fine, thank you! Who are you, exactly?”

”Ink, what about you?”

He sighs, still smiling though a lot less crooked as the frustration faded into interest and curiosity. “Dream.”

”Nice to meet’cha! What’s with that tree? Speaking of which, what happened to this whole place??” ..And he started rambling, but Dream didn’t entirely mind. Not only was he interested in his lack of emotional aura, but the fact that he displayed positivity anyway, which is exactly what Dream needed. More positivity.

”I’m gonna stop you right there, all that happened here was..“ He just smiled ever so softly. “An accident, but I can fix it.”

Ink shrugged it off, smiling. “Well, if you want, I could help you!”

Dream’s eyes ever so slightly widened, though narrowed once again in a matter of seconds as he blinked off the shock. He hadn’t even thought of recruiting anyone.. Ink would seemingly be a great candidate. “That would be greatly appreciated, Ink. Thank you for such a great idea.”

“Of course!” Ink hums in response, staying quiet for a moment though slightly bouncing off the floor before visibly getting an idea, swiftly pulling his paintbrush Broomie off of his back and swiping some ink onto the dead grass. “Hey, my friend could help us!”

Dream raises an eyebrow. “What are you-“ Only to get interrupted by Ink grabbing the collar of his jacket and pulling him in close, the two of them falling into the puddle of ink and in a matter of seconds being thrown out onto snow. Dream, luckily, was held onto by Ink and therefore did not fall.

”..Could’ve warned me, y’know.” Dream mutters. “Oh, right, sorry!” Ink smiles, just as he has the whole time. Quickly, he lets go of Dream and steps away from the puddle, seemingly looking confused - which was evident from the way his eye lights flickered to a purple spiral and orange question mark. “..Huh.”

”What?”

”Nothing to worry about- just uhh.. didn’t mean to come here. Not that my abilities aren’t working or anything, haha, no- in fact I have great control over them! But.. for some reason, we came to an Underfell timeline, my friend is in Underswap.” He squints his eyes, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. “Maybe he just came here..? I dunno.”

Dream narrows his eyes, now curious as to what could’ve caused such an error in his abilities. Perhaps he wasn’t very good at controlling them? No, that couldn’t be it, Ink had already said he- ..whatever. “Well, if that’s the case, we should start looking for him.” Without waiting for a response, he begins to walk off, luckily Ink quickly began to follow behind; speed walking until they walked alongside each other.

”So, what even caused that accident?” Ink said, clearly just trying to create some small talk.

Dream briefly glances over at him, “You mean the one in Dreamtale?”

”Yep, that’s the one!”

”Just..” He sighs, “Dealing with my duties as Guardian of Positivity, that’s all.”

”Oooh, wait, you’re the Guardian of Positivity?” Ink looks over at him with a smile, Dream humming in acknowledgement alongside a small nod. “That explains the crown.. well, I can relate, I get busy with my Protector duties! Protector of Creation, that is, pretty important.”

”Protector of Creation, huh?” Dream smiled, returning the stare. Nightmare was clearly missing out on a valuable team member.

Ink just nodded, though quickly froze and glanced over at a specific direction, having stopped walking and grabbing onto Dream’s arm to get him to stop too. “..Wait, do you hear that?”

Dream stayed quiet for a moment, listening out to the best of his abilities only to hear.. “No, nothing.”

Ink sighed, rolling his eyes. “Just listen!” And.. he did, for a moment or two Dream and Ink sat in silence, but after a while the Guardian was tired of this and opened his mouth to speak - only to get a finger shoved onto his mouth, Ink quietly shushing him with a whispered ‘shh’.

Oh.

Oh.

“A portal.” Dream grabbed Ink’s arm to pull it away from his mouth as his tendrils flicked behind him, eyes narrowing as his gaze looked over at the same direction Ink did not long ago. Immediately, a tentacle sprouted out from behind him and grabbed onto Ink’s other arm to pull it off and release the Guardian from his grip, allowing him to walk once more and-

“Hold your horses, how about I investigate? I can tell you if it’s safe or not, and you can just hide in the bushes or- trees or whatever!” Of course, the one with the famously bad memory can do that easily! ..Ah, if only Dream knew that.

Dream smiled, “Hm.. okay, do as you wish.” He flicked his wrist as if to gesture him to go forward. And so, Ink did, scurrying out of sight as he ran into the bushes, Dream following close behind though losing sight of him; which Ink didn’t notice, at least not for a while anyway.

Regardless, the snow barely made a sound though it left his footsteps as he snuck through, careful not to make the bushes rustle too much. His lack of shoes made sneaking around much easier.

He made sure not to let his head nor body peek out too visibly from behind the tree, pulling out Broomie to quickly swipe some ink and mould it into binoculars. Swiftly, he put Broomie back behind him and lowered the binoculars onto his eyes and saw.. Huh, a lookalike of Dream? Maybe a relative, but not goopy.. and purple, guess the goopiness didn’t run in the family. The golden crown had a moon symbol instead too, rather than the.. swirly stuff or whatever.

He shrugged it off, though took note of the purple portal and.. oh, the lookalike moved. He turned the binoculars and looked over to see the figure close to the bushes, quickly dematerialising the binoculars. Guess he hadn’t been quiet enough.. he probably should’ve listened to the rustles of the bushes a bit more.

Ink took note of how tense they were, and the staff they had now summoned.

”Who are you?” They spoke, narrowing their eyes and aiming their staff in such a way that Ink couldn’t help but chuckle.

”No need to get all defensive!” Ink smiles, still chuckling though it faded as he stepped out. “I’m Ink, but don’t worry- I don’t bite!”

-

“And.. we’re here!”

Nightmare couldn’t believe it, he.. he just couldn’t! He hadn’t known Ink for long yet already felt betrayed, though he decided to give the benefit of the doubt. Just like Dream used to. So, he dematerialised his staff.

”Ink.. I know my brother, he’s not like he used to be. He’s.. he’s corrupt, his positivity is so toxic and overwhelming it’s destroying the balance! He wants negativity gone and I doubt he cares about you!” Nightmare ranted, though all he was responded with was.. a giggle.

”Ahahaa- seriously? Dream? He’s the Guardian of Positivity, come ooon.” He scoffs, “Besides, this is just how things were meant to go-“ 

”..What?”

Ink tilted his head. “Hm?”

”What- what do you mean this was how things were meant to go?” Nightmare muttered.

The artist’s head just went back upright, eye lights flickering into all different shapes and sizes before settling on his usual yellow splatter and green oval. “Ah, right, you wouldn’t understand.. Don’t worry! Just..” He hums. “A little inside joke, yeah?”

Nightmare scowled, going back into a defensive stance as he tensed up and once again, he summoned his staff, just as quick as it left it came back due to the overwhelming negativity he felt. An orb of negative energy began to charge up, quickly too.

”Don’t act innocent.”

”Is it really acting if it’s true? I didn’t do anything.” Ink’s eyes narrowed as he pulled out the paintbrush on his back. Nightmare would be confused as to why he’d fight with a paintbrush if it wasn’t for the anger he was focusing on. “Still, what a shame.. I liked you, y’know? Hey, is this why Dream didn’t bring you up?”

The Guardian’s staff tilted, aiming towards Ink and shooting. 

Chapter Text

“You’re an idiot.”

“I know.” Nightmare frowns, gaze remaining on the floor as he sat as still as possible on the couch, Horror patching up his wounds while kneeling down on the floor as Nightmare quietly winced. “But.. you don’t have to patch me up, I can do it myself. I’m your ‘boss’ anyway, shouldn’t I be the one taking care of you?”

Horror sighs, lightly pressing a wet cloth against the bloody cheek of Nightmare. “True,” He agrees, “But we’re still a team, y’know? ’Ya don’t gotta act invincible, cause you’re not.” Horror couldn’t help but frown too, looking up at Nightmare with narrowed eyes.

”What even happened, boss?” He questions, “You keep on gettin’ into fights over and over, and I have to watch you suffer because of it. You can’t keep throwing yourself into battle.”

Finally, Nightmare returns the eye contact. ”You think I want to? It’s not my fault Dream keeps showing up, besides it.. just comes with the job, I guess.” He nervously looks away, mumbling something under his breath.

Horror tilts his head, watching as Nightmare holds back a wince, “Did ‘ya say something?”

”Oh- nothing, don’t worry about it.”

The two sat in silence for a while, not an uncomfortable silence though, they just silently agreed nothing had to be said. Nightmare enjoyed the quiet anyway, in fact he embraced it. Though as it stretched further on, Horror inevitably had something to say, “So, what even happened?”

Flashes of ripping off a piece of brown fabric from the long scarf of the short skeleton who the Guardian of Negativity had pinned down to the floor with nothing but his foot, aiming his staff down to behead (not really, he’d rather not jump to murder) the one who chose to side with the beast, the beast who disrupted the balance and posed as the Guardian of Positivity. Dream Sans. 

And a blink brings him back to reality, just shrugging. “Uh.. nothing important, really. I just met him and when I found out he was an ally of Dream we.. kinda just started fighting.” He awkwardly puts his hand behind his head. “..To be honest, I could’ve handled it better. But- I did try to reason with him, he just didn’t want to listen I suppose.”

“Are ‘ya sure that’s all?” Horror narrows his eyes.

Nightmare sighs. “It’s.. a long story.”

Horror hums in acknowledgement, and aside from that and the sound of wet cloth against bone echoing throughout the room, that was all heard from the two as silence filled the air. Right up until Horror perked up, visibly getting an idea.

”Hey, I got an idea, maybe you could take a break from all this.” He shrugs, wiping the blood off as he talks. “I mean, just one couldn’t hurt, right?”

”It could.” Nightmare said in a deadpan tone.

Horror narrowed his eyes.

”Horror, I have so many duties, even just one break would be too harmful. I have a far too important role in this world to be taking something like a ‘break’.”

Immediately, Horror harshly glared.

Nightmare looked away, “..Uh, I mean- I guess it.. couldn’t hurt. What were you thinking?”

“Dunno, I don’t exactly.. know many places.” He pauses, “Or, ah, AUs, I guess.”

The two went silent after that, Horror finishing up and proudly smiling. “Alright, all done. ‘Ya feel any better, boss?”

”Sorta.. uh, I kinda have an idea actually,” As per usual, Nightmare seemed unsure. “I know that most of the AUs I go to are negative, but what if I just.. I dunno, go to random ones to try and find one that’s.. eh, not the worsttt..?”

Horror narrowed his eyes, “I mean, it could work- but you’d still be at the least bad AU, not necessarily a good one.”

”Can’t really do much about that, though, can I? My whole thing is negativity,” He nonchalantly shrugged. “I’ve learnt to cope with it. Besides, it isn’t too bad, there’s still a chance of me teleporting to a fully good AU.”

Horror just hummed in acknowledgement, and Nightmare took that as a sign to continue, “Well, you’d think I could only teleport to AUs full of negativity, but thankfully, that isn’t the case. I’m able to teleport to them much easier, much like how my.. brother, is able to teleport to AUs full of positivity much easier- but, it isn’t impossible for me to teleport to positive AUs, it’s just more difficult.”

”I see.” Is all Horror said, before letting out a gravelly chuckle. “You never cease to impress me, Nightmare.”

”Ah.. thank you?” He smiled, albeit a bit confused. Horror pat his back. “Well, you better get goin’ then, right? You could use a break sooner rather than later.”

Nightmare stood up, weakly smiling. “I suppose so.”

—

Through time and space went the Guardian, codes of binary twisting and contorting as he step foot in each AU, his never-ending portals taking him to where he needed to go. The process seemed useless, almost, as like he said earlier - it’s possible to go to positive AUs, but just.. difficult.

A lot more difficult than he remembered.

Atoms of negativity followed him around in each AU, his surroundings slowly getting more and more dark, twisted, and grotesque as he passed each universe, the AUs getting worse as he went through them. He wasn’t frightened by the sights of such negativity, though, in fact it fascinated him; it fascinated him how negative an AU could get, how negative the monsters could get. Such negativity was as bitter as poison, yet it mesmerised him with how intricate and complex emotions could get. His SOUL glew with delight at such negativity, and sure- he would feel guilty, but how could he when it was what he was born to cherish? To feast upon?

..Well, either way, his point was he couldn’t find an AU. He stepped out of his portal one last time, sighing as he expected yet another wave of negativity, bracing himself for it. Yet.. instead, he felt something else.

Positivity.

The emotion felt like poison on his bones, yet he grinned as he felt it anyway. He quickly looked around, the place was just.. grassy fields, but what he really took note of was the huge building up on a small hill. It looked to be.. a cafe?

The portal finally shut behind him as he began to walk, and from a distance he saw quite a few windows, evenly placed upon the structure - though, more specifically, he spotted a few people from inside the window, and a few… huh, cats? Odd, but he wouldn’t complain. Plus, it did explain why this AU reeked of positivity, it was practically two big weights on his shoulders. He continued onward anyway, despite the positivity metaphorically staining his bones.

The crunching of the grass beneath his feet was music to his non-existent ears, humming to himself as he stepped towards the cafe, or, well, a cat cafe he supposed. Was that what they were called? I mean- he just assumed it was one, as he saw a ton of cats through the windows.

He snaps back to reality with a blink, having nearly face planted into the door thanks to his long string of thoughts. Nice going, Nightmare.

He sighed to himself, a more neutral expression on his face as he opened the door (which caused a bell to ring), being greeted with the pleasant aroma of coffee and sweet milk in the air of the cafe, lines of tables and chairs all around and a LOT of cat trees; there was even a second floor, which he couldn’t see from here but the spiral stairs were enough to know. Cats were littered all around the cafe, and along with the scent of coffee and sweet milk, it also just smelled like….well, cats. Oddly enough, the cats all looked like AU variants, he could even spot one that looked like him from where he was stood. Huh, maybe there was one of Horror? Or Paprika?

He shook his head, shutting the door behind him and walking up to the counter where a Sans was stood, turning to him with a soft, warm and genuine smile. “Heya, how can I help you?” The barista asked.

Nightmare paused for a moment, looking up at the menu. He.. hadn’t really been to a Cafe before. He assumed he was looking up there for longer than he thought, because the barista interrupted his thoughts by clearing their throat. 

“How about you just tell me what ‘ya like, and I can try whip something up for you?”

He couldn’t help but genuinely smile at that. A soft, weak one, as all his smiles were. “Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks.. I uh, haven’t been to a cafe before.”

That seemed to get a chuckle out of the barista, “Eh, don’t worry about it, I’ve had weirder customers. Plus, it’d be rude to rush you, wouldn’t it?”

He hummed in acknowledgement, slightly chuckling too. “Hah, true.” He paused to think for a moment, “Ah.. just, give me something warm, please?”

”Something warm, comin’ up. Can I get a name for your order?”

”Nightmare.” He smiled.

”Alright, Nightmare! You can just take a seat, I’ll call you when your order is ready.” The barista nodded, going off to make the drink. Nightmare didn’t care enough about the process to stay and watch, practically falling into one of the seats as he slumped down. He probably looked pathetic, but it wouldn’t exactly be inaccurate to how he felt.

Maybe Horror was right. He.. probably did need this break, huh? He still shouldn’t stay too long, though. There was still so much work to be done.

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of paws softly tapping against the floor, before abruptly stopping at his table. He looks down to see..

..What?

It was a cat, normal enough, right? But it.. it looked like him. It had a white face - though a patch of lavender on it, with dark purple markings on its chest to represent his jacket, and black markings on its legs to represent his pants. It sported a little toy crown (looking eerily similar to his) and a lavender collar, and it looked up at him with such.. innocent, big eyes. A soft meow came out of this doppelgänger, and he couldn’t help but stare awkwardly. He was feeling.. many things. I mean, it wasn’t.. necessarily bad, but it was still a bit odd to see a cat that looked exactly like him.

He shook off those thoughts, reaching down to pet it. The cat leaned into his touch, and he got a much clearer view of its collar. The name tag said, “Night”.

..Wow, that’s.. uh- a really, really weird coincidence.

Still, he pet it with care, the purring rumbling from its throat easing him. It was just a cat, anyway, it wasn’t the worst thing he’d gone through in the past couple days.

After a moment of petting it, he takes his hand away and watches as it lays down, seemingly protecting its belly. Acted like him too, huh?

He looks away, sighing before finally noticing the menu on the table. Huh, maybe he could look at this.. and maybe even come back. He could figure out the name of an AU pretty easily right after teleporting to it, so, he just tried to think of it.

Fluffytale.

Huh.. well, it makes sense. I mean, there were a ton of cats arou-

His thoughts are interrupted by a loud thud, and hissing between cats. Were some cats fighting?? He quickly looked around, sweating a bit before his eyes landed on Night, his doppelgänger, being attacked by..

A lookalike of his brother.

Wait, no.. he took a closer look, and while it had the same tendrils and goopiness, even then, it didn’t look like it was a corrupted version of his brother.. it looked more like a corrupted version of him.

It was a fully black cat, sporting a toy lookalike of his crown and seemingly normal aside from the unusually bright teal eyes, the black goop dripping off of it, and the tendrils. It sported a collar much like Night, and he could get a reading of the name tag at first sight this time. It said, “Mare”. How.. completing.

The two cats fought with ease, Night kicking off Mare with a hiss before scratching him to try scare it away. Both of their ears were back - airplane ears even - and their fur puffed up, with their tails lashing. For Mare, its tendrils lashed alongside its tail.

He.. didn’t want to look anymore. He quickly stopped looking at the cats, forcing himself to try and get invested in the menu.

He saw the barista come out from behind the counter from the corner of his eye, “Break it up, you two, c’mon!” He said, and Nightmare could only assume that the cats stopped fighting because the screaming and scratching stopped, but there were still faint hisses from both. Since it was over, Nightmare looked up from the menu to see the barista scoop up Mare and supposedly carry him off to one of the rooms upstairs, as he quickly travelled up the spiral stairs.

Just as quick as he left, the barista came back down and sighed, looking over to Nightmare who still looked a bit shaken up. “Hey, you okay?”

”Uh.. yeah, I’m fine.” He nods. The barista just smiles comfortingly, “Alright, your drink should be ready soon.” He replied, before starting to walk back over to the gate that let him behind the counter.

”..Wait.” Nightmare suddenly spoke up.

The barista turned back, that same warm look he had since Nightmare came in. “Hm?”

”I.. didn’t catch your name.”

He just chuckles, “Ah, that’s all? Name’s Sans, Sans the Skeleton. But most people just call me Ccino.”

Nightmare smiled, “Okay, thanks.”

Ccino nods, opening the gate and walking back behind the counter, but by that point Nightmare had already looked away. Gosh, this place was.. weird. But nice. Weird, but nice. Besides the uh.. weird encounter which he honestly felt as if he shouldn’t have even seen, all the cats were nice.

He hummed to himself, leaning back in the unusually comfy chair and waiting for his drink. A few minutes pass, and then a few more.. and then a few more…. and then-

“Hot chocolate for Nightmare?”

His soft smile quickly came back, getting up from his seat and going over to the counter to take it. “Thank you.”

..Ah, shit. He just realised he has no money to pay.

Ccino noticed his discomfort, tilting his head. “Somethin’ the matter?”

”I.. uh, can’t pay for this. Sorry. You can just.. drink it, I don’t have any money.”

Ccino stayed silent for a moment, blankly staring at Nightmare as if he was a ghost before.. bursting out into laughter? Once he calmed down, he let out a soft sigh. “Honestly, it’s fine, don’t even worry about it. On the house, ‘kay? Don’t worry about something like that when it comes to me.”

Nightmare’s expression turned from fear to.. confusion, “W.. Why?”

”Dunno,” He shrugged. “You looked like you needed it.” 

Immediately, his smile returned. Albeit, he was still confused why anyone would do that for him, but.. it was.. nice being treated like a real person. It was nice having people other than his brother who liked him. And even that was taken away.

He had a bit of pep in his step as he walked back to his table, “Thank you!” He continued, before sitting down.

Ccino just chuckled, “Of course.”

This AU was.. nice. Really nice. He definitely needs to come back at least once.. or twice.. or maybe even thrice! ..Ah, screw it, he’d visit as much as he wanted.

He sipped his hot chocolate with a smile, looking out the window as the chatter of a full cafe filled his non-existent ears.

—

“..Seriously?”

”What?”

Horror was visibly holding back laughter, “Your so-called ‘break’.. was just going to a cafe?”

”There were cats, Horror.” Nightmare said it in such a deadpan tone that Horror almost felt scared, “I really like cats.”

”…Ahuh. Well, did it help at least?”

Nightmare just smiled, relaxing into the couch just as Horror did long ago, sitting across from him. “Honestly.. yeah, I think it did. I’m definitely going back.” He nods, trying to push down the flashbacks of what he saw. It.. seemed like an alternate timeline, more than anything. Why did it feel so right for him to be the corrupted one..?

He shook off those thoughts. “The barista was really nice, too. His name was Ccino.”

”Ccino, huh?” He snorts. “Either way, I’m glad it helped, boss.”

”..Yeah, me too.” He nods. “Seems like all I’ve felt lately is despair. More than usual.”

Horror narrowed his eyes, “More than ‘usual’?” He had first hand experience with a horrible place to live in, so out of everyone he got how that felt, but.. ”I.. thought you would understand that feeling?” Nightmare looked over at him, genuinely confused.

”I-“ He sputtered, “I mean, I do, but that doesn’t stop me from sympathising, ‘ya know?”

”Ah.. I see.” He hums, seems people really do care about him. 

“Boss, you really concern me sometimes.”

He chuckles, ”I know.”

—

Softly, the Guardian snored, laying on his side on the couch with a blanket up to his shoulders (thanks to Paprika, of course), and having a seemingly peaceful sleep. The night was still, cold, and quiet, all his favourite things - it’s why he loved the night. Suppose it only made sense considering his name.

Sounds of magic swirling in and out of each other filled his non-existent ears, the weight of toxic positivity suddenly on his shoulders.. and getting closer.

He hesitantly opened his eyes, grogginess ridden all over his expression as his vision became clearer and revealed an all too familiar figure.

The Guardian of Positivity raised up a metal bat, and before he could process it his vision went to black.

—

A beautiful display of lavenders and purples dripped from the skull of the Guardian, eyes hesitantly and groggily opening once more as he adjusted to his surroundings. Darkness. Darkness stretched all around him. Darkness was all he could see. Nothing but a pitch black room, uncannily similar to that of an endless, dark abyss. A void. He couldn’t exactly move either, as he felt rope burning onto his arms.

Despite his blurry vision and his unlit surroundings, he tried to scan the room anyway.

“Jeez, Dream really did a number on you, huh?” A voice giggles from the shadows.

No.. he knew that voice.

He squinted, desperately looking around to see a silhouette get closer and closer before turning on a light that flickered above the chair Nightmare was tied to, Ink’s grin is visible now.

”I- Ink, you- you’ll really go along with this..? He’s clearly not good!” Nightmare pleads, “I.. probably have a pretty bad injury, from the looks of it, and-“

Ink shushes him, his finger being shoved onto Nightmare’s mouth.

”Shhh,” Ink cooes, “It’s in the script, Nightmare. Sorry, but this is how it’s meant to go!” 

Nightmare bites down onto Ink’s finger, causing him to yelp and pull it back towards himself, “Hah- you’re a funny one, Nightmare.” Ink giggled.

”You’re the Protector of Creation, aren’t you?” Nightmare says, coughing, “Why don’t you care about the balance? There needs to be an equal amount of positivity and negativity, or the multiverse will collapse!”

Ink just shrugs, “Pssh, there is an equal amount of positivity and negativity, the balance is fiiiiine.”

Nightmare groans, leaning back into the chair to try and get sort of comfortable in this situation. “Even the Protector of Creation is against me. Wow.”

Maybe he really was doomed.

”Well, maybe talking to Dream could give you a better time! He did say something about wanting to talk to you after I was done here,” He hums, “I’m not a monster, you’ll get decent treatment as a prisoner here! ..Maybe.”

”Like I believe that..”

”Soooo, do you wanna talk to Dream, or not?”

”N-“

Ink covers Nightmare’s mouth with his hand. ”Oooh, is that a yes I hear?” He smiles, bringing his hand back to himself after he finished speaking, “I’ll go get him, then! Have fuuuun!” 

Before Nightmare could object, Ink seemingly went up stairs considering the creaks and opening a door, a bit of light leaking in before he shut it behind him.

And all alone, was Nightmare. 

Silence filled the room, just as darkness did, and Nightmare began wishing that he was somewhere else. Someone else. Maybe then he wouldn’t have so many responsibilities, maybe then he wouldn’t have a brother whose body was taken by someone else, and maybe.. it’d be easier to live in this world. Because maybe if the world was less cruel, he wouldn’t be trudging along because of the fact that Horror and Paprika loved him, and his role as the Guardian of Negativity wouldn’t be so stressful. He was doing nothing but hesitantly continuing on, for reasons outside of wanting to further exist. Sometimes he wished that existence wasn’t so hard, but.. maybe if he just didn’t exist, it’d be easier.

But, he never could. His role was too important in this world. One must imagine Nightmare happy, yet even Nightmare cannot imagine that for himself.

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a door opening with a soft creak, and a small ray of light appearing before disappearing as the door shut. Gentle footsteps tracked down the stairs, almost as if Dream was trying to give him a false sense of security.

”..Why did you take me here, Dream?” He started before Dream got down the stairs, a hum of acknowledgement from the other Guardian whose silhouette he could see even in the dark he stood in, especially those bright, golden eyes. He hops off the stairs, and steps towards the light that engulfed Nightmare, golden eye lights staring down at him, and tendrils flicking.

”I thought that was obvious by now, brother.” He hums, “I don’t want you getting in the middle of my business. I love you, truly, I do, but.. you’re getting in my way. I’m sorry I had to resort to such violence, brother.”

Those words were sickeningly sweet, just like the rest of Dream, the Guardian lying through his teeth so confidently. Before he knocked out, Nightmare saw such a wicked smile on his face, his facade full of nothing but malice - not positivity. Not any real positivity, anyway, all he said was lies, lies, and more lies - because at the end of the day, Dream’s positivity was no longer normal. It was a parasite.

”You aren’t sorry.” Nightmare mumbled back, wooziness starting to show in his voice. Probably from the blood loss.

“Oh, but I am,” Dream lied through his teeth, chuckling as he began to circle around Nightmare, stopping right in front of him and slightly bending down to get to his level. Nightmare tried to back up as best as he could, chair ever so slightly sliding back. “Trust me, brother, I really, truly am. You used to mean the world to me, but.. that isn’t enough anymore. I need the real world in my hands, not some imitation.”

”You’re- you’re destroying the balance, both of us will lose if you continue the way you are.” Nightmare hissed, blood dripping at a faster rate.

Dream suddenly went quiet, tilting his head as a wicked smile formed on his face. He stepped a bit closer, just close enough to where he was face to face with Nightmare.

”That won’t be an issue, Nightmare.” He said in a such a deadpan tone that Nightmare sweat a bit, “As long as you lose.. I still win.”

“You’re… sick.”

Dream shrugs, “Maybe, but you look like you’re about to be sick.”

Nightmare sighs, on the verge of passing out, “Just leave me alone..”

”Nope!” He smiles, “Before you pass out, I need you to answer a few questions, brother.”

”No.” Nightmare hissed, “I refuse to answer any of your questions. I’m not going to help you, or your cause.”

”I’ll hit you again if you don’t,” Dream snapped, “And maybe even give you a concussion.”

Nightmare looked away. “No amount of injury will make me help you.”

Dream sighed, “Hm.. well, I’ll make it hurt, then. But, first, onto the questions; what are your plans, Nightmare?” He hums, stepping back a bit.

Nightmare doesn’t answer.

”Answer me.” His tendrils flicked.

”I.. don’t have any.” Nightmare lied.

“Hm.” Dream smiled, “I don’t think I believe you, brother.”

”I’m telling the truth, I don’t.” He glared at Dream, the other Guardian just glaring back. “Why would I believe that? You just don’t want me to know your plans.”

”Who would? I’m not an idiot.” Nightmare scoffed, “..But, I really don’t have any plans.”

Dream stayed silent for a moment, watching as Nightmare groaned and tried to lean back in the chair, lavender coating his skull in streams of blood. “Fine, don’t tell me.” Dream finally responded, “I’ll just get Ink to come down here and help me put an end to you.”

”You.. you don’t mean that.” Nightmare mumbled, fatigue ridden in his tone. “You wouldn’t get rid of me.”

Dream paused. Just for a moment. “No.. I wouldn’t.” He finally said, “I’ll just beat you until you want to be rid of.”

Nightmare began to sweat bullets as Dream chuckled, walking over to and up the stairs and opening up the door, slamming it behind him. Once again, he was alone. Alone with his thoughts. And right now, he was really wishing he could just end this miserable existence.

I’ll just.. close my eyes for a moment. Nightmare thought, A bit of rest couldn’t hurt.. right?

He leaned back as far as he could, the door creaking open quick to ring in his head. His eyes slowly, and groggily closed, though he could hear a muffled conversation, and a tackle for Ink. In his blurry vision, he sees a third figure rise up, and pull out a knife before passing out.

—

Black. Everything was black. An inky, black abyss he couldn’t escape from. It was never-ending, and a horrible headache plagued his skull. He groaned, eyes still shut though he groggily reached up to his skull, feeling the soft fabric of bandages. He was laying down on grass, he knew that much from how the ground was soft yet spiky, slightly stabbing into his back.

He let out a shaky, tired sigh, arms going limp as he tried to get back to sleep.

”Are you awake?”

“AH-“ He flinched, eyes immediately snapping open as he backed up, seeing a.. Sans variant. It.. must be the one that saved him? ..Jeez, what’s with him meeting new people because they saved him from bleeding out.

Purple eye lights began to scan the other’s appearance. The skeleton sported a dull, darkened blue jacket with a fluffy, light grey hood, a pitch black turtleneck shirt with a.. red target soul? ..Whatever, they also had white and black striped shorts, shoes - but.. what stood out the most to Nightmare, was their eyes. Two inky, black voids for their eye sockets, with a black substance leaking out from both of them. Their expression seemed.. malicious almost, a grin on their face.

They suddenly laughed, causing Nightmare to snap out of his thoughts again with another flinch, “Holy shit, you’re pathetic!”

”..And you’re an asshole. Why did you save me?” Nightmare continued backing up. He was too weak to fight right now, which he worried would happen considering the malice in the other’s smile.

”Eh, dunno. Felt like it.”

”And.. how did you find me?”

The Sans variant just shrugged, chuckling. “You don’t need to know.”

”That’s.. not at all helpful.” He glared, “Seriously, how did you find me?”

”Just did, that’s all you need to know, little guy.”

He blinked. “Wh- LITTLE GUY?”

“It isn’t exactly inaccurate.” They just smirked.

Nightmare glared, suddenly standing up though with a stumble. “I’m leaving. Thanks for the help, but, I have important things to attend to- and talking to you is not one of those important things.” He scoffed, beginning to walk off.

..At least until he feels a bony hand grip his ankle, and drag him back down.

He falls, letting out a gasp and then a groan as he hit the ground. His head whipped around to look at the other, glaring. “Seriously? I need to go, so stop bothering me!”

Their smile only got more bigger, the unease and malice that came from it before radiating off it even more now. “Nah. I have some business with you,” They started, starting to crawl closer and reaching for something behind their back - Nightmare assumed it was a sheath, as they pulled out a knife. “I didn’t save you because I wanted to help, I saved you because I wanted the kill for myself.” 

Nightmare froze.

”..What?”

”’Ya deaf or something? I. Want. To. Kill. You.” They just grinned wider, suddenly dragging Nightmare towards themself and raising up their knife, preparing to stab into them before-

“WAIT!”

They had no pupils, but Nightmare had to assume they rolled their eyes from the way they groaned, “Fine, I’ll give you last words, since I’m feeling just soooo generous! Go on.”

”I.. I think you’ll wanna hear this.” Nightmare swallowed, sweating bullets. He wouldn’t be scared if he was at his full strength right now. Quickly, he briefly summoned his SOUL, long enough for the other to take a look - which they did, eyes slightly widening before he desummoned it. “I’m the Guardian of Negativity,” He didn’t like to brag, but.. considering their reaction to his SOUL, it might work. “And without me to keep the balance of negativity in the Multiverse, everyone will die. Including you. So you.. uh, won’t be able to kill anyone, I guess..?” ..Hopefully that works. “..Anyway, that aside, you can get something else in return besides your life.”

Nightmare sighed, “..I can give you.. anything you want. Does that sound good?”

The other skeleton paused for a second, a confused look on their face.

”Anything?”

”Anything.”

Immediately, they smiled once more. “Pleased to work for you then, ‘Guardian of Negativity’. Name’s Killer.”

Albeit their introduction, Nightmare couldn’t help but put on a genuine smile. This variant would.. definitely help with the negativity.

”I’m Nightmare. Glad to have you on the team, Killer.”

Chapter Text

Seconds turn into hours, days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into… well, nearly a month.

It took around 24 days for Nightmare to heal, and feel normal again. He may have superior Guardian genes, but he still had to wait a good bit for the after-effects of his concussion to go away. Which, yes, he found out he did get one. Pretty quickly, he realised he should probably find his own place to stay - y’know, rather than hog Horror and Paprika’s couch?

He.. couldn’t help but feel bad, honestly. He stumbled into their life and ever since then has been getting into nothing but trouble. Maybe if he found a new place to stay, he could make up for it.. Hey, wait, that kind of gave him an idea.

He’d been thinking for a while now, but honestly? A place for him Horror, and Killer (and future recruits) to stay would be really useful. It’d be easier than just smuggling him and Killer into Horror’s house - it turned out the cupboard under their sink was comically huge, so Killer had been sleeping there for the past 24 days. He didn’t seem to mind it, fortunately, in fact he snidely remarked that he expected to not be able to sleep in such a cramped space, only for it to be…. oddly huge??

Either way, he was around.. 90% sure he could make his own realm. And, since he had fully healed, he just needed to use a bit (okay, to be honest, it’d be a lot) of magic and energy then he could muster one up! 

..Probably.

Well, whatever, it was worth a shot.

Nightmare was quick to stand up from the couch, breathing in rather deeply, and letting out an equally deep exhale as he gently shut his eyes. He clasps his hands together, a purple glow slowly emitting from his hands until it burst out and swirled in and out of each other. Light was all that was visible in the room, and a newfound, artificial wind formed, dark purple jacket and black slightly oversized pants flowing in the wind. He tried to concentrate harder, eyes squeezing shut a bit further as the pure negative energy blast out and covered the house in light.

The cupboard underneath the comically tall kitchen sink opens, and out comes a very irritated Killer, “I’m trying to take a nap, what the hell is that li-“

He immediately shut up when he saw Nightmare, the Guardian’s hands spreading forward as the magic shot out of his hands. The wind finally stopped, and the glowing lavenders and purples swirled in and out of each other to form a portal. Nightmare immediately gasped, falling down onto his knees.

”..Holy shit, that took so much energy.” He groaned, holding onto his head.

”Mind explaining what the hell that was??” Killer finally walked over, hands on his hips.

Nightmare just smiled, looking up at the other skeleton with such a fond look that Killer was almost weirded out. “Our new home.”

Killer just remained silent, Nightmare looking away and coughing, gripping his skull a bit tighter and groaning.

”I have such a bad headache.. Worth it, though,” He muttered, looking back up at Killer, “Do you mind getting Horror for me?” 

“Uh.. sure.” He shrugged, he was quite interested anyway. Plus, Nightmare was his boss - he looked scrawny, but at times he scared even Killer…..He wouldn’t ever admit that out loud, though. Killer quickly turned around, heading for the stairs and marching up them with ease. He took a sharp turn to the right, slinking over to Horror’s door and reaching up his hand to kno- ..nope, never mind, he’s just opening it.

The bigger skeleton was sprawled out on the mattress he called his bed while softly snoring, tossing and turning every so often. Killer had the opportunity to do the funniest thing. So, he took a deep breath.

“WAKE UP.”

Horror rose up, slamming his head against the wall with a groan. “SERIOUSLY, KILLER?”

”Mm-hm!” Killer just hummed innocently, very slightly bouncing up and down off of the floor.

”God, you just get so fuckin’ entertained when anyone else is miserable, don’tcha?” Horror grumbled, laying back down and turning to face the wall. “Not surprised Nightmare picked ‘ya for the team.”

”Heh, I know, I was an amazing pick! I’ll help out soooo much, maybe Nightmare will even prefer meee!~” He dramatically put a hand up to his head, stepping a bit closer to Horror with a smirk. “I’d get up if I were you, or I’ll have to force you.”

”Fuck off.”

”Nightmare needs you, it’s ‘important’.” Horror could practically hear the air quotes he was doing in his voice, and he couldn’t even see him. He did perk up a bit at that, though. “…God damn i- y’know what, fine, if it’s important, I’ll willingly get up.” He sat back up, stretching before standing up.

Killer was stood in the way of the door.

”’Ya mind movin’?” He glared.

”Dunno, I’m pretty comfortable he-“

“I HEARD YOU TWO YELLING, ARE YOU COMING OR WHAT?!” Nightmare shouted from downstairs. Horror just gave him a look, and Killer begrudgingly moved out of the way….not without pushing Horror first and giggling like a school girl as he ran off downstairs.

Nightmare, having seen all that happen, just stares at Killer. He didn’t seem upset though, fortunately enough.

As Horror walks over, Killer gives him a look too that said ‘Nightmare isn’t even mad at me’. All Horror could do was just groan, trying to ignore that and going over to Nightmare with Killer doing the same, “‘Nother portal, huh? Is that what Killer woke me up for?” Killer just smiled.

”Yep.” Nightmare nods, “But, not just any portal.. it’s our new home! A realm I made, heh- pretty cool, huh?” 

“Pride looks good on you, boss!” Killer playfully nudged him in the shoulder. Horror just glares.

”God, you’re influencing him, aren’t you? He never used to speak like that.”

”Dunno, am I?”

Horror looks back to Nightmare, “A realm you made, huh? How’d ’ya do that?”

”Ehh.. I don’t know how to explain, honestly. I don’t think you could, anyway.” Nightmare shrugs.

“Didn’t really plan on it, boss.” Horror chuckles, before something dawns on him, and he looks.. genuinely concerned. “..Uh, Nightmare, you said somethin’ about this being our ‘new home’, right?”

”Mhm!” He nods.

Horror looks away, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “I.. already have a home, though. I can’t just leave Paps behind.” 

Nightmare seemed genuinely confused, standing up and tilting his head. “You can have multiple homes, can’t you?”

”I know, I know, but.. I need to ask him, first. Sorry.”

An awkward silence filled the room, before Killer started to snort, and then chuckle- then laugh. It was a pleasant noise to Nightmare. “Wooow, Horror, you just wanted boss to waste his time, huh? What a great goon you are.”

”Wh- GOON?”

”Yep! You’re expendableee!~”

Nightmare started to tune them out after a bit, just sighing as they started to argue for a while. Well.. whatever, he was sure Paprika would say yes, so he didn’t go through all that effort for nothing - unlike what Killer said. He moved over to sit on the couch, naturally relaxing into it. “Uh.. speaking of which,” He interrupts, the two skeletons turning to look at him. “Where is Paprika?”

“He’s just sleeping upstairs,” Horror pauses, “Which.. is unlike him, honestly. Guess he’s just been ‘sorta tired after.. everything. I can’t blame ‘em.”

“..Hm.. well, just ask him when he wakes up, then.” Nightmare replies.

Horror nods. “I know. An’ I will, alright? This isn’t some kinda excuse or-“

The sound of a door creaking open interrupts Horror, all three turning to look over at Paprika’s door, which he proudly walked out of. “HELLO, EVERYONE!!” He announced at a.. Paprika level volume.

”Oh, Paprika! Good, you’re here- Horror had a question for you.”

Horror glances back at Nightmare before his gaze settles on his brother. “Paps, I just wanted to ask.. uh, Nightmare..” He paused, as he visibly realised he would have to simplify this so the conversation wasn’t ridiculously long. “..Got his own place, and he was wondering if Killer and I wanted to move in with him. I’ll still.. semi-live here, and I’ll visit whenever I can, but it’ll probably be where I’m at most of the time.”

Paprika blinked.

”Sans.. WHY IS THAT EVEN A QUESTION?! You REALLY need to socialise, and what better way than THIS! That, and, it makes me happy to know you’re doing some work!” He grins. “Plus, you’ll visit me, so it’s not like you’re moving away from me!”

Horror sighed, “Guess I overthought it. Thanks, bro.” He smiled back.

“I’m relieved, Horror.. You aren’t a wuss, after all!” 

“..Killer, what?” Horror immediately turned to him.

”You heard me.” Killer grins.

Blink, blink.

“HOW DOES THAT MAKE ME A- ..Okay, you’re just ‘tryna get under my skin, I’m going into that portal. See ‘ya, Paps.” Before Killer could get out a snarky response, Horror had already walked into the portal. Killer pouted, before walking in too. Nightmare stood up, stretching and starting to walk before stopping. He turned to Paprika.

”I’ll visit when I can, okay? I.. really appreciate you for all you’ve done. Thank you for being here.”

Paprika smiled. “There’s no need to thank me, Nightmare! It’s what any good person would do.”

Nightmare couldn’t help but smile back, waving as he walked into the portal.

As always, he feels his code being rearranged. But this time it felt.. different, as if the place he was going was home. That word always made him think of Dreamtale, but with Horror, Killer, and Paprika by his side, leaving behind his old home wasn’t so hard. And maybe he could even find a new home, with them. They were like family to him already, which led him to believe he, unfortunately, got easily attached. How.. well, it didn’t seem particularly off.

In that split second that were his thoughts, the portal ends and he steps out to a new realm. His realm.

It wasn’t anything special, teal tinted black grass with dark trees all around to complement it. The forest was thick, barely anything visible through it aside from a long lavender dirt path, and a hill with a large black mansion atop it. The portal closed behind him, and he couldn’t help but smile. A genuine smile. This was his home now, and it made this whole thing feel.. so much more real. It made his friendships with them feel that much more real - well, friendships to him, at least. He still couldn’t get inside Killer’s head, especially considering how all over the place his emotional aura was.

He glanced over to Horror, his face unusually lit with awe, and it made Nightmare’s smile grow. He glanced over to Killer, and found that the usual cocky, mischievous smirk on his face was replaced with a slightly open mouth. His eyes were.. well, still without eye lights, so those never told much.

”How do you guys like it?” He asked, breaking the silence.

Horror smiles. ”It’s nothin’ like I’ve ever seen.”

”It’s okay.” Killer shrugs. Horror shoots him a glare, but he still doesn’t budge.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Nightmare starts to walk forward, Horror and Killer following close behind.

The big front doors towered over the three, Nightmare just casually opening the doors and holding it for the other two, who just stepped inside. Once they were in, Nightmare let go of the door, and as gravity naturally pulled it to shut, he quickly scurried in before it slammed behind him.

The interior was a mix of dark purples and teals, the look of it all pretty fancy, and almost royal. 

“This place has two stairs??” Killer pointed out, laughing before turning back to Nightmare. “What the hell, man. How long have you been able to make a world or whatever?”

”Uuuh.. for about as long as I’ve existed. I just never saw a need to before.”

Killer snorts, “Sweet.”

”There should be a lot of bedrooms upstairs, so just uh.. pick whichever want you want, and if I did it correctly then your name should just be written on the blank sign on the door when you pick it.”

“You’re weird, Nightmare.”

He smiled. “Thank you, Killer.”

Horror just smiled, going up the stairs to go off and pick a room. Killer puts his hands in his pockets, and starts to speed walk forward to go find one too, before his shoulder is grabbed by Nightmare.

”..Sup, boss?” Killer awkwardly turned to Nightmare.

”Sorry, this’ll only be a second, but- I just wanted to let you know what exactly our cause is, since I’m not sure if Horror explained while I was healing.”

”He didn’t.” Nightmare couldn’t tell if he was just trying to pin something on Horror again, but he’d explain anyway.

Nightmare cleared his throat, ”Alright, uh.. basically- back in my old home, Dreamtale, there was this apple tree with two sides; one had apples made of pure positivity, and the other pure negativity. One day my brother, the Guardian of Positivity, ate too many of the golden positive apples, and it corrupted him into.. a beast.” 

“Sick.”

He sighed, “No, not ‘sick’, he’s trying to end the Multiverse.”

Killer winced. “..Never mind, then.”

”Anyway,” He continued, “He’s trying to make the balance of positivity and negativity uneven, and when that happens the Multiverse will end. So, our job is to bring more negativity to the universe. Sound good?” Nightmare was a bit proud of himself for getting through the explanation easier this time.

”Yeah, but I just have one question.” 

“Go on.” Nightmare gestured for him to continue.

”Sooo.. if negativity is our whole thing-“ Killer started, a suspicious smile plastered across his face. “Would killing people help out?”

Nightmare pondered it for a moment, visibly thinking about it. He didn’t look disturbed at all like Killer wanted, but it was also partially a genuine question so…whatever. Nightmare just smiled. “Yes, that would help a lot.”

“HAH- Horror will NEVER believe you said that.” Aaaand he’s already running upstairs.

..It was nice having them around. It was nice having people to care for again.

—

“So, what exactly is it we’re doin’ again?”

”Our first hunt!”

Horror raised an eyebrow.

Nightmare sighed. “Y’know, our first official job? Spreading negativity?”

”..Ah, I see.” He nods, “And.. why exactly does this require cloaks?”

Nightmare looked over to the three stands of cloaks; one average sized, navy blue, and fluffy with a crimson red target symbol on it and patterns of a light blue resembling drips of blood. the other big, maroon red, and even fluffier with crimson red patterns on it resembling waves. and the last was just above average (and yet Killer called him small), the same dark purple as his jacket, and moderately fluffy with the crescent moon symbol on it and lavender patterns that.. also resembled waves.

”Oh, that?” He looks back over at Horror, “That’s for later. We need to go on a supply run later.”

”..Why do we need disguises for that?”

Nightmare just smiled. “We’ll get to it when we get to it.”

“Ahuh.” Horror rolled his eye. “Aaaanyway, what AU are we gonna disturb?” Killer chimed in, pushing past Horror.

”A positive one should work the best. We should probably just kill some people, honestly. The concept of murder is negative enough to damage an AU, but what will really stick is if we go for someone important.. Usually the important ones are people like Asgore, Undyne..” He saw Horror tense up a bit at ‘Undyne’.

He shook it off. “So, yeah, we just sneak in to try and find important people.”

”Oh man, was I excited for this!” Killer beamed, reaching for his sheath and pulling out his knife, which somehow looked even sharper.. it was also really shiny. “I even sharpened my favourite knife for this.” 

Horror slowly turned to Nightmare.

”…What?” Nightmare muttered, “He gave me the killing idea.”

“He- …y’know what, checks out. Mind if I go get my axe, then?”

Nightmare quickly opens up a portal, purples materialising into view until they formed a portal. Horror quickly went in, and after about 2 minutes, he came back (with the portal shutting behind him, of course) with his cracked, large axe, holding it so it hung over his shoulder. “Alright, lead the way, boss.”

Killer was visibly giddy as Nightmare opened up another portal, quick to roughly push Horror in and drag Nightmare in with him. Both Nightmare and Killer land on top of Horror, who was faceplanted in the snow. Horror groaned, slightly lifting his head up before rolling over so the two got off of him. Killer was quick to stand, and so was Nightmare.

“Say, Nighty, where’s your weapon?” Killer hummed.

”Oh, I can summon my staff at will, so it isn’t really an issue.”

”..Sweet.” 

The two started walking as soon as Horror stood, Killer having already started to walk off without them.

”So, what AU is this, then?” Horror asked.

”A Neutral timeline of Undertale.” Nightmare smiled.

Horror sighed, “Don’t know why I asked, I haven’t got a clue what any of that means.”

”Uh.. basically, the human that fell here only killed a few monsters. There should still be a few left.”

”..I thought you said we were gonna go to a ‘positive AU’?” Horror looked over at Nightmare.

Nightmare sheepishly chuckled, “Heh, well.. that was the plan, but my portal took us here instead. I’m still not exactly experienced with teleporting to positive AUs, since I was in Dreamtale for.. Nim, a few centuries.”

”..Nim?” Killer asked.

”Nim is my creator, basically.” Nightmare replied. “That’s the best way I can explain it.”

Killer shrugged it off, everyone looking forward as they walked and passing over the bridge. The Snowdin sign was just up ahead, though visibly dusty. The possible implications of that made Nightmare’s bitter heart hum with delight. “We should probably still kill less important monsters, too. Just kill anyone in sight, really.”

As expected, Killer took that to heart, charging forward for a worried looking Monster Kid and immediately tackling them, stabbing in and out in and- “..God, Killer, the thing’s already turning to dust.” Horror commented.

”I know!” He laughed, continuing to stab over and over until they were just a pile of dust. He immediately looked over at Nightmare and Horror, the inky, black substance dripping faster from his eyes in a much thicker, bigger amount. Nightmare decided not to question it for now, as they had more important things to deal with.

Nightmare continued walking, Horror following fairly quickly and once they passed by Killer he stood up and followed too.

—

The king hummed quietly to himself, watering the flowers. He didn’t do much else nowadays, now that..

..Ah, never mind. He had flowers to focus on, after all.

A sudden creak snaps him back to reality, and he slightly frowns, setting down his watering can and slowly turning around to look behind him.

The big doors to his throne room were open, but no one was in sight. How.. odd. 

“Hello?” He called out, “Is anyone there? Do not worry, I’m not gonna harm you!” Not after everything that happened. He swore to keep every monster safe.

”You won’t..?”

Ah.. it sounded like a young child. They shouldn’t be here, then. ”No, I promise. Just come out, please.”

From behind one of the pillars stepped out a slightly above average skeleton monster with a purple jacket, black pants, and a little crown. He hadn’t seen many of those since Sans and Papyrus came to the Underground. He still found their origins to be rather.. strange, they just randomly spawned in, he supposed. Perhaps they were just children, and grew up somewhere he didn’t-

..No, that wasn’t the focus right now.

He slightly knelt down, offering his hand out for them to take. They seemed to smile a bit at that, walking forwards and taking his hand. “Thank you..”

THUD.

“..For being so gullible.” Nightmare commented as the king dropped to the floor, beginning to dust from the harsh combo of axe + knife to the back. Despite already beginning to die, Killer just had to make it faster. 

He lunged forwards, and once again, he stabbed over and over until nothing but dust was left.

“Your actin’ was.. eerily convincing, Nightma..” Horror trails off, looking over at Killer and sweating a bit. “..Killer, come on, he’s dead.”

Killer just remained eerily still for a moment, before turning back around and standing up, stomping Asgore’s pile of dust with his foot. “I know.” He hums in acknowledgement, before turning to Nightmare. “Is that everyone, then?” He pouted.

“Uh.. yeah.” Killer was acting odd.. more specifically, his behaviour being more erratic, and the black substance being.. Whatever, he seemed relatively fine now that it was over. He’d just talk to him about it later. “We should probably go on that supply run now, right?”

Killer pouted again, “Ughhh.. I wanted to do more of this. The fun part of the job.”

”I know, it definitely was fun,” Nightmare agreed, “But.. we do need supplies for the mansion.” 

“Eh, guess so.” Killer shuffled his feet around, still holding onto his dusty knife for a moment before slinking it back into his sheath with ease. “‘Ya gonna open a portal then, Nighty, or what?”

”Ah, right.” He nods, quickly opening one and gesturing for everyone to go in. Killer just walked in on his own this time, Horror following behind but.. Nightmare looked back over to the dust of Asgore. His gaze lingered for a moment before he just turned back to the portal, walking into it as it shut behind him.

“I’ll be back, you two wait here.” Nightmare said the second he stepped inside the portal, scurrying up the mansion’s stairs and going over to open his bedroom door. As he hoped, it worked, and the previously blank sign now said “Nightmare”. He smiled a bit before swinging the door open and quickly grabbing all three cloaks, carrying them downstairs and handing the blue and maroon ones to their respective owners, Killer and Horror.

Nightmare put his on with ease, pulling the hood up. He watched as the other two slinked on their cloaks too, following him and also putting their hoods up.

”Now, the reason I wanted disguises, is because..” He smiled, “..We won’t exactly be buying anything.”

”..Nightmare.” Horror started.

”You out of anyone should understand the need to steal.” Nightmare shrugs, “Besides, it’s not like I have money to pay anyway, and we’re meant to be spreading negativity.” 

Horror sighed, rubbing his neck awkwardly at the shade towards him, “Suppose so.”

”It’s fine by me!” Killer grins, visibly eager.

”No shit it is, Killer.” Horror rolls his eye.

“Aaanyway-“ Nightmare interrupts, “I did a bit of.. research, and we’re going to be heading to the universal market; The Delta Hub. We mostly just need things like food, and clothes. Got it?”

Horror nods, Killer doing the same though with a bit more eagerness to it.

”Alright.” He flicks his wrist, a portal manifesting behind the Guardian before he smiled. “Let’s get going.”

”Before we go,” Horror begins, “What exactly did ‘ya mean by ‘research’?”

Nightmare just walks into the portal, Horror letting out a heavy sigh before following behind - only for Killer to push him out of the way and walk in first. He grumbled, “Haven’t known him long, yet he already knows how to get on my nerves.” Horror mutters to himself, before walking in too.

—

Birds quietly chirped as the morning sun finished rising, the river softly streaming throughout the small town before a few bubbles start to show up. A gloved hand grips onto the grass beside the river stream, the figure pulling themself out to reveal Ink. He shakes off any excess water, sighing before bending over near the water. He reached a hand out for the black, goopy arm that reached out from under the water, giggling to himself. “Take my hand, dummy.”

Dream’s hand quickly grabbed onto Ink’s, the two doing equal parts to pull the Guardian out, who stumbled a bit before regaining his balance and quickly sighing. “..Not the most conventional way to teleport, but I’m.. somehow not wet, so it’s fine.” He took a mental note of that.

Ink started walking, Dream quick to follow behind. “Y’know, I’m glad my portal worked correctly this time!” Dream just hummed in acknowledgement, “Still not sure why that.. Eh, whatever, the point is we’re off to meet my friend, Blue!”

”..Blue?”

”Mm-hm! He’s an Underswap Sans variant.”

”Thought so.” He snorted.

Ink couldn’t stop thinking about it, though. Why would his portal not work? He was the Protector of Creation, the one that They decided to give such an important job in this vast world, the one that the Creators instructed with Protection of everything in the Multiverse. He’d always been the important one, yet something as simple as magic was failing on him now. He wasn’t dumb, he sure as hell acted like it (which he didn’t care much to fix) but he just wasn’t, so he knew something was up - not just from this, but from the countless other glitches he spotted in his travels too. 

Something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

They wouldn’t tell him, They wouldn’t let out even a single peep, and at times Ink felt as if They cared more about entertainment than Their living, breathing creations. It’s not like Ink had much care in saving anyone if it wasn’t in the script, but he still didn’t want the Multiverse to collapse. He hadn’t been paying much attention to the balance, recently. Maybe that was… No, it couldn’t be. He had made sure to keep tabs - as best as he can with his memory - on how much work both him and Error were doing. There was not too much Destruction, and there was not too much Creation. As for the Positivity and Negativity.. well- he didn’t know enough about that to make a conclusion.

So.. what was happening? It had to be a deeper issue.

He wouldn’t voice such concerns, though. Not in front of Dream. He glanced over to the Guardian, seeing such an innocent smile on his face and.. he knew he couldn’t tell him. Not right now, anyway. He needed some time to figure things out. In private.

”Sooo,” Ink broke the silence, smiling up at Dream who quickly returned the look with a smile too, “What was your old home like, anyway?”

Dream looked as if he wanted to stop walking for a split second, “..What?”

”Y’know, Dreamtale!” He hums, “What was it like?” 

“What was.. Dreamtale like.” Dream echoed.

Dream had been working non-stop all day, helping out the villagers in any and every way he could whether it be cleaning, fetching something, or just keeping them company (even that proved to be tiring considering how much some of them talked). He almost felt obligated to do so, as if it was his job to just sit there and do nothing but act as if he was their pet. He knew something was up, though. Nightmare always came back bruised and bloody whenever he went to the village, but Dream never put two and two together - despite that, he did know something.

It was easy to tell from their emotional auras and expressions how they felt about his brother. He didn’t like the way they looked at Nightmare. He never liked the way they looked at Nightmare.

Even still, he had to help. It was all he was good for anymore.

But when the sun was finally beginning to set, and the day was over - he knew just where to go to try and relax. Just a bit of time for himself.

He marched out of the village, waving goodbye to all the villagers with that usual, big smile on his face before he turned away and immediately dropped it. You wouldn’t think happiness was such a burden to maintain, yet it was. It tired him, it truly did, fatigue ridden in his footsteps as he trudged up the hill. Just above the horizon, he could see the tree; with his brother sitting next to it.

Immediately, his smile grew, and he started to speed walk - then full on sprint.

”Nightmareee!” Dream beamed, immediately sitting next to the aforementioned, who was just reading a book but briefly glanced up to smile at his brother - at least before going back to reading.

”Hi, Dream.” Nightmare finally replied.

”Gosh, I’ve had such a tiring day today..” Dream complained, resting his back against the tree just as Nightmare did. “I hate to complain, but the villagers are such a handful! They’re so much work.. it really tires me.” Nightmare almost seemed to tense up at the villagers being mentioned, but Dream didn’t seem to notice; what he did notice however, was his frown.

”Dream.. the villagers,” Nightmare began, looking away from his book and to Dream with a genuinely concerned expression. “They don’t.. hurt you, do they?”

“Wh- huh..?” Dream sputtered, looking at Nightmare with the most confused look he’s ever gave him. “N- No, brother! They don’t, not at all! Why would you.. think that? Do they.. do they hurt you?”

Nightmare looked back to his book, sweating bullets. “N- No. They don’t. Sorry, I..” He trails off, phalanges visibly gripping a bit tighter on his book. “..I’m just.. paranoid, brother. I just get bad thoughts.”

The two went silent after that.

Dream decided it was best not to push further, but he wouldn’t allow himself to ever forget how truly concerned Nightmare looked.

”Dream?” Ink called out, “You comin’?”

Finally, Dream snaps out of his thoughts, Ink much farther than him - he assumed his feet just stopped walking on their own. “..Yes, I am.” He nods, immediately catching back up. Ink continues to walk, and so does Dream.

”..Jeez, you look a bit shaken up.” Ink didn’t seem to realise his question caused that, eye lights flickering to a purple spiral and orange question mark, “What happened?”

Dream stayed quiet for a moment.

”Nothing.” He started, “Nothing happened, Ink.”

Ink, visibly, didn’t seem to believe that. But for now, he dropped it, and the two just walked in silence until inevitably Ink leads him towards a house. A fairly big one too, having two stories. Ink grins, grabbing Dream’s hand and dragging him along as he scurried off to the front door, eagerly knocking. 

“I’M COMING!” Someone shouted from inside. After a bit of running heard from inside the house, the door opened with a creak revealing Underswap Sans. Or, in Ink’s words - Blue. “Oh, hey Ink! What brings you over…” He trails off as he spots Dream, visibly a bit freaked out from his appearance. Not insanely freaked out, but… there was a bit of confusion ridden on his face. 

“..Hello.” Dream muttered.

Ink snorts, “Oh, Blue, don’t be scared buddy! This is just Dream. He’s the embodiment of positivity, literally!” 

“Wait..” Blue seemed to relax a bit, “You don’t mean.. the Guardians I always hear legends about?”

”..Wh- legen-“ “Mm-hm!” Ink interrupted.

Blue just shrugged it off, opening the door a bit wider and shuffling out of the way for the two to come in. Ink skips in, and Dream follows behind, before Blue shuts the door. All three go over to the couch, sitting down with Blue at the far right looking over at the two of them. “So.. why exactly are you introducing me to him?”

”Well, Dream here has a little mission of his that needs to be done.” Ink starts, “Baaasically, all we need to do is spread positivity! His brother is pretty evil and trying to upset the balance of Positivity and Negativity.” The script said so, and so did Dream, so Ink allowed himself to believe it.

”I see..” Blue nods. “Well, allow me to help then! The magnificent Sans will not disappoint!” He trails off, turning to Dream, “.But, you can just call me Blue!” 

“Wonderful to hear, Blue.” Dream just smiles. “Welcome to the team.”

—

Phalanges grip onto the stone alley wall, the Guardian pulling himself in with a sigh as Killer and Horror duck behind the wall too. 

“‘Ya think they’re still on us..?” Horror huffed.

“Probably not, we’re too sneaky!” Killer chimed in.

Nightmare grimaced, ”I’m not sure.” He muttered, peeking his head out from behind the wall to look. The Gaster that ran the clothing shop at The Delta Hub didn’t seem to have any clue where they were, and from where Nightmare could see if anything it looked as if he gave up - walking back off to his store. Nightmare just smiles, ducking back behind the wall, “I don’t think so. Should be safe to go.”

”Whew, good!” Horror hummed, “I am tired.”

Nightmare extended his phalanges forward, a portal manifesting out of sheer negative energy. Horror let out a heavy sigh, before trudging forward into the portal, Killer quick to go in as well. Though.. Nightmare takes a moment once more. He quickly looks around, just to double check if anyone saw them, before smiling and walking into the portal. As per usual, it shut behind him.

By the time he walked in, Horror and Killer were already out of the cloaks, “C’mon, give it over.” Horror extended his hand, “I’m putting these back in Nightmare’s room.”

“No need, idiot, he’s right there.” Killer crossed his arms.

Horror blinked, turning to Nightmare, and then back to Killer. “Give it to Nightmare, then.” He quickly threw over the cloak to Nightmare - only for it to land on his face - before heading for the stairs. “I’m goin’ to bed, night.”

”Night.” Nightmare said, slightly muffled before he grabbed the cloak off of his face - only for Killer to throw one at him too. This time, he had a feeling it was deliberately meant to obscure his face. He sighed, grabbing that one too and heading for the stairs, trudging upstairs. “Night, Killer. I need some rest..”

”Sleep well, bossss!~” Killer hummed, and Nightmare could’ve sworn he heard him run up the stairs. That guy had.. so much energy, it was almost impressive.

As soon as he got to his room; he opened it, shut the door behind him, fell onto his bed and almost immediately passed out. As he drifted off to sleep, he could feel the cloaks slip from his hands.

…

A thick, black, inky substance submerged Nightmare entirely. Gasping for air, he rose from the ink like substance, looking around with a newfound unease and discomfort, he groaned, slowly getting up and stretching a bit. As he walked, splashes of the substance flew up, further staining his pants. They were already black though, so whatever.

“-I mean clearly, something has to be wrong.. right? What other explanation could-“ A voice faded in and out of his hearing. It seemed to be coming from the right, so he quickly sprinted in that direction.

He immediately froze as he saw.. a child.

He couldn’t see much appearance wise due to them being crouched over with their back turned - but from what he could see, they had surprisingly well-trimmed bob cut hair with a dark grey tone, pale grey skin, a long sleeved puffy, big grey sweater with two lighter grey stripes, black sweat shorts, white socks, and just nice looking shoes.

”..Hello?” Nightmare called out, which immediately made them tense up. They turned around so quickly he almost flinched, their eyes big, wide and pitch black - it reminded him of Killer.

”You.. can see me?” The child asked, almost in awe, “But you’re asleep.. that’s..” They stop themself, visibly getting an idea and smiling before running over to Nightmare. He was tempted to take a step back, but.. they were just a kid, he doubted they’d do much either with that innocent smile on their face. They rummage around in their pockets for a moment, before pulling out..

A Negativity apple. His apple. They extend their hands forward, as if offering it to him. He slightly reaches his hand out, though afraid if he touched it it’d disappear. Just like the rest. 

”How did you..”

”It’s a dream, silly!” They giggle, “But, I’m actually glad you can talk to me here, because you need to know about-“

…

Nightmare rose from his bed, panting heavily and sweating all over. He was now on the floor, likely having rolled off in his sleep. He groans, sitting up and looking at his hand for a moment. Really looking at it. His hands balled up, both gripping as tight as possible as he stood up, grumbling and opening his door. He trudged down the hallway, the stairs, and before he knew it he was in the tile floor kitchen. He.. really zoned out for a second.

He shook his head, grabbing a cup from one of the cupboards and quickly turning on the tap, filling it up with a bit of water and taking a sip.

”You’re awake?”

He spit out the water just as fast as it came in (nearly choking on it, even), letting out a heavy cough before looking over at Killer. Nim, he really was tired, any other day he would’ve sensed Killer’s emotional aura immediately. “..Yes. Why are you?”

Killer snorted, visibly holding back laughter. “Dunno, just couldn’t.” He shrugged, before pausing for a moment, and for once Killer of all people looked a bit confused.

”Why is it you.. look so on edge?”

Nightmare didn’t respond. He couldn’t respond. There was no response to justify being freaked out over a silly dream.

Silence stretched on for what felt like hours - but was probably just minutes, and after it got awkward enough, even Killer looked a bit uncomfortable. “..Uh,” He grimaces, looking away and taking a step back - before starting to walk off. “I’m.. just gonna go to bed. Night.”

Before he knew it, Nightmare was once again alone.

He summoned his SOUL, the dark purple apple of Negativity still having a hole in it, but it didn’t surprise him. For what felt like hours, Nightmare just.. stared. All he could do was stare at his SOUL, hands slowly beginning to shake. Something was off with that dream, it felt too weird, too real. He grabs his SOUL, phalanges gently grasping it and bringing it a bit closer to him. Even as it hurt, he naturally squeezed. He always did this back in Dreamtale, an attempt to calm himself - or punish himself. It depended.

Everything felt off recently. He didn’t know what to pin it on aside from the obvious of losing his brother, but something did.

Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. And even if Nightmare didn’t know what, he had a feeling that his fate wasn’t always this.

Chapter Text

Positivity.

Positivity was what made up Dream. Positivity was what the world needed more of. Positivity was the thing that the Guardian was actively injecting into Underfell Sans. The skeleton was held up by one of his tendrils in a chokehold, magic and pure Positive energy channeling into him. 

It was no shocker they were targeting an Underfell AU for their goal, but what really was a shocker was the fact that he was able to create a portal to a Negative AU with such ease. Usually, they opt to take Ink’s puddles as a teleportation device, but for this AU Dream decided to test out his portal, and.. well, it worked. Perhaps he was getting stronger.. that was for the better, anyway. He needed to be stronger. If he wasn’t, all of this would’ve been for nothing, and Nim would look down at him with nothing but disappointment. Maybe Nim already was disappointed. He was too deep in to care, at this point.

He sighed, dropping the Sans and watching as the overwhelming Positivity caused him to go limp. Dream couldn’t feel anything from it, a blank, empty look in his eyes.

”Uh, Dream?”

He snaps back to reality, looking over at Blue. “Mm-hm?”

”Why is it we’re..” He pauses, visibly thinking about how to word it without seeming rude or disobedient, “..being so violent? I mean- isn’t there a better way to go about spreading positivity?”

”This is just the fastest way, Blue.” He smiled, leaning down and cupping the smaller skeleton’s chin in his hand, forcefully making Blue look up at him. “It may hurt now, but trust me, this is for the good of everyone. Our way is just.. for the better. The world is so, so much cruel than you could ever comprehend, Blue..” He paused, voice slightly wavering before it regained its stability. “I’ve witnessed it firsthand. We just.. need to give the world a little nudge in the right direction. And sometimes a rough nudge is better than a soft one.”

Dream pulls his hand away with a soft sigh, “Got it?”

Blue grimaces, “Yeah, sorry, I just.. I dunno, I’ve just never done this before, I guess.” He shrugs, chuckling. “I’m just a newbie, so it’s all unusual to me, but I’ll try get used to it.” 

Dream nods, “It’s okay.”

Blue starts to walk back over to Ink, before Dream puts a hand on his shoulder, “..One last thing, Blue?”

He turned around, “Yeah?”

”When we met, you said there were.. Legends of me and my brother? What did you mean by that?”

”You.. don’t know?” Blue gasped.

”..I never exactly went outside of my AU until now.” Dream awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

”Eh, fair, I mostly stay in mine too.” He nods, “Uh.. it’s pretty simple, honestly. Basically, a group of people have foretold the Guardians of Positivity and Negativity would one day emerge and apparently ‘save us all’.”

He tilts his head. “Save?”

”I don’t know either, honestly.” He shrugs. “These legends have been around since long, long before I even got introduced to the Multiverse at all. If I knew any more than that, I’d tell you, but that’s about the extent to which I know. They worship you two, for some reason.”

Dream noticeably perked up at that, gears visibly turning in his head. “Worship?”

“Mhm!” Blue nods.

”How.. curious.” He smiled.

”Guys, c’mon, we should get going!” Ink calls out with a smile, “We’ve practically sucked all the Negativity out of this AU, so we should probably move on.”

Dream’s tendrils flicked, turning around just as Blue did and nodding, the two walking over to Ink. ”Oookay!” He reaches for his back, pulling out Broomie and swiping a large puddle of black paint. “Let’s get goin’.”

Just as Ink was about to grab them and hop in, he stopped, visibly getting a realisation. “..What’s with the hold up?” Dream asked.

”Nothing, nothing- I just remembered I had a SUUUPER important meeting with a buddy of mine!” Ink starts pushing them towards the puddle. “You guys can go deal with this AU yourself, okay? Okay!”

”Ink, wait-“ Blue starts, trailing off into a scream as the two fall in.

Ink pauses, glaring down at the puddle with an empty look. He sighs, clasping his face. “Gosh, Ink, what have you gotten yourself into?” His eye lights flickered into a variety of different things, before finally settling on his usual ones as he goes through his emotions. 

..Wait.

He thinks he has an idea as to what might be causing the imbalance. And he knew just who to go to.

Long ago, he made a truce with the Destroyer, the two agreeing that in order for the Multiverse to continue existing - there must be an even balance of Creation, and Destruction.

He smudges the black puddle with his foot (out of nothing but paranoia and muscle memory, since it’s not like they could go through it without his help), before swiping another puddle down on the snow, hopping in and landing in a familiar, white abyss. He looks over to his right, Error on his bean bag and snacking on some chocolate while watching Undernovela - what a shocker.

”Serves you right Sin.” He scoffed.

Ink cleared his throat.

”GO- GO AWAY, INK, I- I’M CLEARLY BUSY!” He snapped, not looking away from the portal.

”It’s about the balance.”

Error stopped mid-bite, immediately swiping his hand over the glitchy portal so it closed, groans and clasping his face. “Always fuckin’ is with Y- YOU.” He sighs, turning to Ink and gesturing for him to come over. Ink walks over with an innocent smile, sitting beside the bean bag chair Error was on.

After a moment of silence, Error narrowed his eyes. “..So?”

”Oh, yeah!” Ink blinks. “I think I know what might be causing the balance to be a bit..” He does a so-so motion with his hand, “Y’know, off.”

“Are you gonna get to it or not?” He raised an eyebrow, taking a bite of his chocolate.

”Sssoooo, ‘ya know the Guardians that popped up recently?”

”…Ink.” He glared.

”Right, right-“ He giggled, “I think there might be too much of one emotion, I just can’t tell which yet.. I mean, I assume so ‘cause- it couldn’t be an imbalance of Creation and Destruction, that got solved a while ago.” Ink sighed, “I just kinda hope it isn’t Positivity that’s the issue, since I’m.. kinda.. sorta.. working with the Guardian of Positivity..?”

”Wow, what a smart thing to do when the imbalance involves those stupid Guardians.” Error rolls his eyes. “You should just call it quits, squid. Unless you want the world to literally end. Knowing you, it wouldn’t surprise me if you contributed to it.”

”Come ooon, I’ll do a bit of investigating first!” He smiled, “If I really think there’s too much Positivity, I’ll call it quits. I doubt there is, though, because the script said-“

”Go- God, it’s ALWAYS THAT SCRIPT! Can you, oh, I don’t know- M- MAKE A DECISION ON YOUR OWN?”

”I could,” Ink agrees, “I just don’t wanna.”

Error glares.

”Aaaanyway, I just wanted to let ‘ya know. Since, I mean.. you’ve seen the glitches too, right?” He tilts his head.

”My strings have been acting a bit.. weird recently, yeah.” He grumbles, “Pretty fuckin’ annoying.”

”For some reason, my portal didn’t work properly.. and Broomie always works properly!”

”You and that brush- ..God, anyway.” He clasps his face, “Have.. They been responsive at all for you?”

”No, unfortunately.” Ink sighed, “At this point, I’m convinced They aren’t even gonna try and help. And yeah, I know it’s rude to talk about people who are listening, but at this point I don’t care!” He shouted up at the sky, before turning back to Error. “Have They been for you, at least?”

”What the hell do you think?” Error scoffed, “As much help as they usually are.” After a moment of silence, Error sighs too, “..Is that it, then? Can I watch my show?”

“Just.. one more thing.” Ink pauses, “I.. I should say, that uh, They haven’t really.. been talking to me recently? I haven’t heard Their voices that much the past few months, it’s almost as if.. I dunno, They’re getting bored. They sound bored, at least.”

Error visibly glitches a lot more, though he keeps a somewhat blank expression. “..What?”

”Eh, it’s probably nothing!” Ink switches up from the serious tone fairly quickly, snickering, but Error could tell from that moment alone he was genuinely concerned, “Besides, it’s not like They talk to me as often as the voices in your head do, so it’s no biggie!”

”I-“ Error sputters, “Y- YOU’RE JU- JUST GONNA GLOSS O- OVER THAT?! I- IF THEY’RE GE- GETTING BORED, THA- THAT COULD BE THE E- END OF US ALL!”

”..I’d prefer to.” Ink hums.

Error goes quiet for a moment, before sighing, visibly frustrated as he dragged a hand down his face. “Is that it, then? Can I go back to watching my show?” Ink just nods in response. “Good,” Error suddenly shoots out his strings, wrapping them around the Protector - and up ahead Ink could see a portal manifest, suddenly getting flung into it. “Go then.” 

He lands on his face, grumbling as he got up and dusted snow off of himself. He looked around, and he just seemed to be in a random Undertale timeline. He sighed as he realised he should probably go find Dream and Blue now. “Shouldn’t take too long, at least.” He mutters to himself, taking out his glorious brush Broomie and smudging yet another portal on the snow, hopping in.

—

“Do you see what I mean?” Nightmare says, looking over at Killer and Horror.

The two just squint at the pop up, a portal being used as a sort of camera to look into AUs - and the AU it landed on was Dusttale.

“..So?”

”So it’s a pretty big heap of Negativity, Killer!” Nightmare sighs, “We could really use someone like that on our team, come on- don’t tell me I’m the only one who sees potential?? It’s been months since Killer got on the team, and you’re telling me you don’t see why recruiting someone else would be good for the sake of our team??”

Killer smiles a bit at that short outburst, ”I dunno, Nightmare.” Horror shrugs. 

“I think you just want a walking Negativity source to feed off of!” Killer mocks.

”I mean.. yeah.” Killer visibly deflates at his taunt not working, “But also, I’ve been watching this Sans for a little bit now-“

”..Creep.” Killer mutters.

”-and I think he’d be good at fighting! In his AU, he killed everyone else in the Underground to get enough EXP to defeat the Player of this AU.”

”Player?“ Horror pauses, “EXP??-“

”-Which means, it’ll be another person with fighting experience! Kinda like Killer. Plus, the more people on our team, the better- right?”

Killer and Horror slowly nod.

”Now, you two stay here-“ Nightmare swipes his hand, magic and pure Negative energy swirling in and out of each other once more, “-and I’ll go talk to him. Sound good? Good.” Before either one could object, Nightmare steps into the portal, automatically shutting behind him.

Silence filled the air.

”..Want some pancakes?” Horror turned to Killer.

“Fuck yeah.” Killer grinned, slightly bouncing up and down. 

Horror just snickered, walking over to the kitchen - Killer quickly following behind, which Horror suspected was to hover around him. For some reason, Killer always did that whenever he was cooking. “I made some pancake mix earlier, but Nightmare’s yappin’ distracted me.”

”It usually does.” Killer snickers, sitting at the dining table right beside the kitchen, “The guy doesn’t really shut up.”

”’Ya do know you do the exact same thing, right?” Horror mutters. Killer opens his mouth to speak, but Horror just keeps going, “‘Ya can’t really criticise him for the same exact thing you do every single day.”

”Oh come on, it’s different!” He scoffs, “At least when I do it I’m likeable. It’s my main character trait, you could say!”

”Alongside actin’ like a rabid animal.” Horror reaches for the bowl of pancake mix.

”Gasp, me?” Killer puts a hand on his chest, acting offended, “Funny coming from the person who downs his food in one go.”

”Wh-“ Immediately, he pauses, setting the bowl down and glaring over at Killer, “I’ve been starvin’ for centuries, Killer, give me a damn break. It’s not exactly unusual for someone like me to be excited to eat.” He spots Killer roll his eyes before he turns back to the bowl, cranking the dial on the stove and watching as flames began to light, grabbing a pan and setting it down on the fire - scooping some of the pancake mix into the pan and swirling it around so it evenly spread.

”Yeah, yeah, but you still act like a rabid animal yourself! What happened to ‘not being able to criticise people if you do the same thing yourself’, huh?”

”It’s different, idiot.” He grumbles, “You act like a rabid animal because of your violent urges, and I just happen to eat in a-“

”Rabid way.” Killer chimes in.

”-quicker way.” Horror shrugs. “It’s no big deal, especially since I do most of the cookin’ around here anyway.”

”Hey, listen, if you don’t like it so much, just beg Nightmare to cook!” Killer grins.

”You and I know damn well Nightmare probably doesn’t even know how. The guy was isolated for centuries, it wouldn’t surprise me if he had no fuckin’ idea how to cook.”

”Why so hostile?” Killer taunts, smiling widely. “I’m just sayinggg, you can always teach him how to cook!”

”..And you?”

Killer glares.

”Come on, Killer, you get free food, and you don’t even wanna try helpin’ out every once in a while?”

”That’s not my job!” Killer innocently shrugs, “Silly Horror, do you even know my name? I get to do all the fun stuff, like.. kill!”

”Wow. What a shocker that the person named ‘Killer’ does, in fact, kill.” Horror rolls his eyes, taking out a plate and putting it on the counter, quickly flipping the pancake. “Such a plot twist.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m pretty unique.” Killer smiled.

Horror goes silent for a moment, visibly deflating before clicking his tongue. “..Say, Killer, uh.. did Nightmare seem- off at all to you, today?”

“No more than usual!” Killer pauses, tilting his head, “..Wait, uh, what exactly do you mean?”

”Just.. his behaviour. I dunno.” Horror sighed. “He seemed a bit antsy today.”

”..I guess so.” Killer hummed in acknowledgement, his voice unusually monotone, “Why do you ask?”

”I- ..I don’t know!” He shrugged, “I’m just.. not sure it’s somethin’ to gloss over. For the time we’ve both known him, he’s always been.. relatively calm.”

”Come on, you’re being worried for no good reason, Horror.” Killer scoffed, “Nightmare wouldn’t do anything bad.”

“I know, but- it’s just concernin’, ‘ya know? He’s randomly actin’ all antsy, desperately tryin’ to get another recruit when we’re doin’ just fine in our job, and-“ Horror stopped, blankly staring down at the pan before slowly nodding. “..No, no he wouldn’t. Forget I said anything.”

The two went silent after that, nothing but the sound of sizzling filling the void that came with their banter leaving.

—

Dust littered the judgement hall, just as it did the skeleton’s figure, all over his hood, jacket, shorts, and even his shoes.. They were dead. They were all dead. And it was all because of him, though he wasn’t sure if he even regret it.

But it would be okay, one day they could all live happily once again when he figures out how to RESET the timeline, and kill off this stupid parasite. He knew that they would just come back. They always did. But again, he was prepared. Stood in judgement hall with his hood over his skull, he remained eerily quiet as he heard footsteps start walking up to him. He didn’t bother looking at them. They didn’t deserve it, not anymore.

”..Back so soon?” His tone was blank, empty, and lifeless. “I was hoping-“

”I’m not them.”

He froze, looking up to see.. another skeleton? A purple, crown wearing skeleton. He took a step back, scanning their figure before responding, “..Who are you.” His voice was just barely above a whisper.

”I don’t wanna hurt you, okay?” He put his hands up in surrender, “I’m Nightmare. I can help you out, if you help me out.”

He took yet another step back, and even though his face was cast with a long, wide shadow, the glare he was sending over to Nightmare was obvious - especially from the way he tensed up, fists balling up.

”I can explain it all if you just let me talk.”

His gaze lingered on the lookalike of him for a moment. Maybe this was.. his way out. His shoulders didn’t slump back down and relax, but still he took a deep breath, slowly nodding. 

—

“Killer, are ‘ya sure you need that much syrup?” Horror stares in disgust over at the skeleton sitting across from him.

Killer blinks, looking over at Horror with a mischievous grin, “Oh, yeah, you’re right.” before pouring even more onto his stack of pancakes just to spite him. “I could use a bit more!”

”You’re wasteful.”

”I’ll eat it all, trust me.” Killer rolls his eyes, scarfing it down.

Horror starts picking at his food, getting a wonderful, syrup-filled bite and bringing it up to his mouth - before he paused. “..Say, where even does Nightmare get our food from anyway? It’s not like he can just spawn it into existence.”

”I’m..” Killer pauses, “..not sure, actually. Just ask him when he gets here.”

Horror shrugs it off, shoving the fork into his mouth before the familiar sound of a portal is heard, looking around for the source before his and Killer’s gaze settled on the portal, Nightmare and a hooded Sans emerging. It was almost eerie to see a younger version of yourself, especially because of the long, red scarf.

”We’re home!” Nightmare smiled, the portal shutting behind the two, “You two, meet Dust.”

Dust silently waved, a slightly smaller figure than Horror and Killer. 

“Speak of the devil, huh?” Killer snickered, “Looks like I’ve got a new victim! Maybe I’ll torment you a bit less, Horror.” Horror opens his mouth to speak, but Killer just continues speaking to interrupt him, “Naaah, I don’t think I could.”

Horror sighs, turning away from Killer and to the newcomer, ”Nice to meet you, Dust.”

”Like I explained, you can just go find a room and it should-“ Nightmare trails off at the end as Dust already starts trudging up the stairs, sighing softly and turning back to Killer and Horror. “What do you mean ‘speak of the devil’?”

”I just say that since Horror here wanted to know where you get all our food from!”

”Farmtale.” Nightmare started, “Why’d you wanna know?”

”Just curious.” Horror hummed in acknowledgement, taking another bite of syrupy pancake.

Killer grinned, elbow resting on the table with his cheek resting on his hand, “That newbie sure is quiet, isn’t he?” 

“Suppose so..” Nightmare sighed, dragging his hand down his face before turning to the stairs, “After you two are done eating, come to my office. I want you to go on a mission with Dust to help him get the feel of this job.” Before either could respond, Nightmare had already trudged up the stairs, going off to his office.

Killer looks over at Horror, grimacing, “..I think I get what you mean. Sheesh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today-“

”..Come on, Killer, just leave it be.” Horror sighed. “I know I brought it up, but.. Maybe it’s better I didn’t.”

He scoffs, “Pssh- fine, but you’re no fun! You know that, right?”

”’Ya never fail to make it abundantly clear, so, yeah.” Horror quickly continues eating.

”…And I’m the rabid ani-“

”Shut up.”

—

It was nice here. Quiet. A gothic mansion wasn’t exactly his taste, but it was better than being in an empty Genocide timeline with no one but the murderer of your friends and family to fight over, and over, and over until you died. He.. was pretty lucky Nightmare came along, in all honesty. Really lucky.

He sighed, leaning against one of the long, wide bookcases in the mansion’s library, gaze locked on a book. ‘The Cause and Effects of Determination’. He was enjoying it, but it wasn’t exactly visible, as his face was (like always) obscured by the long shadow cast from his hood - though, truthfully, there wasn’t much to look at, as his expression was just completely blank. He was never really an expressive person when he read stuff, that was more for Alphys. 

..God, Alphys.

Whatever, he couldn’t dwell on it anymore. 

“You really messed up.”

”I know.” He muttered, turning away from the red-tinted phantom of his brother that slowly circled around him. He knew he wasn’t trying to be rude to him, Papyrus was just.. telling it how it was. And he was right. Besides, he had a right to be a bit rude anyway, so Dust didn’t really care.

“It’s okay, though.” His ghostly scarf flew behind him, “Maybe you can make up for it with these new people. You were always a great brother to me. You fit in fairly well with these people, too.”

“Mm..” Dust grumbled, “I don’t… know.”

“Things will be okay again. You have me, and maybe you’ll have them too. Maybe you can finally have a family again.”

”You’re my family.” He turned to Papyrus. This was the most he’s said in a hot minute, but his voice was still incredibly quiet. 

“I know, but.. maybe they can be too. Just try be nice!”

Dust just sighs, slowly nodding.

”You talk to yourself, huh?”

He almost faint from the familiar voice of Killer, someone who - despite not knowing for very long - he wouldn’t want to be the first to catch him looking like an insane person on the first day he got here. I mean, he was, but it’s not like he was hallucinating! Papyrus was real…to him, at least.

”Jeez, Dusty,” He chuckled, spinning around a knife on his finger. “You just got here, and you’re already showing off your crazy side! But, eh, we’re all a bit sick in the head here.”

Dust remained quiet.

Killer grumbled, slinking over to Dust and sitting beside him. “You gonna say something, orrr?”

”Go away.”

”Finaaaally, I got somethin’ out of you!” He snickered. “Were you talkin’ to Papyrus then, huh? His ghost?”

Dust, calmly, turned the page.

”I’ll assume so, ‘cause of the whole ‘family’ thing..” He leaned back against the bookcase, arms relaxed behind his head. “Didn’t take ‘ya for the type who hallucinated his dead brother, but honestly, now that I look at you..” Killer squints, turning to Dust. “It doesn’t exactly surprise me either!”

Silence filled the air, and Killer was visibly a bit agitated. “You gonna say anything else?”

His silence was loud, and enough of an answer for Killer to sigh, innocently smiling. “Eh, whatever..” He leaned back once more. “Y’know, I didn’t even know we had a library, and I’ve been livin’ here for months! Did you just.. snoop around until you found one?”

”Yes.”

”What’cha reading?” Killer leaned over, “The cause and… Pssh- sounds boring and like something that a nerd would like. Doesn’t exactly surprise me, though, since we both used to be scientists!” Killer paused, visibly getting a realisation. “Shit. Speaking of boring, I just remembered why I came here- you’re comin’ with me!”

Dust didn’t budge…at least until Killer turned his SOUL blue and lifted him up, scurrying out of the library and all the way over to and up the stairs, stopping right at Nightmare’s office, clicking his tongue. “Normal entrance, or dramatic one.. Heh, I already know the answer-“

He kicks open the door, the air thick with Negativity, with Nightmare sitting in his office chair and Horror leaning against the wall - both perked up as Killer entered, magic ceasing and therefore making him let go of Dust, the aforementioned face-planting before quickly rising and dusting (heh) himself off, before backing off into the corner while crossing his arms.

”I got the little introvert here, what’s the mission?” Killer shuts the door with his foot.

“Simple, I happened to do a bit of private investigating while you all went on missions on your own, and I’ve found our new target,” Nightmare smiles, an unfamiliar glint in his eye as he looks over at Killer, “You three are going to capture Dream’s new recruit.”

—

“…Don’t go too far away, he said. Stick with me, he said..” Blue muttered to himself, “And what do you do, Blue? You wander off..” He grumbles, kicking a stray pebble as he walked along the snow, stranded in the ruins of a Negative AU he didn’t bother to remember the name of, “Maybe Ink can just find me.. He told me his portals take him to wherever or whoever he wants them to, so.. He’s probably just looking for me right now! Yeah! ..Yeah.” He sighed.

”..Maybe.” He slinked over to a nearby rock, sitting down and slumping over, letting out a heavy huff. “I mean.. I am just a Swap Sans. Ink said there’s so many versions of me out there. I’m.. not one of a kind like them.” He frowned.

”I’m not one of a kind.” He echoed, dragging his gloved hands down his face. “..God, I just hope they come soon.”

”They left you, didn’t they?”

Blue flinches, immediately summoning a bone into his hand, eye lights darting all around the area until his gaze met a hooded, scarfed figure. “W.. what?”

”You heard me.” It looked to be another Sans, though his face was hidden by a long, wide shadow that cast across his entire face. “They left you, and honestly? I don’t think they’ll come back. Not for a nobody like you.” He slowly approaches.

Blue takes a step back, aiming the bone towards the other like it was a sword, as if his life depended on it. And maybe it did, “Leave me alone.”

”You’re just a Sans. You aren’t a God, and you most certainly aren’t a Guardian.” He scoffs, “Are you.. even worth their time?”

”I-“

”Face it.” A blue and red glow was suddenly visible despite the shadows covering his eyes. “You’re just there so they have someone expendable on their team. They need someone to use as their own personal shield, or as a sacrifice. That’s all you are to them.” He raised his hand up, and a barrage of purple bones struck Blue, a loud scream erupting from him as he got stuck within the agonising bone trap. “And that’s all you ever will be.”

Weakly, he used his last bit of energy to summon a Gaster Blaster right behind his tormentor, Dust just barely dodging out of the way - though, luckily, that distraction was enough for the barrage to disappear, but the injuries remained. He limped away to the best of his abilities. God, why now, why get in a fight now? He wasn’t strong enough for this, he hadn’t even trained that much yet, and he always knew Alphys went easy on him, he..

..he really was a failure, wasn’t he?

He collapses. In the last blobs of his vision, he sees another figure walk over and crouch down next to his body, smiling as a thick black, inky substance ran from his blank eye sockets. Yet another figure walked over, a large crack in his head as he smiled down at him. And everything went dark.

…

”Dust, holy shit.” Horror smiled. “I didn’t think you’d go that hard for your first day on the job!”

“Nice distraction, Dusty!” Killer snickered, standing up, “Good riddance, but also- that might be the most I’ve ever and will ever hear you speak. I’m honoured.”

”A shame Nightmare didn’t get to see, huh?” Horror chuckled. “He should probably send a portal over soon. We just have to wait.”

Killer grinned as Dust crouched down next to Blue’s body, scooping him up into his arms and standing back up, turning to the mass of Negative energy that began to form - and open a portal. The three all glanced at each other before Horror walked in, and Dust tried to before Killer pushed past him. He had a feeling Killer was going to be like this for the rest of the time he worked under Nightmare.

As he stepped into the portal, Nightmare’s gaze fell on him, a proud glint in his eye, alongside something else that Dust couldn’t name.

”My, my, Dust.. What a good first job!” Nightmare smiled proudly, “I didn’t think you’d ease into it so quickly.. You truly were a good pick for this job. You can just hand him over to me in a moment, I’ll sort his cell situation out, but, first.. I’ll deliver a quick message to Dream.”

Before anyone could say anything, Nightmare stepped into the portal, moments later coming back in (as the portal shut behind him, of course) and practically snatching Blue out of Dust’s arms, going down into the basement - the one place in this entire mansion that no one was sure if they were even allowed to go into. With Dust just not knowing it existed. With the prime source of it leaving, the Negativity in the air toned down a bit. Along with it, silence came.

”Nice job out there, Dust.” Horror smiled, “Do you want some pancakes? I was gonna offer some earlier, but you kinda just.. left to your room, heh- there should still be a bit of mix leftover, if you do.”

Dust nodded.

—

Two figures emerged from a freshly made puddle of rainbow paint, the two looking around before Ink groaned, clasping his face with both hands and slowly dragging them down in frustration. “My portal must not have worked again, because I wanted it to take us directly to Blue, but-“

”..Ink.”

”..Huh?” Ink paused, looking over at where Dream stood, standing next to a rock that had some writing in the snow beside it. Ink walked over.

’Sorry, but your friend is with us. You’ll have to come find him yourself.

Kindest regards, Nightmare.’

Ink blankly stared down at it, sighing frustratedly before innocently smiling as he turned back to Dream, “Y’know what, it’s fine! We can find him. We just need to find Nightmare first, then we can find Blue.”

Dream remained silent, a blank look on his face despite his tendrils angrily flicking.

”..Y’know,” Ink clicked his tongue, “Nightmare can make portals, right? Maybe we just.. follow him into one of his portals.”

The Guardian visibly perked up, looking over at the shorter skeleton with an unreadable expression. ”You know, Ink..” He grinned, “That might just work.”

”Great! Let’s go try find them, then.” Ink happily skipped off, Dream assuming he went off to make another portal, though just as he was walking his gaze met a piece of snow. Normal, right? Well, what he really took note of was how it scrambled and glitched, pieces of it glitching in and out of each other in an abnormal, chaotic and unpredictable way. He kept seeing more and more of these glitches, and at times cracks in the floor that had white glows emitting from them. Not big ones, they were always very tiny, but.. It was still something to remember, and in all honesty? It was rather.. concerning. He wasn’t sure if it was the AUs he went to breaking, or even worse, the Multi-

“Dream?”

He snapped back to reality, blinking and looking over at Ink. “..Ah, yes, sorry- I’m coming.” He walked over, clinging onto Ink as the two hopped into the puddle of paint.