Chapter Text
What path has led me here, the artist thought aimlessly. Currently, the mighty God of Creativity, The Protector of the Scripts, is being used as a pillow by two young teens. Hell, one of the kids was on TOP of him, using Ink as some sort of bed!
Wait–
Ink cranked his neck to the side. Ew, Nightmare was drooling on him. Sighing, the artist tried to move Nightmare over, the teen wouldn’t budge, instead hugged the artist tighter in response.
“looks like you got your hands full, little brush.” A voice called out. Ink snapped his skull up to the voice, seeing it was simply Reaper, he relaxed.
Ink chuckled. “Yeah, you could say that.” he smiled at the other God.
“so, you remember why you summoned me?” Reaper crossed his arms on top of his scythe, relaxed on it.
“Right.” Ink glance over the other sleeping teen, Dream, who was currently snoring peacefully. Ink looked back over at Reaper, “Can you teach Dream on how to fly?” the artist asked, his eyelight was yellow sun and an orange question mark.
“he… he doesn’t know how to fly?” Reaper sounded confused.
“Reaper,” Ink paused, “his mother is a tree. So no, he doesn’t know how to fly.”
“y-you mean that tree-” The God pointed at the tree with golden and midnight-colored apples. “-the one you three are laying under?” Reaper questioned; he was extremely confused. “also, how is his mom a tree?”
“Reaper, just answer the question, please.” Ink exhaled a sigh.
“sure?” Reaper answers, finally.
.𖥔݁ ˖☾𖤓☽˖ ݁𖥔.
It was sunrise by the time the Nightmare and Dream woke up, Mister was still asleep, purring. Nightmare tried to get up but got pulled back down. Groaning, Nightmare harshly pokes Mister cheekbone over and over, trying to wake him up.
“Huh?” Mister grumbled under his breath.
“Can you let me go?” Nightmare asked, laying the side of his head on Mister sternum. The brown cloth felt soft and fuzzy on Nightmare's bones.
“Right, sorry kiddo.” The skeleton let go of the teen. Nightmare slid off of Mister, standing up and held a handout for him, in which Mister took and pulled himself up.
“So, what are we gonna do now?” Dream piped up, he was already up and standing.
“Brush our teeth first, then we can head to the nearby village.” Mister said, walking over to the stream. The Apple Twins followed him and chatted to each other.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
“Do we have to?” Dream complained, he hated brushing his teeth; the “toothpaste”, as Mister called it, was spicy.
“Yes, Soleil1 , we have to. You don’t want your teeth to look like Mr. Deck? Do you?” Mister tilts his head to the teen.
“...No…” Dream shook his head.
“If it helps, I can get you another flavor, when I leave.” Mister suggested, he really should’ve given both the twins different flavors.
“Can I get a different flavor too?” Nightmare sheepishly asked.
Mister sighed. “Yeah, I’ll get you both different flavors.”
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Ink had his hood up, shadowing half of his face; currently he was at the village’s plaza, trying to pass the time and probably get a few things for the twins. Speaking of the twins, the duo was holding hands, pointing at the stalls, and simply chatting away. The artist looked over the two, smiling fondly.
“Mister!” Nightmare called out, taking Ink out of his thoughts.
“Yes, Clair de lune?2, did you both need something?” Ink asked.
“What’s your favorite color?” Nightmare asked, titling his head.
“Hmm, that's a tough question…” Ink paused and thought for a bit, “I guess, light greens and yellows…”
“Huh, didn’t think you were a green person.” Dream mumbled.
“I’m just full of surprises.” Ink chuckled.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Ink was paying for three small wooden jointed dolls, wanting to paint the twins and himself on the dolls later. The artist smiled at the salesperson, handing them a few coins and taking the dolls. He heard shouting and turned around, seeing a human raising their fist to his twins.
Something twisted in the artist's empty ribcage.
Speed walking to twins and the stranger, Ink asked “What seems to be the problem, sir?”
“Get your kids under control!” The human shouted at Ink.
Ink walked in front of the twins, standing right in front of the human. The artist's eyelights were a bright red crosshair and a X.
He grabs the human shirt and drags them down to his level, whispering “If I ever catch you threatening them again, I won’t hesitate to boil you alive, do you understand?”
The human nodded furiously.
“Good.” Ink sweetly says, letting go of the human’s shirt. Turning around, walking down the path that leads out of the plaza and into the forest.
“C’mon kids, let’s go back to the Tree.” He called out to the teens, which in response, followed the artist.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Dream and Nightmare were racing down the old dirt path, skirting to a stop once they saw a figure by the tree. The twins glanced at each other nervously, they started walking toward the figure. As they got closer to the figure, they realized that the “figure” was a person.
The person was dressed in a black robe, with a rope tied around their waist and neck. They were wielding a scythe.
“Is that the Grim Reaper?” Dream whisper to Nightmare.
“Hey Reaps!” Mister called out to the Grim Reaper.
“Mister, you know the Grim Reaper?” Nightmare asked, startled from this new information.
“Yes, Mister is a very good friend of mine.” The Reaper replied,
“What.” Dream blankly said.
“Anyways, your caretaker asked me to teach you,” Reaper pointed at Dream, “on how to fly.”
“What.” Dream said, again