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Eighty.
Eighty times he had done this, and eighty times he had failed, each time ending up in a worse state than before. Dream might have been considered livid, if he had had the capability to feel negative emotions. But he didn't. He was the Guardian of Positivity, and the Guardian of Positivity was always happy! When he cried, they were tears of joy! When he screamed, he was just overwhelmed with positivity! Those glares he sent in battle were just playful! He was happy. He was always happy. That was why he didn't punch the vase next to him with his bare hands and proceed to stomp on its remains angrily; he had accidentally knocked it over, and he had had a bout of clumsiness while trying to clean it up. Definitely. Dream sighed (in relief, of course) as he dumped the broken shards of pottery into his wastebasket and sat back down at his desk.
"How do you feel?" Dream asked, to seemingly no one.
An exhale.
"I feel fine." Dream said, calming himself down from his..happy outburst. "I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm happy. I'm okay, I'm fine, I'm happy, I'm okay, I'm fine, I'm happy." He smiled. "It's okay. Everything's fine. I'm happy. I'm okay.."
Dream pulled out his phone, dialing a number.
"Sci." He addressed, when the recipient of his call picked up.
"Yes, Dream?" The recipient responded.
"It rejected it again."
"Ah, are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine; in fact, if you want to drop the next sample off in about an hour, I'm feeling well enough to try again today!"
"..Are you certain?"
"Of course! Nothing can keep me down!"
"Well..if you insist..I'll be there in a little bit."
"All right! I'll see you then!"
"Bye."
He hung up, letting out another sigh of what was undoubtedly relief, and he began to clean up his desk. After a minute, there came a knock on his bedroom door.
"Dream?" A familiar voice: his best friend, Blue.
"Come in!" Dream bid.
"All right!"
His friend entered the room, adjusting his bandana as he laid his eyelights on his friend.
"..You look horrible." Blue commented.
"I'm fine." Dream assured.
"You did it again, didn't you?"
"Blue it's not bad." Dream chuckled. "It's to find a way to save my brother! It doesn't even hurt!"
"Dream, you're injecting samples of his goop with chemicals on it into your soul and hoping it dissolves; how is that not bad?!"
"It's safe, Blue; my soul will just reject it if it can't dissolve it, and it doesn't hurt!"
"What about the chemicals, Dream? Do you even know what's on it? What if they're harmful?"
"Blue, Sci wouldn't harm me like that; he's a friend."
"Friend or not, you have to think about yourself in all of this! What if you get sick? What happens if something goes wrong?"
"It won't!" Dream smiled, shaking his skull. "You're just being paranoid, Blue; I trust Sci not to coat the samples in anything harmful, and I trust my soul to reject anything it can't handle!"
"But what if it doesn't? What if Sci mixes up some bottles of some chemicals? What if you get hurt? Don't you even care?"
"Of course I do, Blue, but being the Guardian of Positivity is-" Dream was cut off.
"Forget about being the Guardian of Positivity!" Blue yelled. "Think about Dream! What do you want, Dream?!" Blue gave him a sad look. "Do you want to be the slave of the people? Do you want to do this?"
"..." Dream faltered for only a second. "I can't think about that, Blue; my duty is to help the people of the multiverse, and stopping Nightmare will be incredibly beneficial to that cause. This is necessary."
"You're hurting yourself!"
"I'll be okay, Blue; I promise."
"Dream..don't make promises you can't keep." Blue sighed. "At least come down and eat something; I made lunch."
"All right."
Dream followed Blue downstairs to the kitchen, where Ink was sitting at their small island, doing his very best to stuff five tacos down his gullet.
"Hey, Ink!" Dream greeted.
"Mph!" Ink waved happily, his mouth filled with food.
"Ink, what did I say about small bites?" Blue scolded.
"Mph umphph.." Ink lowered his skull in remorse.
"Please..clean yourself up."
"Mphumph!" Ink went to a different room to clear the obstruction.
"So, taco?" Blue offered.
"Sure." Dream accepted, eating his meal like a civilized being.
There was nothing inherently wrong about the tests, in Dream's point of view. The idea had come up one day after a particularly intense raid by Nightmare's gang. Nightmare had left behind some of his goop after the battle, and Sci, the local science whiz, had come up with a plan. It was simple: to combine different substances with Nightmare's goop and inject it into Dream's soul to try to dissolve it. When they found the right combination, they were going to form a plan to cover Nightmare in said chemical and use Dream's aura to eliminate the negative goop, thereby saving Nightmare (or killing him, but Dream didn't have to know about that possibility) and making the world a better place! Dream would have his brother, the gang would surrender soon after, and everyone would be happy! They just had to find the right compound. Dream was eagerly awaiting the day when the goop would be dissolved instead of rejected; that would be the day when his brother would be with him again. After eating, Blue, Dream, and Ink had gathered in their living room to relax for a while.
"I'll bet fifty G." Ink said, placing his money on the table.
"Ink, we're not playing poker." Blue reminded.
"Who said anything about poker?" Ink tilted his skull. "Isn't this blackjack?"
"..This is go fish, Ink."
"Oh, that's why there are fish on the cards!"
"Mhm. It's your turn, Ink."
"Uh, eights!"
"Go fish!" Dream called.
"Same here." Blue said.
"Aw, man!" Ink picked up a card.
"Twos?" Dream requested.
"Here." Blue gave a card.
"Thank you! Ink?"
"Nope!" Ink shook his skull.
"Fives?"
"Go fish!" Ink and Blue harmonized, and Dream picked up a card.
"Tens." Blue required.
"Oh, darn!" Dream handed over three cards, chuckling as he did so (he wasn't upset; the Guardian of Positivity didn't get upset).
"Thank you very much!"
"Hmm.." Ink studied his cards. "I think-" Ink was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Oh, that must be Sci!" Dream went to answer the door. "No peeking at my cards, Ink!"
"Do you trust me that little?"
"Yes!"
Dream answered the door, and Sci was indeed present, holding a small box.
"This is the next one?" Dream inquired.
"Mhm." Sci confirmed.
"Okay, I'll let you know how it turns out later."
"Thank you."
Dream took the box from Sci, and he took it up to his room before coming back down to finish the card game.
"Don't you think it's a bit early for the next one?" Blue questioned.
"I felt fine after the last one; this will speed up the process." Dream reasoned.
"..I'm going to scold you later."
"I know."
"Why are we holding cards?" Ink wondered, causing Blue to groan (the Guardian of Positivity didn't get frustrated with his friends!).
Three hours later, Dream sat at his desk again, and he opened the box that Sci had given him. Inside was a syringe filled with a black substance: Nightmare's goop combined with another chemical. Dream allowed his soul to leave his body, and after ensuring that the needle was sterile, he fearlessly injected the substance into his soul, ignoring the pain from the prick; he was used to this. He took a deep breath after emptying the syringe, feeling his soul's power as it fought the substance. It usually took five minutes or so of battle before the rejection, but it might have taken even longer to dissolve it, or perhaps only a few seconds; Dream just had to wait this out and see what happened. After a moment, Dream began to feel a bit woozy; that sometimes happened, and he was okay with that. He simply smiled, gripping the arms of his chair to regain some stability. He was okay. He was fine. He was happy.
The nausea hit soon after. Dream fell out his chair when he hunched over, curling up on the ground as a liquid forced its way out of his body..a black liquid. He gasped for air he didn't need as he reached for his phone; the emergency button that had been installed on each of the Stars' phones had come in handy multiple times, and, since he couldn't yell for help above his near-constant retching, it was..it..he had left his phone on his desk. The hand he had flailed upward hadn't managed to grab it, and the black liquid - why it was getting thicker? - was still being expelled from his body. He felt tears (of joy, since he was always happy) streaming from his eyesockets as the liquid coated the inside of his skull; he couldn't make any noise. He couldn't scream for help. Who could have helped him now, anyway? He curled tighter when an excruciating pain began to wrack his body, burning his bones as the liquid spread across them; was it from the liquid? Dream didn't know, and he didn't want to know. He needed help, but he couldn't get any unless someone invaded his privacy right now, and Ink was napping!
He had to fight this. He was the Guardian of Positivity, and the Guardian of Positivity wasn't overwhelmed by black liquids that consumed his body with agonizing pain! He just had to remain confident in his abilities to..his abilities to..endure? Yes, he just had to endure! That was it! He could endure this pain, and he would! He was a Guardian, and Guardians could handle anything!
That fantasy ended when the liquid touched his soul. If he had had the ability, he would have screamed. Instead, he jolted, and he began to flail, hoping that someone would hear his pathetic attempts to attract attention. His rapid movements only increased the spread of the liquid, however, and within a minute, it had coated him. He blacked out soon after, falling into a restless, twitchy sleep. Dream knew he wasn't immortal; he had been, once, but those times had long since passed. Now, he was simply difficult to kill..but this might have done it. He wouldn't have been surprised if he woke up in a different realm. He didn't wake up somewhere different, however; he was still in his room, and..he wasn't in pain anymore. He slowly rose to his feet, still feeling tired; that had been a bad sample. Sighing (happily), he went to his bathroom to clean himself up; he could only imagine how messy he was after that experience. He decided to see the damage, facing his mirror. When he saw himself, he couldn't help but laugh; he looked like Nightmare! He rolled his eyelight as he began to wipe some of the liquid off-
It didn't come off.
He forced a chuckle as he tried to scrub the liquid - it wasn't just liquid, was it? - off his body, and he wasn't becoming more and more afraid as it refused to leave him, since he was the guardian of Positivity! He was..he was just enjoying his new cosplay! Yes, that was all! He was just cosplaying as his brother, and he had just misplaced the zipper on his costume! Silly Dream! After five minutes of continuing to forget how to take off his costume that certainly wasn't attached to his body in any way, a knock came at his door.
"Dream, are you all right in there?" Blue..Blue couldn't see him like this!
"I-I'm fine!" Dream called out.
"..Dream? You..your voice sounds different; do you need a glass of water?"
"N-no! Just..I'm okay!"
The silence that followed indicated that Blue didn't believe his lie.
"I'm coming in!" Blue finally announced, opening the door.
That wasn't good. Dream needed to think fast. He looked around the bathroom, before setting his eyelight on the shower; that would do. He quickly turned to his shower, but before he could make his daring escape, he slipped; his feet were slippery now. He fell onto his back, and when he looked up, a disappointed Blue stood over him.
"I told you this wouldn't end well." He crossed his arms. "Did you listen? No, of course not."
Blue sighed, pulling Dream to his feet and leading him over to his bed, where he gestured for Dream to sit, pulling up a chair to face him.
"What happened?" Blue inquired.
"..My soul couldn't fight it.." Dream looked down.
"Well..I hope you feel regretful."
"..I can't.."
"Don't give me that, Dream; you have just as much capacity to feel as everyone else, and you know it."
"...I'm sorry.."
"You're not testing any more of those samples, Dream, even if this does wear off."
Dream nodded in understanding. Blue began to scold him, as he always did when Dream or Ink did something incredibly stupid. For all intents and purposes, Blue had essentially adopted the two, and he felt responsible for keeping them in line. As the conversation moved on, Dream found himself surrounded by negative emotions. Fear, worry, disappointment, and regret lay heavily upon him. Usually, these emotions caused discomfort or a twinge of pain in his positive soul; now, however, these emotions seemed..warm. He couldn't help his smile as he derived some power from his friend's negativity. Unfortunately, his friend was a bit more perceptive than most, and he knew when someone was gaining power from his emotions.
"Dream, quit it." He ordered. "I can't stay mad at you when you're absorbing my emotions."
"..You can't?" Dream chuckled.
"Dream, you know-" Blue froze.
Well, he might as well have taken advantage of his new powers, even if it was just to get out of a scolding, right? Nobody liked to be scolded, after all!
"That was low, Dream." Blue smiled, unable to feel anything but happy.
"I know!" Dream grinned. "But you can't do a thing about it!"
"That sounds like something your brother would say."
"Hm..it does, doesn't it?"
Dream supposed that his brother's goop might have done something to his mind..he usually never would have said something like that. Dream wouldn't have taken advantage of his powers to get out of a scolding, and he wouldn't have tried to hide from his friends..the Guardian of Positivity always had to own up to his mistakes. For some reason, Dream didn't feel bad about manipulating his friend's emotions..he felt great. Blue left after that, realizing that he wasn't going to get to Dream right now. Instead, he went to Ink.
"Ink!" Blue grinned, although he really didn't want to right now!
"Yeah, Blue?" Ink woke from his nap instantaneously; Blue was never going to figure out how he managed to do that - it was probably just immortal stuff.
"You know how Dream's been doing those tests with Nightmare's goop?"
"Uhh.." Ink hummed, before looking over the notes on his scarf. "Oh, yeah! What about them?"
"Well, this one went wrong!"
"Ooh, how?"
"Nevermind about that! Ink, you watch a cartoon and stay put for a few hours, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Good! Now, do not cause any mischief while I'm gone, understand? You sit here and watch your cartoon!"
"Got it!" Ink saluted, turning on the television.
"All right.."
Blue opened a portal to Sci's laboratory, oblivious to the fact that Ink immediately decided to cause some mischief in an Underfell variant. When Blue entered the scientist's laboratory, it seemed that he wasn't the only one who had come to express grievances to the poor scientist. Before him were two members of Nightmare's gang: Killer and Cross. It was no secret that the gang commissioned the scientist, since he was a neutral entity; Sci took work whever he could find it, and he did outstanding work..most of the time. Every once in a while, of course, something went awry. This was one of those times.
"I-I can explain!" Sci tried his best to rationalize his error.
"Your 'truth serum' turned our victim into a habitual liar!" Cross complained. "He can't even tell us that the sky is blue!"
"Th-there is a reason for that, if-"
"This was your final chance, and Nightmare isn't happy!" Killer pulled out his knife.
"Um, excuse me?" Blue spoke up, interrupting the conversation.
"Aw, come on!" Killer groaned. "What do you want?"
"Well, I sort of need to address a grievance..can I just do that really quickly? Please?"
"Ugh, fine, whatever." Killer sheathed his knife, knowing that he wasn't allowed to initiate fights on neutral ground.
"I thought you didn't like to do business with Sci.." Cross, the resident spy of Nightmare's gang, pointed out a fact.
"Oh, I don't, but Dream and Ink sometimes do!" Blue clarified. "Anyways, how about some coffee?"
"..You've gotta be kidding me.." Killer sensed that he and Cross were going to have to wait a while to finish their conversation.
Blue, of course, decided to be hospitable, and he made coffee for Killer and Cross, too. The four sat down at a table, and Blue decided to start his list of complaints.
"Sci, I know that you work really hard on your science things." Blue began nicely. "You're very talented, and everyone knows that."
"Thank you." Sci smiled, expecting nothing but kindness from the Star Sans.
"Of course. However, I don't appreciate the tests that you've been doing with Dream."
"If you're going to go on that tangent again, let me remind you: Dream can handle it; he's a Guardian, and no measly samples of you-know-what are going to phase him."
"Yes, well, I understand your confidence." Blue leaned in closer to the scientist, holding his piping-hot coffee tightly. "But you're very wrong."
Blue poured the aforementioned coffee onto the scientist, who yelled out in pain from the unexpectedness of the action..and also the coffee.
"..Woah.." Killer didn't say anything more, opting to sip his coffee and enjoy the show; Cross, on the other hand, seemed shocked at the smaller skeleton's actions.
"He's neutral!" Cross shouted, reminding Blue of the scientist's status.
"I know." Blue shrugged. "But this is personal."
Blue stood up, walking over to the scientist on the floor, who was holding his sleeves up to his face, and he knelt down beside him.
"Sci, I want you to do me a favor." Blue requested. "Reverse what you did to my friend within one week, or else I'll be very angry."
"Wh-what did I do?!" Sci had no clue.
"Think worst-case-scenario."
"Y-you don't mean.."
"I mean." Blue nodded. "You're going to fix this, Sci, or else I won't be so kind next time we meet."
Blue took his leave, returning to the Star Sanses' base, and Sci rose to his feet quickly, intent on starting the cure immediately.
"Hey, what's your rush?" Killer wanted to continue the earlier conversation.
"No time!" Sci hurried to his work. "Come back tomorrow!"
"This doesn't work like that! Oh, come on!" Killer crossed his arms as the scientist tuned him out.
"I think something happened to Dream.." Cross commented.
"Why?"
"Blue said that Sci was doing tests with him..maybe something went wrong?"
"Huh..maybe Boss would be interested in something like that."
"Let's go, then."
"Oh, Boss!" Killer opened a portal to Nightmare's castle, right into the dark skeleton's study.
"Did you deal with the scientist?" Nightmare was unphased by the abrupt entry; he had gotten used to it approximately eighteeen years ago.
"Uh, no, but we learned something interesting!"
"I sent you to threaten the scientist, Killer; you like threatening people. Why did you not threaten him?"
"Something's wrong with Dream." Cross stated.
"..What do you mean?" Nightmare dropped the previous subject.
"While we were in the middle of doing our job, Blue entered the universe and asked to talk to Sci. He made some coffee, and then he dumped it on Sci and threatened him because something happened to Dream."
"Hm..interesting.."
Meanwhile, the Star Sanses' base was empty. Blue had gone to Sci's laboratory, Ink had gone to cause mayhem, and Dream..well, Dream had felt something. He was typically drawn to sources of high positivity, such as large festivals or big events in the AUs. Today, he had been drawn to a different source of emotion: a funeral. He knew that he shouldn't have responded to his feeling; he usually ignored them unless he was planning to go somewhere ahead of time. Today, though, with his newfound interests, he couldn't resist the thought. He sat in a nearby tree, absorbing the emotions caused by the death. Initially, he had tried to stop himself, but, after a bit of thinking, he had decided that absorbing all those emotions would have promoted positivity, since he was draining those people of their negativity! He was making them happy, and that was his job! He was just doing it a bit..differently. He had a clear conscience when the people surrounding the grave began to smile and laugh; he was helping them, after all! Dream decided not to return to the base; he had to do his job some more.
Two weeks passed. Dream hadn't gone back to the Star Sanses' base, opting to continue doing his job; it was more enjoyable to work now! Instead of occasionally failing to make someone happy, he now had guaranteed results, and he also gained power instead of losing it! There was just one problem: since he wasn't using any magic, he had built up a surplus. There was only one way he was going to get rid of his excess magic without wasting it..but that wasn't exactly morally right. He needed to get rid of it somehow, but he wasn't sure how to go about it..he decided to speak to Blue. At the moment, Blue was at home with his brother. While the taller skeleton allowed Blue to be friends with Dream and Ink, he didn't necessarily like them, and with Dream looking..how he did now..he had to see Blue in private. One note at the doorstep and the ringing of a doorbell later, Blue entered his room, finding Dream sitting on his racecar bed.
"Dream, where have you been?!" Blue wasn't happy.
"I've been doing my job, Blue!" Dream smiled. "I've been spreading positivity! I can even do it in secret, now!"
"..I see." Blue came closer, reaching into his pocket as he sat down next to Dream. "So, how are you?"
"I'm great, but I have a tiny problem."
"Oh?" Blue lifted his hand behind Dream's back.
"Well, I've gained a lot of magic, and I have nowhere to..put it, if you get what I mean.."
"Well..that's certainly a problem."
"Well, I was just hoping that, since you're my best friend, you might be willing to-" Dream paused as something passed through his goop.
"I'm sorry, Dream." Blue intended to begin using the syringe in his hand, but he hadn't been able to even start; a tentacle had ripped his hand away from Dream's back, along with the syringe that held what Sci had promised was the cure for Dream's condition.
"..Well." Dream let out a chuckle. "Last..last I remember, friends don't go around putting unknown substances into friends' souls.."
"Dream, this is for your own good!" Blue tried to pull his hand away, only resulting in the tentacle's grip increasing.
"This is all so very sudden, Blue.." Dream snagged Blue's other wrist with another tentacle as he grabbed the syringe from Blue. "I came to you asking for help..and this is what I get? A needle in my soul? Oh, Blue, I didn't peg you as the type. But I can forgive you; I may not know what this mystery drug was supposed to do, but..I don't know what this will do, either. Let's find out together, shall we?"
A third tentacle pierced Blue's soul.
"D-Dream..?" Blue couldn't struggle; that might have resulted in death. "Wh-what are you doing..?"
"It seems that you'll be helping me, after all!" Dream was too happy to be doing this. "Thank you, Blue!"
With a smirk, Dream unloaded his excess magic into his friend's soul. He knew this wasn't the right thing to do; all his years as a Guardian of Positivity had shown him that, and he certainly never would have done something like this back then. The only difference between then and now was that he didn't exactly care anymore. After his time out in the multiverse spreading positivity in his new way, he believed that he finally understood the world he lived in; it was cruel, and people like him only survived because they were protecting the populus from a larger threat than themselves. Dream knew that, without him going out and doing what he used to do, the Star Sanses weren't going to survive. Maybe he could ensure their survival, however; that all depended on what happened to poor little Blue. Once he had rationalized his actions, Dream saw no issue with giving Blue the last bits of his surplus of magic. When the deed was done, the smaller skeleton was shivering on his bedroom floor, eyelights wide in fear. Dream knelt down beside his friend, curious as to what he had done.
"Are you all right, Blue?" He asked, once the shivers slowed to occasional twitches.
"I..agh.." Blue clenched his teeth in pain, tears falling.
"Ah, I understand." Dream smiled comfortingly, beginning to stroke his friend's back with a tentacle. "I forgive you for whatever you tried to do to me, Blue; I know you didn't mean it. Friends don't hurt friends like that; you were just afraid of what I've become. But you don't have to be scared, Blue; as long as you don't die, we can be friends forever."
Blue's pain died down roughly an hour later, and the small skeleton drifted off to sleep in Dream's lap. Dream simply held him, comforting his friend as he slept. Dream hadn't intended to unload his excess magic in this way, but..he hadn't been thinking clearly. Blue had tried to do something to him, and he had just been so hurt..it had felt right, in the moment. Of course, since Blue had tried to harm him, there was no clear indication as to what Ink was going to do when he saw him..Ink probably would have mistaken him for his brother, or he might have entirely forgotten who he was in the first place. If his forgetful friend did remember, Dream was going to have to do a bit of..adjustment. Ink likely still remembered Blue, and he was good at noticing changes in personality, since he mainly used personalities to relate people with their faces; there was no doubt that Blue wasn't going to be the same after receiving that negatively-charged magic. Dream was going to have to deal with Ink later..after he determined what he had done to Blue..or perhaps not at all, if Ink managed to forget both of them. Speaking of Blue, he began to wake up after a few hours.
"Good afternoon, Blue." Dream greeted, smiling.
"Get your hands off me!" Blue glared, backing away from Dream.
"Hm.." Dream wasn't surprised; after giving his friend all that negativity, he had honestly expected something more violent. "Blue, how do you feel?"
"What kind of a question is that?" Blue scoffed. "You put something into my soul!"
"Blue, really, think about what you were going to do to me, and tell me: what's the difference?"
Blue paused to think for a moment, before letting out a small chuckle. "I..I suppose there isn't one. I guess I'm a hypocrite, eh?"
"I was only defending myself, Blue; I'm sorry for the pain I caused you. Can we still be friends?"
"..Mhm." Blue nodded, looking up at Dream. "But..what have you been doing?"
"I've just been doing my job!" Dream smiled at the subject. "I do it a bit differently, now, and it's much easier! All I have to do is absorb people's negativity, and all that's left is positive emotions!"
"..And you put all those people's negativity into me.." Blue blinked, unsure how to feel about that.
"Um..yes." Dream confirmed. "So..how do you feel?"
"Can't you sense it?" Blue snapped, but he obviously hadn't intended to, judging by his swift pause and backing down.
"Yes, but I'd like to know if you can gauge your emotions." Dream paid no mind to Blue's erratic reply.
"..I'm feeling annoyed - angry. A little sad, but mostly..really angry."
"Indeed." Dream nodded, agreeing with Blue's analysis. "I'm not sure what the long-term effects of this will be, but I expect that you'll be feeling this way for quite a while; I put a very large amount of negative magic into you."
"I see.." Blue sighed. "So..what are we going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
"Dream, I can't go out and fight bad guys like this; I feel like I'm going to murder the first person who even slightly annoys me!"
"..And I can't be seen like this.." Dream understood their problem.
"So what are we going to do?"
"..Well, what do you want to do?"
"That's not a good question to be asking right now."
"That's what I feel like doing, too. I don't think this is going to wear off any time soon, though, so.."
"..." Blue shrugged, having no ideas.
"We could always cause some mischief!" Dream grinned.
"Dream, I'd end up hurting someone.."
"..What if we..played a game?"
Blue decided that that was a good option. "All right."
Several days passed. Blue and Dream had remained hidden from the rest of the multiverse for fear of what they might have done if they were angered; after a few simple board games had turned violent, they realized that they were both easier to anger than they had been before. In addition, they realized that their newfound sadistic fantasies weren't going away; they were only becoming stronger. To combat the thoughts, they had tried substitutes, such as sparring sessions; those had only been able to keep them at bay for so long, though, and when the first person aside from themselves had entered their hiding place, the temptations had become..irresistable.
"I can't believe we did that." Blue was curled up on the ground of their small cave, a light layer of dust coating his clothes. "We..we did that.."
"We did.." Dream lay next to his friend, equally as dismayed.
"Oh, stars, we just did that.."
"Blue..we did."
"I..I can't.."
"I can't, either.."
"Dream..I feel.."
"I do, too.."
There was no denying it. They had fulfilled their sadistic wishes on an innocent Snowdrake, and when they were done, they had murdered the poor monster. The worst part about the experience was the fact that they had enjoyed every second of it. They had spent the three hours after the death coming to terms with it, and eventually, they made a decision.
"We should do it again." Blue stated.
"..Definitely." Dream nodded. "But..not on innocents."
"The Snowdrake was innocent."
"No. No, it wasn't. This is private property; it trepassed, and it felt the consequences."
"..So we do it to trespassers?"
"Yes."
"Agreed."
Trespassers weren't frequent. They sometimes went for weeks without showing up. At some point, however, they stopped coming altogether. Two months after their last trespasser, Dream and Blue were starved for entertainment; the only thing they could truly enjoy was the coming of a trespasser, and when one was gone, they became bored. One might have said that this was their lucky day; another might have been terrified. Dream and Blue stared at their newest trespasser with uncertainty.
"Blue?" He tilted his skull. "Um..it's you..right? I, um, don't remember everything about you, but..I'm, like, sixty-five percent sure you're Blue. I'm right, right? If I'm not, that'd be awkward.."
"It's me, Ink." Blue responded. "And this is Dream."
"..." Ink squinted at Dream, before grinning. "You got a makeover, Dream!"
"..Blue." Dream smiled, unable to resist his temptations, friend or not. "Let's show our guest some hospitality."
"Ooh, is this a tea party?"
"Of sorts, Ink." Blue nodded, gesturing to a chair; they had limited furniture, but they made it work. "Take a seat and stay a while!"
"Okay!" Ink sat down. "So, what type of tea are we having?"
"You'll see." Dream poured a liquid into a teacup before setting it down in front of his old friend; Ink wouldn't have known the difference, anyway.
"Aren't you having any?"
"Yes, but you must be thirsty; don't wait up for us."
"Okay!" Ink gulped down his drink. "So, what have you guys been doing since you went missing? Oh, by the way, did you know that everyone in the multiverse is looking for you? Even Nightmare's looking for you two, even though he tries to hide it! Everyone knows!"
"Interesting..tell us more."
"Okay, so I was really scared when you guys went missing, since I thought you'd been captured by Error or Nightmare, so I tried to rescue you, but Error didn't have you, and neither did Nightmare! I kinda freaked out, since, uh..since I didn't know where you were, and then I went to the judges, since they might have known where..where you were! They decided to search for you by..well, Sci said something..I don't remember what it was. We all..." Ink's eyesockets began to droop, before he shook his skull, coming back to awareness. "We all tried to find you, but we couldn't, until..until now..and I'm..I'm really tired.." Ink's eyesockets began to close. "I'm just..I'll..good night.."
Ink collapsed, and Dream and Blue smirked at eachother. They grabbed him, with Blue beginning to tie him to his chair as Dream relieved him of his weapon and vials. When they were finished, Ink was at their mercy.
"Dream..?" Blue looked down. "I..do you think we should do this?"
"What, don't you want to?" Dream tilted his skull.
"I do, I really do..but he was our friend.."
"..We can't just kill him, either.." Dream pondered the subject. "We could..change him.."
"Make him see things our way." Blue nodded, grinning. "But how?"
Dream held up the artist's sash, which held the vials that gave him emotion. "We could take these away. We've seen what he's like when he's off them; he wouldn't be opposed to joining us at all!"
"Perfect." Blue chuckled. "I'll restrain him tighter; if he escapes, we won't be seeing him again."
Dream took the liberty of burning Ink's sash and emptying his vials in a random AU before returning to the hideout, just in time to see Ink wake up.
"Oh, hello, Ink!" He smiled.
"Morning.." Ink woke slowly, taking a minute before realizing the situation he was in. "Um..I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that something happened while you two were gone.."
"Yep!" Blue giggled.
"Don't worry, Ink; you'll change, too!" Dream comforted. "We just have to do some waiting!"
And they waited. The effects of Ink's vials typically took about a week to run out if he took his correct dosages, but he rarely did that, usually overdosing or underdosing every time. As the days passed, Ink's moods changed. In the beginning, he had been uncertain about what was going on, but on the third day, he had managed to figure it out.
"L-let me go!" Ink struggled frantically against his bonds, to no avail. "I need my emotions!"
"Don't worry about your vials, Ink; I made sure to shatter every last one of them!" Dream smiled. "You aren't getting them back; you should accept that."
"N-no, please let me go!" Ink wept, struggling harder; if he managed to escape, he could have created new vials and filled them up before he lost everything!
Blue simply added more restraints when he managed to break something. By Ink's fifth day in captivity, his struggles had ceased, and he was now focusing all his energy on conserving the insignificant amount of emotions he still had left. Eight days after his arrival, Ink's emotions finally slipped away, and he was left a blank slate.
"Hello, Ink." Dream greeted, once the other's emotions died out.
"Hello, Dream." Ink stared at Dream blankly, his voice monotone.
"How do you feel about helping us fulfill our desires?"
"..." Ink's mind took a moment to process the question. "I don't."
"Well, Ink, you're our friend, and friends help eachother. You're supposed to help us, since you're our friend."
"My duty is to protect the alternate universes."
"Well, that's what we're doing, too! We're protecting them from themselves. People in AUs can be awfully stupid, and we need to..keep them in line."
"I don't understand."
"We're going to go into AUs and torment the civilians."
"I cannot participate in that."
"Why not?"
"It threatens the alternate universes."
"No, it doesn't; it shows them the consequences of bad actions, and it compels them not to perform those actions. It keeps them safe."
"..." Ink pondered the statement; without emotions and moral values, anything could have been presented to Ink in a good light. "Explain further."
"Well, while being tormented might hurt them temporarily, it'll also show them how bad people behave, and it will deter them from performing those actions; it's a teaching moment in their lives, and it will ultimately improve their quality of life! It'll just hurt a little while it's happening!"
"..I understand. This is good for the alternate universes. You want me to help you."
"Yes, we want you to help us."
"Very well." Ink gave a sharp nod. "I will assist you in improving the quality of life in the alternate universes."
"Good." Dream untied Ink, who collected his weapon promptly.
"Dream.." Blue pulled Dream to the side. "I thought we weren't going to hurt innocents.."
"Oh, Blue, we won't be; they're learning souls who need to be shown how not to behave. This will help them!"
Blue grinned, the rationalization clearing his conscience. "Let's go help some people, then, shall we?"
"Indeed, we shall."
Nightmare was freaking out. Dream, Blue, and Ink had just attacked - attacked - an AU! That wasn't how life worked! Those three were supposed to be protecting the AUs, not burning them to the ground! Nightmare and his gang were the ones who were supposed to cause terror and mayhem! Not Dream! The twenty-four hours after the attack had been the most stressful, and they had ended with Nightmare and his gang at the head of a table of judges.
"This is the stupidest thing the world has ever seen." Nightmare stated. "Would anyone like to explain to me what exactly happened to my brother? I believe this all started with him, correct?"
"I can explain.." Sci sighed. "We were experimenting with your..coating. By combining it with different compounds, we had hoped to find a cure for..you. The samples were injected into Dream's soul, since we thought he could fight them off."
"..You're all idiots, you know that?" Nightmare deadpanned. "This stuff comes off with soap and water; it comes back within twenty-four hours. How did you actually not try that?"
"..You mean that isn't what makes you evil?"
"Of course not!" Nightmare scoffed. "What, did you just assume this is some sort of solid evil corruption?"
"..."
Nightmare cackled. "You did!"
"So much for intelligent scientists!" Dust laughed.
"I bet they wouldn't touch it with their bare hands!" Killer laid a hand on Nightmare's shoulder before flailing dramatically. "Oh, no, I touched the evil goop! I'm gonna die! Someone put me in quarantine, oh, stars!"
"Well, we were just trying to be safe!" Sci huffed.
"All right, what part of injecting a negatively-based substance into my brother's soul was 'safe'?" Nightmare inquired. "Do you even realize the consequences we're all going to face, now that there's no active Guardian of Positivity?"
"Weren't you trying to kill him?" Classic thought.
"Yes, but that was over twenty years ago; I've regained a considerable amount of my sanity since then, you know. I haven't tried to kill my brother since then, either."
"..So what are the consequences?" Outer didn't know.
"Hm..I'm not entirely sure, myself, but, if I had to guess, I would say that we're all in danger..with the Protector on their side, we're certainly not protected. I believe that positive emotions will become scarce, and people are going to begin feeling much more negativel on a regular basis."
"So what are we going to do?" Sci questioned.
"We.." Nightmare muttered, growling at the word. "If it was just my brother, I'd probably take my gang leave all the rest of you to die, but the Protector is significantly more of a threat, and I'm afraid I can't do that, now..but I'm certainly not going to be your babysitter; I already have four idiots to keep alive as it is. I don't know what your former protectors did for you, and, quite frankly, I couldn't care less. I will not respond to meaningless cries for attention, I will not be bothered to perform menial tasks, and I will not be held up to any standards you may have put in place before. I will do my best to keep you alive if and when my brother and his friends seek to end your pitiful lives, and if you die anyway, that's your fault. My only interest is getting this world back to the way it's supposed to be, and when that happens, we will forget that this ever happened and get on with our lives. Am I understood?"
"..I want Dream back!" A different judge whined.
"Well, you should've thought about that before using him in your idiotic science experiments."
"You're going to protect us, now?" Fell grasped.
"Unless you'd like to tangle with two Guardians and a crazed swap Sans, yes."
"..Okay."
It had been a bit awkward when Nightmare and his gang had first responded to a call for help, of course; the multiverse's second most notorious villain didn't typically don a hero's life (except for his boys, but that was different). Silence had reigned as the two groups stared eachother down on what was soon to become a battlefield..before Blue burst into laughter.
"Y-you!" He cackled. "Oh, this is great!"
"Wow, brother, I didn't expect you to show up!" Dream chuckled at Nightmare's glare. "Aww, don't you like being the good guy?"
"Dream, let's just clarify one thing: if you had decided to refrain from being an idiot for once, we wouldn't be in this situation." Nightmare stated. "But you chose to be an idiot anyway, and now we're here. If you would just stop being an idiot, we could go back to normal, and you could continue to be your do-gooder self, only covered in goop this time; it comes off in the shower, if you don't like the sound of that."
"Oh, brother, where's your old fire? I thought you liked to watch the world burn!"
"So, how long is it gonna take for him to get back to normal on his own?" Horror whispered.
Nightmare sighed. "Let's just hope he doesn't take over five hundred years like I did and leave it at that..if we think positively, we might be able to get the guess down to twenty years."
"Do we have to fight like sissies now?" Killer hoped not.
"Of course not - now that they're being more idiotic than before, I expect you to hit them at least twice as hard."
"Thanks, boss!"
"Are you even listening to me?!" Dream had been performing one of his very first evil monologues, and it hadn't even been good enough to find a tiny place on Nightmare's evil monologue rating scale.
"No." Nightmare responded.
"Ugh!"
Thus, the Fallen Stars were born.