Work Text:
The familiar scent of their perfume lingered in the air, but the castle had been empty for months. This was… utterly confusing. He’d been here last week too, same thing. It simply didn’t make sense.
The “Lord of Darkness” had been defeated, the people employed under him had been evacuated to the Omega Timeline, they’d even gotten a cleaning team to get rid of all of his stuff! They were hoping to use it to house more families, but the toxic negativity wouldn’t go away. Ink was the only on who could stay there for a prolonged period of time without dying, or getting severely ill.
Said artist began to wind his way through the halls, keen on completing their daily rounds earlier than they usually would.
I can't keep Error waiting. He thought to himself. He'd promised he wouldn't forget, and he hadn't! He just had to get there on time, too. Their fast pace was stopped when they heard a door behind them slam shut. They whipped around, holding Broomie in front of them. "Who's there!? Show yourself!"
Nothing and no one answered him. He took out his purple vial. Yes, this was a situation that required fear, was it not? They let a few drops of the liquid hit their tongue and an uneasiness tainted their thoughts. "What was that?" They thought nervously. It wasn't another person, their vision wasn't nearly as bad as their memory, so they would have seen someone.
Turning back around, they sprinted down the hallway, eager to finish and get the hell out of there. I'm going insane. Error was right.
He stopped dead in his tracks as the strong scent of rotting apples assaulted his nose, sickly sweet and musty at the same time. He shut his eyes as tight as he could, knowing that if Nightmare was really still here, then his sense of sight was useless. They stood carefully still, waiting for a faint sound, vibrations, anything that would give them a hint as where he was.
A chill ran up their spine, they felt cold air ripple near their face. They slowly opened one eye. The vague outline of... a person greeted them.
“What the hell..." They couldn't believe their eyes! They must be hallucinating. Right in front of them was a ghost type monster that looked suspiciously like Dream, a giant head wound on the right side of their head. They were clothed in purple, with silver accents. A curious lavender eyelight looked back at them.
They tried to take Ink’s hand, apparently forgetting that they would phase right through. They settled for gesturing towards the door that Ink had heard slam shut.
”Do you… want me to open the door?” Ink asked. The question ghost frantically nodded. He walked over, opened the door, and peeked inside. “The library. Of course! You can’t phase through walls, can you?” The ghost shook their head, waving him over to a small table covered with papers. They carefully took a stubby pencil and wrote on a blank sheet.
”Did. You. Get. Rid. Of. Him.” Ink read aloud. “Oh! You mean Nightmare? No, no, no, that was all of us! Me, Blue, and Dream!” At the mention of Dream’s name, the ghost quickly jotted down another question.
Where’s Dream?
”I actually don’t know! He might be in the Omega Timeline, or Underswap, or he could be in Haventale or something recovering from having to deal with Nightmare’s gang.” The ghost looked down, probably thinking what to write next. “Hey. Who are you anyway? You’re not supposed to be here, we evacuated everyone already.” The ghost wrote down more.
They didn’t know I was here. A pause. Take me with you? “Aw, sorry, I dunno if I should be taking random people to the Omega Timeline. Frisk calls it a ‘safety hazard,’” The ghost looked at ground, looking absolutely shattered, he couldn’t take it. “-buuut Dream says everyone needs help, so why not?” Their face lit up, so Ink knew he’d made the right call.
He opened a portal on the ground. “After you.” The ghost hovered a bit before going through the ink. He hopped in after them.
”Heeey. Sorry I’m late.”
”You aRe noT sORry.”
”Pff-haha! You’re right, I’m not.”
”wHAt wAs iT tHiS tiMe?”
”Oh. I saw the ghost of Dream’s dead brother!”
”yOu saW WHAT.”