Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

---------- Nightmare ----------

Nightmare was lazing on the couch, the mansion quiet for once. He couldn’t hear any unwelcome noises from his gang- though that may have been due to them all being unconscious in this very living room. Who knocked them out? It may have been Nightmare. It may not have been Nightmare. Who's to say?

The vast majority of the multiverse would assume that they had pissed off the goopy skeleton past the point of no return. Who are they, you ask? They are the most feared monsters in the multiverse, second only to the destroyer of AUs who consequently sought shelter with them when he had a rough week, which happened more and more often as time passed. Back to the topic at hand though.

These monsters were feared by all.

They were despicable, soulless, evil bastards.

One was a cannibal.

Two killed everyone they knew… make that three. And all three carried unnaturally high levels of DETERMINATION.

The previously mentioned destroyer visited often but was oddly absent today. He was forced destruction in its worst form.

The other god that dropped by occasionally was a memorable death given life… ironically.

The resident god was nightmares and negativity incarnate.

The nightmares incarnate was, of course, the one and only Nightmare, King of Negativity. The unwelcome thing that visited you in your sleep. He was covered in his own corruption, a goop that slicked his bones and stained his clothes. It manifested into tentacles of pure negativity that branched out of his back. His brother, on the other hand, was Dream, Guardian of Positivity. But Dream was hardly relevant anymore. Dream just kinda doted on Ink with those worship-y puppy-dog eyes– BLEGH. And Nightmare was the one who needed saving? No sir. Nightmare was just fine as he was. He might be one of the most hated monsters in the multiverse, but he was free. Free-ish if you considered FATE's presence. The King of Nightmares was currently sitting on the couch enjoying a good book while keeping everyone in a dreamless sleep with his magic.

Killer was Nightmare's right-hand man – skeleton. He was probably the most reliable of Nightmare's 'lackeys' being the senior member of the gang after Nightmare and seeing all orders through to their ends. Killer rarely ever let himself feel emotions, resulting with his exposed soul never ceasing to resemble a target. Nightmare had only ever seen the mangled soul's true form once, and guilt ended up reverting Killer's soul and his emotional state back to zero. Nightmare hadn't forgotten what Killer had been like in his natural state. Nightmare had liked that version of Killer. From then on, he fought to bring that state out again, even letting Killer talk to Color again, despite his better judgment. The dark-eyed emo-wanna-be was passed out on the couch right next to Nightmare, his head laying on Nightmare's lap. A single tentacle defied Nightmare's will power and pet the lazybones.

Cross was second to Killer. He was the most loyal skeleton one could hope to meet. He was the youngest and newest member, but he was Nightmare's best assassin. He was a soldier, tried and true. And he had a lot of beef with Ink, something the gang sorely needed and never wanted. It took much convincing on Nightmare's part to stop the X-event from occuring. Nightmare had been shown what would happen should the X-event occur, and he figured that this multiverse didn't need it. X-Chara was the human ghost attached to Cross. His child-like attitude often contrasted sharply with Cross' no-nonsense military demeanor. The two fought far too often, but it was slowly getting better. Cross was strapped upside down on the wall by ducktape clinging to a chocolate bar for dear life. Nightmare had half considered giving him nightmares about cows for shredding a couch in his desperate search for chocolate but decided against it. This one time.

Dust was a sassy little ship. He was lazy. He was rude. He was… he was Dust. But Nightmare kept him around out of principle. (And an emotion he would never admit to the enemy in good faith. It's not like anyone would believe that he actually cared for his teammates like they were his children. That just wasn't possible right?) Dust's Papyrus, who was either a ghost or the manifestation of an advanced hallucination tied to Dust, was possibly worse. At least Dust listened to Nightmare. Powder, the Papyrus, didn't listen to anyone but Dust. Nightmare had fallen victim to Powder's mischief before. The only time the pair would truly behave was when Blueberry was around. Go figure. Dust was, at the moment, conked out and free standing near the hallway door. Nightmare left him there, figuring the sleeping murderer would scare off any unwanted guests.

Horror was the cannibal. He has indeed eaten monsters in his desperation to feed himself. His AU was quite nasty, living up to its name in all its glory. Horror also lived up to his own name, with a massive, jagged hole in his skull, a single bloody red eyelight that filled one eye socket, and a large axe that accentuated his tall, bulky silhouette. Nightmare was not sorry in the least when he pulled Horror out of his AU. The deal was that Nightmare sent food to the people of Snowdin and Horror served Nightmare in return. It had worked out well. The gang finally had someone who liked to cook. Nightmare wondered how they had made it through the years with Killer and Dust's half-ashed cooking. Horror had been knocked out when Dust slammed him into the TV stand, effectively smashing it to splinters.

Those were the "official" gang members. The ones that the multiverse recognized as the Bad Sanses. There were others who would exclusively help the Bad Guys, but they were few and far between. Reaper, Error, Red, Lust, and Blue were among the most notable. There were also the neutrals who stayed out of the conflict. Sci and Ccino were two of the few neutrals Nightmare actually cared for since they were some of the very few who would voluntarily remain in Nightmare's presence. Geno, Fresh, and Outer were a few others on whom Nightmare kept an eye.

Blue was a complicated case. He was dedicated to helping other people, which had initially spurred him to be a main player in the Star Sanses, a group hellbent on ridding the multiverse of the Bad Sanses (the Stars were responsible for the name. Nightmare's gang wasn't impressed, but it wasn't like the multiverse cared about their opinions). After a kidnapping incident that neither Blue nor Error would elaborate on, Blue wanted to help the Bad Sanses. He was currently present in the mansion, and he was not spared. He sat cross-legged on the floor with his back resting on Dust's legs and his head lolling as he drooled.

Where was Error? Reaper, Nightmare could understand his absence due to the unusual amount of death Nightmare could sense (there were certain strains of negativity that Nightmare had learned to associate with the loss of loved ones, so he was capable of doing the numbers), but Nightmare hadn't seen either of the gods in weeks. It wasn't super unusual, though Error had been better about being around recently. Error's sense of time wasn't worth a cent, and the anti-void he lived in didn't know the concept of time anyways. That wasn't the point though. Whenever Error was in the multiverse, Nightmare could track him by the massive amounts of negativity he simultaneously caused and radiated, no matter how hard Error tried to suppress his aura. Nightmare knew those amounts of negativity were dangerous, but it usually provided Nightmare a sense of relief knowing that Error was alive.

The longer Nightmare searched, the more unsettled he grew. He couldn’t find Error anywhere in the multiverse. Every trace of the broken skeleton had vanished. What's more was the imbalance of positivity and negativity beyond Nightmare's little slice of land. Something was undeniably wrong.

"Wake up idiots!"

Chapter Text

---------- Cross ----------

Outertale–a beautiful place that Error loved. A place that Cross had been chucked into to look for the chocolate-stealing mustard. Oh, and all of his cursing was being censored.

'Wonderful.'

He needed to be extremely careful. Outer!Sans never outright attacked the Bad Sanses alone, but he always called the Stars when he had to, and they always kicked the Bad Sanses' ashes. For some reason, the star-spangled Sans liked to single Killer out and try to talk him into surrendering. Tactically speaking, it was the smartest-dumbest move possible: smart because Killer had actually been friends with Outer for a little while and dumb because it would never happen.

Cross pushed down his irritation and moved on. His hood and scarf was up to halfway disguise him, and he stuck to the shadows and ignored the starry sky. So far, he saw no sign of anything in town – he obviously wasn’t going to find Error there but could find something useful regardless – other than copies of his dead world walking around as if nothing was wrong.

Outside of town would be much more difficult to sneak around. It was a rocky wasteland. Beyond that was a cliff with no end. It was the easiest way to enter the Void. The Void, as far as Cross could understand it, was the space between worlds. Everything that fell in would be disassembled immediately. Error had a hidey-hole somewhere along the cliff’s edge. He would sit with his legs dangling over the emptiness as he knitted or stargazed.

Cross paused his pursuit as an idea occurred to him. There was no way one of the 'good sanses' could have found that that spot was there. Was there? They certainly would have taken advantage of the destroyer being so vulnerable. Frowning, Cross made his way out of Outertale’s populated quarters. He took a gamble in darting across the barren rock in little teleport-hops, but he reached the place without incident.

The rock ended. Beyond that, the stars faded into blackness – the Void. Cross stared at the jagged edge, wondering if the rock had protruded further than it was now. He was fairly sure it had, but he couldn't say for fact.

Frowning, he turned to leave when he came face to face with a skeleton.

'Great.'

"Heya there pal." Outer!Sans, commonly referred to as Outer, had somehow snuck up on Cross. Outer wore his usual blue and yellow jacket with puffy lining, dark shorts, and pink slippers. The other skeleton's facial expression remained neutral, but Cross immediately assumed a defensive position, acutely aware of the Void looming below. "Normally, I would leave ya alone, but all yer pokin' 'round town got me curious. What's got a bad guy like you wandering 'round my AU like he lost his favorite toy?" The space-themed sans' gaze flicked to the rather large knife Cross held.

"What's it matter to you?" Cross' eyes narrowed, his scarf staying in place covering his mouth.

"Well, it's my AU, so I like to think it's my business." Outer was laid back, generally speaking, but this was either extremely lazy, even by a sans' standards, or a cleverly thought out ploy. But Outer is supposed to be a neutral.

"I'm looking for someone. You wouldn't happen to know who that would be, would you?" Cross gritted his teeth, slowly maneuvering so that there was more ground between him and the cliff's edge.

"I can't be sure, but I doubt it's anyone good." Error. Outer was talking about Error. Something did happen to Error here. Stretch, Swap!Papyrus, appeared beside Outer.

'So that's why Outer is acting so odd.'

"You probably wouldn't consider him worth knowing, but we haven't seen Error around for a little too long." Cross gave a cold grin. "Know why?"

"I heard that he went for a little walk in the Void. Heard he took Ink with him." Stretch obviously noticed Cross' change in position, but he didn't comment. "Regardless, ya won't be my problem for much longer."

"Called the Stars?"

"Pretty much. What’s left of them at least."

'Shirt. I have to move.'

A blue aura pinned him down. "Sorry bud, but I can’t let you go." Stretch's hand stretched out.

"Well, we can't have that now." A knife flew straight at the Papyrus.

*Killer!Sans initiates a fight with Swap!Papyrus and Outer!Sans.*

*Horror!Sans, Dust!Sans, Cross!Sans, and Nightmare!Sans join the fight. They side with Killer!Sans.*

*Swap!Sans (Blue) and Dream!Sans join the fight. They side with Swap!Papyrus.*

*Lust!Sans stands by and watches.*

*Outer!Sans exits the fight at low HP and proceeds to watch from the sidelines with Lust!Sans.*

The fight barely lasted a minute. It ended swiftly when Blue, Dust, and Cross all went over the edge of the cliff. Horror and, surprisingly, Lust threw themselves over the edge as well. Horror's hands gripped Cross' and Blue's collars and heaved them back toward the cliff.

Nightmare's tentacle wrapped around Cross' waist as Lust twisted, the shine of blue magic with a hint of lavender, was apparent as Dust came closer to the cliff rather than further. A third tentacle grabbed him. Blue stretched out in a vain attempt to grab the falling skeletons. His magic sparked and wavered as he attempted to reach into the Void.

"No use Blue." Nightmare rumbled quietly. His blue eyelight, the left one, shrank as he watched one of his gang fall into the abyss, and the goop covering his other eye seemed to become slightly runny, revealing a lavender hue. "The Void has claimed them."

Outer stared at the cliffside with blank sockets. Dream was in shock; he nearly lost another teammate to the Void. He did lose Lust, even though probably no one else would complain too much. Stretch glared at Nightmare, or more specifically the tentacle that had caught his brother, Blue. The Bad Guys were frozen in place. Their numbers were dropping. Two team members and a good friend had been thrown into the Void like garbage. Garbage!

Nightmare backed away from the edge and set Blue down. "Go home." The tentacles holding Cross and Dust curled slightly closer to Nightmare.

"But–"

"No buts. We all lost today. It's time we count our losses and leave." Nightmare grimaced. Cross translated that to *I am grieving and need to process. I don't want to lose more people to the Void. If we stay here, we will fight again, and I'm not in the mood to fight*.

“Boss…” Cross’ voice cracked.

“I don’t think the fight is over yet.” Killer said. He stood beside the goopy skeleton. Stretch was back on the offense, not liking that his brother was so friendly with the enemy.

Chapter Text

---------- Error ----------

Error remembered. He remembered everything. The periods of his life the deity had hidden in fog were now clear. That deity had controlled his life for far too long. He had known that he was once a Geno – the first Geno – but could never remember. He now remembered being white in a black place. He remembered seeing the red strings wrapping around his wrists, dragging forward into the light. At the time, he had been unable to see them, but he felt the pull, and he resisted it the way he resisted everybody else.

But it was no use.

He called for help. He called…

NO ONE CAME.

And he lost the fight.

He was thrown into the white. For a while, he blended in almost perfectly. That was where she cut his memories off. After that was a haze of pain and tears that Error had forced himself to forget. Those memories did not come back with the ones the deity took.

"Error?" A girl knelt before him. "How are you?"

"I rEMemb-ber." (I remember.) He paused. "I thOugHt y-yOu were goi-i-ng to Fix the g-glitCHINg." (I thought you were going to fix the glitching.)

"One step at a time *FGOD -ending/undetermined- Error*." The girl held out a hand. "Now we need to test to see if your touch condition is any better. Then we can send you to a place that won’t kill you while I’m fixing this ship."

"Why does t-thaT requiiire fiXIng me Noww-w?" (Why does that require fixing me now?) Error glitched harshly as the girl grabbed his wrist.

"It requires severing the strings of the deity." The girl replied offhandedly. "Now I'm just making a list of what changed to pass off to someone who is far better at this ship than I." At his look she sighed, "I'm a writer, not a programmer."

"And youR f-fr!endd is?" Error asked.

"She is a glitch bench herself, so she definitely knows something about it."

"UsuAlly, i£ she ręally is a g/itch. ThAt as-id€, why d0 y○u alw-ways C€^Sor yourr-r-rself?" (Usually, if she really is a glitch. That aside, why do you always censor yourself?) The girl paused for a moment. A small slew of censored cussing came out her lips. "Di-!d ¥ou n-Not not-tiCe?" (Did you not notice?)

"My creator censors curse words when she is watching."

"Oh fork, ^ot @nother £-Ffresh. Fork… I'm tRyji^G To saaAy £○Rk-k &amp no+ fork. L€t mE ss-say fork foR fork'$ s@ke!" He glared at the girl. (Oh fork, not another Fresh. Fork... I'm trying to say for and not fork. Let me say fork for fork's sake!)

"Now you hear it?" She asked. "What am I supposed to do? She is my creator. I have no control over what she does."

"Is sh-hh-he AS b@d as my FATE-con+rolled Ink wa$?" (Is she as bad as my FATE-controlled Ink was?)

"No, stars no. She is a true creator. Not a deity." She stilled for a moment. "Your examination is done, and your place in the FATE-free area is ready for your transfer. Come."

"But what about him?" Error pointed at the lone white skeleton sitting only a few feet away, eyes closed and apparently dead to the non-existent world.

"I have not been able to untie him completely from FATE's strings. It requires fixing up his SOUL situation, but if I rush it and mess something up, he will have more permanent damage."

"ButT he dOEsn't ha-ave @ SOUL." (But he doesn'thave a SOUL.)

"That's just because no one's looked in the right place. It was torn apart, yes, but then tattooed all over his bones." Error's eyes went wide as the girl continued. "His connection was severed. His body was sustained by the soul providing structure, but his consciousness was kept purely by FATE's power alone. Mind blowing, right?"

"¥oU c@^ s@Ve h-Him?" (You can save him?)

"I don't have to if you don't want me to. Just say the word."

"No! Do s@ve h!m, p/e-ea$e." (No! Do save him, please)

"I wasn't sure how you would feel about it. I just wanted to give you the option."

"He-e ^Ev€r ha-ad @ ch0!ce, eI+her." (He never had a choice either.)

"He still won't. He requires an anchor. Without an anchor, he will fade away. Or melt. A curious predicament. FATE is his current anchor."
"Can you give him @nother anchor?"

". . . Perhaps." She perked up. "But! On a different note, two people just fell into your Void."

"Wh0¿"

"See for yourself." Two skeletons appeared on the non-existent floor. Horror and Lust. They were knocked out. Horror was slightly injured, but he was hugging Lust in a protective manner like someone who hugged a child as the world caved in around them. "They cannot stay here though. An overpowered, god-level (and already-corrupted by a void) monster like you might handle the effects of this void, but a normal-ish monster like these won't handle them for long, even dampened as they are."

"CāN ¥ou pu+ tHe-em wh€Re y0u @re g○!ng to pu+t Me?" (Can you put them where you are going to put me?)

"That's the thing. It's only meant to be a temporary hideaway until I can make a better solution. I don't want to overload that timeline. I have yet to see any Undertale derived characters interact with this world. Not saying there isn't anything out there, just that it's a rather uncommon route. That's why I am so sure your deity hasn't accessed it." She weighed her options. The unconscious skeletons were already beginning to frag. "That could work. If you stay here, they can be sent to this universe. I can make space in another timeline for you or others that fall! It'll have to be uncommon crossovers or new topics though. Only things that your deity shouldn't know exist."

"That`$s-s grəat!" (That's great!)

"Downside though." The girl said briskly. Error groaned. There was always a drawback. "Every single story has its dangers, and some of the places I could throw them in are certainly dangerous. Whether it be human maniacs that steal other people's magic or bacteria-bug things that will eat anything, there's going to be dangers, and I can't deposit more than a few monsters in each timeline."

To be honest, Error had expected worse than that, though the situations she described didn't sound like a picnic. It’s not like he had any sense for how dangerous it could be; he knew nothing but danger. "I+'s ^ot l!ke I'm GOing a-anywHere." (It's not like I'm going anywhere.)

"Perfect. " she grinned. "Let the games begin."

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

Horror blanked. He didn’t process unexpected things well on a good day. Today was not a good day. Blue filled his vision. A headache was pounding on his skull, ricocheting off one side and bouncing full force on the other. There was a weight on his chest. It wasn't heavy, nor was it light. It was warm, comfortable even. Warm soil pressed against his back. The sun was a little hot for his taste, the air a little muggy, but he almost could have napped.

Except for the splitting headache. Well funk.

He closed his eye sockets, well the left socket anyway. His right socket was paralyzed, but his bloated, red eyelight mimicked the movements of a working socket. He didn’t bother figuring out why.

After a while, he felt the weight on his chest move a little. He moved so he could see what it was. Soft eyelights stared back.

They sat in silence for a moment. Lust broke it. "Morning gorgeous."

He laughed. He couldn’t help it. Horror snorted. Even the migraine couldn't stop him. "That's the first thing… you say." Dang his speech. It was always slow and halting, even when he didn't want it to be. He wasn’t stupid. He just couldn’t speak well after an accident he doesn’t like talking about. Lust's smooth purr was always a jarring contrast to his rumbling.

"Come on, beautiful. Don't deny it."

At that, he just deadpanned at Lust.

"I ain't playing handsome… unless you want me to play."

"Don't go there. You know better." Horror pitched to the side, and Lust tumbled onto the grass.

"Aw darling, I'm just messing with you! You know that." A grin broke out on Lust's face. He lay there, sprawled out on the grass like a child. Honestly, he almost looked like a child at that moment. Horror could almost forget which AU the skeleton came from.

Horror stood and offered a hand to help the smaller skeleton up. Said skeleton accepted it graciously and smoothly stood.

"Do you have a headache?" Lust reached up to where Horror's other hand gripped his right eye. Lust was slightly taller than an average Sans, but Horror towered over him. Horror towered over most Sanses. And a number of other types of monsters.

"Yeah. I blame Void." Horror slouched a little more. He and Lust had at some point developed a routine. When Horror had his headaches, Lust would end up massaging around the jagged hole in his skull. For some reason, it worked.

"Wait. How did we survive the Void!"

"Dunno."

Lust finally gave their surroundings a glance. "Where are we?" Horror had no answer. They seemed to be in a castle of sorts, but there was no one around. The castle itself was in good repair. It had a light and welcoming atmosphere. And he could see the sky. It was a bright blue with a few clouds adding white here or there.

"Explore?"

"Why not." The purple skeleton bounced over to the only visible door. Horror followed a tad more slowly. They wandered hallways decorated with vast tapestries depicting what looked like AUs in their multiverse. Other than that the hallways and most of the rooms were bare. They did run across a room filled to the brim with treasure and another with odd objects that felt… off, like there was more to them than just matter.

They were on their way back to where they had awoken when Lust gave a stuttering breath and just about fell. Horror caught him but then suffered the same fate. They tumbled in a heap on the floor.

He stared at the pale human in his arms. Soft, pale hair framed soft eyes that were so blue they could almost be called violet. He knew it was Lust. Lust stared at him. He was also human. Well, they looked human. He could feel his skeleton self moving with the human image, but it felt like a double image. In fact, when Lust moved, he caught a flickering image of a skeleton both insubstantial and real. Now he could feel the same off-ness that he had felt on those weird objects. It permeated the air. It had changed their bodies; it had made them human yet preserved their monster selves. He couldn’t understand it.

His own hands were fleshy and tanned. Moving was weird. He could feel his muscles bunching and shifting to do so. He tapped his head. The hole was still there, and his skeleton hand recognized that, but his human hand just kind of felt around a bald patch in the shape of the hole. It was probably a scar.

"Aren't you the muscle man." Lust had a half lidded grin on his face. While he still had a rather feminine feel and did not have very defined muscles, Lust wasn't unfit either. A slim build and purposefully showy posture combined with the skimpy clothing style, which showed even more skin now that it was torn up, revealed more than Horror would have liked. He could see scars and injuries that Lust had acquired from his more violent. . . transactions.

Lust noticed where Horror was looking and poked Horror's nose. He pointed to Horror's right. Horror looked in the direction Lust pointed and beheld himself in the mirror. Overall, he was certainly much bulkier than before. He was intimidating before, but now with the hunk of muscles clinging to a historically emaciated figure, and multitude of visible scars, he looked a hundred times creepier. His own eyes stared back at him, the blind right eye nearly colorless and the left eye bloodshot golden-brown. The light flickered and he thought for a moment his eye turned its usual blood red. Checking out the hole in his skull, he found that it was, indeed, a massive scar framed by dirty white hair. His clothes were in just as bad a state as Lust’s.

They returned to where they had awoken. To Horror, it only felt like they had spent an hour or two at most inside the castle, yet the sun was way past the midpoint.

"I didn't think that we were inside for that long." Lust mirrored Horror's thoughts. Horror grunted in agreement.

"Hello?" Horror and Lust turned. A human boy was hanging off a rope ladder attached to a flying boat. Horror forgot everything as instinct assailed him, and he raised his axe. Something grabbed onto the bladed end. He glared at Lust.

"Bad Horror." Lust returned the glare. Horror sighed, looking eerily like a disgruntled cat. "No."

"Sorry." Horror regained control over himself. He lowered his axe, but then changed his mind and slung it over his shoulder. The flying boat had drifted upwards as soon as he had raised his axe. "It's safe now. I won't… hurt you."

The boy spoke with the men in the boat and it drifted closer. "You're not going to attack me, are you?" He wore an odd assortment of clothes, with jeans and a leather jacket and a snow-white shawl.

"Only if you attack us first." Lust said. "Otherwise, no." Horror glanced between the two, realizing something. The human was avoiding staring at Lust. Horror took off his jacket and dumped it on Lust. Lust stumbled. "What was that for?!"

"He is too… just a boy." Horror said. Lust recognized that and settled the jacket around his shoulders. The bottom stopped above his knees.

"Thank you for being so modest." Lust then focused on the boy who had set down some kind of flag. "What's that for darling?"

"It claims this castle for the Sky Raiders, a salvaging company."

"Why?" Horror asked.

"This castle will be destroyed in a day or two, so the Sky Raiders salvage what they can before it is."

"Destroyed? Destroyed how?" Lust asked with curiosity.

"This might be hard to believe, but this is a floating castle. It came out of the Western Cloudwall and will be destroyed in the Eastern Cloudwall."

"Really? I gotta go see this." Lust grinned. "Horror, help me up." He ran for the wall. Horror shrugged and threw his axe. It embedded itself in the wall, and Lust used it to boost himself over.

The human tensed after seeing his throw, but stepped off the ladder anyway. He stood there for a moment like a prey animal, ready and waiting for the predator to strike. He relaxed when Horror did nothing.

"So is there anything valuable here?" He asked.

"Yeah. A thing… or two."

"Can we take it?"

"Why?"

"The castle is going to be destroyed, so stuff won't do much good here."

"If that's true… we can… talk. If it's not…" Horror left his threat open.

"Horror! It's true!" Lust vaulted over the wall. "This place is floating on clouds! And there's no land anywhere below us! It's just another void!"

"If that… is true… then doom may also… be true."

"So you will show me where your treasure is?" The boy asked. Lust looked between them.

"Said we'd talk." Horror answered Lust's unspoken question.

"I think a trade might be more fair, cutie." Lust said.

"Cutie?" The human asked.

"First, I would like you to introduce yourself." Lust winked. "Can't keep calling you cutie without knowing your name, cutie. I am Grace, and this is my buddy, Horror."

Grace was the nickname Lust used when there was no one around who knew his given nickname. He wasn’t fond of the negative connotations. It was also easier to not explain the concept of lust to children, making the name Grace a much better alternative. It was a courtesy thing. Unlike what most people thought, it was the nature of his AU to revere and respect children and innocence. On the other hand, the skeleton acted up around those who weren't innocent enough and knew his AU, playing up his sexuality mostly to screw with their heads. Horror was one of the few who knew both names, but he was an oddity in Lust's respect spectrum. He was not innocent. He murdered, he had starved, he would literally eat anything, but he didn't pursue any kind of sexual interaction with anyone. That was partly why Lust preferred to hang around the broken skeleton.

The human boy was still overthinking about being called a cutie and what they might ask of him. He finally seemed to give up. "I'm Cole." Cole held out his hand. Lust shook it. Horror took the boy's hand in a firm grip. He let go after a second.

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

"I'm just a scout," Cole said, "so I can't bargain with you. That's what the people on the boat are for. You aren't going to exist for more than a day or two anyways, so what could you even want?"

"A way off this rock would be nice." Lust said. "For what you could take from this castle, a ride would be a very small price."

"That wouldn't work. You guys are semblances: things created to mimic life. I'm told that semblances created by the Cloudwall just turn to dust when they are taken to the edge of the Brink." Cole hesitated. "You need to talk to my superiors if you want to bargain. I told you. I'm a scout. I'm here to see if there's anything worth salvaging."

"Oh." Lust's eyes went dark at the thought. The human eyes seemed to dim in color, and his expression shifted almost imperceptibly. The skeleton after-shadow did lose its eyelights in classic Sans fashion. The human child didn’t seem to notice anything off. Maybe he couldn’t see the skeletal after-images.

"Follow me." Horror commanded. He pointed at Lust. "Talk."

Cole and Lust glanced at each other as Horror turned back to the castle. They did follow him though. He unfortunately only remembered where the treasure room was. Maybe Lust would remember the weird room.

"So, what's it like being a scout for floating castles, cutie?" Lust asked, trying to drum up conversation.

"It's… scary. This is only my fifth mission, but I've already almost died a few times."

"Really? How?"

"Well, my first one ever was probably the worst. There was nothing to take, and this giant scorpipede almost killed me."

"Oh, I'm sorry dear. That must have been rough. You're so young. How did you escape?"

"This sword," the human had a sword on his belt. Horror had noticed that it had the same weirdness as the room with weird objects, "is a Jumping Sword. You say a command and jump, and it will pull you to where you want to go. I used it to run from the scorpipede. I jumped over the wall and pulled my parachute. They were able to rescue me with a lifeboat."

"How does a sword make you jump?"

"It is basically a semblance that doesn't act or live. We call those renderings. This was shaped to help people jump. I don't know more than that."

"Is that shape the weirdness?"

"What do you mean?"

"There is a room… with weird things… like that." Horror said. He rounded the last corner, the treasure room

"There's renderings here?" The boy sounded excited. "They will love that."

"I guess. They all have the same weirdness that that sword and your shawl have."

“My shawl?” Cole asked.

“Yeah. What does it do?” Lust asked.

“I don’t know if it even does anything. I’ve worn it on every mission since the scorpipede castle, and it hasn’t done anything for me.”

“We’re here.” Horror opened the wooden door to reveal a room of treasures. The human’s eyes just about popped out of his head. “I don’t… remember where… other room is. Grace?”

“I do, don’t worry darling.” Lust took the lead.

“What’s with the nicknames?” Cole asked.

“It’s his thing.” Horror said. He shifted his axe. “My thing… is head dogs.”

“Head… dogs?” Cole didn’t seem like he wanted to know. He scanned the room. “This is great! There’s another room?”

“Yep.” Lust took the lead as he left the room.

Cole scooped up something on his way out. Horror tilted his head. “Proof. Mission doesn’t count if I bring nothing back. If something goes wrong and we can’t get anything, this will still count as another mission for me.” He held up a single coin with a sheepish grin as a way for explanation.

“It’s all… going anyway.” Horror shrugged. He didn’t care about gold unless it brought food.

“There’s nothing living here but you two, right?” Cole asked.

“Yes.”

“Horror look!” Lust pointed at a small tapestry they had overlooked when they had explored. “That’s Error!”

Horror stopped and looked, and indeed, Error was sitting, just sitting, in a pitch black background. There were only two other figures in the weaving: a human he didn’t recognize, and a white and brown figure that was smeared so badly he couldn’t make out any details. Then the human moved. Horror jumped when he realized this. “It moved.”

“I saw that.” Lust peered closer to Error. “Look, you can see him breathing.”

“What the funk. What?” Horror stared at Cole, who was staring at him.

“Do you know them?” Cole asked.

“We know the black one.” Lust pointed at Error. He then pointed at the smudge and then the human. “I don’t know about that, and I have never seen her before.”

“Error was missing.” Horror pointed at the black skeleton.

“Maybe this is real time, but where is that?” Lust asked.

“Void?” Horror guessed.

“Then how is he alive then?” Lust wondered.

“Dunno.” Horror shrugged. “Figure it out… later.”

“Wh– oh. You still need to loot us bare.” Lust stated bluntly.

“Um, yes.” Cole said with a hesitant hopefulness. Lust looked ahead, probably rolling his eyes. The trip to the other room seemed to take less time. As Cole poked around the room, finding a Jumping Sword much like his own and proving its use. Horror noticed a pair of outfits sitting in the corner. Horror didn’t know why they caught his eye, but they seemed like the right size for him and Lust.

“Is that what you needed to see?” Lust asked.

“Yes. This is perfect!” Cole said.

“We’ll lead you back outside, cutie, but if you want your buddies to come and go safely, we will need something.” Lust said. They bagan making their way to the courtyard.

“What?”

“You saw Horror’s reaction to you? He will do the same to every new human he sees because he is hungry.” Lust could read Horror like a book. No, he wasn’t trying to eat the humans, but he was hungry. He would also never say no to food, and if they could swipe some from these folks, all the better. Lust read him like an open book. That, like many other things about the skeleton, mystified Horror immensely. “It would help immensely if he gets something to eat.”

“I’m sure they could do that.” Cole agreed. He had not forgotten the previous incident. “Let me talk to them.”

“While you do… Grace and I… can go dress in… better clothes.” Horror said.

“Alright.” Cole was suddenly slightly wary. “Be back soon though.”

“We will, cutie.” Lust reached a door, and let the boy outside. He closed it as a ladder dropped to meet Cole.

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

“You found clothes?”

“In weird room.” Horror started scanning the walls for more tapestries. “Grab Error’s thing… too.”

“The tapestry? I’ll go get it.” Lust teleported away to Error’s tapestry and back within a few seconds. “We should look for others too.”

“Clothes first.” Horror grabbed Lust and teleported to the weird room. Tucked slightly underneath the clothes was a note addressed to them. Lust grabbed it and read the fancy written script to Horror.

*
“To ye who reads this,

“You fell into the Void. Your multiverse now knows you are dead. But you ARE NOT. Congratulations on surviving the Void. Speak of this to no one. It will bring you no help because the people of this universe are hardly aware of the Void’s existence. The few who know it and understand it to some extent are long dead or scary deadly deadly. Remember that.

“Here is a world between worlds. The Outskirts. People come from ‘Outside’ quite often, the most common being a normal “Earth”. That Earth is an Earth without monsters, magic, or the underground. If you need a cover story, use that Earth or be extremely vague about where you really came from. The “magic” of the Outskirts will make you look human in all of the kingdoms except for Elloweer. There, you will look like your normal, skeleton selves and obviously be from elsewhere, but many strange peoples live there. Ask Declan or his fellows for more information when you meet them. Remain in the sky castle until it goes through the Cloudwall if that is where you want to go.

“I figured that you would need a new set of clothes after seeing the state that that fight and the Void left them in. There is a set of rings on cords that are meant to be worn as necklaces. The rings, when worn as rings are meant to be –on a finger– will revert you to your normal appearance as long as you are in Sambria. You may find tricks to wake up the renderings elsewhere, but until you do, they are only useful in Sambria. The atlatl and the compass are also meant for you. I added a few extra features into some of the pieces, but I will let you experiment with them. Don’t mention it to strangers though. It wouldn’t take much for a pauper to steal renderings of this caliber. Or a king for that matter, though he may try to buy it first.

“I only have one last thing to mention. If you look around this sky castle, you will find various tapestries depicting your fellow monsters. I would have made them follow all of your friends realtime, but I could only do so for the ones that have already fallen into the Void. As others fall, their tapestries will also work.

“I apologize for rushing this letter, but I am super busy trying to put things in place. Until I can get things in order, you will be stuck in this universe and away from your friends. However, I wish you the best in your journeys here. I promise I will return you to your people. I promise.

"Signed… I can’t reveal who I am yet, sorry.”
*

“Is that all?” Horror asked.

“Um, yeah, looks like i– wait, there is more,

*
“P.S. from Error:

“Don’t worry, I am safe. The person that wrote this letter is… I don’t know how exactly to describe her, but she is genuinely trying to help. Having you fall into the Void kinda messed up our plans, but she is working on a new plan to reunite everyone and give everyone a better fate. I don’t deal in feely ship, but stay safe. It’ll work out in the end.”
*

“That’s… a lot of… info.”

“Useful though. And worrying. We’ll talk about it later though.” Lust peered at the letter as if it would give more clues. “We should try out those clothes. Your jacket doesn't cover much more than my outfit.” Horror grunted in agreement. They grabbed the outfits and tried them on. The outfits were perfectly sized to Horror and Lust.

Lust’s outfit was a lilac cloak with a dark, long sleeved shirt and a pair of capris–pants that cut off about the middle of the calf. A pair of shoes was even included because Lust didn’t have a decent pair of shoes. Horror didn’t get new footwear, but he had his boots, and Lust knew he wouldn’t give them up anytime soon. The mysterious person must have known that too. Horror’s outfit consisted of a dark scarf that doubled as a veil, a shirt that seemed to shift colors except for the red streaks decorating it, a dark pair of pants, and thick leather gloves that seemed to be able to take a beating. Lust also found a pair of steel bracelets that he took for himself. The bracelets weren’t intricate. They were just some wire braided into a loop, but Lust liked them anyway. He slid them onto his wrist.

Lust jokingly stuffed his old shirt in one of the pockets of his capris and quickly figured out that it fit way more than physically possible. All of their old clothes went into that pocket to be thrown away later.

The atlatl and the compass mentioned in the letter were tucked in the corner behind the clothes. Both the atlatl and the compass went into one of the pockets of Lust’s capris. Horror strung a ring on a chord, Lust the other, and wore it as a necklace, as the note had said, tucked underneath his shirt. As they returned to the yard, they searched the walls for more tapestries. They didn’t find any more, which made Lust think that no one else had fallen yet. Yet.
"Stay here." Lust ordered when they reached the final door. Horror patted Lust’s head and then sat down where he stood. Somewhat reassured, Lust slipped out the door and met the Sky Raiders.

Or rather, Captain Post, a man with rather unruly brown hair, met Lust. Or Grace, as the humanized skeleton called himself right now. Lust was subjected to a short interrogation of sorts. The captain and a couple of others who were obviously high ranking like the captain participated, apparently trying to make sure that the castle was safe even though the scout had already done so. Lust suffered through it, and they were satisfied with themselves soon enough.

Captain Post handed over a hunk of meat that he had had on hand for some reason. Lust ran inside and gave the meat to Horror before pulling him out into the open yard.
The humans made quick work of the filled rooms. Lust and Horror sat on a patch of grass and simply observed the human chain they formed. It didn’t seem like the humans thought they had time to converse with the human-looking skeletons. Maybe they didn’t. Lust didn’t know how close to the Cloudwall they were. Soon enough, the operation was done, leaving the castle far more bare than it was before. The humans did take a few tapestries, but no important ones as far as Lust could tell.

“Grace! Horror!” Cole, the scout, jogged over as the other humans boarded their flying rowboats.

“What do you need?” Horror asked.

“We have to go. We are expected back at Skyport.” Cole explained.

“It was nice meeting you.” Lust said politely.

“Yeah. I’m sorry we can’t help you guys. You seem really nice, but taking you would more than guaranteed kill you.” Cole was internally upset about that, but he was doing really well at not showing it. Being a Judge, Lust could see this clearly.

“It’s okay.” Horror said, trying to reassure the boy.

“We think there will be something beyond that wall for us.” Lust said. “You seem pretty nice too, but don’t worry about us. We will be fine.” Cole smiled a little.

“Go.” Horror pushed Cole lightly.

“Your ride’s gonna leave ya.” Lust grinned. The boy gave a start and ran to the rope ladder dangling from the lifeboat. He looked back and waved once. The not-human-skeletons waved back, and the flying ships rejoined the big one and it all disappeared in the blue. Now, all they had to do was wait for the castle to reach the Cloudwall.

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

The sun was already setting, the cool humidity of dusk beginning to wreath mist around the blades of grass in the shadow. The Cloudwall had come into view over the walls of the castle only minutes after the humans had left. It was a literal wall of mist that had steadily grown in size as they drifted closer to it.

Lust had slipped his ring on his finger, and he was a skeleton once more. Horror followed suit. He sat in the yard, either watching the Cloudwall grow closer or the moons rise.

Moons. Horror hadn’t seen a surface world except for where the mansion sat in ages, but the mansion’s sky was always clouded over. It had only been a day since he had fallen, a day since he had last been there, but he was already missing it. The people in it. That was what he missed. He hadn’t gone a day without seeing Killer’s mischievous attitude or Nightmare’s presence, and he already missed it. That aside, he didn’t think this was normal, the moons that is. For one, he only remembered there ever being one moon, but he counted at least two and thought there was a third getting ready to rise. He considered the oddity. At least the stars were like that of Outertale. The AU wasn’t Horror’s favorite, (he preferred AUs with a lot of food) but he knew how to appreciate beauty when he saw it.

“Are you ready?” Lust asked. He sat in Horror’s lap, bold as he pleased, and curled into the bigger skeleton’s chest. “This could be the end.”

Horror lightly swatted Lust’s skull. “Not the end.” He turned to look at the mists that were beginning to seep over the castle walls. The wall loomed high overhead, its edges growing foggy as they finally entered it.

“I guess it's not. Maybe it's the beginning.” Lust wriggled for a moment and then seemed to be immensely comfortable.

“Next step.” Horror offered.

“YES. Our next step. Nothing will stop us now.”

“Nothing can.”

The Cloudwall closed around them, swallowing the sky in a dense blackness. Horror made sure his grip on Lust was secure. He didn’t know what to expect, but he wasn’t going to be caught by surprise. The castle picked up speed, a whistling filling the emptiness where there wasn’t sound before. Beneath the whistling, Horror could hear a sort of music. He couldn’t describe the sound, but it made him feel… something. He wasn't sure of what yet.

Lust's grip tightened as something hit their castle, breaking it. They were starting to spin. A little light still diffused through the fog, and it was just enough for Horror to see what was going on. He held onto Lust and took his chances by jumping. Had he not jumped, rubble would have hit them, but now they were at the mercy of the vortex. The music was much louder now.

Something else was moving fast toward them. Horror pivoted and pushed off of it, Lust still cradled to his chest. He made a couple more moves that were more fit to be in one of those animes that Blue liked to watch. Yet another thing came at the pair; everything was spinning so fast that Horror couldn’t keep up. This time, however, the object gave around his feet, swiftly encasing Horror and Lust.

Shock made Horror go limp as they were yanked out of the mist into a grass clearing. He lay in the net for a minute trying to process what had happened. The sky glittered above them, still spread in a dazzling display of color. The moons were still there too. He was in a net. The net was attached to a bug-themed flying machine. The machine flew into an orderly circle of stone statues. There was a human there too, a woman, unless Horror missed his guess. The machine dropped the net, and Horror landed hard on the ground. The net was still wrapped around him. Some of it had caught on the hole of his skull. He shifted so it wasn’t anymore.

“Keep still.” the woman demanded in a hard voice. She stared down at the ensnared skeleton, hands behind her back. Her hair was tied back tightly, her face harshly defined, with dramatic eyebrows and a defined jawline. Sleek black boots rose almost to her knees, and a long, slender sword hung at her side. Everything about her declared soldier, but Horror was just as much of a fighter as she might be. “This is a private estate. Outsiders are not welcome. Your lives depend on your answers to two questions. Who are you, and why are you here?”

Horror hesitated, trying to put his thoughts in line. Lust managed to poke his head and one arm far enough out of Horror’s embrace to participate. Lust spoke first, “I am Grace. This is my pal Horror. We were kinda stuck in one of those floating castles when it went through the Cloudwall.”

“Now why were you in a castle when it came through the Cloudwall? You could just as easily be spies. I can tell that you aren’t semblances, but you have somehow reverted back to your true forms. How?”

“We fell.” Horror insisted.

“A friend of ours saved us from that bottomless pit and dumped us in a castle. She gave us rings that let us revert to our true forms and told us that our best bet was going into the Cloudwall.” Lust trailed off.

“And what could be waiting on the other side of the Cloudwall?” The lady sneered.

“Someone named… Damien? Delan?”

“Declan.” Horror corrected. That caught the lady’s attention.

“Ah, yes.” Lust had also noticed the change in her behavior. “Our pal said that this Declan guy could tell us more about our whereabouts. This guy is obviously important to you, so do know that we don’t mean any harm.”

“We’ll see about that.” The lady stepped back, and the statues began to move. One raised its fist above the skeletons. Horror’s eyes widened, his red light filling the socket entirely with the black pupil so thin it was almost nonexistent. He tucked Lust back up and grabbed the net. He then rolled. He rolled for their lives.

The fist slammed the ground where they had been a second ago; his leg was caught underneath it, but he didn’t take as much damage as he expected. For that, he hardly took damage at all. He chanced a look and realized that the giant’s fist had crumpled on impact. It was made of cardboard!

Horror glared at the thing in confusion. How is this possible?

“Calm down, Asia.” A new human flew into the ring of giants. He stood on top of a metal disk that hovered on its own. The woman switched her glare from the skeletons to the man.

“What are you doing?” She asked. “This was my interrogation.”

“From what I saw, your interrogation was done.” The man spoke in a friendly manner despite the fact that the lady had just tried to kill the skeletons. “Don’t you think we can get some information from them before we turn them into fertilizer, Asia?”

“Don’t use my name in front of the trespassers.” The woman, Asia, snapped.

“They already know about Declan, and maybe that’s your codename.” The man winked.

“They know too much.” Asia insisted.

“Then we should find out how.” The man said. Horror finally looked at him in earnest. He stood upon a flying silver disk the size of a sewer cover. He was young, the boyish attitude reflected in the lighthearted shine in his eyes. He wore a fuzzy brown jacket and alligator-skin boots. “If they already know about Declan, why don’t we let him decide? Besides, they obviously don’t belong in Sambria. I’d like to know about that too. I’m Liam, by the way. Are you a spy?” Asia continued to glower. The giant’s fist lifted; Horror sighed as his leg was unpinned.

“Nice to… meet you. Not a spy.” Horror rumbled.

“Who are you?” Asia asked. “You weren’t in the net before.”

“I was. Horror… remember?”

“That veil,” Liam said, “it’s a rendering. Pretty cool one at that. Sky castle?”

Horror perked up. When he had rolled, the scarf had ended up obscuring his face. He moved the cloth so it worked as a scarf instead of a veil. Recognition sparked in Asia’s eyes.

“That is a handy rendering.” Asia remarked. “Do you have other renderings?”

“Yes.” Horror admitted.

“Let’s let him be the final judge.” Liam insisted.

“What if they are spies?”

“They already know his name. Have you sensed any communication beyond the Cloudwall?” Liam asked.

"No, but,” Asia scowled even more than she was already, “they have a strange feel about them. It almost feels like they are made of shaping, but they are not semblances. They must be alive.”

“But no communication.”

Asia hesitated, “Fine, but whatever happens isn’t my fault.”

Liam nodded. “I think I can take that.” He hopped off of his disk. “If you would hand over your renderings, I will let you out of the net, and we can proceed.” Horror just stared at him. “I promise you will get your items back if you’re good.”

"Hard." Horror tugged on the net.

“I bet it is.” Liam considered the net for a moment. "If you promise to behave and give me your renderings, I will remove the net."

"We will… behave."

"We will." Lust agreed.

Liam nodded and waved a hand. The net blew free of them, becoming gaseous and blowing away with the wind. Horror stood, easily towering over the man. He felt a finger poking his cheek. He glanced down at the captive Lust he still cradled in his arms.

"Thank you for the lift Prince Charming, but I think I can handle myself from here, gorgeous."

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

"...but I think I can handle myself from here, gorgeous." Lust grinned in the most devilish way he knew, as if the comment itself wasn't enough to begin with. Horror's face went blank for a second, staring at Lust with that one dead eye. Anyone else would have been seriously creeped out, but Lust knew exactly what was going on inside that broken skull. The skeleton always needed a minute to process that he was being complemented.

Eventually, Horror grunted and dropped Lust (gently, mind you. Horror wasn't an unmannered ruffian, just a little rough around the edges) on the ground.

Liam was still grinning. "I don't think I caught your names."

"Horror." Horror grunted.

"Grace." Lust said. He slipped his ring off and was returned to the human form. "Promise you will return our stuff. All we have is that and the clothes on our backs." He offered it to Liam.

"Don't worry," Liam said. He accepted the ring and pocketed it. "If the boss man likes you, you will get everything back. However awesome some of your other renderings are, I would have no use for the rings, and I wouldn't steal from you anyway."

"Some of our clothes." Horror said.

"I am aware that some of your clothes are renderings, but I won't ask you to strip naked." Liam said in a good natured tone. "Anything that isn't necessary, however, does need to go."

Lust handed over his cloak and, after a small interruption from Liam, his bracelets. Apparently they were also renderings. Horror let go of his scarf and gloves. With a little pout, he also gave his precious axe to the human. The axe was just a normal axe, but it was Horror’s weapon of choice back in the multiverse.

With a nod, Liam led them across the grounds to the great castle that sat in the middle of the grounds. He chose to strike up a conversation on the way. “Do you know what your clothes do?”

“My shirt…changes colors.” Horror offered.

“What about your pants?” Liam directed at Lust.

“What, you want them off?” Lust said with just enough flirt in his voice to say he was joking.

“Ignore him.” Horror said, grinning at the disgruntled human.

“I’m just joking dearie.” Lust purred. “Their pockets are like a dimensional pocket rather than a normal pocket.”

“Do you have anything in them?” Liam said, trying to forget his previous mortification.

“Torn up, normal clothes.” Lust said. “A friendly compass that points the way and a very pointy stick.”

“Oh-kay." Liam stuck out his hand. "You will have to give them anyway." Lust grimaced and dug the atlatl and the compass out of his pocket. Finally, the man was satisfied. He nodded and backed away on his flying disk. "Come." He zoomed away to the castle.

Asia rolled her eyes. "He should know better than to leave prisoners unsupervised. Follow me." She led them across the grounds to the castle. On the outside, it appeared some-what normal, especially when compared to the inside.

The rooms inside were weird. One room would be completely made of styrofoam, another would have all the furniture upside down (but still on the floor), the entire room was upside down (as in the floor is the ceiling and vice versa) in the next. They saw a number of animated objects, including wax mannequins that guarded the entrance.

At some point, they were met by a human named Jamar. He acted like a host rather than a trespasser's escort. In the short exchange between Jamar and Asia, it was revealed that the Declan guy would meet them in a place called the "Silent Hall." The humans would remain present only in the beginning.

They eventually made it to a stone room that wasn’t as fantastical as the rest of the castle, not that it wasn’t ornate. The chamber was long, which was why they called it a hall. Pillars carved like totem poles held the high, arched ceiling. The floor was red marble with black veins running throughout it. Dark drapes hung on the wall softened the noise of their footfalls.

A little man stood in the center. Lust decided that this was the oldest human that he had ever seen. The human’s skin was a mess of wrinkles, covering up what could otherwise be recognizable features. He leaned heavily upon two canes, and his wispy white hair was so thin.

“Would you close the door.” His voice lacked vitality, but it wasn’t easily dismissed. The door slammed shut. Asia and Jamar remained standing next to it.

“Are you… Declan?” Horror asked. He was trying hard to make his speech more coherent for the geezer.

“Ah, yes. Declan am I.” The old man said. “I believe I received communication regarding you two ahead of time and in a rather unconventional way.” He fished a slip of paper out of one of his pockets with a bony hand. Horror started, and Lust absentmindedly put a hand on his arm to still him.

“You were?” Lust asked. He fished his own letter out of his capris. Declan nodded.

“Welcome to Cloudvale. It’s among the least publicized hideaways in the Five Kingdoms, but it is ours. Not many happen across our little secret, but a few do. I wonder which one our little friend is.” He shuffled forward a few steps and seemed to examine them.

“We don’t know… either.” Horror offered.

“Leave us.” Declan said.

“But-” Asia tried to interrupt.

“I didn’t pick this hall because I require the theatrics of a cold dungeon. Out. We have sensitive matters to discuss.” Declan’s voice grew stern. Asia huffed, and Jamar nodded. They both left, closing the door behind them. Declan moved back to a seat that had sat previously unnoticed.

They stayed silent for a moment.

Declan broke the silence. “I don’t feel right sitting while you stand, but… old bones, you know?”

“It’s okay.” Lust immediately reassured him. “Humans don’t… last as long as… us.” He trailed off with uncertainty.

“I know you are not human. That’s fine here. Everyone will assume you are from Elloweer anyway.” Declan sighed and held up his letter. “This says that you are from Outside, but you are not from the typical Outside.”

“I guess?” Lust said. “I don’t know what exactly your ‘Outside’ is like, but the writer of the letters has been correct so far.”

Declan nodded. “How much do you know about the Five Kingdoms?” Horror shook his head, and Lust stayed silent. “So you need the crash course then. Oh my, I don’t even know your names.”

“Horror.” Horror said. He pointed to Lust. “Grace.”

“Are those really your names?” Declan asked.

“No.” Lust said honestly, trying to think of a way to explain without confusing the heck out of the old man. Surely he deserved some tidbits about their situation. “Both of our real names are Sans, so we use nicknames."

“Grace and Horror. Suits you I assume.” Declan shifted. “I won’t press you for specifics. This letter mentioned that you would be staying for a short time, but it sounded like you would eventually leave.”

“We don’t have… anywhere… to go.”

“Then we will set up some arrangements for you. All I ask is that you lend a hand in some of the chores around here.” Declan smiled. “I should, however, probably tell you who I am.”

“There’s more?” Lust asked.

“Well yes. Someone like me doesn’t get to being a dusty urchin without a couple of stories.” Declan said. “My story includes that of the Five Kingdoms, though I don’t know everything that happened verbatim. How much do you know about the Five Kingdoms?”

“Nothing. We woke up in a sky castle and met some castle raiders, but we know nothing.” Lust said.

“Well then, welcome to The Five Kingdoms. They sit somewhere between dreaming and reality, life and death.” Declan said. “You are currently on the very edge of the land, on the border of Sambria. The other kingdoms are Elloweer, Creon, Necronum, and Zeropolis. Junction is the city at the center of the kingdoms. That’s where the High Shaper, our king, resides.

“Here, we have what we call shaping. I think it’s a bit like your magic. Shaping is different in all five kingdoms. In Elloweer, they can make illusions; in Creon, they manipulate time and space; in Sambria, we shape physical objects. Shaped objects without consciousness we call renderings, and shaped beings such as our wax guards and some others are called semblances. People who can shape, shapers, generally have the talent in one kingdom, maybe a small talent in a second, but more is rare.

“A long time ago, I was the Grand Shaper of Sambria. Grand Shapers are the best of the best, usually the most powerful shapers of their kingdom. The High King suddenly chose to show his powers – he was apparently proficient in all five – and drove all of the Grand Shapers into exile, except for Paulus, who joined him.

“And so, here I am, Grand Shaper Declan, in all my glory.” Declan finally finished.

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

Declan had finally finished his story. He sat in the silence that ensued. Horror tried to grip his eye socket, but found skin and an eyeball blocking his way. It reminded him that he looked like a human. Eventually Lust spoke.

“You are okay with that? Being exiled?” He asked.

“Well, I’m not ‘okay’ with it, but it’s been so long. And look at me. I am old and frail, and these bones haven’t seen action in decades. If someone is to go forth from my exile, it will be one of my pupils; however, I don’t know which would take my place. Asia is too harsh, her shaping skills too limited. Jamar is too interested in pleasing others. Liam is probably the best at shaping, but I don’t think he will ever learn to focus long enough to handle the position.” Declan shook his head.

“You want us… to know… because?”

“Because if Stafford, the High King, ever finds out about this place, you will know that here is no longer safe. Being in the presence of one of his enemies will make you his enemy.” Declan sighed. “Seeing what you are, though, might make you targets anyway. May I see what your magic can do?”

“Sure.” Lust said. He raised his arm and held his hand flat and palm up. A little attack formed and spun around above his palm. He then waved it away and stepped forward to use magic on the human. By the smell of it, Horror guessed that Lust was using green magic.

Just to be clear, no, magic isn’t supposed to smell. Most monsters that Horror had mentioned it to didn’t believe him. Nightmare did, and he eventually came up with a theory, which was corroborated and expanded upon by Science!Sans (otherwise known as Sci). In his AU, Horror had starved for so long that he lost the ability to use magic, but his senses had become extremely keen because he hunted for his food so much. He had eaten monsters before, so the theory was as follows. His body had adapted to track down monsters by their magic signatures. The ability either manifested as a part of his sense of smell, or smell was what his mangled mind associated with this sixth sense. The theory was sound in of itself, but no one had proved it yet.

“That is incredible!” Declan exclaimed. His grin almost stretched from ear to ear. Lust had definitely used green magic on the man. For the moment, the aches and pains of his old body were soothed. “And breaks about every rule we have for shaping. What you did with that bone was like what we do here in Sambria, but you made it from nothing! And what you just did to me is like changings in Elloweer, but it was so effortless. Only the most skilled in Elloweer can make proper changings.”

“Magic.” Horror agreed.

Declan nodded, and then his smile dropped. “That might make you a target for the High King if he ever finds out about your magic.”

“Would he make us slaves?” Lust asked. “Trust me, we wouldn’t be very good slaves. Sanses like us are generally stubborn. And lazy.”

“Not in the sense that you are thinking. There’s also a story to this. I see that we will be here for another minute.” Declan settled back into his chair. “The High King never showed off his powers in the beginning of his reign. His wife had a thing for the stars, but her shaping wasn’t entirely common. He had five daughters. Each was proficient in one kingdom’s shaping, one for each kingdom. One day, they were in a freak accident where a stage coach fell off the side of a bridge into a river.

“The official word is that they died, but I have reasons to believe they did not. Next thing we knew, the king suddenly began showing off his abilities in all five kingdoms. Word from trusty contacts I have, including the girls’ mother, has me believe that the girls survived and the accident was staged. Instead, I believe that Stafford took the girls’ shaping power. No one is sure how he could have done it since the feat isn’t possible with any of the existing shaping, but that sets a disturbing precedent.

“The reason I tell you this is because I highly doubt he or anyone else with that kind of ability would pass up a chance to acquire your magic.” Declan rubbed his face with a wrinkled hand. Shaping shaping power.

“That is… concerning.” Horror remarked.

“That is horrible.” Lust said.

“Deadly.” Horror grumbled, his mind puzzling through the implications.

“What do you mean?” Lust’s brows furrowed.

“We are made of magic.” Horror huffed. “Take our magic. Take our SOUL. Destroy us. Or kill us.”

“Good point.” Lust frowned. “Stars, that is a good point. Fork us now.”

“Easy.” Horror hummed.

“Now that we have gotten the most depressing points out of the way, I believe it is time we find you some rooms.” Declan clasped his hands in a friendly way. “Unless you plan on braving the outside world, I assume that we can expect you to remain here for a while.”

Lust nodded. The door to the hall swung open once more. Jamar stood in the entrance way.

“Could you see them to their rooms?” Declan asked. Horror stared at the two humans imploringly. They still had his axe!

“I will have their things returned as well.” Jamar said, noticing Horror’s look.

“Ah! I knew I was forgetting something.” Declan exclaimed. He was energetic when he wanted to be. He had stood up from his chair and dusted off his hands. "Make sure their stuff is returned to them."

"Absolutely." Jamar agreed. They exited the stone chamber.

***

His room was completely edible. Jamar had led the skeletons into a corridor where they kept some guest rooms. He showed Lust a room where everything was a part of a gigantic tree. He then showed Horror his room.

Jamar offhandedly made a comment that everything in the room was edible. Lust had snickered, and then offered his room to Horror for when he finished his.

Horror lost track of time as he stared at the room, trying to figure out how it could be food.

“You’re putting yourself in a food coma just looking at it.” Lust finally reappeared. “They gave me our stuff. I put it in my room.” When that didn’t elicit a response, Lust grabbed Horror’s arms. “Come on.” He dragged Horror across the hall to his own room.

They sorted out their stuff between each other. It turned out that the humans had taken Horror’s jacket in order to fix it. He decided that would let it happen, but he would ask for it back if they took too long.

The two slipped their rings on their fingers, reverting to their skeleton forms. A mischievous grin worked its way onto Lust’s skull. He lightly wacked Horror with a towel he had swiped from the bathroom attached to the room. Horror growled playfully and started wrestling with Lust. The smaller skeleton slipped out of his grip, playfully flirting with him.

He chased Lust around the room, knocking branches and leaves everywhere as they scrambled up and down the tree’s branches. He managed to grab Lust by bowling him over and falling off the tree, but Lust escaped again. They continued in this rhythm. The match wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did if it weren’t for Lust’s running suggestive commentary, which Lust giggled through the entire time.
Soon enough, they were both yawning. However short the day was; a trip through the Void, being tossed around in a vortex, and leading a high security conference with an old man in a new world was tiring.

They piled into Lust’s bed, and slept off the day’s events. Little did they know, they missed the supper meal.

Chapter Text

The next day bloomed bright and clear. For being surrounded by a cloudwall, the little hideaway called Cloudvale had surprisingly clear skies. Horror woke after being lifted by blue magic and unceremoniously dumped on the floor.

“C’mon darling! Breakfast time.” Lust was apparently a morning person. Horror wondered why he never noticed before. The mention of food, however, had him up a little quicker.

They found fresh clothes stacked just outside the door. Horror had no problems wearing the same clothes day after day, but Lust argued that they should try to make their special clothes last by not wearing them when they weren’t needed. Horror eventually agreed. He kept his ring and his scarf on him, but he put away everything else that he had taken from the sky castle. Lust did likewise, keeping his ring and his bracelets, but putting away everything else.
The day passed without comment. A storm blew in as night fell. The skeletons explored the grounds, which were quite a bit bigger than Horror had thought they would be. They met many semblances, including a rather charismatic stuffed pig. Her name was Lola.

Supper rolled around, and Horror could help but drool at the assortment of food they had brought out. Perfectly cooked chicken, piles of steaming green beans, you name it. He hardly paid attention to the talk around the table as he ate, but he did notice when one of the men left. He looked at Lust to his left.

“Something interesting is coming through the Cloudwall. Liam went to catch it.” Lust said. Horror nodded and turned his attention back to his food.

* * *

The next morning, they met the new arrival. A semblance named Lyrus had fallen through the Cloudwall in his sky castle like every other sky-castle semblance. The people of Cloudvale had taken an interest in him because he was more self aware than most semblances. While Lust was talking to the new semblance, Lyrus mentioned a human named Cole. A description of the human confirmed that it was the same human that scouted Lust and Horror's castle. It turned out that the white shawl that the human had been wearing had a use after all. When put on a semblance, the shawl would do two things: put the semblance under the human's control, and reveal to the semblance the truth of its situation.

"I knew that shawl could do something." Lust commented to Horror after they left the semblance. Liam had come to give Lyrus, who was being promoted to head of the guard, his instructions.

"Why care?" Horror asked. "We're not… semblances. Won't work."

"Maybe not, but that is a useful tool. And you felt the… shaping… on that piece of cloth. It's powerful."

"Maybe… it will be useful… later." Horror was happier to put it out of his mind. Lust shook his head. Horror soon found a garden, which was filled with many different and foreign kinds of fruits and whatnot. He spent hours picking through the plants and mentally cataloging what he found. He wouldn't be able to remember anything off the top of his head, but now he would recognize these plants if he ever found them again.

* * *

"Hey!"

Horror’s head swiveled a full 180 to see who had called. Liam froze under his red-eyed gaze. "… Hey?"

"Um…" Liam started to hesitate. "I was going to ask if… you wanted to see something… um. I can see you are busy."

"What do you need?" Horror asked.

"Something is coming through the Cloudwall." Liam began.

"Again?"

“Yeah. They are humans this time. Do you want to help?”

“Hm…” Horror considered it. “Sure.” He finally turned his head the right way, and followed Liam to the edge of the land.

“These are the renderings we used to catch you.” Liam said as he patted the bug-like machines to life. They started buzzing as they floated around the man. Horror watched as the man directed them into the fog that defined the edge of the cliff. “Asia will be here in a second to take over. I have something I need to do first.” He took off on that weird floating disk of his, which Horror had not noticed before now.

Horror shrugged and sat on the grass. He focused on the constructs. He could feel them… in a way… but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He couldn’t use much magic, so he couldn’t try anything on them. He didn’t want to anyway, not when it was Liam’s hard work. He didn’t want to ruin it.

Asia ran the whole way apparently. She was puffing heavily, but she didn't slow down when she arrived. "Seriously Liam!" She shouted, staring at the cloud bank. "You hide them in there every single time! Unless you are sleeping. Then you're not doing anything at all!" This lady reminded Horror of Undyne from back when she was decent. "I don't have time to search."

"I can help." Horror said. She froze and looked at him. She shrugged. He took that as permission. He lifted a hand and engaged his magic. As stated before, he couldn’t use much of it. Frankly, couldn’t use it at all outside of his own body. But he could feel these things, and he was wondering if they would respond if he directed them like he would a Gaster Blaster long, long ago. Attempting to latch onto one of the machines, something pushed against him, but he felt it when it started to give. He slowly maneuvered it out of the cloud bank.

“Oh, thank you.” Asia said. She had an odd expression. “I only need the one to get the rest.” She focused on the construct. Horror could sense what she was doing. (He could almost smell it too.)

The other renderings flew out of the cloud bank and hovered in formation around Asia. Then she gestured, and they all flew into the fog. Horror was disappointed when he realized he wouldn’t see the action.

He turned to ask her a question, but she shushed him. “I have to concentrate. They are in the vortex proper now.” A little bead of sweat appeared on her forehead. “Got ‘em.” She relaxed. She then stepped back from the edge of the cliff.

She looked over her shoulder past Horror, who looked where she was looking. Behind him were those giants that had surrounded him and Lust when they had been rescued from the Cloudwall. They were noisy, but they didn’t make as much noise as they should have for things that size. They formed a circle around Asia.

Horror noticed that he could hear the bug machines over the faint song of the vortex. He looked and saw several bugs exiting the mist. Those flew back towards the castle. A moment later, four bugs appeared with a figure in each of their nets. Those must have been the last of the swarm. They flew to the center of the ring of stone giants. Horror checked that his ring was still on his finger, which it was, and grabbed his axe. He mosied over to the ring; Asia was beginning her interrogation. He leaned on his axe and realized he had already missed the first few lines.

“You,” pointing aggressively at one of the boys, she shifted her attention away from another, “are not as you appear.”

“I’m not.” The boy said. He was a bit skittish. “I am from Elloweer.”

“How did you revert to your true form?” Asia had a knack for being intimidating, but it was underscored by her non-malicious intent. She was on the defense, not the offense.

“I have a ring.” The skittish boy admitted.

“Another one?” Asia said to herself. She frowned, but she moved on to the third boy, who was more fierce than the others. Horror zoned out for a minute, examining the group as a whole. They were all kids, eleven or twelve give or take. There were three boys and a single girl. He studied the girl. She was older than she looked, but she also wasn’t. She had some unusual shaping attached to her. Assuming the kids stayed here, he would have to ask Lust to help him check it out because the shaping seemed nasty. Asia finished with the fierce boy, and glanced at Horror. She noticed his expression. She gave a barely perceptible nod before interrogating the girl. He looked over the boys again, and noticed the first glancing between him and the girl. He locked eyes with the first boy for a second and realized that he had met the boy before. This was the scout that had landed in Horror’s sky castle.

Horror’s musing was cut off as something bright flashed around Asia’s throat. It was a kind of golden rope, which had one end wrapped around Asia’s throat and the other end held by the fierce boy. Liam appeared in the ring of giants as Horror flipped his axe into a battle-ready position.

Chapter Text

---------- Nightmare----------

Nightmare crashed into the ground in a very goopy mess. He took a long second to regain awareness of his surroundings. How he got here… wasn’t pleasant. He had fought an overprotective Stretch, Underswap!Papyrus, on the Outertale cliff where they had just lost Horror and Lust. Nightmare managed to get his gang out of the universe and safe in the mansion, but he himself was cornered on the edge of the cliff. The rock had crumbled underneath his feet, and he fell into the darkness below, the Void. The goopy monster shuddered. He couldn’t remember much after passing beyond sight of the cliff’s edge, mostly darkness.

“What happened?”

“We fell, Little Prince.” Nightmare answered the ghostly being. The ghost was the skeleton that was Dream’s brother. The ghost was called Nightmare back then. The goopy skeleton was not the same person as the little skeleton. The ghost ate the black apples and released the parasite inside them, the pure negativity forming its own consciousness as it took over its host’s body. The little skeleton Nightmare, Little Prince, was no more, and a goopy monstrosity that called itself Nightmare had taken his place.

“Please call me Moon. I thought we talked about this.” The little spirit, after awakening from unconsciousness that he had fallen into after the apple incident, had not been happy to find the goopy Nightmare using his name. When the spirit had figured out how to speak to the goopy monster, he had negotiated on what names to use. They eventually settled on calling the spirit Moon, and the spirit insisted on calling the goopy skeleton Eclipse. When speaking to others, they kept the name Nightmare for convenience.

“Sorry Moon.” Nightmare grimaced and reformed his shape. Their surroundings were quite dismal. It seemed they were in a rundown alleyway, but there was no sky. He wondered what kind of Underground they had fallen into.

“Where are we? I don’t recognize this place, Eclipse.” Moon glanced around. Normally, his form was pale against the background, but here it was so dark that his form was rather bright.

“Maybe it’s a steampunk AU we haven’t seen yet.” Nightmare said.

“And everyone is dead? I can’t feel anyone around here.”

“I can feel some emotions a little bit that way,” Nightmare pointed in a certain direction, “but it's mostly fear. Fear like that… there’s something wrong here. Genocide? It doesn’t feel like that. We need to keep an eye out.”

“That’s not comforting.”

“Was it supposed to be?”

“Not helping. Should we find them? If there’s fear like you describe, then they are probably in serious danger.”

“Are you asking me to help them? Are you nuts? I, the king of negativity, help others? They will probably betray us to the Star Sanses when they see us. If there’s danger, it’s just a part of their everyday life.”

“Don’t play that card with me, Eclipse. I’ve seen plenty of evidence that you have goodness in your soul.”

“Mmhm. What soul?”

“My soul. Anywho, we fell into the Void, so we could be forgotten like the Gasters. For the record, they would freak out anyways if they saw you, but I would be some random cute little punching bag.”

“I’d rather keep you safe and walk into the trap myself.”

“So you do care.”

“Self preservation. Shut it.”

“You’re going then?”

“If it makes you shut up.” Nightmare had begun to move toward the signatures he could feel.

The alleyways were long and twisting and dark. Lit, neon orange signs sometimes flickered on as they passed. At some point, Moon spotted cameras.

The cameras followed Nightmare’s movements through the alleyways. He could vaguely sense a presence behind the lens, but he could not pinpoint it. He looked between the camera and the signs that flickered on and off. It was trying to lead him somewhere.

“Should we follow that or go towards the signatures?” Eclipse asked.

“Maybe we should follow whoever that is. We might get answers sooner. Besides, they might be in trouble.”

“Everyone might be in trouble here. What’s your point?” Eclipse shot back. Moon deadpanned. “Fine. He might be closer than the other signatures.”

“How do we know it’s a ‘he’?”

“It’s a general term, Moony. I don’t actually care.” Nightmare shuffled up the next alleyway. Little orange creatures began to notice his presence. They would make little chirping sounds and scuttle away. Eclipse figured that they weren’t important if they weren’t bothering him. Moon tried to follow them, but he couldn’t go too far away from Nightmare.

Nightmare squeezed through yet another tight space and froze. In the next alleyway, dozens of the little creatures looked up at him. They didn’t flee this time. Moon was still poking around the alleyway behind him.

“Moon…” The sound was the breaking point. The little rodent-looking things jumped to life, barreling towards him. “Moon!” The little ghost’s attention was finally caught.

Nightmare jumped over the offending scavengers. Some tried to jump and catch him, but none stuck. He rounded the next corner and was met with scores more of them.

“That way is clearer!” Moon shouted, pointing left. It was a little bypass between two alleyways that wasn’t much bigger than Nightmare in his current form. He didn’t have much of a choice.

He slipped into the opening as smoothly as he could. He used two of his tendrils to protect him on his left, and the other two on his right. One of the things managed to latch onto one of his tendrils. He promptly smashed it on the ground, but not before it began consuming some of his liquid negativity.

Mild panic floated in Nightmare's non-existent stomach. He fought down before it could take hold. He pushed every emotion down underneath a layer of ice. Now his focus was lightning sharp, assessing everything that moved. Moon did not have as much control, but he managed.
Nightmare flinched as a little orange blur streaked past his foot. He automatically tried to stab it.

“Don’t!” Moon shouted. “That’s a cat!”

“So what?” Eclipse snapped.

“It’s still alive!” Moon snapped. “Follow it.”

Nightmare skidded to a halt, staring after where the cat had gone. He glanced at the hordes of little creatures closing in on him. He made his decision.

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

Lust sat on a balcony in the castle. The human “visitors” were marched past his spot through the room below, so he was able to get a good read. Sanses weren’t referred to as judges for no reason. The girl had secrets, potentially deadly secrets, but she herself wasn’t overtly dangerous. One of the boys was patient but skittish. He was the kind to assess situations to avoid conflict. A second boy was feisty; he was a fighter and unlikely to back down. The third boy was a face Lust had seen before now.

“You recognize… him?” Horror asked, settling on the railing beside Lust.

“He was that scout from the castle raiders that we met.” Lust idly flicked an unsuspecting bug off of the rail. “Cole was his name, I think.” Horror grunted. “A little bird told me that you almost got us head dogs for dinner.” Lust grinned at the skeleton. Horror just grunted again. “You’re not upset about that are you?”

“No.” Horror was a fan of grunting tonight.

“Care to tell me what really happened?”

“Feisty grabbed Asia. I wanted… to protect her. Liam stopped it. Did something… to the rope. Decided… to bring them to… Declan.” Horror grumbled. Lust realized he was thinking.

“There’s something else?” Lust asked.

“The girl… some magic… hurts her. I think. It is…” he was searching for a word, “gross.”

“Gross?” Lust asked with curiosity. Horror was likely referring to how he senses magic like he does smell.

“It’s… sticky and slimy… rotten.” Horror stared pensively some more. “But it’s old… dry. It cracks.”

That was surprisingly vague and specific. Usually Horror had a more dry-bones attitude about things.

“So it's bad?” Lust asked. Horror nodded. “Think we can get Declan to let us check her over?”

Horror shrugged. “See what happens first.”

“Let’s keep our monster looks for now. If the scout is good, maybe we can reveal ourselves to him, but until then, I don’t want to risk it.” Lust reasoned. Horror agreed.

They sat on the balcony, quietly enjoying each other’s presence while lost in thought. The kids were eventually led out of the hall and presumably to their rooms for the night. Declan slowly hobbled after them. Then he started when he noticed the two skeleton onlookers. Lust grabbed Horror and shortcutted behind a pillar near the man. They caught his attention as they got closer.

“I told you the story of the High King’s shaping powers, did I not?” Declan slowly pivoted to face them.

“You did.” Horror acknowledged.

“She was one of them?” Lust asked, connecting the dots. Declan nodded gravely. “Horror described some kind of grossness attached to her. Is that whatever took her power? Can we try to fix it?”

“I suspect that may be.” Declan shook his head. “You can’t fix it. Don’t talk about the details here. Someone could be listening.”

“There’s more?” Horror asked. Lust hummed.

“There’s a thing running amuck in the countryside.” Declan stated.

Lust pointed in the direction of the kids. Declan nodded. Lust did some math. “I thought you said the accident happened decades ago.”

“Time can be funny. The thing is called Carnag.” Declan began to walk towards the exit. “The kids will probably leave in the morning. We are making things for them.”

The skeletons waited until he was gone.

“Follow them?” Horror asked.

“I think so. He hinted pretty strongly for us to follow them.” Lust agreed.

“But not… go with them.” Horror traced the hole in his head.

“They don’t know us. They won’t trust us. Especially her.” Lust tapped his chin.

“The scout… knows us.” Horror shuffled his feet. “Declan. . . can vouch for us.”

“But he thinks we are semblances. We met him looking like humans in the castle, and we obviously aren’t humans when we look like this. Semblances from the castles can’t leave the Brink, remember?” Lust walked, letting Horror fall in behind him. “And Declan. . . I suppose he could, but he didn’t seem to want to? We could ask him.”

“We can follow… them.” Horror’s eye shifted as they passed the entrance to the castle.

“That is a great idea.” Lust thought it through. “We stay out of sight, but we also keep an eye on them. It’ll be like the Underground.”

“Sleep?” Horror asked.

“First we leave them a present.” Lust said. “Then we can be lazy.”

“Can’t be lazy… on the run.” Horror pointed out helpfully.

“Yep.” Lust popped the ‘p’.

* * *

The morning dawned bright and early, and so did Lust. He realized this, and promptly tried to turn over and fall back asleep. Unfortunately his movement woke up Horror. Lust quickly rose and flopped onto Horror’s chest so he couldn’t get out of bed.

“C’mon Lust.” Horror grumbled. “Up.”

“Too early.” Lust countered. Horror snorted.

“You are… gutsy.” Horror poked Lust’s skull.

“How can I be, when I have no…”

“Guts. I know.” Horror interrupted the other. He wrapped Lust in a bear hug and rolled on top of him.

"Look who's gutsy now." Lust puffed.

"Still no guts." Horror grinned.

"Do you smell that?" Lust asked. Horror paused and nodded. "Let's get a good look at the humans before they leave."

"Do semblances eat?" Horror wondered.

"I don't think so." Lust frowned. "The kids probably aren't up yet though."

"Eat now, see them later." Horror concluded.

"Wonderful idea, my beaut." Lust wriggled out from under the bear hug. "Let's go."

The residents of Cloudvale must have realized that the skeletons couldn't keep the appearance of semblances if they ate in front of the kids. Neither monster had told anyone that was what they were doing, but the denizens figured it out. A large sample of foods were arranged in an out-of-the-way crook of the kitchen specifically for them. The dishes ranged from fairly domestic to fantastically exotic.

They ate their fill, watching the clamor of the kitchen. Lust aligned his fork with the nearest wall and brought his fist down on the pronged end. The fork flipped in a generous arc, but it only bounced off the wall. Horror snorted at Lust’s failed attempt.
"Do it, if you think you are so much better." Lust retorted.

Horror grinned and set his fork in the place Lust had set his. Horror hit it with enough force to make it fly straight and true at the wall. It struck a few feet higher than Lust’s, but it too bounced off the wall.

Horror groaned. "Again." Was all he said.

Their game continued until Horror embedded his fork in the wall. He threw up his hands in triumph. Lust grinned and quickly flipped his fork at that spot after Horror had removed his fork. It stuck. Horror snatched it from the wall before Lust could move.

“That looks like fun.” Asia was leaning against the wall at the entrance of their alcove. The skeletons gave her their attention. “We set up a spot for you to observe the kids. We have gifts prepared for them, and we want you to know what they have.”

“Are we supposed to introduce ourselves to them?” Lust asked.

“No.” Asia said. “Declan specifically told me not to let that happen.”

Horror and Lust exchanged glances. They seemed to understand each other’s unspoken thoughts.

“We have something for them too.” Lust said, digging into the pockets of his capris. The monsters had donned their special clothes in preparation for the traveling they were expecting. He pulled out several bones.

“What is it?” Asia asked.

“Signals.” Horror answered.

“We made these, so we can track them. They also work for distress signals. Tell the humans to break them if they are in real trouble. We will answer that call.” Lust explained a little nervously.

“That may be useful. I will hand these to Declan and tell him what you told me.” Asia consented.

Lust nodded. “And there’s two bones each, one from me and one from him.” Lust pointed out each bone in turn. His were smoother and softer, and Horror’s were rough and brittle.

Asia nodded again but didn’t speak. She pocketed the bones and gestured for them to follow her. She led them to a section of fake wall where they could see into the dining area. She pressed her finger to her lips. The wall was not soundproof.

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

The table was being cleared of food. The meal must have just ended. Declan stood, supporting himself against the table. “I take it you have decided how to proceed,” he said to the girl.

“We are going to leave,” the girl said. “I’m going after my powers. The others can join me or go their own way as they choose.”

Grown up decision. Lust noted.

“Very well,” Declan said. “I expected as much. It’s really the only option, given the circumstances. I won’t send you away without aid. Most of the semblances and renderings we create here would only function in close proximity to the Brink. The atmosphere near the Cloudwalls is much more generous for shaping than elsewhere in Sambria. Nevertheless, I have instructed each of my apprentices to provide an item to help you on your way. The gifts will function anywhere in Sambria. They all belong to Mira. Those who accompany her will benefit from them as well. Asia! Liam!”

The two enter the room with Lyrus following Asia. Asia’s gift was a set of balls and chains that responded to Mira’s, the girl’s, command. It could attack and return and threaten and even capture, though Asia warned against capturing anything delicate.

Jamar presented a bag that held twenty thousand cubic meters of fog. Lust couldn’t help but let out a whispered breath of appreciation for the sheer amount that was contained in the little item.

Liam’s gift was kinda pretty. He whistled and a white-and-gray cockatiel semblance alighted on his shoulder. It spoke and introduced itself to the kids. Its name was Mango. She, Mango, was dedicated to the whole group in the case that Mira was indisposed, but she would stay with Mira should the whole group split. The bird was meant as a lookout for the kids.

Declan changed the tattoo on the kids’ arms. Lust heard a conversation about a ‘freemark’. He made a mental note to ask later.

The humans left the dining hall. Jamar fell behind and met the skeletons. The trio stepped outside behind the main group. In front of the castle was a stately carriage of sorts. Jamar split and rejoined the other humans, and the skeletons continued their course off to the side of the carriage. Lust noticed that the horses were not horses but actually bricks with legs.

“An autocoach.” Feisty said.

“For us?” Mira said.

“For you,” Declan said. “I could have modified it to move faster. I could have made it more elaborate. But I thought it wiser to make it as typical as possible.”

“Won’t it raise suspicions to see four kids with their own autocoach?” the twitchy boy asked. “Freemarks or no.”

“Astute,” Declan said, “wearing nice clothes will help, which is why we updated your wardrobes. The last part of my gift also tried to address that problem. Bertram?”

A door on the autocoach opened, and an old man with a close-cropped white beard leaned out. He was dressed in a slightly shabby, old fashioned suit. “How’s that? My business?” He absently patted his pockets. He spouted off some lines about grandnephews and the countryside and then disappeared back into the autocoach. Lust realized it must be a semblance.

The skeletons were gaining distance from the coach. The voices were becoming harder to hear. Lust listened as best as he could. The semblance wouldn’t leave the coach and was not a source for “profound conversations,” but he knew directions and responded to Mira. Feisty got his rope back. Their gear as well as other provisions were stored in the autocoach already. The autocoach’s speed was close to a horse trot, but it could keep that speed indefinitely. Lust did calculations in his head to see how he and Horror would keep up with that.

The skeletons were no longer within earshot of the group. “What do you think, Horror?”

“I think?”

“Would you let that go?” Lust grinned. “Seriously though.”

“We’ve done a lot… of thinking.” Horror grumbled. “Let’s just do it.”

“Yeah. I like that. It’s not like we can stay here if that High King is what he’s cracked up to be.” Lust frowned. “I don’t do this often.”

Horror said nothing, but he lifted a non-existent eyebrow.

“I don’t do adventures often. The Underground is always the same, so I never have to worry about surprises.”

“Enjoy it.” Horror shrugged. “The pattern gets boring.”

“That it does.” Lust shrugged. Liam was zooming over the grounds on his disk. The skeletons were well away from the autocoach now, but Lust could see the kids boarding it.

Liam hovered next to the pair. “Are you ready?”

“As we’ll ever be.” Lust sighed. He pointed to some coaches that were following the first. “What are those for?”

“Declan had some extras.” Liam noted. “They will act as decoys.”

“All or nothing, huh?” Lust smiled, but it could almost be called a grimace.

“We know our time on this land is limited.” Liam cast a glance back at the castle. “The king knows that something exists here now. He won’t give up.”

“Good luck.” Horror offered.

Liam genuinely smiled. “You too, you know? You will be going through some dangerous areas. Reminds me, I came to tell you about that.
“You will be following the kids. They will pass through a forest before they reach Sambria proper. The first portion of the forest is the Boomerang Forest. It’s unremarkable going out, but if you were to come back, the forest will turn you around every time. There’s nothing deadly there.
“The other half of the woods are much more dangerous. It’s called the Quiet Woods. You will know when you are in the Quiet Wood when the trunks of the trees are bigger than the autocoaches and bigger than houses.”

“Dang.” Lust let out a whistle of appreciation. “What’s dangerous about it?”

“The Quiet Woods are named that for a reason. If anyone utters a noise, the things there will attack and destroy the person. You can snap branches for hit things and probably survive, but the semblances are definitely attracted to living voices. The semblances will try to make you speak by asking things like ‘What’s 2 + 2’. Don’t answer them for any reason. Don’t speak after the trees get big and not until they get small again. Then you are out.”

“Scary.” Horror grumbled. “What about beyond?”

“Oh, there’s plenty of dangerous places beyond the woods, many of them more so. Unfortunately, it will take weeks to list them all, and we don’t have that kind of time.” Liam gestured at Mango. The bird lit on his shoulder. “Bertram should keep the coach on a relatively safe path, but if they take a detour into a dangerous area, Mango will inform you. She will report to you as well as the kids and I, but the kids don’t know that.”

“Is that right, Mango?” Lust asked the bird.

“Of course, Grace.” The bird chirped. “I will tell you what you need to know, when you need to know. You can trust me.”

“She will report… to you too.” Horror pointed out.

“But I won’t be following. Not for a little bit.” Liam wistfully threw Mango in the air. “I would like to, but there’s some things I have to do first.”
Horror nodded in understanding. The coaches were reaching the tree line.

“I need to talk to them before they are gone.” Liam said, chipper all of a sudden. “One more thing before I go.” He had the skeletons revert to the human forms. Liam waved a hand over their forearms, and a tattoo appeared on the disguised skeletons’ wrists. “These are freemarks. They tell people that you are free. If you didn’t have a mark, anyone could take you and give you a slavemark, making you a slave.” Liam smiled, and then he zipped toward the coaches on his disk without any more comments.

The skeletons reverted to their monster forms as the journey began.

Chapter Text

---------- Killer ----------

Nothing was right. Horror was gone. Nightmare wasn’t going to return. Error wasn’t answering. They were trapped.

Dust, cowering in a corner, clutched his hood over his skull and muttered to his phantom.

Killer, sitting cross-legged on the bed, stared at nothing.

Cross had disappeared, presumably to his room. Or one of the rooms of the missing. Who knew?

Time passed. Nothing changed. Killer didn’t pay much attention.

Then something did happen. Reaper walked in.

On a good day, Reaper was fun. On a bad day, he was depressing. Today seemed to be a bad day for him.

“How’z it goin?” Reaper slurred. A Sans slurring his speech was to be expected within reason, but there is a fine line between normal slurring and excessive slurring. Killer tuned out the normal slurring because it was a native accent to him at this point. Most Sanses didn’t notice slurring when it was within normal parameters. Right now, Reaper was off the charts.

“Drinking?” Killer bluntly asked. Dust, in his corner, had not noticed the visitor.

“Not yet.” Reaper sighed. “Just tired.”

“Where’s yer coffee?” Killer asked pointedly.

“Where’s Nightmare?” Reaper asked instead of answering.

“Why ya wanna know?” Killer smiled nastily. There had been plenty of black tears before the god of death walked in, but now what was a trickle had become a flood.

“I need his help.” Reaper snapped. “Geno’s missing!”

“Add him to the list.” Killer snarled.

Reaper stopped, completely taken aback. “List?”

“Yeah. Error, Horror, Nightmare. Lust too, I guess, but no one’s going to care about that guy. Oh, and I heard that that Ink bench went too.” Killer counted off, his smile stretching thin.

“What- Where?!-” Reaper spluttered.

“Void. All of them. Apparently the Swap Papyrus heard that Error fell into the Void. Took Ink with him. Boss didn’t know. He sent us looking for Error.” Killer let his grin drop, all emotion draining away as he recounted. “The Swap Papyrus found Cross in Outertale.”

“Stretch?” Reaper clarified.

“Mmhm.” Killer confirmed.

Reaper closed his eyes. “That one’s the worst of them all. Other swaps are overprotective, but Stretch is mental.”

“Mmhmm.” Killer sighed. “Obviously, there was a fight. Outer was with Stretch when he found Cross. Lust joined at some point. The gang joined. A few people fell into the Void. Horror and Lust threw them back up, but those two fell into the Void. Never seen again. Stretch fought us again. Nightmare sent us away.”

Reaper stayed silent for a moment.

“He should have come back.” Killer said. True desperation seeped into his words.

“I’ll be back.” Reaper said. He faded from sight.

Killer let his tears fall. True tears. Tears of pain. Tears of grief. The night had set in by the time the real tears ran dry. The black liquid had quit falling while he truly cried, but it began again when he was done. He wiped his face with a towel that he carried around with him. It was something Nightmare had him do because the black tears stained every type of cloth. He felt like he would cry again, but he couldn’t.

Killer stood up. Nightmare wouldn’t want them moping like that. Dust had fallen asleep at some point. Killer decided to wake Dust up in the most sure way he knew how. Killer grabbed Dust’s arm and, when that didn’t work, yanked him halfway around in a circle. Dust woke up silently, bones spraying in a generous arc. Killer quickly let go and dodged what he could. He had to summon a knife to parry a couple of bones, but he was hit in the shoulder before he could react.

Dust fell to the floor with a soft clatter. “What’s going on!?”

“We’re doing something.” Killer said.

“Nightmare’s back?” Dust asked hopefully.

“No, but it doesn't matter.” Killer said. “Right now, he would want us to be doing something useful.” He pulled the bone out of his shoulder.

“Should I apologize?” Dust asked tentatively.

“Nah. I knew it was coming.” Killer smiled. “We need to find Cross.”

“Nightmare's room.” Dust said. Killer gave him a look. “It's only logical.”

“Why not Horror’s room?” Killer asked.

“Horror’s definitely gone.” Dust reasoned. “Nightmare is only maybe gone. And Cross was closer to the boss than he was to Horror. Ergo, he’s waiting in Nightmare’s room.”

Killer sneered at his teammate, but he followed directions regardless. Cross was in Nightmare's room. He was standing at the exact center of the room.

“Cross!” Killer mimicked the way Nightmare would yell. Cross whirled around. “Come on. We're doing something.”

“What are we doing?” Cross asked.

“Something.” Killer answered as if it answered everything. He led them down to one of the mansion’s kitchens. The castle-themed mansion was massive. There were more rooms than Nightmare’s motley crew could ever use, so they mostly stuck to the rooms closest to their bedrooms. To them, this was the kitchen.

“Why are we here?” Dust asked.

“Well I’m hungry, and we lost our best cook. So, we have to make food for ourselves.” Killer boosted himself to sit on the counter. “This is a better way than moping around to wait.”

“Wait for what?” Cross deadpanned. “We know that Nightmare’s not coming back. He would’ve already if he was.”

“So we need to take the initiative.” Dust realized.

“Reaper visited while you guys were out.” Killer revealed.

“WHAT.” Dust and Cross said simultaneously. They glared at Killer.

“I talked to him.” Killer pulled out his knife. “He was here for help finding his Geno.”

“And he left?” Cross asked, opening the fridge.

“Yeah. He can’t touch us, so I think he went to find someone to help us around the AUs.” Killer found a block of wood he had stashed behind some bowls. He started taking mental measurements of how he would need to whittle it.

“Why help us?” Dust was fiddling with the knobs on the stove.

“He needs help. We need help. Why not help us, so we can help him?” Killer noticed a distinct light in the corner of the kitchen. “Shh.”

The light resolved itself into a wobbly portal. The portal looked like a thick but soft liquid mixture, its color a soft hue of blue. The color probably had some fancy name. Hell if Killer knew.

Dust and Cross had backed off so they weren’t in the line of sight from the portal. Killer was already off to the side, but he readied himself just in case the newcomer wasn’t totally friendly.

First to step through was Reaper. He had his wings out, and he seemed to exude satisfaction with himself. He kicked off the floor and floated away from the portal.

Next to step through was a guy that Killer didn’t really know. The figure was an extremely tall skeleton with all seven souls: six wings for the six fallen humans, the red soul dead center in his ribcage, and a floating half Gaster Blaster skull with dark red eyelights. He also had a sizable tail that ended in a wicked blade. Whatever this guy might be doing, Killer decided that he liked the prospect. The guy glanced at each of the Bad Sanses. He didn’t seem happy, but he glanced at the god of death and stayed silent.

“Meet Seraphim.” Reaper introduced. “He has enough power to open portals, but he isn’t able to quite yet.”

The next people to walk through came as a group. First among them was a robot sans. Killer’s smile dropped. He really hoped this wasn’t a Mettaton personality. One of the two sanses behind the machine were a little more promising. The taller one had green eyes and a tail. There was a feral quality about him. The little sans that clung to the tall one looked downright wimpy. He was short, and everything about him was soft. He looked at the Bad Sanses with wide eyes. The feral one’s tail whipped around him in agitation.

“These are the companions of the one who opened the portal.” Reaper smiled from his spot on the ceiling. The robot turned on him with a scowl. “The metal sans is Mecha. The tall, green-eyed sans is Kin, and his little buddy is Beats.”

One last figure stepped through the portal as it closed. He froze.

“And last, but not least, I give you, Abyss.” Reaper said. “These are the guys from Old Abysstale, so I thought they’d be happy to help now that their creator has moved onto New Abysstale.”

Burning with fury, Abyss’ eyes locked onto Killer’s empty sockets.

“Small problem.” Killer said. “This Abyss doesn’t like us. And I don't blame him.”

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

Horror glanced at the trees. The coach was a decent distance ahead of the skeletons. He could catch glimpses of it every now and then, but that was becoming scarce because the path was starting to twist and snake. He hefted his axe.

“Calm Horror.” Lust whispered. Horror metaphorically jumped out of his skin. “We aren’t in the bad parts yet.”

Horror glanced at his shorter companion. Despite his words, Lust was still moving carefully. He grunted his agreement. The trees were still normal sized trees thankfully, but he thought they were growing in size. He tried to listen closer. He caught some noise that was coming from the coach. “They are fighting.”

“Oh– wait, physically?” Lust looked worried. He probably was worried.

“No. Just talk.” Horror grunted. Lust let out an audible sigh of relief. They continued their leisurely pace. The coach didn’t go that fast, as Declan had promised, and their being skeleton monsters certainly helped with endurance.

The trees were definitely getting bigger. The kids were still fighting.

Horror began to worry. If the humans alerted the creatures of the Quiet Wood, would the murderous beings target the skeletons as well or would they only target the one that spoke?

Horror noticed a change in the tone of the argument. It ended quickly, and he could hear no more voices. He nudged Lust. “They stopped.”

They rounded the corner and the path abruptly straightened out. Horror froze at the edge of this straight path. He scanned the area and spotted a tree bigger than a truck. Lust opened his mouth to speak, and Horror twisted and slapped his free hand over Lust’s teeth. He pointed with his axe in the direction of the supermassive tree. He knew when Lust spotted it when Lust’s eyes widened.

Lust nodded. Horror could see his fear. Fear was reasonable. Lust wasn’t letting his fear control him. Horror smiled.

They hid behind a tree at the beginning of the path. The autocoach was a ways ahead of them, but on a straight path, they would be in plain sight for a while. The coach eventually turned again. The skeletons sprinted as quietly as they could to catch up the lost ground. The road ahead grew moderately twisty again; the skeletons were able to tail the autocoach fairly closely. The trees only got bigger from there. Some trees appeared wider than Horror’s house in Snowdin. He could probably comfortably lie in the grooves of the tree bark. Despite the calm, he didn’t think he could sleep. He could sleep anywhere, rain or shine, but the silence here was oppressive. Something about this place set him on edge on an instinctual level.

Minutes passed. The trees formed a roof-like canopy, marbling the forest floor and patterns of shadow. It felt like an eternal, green-tinted twilight.

“Hello?” A distant voice called.

Horror sucked in a breath and swung his weapon to bear. Lust grabbed Horror’s arm. Horror glanced at him. Lust mimed pulling up his hood. Horror understood and pulled up his veil. Lust grinned and pulled up his hood; he vanished. Horror was impressed. There were little muted noises from Lust’s footfalls, his scent was dampened, and he was completely invisible.

“Hello?” the disembodied voice repeated. “Anyone?” It was closer this time. Horror suppressed a growl. “Please! Help! Somebody!” It was headed away now. This forest just put itself in one of the top spots for the most unsettling places Horror has ever seen.

“Hello?” Called a new person from the other side of the forest. It was a woman. “Anthony? Where are you? Say something!” The voice paused.

There was a burst of chatter from the coach. Horror was… well… horrified, but nothing responded to the sound.

“Is someone there?” She called again. “Please! I’ve lost the road! Please answer me!” For added effect, her voice was dripping with despair in the last sentence.

The person in the coach kept chattering with the forest creature. Horror realized that it must be the semblance.

“Please! Help me! Someone! Anyone!” The voice tried again. Horror flinched. Knowing it wasn’t real didn’t help when he remembered plenty of times when he heard someone scream that phrase for real. In fact, he had thought those words himself.

His mind supplied an image of handcuffs and a cold room. He pushed it away.

A couple more lost folks called for help, but nothing significant happened. The trees lost their enormous size, becoming equal more or less to the autocoach but no longer larger than a house.

A deer ambled up to the coach. It smelled wrong. Horror equated the smell to some mix of static and cardboard with something unpleasantly sharp underneath the surface. Then it spoke. “Greetings.” The kids wouldn’t notice a difference because the thing was right next to them, but its voice was loud and clear to Horror like it came from the forest itself. “Are you good people lost?”

The coach stayed silent. Thank the stars.

“Can you hear me?” The deer asked.

Another deer appeared next to Horror. He twitched in surprise and hit something on his other side. Lust appeared for a moment as his hood slipped down while he stumbled. He grabbed the fabric and disappeared again.

“That isn’t a very safe road. Where are you trying to go?” Silence again. “Think you know these woods better than I do? Your funeral.” The one next to the coach left. Horror wanted so badly to tear the one next to him apart. But he didn’t. Who knows what would happen if he did.

Another deer looked into the other side of the coach. “One plus one equals two. Two plus two equals…”

That was a much more blatant attempt to make them speak. The deer at Horror’s side was staring at him.

Another deer tried to sing “Row your boat,” but it got no reaction out of anyone.

Eventually all of the deer bounded back into the forest. The trees were finally back to properly sized trees in a properly sized forest. The atmosphere lightened up.

The kids started to speak again. They must be truly out of the forest. Horror dropped his veil. Mango, the spy cockatiel, lit on Horror’s shoulder.

“I am on my way to warn Mira and her group.” The bird chirped. “There are legionnaires traversing the roads beyond the woods in a wide search formation. The children will have to change their course to avoid being caught.

Lust lowered the hood of his cape, becoming visible once more. “Let us know what they decide to do.”

“Will do.” Mango fluttered off of Horror’s shoulder. She flew straight to the autocoach. After about fifteen or twenty minutes, she returned. “They have decided to take a path through Brady’s Wilderness.”

“What is that?” Horror asked.

“It is a place where a young shaper went nova. There are plenty of places around here like that.”

“What does ‘went nova’ mean?” Lust asked.

“Nova is a term that is used to describe when a shaper loses grip on reality. Shapers that have gone nova shape vividly and without restraint. They usually kill themselves with something they shaped, accidentally or not. Such areas are almost always very dangerous.”

“This Brady’s place… it’s dangerous?” Horror asked.

“Yes. Enough have made it out alive to spread rumors about this place, but there’s not many details.”

“Who went nova?” Lust asked.

“The story says that it was a young boy from the outside with great shaping talent. He landed in the area now known as Brady’s Wilderness and hasn’t been heard from in forty years.”

“Sounds bad.” Horror slung his axe over his shoulder, finally relaxing enough to do so after going through the Quiet Wood.

“I will update you with any information I feel is pertinent.” Mango said brightly.

“Thank you.” Lust replied. The bird flew away again. “We should probably see about finding a place to sleep.” Horror frowned. They couldn’t just find a place because they would fall too far behind the coach. They also weren’t eternal beings that could walk forever.

“On the coach.” Horror said.

“What?” Lust asked, clearly confused.

“The roof of… the coach.” Horror prepared his explanation. “The kids sleep. We jump. Land on roof. Sleep there. Lose no ground. Kids don’t notice.”

“Horror, that’s brilliant,” Lust said once he figured out what Horror was saying, “but you can’t shortcut.” Horror gave him a significant look. “You want me to shortcut the both of us?” Horror nodded.

The sun set. They cleared the last of the trees. Lust had a clear line of sight of the coach, so Horror picked him up and crouched in a ready position. Lust counted down. Then they were on the autocoach. Horror settled his weight so the coach wouldn’t bounce too badly. He let Lust down. They settled so their weight was as evenly distributed as possible. They slept fitfully. Horror constantly awoke to check for threats.

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

Lust woke right at sunrise. The night hadn’t been super long, and he hadn’t slept well, but he felt rested enough. He cracked open his eyes and immediately noticed the difference in the land. He sat up to take a better look and wasn’t disappointed. There was a small pond with some decent sized cookies floating in it.

Lust lightly patted Horror’s arms to wake him up. Simply shaking him awake never seemed to work and firmer actions were responded to with violence. He snorted himself awake. Lust suppressed a chuckle. Then he remembered that they were hitchhiking on the autocoach they were supposed to be discreetly following.

Lust mimed to Horror to grab his hands. Horror obliged, and Lust quickly shortcutted behind some unoffending underbrush. Just in time too. A head poked out of the coach as he teleported. With luck, the boy didn’t see anything.

“Thanks.” Horror said when he recovered from the shortcut. He glanced at the sheltering plants. “What did you want?”

“I saw breakfast,” Lust said, “and I think it’s an appetizer. I will lead you to it.” Horror nodded.

The coach rolled out of sight. Lust hopped out of the brush and ran towards the pond. As skeletons, they were unable to cup the milk in their hands, but Lust could feel that the milk was cold. He summoned a gaster blaster and had it nudge a cookie to the edge of the pond. Horror grabbed it, and he started breaking chunks of it.

“Those look soggy.” Lust noted.

“They are.” Horror agreed.

“Are you sure you want these in your inventory?” Lust asked. He took a piece and started chowing.

“Food is food.” Horror grunted, gorging himself on a large piece.

“I think we are about to walk into an area that is nothing but food.” Lust grimaced. “I need you to ignore that. Take what you will now, but when we are in the thick of it, you have to remember that it’s a trap.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I know. But-”

“I will be fine.” Horror cut off Lust’s sentence. “It’s like Candytale*.”

*Candytale is an AU that is completely made of candy. The bad Sanses made a foray in the AU’s copies once in a while for negativity runs and sweet foods. Horror learned to cope.

They finished portions of the meal. Acting on a silent agreement, they got up and followed the trail the coach was following. Not much time passed before they heard a large crashing sound from the right. Lust took a second to locate it, but the noise came from a set of giant dominoes toppling a ways away. More distantly, some low and mean roars answered.

“Fork!” Horror swore.

“Dinner’s hear.” Lust weakly punned. It almost wasn’t even a pun. He grabbed the edge of his hood. “Come on.”

The land sported increasingly large foods, mostly sweets and lunch foods that young children universally love. Beyond that were a menagerie of carnival rides. Lust recognized some like the ferris wheel. In the timelines where his AU reached the surface, the monsters of the Underground still enjoyed romancing each other, and carnivals were perfect for that. Don’t believe it? Try it one day. There’s nothing better than a thrill ride followed by a night time ferris wheel with a special friend.

The skeletons caught up to where they could glimpse the coach. They stayed back so they didn’t scare the children.

“Enemies. Surrounding us.” Horror snapped. His red eye scanned everything around them. “Hood up.” Lust complied. Being invisible was a surreal experience. He could see his own limbs, but they were translucent with a shimmery texture. Horror’s gaze unfocused though he still looked in Lust’s general vicinity. He then raised his veil. And a total stranger walked beside Lust. Logically, he knew that it was Horror, but he couldn’t find the right details.

Suddenly, there was a faint banging. Nothing happened for a few minutes. The land continued to present a never ending stream of wonder foods and childish delights. They passed through a grove of gummy trees; beyond was an open field with different flavored milk ponds. Then a horn blew. And then another on the other side. Then two more in two different directions.

“Ambush.” Lust and Horror realized at the same time.
Lust spotted movement. “Horror,” the veiled stranger looked in his direction. Lust tried pointing before he realized he was still invisible. “The pond.”

The stranger's eye snapped to a pond where a pearly white object was rising. Soon, the entire humanoid skull was visible, the bone glistening from the milk. The thing continued its ascent, revealing a full skeleton. It wasn't a monster like Lust and Horror. With some strips of flesh and ligaments still clinging to the body, it looked like a reanimated corpse. Perhaps that is what it was meant to be. Except that it was shaped. Like this entire land was shaped.

Uh Oh.

Bagpipes started playing somewhere. More skeletons appeared as they left the lake. Even more skeletons were exiting the stands of trees around the coach. They were surrounded. Thankfully the coach was faster than most of the shaped skeletons; however, some were catching up. Brass instruments blared in another direction.

Most of the undead warriors were focused on the autocoach, but those that strayed close to Horror and Lust focused on the monsters. Horror swung his axe at one that came within arm’s reach.

Mango the cockatiel fluttered toward Horror uncertainly. Lust called out, “It’s us. We’re fine! Go to the children.”

“Hundreds or thousands are coming this way. The children have to abandon the coach!” The bird stared in Lust’s direction before streaking away toward the coach.

A primal bellow drowned all other noises. The ground was quaking. Lust fended off another undead warrior as something cleared the trees. It looked like a giant, plastic. . . dinosaur? It roared, showing razor sharp teeth. A louder roar shook the air. Another plastic dinosaur, this one looking more like Doctor Alphys than the other one, but it was too unsophisticated to be her. And too big. And this one had razor sharp teeth like the other plastic dinosaur.

“Split.” Horror ordered. “Meet with the coach.”

“Stay safe.” Lust said.

“Not possible.” Horror countered.

“Stay alive!” Lust shouted back, veering away from his partner.

“Only if you do!” The stranger that was Horror grinned as he raised his axe.

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

Horror could hear Lust's voice, but he couldn’t see the skeleton at all as Lust shouted, “Stay alive!”

So he shouted back, “Only if you do!” And then the fight was on. Horror closed the space between him and the coach. The undead mob was only a few steps away from the coach when the human children jumped out. Horror pushed his way into the crowd, but the children split, avoiding all of the undead in the process. The scout boy, Cole, used his jumping sword to leap high over the heads of the undead semblances. Mira sent her violent flail at one of the giant plastic toys. Feisty used his golden rope to keep their area clear. Twitchy was making ten-foot hops on bug-like legs. Horror wondered if Twitchy was a monster like him.

The golden rope lashed out at Horror’s leg and lifted him into the air. He had forgotten that he was a skeleton like the semblances. He tumbled into a bush that cushioned his fall. He quickly slipped the ring off of his finger and back onto the necklace, so he returned to the human form. With his veil up, he would still be seen as a stranger, but now he wasn’t just another attacking skeleton.

Out of the corner of Horror’s working eye, he saw the scout jump above the skeletons once again. There was a giant cheesecake beyond where the boy had landed. Horror decided that it would work as high ground. He bulldozed his way toward the massive dessert.

The scout jumped again. Horror could see that he wasn’t going to make it, but the twitchy one with backward legs grabbed the scout and boosted him onto the cheesecake.

Horror had made it to the base of the cheesecake. He was in a temporarily clear spot, but the undead horde and the plastic dinosaurs were closing in fast.

“Friend!” Lust’s voice piped up from right next to Horror. “We need to Shortcut. Fast.”

“Right.” Horror agreed. “Kids see us?”

“They won’t recognize you.” Lust climbed onto Horror’s back and set himself into a piggyback position. “I’m not here.”

Horror nodded and took a step forward as the semblances reached out to grab him. His next step was onto the surface of the cheesecake.

Below, the plastic toy that vaguely resembled Dr. Alphys roared. It wasn’t tall enough to reach him or the children, but it was close enough to make Horror notice.

“Flail, attack.” The girl said. The flail obeyed and flew around the walls of the cheesecake to destroy the scores of skeleton semblances that were climbing the cheesecake.

“Who are you!?” Feisty yelled, brandishing his rope.

“You are a stranger.” His voice a whisper, Lust reminded Horror. “You were traveling and accidentally came in here.”

“I am a traveler.” Horror said. “I took a stroll… here. Regret it.”

“How dumb would you actually be to come here?” Feisty asked suspiciously.

“Brain damage.” Horror admitted amiably, reaching up to scratch the hole in his head. Lust shifted awkwardly when he did it, so he reminded himself not to move like that in the future.

Below another dinosaur was tearing chunks out of the cheesecake.

“Let’s survive now and ask the stranger questions later.” The twitchy one advised.

“Maybe with the flail, we can hold out here.” The scout suggested.

“Not for long. Look at how the big lizard on four legs is destroying the base? They will tear the cheesecake out from under us.”

“He's right.” The girl said. “The flail doesn't seem to hurt the lizards.”

“They're plastic dinosaurs,” the scout said. “Giant toys.”

“They seem really fun.” The girl quipped.

“Not like this.” Horror mumbled to himself. Feisty heard and gave him a look.

“No,” the scout agreed. “Normally they are little, and kids make them attack other toys. These ones are the size of the real things.

“Those are dinosaurs?” Feisty asked. “I've never seen one. You have them in your world? You must be braver than I thought.”

“Had them.” The scout corrected. “They're extinct. We only know about them from fossils. These are big toy versions. Which might be worse than the real thing. Actual dinosaurs had bones and could bleed.”

“No soul.” Horror added. “Can't kill them.”

The cheesecake shuddered as the plastic dinosaurs tunneled further in.

Mango fluttered to the girl's shoulder. “I found the route with the least enemies. At least for the moment. I will scout as we go. If you're fast enough, I might be able to guide you out of here.”

“The bird is our best chance.” Feisty said.

“You’re right.” The scout conceded. He turned to ask the girl, “How good are these swords at jumping from high places to low places?”

“Not bad.” She said. “They’ll brake you at the end, like with any jump. Leaping down looks worse than jumping up, and kind of feels worse, but you’ll survive.”

“What about that guy?” The twitchy one asked, pointing at Horror.

“Can he keep up?” Feisty asked.

“I'm strong but… slow.” Horror admitted. “Go without me. I will survive.”

“You're sure?” Twitchy asked.

“Follow them.” Lust whispered.

“Can I… try to follow you?” Horror asked.

“Knock yourself out.” Feisty said.

“Shouldn’t we at least try to help him?” The scout asked.

“Mango…” The girl said, clearly hesitating.

“You survive.” Horror said. “I will follow you… and that will give me a better chance. That way, you can help.”

The cheesecake shuddered again. The skeleton semblances were reaching the top of the cheesecake despite the flail’s violent path.

“Alright.” The girl looked at Mango.

Before she could speak, the twitchy one yelled, “Skeletons!” He finally spotted the ones that had reached the top.

“Time to bail.” Feisty said. “Mango?”

“Follow me.” The cockatiel fluttered to the side of the cheesecake with the least activity. “Looks good. Ready?”

“Go.” The girl pointed her sword at the ground several stories below and soared to a relatively clear patch.

“How are you going to get down?” The scout asked. The other kids jumped.

“Great question.” Horror said sarcastically. “Go.” He nudged the kid closer to the edge. The kid took the hint and leaped, landing in the same area that the girl landed in.

Horror jumped, falling straight down unlike the children. He felt Lust let go while they were in the air, so he reached behind himself and grabbed Lust. He landed in a roll on the hard ground with Lust cradled in his arms.

“You just love this move.” Lust commented.

“No time.” Horror replied. He pulled his axe back into a battle ready position.

“There’s always time for a little banter.” Lust countered. A bone flickered beside him as he threw it at the nearest skeleton. “No one likes a rushed finish.” His voice faded as if he were drawing further away from Horror.

With a start, Horror realized that Lust was running. He was trying to keep up with the kids.

That’s what I should be doing.

Horror lunged after his partner. He smashed skeletons out of his path as he ran. Little bones flickered into existence as Lust protected Horror’s flanks.

We are a great team. Horror realized. I make a path. He follows it, and he watches my back so I don’t have to.

The quartet of kids jumped into the air again just as Horror broke into their clearing. Horror corrected his course to follow them. They jumped again. Horror knew he was falling behind.

He burst into an expansive playground in time to see the scout going down one of the slides. Lust took his hand, and they rushed to follow.

“Hurry.” Mango said, briefly resting on Horror’s shoulder. “They found help, but you could be left behind. Is Grace with you?”

“I am.” Lust answered for himself.

Horror sat himself on the slide with haste; he settled Lust in front of him before he let gravity take over.

The slide was metal and warm from the sunshine. Horror leaned back as he slid down. The slide looped on itself in a circular motion; a minute or so passed before he reached the bottom.

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

The slide dumped Horror and Lust in an underground room lit by a single lightbulb. The children were circled around a semblance that resembled a young woman.

“There they are.” She said. “You are not welcome here.”

Lust hopped off of Horror’s lap so Horror could stand.

“We… I am… um.” Horror hesitated.

“He’s friendly. He’s with us.” Cole said.

“He’s a new bad guy.” The semblance said.

“No,” Mira rushed to assure the agitated woman. “The skeletons attacked him too. He’s not a semblance.”

The semblance looked Horror up and down.

“Who are you?” Horror asked the young woman semblance curiously.

“Amanda. Brady’s babysitter.” She answered. “Quickly now. They could find us down here. This way.” She took the lead. The kids quickly followed her. Lust caught the boy with the golden rope glancing at Horror as the group started to move.

Horror shifted slightly, presenting his back to Lust. Lust understood and scrambled up into a piggyback position. Horror shrugged; then he followed the semblance. They went through a number of cramped tunnels and mirror mazes and hidden door panels. It was an impressive obstacle course, but it was clearly made for a child. Horror had to take up as little room as possible, and having Lust piggybacking made it no easier.
They eventually stopped in a room with a wide empty sandbox.

“Quicksand box.” Amanda said. She stood in the corner and started sinking.

The boy with the golden rope stepped in front of Mira. “Let me check it out.” He stepped into the spot that Amanda had previously stood in, and he too sank. He spoke when his legs and most of his torso had disappeared. “It’s okay. No pain. I think I can feel air beneath me.” Then the sand reached his head. Then he was gone.

Mira went next. Beneath Lust, Horror stiffened. Then the fidgety boy stepped into the box. Lust heard what had spooked Horror. Clattering sounds could be heard. To the monsters, it was unmistakable; skeletons make a unique sort of clatter.

The fidgety boy went next. Lust decided that he and Horror would have to learn the names of these children. Calling kids by descriptors only worked for so long.

Finally, it was the skeleton’s turn. Horror stepped into the box and began to sink. Lust shifted nervously as his feet hit the sand. The fine grains quickly swallowed his legs. It crawled up his back until it covered both his and Horror’s heads. A few suffocating seconds passed, and they were through.

Horror landed lightly in a crouch. Cole looked back at Horror and said, “Don't worry about the sand. You come through clean.”

Horror shrugged in acceptance and started walking. Lust held on hard to not be thrown off. He checked Horror’s hair, and alas, there was no sand present. Lust did ruffle Horror’s hair a little bit in retribution for nearly falling off. The room they were in was bare other than the little cubes that lit the room and soft mats that covered the floor and the walls. Lust looked up, and a square of sand was all that marked their entrance.

“Come on,” Amanda admonished impatiently. She pushed on one of the wall mats, swiveling on a vertical axis and revealing a hidden doorway. “Stop wasting time.”
A short maze later, she led the kids and the skeletons into a bright room stuffed with soft couches and bean bags and stuffed animals. Lust realized that he wouldn't be able to sit invisibly.

“We are safe here.” Amanda said.

“Do you hide here all of the time?” Mira asked.

“I move around.” Amanda responded, “It gets boring without Brady.”

“What happened to him?” The aggressive boy asked.

Amanda’s expression briefly slipped into one of grief. “They got him.” Lust realized that she was talking about the undead semblances they met above ground. “He couldn’t stop making up bad guys. I tried to help him. He made me to help him.”

“How old was he?” The boy questioned. His aggression was on a back burner; he was actually being somewhat considerate.

“Six.” Amanda responded. “He was good at making things here in Dreamland.”

“Dreamland?” Horror asked.

“Do you think this is a dream?” Mira asked.

“He did.” Amanda answered simply. She then elaborated. “He said he got here by dreaming. He was always waiting to wake up. I thought he must be right until they got him and the dream kept going.”

“He was making real things.” Mira said, “We call it shaping. The living things are semblances and the nonliving are renderings.”

“Whatever,” Amanda shrugged, “I’ve been here for a long time. Nothing changes. I don’t get older. I can’t leave. I’ve tried. So I just hide out. I’ve learned how to survive pretty good. Much better than when Brady was with me.”

“Did he slow you down?” Cole asked.

“Not really,” Amanda admitted. “We would find ways to avoid the bad stuff he made, but then he’d dream up new creatures that were smarter or had new skills. He couldn’t help it. Once he was gone, the monsters stopped improving, and my job got easier.”

“Are there others like you here?” Mira asked.

“He made a few heroes, but they eventually got killed.” She shrugged again.

“Can the bad guys… be killed?” Horror asked. “Exterminate them and… make this place safe.”

“I don’t think so.” Amanda said. “There was always more to replace the ones that the heroes destroyed.”

“So they… replicate?” Horror asked. “Or… reproduce?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I wasn’t expecting you to follow me down here, so I don’t care what you do with them unless you lead them into my hideout.” Amanda turned back to the kids. “All of the heroes were too bold. There’s no one left on my side. But it looked like you guys needed help, and he made me to watch over little kids.”

“We’re not little.” The aggression was back in the boy. The fidgety one elbowed him in the side and murmured in his ear.

“No kids think they’re little.” Amanda said affectionately. “I’m fifteen. That’s when you're finally big.”

“What’s that make me?” Horror asked.

“A geezer.” Amanda retorted, her mood lifting lightly. Lust flicked Horror’s human ear. He shifted his head just slightly toward Lust in question.

“That makes me feel old.” Lust whispered under his breath. Horror huffed quietly.

“Are we stuck here?” Mira asked.

“I am.” Amanda returned to her previous half nonchalant, half somber mood. “I can’t cross the border. You guys aren’t.” Once again, she brightened, her tone taking on a mischievous lilt. “I will teach a trick that’ll let you walk right out of here. But first: Anybody want some popcorn?”

“Some what now?” The twitchy boy asked in confusion. Horror gave him a look.

“Yes.” Cole answered for them. “Popcorn is good.”
Amanda walked into a neighboring room. “You six came from outside Dreamland?”

“There’s only five of us.” Aggressive protested.
“Yeah, we do.” Cole answered her, ignoring Amanda’s apparent error (which wasn’t an error, but none of the children knew that.)

“What’s out there?” She asked.

“Other weird stuff.” Cole said.

Amanda returned with five bowls, two in her hands, two on her forearms, one balanced on her head. “You don’t think we’re part of a dream?” She passed the bowls out to all of the guests except for Lust. He figured he’d share with Horror.

“Feels that way sometimes.” Mira said. Especially this place, but it’s all real.”

Lust leaned forward, reaching into Horror’s bowl. Horror chose that moment to reach into it himself. He barely didn’t flinch when their hands met. Lust could feel the sudden tension in Horror’s muscles.

“Don’t all dream people think they’re real?” Amanda asked. “How can characters in a dream tell how real they are? Brady thought he was the dreamer. I couldn’t argue with him since he made me. He used a lot of good details. I can remember what it was like to be awake, even though I’ve never woken. I started to wonder if he was dreaming inside of somebody else’s dream. That would make me a dream of a dream.”

“You’re hurting my brain.” The fidgety boy said.

Amanda laughed loudly. “I know how you feel! Don’t worry, if you think you’re real, who am I to contradict you? I don’t care how real you are. It’s nice to find someone who isn’t trying to kill me.”

A dream of a dream? Lust thought. Undertale is a video game. I guess. It has a player and action buttons and other things that games have, so it’s probably a game to someone. Players don’t consider us real. And someone theoretically had to make the game. They had to dream it before they made it. And the AUs were made somehow, so does that make us a dream of a dream? That’s… I don’t know how to feel.

Thinking like that was taking a serious toll. Lust decided to leave it for later.

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

The conversation had gone from difficult-to-comprehend to downright-mind-breaking. Horror focused on his popcorn. Every few seconds, he saw a piece float and disappear as Lust also ate out of the bowl.

“You mentioned we could walk out of here,” the girl, Mira, said. “Were you serious?”

Amanda cast a suspicious glance at the child. “You're not spies, are you? Did the bad guys send you to learn my secrets?”

“You said there haven't been new enemies since Brady left.” The scout mentioned.

“True. This place did stop changing after he left.” Amanda considered for a moment. “Maybe you are real! The only other people who've come from the outside were grownups. Like him.” She pointed at Horror. “If they can't outsmart a dinosaur, that's their problem.”

“How can we walk out of here?” Mira asked.

“Easy, but not for the adults.” Amanda glared at Horror again.

“Because it won't work?” Horror asked. “Or you… don't want to?”

“I don't want to.” Amanda said. She disappeared into another room.

Lust whispered in Horror’s ear. He relayed the observation. “If I go out… bad guys chase me… and could trample… the kids.”

Amanda returned with a bunch of skeleton masks. “Wear these.”

“Seriously?” Feisty exclaimed. "They followed us when we were in our autocoach. That hid us way better than a mask!”

“If you are so smart, maybe I'm wrong.” Amanda said. "Maybe these masks haven't worked perfectly for years and years.”

“You're a semblance.” Feisty argued. “They probably don't chase you whether or not you have a mask.”

“They didn't chase Bertram.” Cole added.

“I don't know Bertram.” Amanda rebuked. “Maybe Brady didn't make him. Brady made me as a companion. His nightmares always chased me. They still do when I don’t wear a mask. But when I do have a mask on, they do nothing. None of them. We came up with the idea right before the Blind Ones got Brady. He thought it would work, so it did. It’s his Dreamland after all. And then he wasn’t around to make any of the bad guys outsmart the attack.”

“We just wear these plastic skull masks and walk out of here?” Cole checked.

“Yep.” Amanda confirmed. “But first, try some popcorn.” None of the children had touched their bowls.

“What about us?” Horror asked.

“Because it’s for the kids’ safety, and you seemed to help them a little bit out there, I guess you can have one too.” Amanda sighed dramatically. “But I am in charge.”

“Suits me.” Horror shrugged. His bowl of popcorn was demolished.

* * *

Horror was the first to emerge from a metal tunnel with a ridiculously cartoony skull mask strapped to his human face. He didn’t care so much how it looked, but he hated having his vision so thoroughly blocked.

Back in the hideout, he had let Amanda take the lead with the children. He let himself fall behind to grab an extra mask for Lust. Lust had dropped his hood long enough to don the mask. He barely disappeared in time when Cole looked back to check on Horror.

Horror had nodded at the boy, and Cole had looked forward with only a slight hint of puzzlement. Horror then put on his own mask, and followed the group outside.

Emerging into the child’s wonderland peacefully after the desperate chase earlier was almost serene and almost depressing. In front of him lay an elaborate playground. Lust quietly dropped from his position on Horror’s shoulders.

Horror took a deep breath as a slight breeze whisked past him. It smelled of greasy foods and sugary delights. The kids moved out from behind him, tense as a rabbit and just as ready to bolt. Skeleton semblances ambled around the group, seemingly oblivious.

Amanda remained in the tunnel entrance. Back in the tunnel, she had assured the group that they could do whatever they wanted so long as they kept the masks on.

Mango the cockatiel swooped down onto Mira's shoulder. “Don't tell me those masks actually work!” She squawked.

Mira whispered to the bird. None of the semblances reacted. She continued speaking to the bird. Then she spoke to Cole, “What do you think?”

“We don’t want to be too conspicuous. It would be bad if our masks came off.” Cole said.

“Let’s stay on the ground in case we need to dodge a dinosaur.” The twitchy one said.

“Fine with me.” Feisty said. “I still can’t believe we might survive this. I had every intention of getting away, but it would have been rough.”

“We’ll just walk.” Mira decided.

“I will lead you.” Mango said.

“Bye.” Horror waved.

“Bye.” Cole said. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Don’t follow us.” Feisty ordered.
Horror didn’t answer. He let the children disappear from sight before turning to where Amanda was.

“Who’s the other one?” Amanda asked. “I can feel him there, but I can’t see him.”

“Sorry ‘bout that.” Lust apologized, lowering his hood. He had his ring on, so he was his skeleton self. “We didn’t want them to recognize us.”

“Why?”

“The scout met us… before. He thought… we were semblances… like you.” Horror explained. “An old man asked… us to… protect them.”

“How are you protecting them by being all creepy and mysterious?” Amanda asked skeptically.

“They wouldn’t trust us.” Lust replied. “So we are staying hidden until they really need us.”

“Like here?” Amanda raised an eyebrow.

“We couldn’t run in as skeletons; they'd think we were attacking them like all of the other skeleton semblances.” Lust reasoned. “You saw how they reacted to Horror when he did reveal himself.”

“It's progress.” Horror added. “First contact. Positive.”

“Ahh, you're right.” Lust mused. “The journey is not over. There's the Carnag thing at the end. We will have to reveal ourselves to them.”

“Come what may.” Horror agreed wisely. He started shambling towards where the gaggle of kids had gone. “Bye lady."

“Bye Amanda.” Lust waved.

“Don't come back.” Amanda grinned. “This place isn't for adults.”

Lust grinned and gave her a double thumbs up.

Horror continued in silence. Now that the threat was over, he could marvel at what the land really had to offer. He stopped to tear a piece off of a glazed donut the size of a hut.

“Look at that!” Lust gasped, pointing at a ferris wheel. “Let’s ride it!”

“What about the kids?” Horror asked.

“We have time.” Lust grinned. “How many opportunities like this are we ever going to have?”

“One ride.” Horror conceded. With the children walking, the skeletons could catch up easily.

They approached the ferris wheel. It automatically stopped to allow them on. Horror opened the cage for Lust. Lust was grinning widely when he took his seat. He seemed excited. Horror huffed as he squeezed in. He took a good look at the seat they were in. It was a bench with seat belts and an oddly shaped handlebar that would lay over their laps during the ride. Horror realized why. But he wasn’t going to clue Lust in on what it was. This was going to be fun. They closed the door to their cage and buckled in. The ferris wheel began turning once more.

“So,” Lust glanced at Horror mischievously, “ ‘Come what may.’?”

“Yes.” Horror grunted, wondering where this was going.

“You’re turning into a wise guy, my guy.” Lust prattled. “It may not be serious now, but you’ll find that the urge to say wise things will only grow. Soon, you will be forever stuck in your meditation chair, and you will be bored.”

“I will. . . never be bored.” Horror assured Lust.

“You’re sure.” Lust asked.

“Absolutely.” Horror’s grin turned sharklike, and he grabbed the handle bar on their laps. Lust also grabbed the bar. Their seat on the ferris wheel was just cresting the top and beginning its descent. Horror twisted the bar, and the cage they were in flipped. And with Horror’s help, it continued to flip all the way down to the bottom of the wheel. Lust was clinging to the bar with one hand and Horror with the other. His face was hidden behind the mask, but Horror could hear him squealing. As it was rising again, it got stuck upside down until they had almost reached the top again. Then they flipped upright and straightened out. “Bored yet?”

“. . .” Lust stared at Horror. Then he grabbed a mask off of the floor and put it back on Horror’s face. Horror realized he had lost it during the ride. That was bad. Lust rapped a knuckle on the bridge of the mask’s nose. “I stand corrected.” He said. “You are anything but boring.”

They sat in silence as the wheel coasted to a stop. Horror undid their restraints. He opened the cage door and held it for Lust. Lust nodded and gingerly lifted himself out of the bench.

“There you are!” Mango squawked, landing on Horror’s shoulder. “If you’re done with your fun, they have reached the autocoach. You better hurry.”

“Oh, shirt!” Lust squawked just as raucous as the bird. “Let’s go.”

Horror grinned. There was nothing like a good, simple run. Just bones moving and wind blowing and nothing more.

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

Lust and Horror had managed to catch the coach a few miles outside of Brady’s Wilderness. Well Horror had. Lust was a Sans, and as a Sans, he was naturally inclined to be lazy. That was in his own Universe. Where he could use shortcuts to get anywhere he needed to be almost instantly. His main exercise was sex. And he wasn’t a huge fan of that either. When he went into the multiverse, he did get a little more exercise from walking, but he didn’t do that often either.

So within three minutes of running through this strange wilderness in this strange universe, he was slowing down and completely out of breath. Horror noticed and hauled Lust over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Lust didn’t argue. Horror had plenty of exercise. When he was in his AU, he hunted and fought and killed. When he left his Universe, he continued to fight and kill. Lust didn’t know if Nightmare had allowed Horror to continue to hunt. Lust decided to relax and watched the land whoosh by.

The sun had set by the time they found the coach. When they came within the line of sight of the coach, Horror set Lust down. Lust took a second to calculate how far the coach was. He teleported them into the shelter of a bush that the coach had just passed. He took one more look, and he teleported them on top of the coach. This time, they barely caused any rocking in the coach. If the children noticed, they’d assume that the coach had hit a pothole or something.

Horror took off his mask. Lust took his off as well. Horror handed his mask to Lust, and Lust stuck them both in one of his super sized pockets. Who knew if he and Horror would ever have to return to Brady’s Wilderness?
Lust stretched out on the roof. Horror started shifting to lower himself next to Lust. He was having more difficulty than Lust did because he was much bigger and bulkier. They didn’t want to rock the coach and alert the coach’s occupants. Lust decided to help him.

They snoozed for some time.

The next day they arrived at a town. Until this point, Lust and Horror had not seen any civilization in this land. Now they were here.

Lust woke up a few miles outside the walls. Within the coach, Bertram announced, “Middlebranch! What a lovely little town for my nephews and niece to explore.”

Lust woke up Horror, and they left the coach roof. They found a spot to hide from the coach.

“What do we do?” Horror asked.

“We can’t be obvious.” Lust replied.

“Obviously.” Horror sniffed.

“Thank you Captain Obvious.” Lust snapped back.
Horror didn’t have a good reply for that. So he slapped Lust upside the head. They shared a short giggling fit before they returned to the task at hand.

“You go invisible. Stay close.” Horror suggested. “I hang back. Be a stranger. . . in town.”

“Ohhhh. That’s a great idea.” Lust said. He adjusted his clothes in preparation.

“Let me. . . carry you in.” Horror sighed.

“Aw, thanks beautiful.” Lust said. He flipped his hood up and hopped on Horror’s back. Lust pulled Horror’s veil up, and once again a stranger stood beneath Lust. With a mischievous glint in his eye, Lust leaned down and said, “Well handsome, as much as I like you, I already got a guy booked for my bed tonight.”

Horror grunted good naturedly. “I wouldn’t take. . . too much space.”

He took off at a dead run before Lust could make another comment. The countryside whooshed past. The autocoach had already entered town, so the skeletons had no time to waste.

Middlebranch was interesting. Horror let Lust down as they entered the town. Lust had to invisibly run to catch up to the coach. Most of the buildings in town were set on stone foundations that supported wooden walls. To Lust's reckoning, the town was bigger than Snowdin. Granted, human settlements tended to be bigger than their monster counterparts due to how much more space and population humans had. The autocoach rattled through the streets. Lust hopped aboard as it went down a road lined with mansions. The mansions were something else. Where the regular buildings looked like they came straight out of a medieval AU, the mansions were straight from a child’s imagination. One section of wall would appear to be made out of glass, another out of coral, and some others out of different kinds of wood. All of the materials were mashed together in a haphazard way. It did make for some visually interesting architecture. Not all of the mansions were like that, but many were.

“Look at that crazy house.” Said a voice inside the coach. Lust believed that it was Cole, the scout, that had spoken.

“Probably belongs to the lead shaper.” The girl guessed. “Only shapers would build so eccentrically.”

“I kind of like it. It’s original.” Said one of the other boys. Lust didn’t know his or the forth boy’s voice well enough to tell who was who.

“Should we talk to the lead shaper?” Cole asked.

“Usually the lead shaper is tight with the local government. That often equals being tight with my father.” Mira said. “This street is probably all government. We should look for Gerta the herb woman.”

Gerta the herb woman. Lust thought. Must be someone important. I bet Declan told them to find her. Maybe Horror and I should find her first.

“Bertram? Could you take us to the town’s main inn?” Mira continued, oblivious to Lust’s presence.

“There are two of significant popularity.” Bertram responded.

“How about the one the local officials visit least often?” Mira said.

“That would be Spinner's Lodge.”

“Let's go there.” Mira confirmed.

“This is full of ringers.” the fourth boy said.

“They told us they gave us money.” Mira said.

“I remember.” The boy explained. “But this is full! Copper ringers, silver, gold, even platinum. We could buy one of those mansions.”

Lust dug in his own pockets. Declan had filled his capris with various essentials before they'd left.

“We have to be careful not to show it.” Mira said. “Nothing draws trouble quicker than flashing money around.”

“I'm free, and I have money.” The boy countered.

Lust finally found the right pocket. Digging a few coins out, Lust realized that he couldn’t see what kind of coins he had. He would have to take his invisibility off if he wanted to see the coins, but a weird man appearing out of nowhere on top of an autocoach filled with pre-teens in the middle of town would only lead to trouble.

“That's too much.” Mira commented in the coach below. “No gold. Certainly no platinum. Use mostly copper. And a couple of silver if you must.”

Lust put his money back in his pocket. Coppers and silver must go for a lot if gold is too much for common folk. That was good to know.

“I won’t show off.” The boy promised. “I just want an emergency fund. We already almost lost the coach once.”

“Your coins are rings?” Cole asked.

“Most people in the five kingdoms use ringers.” Mira explained. “They are officially called ringaroles. I guess it's new to you. Ten coppers to a silver. Five silvers in a gold. Ten gold in a platinum. There are also copper bits, worth a quarter of a copper ringer. And silver bits, worth half a silver. Those are smaller and square.”

“No bits in here.” The third boy announced.

Lust did some quick math. The coach hit a small bump in the road, causing it to lurch a bit worse than normal. He caught a glimpse of someone he assumed to be Horror who was unobtrusively following the coach. One platinum was worth five hundred coppers or two thousand copper bits. Depending on how expensive things were around here, one platinum would go a long way.

“It's against the law to shape ringers.” Mira said. “Some shapers are employed to check if ringers are authentic. My guess is Declan shaped these, and I suspect nobody would be able to tell.”

Lust tuned out the conversation for a moment. He scanned the streets for the stranger that was Horror. He couldn’t pick him out from the other strangers. Guess that his renderings work. Lust thought begrudgingly. It was good, but it also caused some unexpected setbacks.

Below, one of the boys, the aggressive one, ran out of the coach into a shop they had just passed. Lust hissed in frustration. Why were they splitting now? He slipped off of the coach. The hood slipped down, and Lust became visible. He had landed on the side of the street, so hopefully no one noticed his sudden appearance.

Other than a very tall man who ambled towards Lust. “Grace.” He said.

“Horror?” Lust asked. He belatedly checked that he had his ring put away. His hands looked human, and the ring was on his neck chain. He was fine.

“Yep.” Horror said.

“They split.” Lust hissed.

“Yep.”

“We need some kind of signal system.” Lust said. “I can’t tell you apart from the crowd with that on.” He pointed vaguely at Horror’s face. “Could you follow the coach? I think they’re going to find something to eat. Here.” He dug the coins out of his pocket. In his hand were mostly coppers and silvers, but there was at least one gold too. Lust quickly pulled the coppers and silvers and handed them to Horror. “These are the currency here.” He explained what each was worth. “Follow the coach to wherever they are going. If they sit down to eat, eat there. And buy your food. You don’t need to steal it. If they buy a room, buy a room for us. We also need a place to sleep tonight.”

“Anything else?” Horror asked.

“No. But I will go after that boy that split.” Lust said. “Is that good?”

“Yes dear.” Horror grumbled. He loped after the coach, and Lust followed the stray child.

Chapter Text

---------- Lust ----------

Lust followed the feisty boy to a nearby shop. The shop window was filled with various clothing articles. Most were bordering on bizarre. The boy entered the shop. Lust waited a moment before he followed. The inside of the store was filled with clothing and useful knicknacks. The items inside were more functional than the items in the windowsill. A number of humans were moving between the racks of clothes. Lust noted that many had fairly travel-worn clothes. Some had worn clothes from their day-to-day chores.

Lust busied himself looking at the clothes. In his own AU, he prided himself on what he wore. He could set the mood for the day simply by choosing to wear one top rather than another. Outfits were a form of… communication.

“Good sir. I don’t believe this is the section you should be looking in.” A young man greeted Lust.

“Excuse me?” Lust asked politely.

“This section is for the poor. We try to provide for them as best we can, so we try to keep the richer customers out of here.” The man replied. Lust spotted a mark on his arm. He realized it was a slave mark.

“How do you figure?” Lust asked curiously.

“Your clothes are new, but you are shopping.” The man pointed out. “You also don’t look like you're from around here.”

“I see.” Lust considered for a moment. Then he noticed where the boy was. “I will go over there then.”

Lust carefully positioned himself near the feisty boy, pretending to look through the clothes that were carefully hung from racks.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Hm?” Lust looked at him in surprise.

“You followed me in.” He was fiddling with the hat from the window display. He was trying not to look at Lust while trying to watch him from the corner of his eye.

“I came in here, true.” Lust said. “And I came in here after you. But you don’t know that I was following you specifically.”

The boy frowned.

“What’s your name kiddo?” Lust looked at the boy finally, abandoning his pretense of looking at clothing.

“It’s none of your business.” The feisty boy practically growled.

“I see.” Lust said. “Call me Grace.”

The boy ignored him and called a worker over to pay for his hat. Lust waited for him to finish and followed him outside.

“A word of advice, kid.” Lust spoke in a soft, low tone. The boy froze. “If you don’t want to be noticed, don’t get so defensive. When I asked your name, you went on the defensive. Anyone worth your time would notice. Next time, just give your name, or if you’re that desperate to hide, give a fake name. Got it?”

The boy was silent a moment longer. “Why are you telling me this?”

“I might not know what your situation is,” Lust sighed, “but I know when a kid needs help. Let’s try this again. What’s your name, kiddo?”

“Jerry.”

“Nice to meet you, Jerry.” Lust grinned. That was almost certainly a fake name. “I’d offer my help, but there’s no good way for you to find me.”

“Oh really?” ‘Jerry’ still glared at Lust suspiciously. “Why not?”

“I’m traveling.” Lust stated. “My home is far from here. And no, I’m not connected to anyone important.” He didn’t have any more information to add to that. He and the boy fell into an awkward silence. The town bustled around them. “Maybe we’ll cross paths again. Who knows?”

The boy gave Lust one last look and left, following the direction the coach went. He stuck the hat on his head.
Lust turned back into the shop. He knew ‘Jerry’ was watching him as he did. He decided to grab some strips of cloth that could be used as covers or bandages. Lust didn’t want injuries to happen, but he’d been around the multiverse enough to know that luck would not be so kind. So he prepared instead. He paid the shopkeeper, and left. He found the inn that the semblance mentioned: Spinners Lodge.

He entered the building. On one side of the room sat ‘Jerry’ and the other kids. On the other side, out of view of the scout was Horror with his veil down and two plates of food sitting in front of him. ‘Jerry’ caught Lust’s eye for a brief moment. Lust shrugged and joined Horror. ‘Jerry’ didn’t look any less suspicious.

Thankfully, the boy was soon distracted by a pair of servers, a young boy delivering food and a bald man with a bad attitude.

“You blundering good-for-nothing!” The bald man’s voice carried across the room. He moved towards the boy, cuffing him. “I gave you bread! Where’s the bread!”
Lust cringed as the boy replied, and the bald man cuffed him, again.

“Don’t write me a speech. Fetch it!” The bald man waited for the boy to run back to the kitchen, then turned on ‘Jerry’. “You’ve picked up a tagalong. Quite the gentleman it appears.” The sarcasm was thick.

Horror and Lust shared a look. Lust slowly lowered himself out of sight.

“Ever buy a hat, bald man?” ‘Jerry’ asked. Par for the course, feisty was picking a fight.

“If I ever bought a hat, I’d have an outfit to match it.” Bald man was squaring up.

“Then you’d buy a rag. But it wouldn’t hide your nose or mark.” ‘Jerry’ said. Lust twitched as he realized what that meant. The servers here were slaves. Just like the workers in the clothing store. “Who taught you to talk back to your betters?”

“You better watch yourself–”

Horror stood up, noisily scooting his chair across the floor, as ‘Jerry’ started yelling in earnest. Thankfully, none of the children seemed to notice. Maybe unfortunately, neither did the bald man that Horror wanted to threaten. Lust noticed that Horror had his axe out underneath the table. Did he sneak it in?

“I better watch myself?” ‘Jerry’ laughed. “You’re a slave you dimwit! You keep opening your mouth with no idea who you’re talking to!”

“Veil.” Lust hissed to Horror. If it came to a fight, the veil didn’t really matter, but if it didn’t, Lust didn’t want their cover completely blown. He felt like it wasn’t time yet. He didn’t know why. Horror glanced at Lust and lifted the piece of fabric up, becoming a stranger once again.

“I bought this as a joke.” ‘Jerry’ said. Lust moved so he could see what was going on. The boy stuck the hat he’d bought from the shop only a few minutes ago on the man’s head. Some oily liquid cascaded down the bald man’s head and neck. “It’s yours now.”

Now the man looked like he really was about to throw hands with Jace. Horror shifted. If that man tried to do anything, he wasn’t going to do much. And probably wouldn’t be able to do anything ever again. Horror’s aim was pin-point accurate. Lust knew from the few times Horror tried to teach him how to throw an axe.

“Are you giving me the eye?” ‘Jerry’ was not backing down now. “You’ve forgotten yourself, lowlife! Please hit me. I’d love to watch you swinging by the neck, that goofy hat on your ugly head.”

The man backed off. Lust had heard of how slaves in other AUs were treated. He had never witnessed it himself before.

‘Jerry’ snatched his hat back. “You should be on your knees, begging for forgiveness. I’ve had enough. Fetch your owner! We’re going to have words.” Lust decided he didn’t need to watch anymore, so he began to fetch Horror’s chair. There was a hesitation in the dialogue on the other side of the room. “How stupid are you! You’ve wrecked our meal! Move!”

Silence reigned in the inn. The stranger that was Horror nodded his thanks as he relaxed back into the chair. It had practically flown when Horror stood up. Lust grinned back. Horror sighed and lowered his veil again.

The owner came a few minutes later. Lust opted to ignore the following conversation and focus on his food, which consisted of a chicken skewer, a bowl of porridge, and a piece of bread. Lust noticed that Horror’s food, which was already mostly gone, had a lot more meat options and no bread or porridge.

“The bread is sugarbread.” Horror said. “Thought you’d like it.”

“Thank you Horror.” Lust said quietly. He hungrily attacked his portions.

Chapter Text

The meal passed without further interruptions. Lust and Horror managed to leave before the kids did. Maybe ‘Jerry’ would be less suspicious. He probably wouldn’t.

As they were leaving the inn, Horror had put his veil up, and the scout had glanced in their direction as he did. Lust stayed on Horror’s otherside, and he was sure he wasn’t seen. They found another place to loiter while they waited for the gang of children to finish and move on.

When they finally saw the autocoach clop past, they followed. Lust hadn’t gotten a good look at the front of the autocoach before now. In place of a horse was a brick with legs. That was what pulled the coach along. The kids were bickering again. Lust figured that it had something to do with the fiasco in the inn.

The coach parked itself in front of a stone wall draped in ivy. Lust couldn’t see the herb lady’s place from where he was, but after a few minutes, the children exited the coach and entered the wrought iron-gate. Horror leaned against a tree across the street. Lust invisibly parked himself next to the coach.

Mango fluttered up to Horror. He spoke with her for a moment before pointing toward Lust’s position. The bird looked both ways before crossing the street.

“Here Mango.” Lust said, drawing a line in the dirt. The cockatoo landed on Lust’s lap.

“They made it inside.” Mango reported.

“Did Declan–”

“He did. This has been their destination since they left Cloudvale.” Mango checked her surroundings again.

Several minutes had passed since the kids had gone inside when Lust heard a shuffling coming from the gate. He looked up and saw an old woman. He grabbed Mango and moved so the woman would be less likely to see him. She seemed to ignore any signs of his presence in order to talk to the semblance in the coach.

Realizing that the kids’ cover would be blown if this wasn’t the woman they were supposed to talk to, Lust quickly lowered his hood and confronted her. “Now what are you doing?”

The lady looked up at him in surprise. He realized he must have been an odd sight. Mango was still cupped in his palms and in plain sight.

“Just taking a holiday with my grandnephews and niece.” The semblance in the coach replied heartily.

“I don’t have to justify myself. They know I’m here.” The lady said. “How about you?”

“You are Gerta?” Mango asked, hopping onto Lust’s shoulder.

“The crazy old herb lady, yes.” The woman answered.

“We were sent to make sure the kids didn’t get in any trouble.” Lust said. “But they don’t know about us yet.”

“Do they now?” There was no question in her voice. Gerta returned her attention to the semblance. Without acknowledging Lust, she began an interrogation with the semblance whose name was Bertram.

Upon asking Bertram about Lust, Betram responded only with, “Ah yes, my sons-in-law can tag along if they like.” He then rambled about taking nephews and nieces to see the countryside. Lust was quite surprised that anything about him and Horror had been included with the semblance.
“He’s quite a piece of work.” The herb lady commented when she was done. “Looks like the old man’s still kicking. Call whoever else is with you. You’re going to introduce yourself to those children.”

“You are the herb lady they’re looking for, right? After you’re done with them.” Lust countered. “Only make them focus on one thing at a time. I’ll call my partner, and we’ll wait here at the coach.”

“Wait in the garden.” Gerta said.

Lust knew she wasn’t going to budge. “Fine. Horror!” He called. Horror perked up, and at Lust’s wave, he crossed the street.

“What?” Horror asked.

“We’re going to introduce ourselves to the kids.” Lust said. “Her orders.”

Horror glared at the woman.

“Be kind. Her name’s Gerta.” Lust said. “It’s probably for the best anyway. I don’t like hiding.”

Horror snorted. “C’mon.” He gestured to Gerta to let her lead the way.

Inside the gates was a garden the likes of which Lust had rarely seen. The Underground had never been good for gardens except for the few plants that could grow in the subterranean soil, mostly in Waterfall. By contrast, this garden had new plants every three steps. A gravel path connected the gate to a modest cottage.

Horror closed the gate behind them.

“We’ll wait here.” Lust said. Mango took off to the house.

“Suit yourself.” Gerta said. “You’re not getting out of this.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

* * *

“It’s you!”

Lust had been leaning against the inside wall and beginning to doze off. He jolted awake at the shout.

“How are you here? I thought semblances couldn’t leave the Brink.” The scout ran ahead of his companions.

Lust smiled apologetically. “We weren’t semblances, kid.”

“What?” He stopped a few feet away from the skeletons in disguise.

“We were waiting,” Horror said. “for the Cloudwall?”

“To go through the Cloudwall?” the scout asked.

“We were told to go through it to find him.” Lust said. “We were kinda dumped in that castle, so we didn’t have many other options. We also didn’t know you or your company, so we didn’t push your superiors to help us.”

“Oh.” The scout seemed confused.

Lust waited until the quartet was gathered comfortably around him before explaining the rest.

“Hello.” Horror said.

“Why are you here?” ‘Jerry’ asked Lust.

“You know them?” Cole asked.

“Yeah. Well, just him.” ‘Jerry’ pointed at Lust accusingly. “He was stalking me in the shop.”

“And you told me your name was Jerry.”

‘Jerry’s’ expression soured considerably.

“Sorry about that.” Lust apologized. “You lie pretty well, but I already knew you were suspicious, and I have a knack for knowing when people lie. We were trying to keep an eye on all of you. It’s harder to do when you split up like that.”

“If you were trying to… help us,” Mira said, “why didn’t you just introduce yourselves?”

“We thought…” Horror paused, “it would be better if we… were secret.”
“In retrospect, it might have been dumb,” Lust admitted, “but we wanted to be like a… surprise advantage or something. If you didn’t know about us, any problems you meet wouldn’t be expecting us either.”

“So what changed your mind?” The girl pressed.

“Honestly?” Horror huffed.

“Brady’s Wilderness.” Lust explained. “We struggled to help you because you would not have trusted us if we had revealed ourselves then. So now, we’re fixing that.”

“Also Gerta,” Horror nodded to Gerta, “She told us to.”

“You weren’t in Brady’s Wilderness.” Jace snapped. “If you were trying to help us, you did a bad job.”

“We were.” Horror growled.

“You couldn’t see me.” Lust said. He flipped his hood up, going invisible. The children collectively gasped. Lust’s smile fell as he was reminded just how young they were. Gerta had a satisfied look, nodding at Lust’s disappearance. Lust dropped his hood and returned to visibility. “And you wouldn’t have recognized him.”

At that, Horror raised his veil, and a stranger now stood beside Lust. The kids all took a step back, Jace and Mira into a fighting stance, the twitchy one ready to flee, and Cole just simply looked spooked. Horror lowered his veil very quickly.

“I can vouch for them.” Mango interjected. “Declan sent them to help protect you. I’ve been running information between you and them.”

“How long have you been following us?” the twitchy one asked.

“A while.” Horror answered helpfully. “We slept. . . on top of the coach.”

“Otherwise, we walked behind the coach.” Lust added.

“The whole way?” Cole asked.

“Yes.” Lust said. “We have some endurance. Some more than others.” Lust wriggled his eyebrows (actual eyebrows now, isn’t that a thought?) at Horror.

“Obviously me.” Horror huffed. “And don’t do that. . . in front of the children.”

Said children were slightly confused, except for Mira.

“You all might have seen us at the castle.” Lust said. “We wouldn’t have looked like we do now, but we were there.”

“But I didn’t see you.” Cole said, confused.

“I didn’t either.” Mira agreed.

“You didn’t see us like this.” Lust said a tad smugly.

“You aren’t human.” The twitchy one said.

“Nope.” Horror said. “We are skeleton monsters.”

“We have rings that were gifted to us to revert us to our true forms.” Lust explained. He then asked Cole, “Can you remember our names?”

“You are Grace, right?” Cole asked. Lust nodded. “And he is something like Terror.”

“Horror.” Horror nodded.

“We know you are Cole.” Lust said. “We have heard her name: Mira.” He said quietly, leary of listening ears. “And your name is not Jerry, but I bet it starts with a J.”

‘Jerry’ did not respond. The twitchy kid, the non-human one, answered instead. “I’m Twitch. This is Jace.”

“What happened to the grasshoppers being cautious!?” Jace spat at Twitch.

“Stop it Jace.” Mira commanded. Remarkably, Jace answered her with a diligence that surprised the skeletons.

“I do believe you are also not human.” Lust said to Twitch. “Twitch appears to be a nickname. Don’t explain.” Lust held up a hand in a placating gesture. “We don’t need to know.”

“I saw you jumping. . . in Brady’s Wilderness.” Horror said. “You did well.”

Twitch blushed slightly.

“Were the bones from you?” Mira asked them.

“They were.” Lust confirmed. “They are distress signals, which were mostly meant for while we were secretly traveling behind you, just in case we lost you and you desperately needed us to find you again.”

“I believe it would be pertinent to keep them. You never know when you will be split up.” Gerta interjected.

Horror nodded.

Sensing a lull in the conversation, Gerta turned towards the house. “I can’t go with you; not that I would anyway. I’ve never been the adventuring type. But I will help you as much as I can. Given some time, I would whip up something real powerful, but as it is I will bring you the best herbs I have on hand.” She bustled towards the house.

“That’s not necessary.” Mira said, following her.

Lust grabbed Horror’s arm, and in an impressive show of strength, pulled him bodily to his feet. His face split in a large grin as he spluttered. He was rarely ever handled like that outside of brawls with Killer and Dust.

“I help Sambria too little as it is.” Gerta countered. “I spend my days shaping herbs. I stay out of politics.”

“No one would mess with the woman that makes miracle cures.” Lust mused, following her.

“Exactly.” Pride danced in her eyes. “Every now and then, I get a chance to help people who are still trying to make a difference in Sambria. I suspect you six fall in that category.”

Chapter Text

---------- Horror ----------

“I suspect your six fall into that category.” Gerta was saying. Horror felt strange being called a good guy. He’d only ever been one of the bad guys. This change of pace wasn’t unwelcome.

“We’d appreciate anything you can do.” The scout said. He was on Horror’s left, and the rest of the children were bunched in a loose group behind the herb lady.

“I have single carrots that will fill your stomachs for three days.” Gerta said. “It’s not an illusion; it will be like you’ve eaten healthy meals three times a day for those three days.”

Horror’s eye light blew up. If only they’d had something like that in the underground. If only they could. Starvation could have been held off for so much longer.

“I have pumpkin seeds,” Gerta continued, oblivious to Horror’s reaction. “That will give you extraordinary night vision. The effects last for four or five hours. The extra sensitivity during the day is guaranteed to cause a headache, so eat them with care. I also have many herbal remedies for illnesses and injuries, so I will provide a full assortment. Oh, I’ll even throw in some delicious tea that can induce a prolonged slumber.”

“You’re too kind.” Mira said.

“It’s the least I can do for friends of Declan.” Gerta brushed off her implied concern. “Would you six like to stay the night here?”

Horror shook his head, wanting to spend the night on the coach roof again. He had enjoyed watching the stars last night.

“We should be on our way.” Mira said. “There are people after us.”

“At least rest from your troubles while I gather my gifts.” Gerta said. I’ll bring you some snacks as well.”

“I like her.” Lust said to Horror.

“She’s nice.” Cole said to the group.

Mira sighed, leaning against the wall. “Yes. And informed. My problem is, the more I learn about my powers, the less I want them back.”

“Your powers?” Horror asked.

“You don’t know?” Twitch asked.

“No.” Lust shook his head. “Declan did not explain anything that was personal about you guys. He just told us that you’re going to fight something. We were to help protect you.”

“We are going to face Carnag.” Jace snapped. Mira held up a hand.

“I’ll tell you the short version. My father stripped me of my powers a long time ago.” She said. “Now he’s losing them, but instead of coming back to me, they are gathering somewhere in Sambria and have created Carnag. Carnag is my raw shaping power, and it destroys every place it passes.”

Horror’s eyes widened. “Oh. That’s big.”

“Yeah. That’s Carnag.” Jace muttered.

“Maybe we really should go on vacation.” Cole said. “We have the money. I bet Bertram would be thrilled.”

They chuckled. Horror smiled.

“I wish I could.” Mira said. “I really do. You don’t have to join me, but I must face this.”

“We’re with you.” Jace said.

“We’ve already come this far.” Lust added. “We’re not leaving you now.”

Mira faced the window. Outside, more plants swayed gently in the breeze. “I just hope it doesn’t mean we all go down together.”

“There are worse fates.” Horror said amicably.

Lust shot him a look. Okay, that wasn’t as comforting as I thought it would be.

Snacks were served. Herbs were gifted. The children said their goodbyes to Gerta. She kept Lust and Horror back a moment longer.

“You better not leave them.” She said. “I feel bad enough letting a bunch of kids go out there to fight that thing. If you fail–”

“I know.” Horror cut her off. “I don’t like it either. That’s why WE are here.”

“Look, Gerta–” Lust said.

“No, you look–”

“I promise.” Horror cut her off. Lust visibly froze. “We will not leave them alone.”

“Not while they are in danger like this.” Lust added. “We will see them through to the end.”

“Well, thank you.” Gerta seemed. . . less anxious than she had before. “It’s the best we can do right now, isn’t it?”

“This is an impossible situation.” Lust agreed. “The best is all we can do.”

“We must go.” Horror said. “They are waiting.”

Gerta nodded. “Well, good luck to you then.”

The skeletons left; the door shuddered closed behind them. The gardens surrounded them. Leaves gently swayed in the still air, hardly a sound could be heard besides the chatter of insects. Horror took a breath, knowing what was coming.

“Do you realize what you just did?” Lust asked, nearly hissing.

“I do.” Horror sighed. “I promised.”

A promise was a big deal. Never make a promise you can’t keep.
“You did. Now we can’t leave until this is done.” Lust said solemnly. “Fully, completely, one hundred percent done.”

“I know.” Horror was resolute. “But I wouldn’t. . . have left anyway. These kids. . . are in over their heads. Way over their heads. We. . . I can help.”

There was a moment of silence between them. Only the soft murmur of the plants filled the gap.

“I probably wouldn’t have left early either.” Lust admitted, any sign of irritation leaving him. “Unless. . . You are right. These children need help. They are on their own.”

“So. . .” Horror prompted. Lust looked up at him, thoughts shimmering behind his eyes. Beautiful eyes.

“We have a promise to keep.” Lust said. He grabbed Horror’s arm and strode purposefully to the coach. “Room for two more?”

“Uh, actually. . .” Twitch said.

“The coach is going to be squishy.” Jace announced. “Especially when we sleep. Especially for you.” He pointed at Horror.

“Ouch.” Horror grinned, scratching his skull.

“We can sleep on top of the coach.” Lust offered. “We were pretty comfortable last time.”

“Right. Totally not creepy.” Jace countered.

“Outside of the populated areas, we could probably ride up there during the day too.” Lust pointed out. “No one but you will be judging.”

“They will fit.” Mira said. “There’s plenty of room.”
“But the roof?” Horror asked.

“You were serious about that?” Cole asked. The skeletons nodded.

“Knock yourselves out,” Mira said, “after we get away from the populated areas.”

“I hear ya.” Lust grinned.

“I think I know how we can situate ourselves on the way out, so we don’t unbalance the coach.” Twitch said.

“It’s a rendering made by the greatest shaper alive.” Jace pointed out. “I don’t think it will overbalance.”

“Well, there’s no reason not to be careful.” Twitch countered. “We will sit where we sat before. Those two, one on each bench, on opposite walls to help counterbalance the weight.”

“Works for me.” Lust said. “Horror?”

Horror nodded. He slid through the open side door into the seat facing the front. He moved himself to the left side of the door and planted his axe at his feet. Bertram faced him, completely serene.

“Ah, what a lovely day to have my son-in-law join us on our vacation.” The semblance said. Horror grinned. At least two of the children glanced between the skeleton and the semblance.

Mira then entered the cabin, taking a seat next to Bertram. Lust followed her and sat to her left. The boys filed in and sat on the bench next to Horror. The coach began moving quite smoothly. Horror could hear the steady clacking of the brick horses. Beyond the coach, he could hear the bustle of a lively town. Houses and businesses passed by. Watching from the window was a new experience for Horror. There were no vehicles in the Underground except for the boats in Waterfall, and since joining Nightmare, Horror mostly traveled by portal between AUs. The cabin of the autocoach stayed silent on their trip out of town. Some of the awkwardness was due to the sudden addition of Horror and Lust. Lust attempted small talk.

“Where do you all come from?” Lust asked. Horror saw Mira glance at one of the boys, though he wasn’t sure which.

“Um. I’m from Earth.” The scout volunteered. “There’s no magic. Everyone’s normal there. I have a sister.”

“A sister?” Lust mused. “Is she nice?”

“I guess so. She can be annoying, but I kinda miss her.”
“I understand. I have a brother.” Lust said. “He’s the coolest. What about you, Jace?”

“Fine. I’m a native here. I've been a slave basically my whole life.” Jace said, contempt lacing every word he spoke. “I’m nothing special.”

“You are here.” Horror said. “And you aren’t a slave anymore. That’s special.”

“Yeah. It is.” Jace admitted. “I just hope it stays that way.”

“I’m from Elloweer.” Twitch said. “My people are really remote, so they don’t have slavemarks or freemarks. I was caught and marked when I went to one of the cities. I was bought by the Sky Raiders, and until now, that is where I’ve been.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you.” Lust said sympathetically. “Will you go back to your people?”

“Eventually.” Twitch said. Horror realized there was something the boy wasn’t telling, but Horror didn’t think it was important right now.

“You already know enough about me.” Mira said. “I’m not comfortable enough to share the rest with you. I don’t want to put you in that kind of danger.”

“I understand.” Horror nodded.

“Now you know about us. What about you?” Jace asked. “Are you also from Elloweer?”

“No. We’ve only been in Sambria.” Horror shook his head. He mulled over how to explain it.

“We are from an Outside, but it’s not the same one as Cole here.” Lust said. “Would you like the history?”

“If you want.” Mira said.

“Then I’ll give you. . . the short version.” Horror said. “Two species roamed the earth: humans and monsters. War broke out, the monsters lost, the humans sealed them underground."
“There are multiple Undergrounds.” Lust continued the story. “They each have something that makes them unique, but there’s similarities as well. We came from different Undergrounds.”

“Mine is in a famine.” Horror said. “I left to find more food.”

“Did you? Find more food?” Twitch asked.

“I did. But I can’t go back very often.” Horror sighed. “It’s my job that keeps Snowdin fed.”

“What about you, Grace?” the scout asked. “What was special about your home?”

“Uh. . .” Lust opened and closed his mouth several times trying to form a sentence. “Let’s say it isn’t kid friendly, and leave it at that.”

“Please.” Jace scoffed. “Look at what we have. We can handle it.”

“Not like that.” Horror snorted. “Seriously, don’t push it.”

Jace must have been about to say something again; Mira shot him a pointed look and said, “Drop it. If they don’t want to tell us, they don’t need to.”

A silence filled the coach, only permeated by the occasional ramblings of the semblance. Horror decided that the silence was moderately uncomfortable.

Eventually, the town fell away and was replaced by the empty countryside. Once far enough away, Horror opened the door and slipped out of the coach. He sighed as his arms were freed after sitting in the same position for so long. He opted to trot alongside the coach instead of riding on top of it.

Lust eventually gave up on small talk with the children and joined Horror outside. They chatted, mostly about little things they saw as they walked. Lust was truly fascinated by all of the plants and bugs they passed. There was even a little rodent that darted across their path at one point.
The day passed. Lust eventually got bored and tired of walking, so he shortcut on top of the coach. At some point, Cole noticed that Lust was missing. When he asked, Horror simply pointed at the top of the coach. Cole stuck his head out of the window to look. Lust waved back.

The day felt about as long as a day should be. When the sun set, Horror joined Lust on the coach roof. The night was long, and the next day began relatively peacefully.

Chapter Text

---------- Nightmare ----------

Nightmare followed the cat along a helter skelter path. The things appeared in swarms from further along the streets and connecting alleyways and chased monster and mammal.

There were times that those things got close enough to jump onto Nightmare. He was able to smash them or impale them depending on where they landed, but the number was becoming unmanageable. Worse was that the things could consume the goopy negativity that coated him, and the few that did before he destroyed them showed alarming reactions to the goop. He didn't want to know what would happen if they survived him.

The road they were currently on ended a few feet in front of them. The cameras were still following their movement, and signs and lanterns were lit up in a neon orange glow, leading them on. Nightmare noticed that there was a window on the other side of the large gap between the end of the road and the wall. There was some wood covering the window, but it had a gap. Nightmare would have to lose some mass to fit.

The cat reached the gap first and performed a mighty jump. It sailed through the air and hit the bottom of the wood that blocked the window. The wood spun.

One good thing about being made of goop is that goop can be reshaped easily. Honestly, Nightmare found it easier to change his shape than to keep it one solid form. He refrained from altering his shape when he was not traveling because doing so caused Moon and, by way of proxy, Eclipse some considerable pain; underneath the goop, the bones that had belonged to Moon still existed. The bones were shattered and held together by the goop, so being bigger didn’t cause any discomfort, but being smaller hurt because all the bone shards were smashed together.
But in life or death situations, staying alive might require some discomfort. Nightmare leaped off of the edge of the road right behind the cat; the bug things leaped after him. He compressed himself into a ball, and hit the lower part of the wood. The bottom part spun away from him, and the top part spun and hit him as he sailed into the room beyond. The bug things had tried to jump after them, but they couldn't jump far enough. They fell into whatever lay below.

Nightmare landed with a soft thump. He lay there for a moment, letting his body relax. He heard some static, and reluctantly looked around. There were almost a dozen tube TVs stacked on one another in the corner of the room. They had all flickered on: two with the symbol of a cat, two that said “Follow me”, and the rest had arrows pointing to the right. The cat was staring at the screens. Then, it came to Nightmare. It sniffed where his head should be. He shifted so his eyelight was level with the cat's eyes. It quietly trilled at him. He glanced in the direction the arrows had pointed. He spotted an orange light in an adjoining doorway. He forced his shape into something more accommodating to walking, and followed the light. The cat walked in front of his feet.

He didn't know what the things covering the doorway were called. They were strings with wood beads on them. They clicked together satisfyingly as the duo entered the stairway beyond. The lit sign shut off, and a new one at the end of the stairway clicked on. The staircase deposited them onto a balcony. The light sign was on the far wall; Nightmare couldn't see any way to walk there.

The cat jumped onto an air conditioner jutting out of the wall next to the balcony. Nightmare saw a possible path along the walk using the air conditioner and a small piece of roof that spanned the length of the wall. He couldn’t put all his weight in one spot though, he'd have to stretch himself out.

The cat jumped onto the aforementioned roof, and Nightmare put a misshapen arm on the air conditioner. He stretched the other arm to rest on the edge of the roof. Then he lifted a leg, and stretched the other. He was suspended on three limbs, and despite the still air, he was unsteady. He used the leg that wasn't doing anything to anchor himself to the wall to prevent him from falling backwards. He lifted the leg attached to the balcony and swung it to the other end of the roof. No true skeleton could have moved this way; Nightmare had to physically move the bones out of socket and across his body. Moon refused to look.

Nightmare continued his nightmarish path, nightmarish in both his appearance and in the danger and suspense. They had to cross sides twice, once on a piece of wood that jutted out of the wall onto a set of pipes, once off of the pipes to another roof, and both were nerve wracking. Thankfully, Nightmare could reach both times. He was burning off some of his mass as they moved; he knew he needed to be lighter and smaller if he wanted to travel on the rooftops.

The cat continued leading, changing sides again by crossing over a wooden beam to a balcony. Nightmare sighed with relief as he set down on solid ground. He heard the cat shuffling around before there was a loud crash. He jumped and looked. The cat had knocked over a wooden board. In the near total silence of the underground city, the noise was as loud as thunder. The cat meowed at him, and then crossed sides again onto another balcony.

The next area was through a window smaller than the last. Grumbling, Nightmare squeezed himself through. They passed through the room beyond onto another balcony. Nightmare saw a calendar that read, October 11. The room was in disarray, as if whoever lived there left in a rush.

This balcony didn't have any apparent way out. A chain-link fence enclosed the space. Nightmare pondered how they would move forward. There was a light shining on an overturned barrel. The cat took an interest in the barrel.

While the mammal was monkeying with the barrel, Nightmare decided to CHECK it. The check popped up like it was supposed to, but it didn't look like a normal check. It read:

NAME - Stray
GENDER - Male
SPECIES - Felis Catus
PLAYER STATUS - Absent
ACTIONS - Walk, Run, Jump, Meow, Interact
* Is lost, but has a maybe-friend.

Player status? The cat, Stray, was a vessel? But the player was absent this round. Stray seemed to know what he was doing, so he probably remembered something of the previous runs.

A meow interrupted Nightmare's thoughts. Stray had rolled the barrel to the other side of the balcony. He was sitting on another roof. Nightmare nodded and followed as he did in the alley before. The next step was a steel beam that hung by a single rope. Nightmare almost fell off of it as it tilted from his weight. He tossed himself onto the nearest solid place, yet another balcony. The cat led them into an abandoned construction area. He attempted a jump onto another wood board, but it broke and the cat fell. Nightmare flinched and reached out, but Stray landed on a more sturdy board only a few feet down. He tried going the same direction, but turned around and took the walkway under the one Nightmare was on. Nightmare looked at Moon, who nodded. The goopy skeleton grabbed the edge of his platform and swung himself under.

He had to cross a hanging beam again, and it didn't go much better than last time. This time, his end destination was a metal roof that barely held his weight. He'd burned almost as much of his mass as possible. Even so, he scrambled to reach the scaffolding. He couldn't help but think about the big things waiting for him at the bottom of the long drop below him. They continued hopping from scaffolding to air conditioners to tiny metal roofs.

Finally, they reached a small room. There was no way out except for the way they came and a closed door made of metal bars wide enough to let the cat through.
“I need a rest.” Nightmare told the cat. He sat in the corner and closed his eyes. Stray approached him cautiously. Eclipse spoke telepathically to Moon. “Moon, why do I shake?”

“You are scared.” Moon answered. He bent down to scratch the cat's ears. Stray leaned into the ghost's touch.

“Why would I be scared? Heights don't bother me.”

“Normally, no. Normally, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Then why would I be scared?”

“You are not scared of falling. You are scared of those things at the bottom. They can consume you.”

“So?” Stray decided to curl into Nightmare’s lap.

“Almost no one can hurt you. You felt those things eating you alive. You saw how your energy affected them. Anyone would be scared. I am.”

“You talk like a book.”

They sat in silence for a minute. Nightmare pet Stray, and his shaking subsided.

“How are you able to pet Stray?”

“Do you know that cats can interact with ghosts?”

“Is that why you are always asking for cats in the mansion?”

“Yes. They are the only creatures I know of that can see me and that I can touch.”

“Hmm.” Nightmare continued to stroke the furry creature. He glanced at the door that the next sign was pointing to. Their mysterious friend really wanted their company. Whoever it was had led them out of a dangerous place. Unfortunately, there was a metal grill door separating the room beyond from the hallway they were currently resting in. The cat could fit between the bars, but Nightmare wouldn’t. He could ooze through, but it would be less comfortable and more time and energy consuming than he could afford. He also didn’t dare break it down when such a sound could attract the dangerous little bug creatures.

“Maybe this cat is the answer to our problems.”

Chapter Text

---------- Nightmare ----------

Nightmare gave himself a few minutes to rest, but he couldn’t afford to lose more time. He slowly stood. Stray hopped off of his lap as he did so.

Nightmare considered how to rearrange his bones comfortably.

“What are you thinking?” Moon asked.

“The cat is the answer.” Nightmare replied vaguely. He had decided on what he would do, and he began to shift. The goop roiled as he shifted individual bones into their new homes. He dropped onto all fours.

Stray, his fur puffed up with unease, let out a small mew as he scooted away from the goopy creature. He looked at Moon with a plea in his eyes. Moon only shrugged back.
Nightmare was done within moments. In the place of a bipedal skeleton stood a tall but slim cat-like creature. Moon hummed as he and Stray took in the changes. The cat’s shoulders only reached the elbows of the creature’s forelegs, but the creature was no wider than the cat. It almost looked like a picture that had been stretched vertically and compressed sideways.

The creature had a long, limber body. His torso appeared to be as dense as a log despite its ability to contort and twist and bend. Four tentacle-like appendages sprouted from his shoulders. The tentacles were only as long as the length between the shoulders and the very rear end of the creature. From there a long, thin tail flowed behind the creature.

His legs were long and strong, but thin and lean. His forelegs resembled the cat’s forelegs from the shoulder to the wrist, but the “hand” elongated like the last joint of a horse’s foreleg. Where the hoof would be on a horse was instead four sturdy, slender, finger-like appendages; and the thumb had become a dewclaw that barely scraped the floor. The dewclaw wriggled slightly, proving it still functioned as an opposable thumb. The hind legs looked a little like the cat’s hind legs except for the foot, which had a closer resemblance to the skeleton’s human-like foot.

The head was the crowned jewel of the creature. It looked innocent enough at first glance: slender like the rest of the body, forward-facing eyes (one covered up by the goop as usual), and elongated like a horse’s but with a dull nose like that of a snake. It had two flaps that appeared and swiveled like a cat’s ears, and on the end of its nose was a set of “whiskers” made of goopy tendrils that barely moved in the still air.

Then it opened its mouth. And HOLY —. (Insert as much colorful language as you please.) There seemed to be no connection between the jaw bone and the skull as the creature nonchalantly unhinged its jaw; the corners of the mouth started well past the eyes, near the back of the skull. There was no doubt about whether there was a jawbone. Parts of it were exposed on the inside of the mouth. Inside of its mouth was a row of teeth that, on their own, could make a stalwart adventurer uncomfortable, and in the gaps that the teeth weren’t able to fill, excess bone fragments filled the space.

“Ahh… Aye…” Nightmare fumbled with its voice for a moment. “I think… This works.”

“You live up to your name.” Moon remarked.

“Better than you did.” Nightmare grinned, which was terrifying.

“Can’t argue that.” Moon rolled his eyes. “Just keep your mouth closed. I can live with that.”

“No promises.” Nightmare said, but he did keep his mouth closed so long as he wasn’t speaking. He looked at Stray. He nodded at the lit sign behind the door. Lead on.

The cat got the idea and squeezed through the grate. Nightmare followed, though he had to lower himself as he did. Thankfully, this form was made for moving while crouching.

The next room had a running fan in it. Stray immediately darted over to a little glowing unit that was plugged into the wall. He pulled the unit out, and the fan powered down.

Interesting. Nightmare thought. He must remember past timelines, or runs as this game calls them.

Nightmare lowered his head, offering it as a step up to the now still fan. Stray glanced at his gesture, but the cat decided to jump on his own.

Nightmare pulled himself between the blades of the now still fan. On the other side, Nightmare squeezed through a broken vent cover and dropped onto a floor level bed in an abandoned flat. A light hanging from the center of the ceiling lit the room in a dingy orange hue. The room was about what you would expect from a working class apartment. Other than appearing to be abandoned. Which it probably was.

But why would someone lead the cat and Nightmare to an abandoned flat?

The cat spent a minute crawling around the desk situated at the foot of the bed and knocking a considerable amount of stuff over. Nightmare decided to give the cat its space and settled on the old mattress. Moon was inaudibly cheering the feline on.

Eventually Stray got bored. He climbed onto the sink and jumped through a window set in the wall. Nightmare opted to go through the doorway. He brushed past the hanging beads that covered the door. The beads must have been the rage before the world ended.

Blue light overrode the warm light of the living area. Nightmare blinked, adjusting to the change. The other room was in just as much disarray as the first. Screens flickered. In front of Nightmare was a large computer monitor. On it was a single line:

/NEED. HELP...

So there was a program running at least. Nightmare eyed the keyboard set on a small, short table that, had Nightmare still been bipedal, would have required him to sit on the floor and hope his legs fit. Nightmare reached forward and slowly began typing on a new line.

//clarify

Stray decided to add his own input.

//clarifyjoihglooooooooo

Nightmare froze for a second. The cat just stared at him while its paw remained firmly pressed on ‘o’.

The machine responded.

/DATA CORRUPTED. NEED HELP...

Stray didn’t move. Their side of the conversation was complete gibberish now, which irked Nightmare considerably. However, the machine didn’t seem to care what their replies were. Just that they replied.

/BODY REQUIRED FOR DOWNLOAD. BODY REQUIRED...

/ENTER THE DOOR. TURN ON. FIND BODY.

Nightmare heard something scraping in the room they’d just left. He turned toward the door. Moon poked his head out of the door. He looked at Eclipse and shrugged.

/ENTER DOOR. TURN ON. FIND A BODY.

Nightmare heard Stray pattering around, and the sound of something sliding on rails. Nightmare looked over and saw the cat carrying a bulky battery-looking thing to the main computer console.

Nightmare padded around the table in the center of the room, finding a battery plugged in there. He glanced at Stray as the cat pushed the battery into a slot at the base of the massive collection of screens. Nightmare gently teased the battery thing with his teeth, praying that he wouldn’t puncture it. It came loose and laid heavy in his jaws. Nightmare turned to the wall of monitors. He dropped the metal on the floor and nudged it with his claws. Nightmare felt the pull of a magnet as the battery clinked into place. Stray found the other two batteries while Nightmare was bringing his own.

To Nightmare's right, a bookshelf slid along a rail, revealing a hidden doorway. Nightmare ambled over, noticing how much darker the new room was.

Nightmare glanced back at the screen as the cat sauntered out of the room.

“We should follow the cat." Moon murmured.

"I suppose we should." Eclipse grumbled. The computer flickered, unfeeling as always. He followed the feline into a new room.

How did this happen? Surely there were building plans? Anyone worth my time would have noticed the difference. Nightmare pondered. The room was small. He would be able to curl up in it just fine, but he would barely be able to stretch to his full length. The walls were lined with shelves filled with various parts and technologies and boxes.

Nightmare remembered when he first acquired the members of his gang. Each had been appalled upon learning exactly how behind the times Nightmare was. Killer had his work cut out teaching Nightmare how to use a phone. At first, Killer had been determined to make Nightmare use a smartphone. He even made a lengthy presentation on the benefits of wireless communication.

He had only been at the castle a few months. Nightmare could barely stand him on his best days. The little shit was lucky Nightmare hadn’t chosen to dust him yet. So when Killer wanted to “improve operations”, Nightmare almost locked him in a closet for the next 48 hours. The one he was thinking of already had some supplies for just the occasion. However, the Sans had caught Nightmare in a surprisingly good mood. However, Nightmare wasn’t the “taking suggestions from his inferiors” type at that time.

So he told Killer to take a week to compile a list of reasons to invest in communication. So Killer made a whole presentation, complete with bullet points on paper slides. Nightmare reluctantly agreed to getting phones. Nightmare kept breaking the smartphones, so after several attempts, he and Killer compromised on a custom flip phone with a screen that could show pictures that were sent over text, which Killer took to calling a brick. em>

Nightmare blinked, pushing the memory to the back of his mind. Now was not the time to get lost. . . He would see them again. He knew he would. He had no doubt.

He glanced at the shelves again, noting that he didn't immediately recognize anything. Directly opposite of the door was a tall white capsule with a window in the front. It had a split down the middle. What it contained, Nightmare didn't know, but it smelled rank. Something had decomposed in there a long time ago. The seal must have only recently broken. Beside the capsule was a broken down humanoid robot.

Chapter Text

---------- Nightmare ----------

A little screen flickered next to the broken robot. Nightmare couldn't figure out what the symbol was supposed to mean. The cat meowed as he jumped on top of the capsule. He hopped onto the highest shelf on the right wall. There was only one box on it. The cat knocked over that box in typical cat fashion.

Nightmare reached out with his hand-paw and gently lifted the box. A little thing fell out of it. Stray trilled at Nightmare. The cat jumped down from the shelf and took the little thing. He led the way back into the computer room. Nightmare chucked the box at the capsule before following.

“I think it's a drone.” Moon said softly. “I remember Dust talking about drones.”

“I remember.” Eclipse said. “It looks like the symbol on the screen.” He nodded at the tv next to the broken robot body. Nightmare's tail brushed against the robot, and its head fell on the floor at his feet. He jumped lightly, moving himself away from it.
“Let’s see what’s about to happen.” Moon encouraged Eclipse. Nightmare snorted at the irony. Moon was supposed to be the coward here.

Nightmare trotted into the previous room with the computers. He found Stray on the ledge on the wall of monitors. The cat was sitting underneath the only warm-tone light in the room. Nightmare noticed that the Thing was placed on a pad beneath the light.

Nightmare blinked. He had caught sight of arrows on the screens before they blinked out, and within a second the light above it and a few others flickered out. Nightmare noticed little pricks of light flowing along cables into the pad that the Thing was resting on.

Stray jumped to the floor as the Thing began to float. Nightmare stayed near the hidden door to observe. The shadows around him lengthened, blanketing his monstrous form. The Thing glitched a little as whatever the pad was doing was finished; the Thing fell and bounced to the floor. Stray flinched away from it initially, but he crouched to sniff it once it came to rest. It rocked for a second before levitating a few inches off the floor. Nightmare was surprised. He could sense no magic, so this must be some kind of technology. But he couldn’t see any obvious ways it could fly.

“It is a drone.” Moon said excitedly.

“I see that.” Eclipse said, eying the thing. Dust was the most technology oriented of his gang. When he couldn’t experiment with unstable chemicals and the sort, he returned to tinkering with the burnt out gadgets that laid around the castle. Horror had nothing to do with technology. His life had been ruined over the Core, and all of the traps he ever made (actually causing injury and/or death traps at least) were simple and mechanical. Killer only cared if it entertained him. But that went for anything, not just technology. Nightmare reflected that he was probably going to be better educated by the time he left this universe.

The drone bobbed for a second, as if trying to orient itself. Its lights were still flickering and glitching. It flew toward Stray unsteadily, and the cat slapped it away. It bounced a few feet across the threadbare carpet, and the lights on it sputtered out. The cat warily stepped forward and pawed at it again. After a moment, it flickered back to life and bounced back into the air. It even gave a little flip.

Then it focused on the cat again. It spoke in a robotic language Nightmare could not understand. It paused, then switched to a version of English with more latin roots that Nightmare could understand.

“It worked. I’m free. Thank you.” It said. Nightmare shifted, his eyelight regarding the little drone. “I couldn’t believe the cameras. A cat in the Dead City. I am. . . I can’t remember my name. It seems my memory is corrupted.”

Nightmare perked in interest as he caught a muted burst of confusion from the drone. A moment later, he wondered if he had imagined it. This wasn’t a Mettaton. It shouldn’t have emotions. And indeed, he couldn’t sense anything more coming from the little bot.

“I’ve been trapped in the electronic network for so long.” The drone continued its exposition monologue. “I know I worked for a scientist who lived here. For now, you can call me B-12. That’s what it says on my exterior.” It tipped toward the cat. Nightmare highly doubted that the cat could read. “And what about your companion? I saw you two meet on the way here. She didn’t already leave, did she? It’s dangerous in the Dead City, but you and your companion seem to know how to handle yourselves.

Nightmare finally left the shadows from which he’d been observing. “He. He is still here.”

“Oh good! You speak.” The drone sounded eerily cheery. It continued in that new dialect, but it seemed to understand Nightmare’s version of English fairly well. “Do you live here? I’ve never seen you before.”

“I don’t live here.” Nightmare answered. “I’d like to leave.” Nightmare said. The extra 'teeth' made speaking harder.

B-12 bobbed in affirmation. “Then let’s get out of here. Follow me.” It glided over to a board with keys hanging off of it. “I remember that this key opens the door. Let me get that for you.” It hovered right next to the keys, and the keys disappeared in a little flash of light.

“Oh, that’s interesting.” Moon commented. “It’s like magic.”

“A wise man once said,” Eclipse paraphrased, “technology advanced enough is indistinguishable from magic.”

“This is magic.” Moon insisted.

“Oh dear.” The bot announced. “Battery low already. Come over here.” It flew over to another workstation, one Nightmare had not paid attention to before. On the work station was a harness that looked suspiciously cat sized. “You are going to have to put this on.” The bot made the harness disappear like it did the keys, and then it flew down to the cat. The harness appeared in a small flash of light already on the cat and seemed to fit perfectly. Stray stiffened and flopped in cat fashion. Nightmare smirked.

Killer had had a cat once. When the skeleton got bored, he’d come up with creative (and surprisingly harmless) ways to torture the creature. Harnessing it was one of those methods. The furball would always flop and give the dirtiest looks. The day that cat died was rough. Killer did not handle it well.

After a moment, Stray heaved himself to his paws and walked awkwardly and gingerly around the flat. Nightmare gave him some time to adjust. B-12 wasted no time disappearing into the harness.

A little screen on the harness lit up orange, and B-12 popped out again. “This backpack was designed for small quadrupeds like you. It's this uncomfortable for you?”
Stray made his opinions known. Loudly.

“I'd have given it to the other guy if it fit him.” B-12 informed Stray.

“I think it's better if you stay with Stray.” Nightmare said. “I can take care of myself.”

“Stray? Like an animal with no person? Is that his name? “ B-12 asked.

“It's what I've been calling him.” Nightmare said.

“I never asked. What is your name?” B-12 asked.

“I am Nightmare.”

B-12 praised to consider. “My name is B-12.”

“So I heard.” Nightmare said. The drone bobbed again, a gesture that was becoming familiar. It returned its attention to the cat.

“I've digitized the key and stored it in the backpack.” The bot said helpfully. “If you ever want to know about something, show it to me. Or others if we find anyone. Now, let's get out of here.” B-12 disappeared into the harness again.

Stray bee-lined for the door. An orange keypad looking thing glowed beside it. B-12 appeared again and used the keys on it. The door swung open obligingly.

The hallway was darker than the apartment they just left. Nightmare, being a creature of the night, was unbothered by the darkness. The little bit of light filtering from the apartment behind him was enough. If he remembered correctly, cats could also see in very low light settings, but they were rather far-sighted.

B-12 bounced out of the backpack and flicked on a bright spotlight. Nightmare blinked and glared out of a slitted eye at the light. He had already adjusted to the darkness, and now that was out the window. Stray didn't seem overly surprised; instead opting to explore the room that connected to the hallway. Nightmare perked up when he heard piano keys being smashed. The notes were out of tune, but he sat himself anyway and played a short tune he had memorized centuries ago. His paws for hands only slowed him down a little bit.

The cat did what he was going to do, and when Nightmare heard the next door open, he finished playing the song and joined his furry companion. Stray had been kind enough to wait for Nightmare.

The area beyond was lit by another orange light. What was with orange lights in this city? It was a rooftop patio of sorts that gave Nightmare his first good look at the sky. It was a solid roof. He could see little lights making concentric rings from the middle outwards. Nightmare had rarely been to an Underground this dark. And even in those AUs where darkness was normal, there was still some feeling of life. Here was an underground city that was dark and devoid of life.

The bug-things didn't count as life in Nightmare's eyes. They didn't feel. They seemed to be driven by two instincts: feed and multiply. And everywhere he saw them, he didn't see growth, just infection and decay.

“Wow, look at this.” B-12 pulled up. “See that elevator in the distance? I think that's important. I know we need to go up.”
Stray strolled up to a bucket that was hanging on the edge of the patio. He jumped into the bucket, and it sped away.

Nightmare jumped to the edge, watching the bucket zip along the line. A pulley was attached to the near end, and Nightmare could infer that there was another pulley on the other end. A system like this in a city this packed would be a godsend for ferrying small supplies and communication. Perhaps he should look into something of the like in his own castle.

The problem at hand, however, was that Nightmare was far too heavy to ride the bucket down like Stray had. He scanned the sides of the nearby buildings for footholds, and was grateful when he saw the beginnings of a decent path using wall-side air conditioners, metal awnings, and other bits that stuck out. He'd have to trample some things on the way. He hasn't had a good chance yet to look, but now he observed the nests of metal spikes that decorated a number of the air conditioners. He vaguely recalled such arrangements being used as a bird deterrent. They wouldn't be Nightmare-proof though. He would make sure of that.

Chapter Text

---------- Nightmare ----------

Nightmare situated himself on the edge of the patio, trying his best to gauge the considerable distance between him and the nearest foothold in the wall. He needed to stick this landing; his fear of what lay below kept his body wired tight. He cursed his blind eye. The goop covered it thickly, and never in his nearly seven hundred years had he managed to pull the goop back so he could see with that eye. Then again, he hated reminders of before, and subsequently never wanted to use that eye.

He cursed himself again for being so afraid. He was NIGHTMARE. Creature of the dark. Horrifying to behold. Bringer of terror. He should not be afraid of some pesky little bugs. And yet he was afraid.

He hesitated only a moment longer, and then he jumped. He remained suspended in the air for only a moment, though that moment felt forever. Then he was crashing down on the nearest wall unit. He only gave himself a moment to regain his balance before vaulting to the next unit. This one was closer than the first, but the first had been lower than the patio, giving him a little bit of grace. This next one was level with the first. He made it. His back legs slipped, but he pulled himself back up.

He continued this for another minute. The alley appeared before him. The faint orange light gave way to a ghastly view. Thick, mucus-y webs covered the corners like giant spider webs. Gunk covered every available surface. Little white bulbs– eggs likely– protruded from the filmy covering. It was thicker closest to the ground.

This was a nest.

The net was slowly being built up. Nightmare had no idea how fast these things reproduced, but he reckoned that the creatures would reach the rooftops in another decade if not sooner. As it was, he may have to use some of the metal awnings at the edge of the nest. Nightmare was not looking forward to that. He took an unnecessary breath to steady himself. Then he leaped again. And again.

The awnings and air conditioners were closer together now, giving him much easier jumps. He focused on staying as silent as possible. He didn't want to alert those things to his presence. Thankfully, being a creature of the night and a true predator, Nightmare was stealthy by nature.
He had to cross sides a couple of times on the way over, but he only had to jump on one of the units covered by the bug-thing’s gunk. He shuddered as he noticed the texture under his claws. It was somewhat soft and almost squishy and disconcertingly warm.

Do I feel like that to others? Nightmare wondered, regarding the goop that covered his bones. Its texture seemed like it'd be close to the stuff underfoot. I hope not. I feel gross now.

“They say it feels cold.” Moon pointed out. His voice sounded quiet. Distant. Nightmare didn't spare the non-existent brain power to wonder why. Eclipse doesn't say anything.

He reached the end of the alley in relief. Nothing had chased him. He noticed that the end of the bucket-pulley line was brightly lit. The nest seemed to shy away from the light. He was close enough to the ledge that he was able to stab up to it rather than jumping. He was glad to find Stray patiently waiting for him as he hauled himself onto stable ground.

The cat was resting near a wall covered in a mural of a sunny beach. B-12 vaulted out of the backpack in apparent excitement. “This is a picture of the outside.” It announced. “There was a postcard here with this image too. We took it.

“That looks quite nice.” Nightmare agreed. “I am good to keep going. Shall we?”

Stray meowed quietly at him.

They rounded the corner and descended a small set of stairs. Ahead was a railing baring the way to a narrow alley. Nightmare sighed in relief as Stray turned the corner and went down the other half of the stairs. They bottomed out into another small outside patio with a bucket pulley system. Stray paused at the sign next to the bucket. B-12 perked up as it read the sign.

“Safezone.”

Stray meowed lowly, quietly. Nightmare looked into the area ahead of him and froze. The little murderous bug things seemed to be asleep. Nightmare could feel the ones that were asleep. He realized that there was no way to cross safely. There were no ledges he could use this time. Stray would use the bucket, but Nightmare would have to cross the old fashioned way. Worse was that there were eggs embedded in the walls the whole way between this platform and the next. Many looked alarmingly close to hatching.

Nightmare moved back away from the edge. He closed his eye and listened. He could hear some squeaking. Stray followed him away from the edge.

“Let me go first.” Nightmare said, his voice barely more than a breath.

Stray blinked at him. For a moment Nightmare was worried that the cat wouldn’t understand his request, but then he saw those eyes. Those eyes held an uncanny understanding. He wasn’t sure if the cat remembered past runs, but he knew now that some things carried over.

He closed his eyes again and Listened. The things were still mostly asleep. He carefully extended his magic, sinking them into deeper sleep. They didn’t have the capacity for dreams or nightmares, but Nightmare somehow made their sleep unpleasant. Now was the time for the test. Nightmare took one more steadying breath, and launched himself off the ledge.

Never having been quadrupedal for any length of time previous to this adventure, Nightmare was slightly unsteady as he jumped down from the patio area. His limbs didn’t move quite right and felt almost too big and too small. He lost only a second when he landed. Then he bolted across the cold concrete. The things that weren’t asleep when he used his magic on them jumped up as he passed. Thankfully, none of them managed to touch him. Stray zipped past overhead, watching the chaos unfold as Nightmare ran.

A channel split the concrete in two. A railing separated the two sides, but next to the railing was a plank that spanned the gap. Stray’s bucket passed it first. The thing that was resting on the plank jumped at the cat, falling into the gap. Nightmare swerved so he could use the plank. Stray’s bucket stopped just past the plank, and the cat yowled at Nightmare. Stray jumped into a small hole in the wall ahead. Nightmare squeezed behind the cat, moving as quickly as possible.

The change was nearly instantaneous. The feeling of danger receded as the strange trio entered this new area. It was replaced with a sense of seclusion. In addition, Nightmare could feel emotions around him. Ahead he saw a robot sweeping in the dim orange light of an old neon sign. Or it had been. It was still as Nightmare cleared the hole. He felt the prickly lightning sensation of panic begin to flow through the robot. It jittered as it lunged for a button on the wall.

Lights flared all around as a siren began shrieking. Accustomed to the near total silence and darkness of the Dead City, Nightmare jumped and pressed himself to the ground. Stray flinched slightly too.

The robot ran deeper into the maze of alleys. Nightmare glanced at Stray before monster and cat alike leaped into action. They followed the twisting corridor, doors slamming shut as more and more robots spotted them and panicked. Nightmare couldn't help but savor the negativity. He had been feeling drained since he had arrived in this universe. He only had the magic reserves he'd had when he fell into the Void. Reserves which had been depleted in the battle beforehand and had suffered more from the Void's hostile emptiness.

This world was so empty, that he had not been able to fill his reserves at all. He was able to tap into the lingering fear and desperation, but even that was old and faded. What energy he had absorbed had gone into changing his form and escaping the bug things.

After a few more turns, they burst into a better lit makeshift plaza. A robot with a staff saw them and closed a garage door behind it. Nightmare noticed a decent group of other robots cowering inside. The robot still facing them squared its shoulders. It was wearing something akin to a straw hat and a poncho. Human artifacts. Its head was a screen that flickered through different faces. It was ready to defend its home.

“This must be the leader.” Moon commented. “His outfit is cool.”

“Cool outfits don't make a leader.” Eclipse grumbled. “Its just a hunk of metal.”

“But it has feelings.” Moon said, a hint of something coloring his voice.

Nightmare drew himself up, his eyes level with the eyes of this robot. It was in a defensive position. He was going to see what this world had to offer him.

Chapter Text

Geno kept his eyes closed. He wasn’t entirely sure what just happened, but he knew he should be dead.

The sound of rattling and little things flying and bird noises confirmed that Geno was no longer in the Save Screen. Where could he be?

How was he not melting? Or was he just numb? That could be it. He was old friends with pain at this point. He could be melting and not know it. He risked a look at his hands. He was laying belly down with his arms splayed out in front of him. His hands looked fine. He closed his eye. The light was bright.

Geno blinked his one good eye open again. His soul shard throbbed. For normal monsters, that would be a really bad sign. Pain in the Soul was indicative of something being wrong with the Soul. Souls were the embodiment of a monster's entire being. So painful Soul = Bad News.

However, Geno always felt a little discomfort because he was sustained by roughly an eighth of a soul. Most monsters would have dusted by now. In fact, he had been dusting, his Soul actively shattering, when he threw himself into the Save Screen. Time stopped there, since it was a subsection of the Void, and so stopped the process of dying. And left him as Shrödinger's perpetually pissed off skeleton.

A large gash across his chest, a ghastly trophy of that final confrontation, throbbed in time with his soul shard. Geno realized that something was pushing on the wound. He shakily pushed himself off the ground. He wasn't able to stand yet, so he sat heavily. He brushed as much dirt out of the gash as physically possible.

He shifted and scanned his surroundings. He was in a forest. It was mostly pine trees. The air felt like the border zone between Snowdin and Waterfall. It was muggy, but it had a perpetual chill. The sky above was a bright blue studded with white puffy clouds. He huffed grumpily. He'd forgotten what real air felt like. This was the first time he'd ever smelled fresh air.
He reached to wipe the line of red liquid from his mouth and noticed that something was in his hand. Recognizing the piece of paper as a letter, he opened it.

[I honestly hope that the contents of this letter finds you well. I have to rush this because of how unstable your soul is. You fell into the void. I rescued you. I dumped you in a world that you will hopefully survive.]
[This world does not have magic or monsters. It does have dragons. And Vikings. The dragons are like cats or bears or other normal, non-magical creatures of the world except that they are big, scaly, and breathe fire. Among other things.]
[Some Vikings are friendly. Some Vikings want nothing to do with you. Some will hunt you for various reasons.]
[A rogue deity noticed you fell from your piece of the Void. She’s poking around as I write. If I don’t disguise you, she will find you. So when you reach the end of this letter, it will burn, and you will be turned into a dragon. I will leave the ability to turn back into a monster available, but be careful. She looks for you.]

Geno frowned more. He quickly read the letter over a second time. It started to smoke when he was halfway through; then it burst into flames. He dropped it as it began to flake away into ash. He slapped his hands together to remove the ash that remained on his bones. He growled. Why couldn’t life be nice to him! At least Reaper couldn’t bug him here.

Is that a good thing?

He sat cross-legged the way that he would in his save screen. He didn’t feel like doing anything right now. Honestly, he felt like sleeping. His soul shard didn’t want to deal with today, so why should he?

While he waited to fall asleep, he reflected on the events that led him to being here. He had been in the Save Screen as usual. Panels were floating all around him, showing various spots in the Underground. His Underground, sorta, that is. It was the classic timeline. Classic Sans’ soul was whole thankfully; Geno wasn't sure how when his soul shard still existed separate from Classic. But Geno still felt like he belonged to that timeline. The panels only ever showing him that timeline helped solidify that belief.

His reminiscing showed as drowsiness clouded his thoughts. Slowly, Geno’s head drooped, and he nodded off to sleep.

* * *

WHY DID HE BOTHER?

Welp. The weird letter kept its word. He woke up with a few extra limbs, and he noticed them almost immediately. This was weird. Granted, he lived in a multiverse where death himself swooned over Geno's undead bones, but this was another level.

What was WORSE was being woken by an arrow to the belly. Fresh, new, tender skin did not appreciate that. He startled and leapt to his feet (two feet as his mind hadn't caught up to his new animal features) and promptly stumbled backwards. He rolled and stood on four feet this time, and had a good look at his assailant.

It was a human for sure, but its clothes were primitive compared to what he was used to. It wore simple cloth arrangements with scaly leather armor covering its softest areas. It also wore a helmet with that same leather and a row of bone-like spikes. It took aim with its bow and shot Geno again. This time, Geno noticed the burning yet numbing sensation in the wound. He glared at the human as well as he could with his draconic face; an involuntary snarl escaped his lips. It spoke in a language Geno did not know. Despite that, Geno could still judge its intent. It was hunting, but he didn't feel like it was going to kill him. He tried to summon some blasters behind him, but in his weakened state lost his connection to them.

So he tried to grab the human. That didn’t end too well either. The human still didn't have any killing intent, oddly enough. Oh well. He could sleep anywhere he liked.

Chapter Text

---------- Geno ----------

Geno jerked awake at the sound of a loud clang. He flailed around for a second until he remembered that he was no longer a skeleton. Once he was done with that, he stiffened and did a scan of his surroundings. He was in a cell of some sort. It had three wooden walls with a small barred window at the top of the middle wall, which was slightly curved. Opposite of the wall with the window was a huge door kinda like that of a garage door, but instead of a flimsy sheet of wood, it was a metal grate on hinges. Beyond that, he could see a wooden hall seemingly filled to the brim with cells.

He began examining the materials. The metal seemed kinda crude compared to what Geno knew humans could do, but it and the wood were all thick and strong. He tried to identify weak points, but the best he could come up with was the myriad of joints. There was painting along the beams, but it was mostly just an artistic depiction of a closed fist, likely a symbol for this ship's flock. Group? Fleet? Probably belonged to a group or company. Either it belonged to the people who built the ship or the people who were using it to transport the dragons.

A burly human walked past the cell, carrying something wrapped in leather. Geno slowly inched toward the edge of the cell and watched him. The human disappeared into a decorated door at the end of the hall. Maybe captain’s quarters or something. Geno was a bit fuzzy on his knowledge of ships. Neither the Underground nor the Save Screen had any need for large water vehicles. He only ever learned about ships from trash that fell into the dump in Waterfall. The direction the human had come from must have been the entrance. He looked, and, sure enough, there was a set of stairs leading to a large trap door.

Geno looked at the colorful door again and waited for the human to come back out. It didn’t take long, and Geno was rewarded with a view of the other side. He caught a glimpse of a desk with papers and carvings on it, but he couldn’t see if there was anyone sitting at the desk. Too much was in the way.

Most of the cells were filled with dragons of all sorts. The variety was interesting. There was one with two heads, another that was silvery, and a few that were very spiky and stood on two legs instead of four. He couldn’t spot any chains on the dragons. These cages must be well tested. The dragons did have a band around their jaws. Geno tried to open his mouth but found that his jaws were tied shut like the rest.

He crossed his eyes trying to look at it; it glittered dully in the half light of the belly of the ship. He decided it was some kind of metal. A loud clang on the bars of his cell distracted him. One of the human goons tossed a bucket of water through the bars. Geno eyed it as it clattered on the wood floor. Water sprayed over the side as it wobbled across the floor. The human grunted something at him and moved on to throw buckets into other cages.

Geno thought about turning it down. Then his newly fleshy body reminded him that he needed hydration. His tongue in particular felt like sandpaper.

I never realized how uncomfortable being fleshy could be. Geno thought, mentally categorizing all the bruises and muscle aches he had accrued over the day. He tried sticking his tongue through the slight opening between his jaws, but the tongue caught some of his teeth. So he retracted his tongue. He felt around his gums to map out where his teeth were and nearly jumped out of his skin when his tongue hit air on the underside of his jaw.

He felt around again, and he realized that his lower jaw split down the middle. A gaster blaster’s jaw split in the middle. He wondered how much like his gaster blasters he looked. He tried to look at the surface of the water in hopes of seeing his reflection. Unfortunately he couldn’t catch his image.

Maybe I can find a mirror later. Geno thought. He took a good look at the door again. The letter said I could change back into a monster. But would that work? No, those bars would still be a tight squeeze. The letter mentioned that the deity was searching for him. I should stay like this. There’s a lot of oafs, but I’ll take my chances. It’s looking for me. I’m in the middle of the ocean. It’s safer to wait.

He'd gotten good at waiting over the years.

The debate over, Geno lowered his jaw to the bucket. He managed to drink a fair amount through the split in his jaw. More splattered the floor around him. He was new at this! Cut him some slack.

Well while he was waiting, he could at least try to figure out how he ended up here. He closed his eyes and cast his mind back to the Save Screen. He had been sitting in there. Like always. There were three viewing screens around him–quiet, static, flickering. Something had gotten his attention. It had pulled at the back of his skull as if someone had stood mere inches behind him. He had looked over his shoulder. But there was no one. Not Reaper. Not that weird malevolent Gaster incarnation that loved to torment him. And then. . .

(* * *)

A crash and a number of squawks distracted him from his thoughts. He couldn't see what was happening, but he could tell that someone was upset.

He tried to refocus, but the sound of the unsettled dragons, the boots stomping above him, the creaks of shifting wood, and the gentle splashing of waves was getting too loud. Everything else started hitting him all at once as well. The light bouncing off of the wood and glinting off of the metal was becoming painfully bright. Geno closed his eyes and covered his ears as best he could (he didn't actually know where his ears were, so he made his best guess.)

That only helped momentarily. After he'd cut off the light and muffled the sound, he became aware of his other senses. Worst was his sense of feeling. He could feel every particle of the floor and the metal band touching him. Every new muscle and other new bits twitched incessantly. Every breath of air that brushed his body sent more signals to his overloaded brain. Next was the smell. Ocean and wood and human and dragon mixed with sweat and desperation to make something terribly unpleasant for his nose. As a skeleton, he only smelled when he wanted to smell. Now he smelled whether he liked it or not. And he suspected his nose was a bit stronger than it had been as a monster. Thankfully he couldn't taste much other than salt and his own saliva. It still wasn't pleasant.

It was all becoming too much. He should have known this was coming. He knew what sensory deprivation was. He knew he was sensory deprived. He'd nearly gone insane– more insane– before he'd found those screens to the living timeline because he couldn't handle the lack of everything.

Geno was losing the battle. He was completely overwhelmed. And he didn't know how to fix it other than exposure therapy. That was supposed to be with Reaper and Error present and the option to go back to the Save Screen when he couldn't handle it anymore.

An idea presented itself to Geno. It was stupid, but a drowning man did not choose what he grabbed hold of to stay alive. Geno settled himself into a position that was less likely to leave him with sore bones, and shut himself down. It wasn't like a gentle sleep. It was like turning off a computer. On one moment, off the next.