Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Casey was running. running away. away from his parents. he knew that they'd kill him if they knew about his friend. no, worse yet, they would kill Gradient too. so Casey was running. if they couldn't catch him, they couldn't hurt Gray. 

there was a bang to his left.

there was screaming.

Gray was in front of him, but something was off. he... was captured

Gray was stuck

they were gonna kill him

it was his fault

it was his fault

it was his fault 

it was his f-

and then darkness. darkness all around him. 

but in front of him...

it was him.

Casey's own father. and he had a knife. it looked almost....

dusty.

Casey tried to backup, he knew what was on that knife, knew what is father was going to do, knew what his father did, he-

he killed Gray.

at once, Casey's world came crashing down. he was nothing without his  friend

and 

it was his fault

it was his fault

it was his fault

there was a sharp pain in his chest. while Casey was realizing what had happened, his father had advanced.

his father was insane

he

and then he was awake. whimpering and crying into a- a shirt? and there was something, no, someone running their fingers through his hair. and Casey remembered.

he was not trapped with his abusive father.

Gray was not dead.

actually, hold the thought on the last one, it was Gradient himself holding and comforting Casey. he was also whispering gentle comforts, calming Casey down.

'it was okay.'

'he was safe, '

Casey fell asleep in Gray's arms that night.

-----

Casey was crying. and thrashing around on the floor. this wasn't normal.

no, Casey was having a nightmare.

involving Gray.

well, better wake him up

he gently shook Casey awake, but that left Gray with him sobbing into his shoulder

at least he's awake

not five minutes later, he was asleep again. Gradient wrapped his arms around him, and swore that he would dust whoever abused Casey like this.

his left eye glowed a bit brighter than his right. 

i swear by toby fox, whoever hurt you like this will pay.

hey, he was the child of tError himself, he was justified to react this way, right?

he had a right to protect Casey.

and theres the side of Ink

[PJ wasn't surprised the next morning when he saw both of them side-by-side on the floor.]

Chapter Text

---

error: rawr
those at the lab: GET YOUR FORKIN DOG
ink: it dont bite
those at the lab: YES IT DO

---

casey: hey do you think i can fit 15 marshmallows into my mouth
pj, not looking up from his newspaper: you are a hazard to society
gradient: and a coward. do 20

---

lorel, pointing at the tcoti fandom: we could make a religion outta this!

---

casey: AAAAAAA

gray: AAAAAAAA

whats-his-name and palette: what are they doing

pj: asserting their dominance 

---

fanbase: what do you have???
Vincent: A KNIFE
fanbase: nO-

---

gradient: its chewsday, innit?
casey: stop that

---

molly: happy birthday error!
error, half asleep and straight out of the test-tube: i cant sweem

---

nightmare: i am darkness, i am death

molly: and do you want marshmallows in your cocoa?

nightmare; y̫͇̪͍̫̳͙̤̋̊̂̚̚e͈͎̪̠͚̮̲͍͚͔͊͒̌̅̔̽̎͂s̥̲͔̦͚̣̜̥̈́̆̿́̈́͒̓̽̊͆̄

---

fanbase: what are you doing

lorel, ready to torture the life out of gracey and errink: science

---

pj: umm, whatcha got there?

gradient, partially blocking a tall british idiot: a smoothie

---

dream and alchemy in unison: SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK

---

Chapter Text

Alchemy sometimes went with Ink on au missions. He said that it 'was good for him to get out of the house'. Alch didn't really agree to that. for one thing, he always seemed to take something home, whether that be a few pine needles from where he walked into a tree, to... even gaster blasters. yep, he often went home with them, seeing as their universe was crumbling away and they had no where else to go.

he always liked them. 

their cute yet deadly bony features were always fascinating to him. 

and sometimes, when their au was corrupted to the point that there was nothing left but a half-dusted sans or papyrus, he'd have to go to Plan B. which was naturally bringing along a few standard Dusters. 

he remembers one experience, where Ink had brought him to his own au. well, what was left of it. Ink was just, just barely holding it together with toothpicks, gum, and a few frayed knots. literally. when Alchemy and Ink dropped through the portal, everything was falling apart. there were glitches around the trees at Snowdin, and there were little heaps of dust all over he place. it was sickening. 

Ink had led him to his and Pap's old place. there were colourful cobwebs in every corner. Ink had turned to him, saying, 'please. just... if anything, save my brother.'

when they left, Ink was smiling and cuddling a vibrant-colored duster. it had the original tones of Paint, but like a little skeletal dog version. 

and today? today alchemy sits in his recliner with a bunch of dusters sitting around and atop him. some have a few missing ribs, one is missing a horn (he named that one Horror), but all of them are clearly fro separate AUs,

and he loves them all dearly

but he would never admit that to anybody

Chapter Text

It was a regular day at DanceTale. there was no screaming, no killers, no duplicates of him with the intent of taking him away. yet.

keyword, 'yet'

and then...

his world was torn apart. he saw all the monsters, all his friends immobilized and left to dust.

there were... duplicates. another sans. one had black inky lines running down his skull. and the other? he didn't want to think about him.

he was tied up and brought to a 'nightmare' guy.

nightmare certainly looked like, heh, a nightmare to look at. or maybe a bored high-schooler in detention. 

a bored high-schooler waiting for the principal.

and there was the 'principal'.

and then pain.

he remembers hushed words around him. no, wait, his body. this wasn't him.

he was just a spectator, kicked out of his own body.

replaced with....

that thing.

that terrifyingly creepy monster.

it moved. it moved his body, and Sans was tugged along with it.

like a ghost tied to its own body.

and they were moving to the 'Omega Timeline'.

something was going to happen, and it wasn't good.

at all.

Chapter Text

---

error: driving

ink: BABY ITS YOU YOURE THE ONE I LOVE YOURE THE ONE I NEEEEEEEED-

---

gradient: can i have some ice cream

PJ: only a spoonful

*aggressive instrumental*

---

[group chat]

lorel: hey can i copy your homework

molly: i'll help you with it!

ink: yeah sure

killer: no lol

casey: bold of you to assume i did the homework

gradient: wAIT WE HAD HOMEWORK???

nightmare: [read 4:30]

---

[in science class]

lorel: is the teacher

molly: is helping lorel teach

vincent and nightmare: setting stuff on fire

mongrel-thing: is chilling on the ceiling 

gradient and casey: drinking whats in the beakers

pj: is taking notes

pre-experiment error: is scribbling on the whiteboard 

straight-out-of-the-test-tube error: is watching molly

after-experiment-and-chillin-in-the-antivoid error: is watching ink

ink: is poking the mongrel with his brush

alchemy and his lil dusters: the sleep-deprived principal

---

error: is getting cereal

error:

error:

error: wElL wHeN lIfE gIvEs yOu lEmOnS-

---

pre-entering-the-omega-timeline/airport incident casey: Getting me some skittles *chips but i didnt wanna pay for themmmm and then one of he store attendants came up to me and he was like 'put that baaaaaaaack' and then he grabbed my arm and i said ' dont touch meEEEEEE-'

---

Chapter Text

PJ and I have this running thing where we both give each other an artist or an album to listen to for the week. This week I have ‘Neotheater’ by AJR. Their songs are pretty good. They often reference daily life and have some hidden meanings. Its cool.

I tap shuffle on the album and shove on my headset. Alphys had made me a head-band ear bud thing, and it actually worked pretty well for someone who didn’t have actual ears.

I wave bye at PJ, who thought I was stopping by at Fresh’s to pick up a board game.

….I’ll do that later

Because right now, I was heading back to the airport. Back where I saw Casey for the first time. I was gonna go to England and find what triggered that nightmare. I was gonna find the cause and destroy it.

I mean, fairly of course. I was a gamer. Gamers play fair. If this ‘thing’ tried to hurt me, I’d do it back double.

After all,

I’m Gradient.

The kid of the Destroyer and the Creator of universes.

You run your mouth, your tongue fell out

Ah right, the music. Best get going before I destroy the sidewalk.

It's right there on the ground, But now you'll never drown

Heh, it was funny. I don’t talk that much in general, but I guess with Casey I’ve become chattier.

You can't, you got no mouth, So it ain't all bad now

Weird.

I grab my shortcut-remote and go through. I land on top of one of the beams in the airport. Now to find where England is.

I wander around until I find an atlas-map book. After getting a good idea of where England is, I reopen the portal and step through.

Life gives you lemons, At least it gave you something

Does this legally count as a life lemon? Seeing my friend’s house look like a burnt shack with rusty hinges?

Really?

So if I break my face, and I don't look so great, My face is just my face (my face)

Yeah. Sure. My face is just my face and I can just re-mold it later. Or Ink can. Maybe PJ will.

Theres a tree a few feet from me.   ‘Casey! Youre gonna fall!’  ‘Anything for the competition!’

I think back to the mini-olympic game.

You roll your eyes, a hundred times

The first time Casey had seen me, he had asked a hundred questions abut my face. He poked me!

At every phony lie. Are your eyes okay?

He thought I was some kind of monster!

I mean… technically I am… but…

They rolled away, right down the interstate.

…And I had rolled my eyes, answering each question patiently.

I jammed my hands back into my hoodie pockets, deciding that now or never I’d get up that tree. I forgot I could shortcut up there instead of getting caught on every other branch.

---

As soon as I was good and had caught my breath, I climbed through the window.

---

I assumed that this was Casey’s room, seeing as there was a poster with bright neon letters, spelling out ‘KC’. There was a small desk in the corner, two large bookshelves to my left, and a battered bed to my right. The paint was peeling, and the door was hanging by one hinge. A rusty hinge, at that.

I pulled out the large duffel I brought. Going around the shelves, I shoved stuff in, and then stopped next to the desk.

There was a stack of music disks, with a player on top. I stuff that in too.

I lean out the window, carefully placing the duffel on top of the branches.

Then I come back in and begin to walk down the rickety stairs.

There was nobody. Not a soul. Not a trace of life.

Except for a small tabby kitten.

It was black with white stripes, with a collar that named her ‘Echo’. Actually, she didn’t look much like a tabby. More like a black kitten with furry bones outside of her body.

I scooped her up and placed her inside my hood.

And turned back for the tree.

----

 I stopped by the Waterfall to pick up a board game for PJ. I do not trust Fresh.

---

By the time I was back in my room, Casey was playing on his old computer.

He noticed the bag and wanted to know what it was.

“it’s a surprise, dork.”

---

Casey was beyond overjoyed when he got to open it.

He hugged me!

 And Echo got to stay around. Admittedly, it was pretty funny when PJ woke up with a mouthful of cat hair.

So if I break my face, it ain't my darkest day
My face is just my face
I'm okay
I'm okay
At least it gave you something

At least it gave you something

Chapter Text

---

ink: kiss

error: disgusting

ink: D:

error: ....do it again

--- 

killer (to nm): heh, you must be a real nightmare to have around. but you have me and my killer puns now, so we're all goo(p)d now. c'mon now, dust admit that you love me! ;)

nightmare: i will punt you to the void.

killer: but then you'd be so bone-ly without me! 

<nightmare> has left the game

---

(read with caution)

no one:

catboy casey: oi i love purrs id loike it if you scritched me 'ead yeh? maebye give mae a lil bit 'o milk tew. *coughs up hairball* oh sorry luv... been cleenin' me fur... its a bit tangly innit?

---

no one:

not a soul (haha):

error: *wii music 10 hours*

---

PJ and gray in unison: I HAVE THE POWER OF GOD AND ANIME ON MY SIDEEEEEEEE

---

casey: pspspsps  hey

gray: what

casey:

gray:

casey: youre bald

---

gray, having a crisis: ink never did get his milk, did he?

---