Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Me and Katy walked through the crowded corridors. I had only spent 2 weeks at this school and I already knew that I hated it. I just needed to get anywhere away from this crowd! When we finally managed to get outside, me and Katy sat down on the nearest bench available and got out our books. I looked around and could see all the humans and monsters getting along together. It had only been a month or two since monsters were freed from the Underground, but it was amazing seeing humans accepting monsters so peacefully. From the corner of my eye I spotted a colourful skeleton. He wore a yellow sailor hat and had a huge, light brown scarf that was coloured in paint splodges and was so huge that it almost touched the ground. Katy seemed to notice them, too. He was dancing all over the place, loudly shouting cheers, praises and songs to those around him. Some were admiring him while others were giving him weird looks.

“He seems quite cheerful about something,” Katy pointed out.

“Yeah. I mean, obviously Palette would be the happy, cheerful person. I feel that Cheerleading Captain is the best role suited for them in the whole school,” I replied without thinking twice about what I was saying.

“So, wait, you know them?” Katy asked. “Are they your friend or something?”

And that’s when it hit me. I froze as I realised how I had never actually spoken to Palette before. How in the world did I know his name? It just appeared in my mind, but I had no idea how. I guessed it was just my Amnesia playing with my mind once again. Having Amnesia can be hard…

“I have no idea…” I quietly mumbled.

“I understand your Amnesia, but it can’t just be a coincidence that you know a random monster’s name, personality traits and their role in school.”

My thoughts that swirled around me blocked out the rest that Katy was saying to me. I was too busy trying to answer all these questions that kept forming in my head that I didn’t even notice it when Katy grabbed my arm and began pulling me towards said skeleton.

“Hi there, is your name Palette?” She kindly asked the small, chatty skeleton.

He quickly spun around and his already impossible smile on his face grew even wider.

“Yeah! I’m Palette! What do you need?” He gleamed, his yellow and green star eyes shining brightly in his sockets.

“Well, my friend suffers from Amnesia and they know your name and a few other things about you, but they don’t remember much except for that. Maybe you know them or could help them remember something?”

Palette gave a good look at me and after a few seconds of an unspoken staring competition he finally spoke to me.

“Sorry, I don’t know you. But how do you know me even though you’ve never spoken to me before and no one’s ever told you about me?”

I stared at the ground, words choking in my throat. How was I supposed to answer that? And even if I gave a random answer, how would I be able to make it as less creepy and possible? Katy quickly responded to his question before another breath could escape my mouth.

“The doctors said she had Amnesia ever since… the accident she was found in…” She explained.

“Oh…”

Silence fell between us.

“So, what do you know about me?” Palette blurted out. “Maybe we can find something from all the information you know.”

I thought deeply about all the information I knew about the enthusiastic skeleton in front of me and began pointing out everything I could remember.

“Your name is Palette; your parents are Dream and Ink. You are very excited all the time and are super optimistic, even if all hope has been lost in a situation. You like drawing as a hobby and have many step brothers.”

Palette continued to stare at me as his jaw widened as much as it could. I began panicking wondering if I had scared him or creeped him out with something I said.

“That’s a lot of information knowing that you apparently have never met me before. You even know who my parents are! I barely tell anyone that! To know all this, there must be some history in there somewhere…”

He hummed in thought and even paced around in a circle for a small while.

“I have an idea,” I began. “We could talk to Goth about it. After all, he’s your best friend. Does he even come to this school...?”

“That’s it!” Palette exclaimed, making me jump suddenly. “Goth can help! You are really smart; did you know that?”

He seemed like he was going to continue chatting away but quickly blurted out:

“Wait! You know about Goth too?! Wow, you really know a lot! Maybe this means- “

The bell suddenly rang, drowning out the rest of his sentence. When it finally finished ringing, Palette groaned.

“It’s not fair! Breaktime is always so short!” He pouted. “Guess we’ll have to wait until lunchtime. Let’s meet at this spot, okay?”

“Sure,” I said.

Palette ran off across the playground and when he neared his side of the building, he waved at me.

“Bye! See you at lunch!”

I slowly waved back at him, not knowing what more to do or say. As I walked to my next class with Katy, I slowly began dreading the upcoming lunchtime knowing that a huge chat between me, Palette and Goth would occur.

Chapter Text

It was lunchtime, and me and Palette were making our way to the Library. Goth was a helper there, something which I also already knew, so we decided to meet him there. When we entered the Library, I could straight away tell Goth apart from all the other people present. He wore a long, white robe with a torn up, red scarf. As soon as a flash, Palette dashed to Goth’s side and hugged him, earning a small shock followed by laughter from the other.

“Palette? What are you doing here?” He whispered, since we were in a library.

“Hi Goth! There’s so much I must tell you! It’s crazy! Palette declared as quietly as he could.

“Something crazy? Again? What is it this time?” Goth asked, trying to look as interested as possible for his smaller friend.

“There’s this girl who knows you and me just by knowing! Like, she has never even talked to me or you before, yet she knows who we are! However, her Amnesia is the one thing stopping us from knowing where she got all this unknown information.”

Only then did Palette remember that he dragged me along with him and that I was standing right behind him.

“Oh yeah! Here she is!” He introduced me.

“Hello there,” I shyly mumbled.

“Nice to meet you. My name’s Goth. I assume you already knew that?”

“Yes. I also know lots more. I know your parents: Geno and Reaper. You have cousins as well. However, I can’t seem to know their names. My memory just comes back in small pieces, I guess.”

“Interesting…”

Goth leaned back on his chair. He took out a small notebook and began writing something down. I tried to peek at what he was doing but he quickly closed it before I could see what was inside.

“When did you begin knowing all this?” He continued.

“Literally today at breaktime,” I explained. I described my ‘encounter’ with Palette this morning, trying to tell everything in as much detail as possible as Goth kept writing in his notebook again.

“Well, there’s not much we know, but surely you’ll remember more things, maybe even more people and maybe then we’ll be able to find a lead to this?” He assumed, packing up his things as the Library was closing. “You can go now, by the way. Thanks for telling us this though. I’ll try to find you tomorrow if I find anything. If you remember anything new, tell me or Palette immediately, okay?”

I immediately nodded. I thanked Goth, said my goodbye to Palette and walked off. Palette was about to follow the Amnesia girl when Goth suddenly grabbed his arm.

“G-Goth? What is it?” Palette stuttered.

“Palette. A word. After school. It’s an emergency, so don’t be late or forget.” Goth whispered so that no one else could hear.

~~~***~~~

It was half past three in the afternoon. Goth was in the Library, looking over his notes. He quickly looked up when an out-of-breath Palette burst through the door.

“Goth? You wanted to see me?” He questioned.

“Yes,” Goth stood up. “It’s about the girl.”

“What g- I mean yes?”

Goth stood in front of Palette. He crossed his arms and from his mouth came the question he had been aching to ask, but couldn’t in front of others, especially the girl.

“Do you think she’s one of them?”

“What?” Palette questioned him with confusion.

“A Traveller. She can’t be from here. She must have come from another AU.”

Palette was filled with shock. His eye sockets widened at the thought of that innocent-looking girl being a Traveller of AUs.

“H-How? She can’t be… Her magic, does she even have any? It’s impossible to travel without any magic?”

Goth ignored all of Palette’s statements and continued staring at him.

“…right?” Palette murmured, the ending of the word turning into a whisper.

“Palette. We don’t know everything,” Goth stated. “We only have limited knowledge of her. We need to tell your dad.”

“Which one?” Palette asked.

“It doesn’t matter. Both would be even better. All that matters is that we bring awareness to at least one other adult Traveller so that they can continue investigating and maybe even be able to return her to her real AU.”

“Oh… Okay.” Palette muttered. He can’t help but admit that it would’ve been nice to have that girl as a friend. He forced himself to put that thought aside. If it meant returning someone back to their home and getting them back to their family, he would do anything! Even if it meant never seeing them again…

“Tell Dream about this when you get home. I’ll tell my dad, Geno. Maybe he can even tell Uncle Error or Uncle Fresh about this…” Goth declared, losing himself in his thoughts.

“I will. Bye Goth. Have a safe trip home,” Palette said his farewell and exited the school building.

Shortly after, Goth teleported away to a place where it would be safe to form a portal to his dad’s home, the Save Screen. However, the two skeletons were unaware that throughout their conversation a third, unwanted guest had been listening behind the bookshelves. His yellow left eye kept changing from an hourglass to a rhombus, and a frown covered his face. He melted into his black, liquidly substance and disappeared out of the room, the only trace of him ever existing being a small trail of ink.

Chapter Text

“Dad?”

It was a movie night at Palette’s house. His Stepdad, Cross, had picked out a Disney movie and was snuggled up on the sofa with Lux, Palette’s older sister, while Palette was on the floor with his Dad, Dream.

“Yes Palette?” Dream calmly asked his son.

“There’s something I need to tell you…”

“What is it?”

Palette began fiddling with his fingers and thought of how he could say what he, more like Goth, discovered yesterday at school.

“I think I’ve found another Traveller,”

Silence. The whole room went into absolute silence with only the quiet movie noises being hearable.

“You what?” Cross spoke, stopping the movie with the remote.

“Sweetie,” Dream began while turning to face Palette. “Where did you find them? You need to tell us everything you know.”

“Well, it’s complicated,” Palette complained. “There’s this girl at my school, and she knows about people without having met them. For example, she knew who I was and my personality traits without ever having even looked at me! I spoke to Goth about it and he believes that she could be from a different AU. Maybe even from a different Multiverse! However, she can’t remember anything since she has Amnesia.”

Palette continued, describing how she looked like and when he met her.

"… and she always carries a notebook with her,” Palette finished.

Dream gasped.

“What did you say she looked like!?” Dream exclaimed.

He rushed to his desk and retrieved his laptop. He began searching something on it, and after a minute or two he turned it towards his son.

“I believe that’s your little ‘Traveller’,” Dream explained.

Palette couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The laptop was showing him a news report from a few months ago, about a horrible car crash that occurred when a young girl randomly teleported in the middle of the road. From the images shown, she looked exactly like his friend from school, she even had the same notebook and everything! It explained that after checking her, there was no data on her at all. It was like she never even existed before that day.

“You need to introduce me to her. Ink will also need to be told about her,” Dream commanded.

“Okay Dad,” Palette quietly replied, still taken aback from the shock.

There was so much that he needed to tell Goth tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The bell had just rung, and I was making my way outside. It was a beautiful day outside. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming, so it was extremely hard to find a table. After a while of searching, I finally found one and began making my way towards it. I sat down and got my sketchbook out. As I was flipping the sheets to find a blank one, someone sat down next to me.

“You won’t mind my company, will you?” he stammered, or at least, most people would believe he did.

From his looks, I knew this was Gradient. He had a glitchy voice that would stop and repeat words without any warning, from what I could remember. Bits of his body floated off him and ERROR signs covered him.

“No, I don’t mind at all,” I responded.

I didn’t want to freak out another skeleton, so I just played along that I didn’t know him. As soon as this was over, I needed to tell Palette about some of my memory coming back. I continued sketching, drawing a happy Palette with Goth.

“Are you drawing?” Gradient asked, curiosity taking the better of him.

“Yes,” I kindly answered. I knew that Gradient was shy and sensitive to new people, so I’d have to be extra gentle on him.

“Can… can I see?” He asked after a short silence between us.

“Sure”

I handed him the book. He carefully took it into his hands and began looking at my sketch. He then began turning the pages to look at other drawings, only for his face to suddenly go into horror. He turned the pages even quicker, only taking a one second glance at a sketch before he moved onto the next one.

“Hey…” He stuttered, shaking slightly.

“Yes?” I questioned, confused to why he was scared.

“Why, dear lord…” He began. “…do you have drawings of my family?! Even my stepbrothers! And my parents in a fight scene?! They’ve never told anyone else about their old wars… How?!”

I stared at him, mentally smacking myself for forgetting about those drawings that I had in my notebook. I began panicking. All that mattered now was that I got my notebook back and found Palette.

“No! Gradient!” I spluttered. “It’s not what it looks like! You wouldn’t understand!”

“Wait…” He realised. “I’ve never even told you my name! How do you know it?! What even are you?!”

He threw the book at me across the table and began getting up, trying to get as far away from me as possible.

“Wait!”

Suddenly, Palette came rushing towards us two.

“Gray! I can explain everything! She’s a Traveller!” He burst out loud.

“A… what?” I questioned in confusion.

“A Traveller of AUs? Is that why she has pictures in her notebook of our parents and stepbrothers that date back to even more than a year ago?” Gradient asked with anger but mostly fear in his tone.

“Wait, what?” Palette seemed even more confused than Gradient now. “Now that I did not know!”

Gradient picked up my book and opened it, showing Palette all the sketches and doodles inside.

“What?!” Palette snatched the book from Gradient’s hands. “These are so good- I mean we need to show Dad and your parents this! She had this during the accident, maybe it can tell us more about her!”

“You do know I’m right here, right?” I stated. “Also, what accident? I don’t remember anything.”

“How am I going to say this?” Palette struggled, trying to avoid eye contact with me throughout the whole time. “Dad showed me a news report which was about you. It said how you teleported in the middle of a road.”

“W-what?” I stumbled, suddenly remembering that cold night. I could remember the sound of a scream, tyres screeching and endless, faded chatter. I went quiet.

“My dad believes you are from an AU. Therefore, a Traveller of AUs,” Palette continued. “He said that you’ll have to meet him so he can check where you are from. If you don’t mind, that is.”

I hugged my sketchbook tighter than before.

“Sure. Anything that will answer these questions that keep appearing in my mind,” I spoke, no emotions showing. “When should I meet him?”

“As soon as possible. The quicker we find where you are from, the better!”

“Tomorrow, after school. Is that alright?”

“Okay. I’ll tell him.”

Gradient just watched us both continue chatting. After what felt like an eternity, he cleared his throat, gaining our attention immediately.

“Are we seriously going to ignore how she has drawings of us in her sketchbook?! She even has drawings of Dad and Father fighting, Palette! That was years ago! I need answers!” Gradient demanded.

“Who doesn’t?” Palette shrugged. “Don’t you remember who our parents are? They’re quite famous, almost everyone knows them! I’m not really surprised. We’ll just show Dad and Ink when they meet her. They’ll figure it out, I hope…”

The bell rang violently, and we began making our way to our classes. I went down a corridor while Palette and Gradient began climbing up the stairs.

“Are you okay?” Palette asked, slightly concerned.

“I-I’m worried, but mostly scared. It’s freaky that someone knows literally everything about us. That doesn’t just happen, right?”

“I know, Gray.” Palette comforted him. “But we’ll get to the bottom of this. She’ll begin remembering more and more, and then we’ll get her home!”

“If you say so…”