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Chapter Text

[Start Chapter]

Error walked out of a portal and into his 'home', cracking sounds echoing at every step he took and dust falling from his bones, but his glitches keeping him from completely dusting. - He came back from another fight against Ink, but of course he was the only one damaged from it as, despite all the power Fate gave him, they wouldn't allow him to even scratch their precious child, meddling and blocking Error's magic when he tried attacking Ink, making it hard for Error to fight back against the creator -The reason for that is because in his insane years when he first became- when he was forced to become the god of Destruction and Destroyer of Universes, Error tried killing Ink many times, hatred and insanity taking over. And all the pain Fate inflicted on him as punishment for daring to hurt their one and only true child only made Error feel more hatred and anger as all his suffering was because of that damn creator. So Fate found a way to finally keep him under control by messing with his magic, the power they gave him, turning it off and on as they pleased, keeping the glitch under their control like a leash on a mad dog. With that Error redirected his hatred and anger towards the others, destroying AUs non-stop. But eventualy as eons passed by, his anger and hatred left him and regret and guilt took over, his insanity molded into something new, yet still insane, as he nedded a justification, a reason to keep going, to keep him from finally completly breaking. He shut off his emotions, so it would hurt less. Ignoring the screams and cries for mercy. Like a coward. - And as if that wasn't enough sometime Fate would block his magic when Ink attacked him so he couldn't defend himself, laughing as he got hurt, and turning the battle completely one-sided. - Error sat on the cold floor of the Anti-void, holding in his lap a box where he kept his knitting material. He put on his glasses before picking up the needles and staring blankly at them.

"...WHat shOulD I mAke noW?" Error wondered, looking up at his collection. He already had a puppet of every Original AU's Sans, and more than one of the AUs he liked the most but was forced to destroy. Most of the AU's were all copies, Error never understood why Ink would make so many copies. 

His eyes wandered up at the puppets, until they landed on a puppet of Ink. He realized something... There was even a puppet of Ink but not one of himself. He never made a puppet of himself. Until now the thought of it never crossed his mind, maybe because he doesn't consider himself a Sans? Or perhaps because looking at a puppet of himself would only remind him of how ugly he was.

Error spaced out for a moment before he picked the black yarn and began making the puppet.

Strangely enough, Ink hasn't been creating anything for some hours since their last battle, giving Error some free time, hopefully enough for the broken bones to reattach and the worst wound to heal. Even the voices were quiet. Error was grateful for the unusual peace but somehow he couldn't shake off this bad feeling, that this was the calm before the storm, a big painful storm. Error was just about to finish the puppet, the only thing missing was the face. He used a white button and a multicolored button for the eyes, then proceed to making the tear marks, making him realize how sad and broken the puppet looked. Error looked at the small lifeless version of himself, it was only missing the mouth. - He would always make a happy smile on the puppets he made of the Sanses he killed, as a way to redeem himself, in his delusional mind it was like giving them eternal happiness, as an apology after killing them. - Error blankly stared at the puppet. He didn't deserve happiness, he gave up on it a long time ago. He will never be happy in this life. And he knows Fate will never alow him to finally die. Error snapped out of his thoughts and noticed his sight was blurry - weird, he was sure he was wearing his glasses. - Error brought a hand to his face, feeling his glasses on.

He brought the glasses down believing they might be broken or something and as he looked down at them he felt a drop hit his hand, and another one.'...Uh?' He reached hand up to his face once again, only to feel his cheek was wet, and tears dropped from his chin. His eyes widened in shock, causing more tears to fall.

'No...nonononono- stop!' Error violently grabbed his own face, letting the glasses fall on the floor and break. He clenched his teeth, fear and despair taking over his mind. 'Why now? It was fine until a second ago, so why does it hurt so much. I already gave up! I don't care anymore! Dreams and hope is not something I'm alowed to have! So stop!' He mentally scolded his weak self, tightening the grip on his face, trying blocking the tears, but despite his atempts to stop them tears keept falling from between his fingers. '...Please... Stop...' He curled up, knocking down the box and everything inside fell out all over the floor. He stood like that for a moment, curled up, sobbing in his hands. Before finally raising his head.

"I sAid... STOP!" Error violently hit his forehead against the cold floor, a sickening crack echoed in the emptiness of the white prison. Then the sound of voices laughing at him.

Error lifted his head, the last tears stuck in his sockets fell before they completely stopped. He stared blankly at the bloodstain left behind on the white floor.

"...iT seEms i doN't hAve comPLete contRol ovEr mY eMotiONs yet." He said without any emotion, before getting up, not even bothering to wipe the tears as they would eventualy just dry out, they always do.

Error picked up the knitting material from the floor and put them back inside the box, before picking up his broken glasses. - Great, now he needs to get a new pair. It's really hard to find the right type of glasses for his eyesight, not to mention he'd need to find a AU where the monsters are free on the surface or where the monsters where never sealed in the underground, and steal the glasses from some store, avoiding the surveillance cameras. It would be a pain in the ass if Ink found out he has bad sight and tries to use that weakness against him. - It will be annoying to sew or knit without his glasses, he can barely see a needle in front of his face for fucks sake. 

'how troublesome...' He sighed. Whatever, he can just open a small portal and steal before anyone can notice, and if there are witnesses he can always pretend to destroy the AU. 

Error glanced at the puppet of himself on the floor, having already forgotten about it. He picked it up and stared at it. He can't finish it for now. He put the puppet in his pocket before he opened a small portal to the codes of the Multiverse - The Anti-void was like the spaces between the AUs, only the two gods could enter -and apparently the parasite too-, it was as big as the multiverse itself and linked to it directly. So there Error had access to all the Multiverse's codes. How many AUs there were, how many copies of each AU, every timeline, pacifist, neutral or genocide. How far the distance between them, how big or old they were. That's how he knew which AUs to destroy. It made his job much easier, but in no way less painful. - Error searched for an AU where the monsters where currently on the surface. But as he was looking through the codes, Error felt a sharp pain in his SOUL. Ink had created a new AU, again. Soon the voices began screaming at him, telling him to go do his job.

He growled annoyed and closed the small portal and opened a bigger one to the new AU. - It was easier and faster to destroy the newly created AUs as they were smaller and less developed. Not only that, it's inhabitants were just created and had no real attachment to life yet, even if they were copies, sharing the same past and memories as their original, they would merely be fake memories implanted in them. It makes it less painful for Error to kill them.

"tIMe TO woRK." Error sighed before he jumped through the portal.

[New AU] ---

As soon as Error landed on the AU, he felt a big wave of magic. He tensed up and looked around wearily, then his eyes widening at the sight before him. This AU... was so beautiful. - Magic blowed from all directions like the wind, although Error could feel its poisonous nature, it seemed to give life to every living thing. The trees had weird but pretty shapes and its leafs shining in neon green, and so did the grass -some curly while others shifted dancing in the wind-, and flowers shined delicately in the moonlight while in the shadows they glowed neon with a poisonous-like glint. The sky was in different shades of purple, pink and blue, and despite the light colors the stars and planets where very well visible and sparkling like jewels each one with different color lights. The full moon was enormous and it felt like you could easly touch it if you jumped high enough, majestically shining in its silvery light. And the living creatures... although this seemed to be the surface, Error couldn't see a single animal, human, or even monsters, at least not the usual ones, no, instead he saw creatures he never saw before, and he already knew all kinds and races Ink had ever created, which means this time Ink created whole new species, similar to monsters as Error could feel they were made of magic yet far too different at the same time. Especially with their mystical nature and mythical appearance. Some looked fairy-like and delicate yet poisenous while others looked fierce but knew to keep distance from one with more powerful magic than their own. - It was like a wonderland. It was so different from what Ink usualy creates -when he isn't creating copies-, Ink usualy follows the same patterns, making only some changes from the original Undertale to see how the story develops and how it changes the flow of the story, or making bigger changes like completely rewright the plot but never wandering too far from the original, and keeping always the same monsters. But never a full make over.

Error wondered what inspired Ink to suddenly create something like this, whatever it was must've been something incredible. 

He didn't want to destroy it. He opened a small portal to the codes of the AU, 'Deathtrap' was its name. Error snorted 'Heh when he finally creates something good after so many years, he names it this?' But it kinda made sense, Error could feel how deadly this AU was, not only the magic in the air but also the creatures. A normal monster would easly be eaten up, even the smallest of this creatures had stronger magic than a regular grown up monster.

Error closed the small portal and he tried to open a portal to leave this AU, but it didn't work. He frowned and tried again, still nothing happened. 

'Damn you Fate. You won't even let me chose not to destroy something.' He growled, he really didn't want to destroy it.

"FiNe... Its a shaMe thO." Error lamented with a sigh. And looked at the beauty around him with pity in his eyes. "It reaLly iS beaUtIful. I hOpe iNk crEates oNe of THese agAiN." He said as he began killing the creatures without mercy. 

[Some minutes before] ---

"Done!" Ink said satisfied looking at his well done work. 

This AU as the name said was a deathtrap, a deadly trap created to finally stop Error and his destruction. Everything in it was designed to be deadly, the living things and especially the magic in the air - it was like poison for beings that are not purely made of magic unlike its inhabitants, such as humans or monsters which were mostly made of magic but not completely. - Error may be powerful but he is still a Monster, if exposed for too long to this toxic atmosphere it will damage him and affect his magic, including the ability to make portals, that would probably be the first thing to be affected - opening a portal requires a big amount of magic, that's why not everyone could do it, the farther the destinations the more magic will be used.-  Error will be locked inside, unable to escape as the AU crumbles on him after he destroys it's codes. He'll be condemned to suffer in the VOID, scattering across time and space for all eternity, as being inside an AU while it dies means falling into the VOID.

At that moment Ink will offer to save Error if he promises to never ever destroy again! if Error doesn't agree then... Anyway! And just incase the destroyer somehow manages to escape - Ink is not going to take any risks, Error is really unpredictable and full of surprises, Ink has seen him survive things that would kill any boss monster, things thought to be impossible to survive, like he was immortal or something - so they thought ahead, if Error escapes the AU, they will be ready for him, with an army, and he will be weak after being affected by the Deathtrap.

"A genius plan!" Ink bragged out loud even though this plan wasn't even his - he originally planned to just create an empty AU as bait and wait inside with hundreds of Sanses and Papyruses for Error to come destroy it and then they would ambush him, but that plan was rejected as many judges where afraid and insecure, they were gonna face the frickin god of Destruction after all - Archerotale Sans was the one who proposed the idea of instead making a trap AU from where Error couldn't escape and let him suffer in the VOID after he destroys the AU. But then Classic Sans though that was too cruel and said they should at least give Error a chance to explain to everyone why he destroys. Although Ink already knew the reason why, he also thought that they should give Error a second chance. And thus the plan was formed.

Sure the idea wasn't Ink's, but he did all the work. It's not easy to come up with ideas for a deadly trap AU, and much less a way to make it so Error couldn't leave and be stuck inside the AU - he kinda had science Sans help him with that part. - Ink spent hours working on it, so most of the credits goes to him, obviously.

That being said, Ink didn't bother to name the new creatures he created. This AU was simply a bait, a trap, and Error will destroy it eventually but its sacrifice won't be in vain. Today Error will fall.

As ink finished the final details, the AU came to life, and he decided to leave before the toxic atmosphere affected his magic and locked him inside. 

Ink took a last look to admire his creation as it would soon be sacrificed, before he opened a portal to where the others were waiting and left.

[Dreamtale] ---

Ink and hundreds of judges waited in Dreamtale, watching the Deathtrap AU through a big one-way portal -big enough for everyone to see-, waiting for Error to show up and destroy it. And it didn't take long for a glichy portal to open and the destroyer stepped out of it.

'This is it. I win Error. It's over.' Ink felt his non-existent soul dance in excitement and feeling of victory. Finally, after this, Ink will finally be free to create as much as he wants without worrying his creation might be killed. No more deaths, no more destruction.

Everyone else hoped and prayed for the plan to work. Suspense in the air while they watched the destroyer standing there quiet and not moving, -like they were watching an horror movie, and waiting for the killer to make his move- and as Error raised a hand and opened a portal a loud choir of horrified gasps sounded but was soon followed by sighs of relief when they realized it was just a small portal showing a bunch of ones and zeros, and suspense took over again.

On the other hand, Ink was watching Error, mentally celebrated his inevitable victory. But then he heard a snort coming from the destroyer as he looked into the codes of the AU.

'He...' Ink's eyes widened in shock, 'He is mocking my creation! My hard work!' His eyes lights turned blood red. - That AU was a masterpiece! He worked so hard on it and he was even sacrificing it to stop Error! And yet Error is mocking it?! - Ink clenched his fists in anger.

Everyone else cheered when they saw Error trying to open another portal and it didn't work.

Ink chuckled darkly. 'Laugh while you can Error, because that AU you are mocking right now will be your doom!'

"...Its a shaMe thO. It reaLly iS beaUtIful." The destroyer's voice sounded from the portal, for everyone to hear.

'...Uh?' Ink looked at Error in shock confusion. Did he misheard? Of course he did, there's no way Error would-

"I hOpe iNk crEates oNe of THese agAiN." The destroyer said as he began killing the creatures.

Everyone watched the merciless destroyer exterminating the deadly creatures like they were mere ants. Some judges were terrified, feeling a shiver down the spine just by thinking that it could've been them if they had follow the first plan. Others while also scared were confused after what they heard, and others didn't care and were just hoping for Error to die already.

Ink stood quiet for a moment before he began laughing in shock, startling some people. - Was this some sick joke? Does Error know Ink is watching and was trying to provoke him? Error is insane after all, a merciless monster who enjoys killing and tormenting the inocent. All he wants is destruction and death! He hates AUs! It was like this since the beginning! And he is still...no, that is not right... - Ink realized something. He wasn't sure anymore, about Error's reasons. Since a long time ago Error's actions stopped making sense to him.

Error had changed, became less angry, disinterested, looking at everything as if it was boring, like he lost all motivation, yet kept killing. Ink couldn't tell what goes inside Error's head anymore. -Could he ever?

Ink stood up, pulling out his paintbrush and opened a portal to the trap AU.

Dream who was sitting next to him noticed. "Ink? What are you..."

"I need to ask Error something." Ink informed with a serious expression, getting ready to jump.

"What?! Wait Ink!" Dream grabbed Ink's scarf in panic before he could jump through the portal. "What about plan-"

"Screw the plan! I'm going in!" Ink ripped his scarf from Dream's hands and moved towards the portal.

"B-but what if you get stuck too?"

Ink paused for a moment. "Then you get me out." He said before he jumped through the portal without hesitation, the portal closing behind him.

[Deathtrap AU] ---

Error was peacefully killing every living thing in his way, hating every second of it. For once he was hoping for Ink to hurry up and come stop him already before he completely destroys this beautiful AU. Then Fate won't have a reason to keep locking him here.

He was moving as slow as he could, to give Ink time to show up and stop him already. And surprise surprise, the damn creator was late. Why can't he be this late the other times too? Error sighed. It's like Ink does it on purpose.

"Error!" A familiar voice screamed from behind him.

'Finally. Took him long enough.' Error stoped killing and turned around to look at the creator. "yES?" 

Instead of preparing to attack, Ink put away his paintbrush, looking at Error with a serious frown.

"Error, tell me. Why do you destroy?"

[End Chapter]

Chapter Text

Error blinked staring blankly at the creator.

"...WHat?" He asked as he tilted his head in confusion. 'Why isn't he attacking yet?'

Ink glared at him. "You said this AU is beautiful! You never liked any of my creations! But you said you like this one! So why are you destroying it?" He asked more like a demand. - Why now? After destroying so many of his creations. Why did Error said that?

Error blinked again as he kept staring at the creator in silence, trying to remember when he said such things to Ink. Although his confusion couldn't be seen through the emotionless expression on his face.

'As I thought, he's just mocking me! Like he always does!' Ink clenched his fists, tightening his grip on his paintbrush. 'There is no way Error would think anything is beautiful except destruction and monster dust! He hates AUs!'

Ink may be forgetful, but he could still remember how the Destroyer killed inocente Monsters and Humans without mercy, with so much pleasure and hatred in his eyes. And if he closed his eyes it felt like he could still heard them, the agonizing screams and pleas for mercy followed by that insane laughter. Ink didn't understand why Error hated his creations so much. How could he hate them. They are amazing and so interesting and- '...Beautiful.' That's what Error called this AU, not 'trash' or 'mistake', he called it beautiful.

Ink looked around him, at his creation. It was always nighttime in this AU, day would never come, but the fullmoon was enough to illuminate everything. So he could see clearly. - The silver moonlight made the poisonous magic look like glitter dancing in the wind. The deadly poisonous nature around them glowed like emeralds. And the creatures whose only purpose to existe was to kill, looked more majestic than any Monster or Human. - Ink looked at it like he was seeing it for the first time, even though he was the one who created it. 'This was meant to be an hellish AU, designed to kill the most powerful and dangerous Monster.' - Ink had designed this AU to kill anyone that stepped inside, he created all kinds of deadly stuff while letting his imagination go wild and didn't hold back, since it was going to be destroyed anyways. It wasn't supposed to be a pretty thing to see. The sky was different though, it was made to resemble the sky of Outertale, - Outer was the one who proposed this idea, saying that it would definitely distract Error long enough for the poison to disable most of his magic - although those were not stars but magic, of the same nature as the magic in the air, concentrated in the shape of stars because of the eerie gravity above the clouds. Those 'stars' were meant to fall from the sky like spears the moment it felt a disturbance in the codes. Ink kept looking around the AU, lost in his thoughs.

'...I never said that.' Error concluded after going through his memories, and focused his attention back to the creator, only to see him spacing out and looking around.

Error took this opportunity to try to leave the AU. He stealthy raised a hand to the side and tried to open a portal, but it still didn't work. Maybe he has to get beaten up by Ink first for Fate to let him out. He mentality sighed and looked around, he could see some creatures hiding after the massacre while the bigger creatures watched him warily. 'I'll try not to destroy it too much.'

Error turned to look back at Ink. The creator was now staring at him in silence like he was waiting for something. 'Let's just get this over with.' Error got into a fighting stance and summoned his strings, as a way of telling Ink to start fighting.

Ink was looking at the Destroyer, he was beginning to think that it wasn't that difficult to imagine Error liking an AU that kills anything that enters. 'Maybe if I gift him this AU he'll stop destroying? Either way he will be stuck here and stop destroying. Unless he decides to destroy this AU, then he's a goner. I have to know why he destroys before that happens though.' He thought before noticing Error getting ready to fight.

Ink frowned. "Why are you not answering my question?"

Error stayed quiet for a moment, still maintaining his fighting stance, before opening his mouth. "...wHat QueSTion?"

'Okay he is definitely making fun of me!' Ink glared at him but still asked again. "Why are you destroying this AU? Don't you liked it?"

'I'm not planning on destroying it really...' Error's plan was basically pretend to destroy, get beaten up by Ink, and leave to do his thing. -Fate would probably find a way to give him more work to do if he says it out loud though.

"yOu KNow I hAve tO. I do." Error said, he wasn't sure which of the questions he was supposed to answer so he just answered to both.

Ink looked at him with a frown, he couldn't shake off this feeling that the Destroyer was making fun of him. 'And what's that 'I do' for? No, that's not the point!'

"No, I don't know why you have to!" Ink said with a growl, but still not moving to attack. Instead he kept demanding for an explanation. "So tell me the reason you have to destroy them! Tell me what could possibly justify killing innocent people! Tell me why do they have to die when they did nothing to you!"

Error didn't answer, instead just stared at him with an emotionless expression on his face. 'Why is he asking something he already knows?' - There is only so much space in the Multiverse, and Ink was filling it up with his AUs. Without Error destroying some AUs to make space, the AUs would touch and everything would crumble. But no matter how much Error destroyed, the Multiverse was still so crowded, and Ink just kept creating more AUs. It's like Ink was curious to see what happens when the multiverse goes out of space. Or maybe Ink just doesn't care because he has Error to clean up his mess, so Ink can do whatever he wants without having to worry about the consequences. Creating life and playing with it until he got bored and created a new toy. But then why does he keep interfering with Error's job. Fighting him, and acting like he cares when he obviously doesn't. Perhaps that too was for his entertainment. A sick game of hero and villain. Forcing Error to be the villain, hurting him and pushing him to his limits because he knows Error can't stop destroying even if he wanted to. So Ink could play as much as he wants. That is the reason why Fate formed Error in the first place, so their true child could do whatever he wanted. Error was formed for Ink's sake, whether it was to entertain him, or to take all the blame and suffer the consequences for Ink's actions. - That's why he didn't understand why Ink was asking such a question, not to mention making it sound so dramatic.

Then Error felt another presence coming from behind Ink. He looked past Ink's shoulders. He couldn't see anyone but he could sense their magic, most were faint but one was much intense and painfully familiar. Error could recognize who it was, after all he has been hurt by that same magic too many times. He felt relief.

'...Oh. I see.' He felt relief after his confusion disappeared and he understood what was going on. Error was worried that Ink had become bored and decided to try a new twisted game. But that didn't seem to be the case, Ink just wanted the others to watch him as he defeated the evil destroyer.

Error mentality sighed. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, he still had to destroy at least an AU otherwise the voices won't stop screaming at him when he goes back to the Anti-void. He still needed to finish his puppet. Error reached into the pocket of his long dark blue coat, he could feel the small mouthless version of himself in his hand, he spaced out for a moment unconsciously squeezing the puppet in his pocket, before he felt a tug on his SOUL. 'I know damnit.' Error could feel Fate holding the reins on his magic, pulling and urging him to play with their child. - It might be boring for their child if Error just receives the attacks, so Fate, as the good parent they are, made sure Ink could play to his heart content, allowing Error to attack as long as he doesn't hit Ink. And if by any chance Error rebels and tries to hurt Ink, they can easily deflet the attack to another direction or just block his magic. Although, the punishment would be very very severe. Error was well aware of that, it was less painful having his bones broken and melted by Ink.

Error turned his gaze back to the impatient creator. Fate won't let him leave until Ink is satisfied. But...

"I'm sURe yOu aRe aWare thAt if The juDges DIe outSide thEIr AU tHeir coDes wiLl bE lost." Error said expressionless as he turned his gaze toward an empty spot past Ink's shoulders, where thousands of judges were hidden behind a thin wall of codes - although it was a one-way portal it was still a opening in the codes, so Error could feel their magic. - He scanned them with his piercing multicolored eye lights. 'Not to mention some of them are originals.'

"It wOuld bE bAd iF I acCidEnTally kiLl theM." He said it so coldly and emotionless that it sounded like a threat. But Error was genuinely worried that he would end up killing them, with Fate messing with his magic during the fight, it would be possible that an accident might occur where his magic attacks shots towards them - even a small attack with his destructive magic would be enough to break the thin wall of codes that separates them from this AU.

On the other side of the portal, judges gasped in shock and horror, the fear in their faces was obvious and matching their trembling bodies, although some tried to hide it but still couldn't stop their bodies from trembling in fear at the Destroyer's cold gaze. A few of them glared back, convincing themself that there was nothing to fear because the creator will protect them. But still, they couldn't stop trembling.

Ink glanced behind in their direction, before looking back at Error.

"You still didn't answer my question." He was now talking in a calmer but stern voice. When had been the last time he had an actual conversation with the destroyer?

'That again?' Error stared at the creator without responding before he turned to look back at the spot where he felt the judges' presence. - Why was he insisting so much? Does Ink want him to expose the true in front of everyone? Or maybe he was daring Error to tell them everything knowing that Ink could just make him the liar. No one would believe the destroyer over their beloved creator. Perhaps this was just so Ink could show that he was and will always be the one in control. That the Multiverse was his sandbox and he manipulated it as he pleased. And to remind Error that no matter what he did nothing would ever change. That this was his fate.

'...But then what's with that face?'

Error could see the look in Ink's eyes, he seemed so serious almost desperate even, but at the same time his eyes had a faint glint in them. Error could swear this was the first time he ever saw Ink look at him this way, but at the same time it felt that he had seen it before.

( Error let go of the crushed codes, laughing at the sight of the crumbling AU around him. But this was not enough to satisfy his anger.

He could hear sobbing from behind him. Error turned around with an insane grin.

"...Why?! Why did you kill them!! They didn't do anything to you!!" Ink cried out, tears falling from cheeks, he looked so pitifully, so desperate.

It made the destroyer grin wider.

"Because they are ugly and disgusting. Everything you create makes me want to throw up." Error looked at the creator with vicious gaze, his hatred was visible.

He couldn't kill Ink, but he had found a way to make him suffer for everything he did to him. )

Error's eyes widened in shock as the fragment of memory flashed through his mind. A memory of his insane years, most of them were foggy or forgotten, since back then he was blinded by hatred and insanity. Error looked at Ink with widened eyes.

"...yOu realLy doN't knOw... do yoU?"

"I already said I don't!" Ink repeated one more time, his voice failed a litle making him realize just how desperate he sounded, but he didn't care, the fact that Error asked back meant that Ink finally reached him. He felt his bones throbbing as if to make up for the missing beating of his non-existe SOUL.

On the other hand, Error's soul was beating uncontrollably, he was frozen in place.

Despite how chaotic Error's mind was right now, his face was as expressionless as ever, like his face had forgotten how to even express emotions after locking them away for so many eons. Error realized he never once tried asking Ink why he kept creating so much, why he kept forcing him to kill, and then call him a monster with so much disgust in his voice. But in the end Ink just didn't knew about the balance, he didn't do any of it on purpose and just genuinely wanted to save his creations.

Error felt hope, for the first time in so many years he allowed himself to dream just a little. 'It should be okay if it's just a little, right?'

The destroyer's emotionless gaze directed at him was making Ink feel anxious, then he finally heard Error's glitched voice.

"ThERe is A BalaNce betwEen CrEation aND DestRUction." Error winced in pain again the moment those words came out of his mouth. But he ignored it and continued talking. "JuSt liKE thEre is One bEtWeen liFe And dEath, pOsitiviTy aNd negAtivitY, ligHt aNd daRkNess. One caNnot exiSte witHout thE otHer. TOo mUch CreAtion witHout DEstructIon to stAbilise iT, wilL sliP tHat BaLance anD eveNTually leAd tO totAl dEStruCtion. EveryThiNg wilL bE dEstroYed to mAke Space foR nEw creaTioN." Error's body began trembling as the pain in his SOUL became worse at every word he said. But not strongly enough for Ink to notice it from the distance.

"If tHere arE too mAny AUs, thE MultIverse Will bE crOwded, tHe AUs wilL toucH eaCh otHer frOm thE lAck of sPace aNd cruMble. AUs wOuld keEp hiTting othErs iN a chaIn reactioN, aNd eveRything wouLd Be desTroyEd aNd faLl iNto tHe VOID." He kept ignoring the growing pain, and looked at Ink with a cold gaze. The moment all his emotions broke out so did his anger, even if it wasn't as vivid as before. 'I wonder how you will feel when you find out, that you are the real threat to the Multiverse. That all that blood and dust is also in your hands. That you will end up killing everyone.' Error couldn't deny that he was looking forward to see Ink's face at that moment. He continued talking.

"As lOng as yOu kEep cReatIng AUs, I MuSt keEp destRoyng to preveNt tHat fRom hAppeNing. BUt YoU juSt kEep creAtiNg tOo mucH, forcINg mE to kILl manY inNocent. I doN't do It becAuse I waNt to, bUt bEcauSe I'M forcEd bY yOu aNd FATE- k" *CRACK *

'Damn- bitch!' Error clenched his teeth, his neck bones cracked as a violent pressure wrapped around his neck. A wave of blood filled his mouth, hitting against his clenched teeth that blocked it from coming out, a thread of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. The moment Error said their name, the pain in his SOUL became almost unbearable. His hands were trembling strongly as he hid them in his pockets, he squeezed the puppet in his hand as a drop of blood fell from his chin.

'...This much should be enough.'

Error couldn't let out any more words because Fate was strangling him. He could feel how mad Fate was right now, as they abused his SOUL in all the ways they knew it hurt the most.

But Error didn't think he needed to say more anyways, Ink should know the rest. 'He should at least know about Fate. I mean, how could Ink not know about his own parent.'

Ink's eyes widened in shock after hearing everything Error said. This was the first time he heard Error speak so much and his monotone voice made it a little difficult for Ink to focus on what he was saying. But he still understood.

"...I see." Ink said as his eyes calmed down and he tilted his head. "So you are just delusional."

"...wHat?" Error's sockets widened and his eye lights shook. The blood spilled out the moment he opened his mouth and went down his chin, but the dark red blood couldn't be seen over the dark bone.

"I was worried that you destroyed my creations because you hated them. But it was just because you are insane!" Ink said with a smile, he was feeling relieved. He finally knew why Error destroyed, it was so simple. Error wasn't a bad guy, he was just doing what he thought was right. 'He thought he was saving the Multiverse.' Ink snickered.

"Creation can't cause destruction." Ink grinned, he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That's just impossible. It's the same as saying that to much happiness will cause despair. You where comparing it with positivity and negativity, right? Negativity is also not needed!" Ink explained with an enthusiastic voice, his eye lights constantly changing between colorful shapes.

Error looked at the creator in disbelief. He could hear Fate laughing as the pain in his SOUL vanished. But that pain was nothing compared to what he was feeling right now. His already fragile sanity was only hanging by a thread.

"You don't have to destroying anymore!"

Why!

Why!Why!Why!!

Error grabbed his skull tightly, not caring as blood fell from the old and new wounds. Was it fun? Torturing him, giving him a little bit of hope just so they could break him again. And this time completely. What little sanity he had left was now completely gone. He couldn't control himself anymore.

A big wave of destructive magic erupted from the destroyer's SOUL, scaring away all the creatures. His magic screamed pain, despair, anger, INSANITY.

'Fuck Fate! Fuck the Multiverse! I don't care anymore! Let them die! Let them all die!!' Error cursed Fate, he cursed their damn rules. It didn't matter if he did a good job, it didn't matter how obedient he was and never complained, in the end he would always suffer. What was the difference if he obeyed Fate or not, would they punish him some more? His pain couldn't possibly get any worse than it already is. If he was going to suffer no matter what, then he rather suffer because of his own actions instead of because of Ink's actions. Error will give Fate a reason to hurt him. From now on he will do whatever he wants. It's not like the pain will get any worse.

Error didn't care to suppress his magic anymore, the destructive magic he would usualy keep inside his SOUL and only let a little bit out. He was now letting it go wild. Letting his presence be known throughout the AU, the terrifying presence of a god of Destruction.

His destructive aura overpowered the poisonous magic in the air and pushed it away.

Error let go of his skull and raised his head.

'Ink...'

He glared viciously at god of creation. His eye lights glowed in anger and insanity, yellow and dark blue light swirling from them as they were overflowing with magic.

'I'll kill you myself.'

The moment Error took a step towards Ink, he felt a tug on his SOUL and his magic began moving against his will. '...Damn bitch.'

Ink would've fallen to his knees if he hadn't used his paintbrush to support himself. He didn't understand what was happening. One moment everything was fine and he was almost winning Error over, and the next he felt a heavy pressure hit against his bones and he felt like he was suffocating.

Ink looked towards the source of the pressure. 'Error...' He could see the vicious gaze directed at him. Ink flinched, his legs failed him and he grabbed tightly on his paintbrush to keep himself from falling.

Ink could barely breathe. The magic flowing from the destroyer felt like a snake wrapping around his neck.

Then Error began walking.

Ink's eyes widened. 'No...' He was terrified, he didn't notice his whole body trembling as he stared at the approaching destroyer. Ink began gasping for air from panic. 'Nonono! Stay away! Don't come here!'

Ink took some steps back but he stumbled and fell to the ground. He tried to get up but fell again. "Ugh! W-what the..." He looked down, his legs were shaking and be couldn't properly control them. He began to panic even more as he saw Error getting closer. Ink tried to open a portal but it didn't work. He tried again, and again. "Shit! Shit- c'mon dammit!" It wasn't working. He turned his head toward the angry destroyer.

'W-what's wrong with him! Why suddenly- Oh god- I'm gonna die! No! nononono-'

"Ink!!" A familiar voice shouted from behind him.

Ink turned around. He could see Dream holding out a hand to him from inside a portal.

Ink's trembling body automatically forced itself to its feet and began running toward the portal. He could feel the monstrous magic following behind him. So he ran faster.

[End Chapter]

Chapter Text

DreamTale was a mess, the loud voices mixing together making it hard to understand what anyone was saying, but Dream could guess what it was.

"Everyone calm down please!" Dream tried to get the attention of the Sanses and Papyruses that were all talking at the same time. Everyone had become noisy after the portal had closed just before they could hear what the Destroyer was about to say. Although no one knew if he was going to answer the creator's question or just avoid it again.

"The portal must've closed because Ink's magic has already began to be affected by the Deathtrap AU." Dream said calmly, but he was worried about Ink who was now stuck inside the Deathtrap AU too. 'Should I get him out now?'

The loud voices now became whispers.

"Can't you open another portal?" Someone asked.

"I can but not one as big as Ink's. So only a few will be able to see-" Dream stopped talking and felt a shiver down his spine. He felt a big amount of despair and anger coming from somewhere in the Multiverse. 'Did Error managed to escape and went back to destroying?' His eyes widened in worry.

"Ink!" Dream opened a portal, worried that his friend might be hurt or worse. 'I hope he is okay-'

The moment the portal opened Dream fell on his knees and forward on his hands and began vomiting magic. Only stopping when the portal closed.

He stood kneeled on the ground trembling uncontrollably. 'W-what was that monstrous amount of negativity just now? It felt like the whole Multiverse was screaming in pain and anger.'

Dream raised his head and looked up to see the worried faces of the judges 'It didn't come them, then...' He looked at the spot where he had opened the portal, his eyes widened in horror.

"Ink is in danger! We need to get him out now!"

[Deathtrap AU] ---

Error kept walking toward the creator dispite the pain Fate was inflicting on his SOUL. He then noticed Ink starting to run toward a portal so he tried to use his strings to catch him, but his magic didn't respond. He could feel his own magic acting against him. Fate had taken control over his magic once again.

Error growled, decided to give up on his magic and began chasing after Ink at full speed. He will kill Ink if it's the last thing he does, even if he has to tear him to pieces with his bare hands. He still had his speed and physical strength, he didn't need magic, Fate can keep it if they want it so badly, it didn't matter to him.

But as Error ran toward the creator he was suddenly yanked back by the neck. Blue strings were wrapped around his neck as Fate used his own magic against him. He reached to his neck and grabbed the strings, trying pulling then off, but more strings wrapped around his wrists and torso.

Still Error began charging forward again, not caring that his bones were being cut as he kept struggling against the strong thin strings wrapped around him that were trying to pull him back. Until he finally couldn't move anymore, strings were now wrapped all around his body and holding him in place - since magic comes from a monster's SOUL, the monster's magic can't harm or attack its own caster's SOUL, that's why the best Fate could do was bound Error's body or use their own influence to inflict pain on his SOUL. - Error couldn't move as he saw Dream grab Ink's hand to pull him inside the portal. Error's anger grew even more and so did the burning magic in his SOUL.

"StOp! inTerfEriNg!!" Error yelled as he fought Fate over the control of his own magic. Another wave of magic erupted from the destroyer's SOUL.

This time it reached all the judges before the portal closed. Some fell to the ground trembling, even the stronger ones were terrified. Even the god of death who had been silently watching flinched, never once had he felt such a scary amount of magic from the destroyer, not even when he cut through his bones over an over again with his Scythe.

Error's SOUL was a complete mess of magic clashing, as he tried to regain control over his magic. Suddenly he felt Fate letting go. His magic returning to him and the strings wrapped around him became loose and fell to the ground.

' Go my child, show them hell. '

Error heard a gentle voice whisper to him. He looked at his hands, his strings moved from his fingers at his command, he smirked with an insane look in his eyes.

'That's the plan.' He mentality responded to the gentle voice, not caring to question who or how. He then looked at the spot where the portal Ink ran through had closed.

'I'm coming for you Ink. Let's play one last game.'

Error lifted a hand and opened a portal.

"ThIs tIMe, it'S yoUR tuRn tO hIDe."

[DreamTale] ---

Ink fell to to ground, his body was still trembling and his legs felt numb.

'What just happened? Why did Error suddenly get mad- No... the real question is since when does Error have such monstrous magic?... Did he always had it? If so then why didn't he ever use it before? During all our fights... he could've killed me... why- Right... Error is not evil, he is only delusional, he wouldn't kill the creator of the worlds he belives to be saving-' His thoughts were interrupted by a nasty sound followed by a disgusting smell. Ink raised his head to see Dream next to him vomiting.

"...Dream?" Ink looked at him with a worried expression.

"I-I'm fine now." Dream said when the vomiting finally stopped. "Just Error's negativity was too much for me. But now that the portal is closed the feeling is weaker." Dream wiped his mouth on his glove before he got up and offered a hand to help Ink up. "At least now he is stuck in there. We should be safe."

Ink looked the direction he just came from as if he could still see Error's insane eyes glaring at him, he shook his head before looking back at Dream.

"...Yeah, this is all for the best." He said before he accepted Dream's help and got up. 'Even if Error is not evil, he is way too dangerous to be kept alive, not to mention insane which makes him all the more dangerous. At least he will be able to live in that AU he likes if he doesn't decide to destroy it... Please just stay there and don't come out.' He mentality begged.

Ink looked around, he could see the Papyruses and Sanses sighing or crying in relief. No wonder, Error really scared them with that last wave of magic. There are some who never even saw the destroyer before, those were the most traumatized by this event.

Ink took a deep breath, his hands were still shaking. 'You looked so damn scary, Error.'

'Ah...' That vicious and cold glare was sure to haunt him for some time. Ink rubbed his face before walking towards Dream who was now opening portals to send everyone back home. It would take a while to send them home since there were so many Monsters, so it was a good chance to rest and take a breath. 

But not long after, Ink heard a glitched noise and froze in place. He slowly turned around. 'No...'

Error stepped out of a glitched portal and began looking around, until he spotted Ink. The destroyer gave a smirk.

"FOuNd yOu."

Ink felt a shiver down his spine, his hands began shaking stronger but he didn't give his body time to fail him again and immediately teleported away from Error and in front of the judges.

"Everyone! Get ready to fight!" Ink ordered as he pulled out his paintbrush. Error took him by surprise last time but now he was ready -even is his body was still trembling a little- and he was not alone, he had thousands of Sanses and Papyruses by his side. Ink tightened his grip on his paintbrush. He just hoped that all of them were enough to deafet the destroyer.

'No, this many are definitely enough. I'm just overestimating him too much because I got scared.' Ink reassured himself. He had been fighting Error for years even if the destroyer wasn't fighting seriously, and he knows Error's attacks, also he has thousands of Monsters fighting alongside him. No matter how powerful Error may be, he can't possibly win against so many.

'I'm sorry Error, but it seems like I really can't let you live. Why did you have to come out? You could have lived just fine in that AU, among other beasts.' Ink raised an arm up, signaling for everyone to get ready to attack.

Judges flinched at the signal, not sure on what to do. They weren't supposed to fight in the first place, sure some came to finish off the destroyer in case he maneged to escape the Deathtrap AU but most of the Papyruses or Sanses came here only to watch the Destroyer die. Of course not every judge was here, there were those who didn't want to be a part of it, reason being either because they were afraid, or they didn't approve of such a cruel plan.

The creator noticed that they weren't responding.

"He is only one person while we are thousands! And he was also weaken by the Deathtrap AU! We can win!" Ink spoke to everyone, he needed to lessen their fear even if just a little, in this situation fear can get you killed. He remembered how he was unable to even move from fear and was almost killed by Error. That will not happen again.

The confidence and reason in the creator's words filled the judges also with confidence and gave then courage as they summoned their gaster-blasters and bone attacks. And the moment Ink brought his arm down, everyone began shooting bones and blasts of magic towards the Destroyer.

Error teleport high above the attacks, forming a web of strings below him, for him to stand on. The entire sky of DreamTale was covered by a blue strings.

The army of Monsters looked up in shock. The Destroyer looked like he was walking in midair, as the sky blue strings blended in with the blue sky making them seem almost invisible. They couldn't tell where the strings ended or how far they extended across the sky.

They began shooting attacks towards the sky. But Error easily dodged the attacks that had become slower and weaker from being shoot from a long distance and against gravity.

"Stop running like a coward destroyer! Come down and face us!" A Sans mocked, he had become more confident after seeing the Destroyer run to a high distance to avoid their attacks.

Ink frowned, he knew Error could have killed a bunch of judges from the beginning but for some reason he decided to use such a defensive tactic. 'Just what is he planning?'

"cREatoR." Error called ignoring the Sans.

Ink flinched before he looked up, he could see Error crouched down on the string-web and looking down at him

"ARe yoU nOt coMing?"

Ink looked at him socked. 'Is Error calling me to go up there? What for, to fight? Fight Error on top of his strings? Does he take me for an idiot?' Only a complete fool would fight in a place where the enemy has complete control. Ink may be oblivious to a lot of things but he understood a lot about fighting and battle strategies. He has been fighting ever since the first appearance of the destroyer so it's only natural that he has a lot of experience. 'He can't actually be expecting me to go there! That's just absurd!'

Error looked down at the creator waiting for him to come up, since he couldn't use his strings to drag him up himself because Ink didn't have a SOUL so he could just teleport from the strings. Error didn't care about the blind judges, they would eventually die when the Multiverse collapses, his target was Ink. But if he just charged at the creator the others would protect him and it could take hours to kill them all. Error doesn't know when Fate will be back so he couldn't waste too much time.

Error may have gone insane but that didn't mean he would act like a mindless beast. He was never completely sane in the first place, -ever since he existed as the destroyer at least, he didn't know what kind of Monster he was or if he even was something before that- but he never saw it as weakness, at least not in a fight, it only meant that his actions defy reason and are unpredictable, using absurd methods that sane people would never think of. That can come as an advantage actually. - Nightmare would always complain how annoying that was, every time he challenged Error to a fight, -if Error lost he would have to join the gang and help him in his quest to conquer the Multiverse. Of course Error never lost, even when Nightmare used the most unfair or cowardly tactics. Still even after every lost the guardian of negativity didn't stop challenging him everytime they crossed paths- you would think that after being surrounded by insane people Nightmare would already be used to it, but somehow Error's absurd mindset always seemed to surprised him. - Error looked coldly at the creator, his desire to kill him burning in his SOUL. 'Will you fight me or will you hide behind your creations like a coward.'

Ink was staring up at the destroyer with a frown after realizing something '...He is actually expecting me to go up there.'

"Why don't you come down instead?" Ink said knowing that Error didn't have a choice but to come down if he wanted to fight him. But he flinched when Error jumped down without hesitation.

When the judges saw that, they began throwing attacks at the Destroyer as he fell from the high distance but he dodged them and teleported to the ground.

As soon as he touched the ground, thousands of Monsters shoot gaster-blasters in Error's direction, the attacks worked together creating a big wall of magic blasts that shoot towards the destroyer not giving him any place to run to.

Error created a big wall of red bones between him and the thousands of Monsters to block the attack. The wall of bones was high and extended wide to the sides, and when he saw some of the bones crack a little from the attacks, he made another two walls of bones behind it in case they managed to break through the first or second wall.

The judges kept shooting gaster-blasters as they tried to break the wall. No one dared to stop shooting to see if the wall had fallen and if Destroyer was already dead, they just kept shooting for a long time before Ink thought it was enough.

Error listened to the long blasts with a bored expression as he moved a finger and a thin blue string descended from the sky. 'It should be about now.'

Finally the blasts stopped and Error pulled the string.

The judges finally stopped the attack at Ink's command, a cloud of dust caused by the blasts flew in front of them, making it impossible to see the other side. They were anxious as they looked at the cloud of dust that was slowly being blown away by the wind, waiting to see if the Destroyer had survived.

While they focused on that, no one noticed the string-web falling from the sky like a hunting net. Error's string-web fell on the judges and the strings wrapped around the Monsters' SOULs when it touched them, making them unable to move.

Some judges maneged to teleport from beneath the string-web before it fell on them, and were floating in the air on top of their gaster-blasters. Almost half of the army was caught and wrapped in strings.

Ink also got away in time, standing on a gaster-blaster made of black paint. He looked down at the trapped judges with widened eyes, he was astonished. 'This is not right... Error doesn't fight like this." Ink has never seen Error use this strategy before or any kind of fighting strategy at all, he would always use simple but powerful attacks. Then again Error never fought him seriously.

Ink looked towards the wall of red bones, he could see two walls of bones were destroyed but a last wall still standing.

"W-what the... he made three of those walls?" Ink stuttered in shock before he heard a glitched noise from behind him.

"INK!!" And then Dream's voice.

Ink's eyes widened-

"INK!!" Dream cried out with tears in his eyes before he rushed to catch his falling friend in his arms. He was riding on AlterFell Sans's gaster-blaster -they had brought some non-judges as healers just in case.

Dream cried as he looked at the creator, Ink was screaming in pain while holding his right shoulder as blood poured out - he had managed to dodge Error's attack barely but his right arm was cut off in the process. At least it wasn't his head, but he didn't have the time to feel glad about it as he cried from the pain.

AlterFell Sans used healing magic to stop the bleeding but he couldn't heal what wasn't there, Ink's right arm was forever lost.

'He dodged.' Error growled annoyed, he was on top of a black glitched gaster-blaster watching the crying creator with a cold gaze - he had swung the sharp red bone while aiming at the neck but Ink moved just enough to avoid it.

The cries of their creator filled the Monsters' souls with so much anger. They began throwing attacks at the Destroyer, they fear was nothing compared to the anger they were feeling right now.

Error dodged the attacks that were now fewer than last time, not caring about the dramatic scene happening in front of him. And dusting the Monsters who dared approach him.

Amidst the mess of attacks, Error saw someone trying to free the Monsters trapped by his string-web. 'That won't do.' It would be extremely troublesome if the Monsters got out and their numbers increased again. Error pulled another blue string and in an instant all the trapped SOULs were crushed by the strings wrapped around them. 'They were all going to die sooner or later anyway. It doesn't matter.'

Error looked towards the creator, he needed to hurry up and kill him before Fate comes back, but Dream had already moved Ink farther away, behind the army of Monsters. Suddenly a scythe stabbed Error from behind, going through his ribcage while cutting his SOUL in half. He stared at the blade coming out of his chest before he turned his head around to see Reaper glaring at him.

"Why won't you just die!"

Error chucked, more blood falling from the corners of his mouth.

"I wiSh I coULd. BUt thANks fOr tRyiNg." He said with a bitter smile, before he wrapped Reaper in strings and trapped his SOUL so he couldn't move.

The god of death flinched, letting go of his scythe as strings tied him up. Error turned his body around ignoring the curved blade standing out from his ribcage, and walked closer to him.

"Do yOu waNt tO hEar soMethiNg funNy? Error said as he grabbed the scythe with a hand before he pulled it out, slightly wincing at the pain. He looked at the curved blade that showed him the reflection of his insane eye lights. "A lOt Of pEopLE Hate dEAth. bUt WHen tHe MulTIveRse fiNally colLAPses evERyoNe wHo doEsn't dIE in thE ProcESs wilL fALl inTo tHe VOID, an eNd worSE thAn dEath." Error said moving his gaze toward the god of death who was looking at him with confusion and fear.

"At that moMent alL oF tHem wiLl dEsire dEAth bUt Will nEver hAVe iT." Just like he has been all this years, unable to die dispite how much he longed for it. 'Wouldn't that be interesting to watch.' Error tilted his head down to look at Reaper, getting closer until their foreheads almost touched and looking him in the eyes.

Reaper jerked his head trying avoiding the Destroyer's intense gaze. "...What are you talking about-"

"DeAth iS MErcy."

Reaper froze, he looked up at the Destroyer with widened eyes. The Destroyer then gave him a broken but gentle smile before talking again.

"YOu briNg mERcy tO thE suFferIng soUls... aT leAst moSt Of thEm. NOt eVEryoNe feArs dEath, soMe evEr crAve fOr iT."

Reaper stared in shock at the Destroyer whose eyes seemed so sad and broken when he said that. He then noticed the Destroyer shift the scythe in his hand and holding it correctly as if he was going to use it.

"I wilL giVe YOu thAt meRcy." The Destroyer said, making Reaper flinch.

Reaper's eyes widened more when he saw the Destroyer raise up the scythe while looking him in the eyes, then the scythe came swinging his way. Reaper could only watch in shock and fear as the blade came in his direction, but the scythe stoped before it could cut him and the Destroyer began vomiting blood, letting go of scythe that fell all the way to the ground below.

Error growled bringing a hand up to his ribcage. His SOUL that had been cut in half wasn't healing, it usually attaches itself back together even after being ripped to pieces, but this time the two halves weren't reattaching. Not only his SOUL, it was the same with the cut across his ribs that was made by the scythe, nothing was healing anymore. Did Reaper cause this? Did he somehow find a way to kill him?

'Does that mean I'm finally dying-'

' HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU HURT MY CHILD!! '

Error's eyes widened, it wasn't that he was dying but that Fate wasn't allowing him to heal to cause him more pain. 'No! Not yet! I haven't Killed him yet!'

Error immediately charged towards the army of Monster, trying to reach Ink but the gaster-blaster stopped obeying halfway and his two halves of a SOUL were being teared into smaller pieces. Error vomited more blood, falling to his knees.

Everyone looked at the Destroyer in shock, one moment he was suddenly charging at them and the next he fell down vomiting blood. They snapped out of their shock when they heard a loud voice shout from behind them.

"Now! This is our chance! Everyone attack!!" Dream, who was watching over the unconscious creator, immediately gave the order as soon as he saw their chance to defeat the destroyer.

Thousands of Monsters began shooting gaster-blasters at the Destroyer, this time he didn't create a wall of bones or even teleported out of the way and was hit by the blasts of magic.

The blasts lasted longer than the time they shoot at the red wall of bones. Everyone was hoping for the Destroyer to finally die this time.

When the blasters finally died out, their souls stopped beating at what they saw and their faces twisted in fear and horror.

The Destroyer had survived. He was glitching badly and so much dust falling from his bones that it could be seen from the distance, and his right arm, the destroyer's right arm was missing. But he was alive.

Everyone froze, staring in shock and fear at the Destroyer.

But no one could see the thin blue string hanging the destroyer by the neck to keep him up, before letting go of him and Error fell from the sky.

Error's body hit the ground with a cracking sound, but the broken bones reattached as his body began healing slowly. He slowly got up, his body making a cracking sound at every movement. When he stood up, he looked at his missing arm. '...How childish.' He scoffed at Fate, before looking up at the spot behind the army, at the creator. 'What now... I can't go up there without magic.

As soon as the army saw the Destroyer get up and look in their direction, they panicked and one after another they began shooting gaster-blasters again.

This time it lasted for about an hour.

But not a single scream of pain came from the Destroyer. That made them even more worried, they couldn't tell if the Destroyer was even there, but they didn't dare to stop shooting, and it went for some more hours.

They began getting tired. And when they were starting to think that it was enough and the destroyer might already be dusted, was when they finally began hearing the Destroyer's glitched screams.

Error couldn't take the pain anymore, he couldn't hold back his screams anymore. He screamed, cried and begged for them to stop, he knew they wouldn't, but still he kept begging for mercy. He wanted the pain to stop, he didn't care about killing Ink anymore, he will be obedient this time, he will do his job right without complaining, so please! please make it stop! Make it STOP!! PLEASE STOP! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! ITHURTS!I7H4RT2!1786472!1786472!1786472!1786472!!

But the pain didn't stop, on the contrary. After hearing the Destroyer's screams they began shooting even stronger, even longer. 'Doesn't he ever die?' 'Why won't he just die!' 'Just die already' 'Die!' They wanted him to finally die, but the screams were proof that the Destroyer was still alive.

The judges finally ran out of magic and were too tired to keep attacking. The attacks finally stopped, but not the destroyer's screams.

Error kept crying and screaming as his body still felt the pain, but it was different now, he could move, he could use his magic. He immediately opened a portal below him and fell in, the portal closed.

Error fell on the white floor of the Anti-void with a crack, he stood there on the ground, curled up, crying in pain for what seemed like hours until the pain became bearable.

Then he stood quiet, lying on the floor and blankly looking up at the puppets and SOULs.

A loud broken chuckle echoed in the emptiness of the Anti-void. "I doUbt INk wilL bE abLe tO creAte anytHiNg fOr a wHile." He forgot to say it in his mind and felt a stab in his SOUL. Error began laughing hysterically, this pain was nothing compared to that hell.

'Fine! This is good too! Let Ink die by his own hand then!'

Error snorted before he got up and opened a portal to the VOID. A blue strings slid around his neck but he ignored it.

'Now I really am completely alone, I don't have anything left here...'

He took a step towards the portal, more strings formed and tried pull him back, but he kept walking against them, until he was at the edge. He looked into the darkness, he could feel the VOID trying pull him inside as if it was calling for him. He jumped in.

Chapter Text

He whimpered as the warm and gentle touch disappeared leaving only the cold, but the sound of his cries didn't came out, in this void where nothing exited.

He cried from the unbearable pain as he was being ripped into small pieces, but no sound came out of his mouth.

His mute cries only stopped when all that was left of him was his scatered codes in the darkness.

'Now, be reborn my precious child.'

The voice softly hummed and with a gentle touch the codes were carefully put back together and it began taking form.

He was brought back to existence, his soul beating slowly and peacefully like never before. And his pain was now gonne, all of his pain.

Scatered codes of a forgotten AU that had long ago fallen into the VOID were gathered in one spot and brought back together until it took the shape of a colorful sphere.

The sphere was brought closer as if to introduce it to him. Although he could not see it, but only feel the warmth of the life within it.

He felt a cold yet soft touch on his forehead, before the comforting blanket of darkness around him began to fade away. His soul jumped in fear as once again the gentle feeling was leaving him. He whimpered, this time the sound came out.

His face was hit by a soft wind.

Sans's eyes shot open at his brother's voice. He abruptly sat up but had to use a hand to keep himself from falling back down. He groaned, his whole body felt numb and his head felt dizzy and was hurting, like he had been asleep for a whole week.

When the dizziness went away, he raised his head and looked around only to see his usual messy room. He let out a sigh of relief before letting his body fall back on the soft bed. "...It was just nightmare."

A string of light entered his room through the window, hitting his face. 'Warm.' It felt warm, weird. 'What time is it?' He turned his gaze toward the wall clock. 7:56am. He frowned.

Sans got up from the bed and walked toward the window, he opened the curtains completely letting the light inside. It was morning and the sun had yet to rise from behind the horizon, but somehow it still felt warm. Rather, it felt like it was his first time in a long time experiencing any kind of warmth, and his body happily welcomed even the weakest bit of it. "Was I freezing at night or something?" He whispered to himself looking around him with a weird feeling.

The morning light, the warmth, his messy room, everything so felt strange to him, like he hasn't felt or seen them in a long time. But he knew that couldn't be true, he still remembered the day before clearly with every detail. And today was...

"Shit... I'm gonna be late again." Sans realized what day was, and got dressed in a hurry, forgetting the questions and worries he had just a second ago.

Today the Guild had called all the adventurers to gather at the capital's square. If he remembered correctly, the Guild Master wanted to announce some new Safe Routes recently discovered by some high rank adventurers. Of course, no one was forced to attend, but you see, Safe Routes were pretty convenient for someone as lazy as Sans, who didn't want to encounter a big troublesome Beast when walking through the Cursed Forest and have to fight it. So he had to attend the meeting.

"Sans!" His brother called again.

Sans hurried down the stairs while dressing his hooded robe. As soon as he reached the living room he saw Papyrus already dressed in his armor, waiting for him with his arms crossed and an annoyed expression.

Sans let out a nervous laugh. "It's fine, I can make it just in time if I take a shortcut-" He was interrupted by a knock on the door. The two brothers turned their heads toward the door.

"A visitor? At this hour?" Papyrus asked before looking at his brother. Sans shrugged as to say that he too wasn't expecting anyone.

Papyrus walked to the door and opened it, but he couldn't see anyone. So he took a step outside and looked to the sides, but he could only see some people far away. 'It might be just a silly prank-' His thought was interrupted by a soft cry. Papyrus looked down, his eyes widened.

"Bro? Who's at the door?" Sans asked, walking towards his brother, who was frozen like a statue at the entrance.

"...I'm not quite sure." The taller skeleton answer as he crouched down before getting back up.

Sans frowned in confusion. "What do you mean you're not sure?" He asked again, walking faster and stoped at the entrance next to Papyrus. Sans looked oustside, but he couldn't see anyone.

"Oh, his name is Bliss." Papyrus spoke the name of their visitor. Which only made Sans even more confused as he still couldn't see anyone.

Sans turned to look at his brother with a questioning look. "Who-?" He stoped before finishing his question and his eyes widened.

In his brother's arms was a sleeping babybones, softly whimpering and weakly moving around underneath a dark blue blanket with stars, that resembled the starry night sky. The baby's bones were black and blue tear marks ran down their chubby cheeks, making it look like they were crying. The child's appearance was pretty interesting, but not as much as the familiar feeling coming from them. It was a nostalgic feeling and reminded Sans a little of his strange nightmare.

Sans snapped out of his trance when he heard his brother's voice.

"All it says is that his name is Bliss, and to take good care of him." Papyrus said while flipping the paper in his hand, looking to see if there was any information he had missed. But he really couldn't find anything else writing on it. "I believe it's from the baby's parents."

Papyrus tilted his head down to look at the babybones, he was very cute and small, and looked so fragile. Papyrus felt like he needed to protect him from any harm. He smiled softly, rocking the whimpering child in his arms.

"Then I guess we don't have a choice."
Sans shrugged with a lazy smile. He also liked the idea of being an uncle, he missed when Papyrus used to be small and cute, following him around and innocently smiling at him. His brother had been literally the only reason Sans worked so hard without sleep since he was very young, so that nothing would be missing to his brother. But when Sans finally became an adventurer, Papyrus had already grown up and was training to become a knight.

"We need to fill up some adoption papers first."

Then he was pulled into a gentle embrace, it felt cold but safe. It made him calm down. He snuggled closer wanting more of this comforting feeling, a last hiccup came out before he calmed down and his crying became silent whimpers. Error had never felt so peaceful and relaxed before, - he couldn't afford to, the moment he let his guard down he would get attacked and tortured. He didn't have a safe place, a place where he could rest and relax a little, not even his 'home' the Anti-void with the voices' constant verbal abuse and psychological torture.

'Feels nice...' His breathing was soft and his soul beating was so peaceful. He slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh, you're awake." A Papyrus smiled at him gently.

Error's eyes widened in shock and confusion. '...Why is a Papyrus is holding me?' He tensed up, as if he wasn't relaxed in the tall skeleton's arms just a second ago. He stared at Papyrus, lost in his confusion, trying to figure out what was happening, so he didn't notice as another presence approached him and was startled by a low voice. "Heya kid." He froze, before he turned his head to towards the voice, only to see a Sans greeting him with a lazy smile.

Error's soul began pounding violently, and his breathing became faster. 'No! Not again! No more pain! Please no more!' He began panicking, a loud hysteric child-like cry came out of his mouth instead of his begs for mercy, but he couldn't tell the difference.

"Sans! You scared him!" Papyrus scolded his brother, rocking the babybones in his arms to calm him down, but it didn't seem to be working.

"I-I didn't do anything." Sans started to panic, all he did was say hi, he didn't know what could've possibly scared the kid so much.

"Please calm down, Bliss. Sans is your uncle, he won't hurt you." Papyrus said with a calm voice even though he was also panicking, he was sure raising his voice was not the solution. He kept rocking the small child in his arms with comforting words, not sure if a baby would even understand him.

Lies, Error didn't believe those kind words, it was most likely a trick, everyone always hurts him. His cries became louder as he tried to escape, but all he could do was flailing his arms and legs. 'Why! Why can't I move!' Did they broke his bones to such an extent that he couldn't even move anymore? He became even more scared. His fear of pain ironically gave him a sense of pain throughout his whole body, even though he wasn't really in any physical pain at all. And as his mind was a panicking mess, his body automatically activated his magic as if it had just now realized he could use magic.

Error escaped by teleportation, without a destinations in mind. And as soon as his surroundings changed he felt tired, he had only used a little amount of magic for a simple teleportation, but he was feeling tired already.

His mind was still in panic and his soul still beating fast, but he began to calm down at the sight in front of him. He was laying on his back, facing the colorful sky, he could see a faint crescent moon losing its presence as the sky became lighter, and a few faint stars, the blue sky mixing with yellow and changing to a reddish color as it got closer to the horizonte, where the red sun peeked from behind. Error turned his head towards the reddish side of the sky, watching the sunrise. It was beautiful.

He stood like that for a moment, watching as the sun slowly come out, until he was completely calm and came back to his senses. He began evaluating the situation.

'...It seems I teleported outside.' For some reason he couldn't move his body, so he turned his head to the sides to see where he was, since that was the most he could move right now. He could see roofs of houses and buildings, a big castle, and at a longer distance beyond tall and long walls he could see a big forest that extended far to the horizonte and seemed to be surrounding them from all directions. His vision was limited and couldn't see where he was lying right now, but he could tell he was at a very high altitude.

After evaluating his surroundings and making sure there wasn't any danger, Error focused on his biggest question right now. 'How did I survive? Or rather, Why aren't I in the VOID scatered across time and space?'

He didn't understand how he got out of the VOID. Did Fate pull him out to continue his painful job? Was it really impossible for him to run away from his fate? Error felt a pain in his soul at that realization, and his sight became blurry. The blurry vision annoyed him since he couldn't properly see the fading moon, so he raised a hand to wipe away whatever it was that was obstructing his view.

'...What?' Error looked up at his hand in confusion. It could be that he was seeing wrong because of his blurry vision, so he rubbed his eyes before realizing he was using both his hands. No, that can't be right, he could clearly remember how he had lost his right arm in the battle against the judges.

Error raised his hands in front of his eyes. He could now clearly see them, he had both hands, they were completely black, without the usual red and yellow, but what confused him more was not the color change of his hands nor the fact that he had his lost arm back, the most confusing part was '...Why are they so small?' His hands were now so very small.

He looked at them, moving them around to make sure it was his hands and not some random skeleton arm he accidentally picked up without noticing -it happens. Judging from the movements, those hands were definitely his, but for some reason he couldn't properly move his fingers.

Error tried to sit up to see the condition of the rest of his body, but he couldn't get up. He had forgotten he couldn't move his body, but he didn't feel any pain so it couldn't be that his bones were broken. 'Did they tie me up or something?' He couldn't even lift his head to look at his body, but he could feel a soft fabric wrapped around him, it felt soft and familiar, it didn't feel like chains or ropes at all, - those are more uncomfortable and sometimes slip inside the ribcage, it gets even more annoying when they get tangled in his ribs and he has to remove them, sometimes it takes hours, so he just breaks the ribs to remove the ropes faster since his ribs will just reattach again anyways. - He stared blankly at the sky, he was stuck in this position but at least the vew was beautiful, it was a different type of beautiful from Outertale, he didn't know the day sky could be so 'Pretty.' He tried to say his thoughts out loud but all that came out was baby babbling. He frowned, and tried to speak again, but only babbling could be heard, it didn't sound like his voice either. Why couldn't he talk?

'What exactly happened to me after I jumped into the VOID?'

Error couldn't properly control his hands but he could move them enough to reach his chest, and he summoned out his SOUL. His eyes widened when a strange SOUL floated above his chest. - Was this his SOUL? It looked different from what he remembered. Instead of his mungled ugly SOUL, that was cracked and sewed together with sky blue strings. In front of him was a smaller healthy SOUL, the colours were still the same but in a different pattern. The SOUL was bright yellow on the edges and mixing with a darkened yellow, while a dark blue color was in the center in a shape of smaller upside down heart, and the bright blue strings, instead of stitched all over it like before, they wrapped around it gently.

It didn't look disgusting and ugly at all. 'Is this really my SOUL?' He looked at the pretty SOUL in disbelief and doubt, there's no way this was his SOUL. He couldn't believe it, so he CHECKED himself.

______________STATS______________

Bliss [VOID's chosen child] [Ex- Forced God Of Destruction and Destroyer of Universes] [Fate-free]

LV: 0 [LV: 9999999-ERROR__ Inaccessible Data] [Fate-Formed][Destiny-Touched][VOID-Touched]

HP: 20/20+ [HP: 9999-ERROR-999_000 / ER_99999__ ROR-9999__Inaccessible Data]

AT: 5+ [AT: 999999999-ER-6666_1-999 __548-000___ER-5966-ROR__Inaccessible Data]

DF: 5+ [DF: ER-99999999_0000 -ROR-6665__0000.075-ERROR-506_996__Inaccessible Data] [EFF: Fragile, needs protection]

EXP: 0 [EXP: 999998689899990909 -ERROR __Inaccessible Data]

EX [FACT: Forcibly changed into the Destroyer by Fate to be half of the balance when the Creator went out of control. Bounded by Fate_nullified. Cannot die no matter what, he knows, he tried_nullifi-ERROR-ed]__No_longer_effective__Access to Data Restricted

[FACT: Codes Missing. Has turned into a infant as a side effect after Fate's mark was removed. No longer bounded by Fate. Codes will take time to restore] ___A ccess to Data Restricted

[FACT: Still has the power of destruction. Fate's mark removed. Fate's influence nullified. Side affect - self healing ability nullified, life-bounded nullifi-ERROR-file_cannot_be_deleted. VOID marked. Has now a link with the VOID] ___A ccess to Data Restricted

[FACT: Magic and endurance significantly weakened. Will grow strong and healthy if taken goood care of. Needs love and care. Please make him happy ]

-Jumped into the VOID after a fight with Ink -the Creator__Access to Data Restricted

-Has the VOID's protection. It comes with benefits. It comes with DANGER. BEWARE OF THE VOID!__Access to Data Restricted

His eyes widened more as he looked at his stats, 'What is going on here? These are not my stats.' Even the name was different, he could see bits of his old stats mixed with something else.

Error, or rather Bliss stared at the information with a calculating gaze, looking around the sentences that bothered him the most. 'VOID's choosen child... What does that mean? Is VOID also an entity like Fate?' He had already figured there were more entities like Fate, but he didn't imagine the VOID itself was also one of them. 'If so, that would explain how I got out of the VOID.' But why would they bring him out? Why couldn't they leave him to rot and disappear? The only time he did something by his own choice! He was ready to finally die! So why did they have to interfere? He felt frustrated. But it didn't take long for him to guess the answer to those questions. He signed. '...It seems I've become another's deity's toy.' Bliss frowned not liking the idea.

But his feelings soon changed as he looked at the other titles 'Ex-Forced God Of Destruction' and 'Fate-free'. A bunch of different emotions filled his soul. Was he really finally free from Fate's chains? The VOID, whatever their reason might be, It couldn't be worse than Fate. He didn't care if this was all for their own entrainment, he was at last free from his painful fate.

From what he understood, it seemed that the VOID removed Fate's influence on him by modifying his codes, that explained why his SOUL and stats were different, and also his hands. He looked at his now small hands, he concluded the rest of the body was also very small. Bliss studied the situation, comparing what little information he could get from his body and the information he saw in his stats. 'Apparently the reason I've became smaller is because I'm missing some codes. And it also seems I've became weaker, but I believe it's only temporary.'

But what was this 'Access to Data Restricted' after every FACT? 'Does that mean only I can see it? Others won't be able to see it even if they check me?' He usually covered his SOUL with his own magic, making it harder to be CHECKED or even to be pulled out. And even if someone did manage to CHECK him, his magic would cover and filter it so they couldn't see much. But he doubted he would be able to do that with his current level of magic. So this might actually be useful until all his magic fully comes back.

Bliss kept studying the information in from of him. He first needed to completely understand the situation before doing anything else. So he could plan his next step carefully. But from all the information displayed in front of him, there was one thing that he couldn't understand. 'Why do I have two completely different stats?' One was his old stats, but the other he didn't recognize, it was extremely weak too. He concluded the weak one was his current stats, since it seemed to match his now small body.

There was something else writing after the old stats. 'Inaccessible data... It seems I don't have access to my old stats. Does that mean it can't be used even during a fight?' If that was the case, then what was the point of it even being there? Why didn't his old stats simply disappear?

Bliss let out a sigh, ignoring the the weird sound that came out along with it. And unsummoned his SOUL.

He was now free, but he was also extremely weak, he had become a dependent infant that couldn't even move by himself. How long will it take for this small body to grow up? Would it grow back if he waited here long enough? What if someone attacked him while in this weak form? What if Ink found him? 'Fate-free' It meant that Fate couldn't touch him anymore, but everyone else could still hurt him. He needed to find a safe place to stay until his missing codes were restored.

Bliss tried to move again, but this time instead of trying to get up, he rolled over to lay on his tummy. Or at least that was the plan, but the moment the rolled over, he didn't feel anything below him and he felt himself falling.

Wind hit his face as he fell, and he unconsciously grabbed onto the soft warm fabric wrapped around his body. He could see the ground getting closer, but he couldn't use his magic -since it ran out after a simple teleportation- or even move his body to fall on his feet and make it less painful, like he usually does. 'I've became so useless...'

He was about the let out a sight, but was interrupted by a scream coming from below him. Bliss looked down, he could see Monsters on the ground staring up at him with horrified expressions on their faces. This was actually a really natural reaction to him, everyone would always scream in fear or attack him whenever they saw him. He couldn't blame them, they had a fair reason to fear and hate him.

Bliss blinked, watching the horrified faces get closer as he fell towards the ground. 'I wonder if this small body will break.'

While falling, Bliss felt a presence charging towards him at a fast speed. His gaze instinctively turned in their direction with a cold glare, ready to defend against the attacker. But he couldn't do anything as his small weak body was caught into someone's arms and his cheek softly hit against a cold shining object.

'Who-?' Bliss looked up to see Undyne looking back at him what a worrie face.

"Jeez kid, you scared me!" She said, holding him in her arm, as they both fell from the sky.

Bliss stared at her confused and shocked.

Believing the child might be shocked from fear, Undyne smiled gently at him to try to calm him down, but her sharp teeth didn't look gentle at all. She smiled at the child while still in midair, before she skillfully landed on the ground, softly and carefully so to not hurt the baby in her arms.

"Undyne! You found him!" A shout made Bliss turn his head around.

Papyrus ran toward them, with a worried face, panting and sweating. His hands were shaking as he reached them out to take the small child from Undyne's arms. He pulled the babybones into hug. His SOUL was beating fast and he was breathing heavily. He and Sans had been running all over the capital looking for him, while also informing others about it, in the end everyone began looking for the missing child but couldn't find him.

Bliss had his head gently pressed against Papyrus's cold chest that was shielded by an armor. And arms were gently wrapped around him, it felt comfortable. He could hear the fast beating of a SOUL echoing behind the armor, that sound, it made him relax and his eyes began to feel heavy for some reason.

"Bliss, don't ever do that again. You could've gotten really hurt." Papyrus whispered to him with a shaking voice, while rocking him in a hug.

Bliss looked up at him after hearing the caring wisper, his eyes felt heavy and he could barely keep them open. 'Is he... worried about me getting hurt? ...Why?' His eyes slowly closed and he fell asleep.

"Did you say you lost him after he teleported away?" Undyne asked Papyrus as soon as the child fell asleep. She had hear from the skeleton brothers about how the kid used teleportation and they couldn't find him. She looked up at the place from were the kid fell. "How the heck did he appear on the top of the Bell Tower?" - The Bell Tower, it was the tallest tower located in the center of the capital. No wonder no one could find him even though the entire city was looking for him. Who could have imagined that a small child teleported all the way to the top of the tallest tower in the whole kingdom.

Papyrus looked at the Bliss with a worried face.

[End Chapter]

Chapter Text

[ Start Chapter ]

Bliss slowly opened his eyes, he couldn't remember when he fell asleep, actually he didn't need to sleep so it was weird that he even fell asleep in the first place.

The first thing he saw when he fully opened his eyes was the color white. The Anti-void. His soul jumped, hitting against his ribs. He tried to jump to his feet and get out of there, he needed to hide from Fate, but his body didn't move, instead only his small hands were reaching up. Only then did he remember what had happened to him after he jumped into the VOID.

He was laying on his back and above him was a white ceiling that he could now tell it was solid and not endless like the Anti-void.

'...Right, I'm free now.'

'Freedom' did he even understand that concept? He wanted to laugh at his own naivety.

'Freedom means you can do whatever you want to do, without being forced by others to do what you hate to do.' Bliss remembered what Blue had told him a long time ago in the Anti-void, -that was before Blue began glitching and Bliss had to send him back to his AU.- Bliss had explained to the small Sans the reason he had to destroy, and Blue began talking about how unfair it was and that everyone deserves freedom.

He has freedom, now what?

He then remembered Blue's next words. 'Do whatever you want to do! Live as you like and be happy!'

'Do whatever I want to do...' Bliss pondered, staring blankly at the ceiling. - What he wanted to do? He wanted to stop killing innocents, but he also wanted to destroy everyone that would hurt those that were his. He also wanted to make pretty dolls for the ghost children and be there to see their reaction when they found it. And visit Blue and eat his tasteless tacos again, without worrying that the others would kill Blue for even talking to him. And to be able to visit OuterTale again and watch the stars with all his family members. - As he was listing everything he wanted, Bliss began to realize that he was more greedy than he had originally thought.

He had freedom now, but what was he supposed to do with it? He didn't have a family to protect anymore, he could never eat Blue's tacos again, or play with Nightmare again, he could never see the gang either. He thought that by being free he would automatically also be happy, just like Blue said. But he didn't feel any different, perhaps the only difference was that now he didn't have anything to protect anymore. He felt empty, and he was sure as hell this was not what happiness was supposed to fell like.

'...What even is happiness.' He felt stupid for wanting something he didn't even understand. He had once asked Blue what kind of feeling it was, but although Blue seemed happy all the time, not even he was able to explain it and could only say that it was a really good feeling that makes you smile and laugh. Bliss had laughed and smiled a couple of times, whenever he reached his limits or had a mental breakdown, but it didn't feel good at all, and his smile was so ugly and twisted, different from Blue's smile. So he figured it was a different kind of smiling and laughing. Blue couldn't really explain happiness, but the way he talked about it, like it was something amazing made even Bliss curious about it. But as years passed, and he became more and more broken, he had given up on those naive dreams, just like he had given up on feeling anything.

'But that damn squid had to mess everything up!' Suddenly he wanted to kill Ink again, but then remembered Ink would probably die by his own hand before Bliss could even learn how to walk again. But that was not the important thing right now, he should first focus on keeping the fact that he is alive hiden from Fate and the whole Multiverse. He won't go back to destroying even if he has to jump into the VOID again.

Bliss turned his head to one side, to see where he was this time. The first thing he saw was bars. He then remembered the Papyrus got him. Did they put him in a cage? Although he didn't see the point of a cage without the top part. There were bars surrounding him, but they ended not very high up and there was nothing above him. 'Are they looking down on me because I've become smaller? Well they aren't really wrong, I'm pretty much useless in this form.' He couldn't deny the fact that he had indeed become very weak.

Bliss looked beyond the bars and saw what seemed to be the inside of a room, and when he was done looking at everything, he turned his head to the other side to see the rest of the room, but he was faced with an unexpected view. 'What the...'

Right next to him was laying a big dark puppet with a red sweater and a dark blue coat, two buttons for eyes, one white and the other blue and yellow, sky blue threads running down its face like tears, and it didn't have a mouth. Bliss soon recognized it, it was the puppet of himself he wasn't able to finish before his last battle against Ink. He had forgotten about it.

'Why is this here? No... the real question is, why the hell is it so big?' Bliss frowned in confusion, he knew he had become smaller, but how did a puppet, that not long ago he could fit in his pocket, suddenly became almost as big as himself? Bliss had now an idea of how small he really had become. '...I'm almost as small as my own puppet.'

Bliss stared at the puppet laying next to him in disbelief. Just how long would he have to wait to grow back to his original height? No, as much as he hated the idea of being shorter than Ink, that was not what mattered right now. His priority should be to completely recover his magic. Even if he couldn't walk or properly control his small arms, he could just use his magic to do everything he needed. Fortunately Bliss didn't necessarily need his hands to use his magic, he had enough experience to freely move his strings around simply by thinking about it, -it's not like it was the first time he couldn't use his legs or hands, his limbs had been cut off many times, and he had to move around using his strings.- It was just like having extra limbs. He can't just wait here for Fate or Ink to find him.

'Right, no time to waste.' He still couldn't get up so, once again, he rolled over to lay on his tummy, this time he didn't need to worry about falling off because he was inside a cage. And as he was laying on his ribs, he noticed a long and soft piece of fabric that was wrapped around him. His eyes widened as he recognized it. '...My scarf.' It had different shades of blue and purple mixing together and small sparkles spread all over it that resembled stars. It was actually a really poorly made work, and it could have never been something made by Bliss -who had years of experience in knitting- yet somehow he though it was more beautiful than anything he ever knitted, and treasured it. - This scarf was a gift he received from his family... Nightmare's gang had worked together to make it after they heard Bliss ask what a 'birthday' was. They even studied knitting and worked hard just to make it for him, and even used glitter yarn to make it look like stars, because they knew how much he liked OuterTale but couldn't visit it anymore. The knitting wasn't very good and had a lot of mistakes, but Bliss thought it was even more beautiful than the starry sky of OuterTale itself. When they gave him the scarf while bragging about their hard work, Bliss had felt a weird tingling in his SOUL and he didn't understand why tears fell from his eye sockets at that moment. It didn't even hurt, -actually the scarf was so soft he believed that even if he used it to hang himself it would still feel comfortable- and Nightmare didn't even threw any poison at his eyes that time either, so Bliss could only stare at the scarf in his hands that was slowly getting wet by the water falling from his eye sockets, in confusion and a weird feeling in his SOUL. He also didn't understand why suddenly everyone freaked out or looked at him like they had seen a ghost.

That was the first time Bliss had ever received something, that wasn't pain and abuse. And he cherished it more than anything else. -He wanted to also give them something in return for such a precious gift. Cross had once said that he wanted a puppet of himself, after seeing Bliss make a puppet of a Sans he had just killed, although Cross called it a doll. But if you think about the logic behind Bliss making puppets, wouldn't give them puppets of themselves sound like he was announcing he was going to kill them soon? So he also made them scarfs.- Bliss would always take off his scarf whenever he went to destroy so it wouldn't get ruined or stained by blood during the fights... But he was wearing it during the last battle against Ink and the judges.

Bliss felt a sharp pain as he thought back to that moment, -somehow it felt worse than the pain Fate usually inflicted in his SOUL whenever he disobeyed them- a feeling of guilt and sadness stabbed his SOUL like a knife, but he didn't regret it, even now he believed that what he did was the only way to save them. - Before the last battle against the Creator. Bliss went to the Anti-void to get the scarf, that was after he visited his family to see them one last time and give them his mercy. -It was funny how they were still proudly wearing the scarfs he made them even at that moment. They didn't throw it away in anger and instead they seemed to be more worried about that piece of fabric getting damaged even as Bliss aimed a sharp bone at their SOULs. In the end, what was left was the scarfs without a single scratch on them laying on piles of Monster dust.- The pain Bliss felt in his SOUL at that moment only added to his anger towards Ink. He then went to the Anti-void to get the scarf and wrapped it around his neck -it felt like he could still feel their presence next to him when he wore it, it was only natural since it had traces of their magic-, before going to DreamTale, where he knew Ink would be.

Bliss stared blankly at the scarf wrapped around him. He weakly clenched the fabric with his small hands. He was glad it was intact, he had managed to prevent it from being torn apart and ruined during the battle. Even as he was agonizing in pain he still managed to wrap it in magic so it wouldn't be burned by the blasts of magic. It was funny that the scarf was the only thing intact, while his bones looked about to dust and his clothes were burnt and ripped exposing most of his cracked bones and his mangled SOUL.

Bliss buried his face in the fabric, he could still feel traces of their magic in it. This scarf was all he had left from his family. But he didn't regret what he did, that was one of the few things he did by his own choice and not because he was forced. No, maybe he was forced by the circumstances... still he could have chosen to let them fall into the VOID.

'...It's pointless to think about it now. What is done is done, whether I regret it or not won't change anything.' He tried to lock away his emotions again, but for some reason it wasn't working, so he just ignored them.

Bliss turned his head to one side, only half his face laying on the soft scarf below him, he wanted to stay like that for a little longer before getting to work. He had already decided his next move was focusing on recovering his magic. But then what? What should he do after that? Did it even matter that he came out of the VOID? Did it matter that he was free from Fate? The Multiverse would still collapse and he would go back into the VOID along with everything else. Well, at least he could personally watch as Ink and his creations fall in despair.

'...I did thought It would be interesting to watch it happen.' He remembered the thoughts he had when he tried to kill Reaper. He thought watching everything crumbling before falling into the VOID would be entertaining. He would probably also get to see some suicides attempts - He wondered what methods they would use. Bliss had tried every suicide method he could ever think of, but he was never a creative mind like Ink. He was curious to see what other suicide methods were there that he had not tried yet, maybe he would be surprised by their creativity. - Although many were oblivious of the true nature of the VOID, everyone knew that falling inside was an end worse than death.

The process of an entire Multiverse crumbling before falling into the VOID would be slow, it wouldn't happen in an instant. There are billions of AUs if not more, AUs would keep hitting one another in a chain reaction and destroy themselves before being pulled into the VOID, it will slowly swallow AUs after AUs until it reached the center of the Multiverse were was located the Original Undertale. It would probably give time for some residents to run away and take refuge in other AUs. And it might even take a few years for everything to crumble and be completely pulled into the VOID. That should be time enough for even blind people to realize the real cause of the Multiverse's fall.

Bliss blinked as an interesting thought crossed his head. 'Will I get to watch Monsters kill each others to try to make space in the Multiverse themselves, in a desperate attempt to save their own lifes?' If he gets lucky he might actually see some of the blind judges rebel against the Creator after finding out the truth, and force him to fix everything. If not perhaps join forces again -like they did in the last battle- only this time against their own Creator. That was definitely something Bliss wanted to see with his own eyes. - What would Ink do if it comes to that? Will he destroy his own creations to fix the problem? How funny would that be. Or will Ink prioritize his own desires and keep creating. It wouldn't be hard for him to create mindless puppets to fight for him. Perhaps an interesting war would break out, before everything is completely swallowed by the VOID.

'How entertaining.' Bliss could feel a smirk grow on his face. He really was a disgusting monster. But so what? Who made him like this in the first place? - He had killed many, killing became easy, but still he could never enjoy it. But it was different this time, it was not his doing, actually this was happening because he wasn't doing anything. They were not innocents, they were blind judges that needed to be judged. This was the consequences of their own actions, and without a Destroyer there to fix their shit and receive all the blame, who else was supposed to pay the price for their mistakes? - He had indeed thought it was a pity he couldn't personally see it happen before he jumped into the VOID. He could now watch as the Multiverse crumbled on them, but there was a little problem. Bliss didn't know how much time had already passed while he was in the VOID, -it could have been years for all he knows- he didn't know how much time he had before the Multiverse finally reaches its limit. He needed to get most of his magic back, at least enough to make a portal to watch as all hell broke out throughout the whole Multiverse, like it was a fricking show.

Once again Bliss confirmed his next step. Recover his magic.

This wasn't only about vengeance though. He was sure Nightmare and the gang would also enjoy watching the fall of the Multiverse. Nightmare would probably even dance in happiness while bathing in all the negativity. Bliss snorted while trying to imagine a dancing Nightmare, but he snapped out of his thoughts when the heard a noise, he instinctively turned his head toward the direction the sound came from. He then saw the door open and the Sans walked inside.

Sans walking inside the room, this was Papyrus's room, they decided it would be best for the kid to sleep here where Papyrus could watch over and take care of him, at least until the kid grows up and they have to make a new room for him. Sans had come to check on Bliss. - Papyrus went out to do some shopping, they had already bought most of the important stuff for the babybones, so the only things missing was clothes and that item. So with Papyrus out, Sans was supposed to look after the kid. - As he walked towards the crib, he noticed the kid was awake and staring at him.

"Hey kiddo, you awake?" Sans walked closer with a lazy grin, until he was next to the crib, and stared down at the babybones. The kid was laying on his tummy with his head turned to one side, which made it difficult for him to look up at Sans. The kid had to forced his head more to the side to look up at him.

Sans snorted when he saw the kid trying so hard to look at him, but he soon became worried when the kid kept trying to turn his head back, it actually made Sans scared that the kid would snap his own neck while trying to look up at him. Sans immediately crouched down so kid could easily look at him, and the babybones followed him with his eyes, now staring at Sans through the wooden bars. The way the kid stared at him intensely with an expressionless face, gave Sans the creeps. It almost felt as if the kid was looking through him and starting directing at his soul.

Sans simply stared back, looking at the child's mismatched eyes. The kid had an unusual appearance for a Skeleton Monster, but the eyes was what stood out the most, - the inside of the eye sockets was dark red, inside the left socket was a multicoloured eye light with a yellow ring on the edge while in the center was dark blue ring, and inside the right socket was a black eye light, was it even possible for light to be this black? - He kept looking at the kid's eyes. Sans had his suspicions since the moment he first saw the kid's eyes, but now he was sure, the familiar feeling he felt from babybones was coming from his right eye socket, more precisely, from the black eye light. It was a feeling similar to the one from his weird dream, it felt cold and empty and at the same time it felt like it would devourer anything out of existence. Sans's eyes hardened as he looked at the baby, trying to figure out what this kid was exactly. Although, unknown to Sans, he too was being observed, as the child inspected him, searching for any information he could get.

Bliss had thought about it before, no matter how much he looked at it, he didn't recognize this AU or this Sans. It was most likely a new AU. 'Did Ink create a new original?'

Bliss kept observing Sans, the taller skeleton smiled gently at his staring. This Sans also didn't seem to recognize him. Weird, Ink would normally inform the new AUs about the Destroyer's appearance. Was he already forgotten by the Multiverse after being 'dead' for so long? Or it could be that his appearance also changed so the Sans couldn't recognize him. -just how much did that damn VOID mess with his codes? - There were to many possibilities and Bliss couldn't be sure until his magic comes back so he can open a portal and see what is going on inside the Multiverse. Bliss turned his head and buried his face in the scarf, lost in his thoughts. As if he had already forgotten about the Sans staring at him.

Sans noticed Bliss giving up the staring contest and hiding his face in the blanket, the kid must've been bothered by his staring or maybe just got bored of Sans's face, either way Sans thought he should stop studying the kid, he was curious about the babybones, but it's not like he can get any answers from a baby. That wasn't the reason he came to check on the kid anyways. Sans was waiting for Bliss to wake up so they could go see Alphys. The incident this morning was not normal, a child this young shouldn't be able to even use magic, but Bliss not only used magic but also that amount of magic he used was no joke, long distance teleportation demands a lot more magic than short distances. Being born with too much magic was a serious condition, and if not treated it could be dangerous for the weak body of the baby.

Sans got up, his attention soon turned to the doll next to Bliss. The doll looked exactly like the kid, but somehow it gave off a sad and broken feeling, he found it creepy. "That doll... is it yours?" He asked as he picked up the doll, not really expecting an answer from the baby.

'Doll...?' Bliss turned his head to the side to see what the Sans was talking about -he had already finished his thought and was mostly just resting his face in the soft scarf- he then saw Sans holding his puppet. '...It's a puppet... not a doll.' Bliss mentality corrected him. It wasn't something as innocent as a doll. There was a reason Bliss makes puppets and not dolls or teddy bears, it had a deeper meaning. Although it's true that the meaning behind Bliss making smiles on the puppets represents giving them happiness, the puppets themselves had a completely different meaning. It represented that all their acts are controlled or influenced by an outside force, in the end everyone was nothing more than mere puppets in the hands of Fate.

Sans -unable to read the kid's thoughts- continued talking while staring at the creepy doll. It was actually more like talking to himself since he wasn't exactly expecting a baby to understand him. "This doll appeared out of nowhere at our door when we returned home. Papyrus was confused and said he didn't see the doll at the door when he found you." Sans frowned as he looked at the doll, it felt like something out of a nightmare. "...It was really creepy. Lets just hope this thing isn't cursed or a voodoo doll or something like that."

Bliss didn't care to listen to the Sans' nonsense and was more curious about the fact that the puppet came all the way with him out of the VOID but not his clothes, if he remembers correctly, he put the puppet inside the pocket of his coat. The Sans wasn't complaining about finding oversized torn up clothes. 'What is even the point of doing this? What exactly are the VOID's intentions?'

Bliss didn't understand why the VOID was doing any of this, but if there was anything he knew about deities is that nothing good comes from having their interest, being it favoritism, or curiosity or because they see you as an useful tool, or any other kind of attention from them, nothing good comes from it. But... did it matter really? All Bliss cared about was to watch the Multiverse crumble and Ink crying on his knees before being swallowed by the VOID. He couldn't care less if this was all a sick entertainment for some deity, after all, he will also enjoy this sick entertainment.

While he was lost in thought, Bliss felt himself being lifted up, his eye lights flashed towards the culprit, the Sans, his magic activated as if by instinct and tried to summon his attacks, but his magic was still too weak to materialize any attack and nothing happened.

As the Sans lifted him up in front of him, Bliss just stared at him. There was nothing Bliss could do in his condition, his magic didn't respond, and he could hardly move his body, all he could do was observe the Sans's every movement. - The Sans had been standing there quiet until now so Bliss didn't mind his presence, but it's not like he could do anything even if the Sans tried something anyways, not in his current condition. He knew his peace wouldn't last, it was only a matter of when. He knew it so he easily accepted it. - Bliss wondered how much pain they would cause him this time, what methods they were going to use to torture him this time. It becomes less painful if he is mentally prepared, so he just thought of every possiblity, so he wouldn't be surprised. He hated surprises.

The moment Sans lifted the kid from the crib, the blanket wrapped around him began to slide off, only then did Sans realized it was actually a really long scarf. He wondered if it belonged to the baby's parent since it was too big. But he thought it was better not to think about it, and turned his attention back to the babybones, only for his eyes to widen. The kid's eye lights were gone and only the dark red empty eye sockets could be seen. Sans became worried. "Kid?" He called, but there was no response.

"H-hey kid, are you okay?" Sans gently shook the babybones to try and wake him up. Bliss's head tilted to the side from the movement, but no respond, the empty eye sockets and limp body, it looked almost lifeless. Sans began to panic.

"K-kid! Oh god! Kid! Please wake up!" Sans called again, this time he couldn't control the volume of his voice. But again, no response. "Bliss!"

"Shit!" Sans hugged the baby almost desperately, the kid's condition must be more serious than he thought, he needed to bring him to Alphys fast. His eye lights glowed blue as he activated his magic, but before Sans could teleport he felt movement in his arms. He looked down only to see the kid snuggling further in his embrace and weakly clenching on the fabric with his small hands. Sans let out a shaky sigh of relief, his legs felt numb and trembling from the panic so he decided to sit on the floor for a while "...Dammit Kid. Don't scare me like that." He said as he looked at the babybones in his arms. If Papyrus came back and saw the baby dead... Sans didn't even want to imagine what kind of expression his brother would make.

Bliss was lost in thoughts, his mind reliving every torture he had ever been through as if to prepare himself for whatever pain he will experience next. Suddenly he felt warm and comfortable, he thought it was his scarf so he subconsciously snuggled further into its soft fabric. The horrifying and painful scenes playing repeatedly in his mind like a record began to fade, and memories of his friends filled his broken mind instead. But it didn't take long for his mind to sink back into despair and pain, as the faces of his family became covered in blood and distorted before they turned to dust. He had killed them with his own hands. Disgusting murderer.

Bliss opened his eyes, he didn't what to think about it anymore. His face was still buried in the soft fabric so he couldn't see anything. He decided to stay like that for a moment before realizing something strange. Where was the pain? He was supposed to be experiencing some kind of pain but the pain never came. Why wasn't the Sans hurting him yet? No, not only was the new pain not coming... but the old pain was also missing. - Bliss had noticed since before, the pain was gone, all of it. At the time he didn't think much of it, he thought he was just doing a good job ignoring the pain. But that wasn't it. The pain from his new and old wounds, that had been carved into his bones and SOUL by Ink and Fate everytime, the pain he would feel everytime he moved or even breathed, and that was so normal to him that it felt almost as if it was part of himself. He was used to all that pain and could easily ignore it, sometimes he even forgot about it. But it never disappeared completely, it was always there, to remind him of his place. So he didn't understand why, why couldn't he feel any pain at all? Could it be that he had finally become completely numb to pain? - It was peaceful and quiet, but not completely quiet, it was faint but Bliss could hear a soulbeat other than his own right next to him. Someone was so close to him but weren't hurting him. He thought it was strange so he moved his face from the fabric and looked up toward the sound of the beating SOUL.

Bliss flinched and his eyes widened in surprise and shock. He didn't notice his magic trying to act on its own out of instinct but didn't work again. Bliss wasn't just close to the person, he was in their arms. The Sans had his arms wrapped around Bliss, tightly but carefully holding him against his chest while covering him with his robe as the scarf that had been wrapped around Bliss seemed to have fallen off. 

Bliss could only blankly stare up at the Sans that was on the floor leaning against a wall while holding him in his arms. He had no idea how to react to this situation.

Sans was resting on the floor and trying to calm down from the scare the kid gave him. He then felt a sudden movement in his arms and looked down only to see Bliss staring up at him with a blank expression.

The two stared at each other for a moment before Sans decided to break the silence. "...Are you feeling better?" He asked with a worried face.

Bliss didn't understand why he was asking that, but decided to sincerely answer the question and tried to nod his head, but his skull that seemed to be heavier than before wasn't moving as he wanted. He mentality sighed. '...This is getting ridiculous.'

Sans, who wasn't really expecting an answer anyways, sighed and got up from the floor, shifting the kid to hold him in one arm, before moving towards the crib and picked up the long scarf that had fallen with his free hand.

Sans looked back at Bliss and began to wrap the scarf around the kid until it looked like a cocoon. 'This should do until Papyrus comes back with some baby clothes.' Now that Bliss was awake, it was time to go see Alphys.

Bliss stiffened, the scarf was tightly wrapped around him although it didn't feel uncomfortable because it was soft, but he didn't dare to move. The scarf was so tightly wrapped around him that Bliss was afraid that he would accidentally rip the fragile fabric if he moved around, so he stayed as still as possible and tried not to move. Bliss's magic may be weak now, but even without magic his body was still pretty much a destroying machine. - There were times Fate sealed his magic and he was beat up and tortured by Monsters, so he couldn't run away or defend himself as they laughed at it. It happened so frequently that he stopped depending on his magic, he didn't have full control over it, he couldn't trust it. It felt like it wasn't even his magic, that was also the reason he knitted using actual yarn and never used his strings to make his puppets. After much torture he eventually adapted and learned to fight without magic, to the point where he could easily crush a skull with a simple squeeze of his hand. It was such a violent and horrifying scene as the Destroyer killed and ripped Monsters apart with his bare hands, he couldn't pull out the Monster's SOUL to crush it and make their death fast and painless, because he couldn't use his magic, so he had to dig all the way into their chest to crush the SOUL with his own hands, or crush their bodies until the SOUL came out on its own. He was like an emotionless beast from hell. It was so disturbing that Fate immediately stopped sealing his magic for no reason because Ink was screaming and crying so much after seeing that horrific scene once. If he remembers correctly that was when his name became feared the most, Monsters stopped trying fighting back when he destroyed their AU and just begged for a quick painless death. -  Bliss's stats did mention that his endurance weakened but it didn't mention anything about his brute strength. He was afraid to ruin the scarf which was all he had left of his friends, so he tried his best not to move while staring up at Sans in shock.

Bliss was so surprised by the Sans' move, in his head it felt like this Sans had found his weakness and was using it to immobilize him. He was so astonished that he could only observed Sans with curiosity.

Sans, completely oblivious to the impact his innocent act of care had on the kid, teleported away with Bliss in his arms, to Alphys' place.

[ End Chapter ]

Chapter Text

In the Royal labs, a Lizard Monster was very concentrated while experimenting with magic.

"Hey Al." A voice startled her and she almost dropped the new potion combination she was working on. She quickly moved and caught it just before it hit the floor.

She let out a heavy sigh while placing the potion somewhere safe. "Sans. How many time have I told you to use the door." She said with a dark voice before turning around.

The moment his surroundings changed, Bliss began moving his eye lights, warily looking around the new place, since that was the most he could move because the Sans managed to immobilize him.

Bliss noticed it was some kind of laboratory, but it was different from any lab he had seen before, he could tell that all the 'technology' in this labs was based on magic instead of artificial energy. Based on the medieval looking clothes the Monsters in this AU wore, as well as the buildings and castle he saw, he could tell that the civilization here was very behind. But it seemed to be much more developed in terms of magic. While looking around, Bliss then spotted an Alphys staring at him.

Sans noticed Bliss staring at a certain necklace, it was a collar necklace with a small blue stone and a ribbon, it was a little to big for the babybones, but since it was a magic item it automatically changed its size to fit the user. Collar necklaces were mostly used by Dog or Cat Monsters. The kid seemed to like it so Sans decided to pick that item. Bliss followed his movement with his eyes, looking up at him. "I guess I'll take this one then." Sans put the necklace in one of the small pockets on his belt. Then he picked up Bliss to hold him in his arm.

Bliss stared at him. Right, the other objects just didn't fit for a harmful weapon, he mentally nodded, apparently the Sans also thought the same. 'Are they planning on electrocute me again?' He relaxed a little after he understood better their intentions.

"Thanks Al." Sans thanked her and was about to leave when Alphys called him.

"Ah! Wait, Sans. I almost forgot." She walked to him and handed over a notebook. "I found this some days ago and thought you should have it."

While lost in thought, Bliss felt something push against his cheek, making his head slightly tilt to the side. He moved his eye lights to the side only to see the Papyrus give him a kiss on the cheek. Bliss froze in shock.

Bliss was softly squeezed in a hug. He had to admit it felt nice being held in the arms of someone that wasn't trying to kill or torture him. If felt warm. '...I guess I could protect them while I wait for the Multiverse's destruction.' He reconsidered. It's not like he had anything better to do except recover his magic. Plus he needed a place to hide from Fate and Ink. In exchange for the help he will protect them while the End of the Multiverse doesn't come yet. He ignored the weird tingling in his SOUL.

"I think it's about time we put some clothes on him." Sans pointed out.

Sans frowned in confusion as he looked at the metal stick with a bite mark that used to be a spoon. 'What the-' His thought was interrupted by a noise, it sounded like metal being crushed.

Chapter Text

[Start Chapter]

The guardian of positivity stepped out of the portal and into the dark AU.

It was an abandoned AU, without residents and forgotten by the Creator. Only it wasn't empty at all, not very far away was located a big dark castle. The sky was dark and covered by clouds, creating an chilling atmosphere and made the black castle appear more sinister.

"So here is where you've been hiding all this time. Brother." Dream looked at the dark castle, it really did seem like the kind of place Nightmare would turn into his secret base. It seems that Fresh didn't lie to him. - Fresh was the one who told him where Nightmare's hideout was. The parasite wasn't really on anyone's side, although sometimes he would play sides for his own entertainment, and then betray one side, everyone knew not to trust the parasite. Even so Dream didn't have a choice but to trust his words, Fresh was the only person oustside Nightmare's gang that could know where their hideout was. Fresh had all kinds of information about what happens in the Multiverse, sometimes it was as if he was everywhere and heard all kinds of information and secrets, and he could play with that information as he pleased, sell it or threaten. It was weird that he just gave Dream the information so easily. - When Dream thanked him for the help Fresh laughed like it was something funny 'Yah coulda just asked death-bro brosky.' he said with a chuckle and went away.

'What did he mean by that? Ink is right, Fresh really is very weird.' Dream thought as he began walking towards the castle. He had something to discuss with his brother. But as he walked, he noticed something shine on the ground at the distance. He walked closer and when he was close enough he recognized what it was. On the ground was a golden crown, one that he hasn't seen in so many years. '...I thought he threw it away on that day.'

He walked a bit closer, but tripped on something and fell face first on the floor.

"...ouch." He whimpered in pain, raising his head and rubbing his face, only to notice the crown right in front of his eyes, he took it in his hands. He didn't have any doubts, that was indeed his brother's crown, and it was in good shape just like he remembered it. Dream smiled while thinking Nightmare took care of it while pretending he had thrown it away.

When he sat up he noticed something was wrapped around his foot, he looked down. "A scarf?" It was a long dark green scarf laying on the floor, next to it was a doll and a lump of dirt with his footstep on it, must have been what made him trip.

Dream gently stored the crown in a pocket on his cape, and moved a hand towards the doll. It was a black one eyed doll, a blue button for an eye and a wide grin on its face.

Dream picked it up, "...Brother?" The doll looked exactly like Nightmare, it even had small tentacles on its back.

He blinked, as he looked at it, it was very well made and he found it cute. But who would make a doll of Nightmare? And why was it on the ground? Nevertheless Dream decided to keep it. If it was on the dirt it meant someone threw it away.

Dream smiled and dusted off the doll that was covered in dirt, some dust getting on his face and making him cough, the smell of it, the taste of it... His eyes widened and he looked down at the lump of dirt on the ground, realization hit him. He let the doll fall as he moved his hands to cover his mouth, that wasn't dirt, it was dust, Monster dust.

His widened eyes moved to look back at the doll on the ground, that one eye staring at him, a wide grin, suddenly it looked creepy. His face became pale as a thought crossed his mind.

"...no... Nonononono... Please no!" Dream got on his feet and began running towards the big castle. 'Please don't be his! Please, let it be someone else! Anyone else!' His SOUL beating fast in fear and despair, as he ran as fast as his legs could.

He reached the castle, banging the doors opened he began looking all around the place, opening all the doors, searching every room every corner, but nothing, no one was inside. The castle was empty. Tears were already forming in his eye sockets as he kept searching, hoping that Nightmare was just hidden somewhere waiting to stab him with a tentacle, but it never came.

He ran back outside, deciding to search the rest of the AU. Looking around, his eyes already getting used to the dark place so he could now see better his surroundings. Then he spotted something and walked closer.

He stopped, his eye widened and his eye lights faded at what he was seeing. Piles of dust, four of them. And next to each pile of dust was a scarf and on top of it a doll. There was Dust doll, Killer doll, Horror doll and Cross doll. All of them with wide grins.

Dream's face twisted in complete horror. Tears falling from his eye sockets as he fell on his knees. Were they really all dead? Was Nightmare dead?... His brother.

A doll of each victim, lying next to their dust, wide grins stitched in the doll's faces, it was so... wrong. Which disturbed mind would do something so twisted and repugnant?

Dream cried, he cried out loud like a child, his screaming echoing in the AU, but no one to hear them. What has he been doing while his brother was fighting for his life? He had failed him once again, and this time there was no way to make things right.

______________________________________

It's been about two weeks, since the battle against the destroyer. The Multiverse was chaotic, many died including Originals - once a Monster dies outside their AU their code are completely lost, not even the resets will bring them back. Because of that many Original AU lost their judges, ruining their main story. - The solution was to have the judges from their first copies take the place of the Originals at the meetings for now.

The survivors of the battle were resting and recovering, but no one could relax. Friends died, many were still afraid, so much negativity. Nightmare would have surely enjoyed it, that is, if he were still alive.

Dream sat at the meeting table, black circles under this eye sockets as he watched as everyone else took their sit. Today all the Originals were called to a meeting, the ones that survived the battle and also the ones that didn't take part in it. After letting everyone rest and recover from their injuries and trauma, it was now time to discuss the situation of the Multiverse with everyone.

Everyone gave Dream questioning stares, no wonder, Dream was sitting on Ink's chair at the meeting. Ink wasn't... in a very good condition, so Dream was temporarily filling his place and taking care of the chaotic aftermath of the battle. He was busy trying to solve everyone else's problems, managing their emotions and giving them positivity, he didn't have time to manage his own feelings or even mourn for his brother. And Ink... he wasn't making it any easier.

Dream closed his eyes as he remembered everything that happened in the past two weeks.

_____ ___ ____ __ ___ __ _ __ ____ ___ _

After the battle against the destroyer, Ink was in a comatose for a whole week, before finally waking up screaming and panicking. He wouldn't stop screaming that Error was going to kill him.

The destroyer has been missing ever since the battle, no more AUs were destroyed, and the Multiverse was quiet making it possible for the surviving judges to recover, but no one was relaxing. No one knew what the destroyer was up to, if he was resting, or planning something, some even thought he was dead, but for those who experienced and survived the battle against the destroyer, that possiblity was very hard to believe. - The destroyer glaring at them viciously, blood running from his mouth, cracked bloody skull, broken bones about to dust, yet still looking up at them calmly with a murderous glare, as if he wasn't bothered by the pain at all, maybe he really couldn't feel the pain. It was truly terrifying, like a killing machine that couldn't feel anything except for hatred and desire to kill, it felt like nothing could break him, even though he looked about to dust he gave the feeling that it would never happen. - They couldn't even imagine such a monster in a weak condition, the idea that the destroyer was resting and linking his wounds, was hard to believe. The idea that he was dead sounded impossible.

So the destroyer being so quiet made them uneasy, anxious, terrified.

Dream was also worried of what Error was up too, but he couldn't enter the Anti-void, the only other person able to open a portal to the Anti-void was Ink, but he was too scared to go in there. He was scared of the destroyer, Ink even stopped creating AUs, saying that Error would come after him and kill him if he ever created again.

Even after a week, Ink condition didn't get any better, he kept drinking from his vials and drowning himself in fake emotions. And when the positive vials were emptied, he drank from the others, sadness, anger, and he became more violent.

Dream tried to help, but there wasn't much he could do, Ink didn't have a SOUL, so Dream couldn't give him positivity, he could only try to calm him down with words. There was still the possibility that the destroyer was badly hurt and hiding in the Anti-void, it could be a chance to finally stop him, but Ink didn't want to go in there.

It was weird to see Ink like that, he was usually so confident and always excited about something. Dream couldn't bear to see his friend like that. He was sure his brother was enjoying tormenting Ink in his nightmares. Or so he thought, only to find out Nightmare was dead, killed by some disturbed sick minded monster.

Dream was angry, but mostly feeling sadness and sorrow. He wanted to know who did it, who killed his brother, but he was too busy dealing with everyone else's problems while Ink isolated himself and ignored his responsibilities as the creator and protector. Maybe Dream began to feel a bit paranoid, because he couldn't help but look at others with suspicion, there where many who wanted Nightmare dead after all. He was becoming more frustrated, angry, and was getting tired of Ink's drama. Until he finally snapped.

"How long are you going to keep acting like this, Ink!? You are the damn Creator! We won the battle! Error was defeated!"

Ink yelling back, perhaps still under the affect of the negative vials, and they broke into a fight, for the first time.

Neither of them were in their right state of mind.

_______ __ _ ______ _ ____ __ __ _ _ _ _ _

Dream opened his closed eye sockets, he had a cold glare without even realizing it. The judges that had been looking at him immediately looked away, evading his eyes.

Dream searched the room for Reaper, he wasn't here, probably still busy reaping the all the SOULs that died. 'Why didn't he tell me? Did he think I wouldn't care?'

Everyone was anxiously waiting to hear what Dream had to say, they probably wanted to know about the destroyer. But before that, Dream needed to know...

"... Nightmare and the dark Sanses," He paused for a moment, staring at everyone in the room before continuing. "They are all dead, someone killed them."

There was a short silence before everyone in the room cheered -or almost everyone.

Dream clenched his hands into fists under the table, trembling. Of course they would be happy, he knew they would react like this, he already prepared himself for it, but still... he felt like crying. He felt sad but he wasn't angry at them, he couldn't blame them. So he just held it in.

"...Who killed them?" Someone asked.

"I... don't know..." Dream said with a sad face, that was also what he wanted to know. "I was wondering if anyone knew anything about it..." He looked at them.

The judges began staring at each other, discussing between them, wondering who could have killed the king of nightmares.

"Hah! If I had the power to kill that son of a bitch I would've done it ages ago!" One of them said out loud. "Whoever it was did the Multiverse a favor!" He laughed, and a few others laughed along with him.

Although there were those who didn't like how that was phrased, they too agreed with it. And then there were those who didn't like it at all.

Dreams face twitched at what the other said, he clenched his fists harder. Even if they are happy, couldn't they try to hold it in even if just a little? Didn't they realize they were talking about his brother? Dream was really frustrated, he could feel how happy everyone was after hearing Nightmare was dead, they didn't even tried to restrain themselves even in front of him who lost his brother. Although a few showed sympathetic faces towards him but they couldn't hide their relief and satisfaction, not from him who could feel their emotions.

So he decided to share the rest of the news. The destroyer, he still hasn't left the Anti-void, no one knew what he was doing or if he was preparing for an attack. The moment Dream informed them, the atmosphere in the room soon dropped, their smiles turned upside down, their relief easily turned back into worry, everyone looked uneasy. Much better.

Dream felt a strange relief as he kept explaining the situation.

[Ink's AU] ---

Inside a colorful room, drawings and sketchs of designs and ideas filled the walls, and painting materials filled the place. It was a room of an artist. But said artist had lost his colors.

Ink looked down at the empty vial in his hands, his white eye lights stared at it void of any emotions, he felt empty yet somehow, it was still there, the fear.

"Oh god... Ink..." Dream frowned as he saw Ink on the floor, surrounded by many empty vials, he couldn't feel anything from the other.

Ink simply stared at his friend with emotionless eyes, he then held
a handful of vials to show it to Dream, "...They are all empty."

Dream looked at him with a worried expression. "Are you planning on going back to creating?" Perhaps that was just what Ink needed to get better.

[Anti-void] ---

Ink stepped out of the portal, and Dream followed after him, looking around the endless white place, this was the first time Dream ever entered the Anti-void.

They searched for the destroyer but it seemed no one was around. Then they saw some colors at the distance in the endless white and walked closer, until they could see what is was. It was a long dark blue ragged jacket laying on the floor, it was torn up and covered in blood, a pile of dust was above it while below it dry blood painted the white floor like it had been here for a long time. They stared at it in disbelief.

The destroyer was dead.

Dream couldn't believe it. That thing died? The destroyer felt so powerful and scary in that last battle. Dream didn't really fight the destroyer before, he sometimes followed Ink to help but couldn't catch up with the two gods so he never noticed how scary Error truly was in a fight. The fact that Ink has been fighting that all this time was amazing - especially since Ink never came back injured from their fights, only minor scratches, while Error was always covered in nasty scars. Dream always thought it was weird, after being beaten up the destroyer would escape through a portal, So dream concluded Ink was stronger than the destroyer, but then why didn't he completely defeat him yet? - That is, until the Deathtrap plan, with a glance at Ink, Dream understood it, that was the first time Error fought seriously, even Ink looked terrified.

Dream didn't understand the destroyer, if he had the power to kill Ink why didn't he do it before? Why didn't he destroy everything in the Multiverse? Wasn't that what he wanted, complete destruction? Error was a mystery, he would normally feel empty, whenever Dream saw him he couldn't feel any emotions from him, so Dream had assumed the destroyer was emotionless. But when Dream felt his strong negativity from the Deathtrap AU, it felt like he was suffocating, the destroyer's negative emotions flowed out like a tsunami hitting against his SOUL and bones, it almost made Dream faint. Although he couldn't tell what those emotions were, only that they were really strong negative emotions. Then when the destroyer entered DreamTale, the negativity wasn't as strong, it felt like it was trying to extinguish itself, but it was still strong enough to make it hard to breathe, and he could better tell what that negativity was, sorrow and a lot of anger. - While struggling to breathe, Dream had managed to take a look at the destroyer's face, expressionless. Even though he was releasing so many negative emotions, his face didn't show it at all. Only his eye lights glowing intensely, yellow and dark blue magic swirling from them, as he glared viciously at Ink. Dream couldn't imagine how Ink, who was the target of all that hatred and killing intent, felt at that moment. Ink's body was shaking the whole time, even if he tried to look calm, he couldn't fool Dream a guardian of feelings.

And then Ink's screams.

They had to take advantage of the fact that the destroyer was hurt and vomiting blood to defeat him, it was a cowardly move, but it was to save everyone so he shouldn't feel guilty. Right?

Dream thought as he looked around the white place. Living in a place like this would most likely drive anyone insane, the destroyer must have suffered a lot to have that much negativity, he felt bad for Error, perhaps they should have tried to help him instead of attacking. He began feeling guilt.

Then Dream looked up wondering if this place had a ceiling, and as he did so his eyes widened at what he was seeing. Above him, hanging in blue strings were more than thousands SOULs and... dolls, similar to the ones he found next to the dust piles of Nightmare's gang.

"...Why?" His face twitched before twisting in anger. 'Why? Why?! Weren't they allies? Why did he kill him!?' Dream and Nightmare had many differences, they fought many times, Nightmare tried to kill him may times, but still they were brothers and he could never bring himself to hate him. Dream never wished for Nightmare to die, it was actually the opposite, he wanted his brother back. But that hope was now gone thanks to the destroyer.

Dream glared at the bloody and dust covered jacket. 'Feel guilt? ...I hope he burns is hell.'

Ink stared at the dust covered jacket blankly, the effect of the vials had run out, he shouldn't feel anything, yet he felt something he could only describe as relief. Until now, it felt like a string had been wrapped around his throat waiting to cut his head off, don't create, he will kill you, it felt like he would die the moment he thought about creating something, it haunted him at the simple thought of drawing.

But that feeling went away the moment he saw his dust.

Ink looked at the paintbrush in his hands, so empty, so emotionless, just like in the beginning of everything.

'...Does that mean... I can create again?'

________________________________________

Not very long after, everyone was called for a second meeting.

Reaper, was sitting in his chair, which was located farther away as to not touch anyone and accidentally kill them. He was kind of forced to attend the meeting this time, even though he was so busy reaping SOULs. Everyone was told it was a meeting about the destroyer. He could see everyone in the meeting uneasy and scared. Why has the destroyer has been quiet all this time? What was he up to? Everyone wanted to know whether the destroyer was dead or planning something.

The judges talked between them, while waiting for Dream or Ink.

Reaper spaced out, not paying attention to their conversation, he kept thinking about what the Destroyer told him.

'Do yOu waNt tO hEar soMethiNg funNy?'

'A lOt Of pEopLE Hate dEAth. bUt WHen tHe MulTIveRse fiNally colLAPses evERyoNe wHo doEsn't dIE in thE ProcESs wilL fALl inTo tHe VOID, an eNd worSE thAn dEath.'

'At that moMent alL oF tHem wiLl dEsire dEAth bUt Will nEver hAVe iT.'

'The Multiverse collapsing?' Was that even possible? Was the destroyer revealing to him his plans to destroying the entire Multiverse before killing him? Does he have such power? Reaper felt a shiver down his spine as he remembered the terrifying wave of magic that hit against his bones when Dream opened a portal the the Deathtrap AU, - at that time his bones under the black hooded robe were trembling and his SOUL pounded in fear, and his hands shaking so much as he tightened his hold on his scythe. - He had no doubt that the destroyer could really destroy the entire Multiverse if he wanted. But for some reason the he didn't show up ever since the battle. According to what they had heard from Ink, the destroyer doesn't need rest and heals fast so he couldn't be recovering for so long. And the thought that the destroyer was dead was hard to believe. The destroyer was most likely alive somewhere planning something, this made him feel more worried. But what bothered him more was Error next words and actions.

'DeAth iS MErcy.'

Reaper couldn't stop thinking about the sad look in the destroyer's eyes and his broken smile as he spoke those words. The more he thought about the destroyer's strange behavior that day, the more confused he became. It's not like that was the first time he had encounter or fought the destroyer, but it was the first time he had seen the merciless monster show any emotions. 'I didn't know the destroyer could show such an expression.'

When Reaper saw the destroyer's expression at that moment, rather than fear he felt pain in his soul, it felt so sad to watch. 'I wilL giVe YOu thAt meRcy.' The way he spoke about death, like it was something he loved and longed for, Reaper had seen this before, when he reaped SOULs that had suffered in life and wanted to rest in peace, but 'Why would the destroyer desire his own death?' Reaper's mind was a mess as more questions appeared the more the tried to find answers, followed by doubts about what the creator had told them about the destroyer.

Reaper hid his feelings behind a calm and lazy expression as he kept pretending to listen to the futile conversation between the judges. Then he saw Dream enter the room and everyone became quiet. The guardian of positivity could probably sense the mess of feelings inside Reaper, but he was busy managing his own feelings.

Dream sat down on Ink's chair once again. After leaving the Anti-void, Ink immediately went on a creating spree, and left Dream to announce the destroyer's death to the whole Multiverse. The moment he sat down, everyone looked at him in silence waiting for whatever he was going to say.

"The Destroyer is dead." Dreams voice echoed in the big meeting room.

'...What?' Reaper's eyes widened, he then looked at Dream with a serious face. "How can you be so sure?" He asked keptical, he couldn't believe it. Many others also found it hard to believe.

"Me and Ink saw his dust in the Anti-void. The blood was already dry, the destroyer has been dead for some time now." Dream explained, he could already feel the positivity in the room growing, his magic grew along with it. He frowned before saying one last thing. "...We also found out that he was the one who killed Nightmare and the gang."

A few of judges laughed at the irony of the situation.

As soon as Dream was done talking,
a bigger wave of happiness than last time hit him. He got up from his seat and left the room. He felt like throwing up.

Reaper watched the judges celebrating, he frowned in shock and confusion.

'...He is dead?'

[UnderSwap - Original] ---

Stretch stepped outside the portal and began walking around Snowdin.

He had just returned from the meeting. "So the destroyer is dead huh." He was bit surprised, from what he had heard, the destroyer killed a bunch and escaped alive. - Stretch didn't participate in the battle, he didn't really had a reason to, he wasn't the kind to judge based on what he others told him when he never meet the destroyer. It's not like the destroyer ever did anything to him or his AU. Sure, he did kidnap a copy of his brother, but it's not like it was his real brother, so it didn't matter to him. From what he noticed the destroyer only destroyed copies and never touched the Originals. He thought it was stupid how the other Originals were so desperate and afraid. Stretch didn't had a motive to participate in the battle at all, he was a pretty selfish Monster after all, as long as his brother and friends are safe he doesn't care about whatever happens to the rest of the Multiverse.

But he thought it wasn't bad news that the two biggest threats to the Multiverse were gone. He didn't want his brother to be at risk of getting hurt whenever he visited another AU. - It was only recently that his brother found out about the Multiverse and the destroyer, although he wasn't involved with any of it, he befriended Red and some others. Normally only the judges know about the Multiverse, because the AUs reset and everyone forgets except for the Judges, but since UnderSwap hasn't had a reset for years, Stretch decided to tell everything to his brother. Sans choose the nickname Blue for himself since there were already many Sanses, although inside their AU everyone still called him Sans, -except Chara, they seemed to have taken a liking to calling him Blue.

Stretch walked towards his house, Sans and Chara were probably waiting for him. Chara was living with them, although he didn't like it at first, he was already used to it -The human had stopped doing genocides or even resets and everyone has been living in the same neutral route for some years now.

The moment he entered the house, Sans came out of kitchen and greeted him with a smile and a plate of tacos in his hands.

"BROTHER! YOU ARE BACK ALREADY? HOW WAS THE MEETING?" Blue asked with an exited smile.

"They shared some very shocking news. You know the destroyer that has been missing for some time? They confirmed he is dead. Dream and Ink found his dust in the Anti-void." Stretch said as he lazily closed the dor, but was startled by the sound of something breaking. He turned around only to see Sans with a shocked expression and the broken plate and tacos on the floor.

"...Sans? Are you okay bro?" He became more worried and confused after seeing his Sans start to cry. Stretch knew that his brother never even meet the destroyer, but he was crying over his death, someone he never meet not to mention a merciless murderer. The taller skeleton sighed, 'My bro is too nice.' He thought as he walked towards the couch.

Blue star-shaped eye lights became white prints as he looked down at the broken plate, tears falling from his sockets.

Stretch looked at him with a sad expression, he didn't like seeing his brother cry. He debated whether he should share the rest of the news, but decided to tell him now since he would eventually find out through someone else. "Also, remember that Nightmare and the bad Sanses were killed?" He asked lazily plopping on the couch, not noticing his brother flinch and much less the dark expression on his face, but it was soon hidden away.

Blue slowly raised his head and looked at Stretch, clenching his fists.

"Turns out Destroyer was the one who killed them. We don't know the reason." He said while pulling out a box of candy cigarettes. "I thought they were allies."

Blue's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. 'What? He killed them? That can't be true! Is it another one of their lies? He wouldn't kill his friends... unless...' His soul was hurting, he forced a smile although it still looked sad. "...I see, I guess this is for the best. They won't have to suffer anymore."

"Right, now everyone can live their lives happily." Stretch said, lazily stretching on the sofa, a candy in his mouth.

"HM?" Blue tilted his head as he looked at Papyrus in confusion, before his face changed in realization "OH! YES OF COURSE!"

He plastered a smile and looked at his brother with big star-shaped eye lights. "BROTHER! I'M GOING TO USE THE PORTAL MACHINE!"

"Where are you going?" Stretch asked.

"TO RED'S, I PROMISED TO MAKE HIM SOME OF MY FAMOUS TACOS!"

"But Sans-" Blue teleported away before Stretch could finish his sentence.

Stretch looked at the tacos and the broken plate on the floor, it wasn't like Sans to leave a mess behind.

The short Sans sat on the white floor, staring as the tall black Skeleton worked on a new puppet.

The tall Skeleton had told Sans about the Multiverse, and about other versions of himself.

'THEN... WHAT SHOULD I CALL MYSELF? IT WOULD BE CONFUSING IF EVERYONE IS SANS.'

The tall skeleton glanced at him, before looking back at the puppet. 'AlL tHe versIoNs hAVe niCknAmes tO difFereNTiate theMselv3s.'

'WHAT WOULD MY NICKNAME BE?'

'SWapC0pY64?'

'WHAT? WHY DO I HAVE COPY64 IN MY NAME?!'

'BecAUse yoU aRe tHe coPy#64 oF SWap.'

'I MAY BE A COPY BUT I'M STILL MY OWN SELF! I'M NOT JUST SOMEONE ELSE'S LESS IMPORTANT COPY! I'M SURE I HAVE MANY DIFFERENCES FROM THAT NOT-AS-GREAT-AS-ME-BUT-STILL-GREAT ORIGINAL OF MINE!'

'Is tHat sO?'

'SOMEONE GREAT AS ME NEEDS A GREAT NAME! CAN'T YOU CALL ME SOMETHING ELSE?'

'YOu cAn chOse it yoURself yoU kN0w.'

'BUT I WANT MY NEWEST FRIEND TO CHOOSE IT!'

The tall dark skeleton looked at him before he tilted his head. 'hM Do yOu neED me To oPEn a POrtAlt tO yOUr fRi3nd?'

'...'

'IT'S YOU DUMMY!' The shorter Sans laughed.

The taller looked at him a bit surprised, then he looked at the small Sans up and down in thought. '...bLue...?'

The Sans blinked before looking at his clothes which were mostly blue, he giggled. 'THEN FROM NOW ON I WILL BE BLUE! THE GREAT AND MAGNIFICENT BLUE!'

'IT'S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU ERROR!'

As they spent time together the two became close, and then the tall Skeleton told him about the Balance between creation and destruction, and the job he was forced to do as the destroyer.

'SO... IF I'M A COPY WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL ME? ISN'T THAT YOUR JOB?'

'I doN't knOW.' Error hummed in thought. 'i was proBAbly oUt oF conTroL destROyiNg AUs aftEr a 'figHt' witH iNk, anD whEn I wOke uP hEre yOu were, treatiNg mY woUNds.' Error said nonchalantly, looking up at the SOULs and puppets.

Blue grinned widely 'PERHAPS YOU KNEW WE WERE MEANT TO BE GREAT FRIENDS!'

Error chuckled 'I'm glaD I kePt yoU aliVE.'

It didn't take long for the small Sans to begin being affected by the cursed white place, and the taller skeleton had to let him go back to his world. But promised to visit... only he never did.

Blue was back to his brother and friends, but something was different, he remembered the resets, with time he matured, he learned with every new timeline. Even his tacos got better. It's only natural for someone to change after experiencing so many resets.

But Papyrus didn't think so. Sans wasn't supposed to like spicy things, Sans wasn't supposed to curse or leave a mess. Sans should always be enthusiastic and optimistic, scold his brother whenever he smoked or left his socks on the floor.

Papyrus began trying to control him, saying what he should or not do, until it became too abusive.

Blue couldn't take it anymore, he decided to ask help by using the portal machine, but no one cared, no one bothered to care about a copy.

He hoped Error would come take him away again. Reset after reset, for years. It felt like he was going insane, then he could only see red, the smell iron, dust falling at his feet.

Blue was now all alone... what had he done.

He cried.

Then, someone finally heard his cry for help.

'What do we have here?' The dark Monster grinned widely as he looked at Blue.

'How amusing, I've never seen a Sans change his fate like this before.'

Blue appeared in the labs and walked towards the portal machine, he inserted the coordinates of the AU he was looking for. Words appeared on the screen of the machine.

[ERROR_UNDERSWAP#64__CANNOT BE FOUND]

"Hah...haha... As I thought. " He brought a hand to his face. He couldn't find UnderSwap#64, the AU was gone, his AU. 'Error must've destroyer it. He killed Nightmare and the gang, and destroyed UnderSwap#64' The AU was probably in the same state Blue had left it, deserted and filled with Monster dust, Error must've thought it was a genocide and destroyed it. Error probably thought Blue was dead.

"So he really did kill them."

There was only one reason Error would kill the people he considered family. "It's finally happening." The moment the Multiverse collapses, it's finally here, and those who don't die will fall into the VOID. The gang was strong enough to survive and would most likely end up in the VOID, killing them was Error's way of saving them.

"It seems Error finally gave up on the Multiverse."

Error was gone, the gang was dead...

"Everyone is going to die anyways
so I guess I don't need to hold back anymore." A twisted smirk grew on his face, he was so angry and disgusted, the expression he was making right now didn't resembled an UnderSwap Sans at all, if anyone was to see it, they would think it was a Dust!Sans. "I wonder what would be more fun. Reveal the truth and have everyone turn against Ink and Dream, or let them celebrate in ignorance, not even knowing their end will come soon, an end worse than death."

"Ah~ such a hard decision." His eye lights glowed in anger.

"Woah what a scary face." The human entered the room and walked to him, they opened their eyes revealing the black sclera and red iris.

Blue turned around. "Frisk."

Frisk smirked, they were possessing Chara. They had made a deal with Blue, the corrupted UnderSwap!Sans copy that had invaded their AU and replaced the Original Swap!Sans, and they had been living in a peaceful neutral for years. Frisk had been the one in control all this time while Chara was weakly trying to break free.

"I see you've heard the latest news already." Frisk had also heard the news about the destroyer's death, everyone in the Multiverse was talking about it, they even decided to actually throw a party to celebrate his death. - The ghost children never meet the destroyer, but there was a mysterious person that sometimes left them gifts, although it stopped at about the same time the destroyer went missing. Blue had told Frisk about Error and they put the pieces together, Error had been the one taking care of them from the shadows. - Frisk was very mad, and so where all the other scapegoats.

"How would you like a genocide?" Blue smirked at them.

Frisk returned the smirk. "All this peace was getting nauseous anyways."

"Don't bother about the rules, two balances were already slipped. Kill Papyrus first, do whatever you want." He can't just let them celebrate as they please now can he?

Frisk giggled maliciously.

"Ya weren't supposed ta die so easily, glitchy! Who am I supposed ta play with now? That's totes unfresh yo!" He kicked the jacket away, dust raised up spreading all over the place.

Then his grin dropped and his shades went blank. "If I knew it was gonna be like this," He removed his sunglasses, revealing his sockets and the host's cracked SOUL.

"...I wouldn't have waited this long."

He crushed the sunglasses in his hand as he glared down at the bloody jacket, purple smoke swirling from his eye sockets.

"I'm going to kill those fuckers."

[End Chapter]

Chapter Text

[Start Chapter]

Bliss snapped out of his trance and took the chocolate they gave him.

The two brothers' smile fell at the same time.

When the kid was already done eating, Sans saw Papyrus move to buy another sweet. Yeah no, Sans didn't need to see that again. "Paps, how about we go play one of those carnival games and get the kid a stuffed toy prize. I'm sure he would love it." He suggested while pointing the direction the games were located.

"That's a great idea, Sans!" Papyrus smiled in excitement. "I will go first, hold Bliss for a moment." He then handed the baby to Sans and ran towards the games.

Sans sighed in relief while holding the baby in his arms. Bliss looked up at him. It was almost as if the kid was using some sort of telepathy, because Sans felt like he knew what the kid was trying to say with that stare.

"...No. I rather not see you eat sweets, ever again." Sans sternly said, it was already bad enough seeing a baby eat metal and a milk bottle, but that, that creeped him out to a whole new level.

'...But I'm sure I ate it correctly this time.' Bliss tilted his head to the side confused, unable to see the problem. Well no matter, with his teleportation he should be able to obtain chocolate on his own later anyways. His list of things to do was slowly growing, how troublesome.

While Papyrus was playing the games, Sans decided walk around the market with the kid.

While walking, Sans suddenly felt the weight in his arms disappear. He looked down only to see the babybones was gone. 'What the-' He looked around trying to find Bliss but nothing.

"...Shit, Papyrus is going to kill me."

_______________________________________

"Here cutie, do you like chocolate cookies?" A Bunny Monster asked as she handed him a paper bag filled with cookies. How could she possibly stay still after seeing such a cute child staring at her sweets?

Bliss scanned the Monster with suspicion, trying to find out her motives, it could very well be a trick. But he decided to just take the risk since it was chocolate they were talking about. He hesitated a little before he took it, not caring if those cookies turned out to be bombs that would exploded as soon as he put them in his mouth -it wouldn't be the first time he ate a bomb anyways.

The Bunny lady watched the small child. Monsters came in all shapes and sizes so one could never tell for sure how old a Monster was just by their appearance, but from how small this child was, she was sure they was very young. "Child, are you lost? Do you need help to find your parents?"

'No, I'm exactly where I want to be right now.' Bliss mentality responded, while shaking his head to say 'no'.

The lady smiled gently at him and waved before returning to her selling tent, but kept glancing at the child every so often. A child wandering alone was dangerous, especially with all those kidnaping incidents recently. What where the parents even doing leaving their child all alone in the market?

Bliss looked at the Bunny lady to memorise her face, deciding to add this Monster in his 'to protect' list along with the two Skeleton brothers. Bliss began eating the cookies, he was glad it didn't explode in his mouth and were normal cookies. He ate while looking around. Everyone looked so happy and carefree, it made him wonder if this was how everyone in the Multiverse felt after he jumped into the VOID.

Bliss ignored him and moved his hand to pick up the cookies that had fallen on the floor, but he was separated from them when the Wolf picked him up.

Bliss tensed up, his eye lights flashed towards the Wolf Monster with a murderous glare and his magic tried to summon an attack to dust the enemy, the blue stone on the collar glowed while keeping the rampaging magic under control, and nothing happened.

Bliss snapped out of it, and after calming down and looking better at the situation, he realized something. He looked down at the floor, '...My chocolate cookies.'

The Wolf held the child in his arms. "How about I help you look for your mommy and daddy?" He said still with a gentle smile, but his eyes didn't look as gentle.

The Wolf began walking, carrying the child with him. The kid was very quiet and easy to handle. Isn't this his lucky day? To find such a pretty and obedient child. Such fine goods are sure sell for a high price. He smirked in thought and walked to a completely isolated area.

"Bliss!"

"Hey pal. That's my nephew you're holding there." Sans walked closer, his eye lights glowing menacingly. "You better let go of the kid right now, unless you want to have a bad time." He warned.

The Wolf looked at the Monster confronting him. The Skeleton didn't look like a guard and was also alone. The Wolf smirked, "Isn't it your own fault for leaving a kid all alone?" He scoffed with a shrug, "Get lost unless you want to die." He said while pulling out a knife.

"...I didn't, he teleported away." Sans mumbled, not caring if the Wolf heard him or not, and looked at the kid. 'Wasn't the collar supposed to restraint most of his magic? How much magic does the kid have to still be able to teleport?'

Sans' eye lights glowed blue as he used blue magic on both the kid and the kidnapper. Crushing the Wolf further against the wall, while keeping the Bliss floating in the air.

Bliss blinked as he felt the Sans' magic surrounding his SOUL. 'It doesn't hurt.' This was the first time someone had ever lifted him up with blue magic. - Blue magic affected the SOUL of a Monster directly, allowing the SOUL to be affected by gravity, and the blue magic user could take hold of the SOUL and move it as they please. But Bliss' SOUL was always surrounded by his destructive magic making it impossible for blue magic to even work on him.

Sans dodged the multiple attacks while summoning bone attacks, knocking out a few Wolves or imprisoning them in cages made of bones. -Killing was still a crime, although it was justified if it was accidental or in self defense.

While easily dodging the attacks, Sans was confident enough to look away from the attackers, looking at the babybones in his arm. "Don't worry kid, your cool uncle Sans will protect you." Sans said with grin. But he then realized something, Bliss didn't look scared at all, instead he just kept staring at Sans with a usual expressionless eyes. Why wasn't Sans surprised?

While the Sans was dodging the attacks and attacking back, Bliss felt a presence dashing at them full speed from behind. But the Sans didn't notice it. 'Damn it!' Bliss moved his eye lights towards the presence, activating his magic to stop the attacker, but again the collar blocked his magic, and nothing happened. 'Motherfucker-'

Sans, that noticed the attack too late, couldn't didn't dodge in time, and a long dagger stabed him from behind. He growled in pain as the attack cut a few of his ribs, but fortunately it missed the SOUL.

Bliss growled after seeing the Sans in pain, 'I should've just broken this damn thing!' He reached a hand to his neck to break the collar, but before he could break it, he felt himself being thrown away. Bliss blinked while in mid air, '...What the fuck?'

While the pain kept growing, Sans noticed the dagger cutting further through his ribcage and moving towards the kid in his arm. "Shit!" He cursed and in a moment of panic he used blue magic to throw Bliss away from him.

Bliss clicked his tongues, 'You are more than welcome to stubbornly kill yourself after the Multiverse begins to crumble.' He moved his hands to grab the bones in front of him and with a simple squeeze he crushed the wall of bones.

While glaring at them, Bliss saw the Sans look his way with panicking eyes. "B-Bliss..." The sans groaned while reaching a hand his way.

Bliss' hit SOUL hit against his ribcage and he instinctively moved forward to save his Sans. But, another wall of white bones shot from the ground around Bliss, blocking his way. His eyes widened,'...What?' This time Bliss didn't break the wall, instead he just stared at it blankly in completely confusion. Then, realization hit him, it wasn't that the Sans reached for him desperately asking for his help, rather... it looked like the opposite, like the Sans was desperately trying to protect him even as he was being beaten up, but,'...Why?' His SOUL began beating faster, and his face twisted in anger, 'Why?! Why the fuck is this damn idiot sacrificing himself for something like me?!' A mistake, a filthy glitch, a disgusting murderer that had killed so many Monsters and Humans, children even. Something like him wasn't worth saving, his sins were so many even hell wouldn't accept him. And no matter how much the VOID changed his codes, they could never erase the stench of blood on him. Even if his LV and EXP had become zero, the memory of every soul he killed was still carved in his SOUL.

Bliss eye lights glowed with a murderous glint. No one had even gotten hurt for him before, no one ever cared if a glitch like him begged for mercy. Seeing someone getting hurt just to protect a glitch like him, it made his SOUL burn with something he couldn't quite describe. It was something more than mere anger. He felt really big urge to dust those damn anomalies.

The Wolf stumbled back and fell on the ground while staring up at the giant dog skull in terror.

Just as Bliss was about to dust the Wolf, he realized something wasn't right. Weren't his current Stats supposed to be really weak? But he just summoned two Gaster-blasters that took a lot more magic than his weaker attacks.

'So dumb.' Although Bliss thought the Sans' actions were stupid, he actually didn't completely hate having someone reach for him like that and trying so hard to defend him. No one had ever done that for him... His SOUL felt warm, it felt different from be burning sensation he had felt at the moment.

'...Why would you even do that.' Bliss shook his head with a sigh, and looked back at the hurt Skeleton. Sans got hurt because of him, it's unfortunate that Bliss cannot heal him, healing magic was the one type of magic he didn't master, actually he didn't know shit about healing, others or himself, since he never really had a need for it before.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

After venturing the big castle for some time, he found himself inside the kitchen. It was surprisingly very clean and full of expensive cooking tools. Everything was very well taken care of... Well, except for the fridge that was full of red stains, some kind of dry red liquid slide from under the door and ran down until reaching a big dry red stain on the floor, as if whatever red liquid was inside had poured out from under the door.

Dream was afraid to look inside... But he did anyways. He opened the fridge and saw... that is was just ketchup, a few bottles in the bottom seemed to have fallen over and spilled.

He was relived, but also surprised to not find any- oh nevermind, there it was, an amputated skeleton arm laying right next to the onions and carrots.

And...

'A notebook?' Dream tilted his head, and picked it up. 'What is a notebook doing inside the fridge?'

He opened and read the first page.

[So... Hi. I'm Killer, Nightmare's favorite. But he will never admit it, so don't ask him hehe.

If you, who is reading this, is not me, then keep in mind that I'm gonna fucking kill you if I ever find out. Yes I'm talking to you Dust, and stop fucking throwing my things inside the fridge you Motherfucker. Last time Horror ate my slippers because of you!

But if the one reading is future me, then let me tell you something, and don't you dare ever forget, you are gorgeous! And kill anyone who says otherwise!

This is kinda fun, writing in this blood covered notebook that I just stole from the last guy I killed.

So the reason I'm now here writing, is because I don't want to forget again how it feels to feel, you know? Now that I got my emotions back and all.

Soooo the zebra recommended writing everything in a notebook, and then I can reread when I forget.

What was it called again? Oh yeah, a diary- ]

Dream shut the notebook right away. 'Killer's diary?!'

"No. No. I will not invade someone's privacy!" He shook his head while putting the notebook back inside the fridge, right next to the skeleton arm, and closed the door.

"..." He kept staring at fridge. His soul filled with an unbearable curiosity.

He opened the fridge again...

"M-maybe just a little..." Dream guilty took the diary and opened it again.

Not an hour later, Dream was on the sofa with his knees close to his ribcage and the diary in his hands, completely immersed in his reading.

To his surprise, killer's diary was not full of violence as he had expected, well... not as much as he expected.

He put the notebook down on the coffee table, deciding it was better to stop now.

"Ah! Sorry! I have to take this!" They said as they took out the phone.

"NO PROBLEM! TAKE YOUR TIME!" PartyTale Papyrus smiled, and Sans next to him nodded with a lazy grin.

"You guys are the best!" Party!Frisk then picked up the call.

"NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE!"

"Oh Papyrus. It's Asgore, he wants to talk to you." Party!Frisk said and handed over the cellphone to him.

"REALLY? KING ASGORE WANTS TO TALK TO ME?" Papyrus took the cellphone with a happy smile.

A smirk grew on Party!Frisk's face. They extended an arm down and a knife slipped down their sleeve into their hand. "Let the party begin." They opened their eyes revealing their red colored iris.

In another part of PartyTale, a group of Monsters was drinking and chatting, when all of a sudden there was a loud scream coming from the middle of the crowd. Followed by a loud BOOOM!!!

Monsters were blowed away by the blast of magic. Causing panic among the guests and they began running away.

Without waiting for everyone to get out of the way, PartyTale Sans shot another gaster-blaster at Frisk.

Party!Frisk, that was being possessed by Party!Chara dodged the attack with a wide grin.

"What the hell is this..." Another sans stared at the mess with wide opened eyes. "A genocide in PartyTale?! How is that possible!"

"Fuck! Move you dumbass! If we die outside our AU we die for real!"

The guests began evacuating PartyTale and returned to their own AU... only for the real nightmare to begin.

The judges' party was over, it was now time for the scapegoat's party.

It felt suffocating. There had never been this much negativity in the Multiverse all at once. It was not natural, something was telling this should not be happening. Then one word rang in his head, 'balance', right there should be a balance. His instinct was telling him to go do his job, to go spread hopes and dreams to those in suffering, and give them strength.

When he came back to himself, Blue noticed Fresh staring at him. "Ya seemed to be thinkin' about somethin' fun."

"I actually was." Blue didn't even bother to hide his smirk. "Do you wanna hear about it?"

Fresh chuckled, "Our lil blue has grown up huh." He walked closer towards the small Sans with a grin and towered over him, his one eye light glowing purple. "Ya and your kids are doin somethin fun too."

Chapter Text

[ Start Chapter ]

A few seconds earlier, somewhere else.

'...Is this a cocoon?'

His right arm looked like it was being eaten by a bulky cocoon made of bandages...

The bandages wrapped around his arm were soft and comfortable, it probably wouldn't hurt anyone if he were to punch someone... Perhaps hardening the bandages with his own magic would make for a good weapon...

Bliss waved his bandaged arm in the air, like he was crushing some imaginary (Ink)skulls. He liked the idea.

In the bathroom, while the babybones was playing with the bandages, Papyrus had just finished preparing a bath for Bliss who had vomited all over himself and the living room floor -guess who was stuck cleaning that.

Papyrus could hear Sans grumbling from the living room, but ignored it and picked up Bliss.

"Bath time!"

Bliss stood quiet as he stared at the water filled tub. Wondering if drowning was an option. Right, that reminded him, the first time Papyrus gave him a bath, Bliss really thought they were planning to drown him, but it never happened. He should probably be grateful he was enable to use magic at the time, otherwise his magic outburst would have destroyed the house. -being chained to an anchor under deep ocean and drowning for months can mess with someone's head a little.

Bliss was still remembering the old times, even as he was placed in the tub. The warm water on his bones still felt strange, it was not cold like the lakes, nor was it boiling hot like a pool of acid.

The warm water felt strange, but he didn't hate it, no actually, it was very pleasant, much like chocolate, but it wasn't chocolate, nor was it food... it was water, ah right, don't Monsters also drink water?

Bliss looked down at the water, '...Can I drink this?'

He snapped out of this thoughts when he heard a pop sound, he looked up to see Papyrus holding something like a pink ketchup bottle? but instead the words on it read '~Bubble bath~' and 'Berry Bliss~' whatever that meant.

Papyrus turned the bottle upside down and began pouring a pink gel-like liquid into the water. And after stirred the water a little, soon pink bubbles began forming, followed by a sweet smell.

Bliss stared at the now pink sweet- smelling cotton-like water. 'Okay, NOW, you can't tell me this is not supposed to be eaten.' Come on, the bottle literally has images of fruits on it.

Papyrus sat next to the tub with a bright smile, "Bliss look! Bubbles! How cool!" He said at he took a hand full of bubbles and threw them im the air, the bubbles slowly floating down before popping.

Papyrus looked at the babybones, with eyes sparkling with expectation. He wanted to see Bliss play with the bubbles. He had the recording device next to him, just in case.

Bliss stared at the floating bubbles in wonder and curiosity. 'How is that possible?' He didn't understand how Papyrus made those bubbles fly, he also didn't feel any magic being used.

He reached out an grabbed a falling bubble, but it immediately popped in his hand, turning into small droplets of water. As he thought, it was just water. Whatever was in that bottle made the water able to fly!

The babybones began throwing the bubbles into the air, with eyes full of curiosity.

Needless to say, Papyrus had a very happy time recording everything with the recording device.

______________________________________

After the bath, Bliss was once again put in a cute dress. Every day was a different dress, apparently Papyrus took a liking to shopping. The baby blue closet was already full. Today's dress was dark red with dark blue also having a little bit of yellow and white, matching the color of Bliss eyes, -the moment Papyrus saw the cute dress he immediately bought it.

Unfortunately, because of the incident from yesterday, the festival was temporarily canceled, ruining today's plans.

Papyrus wondered what they could do today. Shopping with Bliss was a tempting idea. Maybe they will meet other parents to talk and share cute baby pictures and recording, and then their children can be friends with Bliss and play together! How exciting! Sans could join too, since he was also free today and would probably just laze around all day anyways.

Papyrus rushed to Sans' room.

______________________________________

Sans was in his room, sitting on his bed and holding an old diary in his hands. He looked down at it with a serious face.

This was the same diary that Alphys had given him, the one that supposedly belonged to the forgotten previous Royal scientist. The pages inside the diary were full weird symbols, hand symbols, like it was a different language. But strangely enough, Sans could read it just fine.

The first thing there was to noticed was that the name and any information related to the scientist himself were blurred as if they were erased. But the rest of the contents was intact.

As for said contents, Sans frowned.

It was about some kind of secret project the forgotten previous Royal scientist was working on. A project to create Artificial Monsters as weapons.

Apparantly, after the human prince, Chara, appeared in the kingdom and was adopted by King Asgore and Queen Toriel, the scientist had been awoken to the possibility of another war with the humans, if one small human child found their way into the Kingdom, then what is going to stop an army of humans determined to exterminate them?

The diary described the theory and the progress of the experiment. And eventually, the creation of one artificial Monsters prototype. Later address as subject 1.

After that, what followed was a study on the prototype, its physical constitutions and mentality through continuous interaction with the subject. There was a visible disappointment in the words written by the scientists as the subject was described to behave no different than a child. Although it could be called a fast learner, it asked too many questions. But the most disappointing part was, that subject 1 was too weak and fragile, barely able to handle a few attacks before breaking, and had almost no stamina. Apparantly as it was formed, too much of the energy when to the 'brains' instead of powering the artificial SOUL, the scientist was sure to fix that when creating the mext subject.

Subject 1 was concluded to be a failure, But still, not a total waste, as the new data extracted from it was enough to proceed with a second experiment, giving birth to subject 2. This time, making sure to not repeat the mistakes of the first subject.

Subject 2 was concluded to be a success, although it may be small, the scientist had made sure it will grow at fast speed, unlike subject 1 who was short and weak.

Subject 2 had a strong SOUL and sturdy bones, no signs of fear but still having sharp instincts. All that was left to do, was to test its combat abilities, and surely it can be replicated. Soon enough, an army of them, ready to die to protect Monster kind. After all, these were not real Monsters, but artificially created living weapons.

The next page seemed to contain information about the experiment on subject 2's abilities, but most of it was impossible to read, because most of the page was burnt, And every page after that was completely burnt.

Sans was reminded of his oldest memory. Lost in the streets, confused, his head blank as a white sheet of paper, with no name or past. His surroundings, everything was strange, the only thing that looked somewhat familiar, was the small babybones he was holding in his arms.

BAAAM! The door was slammed open and Papyrus walked inside with Bliss in his arms. "SANS! We are going shopping! Get ready!"

Sans had been so focused, so Papyrus' bursting into the room startled him, a lot, it startled Sans so much that he accidentally threw the diary across the room...

The old diary hit the wall and fell to the ground at Papyrus's feet...

Papyrus looked at the old book on the ground. "Oh, you were reading? This looks like a very old book, what is it about?" He move to pick up the diary.

But Sans snatched it away before Papyrus could touch it. "Nothing! Just, some boring stuff." He chuckled nervously as he put the diary in his pocket and began pushing Papyrus out of the room, "Now let's go shopping! We sure need more cute dresses for Bliss. We just can't have enough." Sans desperately tried to change the subject.

Papyrus smiled brightly. "Indeed we need!" He began walking on his own, "Come Sans! Lets go shop and make friends with parents!"

Papyrus excitedly walked across the living room, towards the door, but the moment he opened the door he saw a familiar face.

"Undyne?"

Undyne was standing there, right in front of their house, holding her hand up as if she was just about to knock at the door.

"Undyne, are you not busy today? Oh, do you want to join us?" Papyrus invited her.

"Err, sorry Papyrus, I'm actually here for work." Undyne scratched he back of her neck awkwardly. "You see, King Asgore asked for you and Sans to come see him. And," She looked at him with a somewhat apologetic look. "I'm here to escort you guys."

Papyrus tilted his head. "King Asgore wants to see us?"

"What?" Sans appeared next to Papyrus with a serious face. This wasn't really unexpected but still... it just had to be now. Was ONE peaceful day too much to ask? ONE Frickin day!

______________________________________

Somewhere else...

Alphys sat on her desk, resting her head on a hand while her other hand moved as she scribbled on a document.

She signed, remembering the conversation she had with Sans about the forgotten previous Royal scientist, and giving him the diary. She couldn't help being dragged back to the past, her old self that just couldn't stay put.

Alphys, a shy promising young Lizard Monster, Right after becoming a scientist, she had immediately achieved many great things rapidly becoming the first and only Royal scientist, through hard work she climbed up to a position even above her seniors, and became an object of admiration to all the other scientists. That's how everyone remembers it, that's how she remembered it.

Then, one faithful day, for some unknown reason the Core -a magic source of power that provided energy to the whole city- malfunctioned causing the magic research facility to shake and rooms collapse. But at that moment, Alphys found herself lost, she just stood there, in the big shaking research room, quiet in place and staring at the unstable Core, like she was expecting to see someone there, she didn't understand what but she felt she had lost something important. The strangest thing is that she had no idea what caused the Core to suddenly malfunction, as the Royal scientist, how could she not be aware of something so important?

But she was awakened from her dazed state by the chaotic surroundings, frantic staff members were evacuating the dangerous area, and pulling her along. She was dragged out just in time to see the room she had been in collapse completely.

In the end, the underground labs that contained top secret research, were completely lost. But after that day, Alphys had been very restless, she couldn't shake off the feeling that she had forgotten something important, she tried to bury herself in her work, hoping the feeling would go away, but while going through some documents she found one of 'her' notes, as she read it a question came to her 'Uh? Did I write this?' it didn't look like her handwriting either. She looked through more and more until she found herself buried in piles of paper and notebooks.
'Uh?' Then it hit her, something didn't feel right. She looked around 'her' office, it felt... strange.

Looking through every shelf and drawers, she only became more confused, this was her office, and these were her stuff, she knew that for a fact. But then why... The records with blurred words and parts, the genius theory books with no author name, the inventions and the projects she didn't remember taking part in, There was only the FACT that she knew it was her, all of it was her. But, it just didn't feel right.

As she kept looking through 'her own work', she couldn't help be amazed, fascinated even, the pure amount of genius in every sentence, every small little detail. Then it hit her hard, this, all of these, none of it belonged to her. There were those 'facts' in her head telling her that it was all her work, but her reasoning told her otherwise, She'll be dammed if she didn't know the extent of her own abilities. No, all of those accomplishments, it was all the product of real genius, she could never dream of it as her own work. She would have to be delusional to believe so.

She disregarded those 'facts' that seemed like obvious truth in her head, like something was telling her to just accept it and shut up. But she couldn't accept it, a gut feeling was telling her she shouldn't accept it.

She kept digging, looking thought the books, the records, any bit of paper she could find, searching for something, she didn't know what exactly, something, anything. She herself wasn't sure why she was so desperate, like she was missing something important, something she shouldn't have forgotten. It was driving her insane.

Then she thought of something, the place where she first began to feel this uneasiness. Alphys decided to go to the abandoned underground labs, or what was left of it. She was sure to find some clues there.

She passed through the warning signs, and rushed inside until she stopped right in front of the destroyed research room where the old Core was located, the place where it began. She took a deep breath and began moving a few debris out of the way, and then walked inside, she didn't know what to expect, the place was completely destroyed and nothing could be identified anymore.

She sighed in disappointment and just as she was about to leave, she heard a weird noise, she stood quiet and tried to listen but there was only silence, perhaps it was just paranoia from the lack of sleep these days. But at that moment she felt a shiver down her spine and something touched her leg. She jumped up in surprise and looked down, only to see a black gooey substance wrapped around her ankle like a tentacle.

Before she could even react, her head began hurting, it hurt a lot, it felt like something was forceful being pushed inside her head. Then she saw something, something like a cracked memory flashed in her head before disappearing, the image of a tall Monster, their face and words blurred out. The twisted images creeped her out, and the horrible headache, she stumbled back and fell only to see the black gooey substance still lingering around her ankle, she freaked out, kicking it off and began to run away, her SOUL beating furiously as she left the underground labs.

After that day, small fractions of memories would come to her in her sleep. Memories that should have not existed in the first place, memories about the previous Royal scientist. She couldn't say she remembered it all, the scientist's name was still forgotten, his aparece blurry at most. All she knew was that he had existed, and the faint feeling they had a very close relationship, she was his apprentice of sorts.

Alphys didn't know why only she remembered, perhaps because she had witnessed it with her own two eyes, the gruesome 'death' of the scientist, the state he was in just before falling into the unstable Core. She didn't know what had happened to him, if it was an accident or if it was caused by something, all she knew was that the image of it was horrifying enough to give her nightmares. Which it did.

Thinking back to those days, Alphys wondered whether she did the right thing by perusing the forgotten truth, and what exactly that black gooey thing was, it seemed related to those memories, she had even returned to the abandoned labs to look for it, but she never saw it again.

Alphys let out a sigh as she remembered the past. Someone had completely disappeared from existence just like that, forgotten by the world, and there was nothing that could be done, it felt unfair that only she knew this harsh truth, Then again, she brought this upon herself, all because she couldn't stop being fussy over details. She scribbled faster as her frustration grew.

Gaster who was hovering around out of boredom, decided to see what Alphys was writing that demanded such concentration. He came closer, hovering over the little scientist, and took a peek, only to see it was the drawing of a cute cat girl in a cute dress, it was drawn over a important looking document...

Gaster groaned, 'I see you still have this bad habit.'

[ End Chapter ]

Chapter Text

[ Start Chapter ]

Undyne looked at him, then sighed. "Honestly, I'm not completely sure myself." If it was just to arrest them, it would be enough to just 'pick them up' and throw them in jail, like they do with other thugs and criminals, no need for a big fancy meeting with the king. Although it was comforting that she didn't need to suddenly shove her friends into a prison cell like any other trashy criminal. Undyne thought back to the incident from yesterday, remembering the scene of the crime, filled with Monster dust and traces of bone attacks, the suspects were pretty obvious. Except, Papyrus would never kill someone, and Sans? he was smarter than that, he wouldn't just kill someone for no reason and leave such obvious traces. But what other explanation was there? She could only trust king Asgore with this one.

Bliss never really thought about it, but now that Sans mentions it, Bliss was confused by the fact that the VOID had dropped him right in front on the Skeleton brothers' house. What for? Did the VOID wish for Bliss to adopt these two brothers? But why? Just so they could be taken away again? Bliss' face darkness slightly at the thought.

Asgore felt cold sweat on his back, his SOUL beating strongly and his body shook as he grabbed tightly on the armrest to with enough strength to break it. How could the small child intimidate him like this?

Bliss froze and the killing intent faded in an instant. He shrunk a little in Papyrus arms, as if he had seen something terrifying. Which might just be the case. As he looked at the crying child, unpleasant images flashed in front of Bliss' eyes, memories he wished to forget - The sight of half-dead children laying limp on the floor as he walked through the dust filled AU. A feeling of disgust and bitterness, and slight hesitation before ending their misery and going back to work.

Below the castle, in the dungeons. Papyrus and Sans reached their cell room, accompanied by two guards.

"Thank you." Papyrus walked inside

Sans was taken by surprise and looked at Papyrus. "What do you mean?

Bliss looked at the corridor walls, they were all decorated with Beast SOULs -also known as Cores- it appears that those Beast SOULs were being used to strengthen the walls most likely to defend against potential attacks, and also used as light source to illuminate the place.

Bliss narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Because of these fucking walls he couldn't locate of his family.

So he decided to destroy them, the walls that is.

Sans thought for a moment. Bliss' parent, a Monster that gave birth to that ridiculous kid, would probably be ridiculous themselves. Sans tried to imagine such Monster living with them... he soon shivered at the idea. Imagining all the furniture going missing, the house with holes all over as if someone took bites out of it like the walls were made out of bread, annoying neighbors mysteriously going missing... And the following images going through Sans' head were complete chaos.

While Sans was busy imagining that awful scenario, suddenly-

Papyrus gasped. 'This! Could this be-!'
Was Bliss asking to be picked up? Papyrus' face beamed with a bright smile as he picked up the cute babybones. He was so happy that Bliss actually asked to be picked up by him for the first time! Especially because the baby would normally act no differently than a stone- ahem! no, Bliss just didn't seem interested in anything other than chocolate. So Papyrus was very happy to see Bliss showing interest in him.

"Is that seriously what you are worried about right now?" Sans looked at his brother dumbfounded. The kid just broke a technically unbearable item with his very small hand with no effort at all, and lets not mention that he knew their exact location and teleported here. Theres also the fact that a baby is breaking them out of prison, nothing weird about that at all.

Sans shrugged with a sigh. Even after he told everything to Papyrus, his brother wasn't acting differently towards the kid, he seemed very determined to ignore how abnormal the kid was, or maybe he just didn't care. Perhaps Sans should do as his brother and just accept it, after all, now that they had a crazy kid to raise, things will never be the same as before, might as well get used to it.

Sans waved his worries away and walked towards them. " Undyne must be freaking out right now." He chuckled.

When he was close enough, Bliss, still in Papyrus's arms, moved a hand to break the collar around Sans' neck too.

Sans just let the kid do as he pleased, not paying any mind as the collar around his neck was shattered and the pieces fell to the ground.

Note:

Although, if he truly were greedy, wouldn't he have acted according to his own emotions, instead even in his grief he first thought about the best for Monster Kingdom and its citizens.

Chapter Text

[Start Chapter]

Sometime earlier, Undyne was still frantically running around the hallways, searching for the little brat that had disappeared from her arms.

When suddenly, there was an explosion and the castle shook, parts of ceiling began falling down and hitting the floor. Undyne easily dodged the falling debris. She looked around her, everything was shaking, the group, ceiling, walls.

"What the hell?!" Undyne frowned. Did Beasts sneak into the Kingdom and were attacking the castle? Or worse, Humans. But that shouldn't be possible, nothing had ever managed to move past the great Walls before.

She looked at the crumbling walls. Well whatever it was, had to be something big, the castle walls had all been strengthened with at least rare grade Beast cores, it was not something easy to crush.

She shook her head, now it was not the time to ask questions, it was too dangerous inside the crumbling castle. Undyne began moving, she rushed to evacuate everyone out of the castle.

She ran around the hallways, searching for anyone that might be in danger, then.

Suddenly, Undyne felt herself falling, as if the ground below her had disappeared. She acted fast and maneuvered her body to land safely, expecting to fall somewhere in the lower levels of the dungeons underneath the castle, but as she looked down she was surprised to see grass.

There was a small instant where a line divided her surroundings.

Her head shot up, and her eyes went wide. It all happened in a second, if she had blinked, she would have missed it. A cut in the sky above her head closing shut before it vanished.

Undyne landed on the soft grass, and looked up to see the clear sky, there was no cut. "I swear I saw it-" Then she looked ahead, the castle was crumbling in front of her. She took a step back in shock.

Confused, Undyne looked around. Noisy groups of guards mumbled and looked around in confusion, some gasped while pointing at the castle.

It was chaotic, and more people gathered around and watched in horror as half the castle began crumbling down like it was made of sand.

But, something was strange, Undyne couldn't see any danger, there was no threat no matter where she looked. So what had destroyed the castle?

Undyne began asking around, to see if anyone had seen anything. Unfortunately, everyone was as confused as she was. Also, one thing she found out was that many of the guards here had experienced the same thing as her. They had been inside the falling castle but suddenly they began falling then landed outside.

"What the hell was that? Teleportation?" She shook her head. No, It was as if the ground below her feet had opened and swallowed her up, but instead of falling in the dungeons underground and be buried by debris, she landed safely in front of the castle gates. And it appeared like everyone else here were the same.

Undyne thought she should talk to Alphys about what just happened, she trusted that the smart scientist will certainly figure out a rational explanation.

But first she had to report to king Asgore.

______________________________________

A few minutes later.

Once again, the skeleton family was standing in front of the king, except this time they were not inside a big fancy throne room, but in front of an half destroyed castle...

Papyrus and Sans had already agreed on what to tell Asgore, they had talked about it before coming to meet him. They didn't just come to apologize, but also to resolve the misunderstanding about the murder case. - Of course they couldn't say that Bliss was the one who killed those Monsters, that would only give the king a reason to take the kid from them. So the two brothers agreed to twist the truth a little. They would say that Sans was ambushed by those kidnappers and acted in self defense and to protect Bliss. Although, it took quite the effort to finally convince Papyrus, who didn't like his brother taking the blame alone. Unfortunately, Papyrus could not share that blame since a lot of people saw him at the festival at the same time of the incident.

So instead, Papyrus insisted to confess about the damage to the castle, and say that he himself did it, even though they could very well feign ignorance and no one would be the wiser. Maybe Papyrus was feeling left out and wanted part in it. But he really didn't need to, they didn't have the money to pay for the damage...

Sans let out a tired sigh.

After listening to the skeleton brothers' excuses, queen Meliora just smiled gently, -her room was on the undamaged side of the castle so she didn't feel bad at all- She turned to look at Asgore, wondering what her friend would do now.

Asgore had a complicated expression, considering the current situation. He cleared his throat. "Since it was as you say, I cannot blame any of you for what happened to those bad Monsters." Honestly, he had already decided to let them all go after seeing that Bliss did not accidentally harm anyone even while angry, and this was a good opportunity. But, after what just happened to the castle, Asgore was once again very worried. It had happened right after Undyne lost the child, so he could only assume it was Bliss' doing. Since he could confirm that no dangerous Beast had entered the kingdom. Also, the child had already proven capable of causing explosions.

"Indeed." The queen agreed with a nod. 'After all, who hasn't killed someone by accident at least once in their life, right?' At times like those you just hide the evidence and move on with your life, it's not like Monsters leave corpses anyways.

Meliora didn't care much about the situation, she took a peek at her child through their bond, making sure her baby was still sleeping safety in his crib in her room. Before she brought her attention back to the conversation.

On the other hand, Asgore was conflicted. "I would also like to apologize for the troubles." Although he apologized, he was wondering if just letting them go like this was the right choice.

Sans felt relieved at seeing Asgore buying their bullshit. 'Good, now let's get out of here, fast.' Before someone decided to mention the destroyed castle.

"I also apologize!" Papyrus spoke feeling guilty. They had caused so much trouble to king Asgore, it was only right that they apologize. He then looked at the babybones in his arms. "And Bliss would also like to apologize for causing such a commotion. Right Bliss?"

Bliss stared back at him nonchalantly. 'No, not really.'

"Now Bliss say sorry. So-rry." Papyrus said slowly, he knew Bliss was already able to repeat simple words.

The Skeleton child looked Papyrus then glanced at Asgore with very little interest, but still did as he was asked, "Sowy." Bliss repeated without any emotion or sincerity.

"Good job!" Papyrus cheered brightly while lifting the babybones high up. Smiling up at him proudly, before bringing the baby back down into his arms.

For whatever reason, Papyrus's reaction made Bliss feel rather good. His usually stoic face became a bit shy.

Asgore blinked in silence then gave a small amused laugh. "No, it's quite alright." He smiled. It was indeed weird, this child was without a doubt dangerous, yet felt so innocent. Still, Asgore understood that the child only acted when he felt the Skeleton brothers were in danger, the kidnapping incident and when the brothers where imprisoned. As someone who swore to protect every single Monster in the kingdom, Asgore recognized Bliss' desire to protect the people he cared about. And he admired that in the small child. He nodded in approval.

Of course he was still worried. After all, if a child holding such destructive power acted on a whim, it could be quite dangerous. After seeing the child with his own eyes, he understood that Bliss was a smart kid and wouldn't attack innocents, still, violent actions will have consequences, innocent bystanders can get hurt accidentally. The half destroyed castle was a good example of that, it was a miracle no one was harmed amidst the chaos. As the king, Asgore had to make sure everyone was safe. He decided to keep Papyrus' child under surveillance, at least for a while. But this time, he will not make the same mistake.

"Also, about the castle-" Papyrus decided to mention the one thing Sans was trying to avoid.

Sans felt a headache coming.

"Ah, yes." Asgore looked behind at the half destroyer castle. "I had no idea sir Papyrus could also go wild sometimes. And right after breaking out of prison too." He decided to just play along with the two brothers.

Papyrus chucked nervously, he was only lying to protect his child, that's right, "As a father, of course I will do anything to for my child!" He spoke with confidence.

Hearing that, Meliora nodded in approval.

'What child?' Bliss mentality asked, momentarily forgetting his current form.

"But I promise this will never happen again!" Papyrus looked at Bliss while saying that last part.

Bliss averted his gaze, he did not feel guilty, and he will in fact do it again if necessary. He too would do anything for his Papyrus and Sans.

The baby's uninterested response was not very assuring.

Asgore turned around to look at the half destroyed castle. "It will take a long time to get everything rebuilt." He didn't sound displeased as he spoke, actually, a small smile sneaked on his face. "But I can't possibly ask you to pay for such damage. I'm confident to say that not even all your life savings will be enough." He chuckled humorously.

Sans nodded frantically. Remembering all the jobs he had to do as an orphan child to get a little bit of money and pull himself and Papyrus out of the streets. -After those hardships were finally over, he had sworn to live the rest of his life as the laziest Monster alive.

"Instead, why don't you pay me with a small favor?" Asgore proposed with a smile.

Although Sans was somewhat relived, he frowned suspiciously.

Papyrus tilted his head. "A favor? Are you sure that will be enough?"

Asgore nodded. "I would like if you all came to visit to at least once a week, to chat over a cup of tea. It's sad that I won't be seeing sir Papyrus much since you will have a long vacation. What do you two think?" That way, he could watch the child in person too, he also felt more comfortable with this method rather than sending guards to spy on the Skeleton family.

Asgore also remembered how Papyrus' child stopped being aggressive and became flustered after the little prince cried. He thought Bliss' reaction at seeing another baby was quite adorable. "Bliss could also play with the little prince, since they are close in age."

A bright smile bloomed on Papyrus face. "That would be my honor!"

Papyrus didn't understand how this could be payment for the damage to the castle, maybe after the tea break they were supposed to help with the repairs. Nevertheless he liked the idea. Also, Bliss always shows reluctance to get close to other people, it also took a long time for him accept his new family, so Papyrus had been worried that Bliss would have a hard time making friends when he grew up. But if two babies grow up together they will inevitably become friends!

Sans was quite surprised. "Really? That's it?" He was a little doubtful.

Asgore looked at the shorter Skeleton brother. Since earlier, he had noticed Sans' discomfort and caution. He could not blame him, after all Asgore did have ulterior motives indeed.

Asgore nodded. "It's such a big castle, it can make an old Monster feel quite lonely." He said with a sigh.

"Seems like a good opportunity to make it smaller now that it's destroyed." Sans chuckled, he couldn't help make a joke, but he soon regretted it. Force of habit...

Asgore looked at him a bit surprised, then let out a laugh. "Indeed, I can see this as an opportunity." He looked at the castle humorously. Papyrus' brother was smart and had good instincts, while Papyrus was strong and had a gentle soul. Asgore felt much more assured, there was no better people to take care of the little castle destroyer. Perhaps he had been too worried for no big reason. He felt like he could trust the these two boys.

Although the visits were meant for Asgore to keep and eye on the child, he would also like to watch him grow up. Asgore felt that this child Bliss would bring great change to their Monster kingdom. "Perhaps this could be a good change."

"That's right! Now we can also finally build a greenhouse, yout majesty always loved flowers and gardening." Papyrus spoke enthusiastically.  He also thought the castle should have a bigger area for training, so he wouldn't need to hold back his attacks because the traning area was too small. He had so many other great suggestions and ideas for the new castle, he couldn't wait to help out.

"Drinking tea surrounded by flowers does sound delightful." Meliora commented at the idea.

Feeling encouraged, Papyrus kept sharing a few more ideas with enthusiasm.

Asgore was just smiling humorously at the chatting Skeleton, but ended up actually listening with some interest.

While Sans was slowly dozing off on the side, he had gone through too much stress for one day and felt drained.

Bliss was just satisfied that his family was safe with him again. After seeing how his actions could affect them, he decided to be more careful next time he kills someone. Wouldn't want Sans or Papyrus to take the blame again and get themselves in trouble. Bliss shook his head with a sigh while thinking that these two were hopeless.

The chat was interrupted when Sans eventually collapsed on the ground after finally falling asleep.

Papyrus casually picked up his brother, like it was a dayly occurrence. He was now holding both Bliss and Sans, without much effort.

Bliss didn't mind sharing his spot with Sans. 'Welcome aboard.' He patted the sleeping Sans on the back.

Papyrus said bye to the king and queen, then walked away. He said bye to a few other guards and Undyne before finally leaving.

As the skeleton family walked away. Asgore looked at the vew of the half destroyer castle. "I guess I deserved this."

"You seem quite satisfied, considering your room was located in the destroyed side if the castle." Meliora commented nonchalantly.

"Is that so?" Asgore hummed. Indeed, he was not feeling bad about it, actually, he felt relieved. He had been agonizing while trying to find a solutions to the dilemma, and he had been feeling guilty for having to separate Bliss from his family. He thought this was a good resolution.

Meliora looked at the big Goat Monster, who was smiling like a fool. "You know, if sir Papyrus hadn't come to confess, we wouldn't really know what caused this destruction." Even though sir Papyrus said he was the one who did it, who would actually believe such a thing? Not to mention that they were already aware that Papyrus' child was capable of exploding things. At first it was just a small suspicious but it became certain after Papyrus took the blame. It was a bit ironic really.

Asgore looked at his friend, he understood what she was implying. He didn't like the thought of the Skeleton family being the center of bad rumors because of the castle's destruction.

Asgore faked a cough. "Whatever do you mean? I was the one who asked for it to be demolished. I had been planning to reconstruct the castle for a long time now." He had decided to make use of some of sir Papyrus' ideas too, it would be a good change, for everyone.

The queen blinked, then chuckled and looked back at the half destroyed castle. "You know what, now that I think about it, that half wasn't very symmetrical, it really needed to be taken down, indeed." She nodded, deciding to play along with that nonsense.

As she looked at the castle, Meliora couldn't help wondering how a small child could be capable of such destruction. That little kid might be at the very least a half-Boss Monster, much like the her own child.

It was a miracle that no one had been hurt amdist the destruction, although, there were some weird reports from the guards, saying they had fallen out of the castle and landed outside. It sounded ridiculous, but it couldn't be just the guards' imagination, since so many experienced the same thing, including Undyne, the captain of the royal guards.

Asgore wondered how something like that could have happened. His first thought was teleportation. After all, just like Sans, Bliss was also very famous for his teleportation, but to teleported all those people outside, all at once, it didn't seem possible. Plus, Undyne herself said it was different from teleportation, she said it was like the world was cut open and for a short moment she saw something like numbers in thin air. For some reason, that she said gave Asgore an odd feeling, like he had heard of something similar from someone very close, yet, he could not remember what it was, as if it had been erased from his memories.

Asgore shook that feeling away, he decided to leave this complicated matter in the trusty hands of the Royal scientist.

______________________________________

Papyrus walked inside their house with only Bliss in his arms.

On their way home, Sans had suddenly woke up to the sound of ringing and then teleported away saying he had some business at the Guild.

It was still early and Papyrus was still planning to go shopping today, but he decided to first wait for Sans to come back and then they will all go shopping together. Also, since the misunderstanding about the incident was solved, the festival wasn't canceled anymore! So they can go out and have fun again tomorrow.

Papyrus also thought about buying toys for Bliss, since the babybones only had that weird doll, he thought the baby would like other dolls or any other kind of toy. When Papyrus was young they couldn't really afford toys, so he wanted to give his cute son many toys. Also, Bliss... really needed something to entertain himself. Sans says he still finds it creepy whenever Bliss silently stares at him for long periods of time, and when the baby is not being creepy, he is breaking furniture, disappearing the moment they take their eyes off him, falling down the stairs, there was also that time Bliss stabbed the weird doll with a knitting needle, how the baby had gotten ahold of those knitting needles they did not know. Lets just say, after that, all sharp objects in the house were very safely locked away.

Papyrus was sure Bliss will also smile more when he gets toys to play with.

"Let's wait for uncle Sans to return. Then we will all go shopping together!" He said as he walked towards the living room with the babybones and sat down on the soft carpet - they had bought very comfy carpets for the whole house, so the babybones could practice walking and not get hurt when he fell. It was also very nice to play or roll around on it.

He sat Bliss on the carpet, in front of him.

As soon as he was placed down, Bliss grabbed onto the softly carpet as to not fall on his back. This small body had an uselessly big skull, making it hard to keep balance. But he was slowly getting used to it, especially now that more of his magic had returned, although he still had only a pathetic amount considering his previous STATS as de destroyer of worlds.

As he kept slowly recovering his lost codes, with it increased his magic. The moment enough magic had returned, as per habit, part of his destructive magic naturally wrapped around his bones, serving as an outer layer of protection, as well as it helped increase his control over his own body, allowing Bliss to manipulate his body easily by using the magic covering the bones, like making it move much like a puppet, - this was a habit he had developed after his body kept being broken and teared to pieces so many times, and also the need to keep moving even while his bones where broken and his body falling apart. It worked like layer of magic wrapping around a broken outer shell, keeping it from falling apart and making it move. - Thanks to that, Bliss was now finding it less annoying to control his new small immature body.

"Now Bliss." Papyrus called him to get his attention.

Bliss looked up at him.

"What you did today you can't do again, okay?" Papyrus spoke, trying to sound a bit stern but not too much as to frighten the babybones.

After what happened today, and what he heard from Sans, Papyrus couldn't just ignore it. As a father, he had to make sure that Bliss doesn't cause trouble or kill people anymore. Education was a very important part of raising children! Also Papyrus had learned a lot of things from the books about parenting he borrowed from the library, and he was ready to put them to use.

Bliss looked up at him in silence, then he shook his head, 'That's for me to decide.' He will do it again if necessary, to keep his new family safe. Although he did need to be more careful with his methods. Bliss tilted his head in thought.

Papyrus watched as Bliss shook his head then tilt it to the side, a bit surprised that the babybones didn't fall from moving his skull around so much -considering the baby's head was bigger than the torso, and probably as heavy.

Honestly, Papyrus wasn't sure the baby was even understanding him. "It's bad to blow up other people's castle. Some people could have also gotten really hurt." He insisted, his face became a bit serious to show the baby that what he was saying was something important.

Still the babybones was not showing much interest and was looking around the room as if looking for something interesting. 

Well, even if Bliss was still too young to understand the concept of good and bad, as long as they repeat it enough times, he will eventually learn. And the earlier the better!

Papyrus had read that child are very sensitive to intent, so that explained why Bliss sometimes seemed to understand them, even though the baby didn't yet knew speech. So he still tried to explain to the babybones. "Hurting others is also wrong!" Papyrus spoke a bit louder as if to get the baby's attention.

Bliss flinched and looked at him, then frowned. 'Then was I supposed to search the whole damn castle while crawling around like a worm? I can barely walk with these damn small feet.' He snorted, although it sounded like a cute inocente sneeze.

Papyrus couldn't help smile at the cute sneeze, he was tempted to go get the recording device. No! He mustn't get distracted now!

The babybones looked away again. 'It's not like I killed someone this time.' Bliss had even been careful not to kill anyone, using portals to move everyone outside the castle. - While portal between AUs was just a simple opening in the code walls that separated each Universe, a portal within the same AU was a direct cut in it's codes. A cut in the codes that made up the AU, breaking the coded time and space to open a gateway from one location to another. Pretty much a rupture of reality. And while it required much less magic, it was actually more troublesome as it could leave after effects in the codes the world was made of. - Bliss only did it because he knew Papyrus would be sad if he killed all those random people.

"Do you understand, Bliss? That's why there are this thing called rules! So people know what they should or shouldn't do." Papyrus continued, trying his best to express the importance of being a good citizen.

'Ink never followed any rules and apparantly he was the hero of the Multiverse.' Bliss shrugged nonchalantly, he didn't bother talking back since it would all come out as incomprehensible babbling.

Bliss was getting awful bored of the scolding. The only other person to ever scold him was Blue, well Nightmare too but his was more like death threats rather than scolding. Either way, Bliss never really cared much to what they had to say, he had mastered the art of ignoring thanks to the Voices constantly yelling at him. - In the past when Blue used to scolded him about 'starving himself' or something dumb like the importance of sleep, Bliss would simply shove a chocolate bar in his mouth to shut him up. Although Blue wasn't a fan of sweets, he learned very early on to never disrespect chocolate in front of the destroyer. After a while, Blue would eventually give up.

'I don't have any chocolate on me...' Bliss thought to himself, and looked towards the kitchen, thinking maybe he could go get some pasta.

Seeing as the babybones didn't seem interested in what he was saying, Papyrus became a bit demotivated. It was extremely hard to keep Bliss attention on him for more than a few seconds. Papyrus sighed sadly, but then, he got an great idea and shot up to his feet.

Bliss was startled when Papyrus suddenly got up and ran upstairs. And watched curiosity when the tall Skeleton returned holding the puppet in his arms. Bliss blinked, wondering why Papyrus had brought him.

Papyrus sat back down, and placed the doll in front of Bliss. "Look Bliss! It's Mister doll! He wants to join us!" He spoke with a bright grin. The best way to get a child's attention was of course toys!

Bliss looked at 'Mister doll' for a moment, then he tapped the puppet with a sigh. "Puppen." He corrected Papyrus. Serious, did no one know the difference?

Papyrus blinked then grinned again. "Mister Puppen has a fun game for us! Let's hear it!"

Bliss tilted his head, be was a bit curious so he inched forward to hear it.

Papyrus was happy to finally have the babybones attention. "He says the game is called, 'rules can be fun'!"

Bliss frowned, then glared at the puppet. 'Since when are rules fun you fucking pile or rags?! Have you forgotten Fate?!' Bliss made a frustrated noise while slamming his small hand on the floor.

Papyrus blinked in surprise as the baby shouted angry babbling at the doll. Bliss barely even responded when he or Sans scolded him so this outburst was shocking.

He glance at the doll, then at Bliss.

The babybones was angrily narrowing his eyes at 'Mister Puppen', but the doll didn't even flinch under the angry glare.

'Children's imagination is really amazing!' Papyrus thought to himself. He wondered if he too was like that as a child, perhaps he could ask Sans about it- he soon discarded that thought, Sans would probably just tell another one of those embarrassing childhood stories to tease him. He could only be glad that they couldn't afford a recording device in the past, otherwise Sans would torment him.

Papyrus looked a Bliss who still seemed to be mad at the doll. "Come on Bliss, it will be fun!"

"We make up some fun rules, like no jumping down the stairs, or no eating cooking utensils! And every day without breaking the rules we accumulate points and get cool rewards!" Papyrus spoke with enthusiasm. He remembered how Sans used to play a similar game with him when they were young, - Sans would disappear for long periods of time, but before leaving he would repeat the same things like 'Stay here, don't follow anyone' 'Avoid adults' 'Don't accept gifts from strangers' 'If in trouble run to aunt Muffet's place until I come back' the same old stuff. Papyrus is proud to say he had accumulated a lot of points! Which he immediately used all up to ask for a sword, after watching some cool knights training. He ended up receiving a wooden sword, but he was still happy with it.

Papyrus frowned slightly at the memory, now that he thought about it, back then it wasn't very fun because he was always playing alone. "We will play together, and Sans too, so it will be fun." He grinned.

Bliss frowned slightly and looked away from them. He never liked rules much, especially Fate's stupid rules. He couldn't believe that stupid puppet had forgotten already how Fate's rules had broken them, both physically and mentally.

"What is that you said, Mister Puppen?" Papyrus picked up the doll and brought it close to his face, pretending to hear what it was saying. "Oh and breaking rules means no more chocolate?"

Bliss gasped.

"Oh no! We wouldn't want that to happen!" Papyrus said with a gasp and placed the doll down on his lap. "After all Bliss really likes chocolate!"

Bliss' eyes widened as he looked at Papyrus and then at the puppet. 'Since when?' The puppet sat on Papyrus' lap like it was sitting on a throne, those button eyes didn't show any mercy. 'Is it revenge you want?'

Seeing as he finally got the babybone's full attention, Papyrus grinned brightly. "Now. Rule number one: no destroying castles-"

______________________________________

At the Guild. In the guild master's luxurious office.

A Spider lady sat on a chair. Her many eyes looked through the many documents in her hands, while another slim hand moved to pick up a cup of sugary tea that sat next to a plate of pastries. She brought the cup to her lips for a sip.

Then, a flash o color came to life in the middle of the room.

"Heya Muffet." Sans greeted her with a lazy grin.

A pair of eyes moved from the documents to looked at the guest. "Oh, there you are deary." She placed down the tea cup.

Muffet leaned back on her comfortable chair while crossing her legs, "For a moment I thought you weren't going to show up anymore." She giggled putting the documents down on the desk, while a pair of arms held her chin. "Too busy to visit?"

Sans ignored her teasing tone. He hasn't come to the Guild or accepted any request because he was too busy worrying about the kid. It's not like the Guild didn't have enough adventurers to do the jobs. "Why did you to call me so suddenly? Did something happen? ... Did gou get another complain?" He narrowed his eyes as he said the last part.

Muffet giggled. "Fufufu no, I mean, yes I did, they just keep coming, it's actually impressive." She said while looking at a stack of complaint letters sitting on the desk. "But that is not why I called you." She waved a hand dismissively.

Sans raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "Then what for?" He went ahead and pulled a chair to sit down, he had a feeling this was going to take a while.

Muffet rested her head on her cupping hands, while another one of her hands played with a few of her little spider friends hanging on thin strings of web.

"I heard about your little nephew, I heard he has a lot of potential." She said as a sly smile grew on her face. "What do you think about him joining the Guild when he is old enough?"

Sans shrugged, "I guess you'll have to go ask him when he is old enough."

Muffet giggled. "Deary, what I mean to say is." Her many eyes turned to looked at him. "The child is still young and doesn't know how this world works yet. He might need some guidance from his uncle no?"

"I'm not exactly the best influence myself." Sans chuckled while taking a paper from a pile on the table.

"Well that is true." Muffet said as she snatched back the papers from his hand and tidied it up with the other documents. She then gave him a small smile. "I heard you were thrown in jail today~" Muffet teased.

Sans faked a cough. "...This time was just a misunderstanding."

"Yes yes, I already know the details." Muffet waved a hand dismissively. "That big fluffy goof even stepped back. I heard he apologized too." Another hand moved to pick up her cup of tea and she took a sip. "But aren't adventurers cooler then knights?"

"Papyrus is cooler than me though." Sans pointed out the obvious.

"Adventurers have more benefits, more freedom and get paid more." The spider lady kept insisting.

And Sans kept dodging. "Well maybe Bliss wants to become a chocolate seller when he grows up?"

Muffet stilled then blinked. "Chocolate seller?"

Sans also felt that didn't sound right. "No, rather than selling, I think he would prefer to eat all the chocolate himself." He correct himself, the kid's obsession was serious, he dare say worse than his own. He has seen the kid swallow up a whole mountain of chocolate candies after Papyrus made the mistake of leaving them unguarded on the kitchen table. - Papyrus had gotten too excited after learning that Bliss really liked chocolate, and ended up buying too many. Although, after Bliss devourer a whole mountain of it, Paps too became a bit worried about the kid's obsession.

"The point is, he might not want to be adventurer nor a knight." Sans shrugged.

Muffet snorted and leaned back on her chair. "Well sure, but as long as he keeps attracting attention to himself, It's inevitable that he will get dragged into it." She ran a hand over the piles of paper on the table and pulled out a single document to look at. "The only question is," Her many eyes narrowed into crescent moons as she looked at the document, a knowing smile slid on her face. "Which side will he join? The Guild or the Royal knights?"

Her eyes then turned to look back at Sans. "Isn't it funny, to have the fate of the Kingdom depending on a little child's choice?" She said with a giggle, she was very curious about the child, she was especially curious about where that kid teleported away last night, that none of her little spider friends could find him, no matter where they looked. "Fufufufu~"

"Seriously, are you trying to overthrow king Asgore or something?" Sans finally asked, it's been bothering him for a while now.

Muffet blinked, then giggled "Oh deary, no. How silly. The weight of the crown is far too heavy for my small body. I merely enjoy teasing that big old goat." She smirked. "Also the better my adventurers the more gold I get, no? If a cute little diamond dances in front on me, of course I will want to grab it fufufu~"

Sans mentality facepalmed. 'Then stop making it sound like you are planning a civil war...' Although he probably shouldn't be too surprised, Muffet had always enjoyed acting dramatic, plus she seemed to have some kind of grunge again king Asgore. Surely the king didn't steal some of her gold, right? Honestly, Sans rather not know.

Sans could only pity the fool who decided to cross this Spider lady. Dispite all the giggling and sweet way of speaking, Muffet could get quite scary and malicious when she wanted to screw someone over. Although, that's none of Sans business. "I'm sure you didn't call me here just for that." He decided to get to the point so he can go back home and sleep like a corpse.

Muffet hummed. "The main reason I called you." She waved a hand and a little spider descended from the ceiling in front of Sans, hanging on a string of web the spider held with its tiny legs an envelop bigger than itself.

Sans took the envelope from the tiny spider and examined it. "You want me to send letter?" He raised an nonexistent eyebrow, he looked at the destination of the letter then frowned. "Since when I am you personal mailman?"

Muffet giggled while one of her many hands fiddled with a few papers on her table. "You know you are the fastest when it comes to traveling, and I would rather this letter reaches that person today."

Sans shrugged and didn't comment on it. It wasn't the first time he was asked to give a letter to that person, and the response was always the same.

"Anything else?" He asked while putting the letter in one of his pockets.

"You seem rather grumpy today." She pointed out, Sans hadn't said a single bad joke the whole conversation. "You would think a few days off work would do you good."

Indeed, Sans was unusually grumpy, but nothing a nap would solve. "Perhaps you should consider adopting a child."

Muffet stood in silence with a still a smile. "...My guild is my child." She simply said, before pretending to look through some documents.

"Now, off you go~" She shooed him with a hand.

"Unless," Muffet glanced at him, "You would like to stay a little longer and join me for some sweets and tea-"

Sans had already teleported away.

"..."

Muffet leaned her head on a hand, humming in thought. It was very unlike Sans to show his emotions like that, even when he was in feeling down or annoyed, he woud just fake a grin and joke his worries away.

Seeing him like this, reminded her of the past, when Sans first joined the Guild. He was such a cute little brat back then, although a troublesome one.

Speaking of reminiscing the past. Muffet took a bite of a donut while wondering if she should open her own bakery. She had more than enough money for it now.

____________________________________

Sans walked along the lively roads, he looked down at the envelope in his hands, the destination on the letter was the Walls Gate. - In the entire Wall surrounding the Kingdom, there was only one big Gate west side, the same direction the surviving Monsters had fleed from after losing the war to the Humans. The one direction they knew Humans civilization existed, although very very far away.

Although Sans could teleport all the way to the Gate, the farther the destination, the more magic it demanded. And the Walls were pretty far away from the capital, since the Monster Kingdom was quite big. Taking a few days of traveling. Meaning, Sans will be using a lot of magic to teleport there is one go, which won't leave much in his reserves, so he will have to stay there and rest for a while to recharge.

In the first place, Sans was not one with much stamina, plus if he is all out of magic once he reaches the Walls, it will be annoying defending himself if something decided to attack him. That's why he was not happy with his task.

Sans sighed. He just wanted to sleep, whatever, he will take a nap on the Walls if necessary.

Sans teleported away. His surroundings changed and he was now facing the tall Walls that protected the Monster Kingdom.

He kept walking without much thought, having already been here thousands of times.

Sans approached and looked up at the large iron Gate. Whoever designed it, must have done it keeping in mind the need to move something big from one side to another.

The heavy Gate felt impossible move, even if one used all their strength to force it open. Sans didn't even bother trying, instead he knocked at the Gate, he could heard the knocking echoing on the other side. Then he waited.

After a moment of silence, the large Gate door cracked open a little, and a pair of eyes peeked from the small gap. "Hello?" A voice spoke.

Sans grinned and waved a hand. "Heya."

"Oh! It is you." The voice spoke in happy surprise. Then the door was opened wider, as a furry hand pushed it outward. The owner of the voice could now be seen.

It was a tall lady Monster wearing a dark cloak that hid her entire body, and a hood that covered half her face, hidding her identity. Although her big figure looked intimidating, her voice was gentle.

"Have you come for another collecting job?" The mysterious hooded lady asked her good friend. Normally she would first ask for the person's documentation proving that they were an adventurer of knight before allowing them to pass, but this young skeleton was someone she knew very well.

Sans shrugged with a lazy grin. "Not really. I came to deliver this." He took out the letter Muffet had given him.

"For me?" The hooded lady spoke, her voice sounded surprised, she seldom received letters.

She took the letter and looked at it in silence, her expression could not be seen, only a sigh was heard. "Another one?"

"Guild master can be very stubborn when it's about gold." Sans said with a shrug. He was already expecting this reaction.

"I see." She looked at her adventurer friend. "Would you care to join me for a walk?" She invited, her hand holding the Gate, pushed it open wider making space for him to pass through.

"Sure. I have to recharge my energy anyway. Is spent too much magic." Sans said with a lazy grin and walked past her, as she held the heavy Gate open.

Soon after he entered, the Gate was shut close again.

Unlike what you'd expect, past the Gate was not the forest, but the Ruins. - The Walls were not only tall but also wide, with space inside it, with enough room for someone to wander around inside. With corridors along the Walls, a few small rooms here and there, and if you follow a certain path, you would reach an odd dry black tree, and behind it a old house.

When the Kingdom was built, there were probably previous plans to make a base inside the Walls, it had been constructed with the possibility of war against the Humans. As a first line of defense and attack in case Humans came to invade their new home. Not that any Humans would actually dare to follow them into the Cursed Forest. Unlike Monsters, Humans didn't have affinity to magic and would easily get lost or killed by Beasts, while Monsters could feel the magic in the air of the forest and travel safely while knowing to avoiding areas inhabited by dangerous Beasts -the stronger Beasts lived in areas with bigger concentration of magic, not to mention their great magic presence was easy to spot.

In the end, the base in the Walls was probably abandoned after a long time, becoming nothing more than Ruins. Even if Humans did enter the Cursed Forest, none had ever reached this far, after all the Monster kingdom was located right at the center of the great forest, taking days to reach even when you follow a straight line without getting lost.

Sans took a moment to appreciate all the effort put into building a safe place for all Monster kind. As the two of them walked through the inside of the Walls, the sound of footsteps echoing along the corridors.

"You have stopped coming here for a while, so I was a bit lonely. Few bother to talk with this old lady." The hooded person spoke in a cheerful tone, as she slowly opened the letter in her hands.

Sans chuckled. "My brother decided to adopt a troublesome kid. So I was quite busy." He and Papyrus both took some time off work to stay with Bliss, especially since the kid kept making them worry - by falling down the stairs, eating junk, or disappearing the moment their take their eyes off him. They didn't trust to leave the kid with some nanny or in a children care house.

The mysterious lady turned her head his way. "That... sounds wonderful." Her voice sounded sad and somewhat envious. "I would love to meet your child some day."

Sans looked at her and raised an nonexistent eyebrow, feeling the odd mood he asked. "Why not just come to visit? You would be welcomed."

She did not respond, instead she looked down at the letter in her hands. She sighed. "The contents are much the same as last time."

Sans shrugged, deciding to not insist more, he had understood long ago that this person had her own reasons to refuse to leave the Ruins, it appears she had made it her duty to guard the Gate.
"She believes making a deal with you will benefit her. Seeing as you guard the Gates. No one passes unless you allow them to."

The hooded lady shook her head. "Everyone is free to pass as long as they have the Guild's or the Royal badge. Those who have the ability to protect themselves and have accepted the risk as part of their job." She closed the letter, holding it in her hands, suddenly there was a spark of fire and the paper was burnt. "I have very little interest in this 'deal' she offers." The ashes flew from her hands as she kept walking.

"You know she won't give up until you write her a proper reply." Sans pointed out. So far this person had only been ignoring Muffets letters, that's why the letters didn't stop. Muffet was very insistent on getting what she wanted, she had enough patience for it. "Is there a reason why you refuse to send a letter back?" Perhaps the same reason she refused to leave this place, and hid her face. Sans could tell she was hiding from someone, or something.

Again, there was no response.

Only the sound of footsteps could be heard as they walked in silence, until finally they reached another big Gate, this one leading to the outside, to the Cursed Forest.

The mysterious hooded lady pushed open the heavy Gate with little effort, allowing Sans to walk through, then she followed behind, leaving the Ruins within the Walls, and stepping into the forest.

They were now on the other side of the Walls.

Sans took in a breath, the faint magic in air was just as he remembered. But he didn't tense up, they were not yet inside the dangerous forest.

There was a wide empty area between the Wall and the forest, a area without tree and safe from Beasts. It was a place where adventurers liked to set up camp temporary before venturing into the forest.

A little farther ahead stood the a wall of tall trees, waving their branches in the gentle breeze, as if welcoming them to enter the deadly forest. A few small creatures could be seen wandering at the edges of the forest, but never getting out, some of the small creatures had wings, yet they didn't dare fly out from the forest's embrace.

Sans looked behind at the big Walls. The Walls were tall, but would it really stop a big flying Beast from crossing over. No, not really, but there was a good reason such Beast never flew over the Wall to attack them. Beasts could not survive outside the Cursed Forest, they needed the magic air inside the forest to survive, the air that was produced by the magical trees of the forest. - When the Monster Kingdom was built in its center, all the trees had been chopped off to create an open area for them to make their home, in turn, by cutting down all those trees, new non-magic vegetation grew in its place. The inside the Kingdom was then considered outside the forest, and without the trees to produce the magic air, the Beasts eventually fleed away into the embrace of the surrounding trees. As the Kingdom grew, more and more trees were cut down, increasing their safe territory.

That didn't mean the Walls were useless, it would be easy for a Beast to just run rampage inside the Kingdom, kill some Monster for a quick snack then rapidly return to the forest before it could suffocate to death. The Walls prevented any Beast from easily crossing. There was a good reason the Walls were made taller than the forest trees, and the trees closest to the Wall were chopped off so there was a large area outside the Kingdom safe from Beasts.

The hooded lady began to move again. "It's a wonder how something so beautiful can be so deadly." She commented while looking at the enchanted forest, with its beautiful flowers peeking between the trees, temping anymore to approach and take a closer look, and the cute small creature crawling along the sides of the trees, seemingly defenseless, but any experienced adventure or knight knew not to try petting them.

The mysterious lady didn't show any fear while approaching the deadly forest, she walked through it like it was her own garden.

Sans followed her steps. "So, by taking a walk, you meant venturing into the forest of death."

She chuckled. "I assumed you would like to rest in peace after being so busy with your troublesome child."

Sans snorted. "I would prefer to rest while still being alive." Although he said that, he wasn't worried at all, walking in a rather relaxing manner.

"Is that you rattling in fear I hear? How In-tree-guing." The hooded lady said in a laughing tone.

"Nah, you know nothing gets under my skin." Sans shot back with a chuckled.

The two of them wandered around the deadly forest in a carefree manner while exchanging puns. Unaware they were being watched by something.

A little farther away, a colorful flower poked its head from behind a tree. Flowey frowned while looking at the two happy chatting Monsters.

He recognized that smiley trashbag, he had more than once tried to lure some Beast towards the idiot, like he used to do to any brave fools that ventured into the forest. But dispite apareces that guy wasn't weak, plus he could just teleport away from danger in an instant, a very annoying ability.

But there was something else bothering Flowey right now, "They looks similar." This smiley trashbag, although the color of the bones and eyes were diferente, and also that stupid grin, still, that Skeleton guy had some very obvious resemblances to the 'kid' Flowey had seen last night. That little thing that looked like a child.

The flower narrowed it's eyes.

Flowey had decided to completely ignore the hooded Monster that accompanied the adventurer.

_______________________________________

Somewhere else, in the Royal labs.

Alphys was rummaging through some old records and documents. "It has to be around here somewhere. I'm sure of it!"

She read through a notebook before throwing it back and look at another one, until her office was a complete mess.

After hearing from Undyne about the strange occurence today, something like a cut in their very reality, numbers? She was sure she read about something similar once, a while ago when looking through the old royal scientist things. Some kind of theory about space-time gateways, or timelines, a strange machine, Alphys didn't pay it any mind before, because it sounded like crazy talk from a mad scientist. "Where the hell is it?!"

'How very interesting.' A voice spoke, although no one could hear it.

Gaster watched as the energetic small scientist made a mess while searching for something. He had heard the conversation between the fish lady and Alphys.

'Perhaps I should take a look.' He decided to go investigate the place where it happened. After all, if it is as they said and something had opened a gateway in the codes of their world, there was sure to be traces. It also meant that something that didn't belong had snuck into their AU.
Something from outside. Gaster just couldn't be sure if it was related to that strange Skeleton child.

Perhaps he should keep watch on that child after all. 

[End Chapter]

Chapter Text

[Start Chapter ]

It was already quite late when Sans finally arrived home. Instead of entering through the door like a normal person, he simply teleported straight to his room.

Sans walked towards a corner of his room and threw himself at the bed. As he fell on the soft mattress his bones felt the joy of comfort it so desperately longed for the whole day. And what a day it was - waking up at the screams of his brother and the sight of  Bliss' broken arm overnight. Then being summoned to the castle and thrown in jail, followed by the castle crumbling down and Bliss coming to their rescue and break them out of prison... And then when he finally had a taste of sleep after the whole mess, the guild just had to call for business. 

While it was nice to meet an old friend and the walk through the forest of death with her was quite relaxing, it did little to relieve his tired bones. What he needed was a big nap. 

As his body joyfully embraced the soft bed, an worn out old diary slipped out of his pocket. Sans lazily glanced at the diary. So much had happened today that he had almost forgot about it.

He grabbed the diary and lazily threw it under the bed, then he buried his face on the pillow. 'Not today, I'm too tired to deal with it today...'

Not a minute later, Sans sleeping like a corpse.

_________________________________________

In the living room, Bliss was sitting on the soft carpet, surrounded by paper and colorful crayons, although he didn't seem interested in neither of them. But quietly stared at the talkative Papyrus. 

Papyrus on the other hand was very exited and enthusiastic as he drew colorful shapes as well as letters and numbers on the paper. - After finally having gotten the baby's attention, Papyrus had started a fun and educative game with Bliss and Mister Puppen while at the same time establish important rules, so that the baby will grow up to be an good adult and exemplary citizen, just like him! Bliss also wasn't mad at the doll anymore as the babybones held it in a hug, wrapping his little arms around it, which looked extra cute because the doll was almost the same size as the baby.

Papyrus was felling proud as he saw the babybones watching him with such intensity and unwavering attention. Although, for some reason Bliss seemed reluctant to play with the crayons, perhaps he simply wasn't interested in them -all the more reason to buy some toys for him to play with!

Papyrus was such a great father already! At times he even managed to have Bliss repeat after him some important words, although it all still sounded like baby babble, but some almost sounded like words. Like for example. "Now Bliss, repeat after me!" Papyrus said with a bright smile. "Fun rules!"

The babybones stared at him in silence for a few seconds and then babbled in a emotionless tone. "Fwuk wules."

Papyrus' excited smile immediately crumbled down, he faked a dry cough as he looked away a bit embarrassed... he had come to understand that, indeed, at times Bliss accidently babbled out words that sounded like... bad words. Perhaps he owned Sans an apology.

Bliss' cautious eyes lit a for a fragment of a second when he saw papyrus look away. 'Now it's my chance!' His eyes glowed with cruel intent as glanced the the puppet in his grasp, his small hand grabbing one of the oversized buttons on its dammed face. With careful calculation, Bliss had managed to retrieve the dammed puppet from Papyrus and was now very discretely trying to reap out one of his button-eyes, the dammed thing is not using then anyways. 'Don't worry, I will sew it back on you after I find those knitting needles.'  

But to his dark amusement, the puppet simply stared back at him arrogantly, unmoved and unfazed. Seriously, where does this thing get its personality from? It was supposed to be a puppet made in his image. 

Papyrus, after finally recovering from the shock, turned his attention back to the baby. It had barely been a few seconds since he took his eyes off Bliss, but that was enough time for the baby to reap out one of the dolls' button-eyes and stab a crayon in its place. Fortunately, the doll was quite resistant to the abuse, whoever made that doll is probably very talented, although with quite the unique taste and technique, as the doll looked quite strange compared to other dolls. 

Feeling the Papyrus' gaze on him again, Bliss stopped his violent behavior and cleverly shifted the puppet so its abused face would be hidden away from the tall Skeleton. 

Witnessing the baby nonchalantly hug the doll, Papyrus blinked, he understood that it was normal for babies to break toys and make a mess of things, and any other day he would just laugh it off, but after the mess of today, he felt somewhat responsible to make sure such violent behaviors did not reflect the way Bliss treated people.  It was fine for a baby to break a toy doll when playing, but would a baby know the difference? Even if his cute Bliss was the smartest baby in the whole world! It was especially worrisome because Bliss had actually killed someone before, from what Sans had told him - bad people but still, people nevertheless. 

Seeing his teaching fail to reach the babybones, Papyrus felt himself slightly lose confidence in his parenting abilities. But! He shall not give up! This had merely been one day of educative games, the first of many more to come! For Bliss' bright future! And also for the possibility of Papyrus bragging  to other parents about his cute son' many qualities! He shall do his best and reach the pinnacle of parenthood. His cute Bliss shall receive the bestest of educations. 

With newfound confidence and motivation, Papyrus jumped up on his feet. "Yes! Starting today, every day we shall have a special play time dedicated to educative games!" He put his hands on his hips as he announced his decision. 

"And Mister Puppen will be my little helper!" He added with a confident smile. After all, although Bliss treated the doll with rough love, the babybones seemed to really pay attention when the doll 'speaks', surely some kind of emotional bond, one formed before the baby had meet his new family. And as so, Mister Puppen was a respectable member of the family!

Bliss' emotionless face twitched a bit at the announcement. He narrowed his eyes at the puppet's smug face. 'What are you playing at?'

"Sans will also join us!" Papyrus decided, but then he seemed to remember something. "Speaking of which, it appears your uncle Sans has not arrived yet." He rubbed his chin in thought. "And it's almost time for dinner..." Should they start dinner or wait for his brother, he would rather the family dine together from now on, especially now that he wont need to worry about his job schedule.

Bliss blinked, then looked up. Just recently he had felt Sans' presence arriving home. Last time the lazy Skeleton brother had fainted in Papyrus' arms, so he decided to go check on the guy. 

Papyrus was still trying to decide if they should wait for Sans. "What do you think Bliss?" He turned to ask the baby for his opinion, only to notice that Bliss was nowhere to be seen...

Only Mister Puppen stood there on the ground staring back at him with its one remaining button-eye. 

_________________________________________

Bliss appeared in Sans' room, and to the surprise of no one, the place was the same mess as it's always been. The lazy Skeleton was lying down on his bed like a true corpse. 

He decide to leave Sans be and inform Papyrus that his brother wont be able to attend the daily eating ritual called dinner. 

Just as Bliss was about to return downstairs, something caught his attention. Under the bed was an important looking book, he felt an annoyingly familiar feeling from it, but couldn't remember where he had seen it before. Well, if it was so poorly kept and laying around on the floor like that, maybe it just wasn't something significant?  Although that seemed to be the case, in truth, Bliss had so easily noticed the book under the bed because he was so small now, and a taller person probably wouldn't have seen it. 

Bliss reached out and picked up the book, although it looked ridiculously big in his small hands, he had no trouble lifting it. He looked down at the worn out book in his hands and immediately frowned as he saw the cover. He narrowed his eyes, then he opened the book to see the inside, and just as he had suspected, he couldn't read a damn thing... The small words were hard to read.

Bliss sat down with the old book laying on his lap, he had an annoyed expression. It was funny actually, even though all his broken bones were healed and glitches were gone, his bad sight still remained -his multicolored eyes were the product of what seemed like eons corroding in the Anti-void, much like the rest of his body and SOUL, the ever bright white had forever ruined his eyes- it was just part of him, it always had been, and so it remained even after the 'healing' that VOID had so mercifully bestowed upon him. 

Perhaps his sight had worsened even, since now one of his eyes was pure darkness, it was surprising he could see anything at all with it. Bliss could feel the VOID's presence from it, which was concerning but also curious. Probably just a mark, like the one Fate had put on him to bind him forever as her puppet.

Bliss looked at the old book, his eye sight wasn't as bad as to see everything completely blurry, actually, he saw people just fine... mostly. But he especially had difficulty identifying things that were a bit far away, or seeing small things in front of his eyes, which made almost any kind of reading impossible.

First of all, Bliss had always depended more on his magic to sense things around him or far away, even normal eye sight was too limited during a fight since you can always be attacked from behind. He was used to depend more on his instincts, so he never had a problem with his bad sight in a fight. But reading books was impossible without his glasses.  If he remembers correctly, his glasses where in his old jacket, that was probably still lost in the VOID. If the VOID can fix broken bones they could have fixed the glasses too and thrown them along with him, instead only the dammed puppet joined the ride, for whatever reason.

Bliss growled in annoyance as he stared down at the important looking book in his hands, eventually he shrugged and closed the book rather aggressively after losing interest in it.  He should probably try to get his hands on some glasses when he has the chance. 

Hearing the noise, Sans grumble and opened a lazy eye to take a peek, and was immediately faced with the babybones staring at him with those weirdly cute emotionless round eyes. 

The kid was sitting down on the floor with the old diary resting on his lap, it looked extra funny because of how big the diary looked to the kid, only the tips of his small shoes peeked out from under it. Although Sans was still tired as hell, but his mood immediately became better and he could help but chuckle. 

'It seemed that the kid likes books.' He thought, seeing how Bliss was even sitting down with the book on his lap, which was a nice surprise, since so far the kid rarely showed any kind of interest, unless it was chocolate of course.  If Sans didn't know any better, it would have seemed like the kid was actually trying to read the book, but that is ridiculous, was it even interesting for a baby? the diary didn't have any pictures so it might have been a bit boring to look at the mad scientist's ugly handwriting. 

That gave Sans an idea. He lazily got out of bed with a small smile and newfound energy. He walked towards his desk and opened one of its drawers, reaching his hand inside he took something out of it. It was a baby-blue colored book, with the picture of the cute little bunny on its cover. Sans' smile widened at the feeling of nostalgia. 

Bliss had simply watched him with curiosity, and he grew more curious after seeing Sans sit in front of him holding a different book in his hands. This book also looked somewhat worn out, but not nearly as much as the old book he had found. While the old book looked like it had been left to rot in a corner, the light-colored book looked worn out from constant use and it was evident that it had been well kept. That alone was enough to awaken a little interest in Bliss. 

Sans sat on the ground with his back resting on the bed. He reached out and took the old dusty diary from from the kid, replacing it the much nicer picture book. 

"Here. I hope you'll find this more interesting than an old fart's ugly writing." He chuckled as he threw the old diary back under the bed, where someone as tall as Papyrus would probably never find it.

Bliss looked down at the book, he still couldn't read the the title, but the picture on the cover was enough information to get an idea of what the book was about. Obviously it was most likely a biography on a particular Bunny Monster. He wondered who this Monster was for Sans to keep the book stored so carefully. 

Satisficed with the babybones' rare interest, Sans reached a hand and opened the book to the fist page, it had some writing in it, but it was mostly pictures, it was the type of story book that was perfect for children of all ages.

He smiled when the kid's eyes moved through the pictures with curiosity. It reminded him a little of Papyrus as a child, although small baby bro would have big sparkly eyes wherever he looked at the picture book, while Bliss only showed mild curiosity. 

Sans considered if he should read the story, but the kid looked so endearingly focused that he didn't want to ruin the mood. 'Some other time maybe.' He decided, resting his head on the side of the bed, he was feeling sleepy.  

BAAAM!

The door was kicked open and Papyrus bursts into the room. 

The tall Skeleton became quiet after seeing his missing child very well behaved standing in the middle of the room. 

But the silence didn't last long. "Bliss!! Rule number 3! No teleporting away suddenly!" Papyrus scolded with a mix of relief and frustration. He had been running around the house looking for the baby, fortunately he found Bliss inside Sans room, otherwise he would have no choice but to tear the whole house down to look for him, what if the baby teleported inside the walls?!

Both the brother and the son stared blankly at the him. 

Sans stood silent, then snorted. "Really?"

Papyrus huffed and crossed hid arms. "Well, we have to teach him to behave! Also we can't have him disappear all the time!" Every time it happens they can't help but get very worried. "It's extremely dangerous, we never know where he might appear."

Sans raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Wouldn't be easier to just put a tracking device on him." He said with obvious sarcasm, but soon stopped and considered the idea. It wouldn't be hard to get one from Alphys. 

Bliss tilted his head. 'Can't they just use their magic senses?' He could locate them from a mile away through their magic signature, as long as something doesn't interfere with his senses that is. In the first place, he never even tried to conceal his presence, It'd be pointless even if he tried, since he didn't have nearly enough magic to hide his SOUL -the SOUL of an ex-god mind you, it was not something so easily hidden- and completely conceal the magic emanating from it. Bliss figured that at the moment his presence looked something like a small beacon to whoever knew how to search, and that was just because his magic was currently terribly weak.

Papyrus walked inside the room, still feeling disappointed in his brother and son duo. Sans didn't even tell him he had returned home! But his small frown was soon replaced by curiosity as he approached them. "But, what are you two doing?" 

"Bliss seems interested in books." Sans replied with a lazy smile while pointing at the book in the kid's lap.

Papyrus tilted hid head and looked down at the book, then his eyes sparkled and he gasped. "That is! Fluffy bunny!" The bedtime story Sans would read to him every night when they were younger. 

Sans shrugged. "Yeah, I thought we could read it for Bliss as a bedtime story some time. It will also help learning new words. What do you th-"

"ABSOLUTELY!" Papyrus interrupted, he excitedly picked up Bliss then ran out of the room, returning back in a flash, both him and the baby in his arms where already dressed in comfortable pajamas. 

"Also, since we will sleep without dinner, I brought snacks!" The tall Skeleton said full of excitement, holding a plate of sandwiches. 

How he had managed to do that in a few seconds was a mystery only the baby had witnessed.  

Unsurprised, Sans moved to a corner of the bed and made himself comfortable, watching lazily as his brother jumped on the bed with the baby in his arms, not forgetting to place Bliss' creepy doll next to them. 

After everyone was comfortable, Sans cleared his throat and with a nostalgic smile he opened the book, turning the open pages so the trio could see the pictures while he narrated the story from memory alone, even if it had been a long time ago, these were childhood memories he remembered very fondly and clearly as it it were yesterday. 

"Fluffy, where are you? called mama..."

...

It felt so strange... It was peaceful, and it was comfortable, but it was all still so foreign to Bliss. But, he had come to decide that he wanted to protect it, these moments, these people, the whole AU even and all in it. No matter what is takes. 

At the sound of Sans' relaxing voice, it didn't take long for sleep to embrace them all. Sans himself barely kept his eyes opened, resting his head on an arm, mumbling a few more words before finally dropping to the side, unfortunately, that was the wrong side and so his face landed on the carpet, but that didn't ruin his peaceful sleep.   

After only a little while, they all had fallen asleep. Well, except for Bliss. And the puppet. 

Bliss was mildly disappointed that Sans didn't finish the story. But he suspected he will have plenty of opportunities in the future, seeing how much Papyrus seemed to enjoy it.

Bliss couldn't complain about the situation, as he was very comfortably nesting in the sleeping Papyrus' arms. He didn't need sleep, but had considered forcing his body to shut down into slumber, but decided against it, he had quite a lot to do if he was to kick Ink's butt and protect his world.  It was already pretty dark outside, and Bliss wanted to go to the forest to practice with his still recovering magic. Still, he decide to enjoy the peaceful moment for a little while before that. And so, he stayed there in the comfy nest for a little, quietly and still like a doll, and a few hours passed, a few more...

In the dark silent room, his one colorful eye was the only source of light as it glowed in the darkness, unblinking, staring into nothing or maybe everything. 

And after a while, the eerily quiet baby finally moved.

Bliss slipped out from Papyrus arms, careful as to not wake him up. He did not whish to disturb their peaceful sleep. But despite his efforts, the sleeping skeleton frowned slightly and seemed to notice something missing from his arms. 

He glanced at the sleeping Papyrus, then looked at the puppet laying next to them. 'You will have to do.' Bliss grabbed the puppet and swiftly placed it in his place.

Bliss looked at the puppet in Papyrus' embrace. 'You look comfortable.' He scoffed while crossing his arms, 'Just don't get used to it.' He was still holding a small grudge. 

He then teleported away.

_________________________________________

Somewhere the magical Cursed Forest, filled with venomous yet alluring beauty, a single lovely flower stood alone in a newly created clearing. It was so rare to find a place in the deadly forest where the magical trees didn't cover the whole sky with their lustrous leaves. The starry sky looked especially beautiful in the moonless night. 

The light of the stars showered the clearing, making it look very peaceful, if not for the torn up ground littered with remains of dead plants that used to be alluring flowers themselves, and black dust covering the ground moving softly in the wind. 

Under the ground curled green vines moved slowly but ruthlessly, tearing to pieces anything that came in contact with them or showed any sign of life, with uncontrollable irritation. 

"What the hell does this mean?" An irritated voice broke the silence of the night. 

The lovely lone flower fluttered its leaves in frustration. 

"How is that shit-eating-grin trash-bag related to that- that thing? What do you mean its his child? That's no child. Are you just supposed to pick up anything that is left at you doorstep?" The more the flower grumbled, the more aggressive the vines became, curling and cutting through stone, turning the ground as soft as powder.  

The ends of the leafless vines were sharp as it pierced the chest of any small creature unfortunate enough to find its way into the clearing.

"Fucking moron doesn't even know what he just took in... That damn thing should have been buried in the ground the moment it was found." The flower's leaves shook once more, this time however it was not out of frustration, but nervousness.

Flowey the flower was unusually restless tonight, and the reason for it was the existence of a seemingly small child. 'Hah, what child?' He thought back to yesterday, after he watched the bizarre 'child' slay a Beast, something had managed to awaken fear in the SOULess flower. No, it was not he power the child displayed, the reason to his restlessness was something much more bizarre. 

Flowey was a special kind of creature, having no SOUL and possessing a deeper understanding of their world, being able to do doing things no other creature could do. He possessed the power of SAVE and LOAD, making him nearly immortal, he could also see things other could not, even peak at the STATS of others without them knowing, that information alone made it so easy to kill anything standing in his way by exploiting their weaknesses. What could truly threaten him? 

He liked to think of himself as something close to demi-god, in this small world he could do anything, so much so that he had gotten bored if it all. But now, he did not dare think the same. As boring as life was, he had no desire to have his existence ripped away. 

At first he just found it strange that he had not been able to spy on the brat's STATS, but he had simply concluded it was because there was nothing to see, after all, it was an infant, for all he knew those things don't have any STATS to show.  But, when the Skeleton child opened its STATS, that's when Flowey realized something was terribly wrong. The numbers themselves weren't the problem, not after witnessing the power the brat had displayed. Sure, it was strong enough to make him wary of the bizarre kid, but not scared. No, something else was terribly wrong. 

Flowey recalled what he had seen in the child' STATS. 

______________STATS______________

Bliss [Data above CHECK level] [Revoked Title - Access to Data Restricted] [Data above CHECK level]

LV: 0

HP: 409/409+ [EFF: Less Fragile]

AT: 233+ [EFF: Weak]

DF: 123+ [EFF: Weak]

EXP: 1300 | EXeP: 5

- The V¿?? is watching you. Flower. 

Flowey felt a shiver run though this whole body. He could still remember the feeling of being watched by a pricing cold gaze, something so horrifying that even an emotionless creature such as himself could do nothing but cower. 

Flowey the flower was a SOULess being, an almost immoral one at that, he was not so easily frightened by strong foes... but that thing, a single glance from it was enough to make his leaves and petals tremble uncontrollably.  He had felt it, a terrifying power that could swallow up their whole world, still, he understood that it was just a portion of its presence, not even the real thing. 

He had thought himself close to a demi-god, what a joke. That seemingly young child might as well be the pawn of a real deity, an extremely cruel one.

Flowey shut his eyes for a moment, the aggressive vines flinched slightly before finally ceasing their destruction. He needed to think rationally about the situation. Like he has always done. An SOULess being like him was unable to be moved by feelings, or even instinctive fear. Right, what was a clever being like him supposed to do when meet with a more terrifying and cruel creature?  A sinister grin grew on the flower's face, his beautiful petals glittered poisonously in the darkness of the eerie forest.  Why the answer is quite obvious, he would join them.

_________________________________________

Bliss was leisurely exploring the forest. Taking one little step at the time. The days of him falling face first on the floor were no more, at last he had full control over this infant body. 

Whenever a Beast would attack him, he would easily kill it with a few bone attacks. It was his most basic attack, but it was efficient enough. 

He had tried summoning a gaster-blaster a moment ago, the result was... quite something. Bliss glanced behind him where a small floating black puppy-skull followed after him with childish excitement. 

"..."

Bliss continued to ignoring the miniature gaster-blaster and kept looking ahead. He called it small, but in truth, it was only a little bit smaller than Bliss himself. He wondered if this was a side effect of his infant body rather then a problem with his magic. Nevertheless, the dammed thing refused to make itself useful, all it did was make noise and follow him around. It felt weird so see a part of his destructive power act so innocent and harmless... The same power he had so many times used to eradicate life and reap worlds apart. 

He sighed, Bliss had considered himself quite adaptable and flexible to any situation thrown his way, mainly in combat, he was sure he will figure something out eventually. 

While thinking about that, Bliss looked at his right hand. It was still wrapped in bandages, ever since this morning. He didn't need to remove them to evaluate the damage, he could very clearly feel the cracked bones through the magic wrapped around his body. 

Although it was only a small wound that did not affect his efficiency, it had served to prove a point.  Indeed, as his STATS had informed, the damage to his body was no longer 'fixing' itself as it would normally do. The self-healing ability, that had always attached his broken pieces together to make sure he can keep doing his job, it was now gone. After Fate's mark was removed, so were the abilities they had 'gifted' him. 

He was not sure how long it took for normal Monster to heal. Apparently eating monster food not only assisted with the process of size growth but also the with healing. Now he understood why Monsters had so many eating rituals every day. 

But he understood that 'natural' healing was rather slow. That meant the needed to be more careful to minimize damage, it would be very inconvenient to lose a limb or a head. Who know how long it will take for a severed head to naturally heal back in place. 

Bliss was absent mindedly walking, as he recalled the last time he had to fight with a severed head. But then he noticed a large chasm cut the ground in front of him, extending far to the sides. 

The large cut on the ground did not stop the vegetation, as plants and poisonous flowers kept expanding inside, and the tall magical trees held strong at the edge of the rift. 

Bliss looked across the chasm, he could easily teleport to the other side. But instead, out of curiosity, he approached the edge of the chasm to take a peak inside. He felt a strong presence coming from the bottom, it felt faint probably due to the distance but he could tell it was far more powerful than any creature he had encountered in the AU so far.

As he took one last step closer to the edge of the chasm, a curled green vine seemed to appear from out of nowhere in from of his little feet. And bliss tripped, falling right into the chasm...

A few centimeters away from the edge, a lovely colorful flower popped out from under the ground with a cute little smile. 

...

Bliss felt the wind hit his face as he fell into the darkness with a blank expression. 

He turned his body and look up, the image of the magical forest kept moving farther and farther away until he could only see a small line of light, but even that was slowly disappearing and he could barely see the walls around him. 

Bliss sighed. He did not have the ability to fly and his strings were still currently inaccessible. So he decided to simply enjoy the weightless feeling for now. 

The little puppy skull had dived down after him, its excited behavior the same as usual, it even buried its muzzle into Bliss' pajama as if begging for attention. This behavior only accelerated the fall. Absent mindedly, he petted the skull puppy.

Bliss was starting to get bored, he had been falling for a long time now, this fall was proving to be annoyingly long. 

It took a few more minutes until he finally felt the ground approaching. "Gwet weady." He said as he patted the small dog skull. 

He waited a little longer, then when he could finally see the bottom, he teleported away and reappeared safely on the ground. The miniature gaster-blaster simply floated down, and then began happily circling around him. But then it stopped suddenly and looked to a certain direction, for the first time the excited puppy stood still. 

Bliss looked around, but the could see nothing since it was too dark. Even though they had fallen in a inside a large chasm, the bottom was so deep down that any light barely reached it. But Bliss was never one to rely too much on sight. He could hear movement around him, the sound of scratching against stone. The walls themselves seemed to move slightly, as if coming to life. 

Wasting no time, he spread his magic sense to feel his surroundings. He seemed to have landed in a very big cave, it was the size of a small city and spreading farther away into many tunnels. The walls weren't moving, instead every inch of they were covered in thousands of crawling Beasts, the whole damn cave was filled with them. And then, something bigger standing in the middle of it all, glaring at him with many glowing red eyes.  

Just as he had felt them, similarly, his presence was also known. And the owner of the house didn't seem very happy with his intrusion. 

The puppy skull growled lowly, a small ball of blue and yellow magic formed behind its fangs, but it did not shoot, it was not meant to attack just to serve as a source of light. In response, thousands of million of little red eyes opened on the crawling walls, all of them simultaneously turning their gaze in his direction. 

Bliss was now able to see what was in front of him. A great Spider Beast, its size was bigger than a house, while its children were half its size, crawling on the stone, walls and even ceiling. 

The giant spiders seemed hostile, still none of them moved to attack the intruder. 

The Great Beast glared down the the strange little creature that had fallen into its nest, its many red eyes showed signs of intelligence, unlike the inferior Beasts that crawled on the surface. It seemed to be evaluating whether the intruder was food or danger. 

By nature, the cautious Spider did not like to engage in active combat, but much rather preferred to wait for weaker prey to fall into its web traps. Fighting strong prey was more trouble than reward, and a danger to its nest. 

The giant Spider soon hissed in displeasure. This tiny Beast that had fallen into its nest was not food but danger. Only a mindless creature would attack a Great Beast's cub, especially the kind that could manipulate magic freely, the worst kind. Great Beasts all had a certain level of bestial intelligence, and were extremely protective of their young, enough so to drive then completely insane. 

The Great Spider was not willing to endanger its nest by provoking a Beast of similar or greater strength. As it also was very protective of its territory and it spiderlings. 

The giant Beast expressed its displeasure with a loud hiss, demanding that the intruder leave its nest immediately. Its venomous fangs opened threateningly and its two font legs raised as a warning, the clawed tips of its long legs shone with dangerous sharpness. 

Bliss understood the message. "I apowodise fow de intwusion." He said in response to the furious hiss. 

He was actually glad the giant spider was not in the mood to fight, Bliss too was not very eager to start a fight in a nest full of thousands of giant spiders. He could tell that their numbers where much more that what it seemed. Far into the darkness he felt a few thousand more spiders crawling on the walls and scraping the stone, and deeper inside, a few billion more eggs soon to burst open, each to release a hundred more crawling nightmares. Mama spider seemed to be in a hurry to grow an army.  And Bliss was not interested to find out if he was still immortal... not anymore anyways. Well, maybe just a little curious.

Had he no choice but to fight, he figured that in his current weakened state, even if he did survive he will probably still lose more than just a few limbs. The great spider Beast itself felt strong but its true strength lied in the number of its children, each of them decent enough in terms of power.

Bliss was not planning on losing any limbs today. He still remembered how Papyrus and Sans reacted to him breaking only a few bones, he would rather not find out what will happen if he returned home with a few limbs missing. He frowned at the thought. 

Deciding to leave peacefully, Bliss looked up, the exit was so far away that he could not see it at all. He wondered if he could teleport all the way up, considering the great distance, but decide against it, after all the chasm was quite large so if he failed to teleport on the surface he will then begin the fall all over again. 

He turned to look around him, the millions of little red eyes covered every inch of the rock wall surrounding him. Climbing up was also not an option. That only left one solution. To travel the long tunnels in hope to find an exit, and if not, he can always cut through the stone and dig his way up.  

Having made a decision, Bliss chose a random tunnel and began walking in its direction. He made sure to walk in the opposite direction of the billions of spider eggs though.  He could feel the direction of the tunnel but not see it as it was very far away. Teleporting to an unknown area was not a wise decision, also, he figured that activating his magic would only startle the already hostile giant spiders, so he decided to take his time walking, he had the whole night after all. 

Although the puppy was luminating the way, because of the irregularity of the cave, the light created many moving shadows on the ground around them. So Bliss still managed to trip a few times on stones scattered along the cave, but managed to regain control before his face kissed the floor, and kept walking nonchalantly as if nothing happened. 

The cave was enormous, in comparison the tiny Skeleton looked like and lost little ant, it took a long time only to travel a small distance and the closest tunnel was still a great distance away. Nevertheless, the little Skeleton child walked leisurely with small steps due to its small size, tripping from time to time, the floating canine skull following after. It would have been quite the comical view, if not for the fact that Beast don't actually have a sense o humor, most of them only knew hunger and violence. 

The Great Spider Beast maintained its menacing stance, every so often turning to face the direction of the wandering weird little Beast cub. Although, its claws lowered ever so slightly every time the clumsily tiny creature almost fell to the ground, as if it was a hatchling fresh out of the egg that had not yet learned to walk properly. 

It reached the point where the giant Spider was now just blankly staring at the small child. 

The Great Spider stood still for a few seconds, but then it finally moved again, it slowly shifted its great size so its many eyes could cover more of its surroundings and reached its two front sharp legs upwards. The light did not reach that far, so the ceiling of the great cave was drowned in complete darkness, but there was the sharp sound of something ripping. 

Bliss did not care for the movement of the giant Spider, but then, suddenly he froze and looked in a certain direction. The puppy skull soon followed, better illuminating the area in front of them. 

In the silence of the big cave, a small popping sound echoed, followed by another, then a few more, then a billion more until it sounded like a big wave forming and ready to flood the whole cave. 

Then the wave came their way with furious speed, scratching the stone under it. Finally, it arrived at the lit up area, and Bliss could see billions of semi-transparent tiny many legged hatchlings flooding the cave, even climbing over the giant spiders and gnawing at everything with their small poisonous fangs. 

Bliss was also not spared, as a tiny spider the size of his own skull climbed on his head and began to gnaw at his bones, a few more surrounding him and biting his legs. 

These spiders' fangs seemed to be specially made for cutting and devouring magic, otherwise how could they eat Monsters or Beasts that were made of pure magic, but their small little fangs failed to cut though the barrier of the concentrated magic surrounding Bliss' bones. That did not stop the little spiders from trying harder, a fountain of spider saliva was forming at the top of Bliss' head. 

The puppy skull whined as it floated in circles trying to avoid being jumped by the tiny spiders. 

The big spiders didn't seem to care about the constant biting of their newborn siblings, and barely paid then any attention. 

Mama Spider was already preparing a meal for its hatchlings, with a sharp leg it cut one last web and a giant white cocoon fell to the ground in middle of the cave. The creature inside already paralyzed by poison and ready to be feasted upon. 

The tiny newborn spiders happily devoured the meal. But for whatever reason, baby spider on Bliss' head refused to move, biting him with stubborn determination. 

As stupid as it sounded, because of how big his skull was, Bliss had a hard time reaching the spider sitting on top of his head with his short arms, so removing it without reaping its legs out was quite the challenge. Taking it with him was also not wise, he was sure the great Spider would not appreciate having one of its children kidnapped. 

With a sigh and not much of a choice, Bliss moved towards the feasting little spiders. Getting closer, he could barely see the giant creature being devoured by the flood of spiderlings. 

Bliss patted the tiny legs stubbornly grabbing onto his skull and said. "Wook food."

In response the baby spider bite his head even harder, apparently finding the Skeleton child more appetizing than the meal prepared by mama Spider. 

Bliss narrowed his eyes. "Uh fuhin witle shit."  

On the bright side, the great Spider didn't seem to mind his presence anymore as it watched over its newly hatched children. 

With little left for him to do, Bliss sat on the ground and grabbed a few of the webs scattered along the floor and studied them, the webs were impressively resistant and had a translucid color. He began playing with them out of boredom. 

All things considered, Bliss found the situation quite peaceful and relaxing, if one ignored the sound flesh being ripped apart and hisses as the tiny spiders fought over the food. 

Wild creature made of magic -being it Monsters of Beasts- tended to communicate intent very clearly though their magic aura, that was also how old generations of Monster communicated before the creation of language, and that is also how Monster infants instinctively communicated as soon as they were born. 

But that kind of communication was especially evident in battle, where murder intent was at its finest. Bliss had grown to know it well, having been the target of such intent as long as he can remember. And so he had no trouble understanding the hisses all around him.

The great Spider was still wary of his presence, but as long as he did not threaten them, they would also not bother him. Except for the unruly little spiders. 

...

After a while of peaceful thinking, Bliss had absent mindedly knitted a spider doll out of the translucid web strings using two sharp little bones as needles, all it missed was a few small red eyes. 

The stubborn little spider atop of his head hissed and gave one last fierce bite before finally giving up, then it jumped off and ran to start a fight with one of its siblings. 

Finally freed, Bliss dropped what he was doing and got up. With nothing keeping him here anymore, he decided it was finally time to get going.  Still, his time here was not useless, he had learned quite a few interesting things from the powerful Spider, also, it had not been unpleasant. Bliss had been surrounded by enemies a great lot during his long life, in comparison, the spiders' company had been quite nice. 

Bliss left the spider doll on the ground and waved goodbye to the giant Spider, then turned around to leave the way he had planed to. 

With is many red eyes, the attentive Great Spider easily caught the small movement of the strange little Beast cub. The tiny bone creature was finally leaving the the nest, and it appeared to have left something behind. The Spider looked at the small offering the creature had left behind, its intelligent eyes seemed to find it interesting, noticing it was its own discarded webs. 

As Bliss was on his way, one of the giant spiders came into view and blocked his way, towering over him. It hissed lowly opening its fangs, poisonous saliva dripping from its terrifying wide opened mouth. 

Bliss tilted his head. 

The spider moved closer and then it swallowed him whole. 

_________________________________________

Flowey the flower stood at the edge, blankly staring into the deep darkness of the chasm. 

"...Don't tell me it actually died." That had not been Flowey's plan when he made the bizarre child trip. He had been sure the brat would do something crazy again and avoid his trick. He had not imagine that the stupid thing would just fall in without so much as a reaction...

It had been more than half an hour since the idiot had fallen into the chasm, and Flowey had been waiting just to make sure it really wasn't crawling back up like a demon straight out of hell.

The flower tilted its head. Was he perhaps thinking too much? Maybe it really died, and as far as he knew that was good news to him. 

Just as he was about to shrug it off and leave. Flowey heard the sound of scratching coming from the darkness of the chasm. He froze. 'Hey now... I was just joking...'

He felt a drop of sweat roll down his face. 'That demon is not actually crawling back from hell... right?'

Flowey turned around and peaked into the darkness of the chasm. 

The noise of something scratching at the wall became louder and closer, something seemed to move inside the darkness, making its was up. 

Eight red eyes came into view, and a giant spider Beast crawled out from the chasm. 

Seeing the horrifying giant venomous spider, Flowey found himself sighing in relief. 

Stopping at the edge, the giant spider hissed in displeasure at the light of the surface, it opened his venomous fangs and spited out a baby...

Then the spider turned around and crawled back into the darkness where it came from. 

Flowey just stared blankly.

On the ground the black boned Skeleton child stood complete unfazed, covered in disgusting spider saliva. The child simply looked around and waved goodbye at the giant spider Beast. 

Bliss didn't seem to care that he was covered from head to toe in some kind of seemingly poisonous saliva that smelled like rotting corpses. He casually patted his legs and got up on his two little feet, ready to continue exploring, but then he noticed that his pajamas were a bit torn from the little spiders biting him not only that but they were now quite dirty too. He will have to fix that later, and while he's at it he might as well clean himself before returning home. 

He looked around, he was sure he had seen a lake around here before. Then he noticed the sentient flower that had been standing there quietly, finally acknowledging its existence. "Gwetings."

Flowey stood quiet for a few more seconds, as if evaluating something, soon a cute little smile appeared in his face. 

"Howdy! We meet again little one!" The lovely flower cheered joyfully as it approached the small child. 

"Oh my, oh my! Just who I've been looking for!" Flowey circled around the child, bouncing cheerfully, and stopped in front of him. "Such a happy coincidence indeed!"

But then the flower sighed pitifully. "Last time you left so suddenly. Not even a goodbye, I was so very sad!" 

"I didn't even got to learn you name! What a shame, I'm sure a cute little thing like you must have a lovely name!" Flowey lamented profoundly, his beautiful petals drooping slightly. 

"Oh I know!" He gasped and then smiled cheerfully again. "How about we introduce ourselves again?" 

"Uh? How about it? I will start!" Flowey cooed with an innocent looking smile. 

Bliss blinked in silence. He was trying to recall if all Floweys were this loud and chatty, but he could not remember, he usually kills them instantly. He had not killed this one yet because there was simply no point in it, since it would just revive.

The baby didn't respond, making the flower show a hint of sad disappointment. 

The pitiful flower lowered his head sadly and then buried under the ground, but then popped back out with a wide smile. "Howdy! I'm Flowy! Flowey the flower!" He introduced himself with the same enthusiasm, then tilted his head with a encouraging smile. "Now won't you tell me your name?"

Bliss stared at the talkative flower, wondering if he made a mistake to not kill it after all. Still he responded. "Bwish"

Flowey's smile brightened. "Bish! What a lovely name indeed!"

'I shall kill it now.'  Bliss decided. 

Flowey noticed the baby frowning. "Oh no! Is something wrong, Bish?" The lovely flower asked innocently tilting his head. Then he gasped. "I see! You must be lost!" 

"But worry not!" The flower bounced happily. "I can guide you! I know this forest better than anyone!"

Bliss frowned, but then looked down as his dirty clothes, he had wanted to find the lake to clean it. 'I guess a guide would come in handy right now.'  He thought for a moment, then looked at the flower and asked. "Whewe ken I phind a lawke."

"Uh? Sorry?" Flowey asked with a confused little smile.

"Watew to kwean." Bliss simplified. 

The confused flower tilted his head. "Could you repeat that?" 

"Lawke. Watew." He repeated only those two words, as simply and clearly as he could.

"..."

Flowey blinked in silence, a small smile still plastered on his face. "Golly. Are perhaps unable to speak? Oh no!" 

Bliss stared at the flower with unamused eyes. Losing his patience, he moved a hand to grab a hand full of the viscous spider saliva covering his clothes and then threw it straight at the flower's face. 

The venomous goo hit Flowey's face with a splash and then there was a hissing sound.  

The flower screamed in pain as venom corroded his face. 

"WHAT THE HELL!  FUCKIN- SON OF A-" Flowey cursed furiously, his lovely face twisted raveling a rather demonic expression. Curled vines grew from its body and moved around aggressively as his leaves tried to remove the venom from his face. 

Actually, there was very little damage, still under the corroding effect of the venom the flower's beautiful petals seemed to rot. 

'My petals! My beautiful petals!' It was going to take days for them to return to their former glory. Flowey cursed once more and glared at the little demon with teary eyes "What did you do that for?!" He hissed. 

The baby shrugged and nonchalantly grabbed another handful of the gooey spider saliva, while repeating in a emotionless tone "Find lawke."

"How the hell am I supposed to know what that is, you little fuck?!" Flowey screamed in frustration. 

"Figuwe it out."  

[ End Chapter]

Chapter Text

[ Start Chapter]

Very early in the morning, too early for even the sun to rise, a small shadow moved in the darkness of the living room. One colorful eye light glowed brightly surrounded by a hue of dark red, while another darker eye seemed to absolve the darkness itself.

The one glowing eye light became brighter, dissipating the darkness and lighting up the room a little.

In the middle on the living room a small Skeleton child sat on the carpeted floor, a pair of round glasses rested in front of his eye lights thus dispersing more light. In his small hand was a sharp needle and he brought it down and stabbed the fabric of the torn clothes he was wearing.

The round glasses were too big for the child, still they managed to stay in place without falling off his face.

Bliss fixed the oversized glasses in place as he once again brought down the sewing needle and pierced it onto the fabric of his torn up pajama. His small hand made eerie but swift movements as it attached the pieces of clothing back together with amazing needle work, such level of mastery could only be achieved with at least a few decades of experience, for that reason it looked all the more bizarre as the work was being done by a seemingly small child.

He effortlessly fixed the ruined pajama. He didn't want to wake up the brothers, so he used his eye light to illuminate just enough for him to see his work.

Bliss had a feeling that Papyrus would not be happy to find out he had ruined such a great and comfortable piece of clothing. Also he quite liked these comfortable clothes.

There was also that dammed rule number 3 that Papyrus insisted so much about. 'Perhaps I should inform them beforehand when I leave to the forest?' He thought. Its not like he tries to hide it from them.

The days were always quite busy with the two brothers around. Bliss also had to keep an eye on them to make sure no danger befalls them. During the nights though, he had a lot of free time since he doesn't need sleep, so he might as well use that time to try regain his magic as soon as possible, preferably before the Multiverse started collapsing -if it didn't start already.

It just so happens that Sans and Papyrus sleep at night. He does not wish to disturb their slumber time, after all sleep was important for normal Monsters from what he understood.

Also he's pretty sure he enters the forest illegally, which was in itself like trying to invite trouble. But not like he had many other options, the forest was the safest place to train without damage or innocent victims, and to help regain his magic a soon as possible. Killing Beasts was the fastest and easiest way to raise his STATS, but practice and getting accustomed to his smaller body was also important, the size alone was enough to disturb his whole fighting style, he needed to adapt it to his current smaller body.

After the mess yesterday, Bliss felt like he had to carefully consider how his actions might affect his family. He wouldn't want them to get in trouble again because he accidentally dusted someone, so he couldn't just casually throw attacks around the city. There were still annoying presences spying on them from time to time.

'Should I start leaving notes for them?' Bliss thought about it for a little. He stopped sewing and looked down as his little hands. 'When was the time I used these hands of mine for writing...?' Perhaps many many centuries ago - he vaguely remembered writing a message to Ink a very very long time ago, the memory was quite foggy as most of the old memories were, if he remembers correctly it was a message to informing he will be absent for a full week. His past self from the vague memories must have been in a hurry since he had written on the white wall of a house with his palm soaked in the blood of a dead Human in an AU he had just destroyed, before disappearing. - Bliss was not quite sure, but he figured it must have been something very important for his past self to not work for a full week despite knowing the abuse his SOUL would suffer as a result.

The skeleton child was lost in thought as his small hands went back to work with frightening speed and agility. 'I wonder if I still know how to write...'

In no time, the pajamas were as good as new. And Bliss remained pensive for a while. Then he teleported away and the next second he was back, holding a puppet by the arm. 

Bliss sat down and placed the puppet's head on his lap, then he began to fix the damage on it's face.

The one remaining button-eye staring at him the whole process.

'...I did say I would fix it.' Bliss sighed.

It didn't take more than a few seconds to sew back puppet's button-eye, there was barely any damage after all. Nevertheless, having an eye ripped out was surely not pleasant, Bliss wouldn't know, he does not have eye balls.

He looked down at the puppet's face, then frowned slightly. 'Shut up. You don't even feel pain.' He responded, he was not going to apologize. It was it's fault for talking bullshit in the first place.

Bliss sighed and threw the puppet off him, then after a short moment he teleported away again, and was back a second later, holding in his small arms what seemed to be a big blue and purple blanket with little stars spread across its fabric.

He sat the puppet down and wrapped the blanket around it. As he did so, one could immediately tell it was actually not a blanket but a very long scarf.

'There, now shut up already.' Bliss huffed and sat down, holding a piece of the scarf's fabric in his hand with a small squeeze. This scarf was the first gift he had ever received and the one object Bliss cherished most in the world. Now, a memory of what he had lost.

The scarf was now too long for Bliss to wear around his neck, so he kept it safe in the crib in Papyrus' room. From time to time he would warp it around himself, like a blanket, it brought him a familiar comfort that his SOUL longed for. It would surely bring the same comfort to the puppet.

Bliss sat on the carpet, looking at the puppet wrapped comfortably in the layers of the beautiful scarf... He had found himself doing a lot of useless things ever since he left the VOID.

In the past, he would have easily ignored any words thrown at him, curses and accusations, screams or mocking laugher, words of persuasion, cries and pleas for mercy. Now, he found himself being agitated by simple words. Perhaps because those words came from something that shared his past, his pain and his curse.

Still, it felt weird to be so easily swayed by the same emotion he had so long ago locked up for more than a few centuries. Now they moved freely inside his SOUL, making him do things he would have never bothered with in the past. Heck not even Nightmare's threats and Blue's scolding had managed to make the destroyer eat a single proper meal. But now here he was, being feed daily by a Papyrus of an unknown AU.

But honestly, he didn't hate it, on the contrary, he wanted to experience more of it.

Bliss brought a hand to his chest, the small pretty SOUL beat happily inside his ribcage, full of so many forgotten emotions. But despite that, his face still had trouble expressing them, and so his face was always expressionless. Funnily enough, in the past two days his face had showed more emotions than it had in eons.

That's right, it had been no more than two days since he decided to completely change his plans of watching the Multiverse self-destruct and everything falling in the VOID, including himself, all to satisfy his anger. Now though, he was trying to do the exact opposite, prevent that destruction he had just recently desired to watch with his own eyes. He will still get to kill the creator and hit Fate where it hurts, but that was not his main goal anymore, he had found something more important, something he wanted to protect, and so that's what he will do.

Of course it all meant nothing if he couldn't even open a portal to the outside of this AU. That's why recovering his magic as fast as possible was so important.

Although the numbers in his STATS had risen considerably, it was still not enough to open a portal. - Traveling between AUs required a lot of magic, so much so that only powerful individual such as the creator himself, the twin guardians of emotions and a few gods from ReaperTale could do it freely, there were also a few other special outcodes, albeit rare. - Bliss' current power wasn't even close, not yet.

The Multiverse was immense, some would think it was endless, of course Bliss knew better. Should a chain of destruction befall its population of billions of AUs, it could take years for it to spread completely. Depending on the stage of the collapse and the position of this AU, it could take from a few months to a few years for the destruction to reach it.

Fortunately, having been tasked with preventing the Multiverse from collapsing for eons, it meant that Bliss knew the Multiverse' capacity better than anyone. After all, every time the Multiverse reached a certain limit, the destroyer's SOUL would be sure to feel it, very painfully.

Bliss could somewhat estimate the number of AUs the Multiverse could handle before starting to collapse. The time it took for each individual AU to completely crumble on itself before hitting the neighboring AUs. And with that, the time it took for the destruction starting at the very edge of the Multiverse to reach its very center. - Having worked with codes for as long as he remembers existing, the numbers flashed in his mind at fast speed and in mere seconds he had already reached an estimated time of 5 years and a half for the Multiverse to completely self-destruct and everything in it to have fallen into the VOID. But that was only considering that it didn't start yet.

Bliss did not know how long it had passed outside while he was in the VOID, he had no way of confirming the date since time inside each AU worked separately from the outside. But considering that he did not feel any anomalies with the codes of this AU he could safely assume that the collapse was at least not close to reaching them yet, after all a wave of destruction as great as a chain collapse of billions of AUs would not go unnoticed by the surroundings, it would at the very least cause a few waves of abnormalities to travel across the Multiverse and reaching other distant AUs, heck the Multiverse itself collapsing would probably make even the Original UnderTale's world tremble slightly.

So, considering the lack of abnormalities in the codes, Bliss felt safe to assume that, if the collapse really had began, it was a good few million AUs away for this Universe not to be affected at all. That would give him about 3 years, at best.

That was his deadline, Bliss had to regain the power to destroy whole universes in the span of 3 years. He let out a chuckle and looked at the puppet with dark humor in his eyes. 'Well, destroying is my one speciality.'

The puppet did not find it funny. Bliss did not care.

A twisted grin grew on his face. Who would have thought, that one day he would so desperately seek to regain the cursed power he had come to despise so much, the power of the god of Destruction that Fate had cursed upon him. 'It's true what they say, you only value something once you lose it.' In his long life, he never had anything to call his own, or at least he wasn't aware of them until it was too late. But now, he will make sure to never lose anything that was his, ever again.

Bliss sighed and closed his eyes as he felt his EXP rise slightly. It was just a small amount, but slowly it added to the numbers. - He had commanded the skull puppy to stay in the forest, it kept whining so he summoned two more to keep it company. The reason he had not unsummoned the gaster-blaster was not just because it begged with whimpers and puppy eyes... But also because he thought it would be a good idea to have them hunt in the forest while he is busy doing other things. Every time they killed a Beast, the EXP would transfer to him.

Despite how small the gaster-blasters were, it took quite a chunk of his magic to keep them summoned. But nothing he couldn't afford at his current level of magic.

Bliss opened a small portal to the codes of the AU, his AU. He had already looked into the codes twice before, the information in it was nothing new, still, at the time he didn't care much for it and only paid attention to the information that was of use to him, to understand the new world he had woken up in, he hadn't even bothered with the name of the AU.

But now, his gaze on the codes was less calculative, it had a hint of warmth in it even, and unknowingly, a faint smile grew on his face as he read the name of the AU.

[ Alternative Universe - Code name  [Home]  ]

That's right, the AU was simply called 'Home'.

He knew very well that was not its original name, heck he could feel just how much the codes had been tampered with, as if someone had shaped it to fit their preferences. And it was no mystery who the culprit was, they did not try to hide it either, their signature standing proudly alongside the AU's attributes.

'VOID-touched'

Bliss' eyes became cold in an instant. Once again, he was forced to be wary on the strange deity's intentions. A deity's favoritism could be far worse than their hatred. The creator himself was a very good example of that.

His eyes moved from the window of codes to the puppet wrapped comfortably in layers of soft fabric. 'What do you think?'

He awaited the answer with genuine interest.

By that time, the sun was already peeking from behind the Walls surrounding the Monster Kingdom. And as timely as an alarm clock, there was loud thud followed by a loud BAAAM!

Unimpressed, Bliss looked up just in time to see a panicking Papyrus jumping down form the second floor balcony and landing on the living room with a thud.

The tall Skeleton looked around and immediately spotted the babybones sitting quietly in the middle of the living room. He let out a relived sigh, but then, suddenly his eyes widened and he looked behind, his gaze landed on the top of the stairs, then he looked back at the child, then back at the stairs...

"Please tell me Bliss didn't fall down the stairs again..."

"I can tell you, but you won't believe it." Sans' lazy voice came from upstairs, the sleepy brother lazily rested his arms and head on the railings of the balcony. He was not surprise to see that the kid seemed fine, they should probably worry more about the house crumbling down due to the impact, after all, the kid did destroy half a castle, and the past king had not been shy about spending great efforts into fortifying the castle walls, in comparison their humble house was quite small and fragile.

Papyrus walked towards the babybones and noticed that what seemed to be just a lump of blankest on the floor was actually Bliss' doll wrapped in the baby's favorite blanket. That warmed his SOUL and he wanted to pull them both into a hug.

"Good morning Mister Puppen!" He greeted with a bright smile. Almost forgetting to scold his child, almost.

The tall Skeleton then turned to the babybones. "Bliss, rule number 13! Stay away from the stairs, its dangerous!" He scolded as he hurriedly sat down next to them and started to inspect the baby to make sure that no more broken bone had appeared overnight. Fortunately, it appears Bliss was indeed fine, although he smelled a bit peculiar for some reason, and was it his imagination? the baby's pajamas felt a bit humid, maybe he played in the bathroom while they were sleeping.

Bliss blinked, he felt the need to clarify that he had in fact not approached the stairs at all, after all he had no need for them. "Staiws no." He said simply, saying more complex phrases was still annoying, he didn't mind since he was never one to talk more than the necessary.

Papyrus' eyes sparkled in pleasant surprise. "That's right, Bliss! Stairs no!" He picked up the child, feeling very proud.

"We already carpeted the whole floor." Sans said with a yawn, he had at some point teleported next to them. "There's little danger to the kid wondering aroun-" He stopped talking after taking a good look at the kid's face. "...Hey, are those Alphys' glasses?"

Papyrus looked at Bliss, only then did pay attention to the oversized glasses barely keeping themselves on the child's face. He tilted his head. "Has she perhaps accidently left a pair here after a visit?"

"I guess? Despite her big brain she can be very forgetful at times." Sans said with a shrug and took the glasses from the kid, no matter how cute Bliss looked with the oversized glasses, Sans was sure it was bad for the kid's eyes. "We should return these to her."

The baby seemed quite displeased at having his new toy taken away from him. "Sorry kid, these are not a toy." Sans chuckled 'Books and now glasses, is the kid destined to be a scientist or something?' Alphys will be very excited after she heard about this.

"Toys!" Papyrus shouted suddenly, he seemed to remember something. "That right! Sans, go get ready! We are going to the toy store right now!"

Sans looked up at him, then shrugged and teleported into the kitchen. "Sure. Lemme just grab something to eat."

"Sans, stop teleporting. You are being a bad example!" Papyrus shouted from the living room. "Walk like a normal person! The kitchen is literally only a few steps away!

Sans opened the fridge -a very convenient device that kept food fresh, and like any other magic device, it was powered by a Beast core- Much to his disappointment, Papyrus had disposed of all the bottles of ketchup. The condiment was still banned in the house, and Sans was also forbitten from purchasing it... then again, you're only guilty if you are caught doing it. And Fortunately, Sans still had real pals that know how to keep a secret.

"Walking makes my feet hurt." Sans chuckled as he grabbed half a salad sandwich and teleporting back. "Short-cuts are butter to-ma-toes." He said with a grin while holding the salad sandwich in his hand.

Papyrus face-palmed. Bliss was unimpressed.

Sans was feeling proud as he took a bite of the sandwich, but then he noticed something and froze.

"Hey uh... Paps?"

The tall Skeleton slowly removed the hand from his face. "I swear Sans, if its another pun-" But then he saw the serious look on his brother's face.

Sans looked at Papyrus with a small frown. "When did you have time to fix it?" He pointed to the floor.

Papyrus tilted his head and looked at where Sans was pointing at. On the ground stood Mister Puppen, wrapped comfortably in a blanket, staring back at them with his two button-eyes. Just yesterday the doll was missing an eye and had a crayon stabbed on its face.

"I didn't? I had thought that you did." The tall Skeleton responded with genuine confusion.

"Then who..." Sans felt a shiver down his spine, he the looked at the creepy doll. 'I fucking knew it! That thing is cursed!'

_________________________________________

The roads were lively as the kingdom was still on the week of the festival. Many had come to the capital city to enjoy the festivities, so the streets were more crowded, but not unbearably so. The streets were filled with cheerful laughter.

Stands opened across both sides of the path, selling all kinds of foods, sweet or salty, spicy or sour, some were a mixture of two. Some stands sold other products and plushies, and some even had games and prizes.

The small Skeleton family walked the lively streets.

Papyrus was temped to play a few games, but decided against it, remembering what happened lasts time he trusted Sans too keep an eye on the baby. He will not make the same mistake this time.

The babybones in Papyrus' arms was once again dressed in an adorable dress, making him look like a cute doll. It was a baby blue dress, with a puffy skirt that started a little bellow his ribcage and reached to his ankles. A white silky ribbon was wrapped just above the skirt and tied into a big bow on the back. Finally, on his feet were two small blue shoes with little bows.

Bliss didn't really care what he was wearing as long as Papyrus was happy. What he did care about though was the paper bag in his hands. They had encountered the nice Bunny lady that sells chocolate cookies again, so Papyrus bought some.

The babybones brought another small cookie to his mouth, much to Sans' relief, the bizarre tongues of the kid didn't come out to swallow the whole paper bag.

One of Bliss' arms was still bandaged. The bandages wrapped around his right arm seemed out of place, surrounded by all the fluffy blue fabric of the cute dress. Papyrus had changed the bandages this morning, and he seemed to have practiced, because now, instead of a big bulgy cocoon of bandages, now instead the thin layers of white fabric wrapped around the baby's small arm and along his fingers, almost like a thin glove. So now Bliss could freely move his fingers, unlike before. It also helped that his phalanges were not threatening to fall anymore, it appears that the properties of the food were showing some results already. It must have been all the chocolate he ate, he was sure of it!

Bliss happily enjoyed his chocolate cookies while looking around. But he easily lost interest. And as comfortable as it was being carried around by Papyrus, he had grown bored and wanted to walk by himself, after all, he could walk just fine now.

And so, Bliss hugged the paper bag and casually jumped out of Papyrus' arms... or al least he tried to. The tall Skeleton reacted with impressive speed and caught Bliss just before he made contact with the stone path.

Both brothers froze as they stared at him in shock.

"Uh... That's new." Sans said nervously. Just when he thought Bliss couldn't surprise him anymore, the kid decides to suddenly throw himself to the ground, sure, why not, this was certainly far from the freakiest thing the kid has ever done. Actually, it was probably the most baby-like thing he saw Bliss do ever since they meet.

Even Papyrus seemed unsure how to react. "Bliss?"

The baby looked back at him, tilting his head innocently.

'It appears I did not make my intention clear.' Bliss concluded, they always tended to have the strangest reactions for the silliest reasons. 'I should be more clear then.' He pointed to the ground. "Dowm." He said simply.

Papyrus blinked, but then his eyes sparkled. The babybones was asking to be put down!

Of course, the baby already knew to repeat words after them, and some times he would babble random things, but this was the first time Bliss actually said a real word by himself, better yet he seemed to know what the word meant.

Papyrus was very proud. He had been worried because of how quiet Bliss usually is, but the smart baby seemed to learn very fast from just watching them. It appears that the educative playtime was already showing results. Papyrus was feeling like an accomplished father.

He smiled brightly as he crouched own and placed the child on the ground. "Bliss, from now on if you want something just ask! Papa will give you!" Papyrus said as he fixed the baby's little dress.

Finally feeling the ground under his feet, Bliss nodded. 'Very well. I shall ask first.'

Satisfied with the little nod, Papyrus got back up and watched as the baby proceeded to eat another cookie from the paper bag.

Sans raised a -non-existent- eyebrow at him. "Are you sure we should be spoiling him like that?"

Papyrus looked at his brother and scratched his cheek bone a bit awkwardly. "Well, if we teach him to ask first, we can avoid Bliss suddenly jumping out of our arms." The tall Skeleton was feeling a little bad, admitting that it was actually a trick.

Sans blinked then nodded in acknowledgement. "Fair enough."

After letting the babybones on the ground to walk by himself, the family once again started walking. Their destination was a toy shop that was quite popular around these parts. It had actually been recommended by Alphys some time ago.

The Skeleton brothers walked with slow septs, smiling ever so often as they watched the small child follow after then with small steps. Of course, they were being very attentive as to not lose the baby from their line of sight.

Papyrus secretly pulled out a recording device that he kept on him at all time, just in case it was needed. Like at this exact moment.

Bliss nonchalantly followed after his family, shoving in his mouth one cookie after another, although he tried to eat them as slow as possible, in no time they were all gone, much to his disappointment.

The baby silently stared at the paper bag in his hands, he crumbled it into a ball and then... he shoved it on his mouth.

"Bliss no!" Papyrus shouted, throwing the camera away as he moved to remove the paper from the baby's mouth.

Sans caught the recording device with a hand and kept filming the moment with a lazy grin. He chuckled. 

"Good to see you guys are having fun." A loud voice spoke from the side and they look up to see a familiar Fish lady.

It was Undyne, instead of wearing the usual armor she was dressed in casual clothes, it appears she also came to enjoy the festivities.

"Undyne, greetings!" Papyrus said after successfully retrieving the paper bag from the baby. He got up, once again holding Bliss in his arms, to make sure that the baby didn't pick up random things from the ground and try to eat them while they were distracted.

Sans looked around, as if expecting to see someone else with her. He raised an -non-existent- eyebrow. "You alone?"

"Yeah. I tried to invite Alphys, but she seemed very busy." The Fish lady said while awkwardly scratching the back if her head. But then she looked at then with a wide grin. "I heard you two would show up though."

"Mind if I tag along? Or are you guys too busy parenting?" She said with a small laugh, while looking at the little kid in the tall Skeleton's arms.

The baby looked at her in return with disinterest, that made her chuckle. At least this time the kid wasn't glaring at her like he wanted to bite her head off.

Papyrus grinned brightly. "Sure! We are going to buy toys! Do you want to join us?"

"Toys?" She blinked and looked at the excited Papyrus, then glanced at the uninterested child, then at Papyrus again. '...For who?'  While the tall Skeleton was excited about the idea of toys, the little kid in his arms looked like he couldn't care less.

She glanced at Sans. He just shrugged at her.

"Sure. Sounds interesting." Undyne finally responded, but then she seemed to get distracted by something else. "Oh! Looks who's back." She grinned and nudged Papyrus with an elbow while looking in a certain direction.

Before Sans could question, he felt the ground shake, he frowned in confusion and looked at the source of the tremor, his brother.

Papyrus was basically vibrating with excitement. Even the baby in his arms looked at him with confusion.

Then Sans notice that the cheerful crowd had become quiet, the happy laughter was replaced the gasps and whispers. Curiously, he followed his brother's gaze, then he immediately understood what the commotion was about.

A tall Monster wearing a full set of fierce back armor was walking the middle of the streets, making his way to the castle, his appearance alone demanded attention. The crowd made way for the warrior to pass, their gazes on him were full of respect and awe.

The armored Monster was a mystery, no one knew what was behind the scary dark armor, all they could be seen through the visor of the helmet was darkness. And although his appearance looked scary and distant, he was very famous and adored. To put it simply, dark knight was a symbol of hope to all Monsters, an artificial Monster created by the royal scientist using 'alchemy' she called it, a new type of magic that was 'still a work in process'. The back knight, Mettaton, frequently ventured into the Cursed Forest alone and protected the Walls form danger. Unlike most knights, the dark warrior would occasionally scout the forest for long periods of time, slaying Beasts and paving safe routes for adventurers and knights. But most important of all, he was also on the look out for possible Humans entering the forest.

Metttaton had most likely just returned from the Cursed Forest and was going to report his discoveries.

Sans lazily watched the proud dark knight pass them.

Papyrus on the other hand couldn't hold back his excitement anymore. "Mettaton! Welcome back! You are the coolest! " He shouted and cheerfully waved a hand at him.

With that the whole crowd also woke up from their silent admiration and began to cheer out loud, waving at the dark knight and welcoming him back home.

The armored Monster almost stumbled, seemingly surprised by the sudden burst of the crowd, he seemed to freeze for a second, but then pretended to be aloof and went on his way in a dignified manner, although his pace obviously slowed down.

Sans raised a -non-existent- eyebrow. '...That guy really loves the attention.' He thought as he took a bite out of a hot dog. - While the dark knight was parading, Sans had at some point teleported away and back, holding a hot dog in one hand and paper bag in the other.

He handed the paper bag to the baby sitting in Papyrus' arms. 

Bliss received it nonchalantly and opened the paper bag to pull out a chocolate cookie, then he leaned back in his seat and ate the cookies while waiting for the tremor to pass.

_________________________________________

A few minutes later, the Skeleton family arrived at their destination.

"Wow!" Papyrus admired the building in front of him, it was a very big and very cutely decorated store, sure to attract all the children's attention.

Undyne laughed. "You're are such a kid, Papyrus!"

The tall Skeleton just grinned in response. "I'm taking that as a compliment!" After all Bliss was a child and he was the most adorable thing in the whole world!

Undyne laughed harder.

Papyrus looked at Sans with a bright smile. "How nice of Alphys to recommend us this nice shop."

Sans looked at the small but fancy toy store. "Yeah... How nice for her."

In truth, Alphys had connections with all kinds of shops. Some of her inventions had nothing to do with her duties as the royal scientist, and she also had other weird hobbies... But occasionally she would make things like toys that moved like magic by using a small Beast core as battery, she told him that those toys were just a small model to test a theory for something bigger. Sans didn't get the details since he would space out whenever she blabbed nonstop about her projects. Anyways, half the profits of those shops eventually returned to Alphys, therefore investing in some of her more questionable inventions -the kind she rather not have to explain to the king while asking for investment money...

Actually, Sans didn't know half the stuff the crazy scientist did in her labs, Alphys kept many locked rooms and quite a few dark secrets, many she did not share even with Sans, despite him being her closest friend.

Sans lamented the fact that all the women close to him were quite scary individuals. Alas, no hope for his romantic life. He shook his head with with a pitiful sigh as he followed Papyrus into the shop.

As the family walked inside the shop they were soon meet with its impressive interior, its wall were covered in shelves full on a variety of beautiful toys, and bigger toys that did not fit on the shelves were displayed in the middle of the shop. It looked like any child's dream.

Papyrus could barely contain his excitement, he gasped in awe and his eyes sparkled as he looked at the shelves. He looked at the amazing toys that he had never seen before.

Actually, Sans was also not an exception as something seemed to catch his attention. "Ho, this is new." He said as he curiously looked at a rather interesting magical toy.

The Fish lady snorted. "What are you nerds so interested in? These are for baby- IS THAT A FIGURINE OF KING ASGORE?!?" The next second Undyne was gone.

Bliss glanced at the two Skeleton brothers who were looking at the shelfs with sparky eyes. He sighed and shook his head, what was he to do with these two younglings. Papyrus had been enthusiastic about buying toys for a while, so Bliss thought he he might as well look around while the brothers enjoy themselves.

"Papyws. Dowm." He said while patting Papyrus arm. Which only made the tall Skeleton's face beam with even more excitement.

"Sure!" Papyrus smiled brightly and let the baby down to explore the shop, happy to see Bliss showing interest and hoping that the baby finds a toy he liked. His eyes watched with enthusiasm as the babybones explored the shop.

Finally free to move, Bliss looked around, thinking that perhaps he could help in finding something nice for Papyrus and Sans, not that he knew what was nice, also he still had no gold. 'Papyrus says I should not steal because it's wrong...' It was a subject that appeared while Sans was reading the book about the Bunny called Fluffy. The book seemed to be about life lessons.

Bliss hummed in thought, if he remembers correctly, the Beast cores found in the forest could be sold for gold, 'Perhaps I should have brought a few with me to trade.' Then he could buy Papyrus these 'toys' he seemed to like so much.

Bliss walked around the store, looking at the shelves as he passed. On the shelves stood all kind of things. There were dolls and plushies of all kinds of creatures, some bigger some smaller. There were miniature of Monsters and even Beasts that could fit on one's pocket, and boxes with slightly bigger miniatures of Monsters -was that an Undyne?- There were also colorful wooden cubes and other different shapes stacked on top of each other creating small infrastructures. And even a few colorful boxes with pieces and what seemed to be puzzles.

There were other bigger toys displayed on the floor in the middle of the store. For example, one that seemed to be a Horse with its four feet stuck on curved planks, and fated to swing for all eternity, quite cruel actually. There was a small sit on its back so Bliss figured it was some kind of entertainment for children, very intriguing.

He kept wandering and looking around, but then stopped in front of a few shelves, and blinked. In front of him, standing on a shelf among colorful boxes, was a box with miniature Papyrus inside...

The miniature Papyrus stood with a bright smile, wearing shinning armor and holding a skull sword over his shoulder. Bliss felt the urge to take it and put it his pocket, but he resisted it. He was starting to understand the interest Sans and Papyrus showed towards these toys.

Bliss glanced behind only to see the two Skeleton brothers looking around with great enthusiasm. Even Papyrus that had been watching him eventually got distracted again.

Bliss looked back at the shelves, and out of curiosity, he tried to read what was written on the box with the miniature Papyrus inside, but unfortunately he couldn't read it because the letters were small, he lamented the fact that Sans had taken away the glasses. Bliss narrowed his eyes, still all he could see were blurry lines.

"Hey yu!" A young voice called from the distance, disturbing his moment of concentration.

Bliss blinked and slowly looked to the side, only to see a small child approaching him, which made him tense up and freeze in place.

"I saw dat toy fiwst!" The kid stopped in front of him with an angry pout, but then gasped when he saw Bliss' face and a small blush flushed on his chubby cheeks. "Pwetty baby!" The kid gasped in awe, with big sparkly eyes.

The little child jumped closer with a bright smile. "Baby, yu wike dis toy too? I buy foy yu!"

Bliss was still frozen in place, unsure of how he was supposed to react, so of course, he simply teleported away.

The kid blinked and looked around in confusion. "Baby..?"

Somewhere else...

Bliss appeared in a dark forest, it was funny that this was the first place that come to mind while running away from the rather terrifying encounter... The last time he was that close to a living child was when he had no choice but to crush its SOUL to end its suffering, suffering to which he himself had been the cause of. So it had awaked a lot of unpleasant memories. Bliss had decided long ago that a disgusting sinner like himself should avoid those small innocent creatures at all cost.

After coming back to his senses, he realized just how tensed he actually was right now. Then he remembered that he was not supposed to disappear like that, Papyrus and Sans would no doubt freak out as they always do.

Bliss was about to teleport back to his family, when suddenly, mid-teleportation a small creature decided to launch itself at him in that exact moment, grabbing onto him and making him lose balance as the teleportation activated and they disappeared.

Acting fast, he had managed to at least change the destination, instead of teleporting inside the toy shop like he had planned, he appeared in a small empty alley, just around the corner of the shop.

Bliss sat on the ground, blinking dumbfounded as he looked down to see a small pale-pink fluffy fur ball siting on his lap and rubbing itself on him like it had found a nice nest. The little Beast looked mainly like a bunny, it had two long droopy ears, a long tail with a fluffy end and two small wings on its back.

It was rather weird seeing it act so friendly, since the Beasts so far would usually either run away from him or attack him. But Bliss soon understood the reason as he felt a small portion of his magic slowly leaking out.

Despite looking harmless and friendly, this small Beast was rather vampiric as it liked to feed on the magic of other creatures -Beast and Monsters both being made of magic- feeding itself until it was satisfied or the food just died after being drained off all its magic. And how was the greedy little Beast supposed to resist when it saw such a small creature yet so full of magic? Some stronger Beasts didn't mind these parasitic creatures leeching on them since the magic being drained was an insignificant amount, but many adventurers could die if not careful with these seemingly harmless little bunnies, especially when encountering a group of the little vampiric fluff balls.

Bliss blinked as he watched the winged bunny snuggled on him while enjoying its meal. Honestly, he didn't really care, but he needed return to his family before they noticed him missing or else he will have o hear more of Papyrus' scolding.

He was planning to simply throw the creature away, since it seemed tame enough. But before he could shoo it away, suddenly, without warning, the small Beast froze, then its body started to spasm and contort, it fell on the ground and crawled on its four legs, growling lowly like it was in great pain, its behavior became violent, baring its sharp teeth and scratching the ground with its claws, unlike its previous mild behavior.

Bliss frowned, maybe he should kill it after all, since there was the possibility it might cause trouble.

He moved a small hand toward the struggling creature, thinking of crushing its core in one swift move without causing a big commotion, but then-

"Found yu! Why yu wun?!" The small kid from before shouted from the opening of the alley.

Bliss' eyes widened with a hint of panic. The timing couldn't be worse.

The creature was startled by the loud voice and in a moment of violent confusion it jumped towards the new presence, its small wings opening as it glided full speed toward the clueless child.

Shocked by the sudden attack, the little kid reflexively shut his eyes tight while shrinking back in fright.

'Shit-!' Bliss' eyes lights shone with magic and, acting fast, he teleported in front of the kid, just in time to stop the flying Beast before it did any damage.

His hand extended to grab the flying creature, but before he could, he was suddenly pulled out of the way and the small Beast missed the attack, but it didn't seem to care as it fell on the ground with a painful growl and ran away.

Amidst the chaos, Bliss had lost balance and fell on the kid that had pulled him, not because the kid was strong but because Bliss had been caught by surprise, also his body was still that of a small infant weightwise.

As he fell, his face hit something as soft as a pillow and he felt like he was embraced by a blanket. 'What...?'

Before he could process what just happened, Bliss felt the soft ground shift under him. He blinked and looked up just in time to see a small fluffy hand landing on his face.

He blinked dumbfounded. 'Was that... a slap?' That was certainly the fluffiest slap he had ever received, and he had been slapped by a bear once.

After the small hand was removed, Bliss was meet with two round eyes glaring at him. It seems that he had fallen on the kid. No wonder he felt like he fell on a pillow... The small child looked like a Sheep Monster with white fluffy curly fur and two tiny horns on his fluffy head.

The little child seemed to be angry, his chubby cheeks even more round as he pouted, with a hint of red hue. Although the child was glaring, his big round eyes didn't look menacing at all.

"Yu stoopid?!" The kid shouted exasperated.

"If yu get in da way, we two get huwt!" The little Sheep scolded while holding the baby's shoulders with his two small fluffy hands. - Although he had been a bit scared when the strange angry rat jumped at him, he didn't expect the cute baby to appear in front of him and try to protect him. Although it was super adorable, but it was dangerous! So he pulled the baby out of the way to not get hurt, but he didn't expect the baby to be so light and he lost his balance and they both fell.

Fortunately he had caught the baby in a hug before hitting the ground. He is a big boy so he will be only hurt a little bit, but the baby was so small and would obviously get very hurt! The kid was a bit angry because it was dangerous.

The Sheep child's cheeks felt a bit hot, but he wasn't sure if it was because he was angry or because he was feeling shy. The cute baby was basically sitting on his lap now, looking up at him with big colorful round eyes! So how can he keep mad?! It didn't help that the Baby was dressed like a little doll, it was so cute! He just wanted to hug the baby and take it home! Mama surely wouldn't mind, she always says if he likes something he can just take it.

But the little Sheep resisted the cuteness and kept scolding the baby. "If thewe ish dangew dont yump in de way! Fool!"

Being scolded by the little kid, Bliss just stared dumbfounded. He had acted on impulse, his body moving before his mind could react. He just couldn't bear to see another innocent child die in front of him, because of him, not anymore. He had jumped in action impulsively, but now he was lost on what to do.

Bliss could feel how emotionally unstable he had become ever since he woke up in this AU. At first he found it troublesome that he could not control his emotions like he used to, lock them away and act purely on cold calculation and murderous instinct as he had learned to many ages ago. But at the same time, the strange feeling of hot and warm emotions moving inside his SOUL, acting under the influence of those emotions, it didn't feel too bad either. It felt rather freeing. He had grown to enjoy the warm tingling in his SOUL every time he was with Sans and Papyrus.

And even though at this moment his mind was still being tormented by memories of his past sins and screams demanding retribution ringed in his head. Yet still, at the moment his SOUL felt quite warm at the sight of the little brat glaring and scolding him.

Bliss scoffed at his own feelings. 'What are you happy about, you old fool. You almost killed another kid.' He mentally scolded himself, then a twisted smirk grew on his face. 'But I didn't.' He responded to his own scolding. But then he felt the urge to punch himself in the face.

'...What the hell I am even doing?'  Bliss sighed. His eyes then began to wander away. He should probably go take care of the runaway Beast before it causes trouble.

Seeing the small baby smiling, the little Sheep child felt his cheeks become a bit warmer. He gave up being mad. "Hey baby! What ish yow name?" He asked.

Bliss snapped out of his thoughts, blinked a few times then answered blankly. "...Bwish."

"Bw-bwish... what?" The little Sheep narrowed his eyes. "How owd aw yu?"

Bliss blinked once more then tilted his head in thought. That was a hard question. He did in fact not know how old he truly was. After living so long, the concept of time was pretty much meaningless to him, especially after living most of his life in the Anti-void, a place with no concept of time or space.

After a long pause he finally answered. "...Miwios? Biwios eaws?"

The little Sheep kid stared blankly at the baby, then shook his head. "No, wike dis." He raised a small hand and showed two fingers.

"See? I two yeaws!" The kid said while raising his other hand to count the two fingers. "One, two!"

Feeling proud of himself, he then looked at the baby, "Now yu."

Bliss blinked then looked at his small hands, he did not have enough fingers... But the expectant big eyes of the child were putting pressure one him. Should he split his own fingers in half? No it still wouldn't be enough. Such a dilemma.

Seeing the small Baby looking down at his fingers with a troubled expression, the Sheep boy asked. "Yu dont tnow how?"

Bliss shook his head.

The little Sheep brought a small hand to his chubby cheeks, and tilted his head as if he was deep in thought.

"Yu aw a vewy smaw baby, so dat why." The child concluded, then he patted his chest with a hand. "Me big, so can teash yu!" He said with a bright smile.

The little Sheep was very small himself, only a head taller than Bliss, yet he still he kept calling Bliss a baby.

But what could Bliss do, when he himself can't even pronounce his own name.

The Sheep kid smiled brightly as he looked down at the baby on his lap. "My name ish Lux!" He introduced himself and puffed up his chest proudly.

"Fwiends cawl me Lu!" He said cheerfully, then he narrowed his eyes and said a lower voice. "Fools cawl me Luxy." He said with a cute little smirk, trying to sound dark and cool like his mama.

Then the little Sheep grinned again. "I wike yu! So yu can cawl me Lu!"

Bliss simply blinked. 'This thing is very... kidnappable.' He thought as he felt the strange urge to put the kid in his pocked and take it home. It was like a miniature version of Blue, but fluffy. Papyrus hasn't mention any rules against kidnaping...

Unknowingly to him, the little Sheep boy was also very tempted to take him home.

Although Lux was happy with holding the baby in his lap, his butt was stating to hurt from sitting on the stone ground. So he wanted to get up.

He didn't want the baby to fall, so he grabbed the baby from under its armpits and then jumped up to his feet. Lux was strong boy and the baby was as light as little doll, so it was easy!

Bliss just let the kid do whatever, at this point he was used to being suddenly picked up and carried around by the cheerful Papyrus, -if a complete stranger tried though, he will probably stab them in the SOUL.- Although it was his first time being carried by another baby...

Finally standing up, Lux placed the baby down and instead held its little hand. "Yets go pway! I tnow a fun pwace!" He said cheerfully at his new friend, and began to walk out the alley while gently pulling the baby by the hand.

The pull was very weak, Bliss could easily break away form the kid and go about his business... But he didn't feel like it.

Letting himself be guided out the alley and into the crowd of cheerful people, Bliss felt like he had forgotten something. He wondered what it was.

...

Not very far away, actually quite literally just around the corner, two Skeleton brothers ran frantically out the toy store.

Too bad, had they arrived a few seconds earlier they would have been just in time to see their missing child disappearing into the crowd.

At the same time, inside the toy store, two Dog guards ran frantically in circles, making a mess out of the shop. They had lost the little prince!

[ End Chapter]

Chapter Text

[ Start Chapter]

In a personal office located in Royal labs. The distinguished Royal scientist sat on her desk, resting her head in a pile of documents, looking like a corpse.

Looking at her, one could not be sure if she was dead or just sleeping, if not for the faint tired groan that escaped her from time to time.

'Tsk Tsk.' A ghostly figure hovered above the small scientist, shaking his head in disappointment.

'It's no use even if you find it.' Gaster spoke, knowing well that he would not be heard. He had long developed an habit of talking to himself after spending so many years alone stuck between the state of exiting and not existing.

'The notes you are looking for are nothing more than theories formed without solid evidence, guesses at most.' The old scientist admitted. Now that he had been 'erased from the world' and becoming a ghost of sorts, he had seen the truth about this universe and the existence of others, he now knew how incomplete his old theories had been.

He had been erased from the world, but at the same time, in a way he had became part of it. So he could now see and feel the world around him differently. For example, their world was made of numbers and symbols -codes, he came to know- and influences that directly affected these codes usually felt behind traces, whether it was caused by some kind of anomaly or by an outside force, some were fainter than others, some permanent while others might only be temporary and the codes would go back to normal.

Gaster now could see those traces left behind on the world he was connected to. This Alternative Universe to which he belonged. So when he went to investigate the occurrence that had happened at the now half destroyed castle, he had made some discoveries. He was somewhat disappointed about what he found, albeit a bit intrigued. He had discovered the traces of many faint disturbances scattered all around the place, but unlike what he had expected, those traces were not felt behind by a gateway between worlds or even between timelines.

Instead, they were traces of cuts in the very codes of the world, but not to the outside, not even to different space in time, rather, it was a gateway from one location to another within the same space and time, but just a few meters away. Like someone wanted to teleport from one location to another only a small distance away.

Gaster scoffed. The terrifying otherworldly power to open rifts into the very reality of their world, used as mere teleportation. It was like using complex math so solve a simple equation. He shook his head in disappointment.

Power that had access to the codes was something that could both create and destroy. Yet it was used like some convenience tool for fast travel, as if legs didn't exist to be used.

Gaster looked down at his hands. His palms were pale white, each with a big hole in the center, a reminder of his resolve and ambitions. He closed his hands into fists. If he had the power to access codes of their world, just imagining all the possibilities. Forget leaving to another worlds, he could change their own! Change the very reality, change history! And shape it as he pleased, into the perfect world. Why must Monsterkind be confined to this small piece of territory when there is a whole world around them, Worlds even. They could achieve so much more.

The ghostly figure had a faint glint in his eyes as he looked up from his hands. Although the traces he had discovered were a bit disappointing at first, but after thinking about it, he found that it might actually be even better than he had initially expected.

Indeed. He had confirmed something important. The traces of the gateways he found were only within the AU itself, not to the outside, meaning, that the source of the disturbance of the codes was not related to a new outsider entering. And that only left one possible suspect, the little anomaly child that did not truly belong to this AU, and that coincidentally had been the main reason for the whole commotion at the castle in the first place.

'An interesting child indeed.'

And if his guess is correct then that child should have the potential to access the codes, meaning he should be able to see them. And as Gaster had become part of the world itself, it also meant that...

The child was able to see him too.

A grin grew on the face of the ghostly figure.

Resting on her desk, Alphys felt a sudden shiver on her spine.

'Did the temperature drop or something?' She slightly raised her head from the pillow of documents and took a peek around the office. But there were no open windows and the cooler devise was also off. 'That's weird.'

'Must have been my imagination.' She thought as she once again dropped her head on the table.

Not long after, the door of the office was pushed open, and a tall back armored Monster could be seen under the doorframe. His dark figure stood out as he silently entered, only the metal noise of his armor could be heard as he took a step inside, then-

"Darling! I'm back~" The menacing dark knight spoke in a singing tone, as he walked further into the room with a carefree attitude.

The scientist raised her head with a tired groan, revealing dark shadows under her eyes.

"Oh my. Alphys dear. You look awful." The dark knight said, placing a hand to the side of his helmet, where his cheek would be.

The short scientist sighed. "Glad to see you too, Mettaton." She massaged her temples, her head was feeling heavy still. "And in one piece."

"Unsurprisingly." Mettaton shrugged with a bit of sarcasm. "Thanks to this sturdy tin can." He knocked on his chestplate, it echoed as if the inside was empty.

"You're welcome." The scientist responded with an equal amount of sarcasm.

Mettaton huffed, placing a hand on his hips as another hand waved the air in frustration. "Although, you promised me a beautiful body."

"No, I promised you a body." Alphys corrected him.

"And this was the best you could afford? A dark rusty armor, goodness me. And of such poor taste!" He waved his arms in the air in frustration. Sure, it was great to have a physical body, but being stuck in this rusty tin can was unsightly!

The Lizard lady rested her back on the chair, raising a hand to fix her glasses out of habit, only to remember she had taken them off. She sighed. "We went through this hundreds of times already. It was a prototype. How was I supposed to know your SOUL would get stuck?"

"Well, you are the brains, so you tell me." Mettaton crossed his arms as he rested his back against the book shelves behind him.

The scientist rested her head on a hand and raised an eyebrow. "You are complaining, but you seem to enjoy playing the role of some tragic dark hero."

Mettaton shrugged with a chuckle. "Well, it's a bit late to drop the act now, after we scammed the whole kingdom."

Alphys cringed at his words, her younger self had made many stupid mistakes...

She and Mettaton had meet any years ago. Their relationship had began with a contract of sorts. The Ghost Monster would take part in her experiments, with the promise of giving him a physical body and fame, while she would get to experiment in an area she had recently thought of after finding notes belonging to forgotten old Royal scientist. Those notes mentioned researches on the creation of artificial Monsters, that would allow Monsterkind to win in the possibility of another War. Although the documentation regarding the research was vague at most, the theories themselves were very detailed. She had believed she could use it to strengthen a monster's SOUL -the most vital yet fragile part of a Monster- using the foundation of the theories of artificial SOUL creation. It did not go all too well.

But after all the investment wasted on the experiment, Alphys had no choice but to give results to satisfy the expectations of everyone. So, she introduced Mettaton as a successful artificially created Monster. And came up with an excuse that the experiment was hard and risky to replicate.

Well, Mettaton got the fame he wanted, at least.

She sighed. "Still, did you really have to create an alter ego?"

"Well, what did you expect? When this-" He gestured at the terrifying looking armor he was wearing. "-was what I had to work with, darling."

"This dark armored knight was obviously meant to be a solitary edgelord with a dark past. A character surrounded by mysteries and a tragic burden to carry!" Mettaton spoke as he posed dramatically, placing the back on his hand over his head, and pushing his back against the book shelves, making a few books fall on the floor.

"The lone aloof dark warrior! Fighting for all Monsterkind. A beacon of hope!"

Alphys hummed, her tired eyes wondered around the room. 'Where did I put my glasses again?' She remembered removing them before throwing her face into the pile of documents on the desk. She was sure she had placed them close to her, but they were nowhere to be seen. Eventually she gave up on finding them, she had more stored somewhere in her lab anyway.

"Well. You can stop whenever you get bored of it then." The scientist said with a sigh.

Mettaton gasped almost as if he was offended. "I cannot! It will ruin my persona! I take my performance very seriously." He shook a finger at her.

"Besides, the presence of the dark hero is a symbol for the people. How dare I take that from them? Oh! I could never!" Once again he posed dramatically, as he continued speaking in an exaggerated tone.

"I can only keep this facade, hiding away in the shadows, for the sake of the hopes and dreams of all Monsterkind." A hand moved to cover his face with exaggerated movements, as if he was in deep emotional distress.

Alphys raised a hand pinched the bridge of her nose, while the dark knight kept monologuing dramatically to himself, every few seconds changing from one dramatic pose to another. The centric Ghost Monster had always been very into theatrics even before he had achieved fame.

"Mettaton, nobody will care if you start dancing on the streets, honestly they might actually just join you."

"Alphys dear, you just don't understand." Mettaton shook his head with a sigh. "It's about the performance! The entertainment that the audience deserves!" The dark knight said as he opened his arms wide. 

He then looked at her and spoke in a somewhat serious tone. "The people already have a cute and excited happy go knight, and a loyal yet violent and overly battle-enthusiastic knight captain. So why not give them something more spicy?" He explained in a humorous tone. "And so I'm giving them a aloof and mysterious dark hero." Mettaton said with a gleam of enthusiastic artistic spirit. Only for the next second to once again throw himself at the shelves behind him. 

"But perhaps! Deep down the selfless dark hero is really just hoping that one day, a special someone will see through this thick armor and get to know his true self. And realize that behind that fierce armor is a fragile and lonely soul, looking to be understood~" The books behind him kept raining down at his exaggerated actions.

"Metaton. Please." Alphys banged her head on the desk, keeping her head once again buried under the piles of documents.

"You're no fun." Metaton sighed regretfully from behind the helmet. He then walked towards her desk with leisurely steps.

"Well, maybe this will be of more interest to you then." He said as he placed something on the desk with a loud thud.

Alphys slowly raised her head, then her eyes widened and she raised her head in surprise, almost falling behind on her chair.

Fortunately, the chivalrous knight was there to hold her chair.

She stared at the black Beast Core on her desk with astonishment. "Where the did you get this?" This was not something to easily acquired.

A Beast Core was the SOUL of a Beast, and depending on the strength of the Beast its core will also have different levels of magic stored in it, which were graded by the Core's color. And it just so happened that black was the highest level Core they knew of. -Yellow and orange being common, the green and light blue uncommon, then there was dark red and dark blue as rare, and finally black as epic.

It did not mean there wasn't a color higher than black, just that if there is they did not discover it yet. Or perhaps no one that discovered it had come back alive to tell the tale. If there was a rank above black then it was estimated to be of legendary grade. A Core of that caliber would store almost endless amounts of magic, like wise, a Beast of that level would mean a great calamity.

Aphys looked at him in astonishment. "Could it be that you-"

Mettaton chuckled at the look on her face. "Oh, don't look at me like that, darling. I'm strong, but not that strong."

The armored Monster sat on the edge of the desk and crossed his legs, his hand playing with the black stone on the table. "I just happened to find it, laying of the ground." He hummed teasingly.

Alphys frowned. "You mean to say..."

"That right, darling." A chuckle sounded from behind the dark helmet. "Something is wandering the forest and hunting epic Beasts for sports. Leaving behind all these precious treasures."

The laughter became a bit darker. "But no Monster would be so silly as to not recognize their value, much less someone this strong~"

The scientist's expression only worsened. She knew few people strong enough to kill a Beast of that level, still not without suffering a few injuries, well maybe king Asgore, but he hasn't crossed the Walls in years.

It wasn't uncommon for Beasts to fight amongst themselves and pray on weaker ones, but what was strong enough to pray on epic Beast? That proved the existence of Cores above black.

Alphys' eyes suddenly widened in realization, she looked up at him. "How close to the Walls?"

Mettaton shrugged with a carefree hum. "I'd say, close enough to be become a future inconvenience."

He then picked up the black stone and played with it in his hands. "But say, Alphys dear, what should we do with this information?" 

The Lizard lady stood pensive for a moment. "We will keep this to ourselves, at least for now." She finally spoke. Revealing it to the public now, without evidence, would only serve to cause panic. The festival had already been canceled once because of the sudden explosion, after all, then there was half the royal castle being destroyed soon after, surely the defenseless citizens would have been beyond terrified.

Alphys looked down with worried eyes. "But let's keep on the look out. And hope its not as we fear."

"Whatever you say, darling~" Mettaton hummed in a singing tone.

The forgotten gostly scientist still lingered in the room, although he didn't seem to care for the contents of their conservation. After traveling the whole AU, the horrors that inhabited the deepest parts of forest were the least of his concerns. It was fortunate that such creatures were territorial and rarely wandered too far from their territory unless provoked.

Besides, at the moment, Gaster's mind was preoccupied with something much more important. 'How should I go about educating that 'grandson' of mine?' He thought with a serious look on his face. Indeed, he was planning in taking part in the child's education from now on.

'I never taught one this young before.' He hummed. Violent methods, although proven to be quite effective, were less than ideal, considering what happened last time. -He had learned that even the weakest and most pathetic little thing can be extremely vicious and dangerous when desperate enough.

This experiment was sure to be a tricky one.

_________________________________________

Somewhere else in the city...

Lux chatted happily about random things, holding Bliss' hand and guiding him through the crowd. The little toddler seemed to know the place well, as he moved without getting lost.

On the other hand, in the crowd full of people and happy families, seemingly taller children clung to their patents legs like baby koalas as to not get separated and lost. Bliss figured all children had different levels of maturity depending in their species and magic levels, after all, compared to the other little kids in the crowd, the little Sheep boy seemed to have a considerably higher level of magic emanating from his SOUL.

While they were walking, the little Sheep boy finally became a bit quiet and glanced at Bliss. Sensing the stare the baby stared back and tilted his head.

Lux hummed a bit then finally asked, both curious and worried. "So, how yu get huwt?" He asked as he looked at the bandages on the baby's right hand. He had been attentive as to not hold the hand that had bandages, to not hurt the baby.

Bliss blinked a bit confused, but then remembered he had an 'injured' hand. He looked down at his bandaged arm, thinking back to the memory. "I puntshed a bic dod."

The little boy stared at him blinking. "So da dog hit yu?"

Bliss shook his head. "I yit it. An it bwok." The Beast's body broke into dust, while he had only received a small crack.

Lux tilted his head, he seemed to be in thought as he looked at the baby's bandaged arm. Then he finally spoke. "If it bwoke, nesht time dont punch." He said with a small nod, then ginned brightly. "Yu hav to kick, legs aw mush stwonger! So yu wont get huwt!"

'Well, that is true.' Bliss ended up nodding. Maybe kicking was preferable while he still had this weaker body. As he thought, this little child was quite smart.

Passing through the stands selling foods, Bliss couldn't help glance at the Monsters selling sweets with great longing.

The little Sheep boy noticed the baby's sparkly eyes directed at the sweets, unfortunately Lux didn't have any gold on him, but then he seemed to get an idea. He grinned brightly and then abruptly changed directions.

In no time they reached an alley. And Lux turned to Bliss with an excited smile then placed a finger in front of his mouth and said in a soft voice. "This ish a secwet so yu cant tell othews, yeah?"

Bliss nodded, then looked around intrigued, the place seemed like any random alley, not much different from the one they had been just a few moments ago, except that this one had a lonely iron door at the end of it.

The small kid had mentioned he wanted to play, so Bliss was curious since he has no idea what children even do to play, but remembering the poor wooden Horse in the toy store, he figured it would be quite interesting.

The little Sheep kid naturally lead him towards the rusted iron door at the end to the dark alley. And nonchalantly raised a little hand and knocked at the door.

Bliss glanced up at the large iron plaque standing above the door. The words were big enough for him to read it. It read 'Ratty's little hut.'

After a few seconds the rusty iron door opened inwards and a large brown Bear Monster stood covering the entire entrance.

The big Bear looked menacing, strong build, cold eyes and a nasty scar ran across his face.

'That's a big rat.' Was Bliss' first thought as he saw the Bear.

"Mistew Fuzzy!" Lux called happily while waving a hand at the tall menacing Monster.

The big Bear who was still searching for whoever knocked at the door, finally looked down to see the two small children. Seeing the little Sheep boy waving at him, the Bear's scary face immediately softened and he grinned revealing his sharp teeth, his cold attitude disappeared completely.

"Little Lux. What bring you here today?" Mister Fuzzy chuckled with a warm gaze.

Lux grinned brightly. "To pway! With fwiend!" He said while raising up the little hand he was holding.

The Bear's gaze turned to the smaller kid that stood next to the little Sheep boy.

Bliss stared back. By now, he was beyond curious about where this child was leading him to. Looking at the Bear's big build and the scar on his face, he thought it was perhaps some kind of fight ring? Where Monsters entertain themselves while watching others fight to the death. - He had been to such place before once, long ago after a fight with Ink, he had retreated in a very weakened state thanks to Fate, and ended up captured by a ground of battle-obsessed outcodes. That specific group of outcodes had turned an apocalyptic AU into their battle paradise. Short story short, they threw him in a fighting ring to be mauled to death by crazed Monsters, although he couldn't die.

Thinking back to those memories, Bliss found himself with yet another dilemma. 'I probably should not kill in front of a small child... right?' He thought, although he wasn't sure. The Chara variants were more than happy with murder, but he figured the Human ghost children were a especial case.

The Bear's eyes studied the innocent looking small child dressed in a fluffy dress, it looked like a cute little doll. He couldn't help let out a small laugh. 'The boy picking up girls already?' He thought with a wide grin as he moved out of the way to let the two kids inside. "Go on in then. Have fun you two."

"Thanksh!" The Sheep boy ran inside, pulling the baby with him.

Then the iron door was closed after them.

Bliss looked around with curiosity, to his surprise the interior looked just like a normal bar. He wondered why it was hidden in an alley, then again what did he understand of businesses? The place seemed to be doing fine in terms of costumers.

The interior didn't seem too big, at least not the area they were in, although there were a few doors leading to other rooms. There were small round tables scattered across the room with little round chairs around them, while square tables were against the wall with two soft seats on each side. Further into the bar was a counter, and behind it were shelfs with a variety of colorful grass bottles.

Behind the bar counter stood a smiling orange Fox Monster, serving drinks to the loud costumers.

The Sheep boy seemed used to the noisy place as he naturally passed the chatty Monsters while dragging Bliss along. A few customers smiled as they saw the the two little kids.

Soon they reached one of the square tables. Lux liked these table more because the seat was softer and more comfortable.

The little Sheep finally let go of the baby's hand and patted the soft seat. "Yu can seat hewe." He said and proceeded to watch with curious eyes. He wasn't sure if the tiny baby needed help to sit, so he didn't sit first and instead waited.

Bliss looked at the kid, little Sheep was staring at him with big expectant eyes, which again, made him feel a strange pressure.

Bliss then stared at the comfy looking seat, the chair reached his ribcage, so to climb he had to jump quite a bit. Which was not exactly and easy feat with his currently small legs. Still, while his body was small and as light as a feather, his strength had remanded pretty much the same. So Bliss grabbed the cushion of the chair with his little arms and pushed himself onto the seat, without any difficulty.

He sat up straight and couldn't help feeling a hint of annoyance as he noticed that the table was exactly at his eye level. 'Fucking dammit.'

The sight of the little baby climbing onto the seat, with the puffy long skirt of the dress wiggling at his movements was quite adorable.

Lux giggle a little before jumping to sit next to Bliss. The seat was big, so the two kids could fit on it easily with spare space even, plus the table was long meaning that sitting across was quite far, and Lux wanted to sit close to his new friend.

Unlike Bliss, the table reached slightly below Lux's shoulders. So the Sheep kid easily extended his arms over the table and rested his head on them. He looked at the baby and asked. "Baby, what yu wike to eat?"

"Et?" Bliss tilted his head, was perhaps the kid hungry right now? He still didn't have gold on him, but he wondered if he should threaten one of the waiters to feed the kid.

"Yeah!" Lux grinned then leaned closer and talked in a soft voice as if whispering a secret. "Hewe we can get lots of candy fwee. Chocowate! Juice too!"

Bliss eyes lit up at the mention of lots of free chocolate. This bar sounded like a nice place, no wonder it had many costumers despite its inconveniently hidden location. He should not mistreat its waiters no matter what.

Just as he thought that, a waiter arrived at their table.

"Good morning." A white Weasel lady wearing a black uniform greeted them with a pleasant smile.

"Hi!" The Sheep kid greeted back. Bliss simply gave her nod.

"Little Lux, how nice to see you again." The waited spoke with a bit of humor, this was certainly not a place for small kids, but this little brat was a regular here. Everyone was already used to the kid and entertained him because he was so adorable, also because his mother will probably murder them if they made the kid cry. And even though this place mostly sold alcoholic drinks, the boss kept in stock lots of sweets and juice just for this little brat. She snorted at the thought but kept her pleasant smile. "The same as usual?"

"Yesh, pwease." Lux grinned.

The Weasel smiled then turned to look at the cute baby sitting next to the Sheep boy. "And for your little friend?"

"Shocuwa." Bliss spoke, and after a little thought he added politely. "Pweash."

The Weasel lady, looked at the baby with a confused look.

Lux giggled. "Baby want chocowat." He told her.

The waiter looked at him, then she chucked and turned to the baby. "Sure, we have many kinds of chocolates." She informed and began numerating them. "We have chocolate cookies, cupcakes, cakes, the classic chocolate bars, chocolate candies, it can be milk chocolate, almond chocolate, hazelnut chocolate, coffee chocolate,..." She continued numerating the kinds of chocolates with her fingers, enjoying as the confusion on the little kid's face grew more and more.

Bliss blinked as the waiter kept numbering all kinds of sweets. He was rather overwhelmed, still he couldn't help grow more curious as he heard all the different kinds of chocolate.

Seeing the baby's indecisiveness, Lux decide to try help. He looked up the the snickering Weasel and asked. "How many can we hav?"

The waiter's smile turned polite again, she answered. "As many as you please."

"Awl." The small baby finally spoke.

Making both the little Sheep and the waiter look at him.

The Weasel stared at him a bit startled. "Excuse me?"

"Wouwd wike awl, pweash." The baby repeated with sparkling eyes.

The waiter looked at Lux, hoping for a translation. 

Seeing the baby so excited, Lux giggled. "Yeah, pwease bwing evewy typ of chocowate yu hav!" He said, looking up at the waiter with his big round eyes.

The waiter blinked blankly as the two little kids looked up at her with big round sparkling eyes. 'These cute little shits...' Her thought were unknown as she once again smiled pleasantly. "Sure. I will be back shortly."

After the waiter left. Lux turned to look at the baby a bit serious. "Mama say too mush shuga ish bad." He shared the information, he didn't want his new friend to get sick.

"Am immun." Bliss said with shrug. After all he had eaten poison in many occasions and he had been just fine, eventually, after moments of great pain.

"Ohh." The little kid looked at him in awe. "I kno! Beacuse yu aw a skeweton, yeah?" Lux grinned proudly at his clever conclusion.

While waiting, the Sheep boy began talking excitedly about random stuff, waving his little feet under the table. Bliss didn't mind listening to the kid's babbling, the child's baby voice was quite pleasant to the ears in comparison to the screaming voices of the Anti-Void.

"Yow papa ish Papywus, wigt?" Lux said with a wide grin. "So wucky. When me gyow up, I wanna be wike Papaywus! He so cool!"

Hearing that, Bliss nodded, completely agreeing with the smart child.

That actually reminded Bliss of the miniature Papyrus in a box that he had seen in the toy shop, he figured that many children would want their own Papyrus, and understandably so. Bliss was satisfied to see that many Monsters knew to appreciate how great his Papyrus was.

"What yu wanna be when yu gyow?" Lux then decided to ask, then proceeded to stare with curious eyes.

The question had taken Bliss by surprise, he tilted his head and thought for moment. He had already decide what to do when he recovers enough magic, but he was not sure if by the time his body would have regained its original size though. Still he responded.

"I wato pwotec ma famiwy an dis wouwld." Even if that meant destroying other worlds with its own people and families. 'A disgusting murderer to the very end huh.' Bliss looked away with a scornful smile.

Lux giggled at his answer. "So yu wanna be wike Papywus too." He grinned brightly.

Bliss' eyes widened and looked blankly at the smiling child. He wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. "Fuhin dammet..." He ended up sighing. 

Lux looked at him and blinked. "Fuhin dammet?" He repeated as he tilted his head in confusion, but then his eyes seemed to lit up, "Oh! Yu mean fuck an dammit!" He said with a bright innocent smile. 

Bliss almost choked on air. He stared blankly at the kid, somehow, hearing curse words from the small innocent-looking child did not feel very nice...

He felt a great urge to bang his head on the table, but he resisted it, he did not wish to break the table. 'Okay, no killing nor cursing in front of children then.' He decided. Bliss now understood a little why Papyrus disliked when he said curse words.

At time moment the waiter returned with their orders. She smiled at them pleasantly, but her curved eyes were quite prickly as she looked at them.

The Weasel lady was holding in her hand a tray with two cups of juice and a slice of lemon pie, while in the other she held a tray with a mountain of chocolates. That shit was heavy. There was a bulging vein on her forehead that seemed ready to burst. She mentality cursed, but her smile did not show it.

"Here you go." She said as she placed both trays on the table. "Enjoy." She said with a smile and turned to walk away. 'I fucking hope the boss get bankrupt with all these sweets. Fucking simp.'

Lux grabbed his cup of juice while looking at the big maintain of chocolate candies. He sipped from his cup and watched the baby with curiosity, wondering how the small baby would eat all of it.

Bliss was still in a weird mood, but he felt slightly better when he saw all the chocolate on the table. Curiosity filled his little SOUL as he saw the variety. And he reached out to take one that looked like a small chocolate cake with white stripes.

He summoned his tongues so he could properly enjoy the little cake, and took a bite. Soon his eyes widened in pleasant surprise, the taste was even better than he could ever imagine. His eyes shone in awe as his tongues pulled the whole cake into his mouth, then he reached his hand to take another different chocolate food. He didn't know chocolate could have so many different tastes!

As the baby enjoyed the sweets, eating one after another with an enamored look in his big mismatched eyes, the little Sheep simply stared at him with growing curiosity.

Lux quietly sipped his juice, swinging his little feet under the table as he watched the small baby devour the whole maintain of sweets.

"Yu eat funny." He finally said, placing the empty cup down.

Bliss tilted his head, not understanding what was funny about the way he ate. Was he doing it wrong again? "Wuh uh mene?"

"Yu hav octopus in yow mouth." The little Sheep boy said with all the innocence of the world, then proceeded to take a small bite out of his lemon pie.

Bliss stared blankly at the kid. "Wut?"

"Yow mouth has octopus." Lux repeated with confidence, as if he was stating an obvious fact.

Bliss frowned slightly. 'No? I'm sure I would have noticed if I had.' Just to make sure though, he shoved a hand in his mouth, but there was no octopus inside, only his tongues. He tilted his head in confusion.

The little Sheep just kept watching him with curiosity.

At that moment a voice called from above them. "Look who it is. Good to still see you around kid."

The two kids looked up only to seem a Crocodile staring at them from above and resting an arm on the back of their chair. He gave then a toothy grin, revealing his sharp teeth. "Haven't seen your mommy since she moved to the big castle."

Lux looked up at him, then smiled brightly. "Mama ish busy. Awso she dont wike yu." He said innocently and then continued eating his pie.

The crocodile laughed at his rude reply and went about his business.

'Castle?' Bliss tilted his head and then looked at Lux, he seemed to finally realize something. The little Sheep child was Asgore's new child. No wonder he thought the kid looked somewhat familiar.

"We meth bephowe." Bliss pointed out.

Lux froze in place, glanced at him and then looked away feeling a bit embarrassed. "Yeah..."

He didn't want to mention that day, because he cried in front of everyone, so embarrassing! He really isn't a crybaby! - Actually, that day he heard that knight Papyrus was coming to the castle to meet uncle Asgore, so Lux had been very excited and he asked mama to bring him too. He was happy to see the cool knight, but the he saw the baby in papyrus arms, and his eyes sparkled in awe, it was so small and cute! The throne room was a place for business, so Lux had to stay quiet and behave well, and he didn't interrupt the adults talking, but he also didn't pay attention to the boring conversation. While Lux was distractedly staring at the cute doll-sized baby, suddenly he felt something really scary and started crying. Lux is brave and doesn't cry easily, but the scary feeling was so strong and he couldn't stop crying. After the scary feeling was gone and he calmed down, Lux had felt quite embarrassed for crying so loudly. But he felt less bad after seeing that the small baby in Papyrus' arms also seemed to have been scared, not just him. After that Lux shyly hid his face on mama's arms while peeking from time to time.

Lux shrunk a bit in his seat as he took another bite of his lemon pie, feeling his face flushing with embarrassment.

_________________________________________

At the still half destroyed castle...

"We searched the whole shop! No smell!" A male Dog guard said.

"And also around! No smell!" A female Dog guard followed.

"We sniffed everywhere!"

"And everyone. No smell of the prince!"

"Only many different smells covering all traces!"

"The smell of food too."

"Yes, tasty food too. We ate some on the way here."

Queen Meliora placed a hand on her face. "Forgive me, but Dogamy, Dogaressa, could you two please stay silently for a moment."

The Dogi couple stopped talking and glanced at each other.

Dogaressa inched closer to her husband and whispered in his ear. "I think we are in real trouble this time."

Hearing his wife's voice into his ears, Dogamy's tail wagged uncontrollably. "Trouble, I smell trouble!" He whispered back.

The Dogi wife sniffed the air. "I think that's the smell of the spicy meat we ate." She whispered in response.

The Dogi husband sniffed the air too. "You're right. It smells tasty, I want more spicy meat."

"Me too." Dogaressa agreed.

Listening to their whispering, Meliora let out sigh.

The Dogi couple immediately straightened their backs. "We will keep searching!"

"No, there is no need." The Sheep lady waved a hand dismissively. She knew exactly were that child was.

She looked at them with an apologetic smile. "Could you two please go to the 'Ratty's little hut' to pick him up... But please try to be discreet."

The Dogi's face didn't look good as they heard the name of the place.

_________________________________________

Meanwhile, somewhere else.

"Not again, damn it!" A Fish lady shouted in frustration as she ran through the streets, her eyes searching around. Papyrus should really consider putting that little brat on a leash.

There was a flash of blue and Sans appeared next to her. "Find anything?"

She stopped on her tracks and looked at him. "He was last seen around here. But I can't find any trace of him."

"Damn it, this kid..." Sans scratched his skull with a deep frown. Papyrus was also out there looking for Bliss, he had never seen his brother this panicked before. Sans could understand why, after all, the last time Bliss disappeared from Papyrus' arms like this, the kid ended up falling from a tower and almost died, if not for Undyne finding him in time.

"Say, you guys really need to do something about your kid's bad habit." She said with a worried frown, remembering how panicked Papyrus had become after Bliss disappeared again.

Sans shoved his hand in his pockets and shrugged. "Yeah. I'm working on it." Tracking device it is then, no way they can have this happen every time. The kid might really get hurt which was all the more worrisome when considering that Bliss' body rejects healing magic. Also if this keeps up Papyrus might just have a SOULattack.

_________________________________________

The two Dogs stood in the dark alley, staring at the rusty iron door.

"...Smells like trouble." Dogamy said while scrunching his snout.

"No good. We were told to avoid starting trouble." Dogaressa said while summoning a giant axe and resting it over her shoulder. "Let's make it quick. No screams, no trouble."

"Dust makes me sneeze though." Husband Dogi said with a sigh as he raised a hand and knocked.

Wife Dogi nodded in agreement. "You're right. No dust then."

After a short moment the iron door was opened and a giant Bear stood menacingly at the entrance, glaring at them with cold eyes.

Mister Fuzzy scoffed when he saw the two guards, he crossed his arms. "What business do you have here, dogs."

"...We came to pick up the little prince." Dogamy responded under the cold glare of the giant Bear, he felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead.

The Bear snorted and looked at him with a mocking grin. "On who's orders?"

"Lady Meliora's orders." Dogaressa growled. "Now move out of the way or I'll make you." She threatened, holding a giant axe over her shoulder. 'How dare you mock my hubby!'

The Bear looked at her coldly, unaffected by the threat. But eventually he moved out of the way. "Make it quick and and don't break anything." He growled a warning.

The Dogi couple made their way inside and looked around. They received a few annoyed glances from the costumers as they passed.

Soon they found who they were looking for. Seeing the missing prince safe and happily seating at a table, the Dogi couple wagged their tails excitedly ran toward him.

"Prince! You disappeared!"

"We were so worried!"

The Sheep child jumped in his seat, and looked at them seemingly surprised to see them. He fiddled with his fingers and averted his eyes. "Sowy..."

Dogaressa then noticed someone small sitting next to baby Lux. She tilted her head. "Another baby?" She asked a bit confused.

Dogamy peaked from behind her. "Oh. That looks like Papyrus' baby." He pointed out.

"Oh. You mean the one that also went missing?" Dogaressa also added.

"..."

"..."

"Prince! You kidnapped Papyrus' baby?!" Dogamy seemed to realize and shouted in panic.

"Tidnap-what?" Lux tilted his head in confusion.

"Trouble, I smell trouble!" The Dogi couple frantically ran around the bar in circled, barking and making a mess of everything.

Eventually they were kicked out of the bar...

_________________________________________

Dogamy and Dogaressa whimpered as they walked out of the alleyway. They where kicked out and had to pay for the damage they caused so now they were out of gold.

The Dogi husband looked down at his empty wallet. Then he looked around to see the cheerful crowd enjoying tasty looking snacks, but the two of them could not afford the buy any.

The tasty smell teased their snouts, and the two Dogs whimpered once more.

Behind to them, the two little babies held hands and followed them with small steps.

Lux happily chatted while Bliss quietly let himself be pulled by the small hand.

"Yu can come too!" The little Sheep boy turned to the baby with a bright grin, excited with the idea of bringing his new friend home with him.

Bliss thought for a moment. He had enjoyed the many different kinds of chocolate, enough so to completely forget that he was not supposed to disappear so suddenly, Papyrus will get worried again. And Bliss was also worried about leaving his family for too long, he was supposed to keep them safe at all time. He should return to them now.

He shook his head. "Av to wetun ome."

"Oh..." The Sheep boy seemed disappointed by his reply.

Bliss tilted his head at the kid's response. He wondered what was so interesting about passing time with a worn out old sack of bones such as himself. Then again, he had heard children were creatures filled with great curiosity, so that might be the reason.

"Bliss!" A familiar voice shouted from the distance.

Bliss looked up to see a worried Papyrus running in their direction. He should apologize for carelessly teleporting away so suddenly.

Lux next to him gasped with happy surprise, bouncing in place with excitement at the sight of his favorite knight.

Papyrus stopped in front of them, he kneeled down on one knee and began searching Bliss for any injuries, finally sighing in relief when he saw the child was fine.

In a flash of blue light, Sans appeared next to him, and looked down at the two kids. He also sighed as he saw his kid was fine, but his frown did not disappear. He glanced at his brother and then looked at Bliss. "Kid, what did we say about disappearing like that." He said with a stern voice. Even if the kid did not understand the words themselves, he would understand the intent behind them. The kid had always been smart enough to understand them to an extent.

Bliss was startled by the angry voice and looked up at him. It was the first time he had ever seen the lazy Skeleton look angry, so he was surprised. He had expected Papyrus to scold him as usual.

He frowned slightly and looked at the strangely quiet Papyrus. Then his eyes widened and he felt a sting in his chest when he noticed Papyrus' hands were trembling, the tall Skeleton had a expression of guilt as if he had failed at something.

Bliss felt the urge to stab himself. They had taken him into their lives and he had sworn to protect them, but in the end he had only ever caused them troubles.

He just keeps messing everything up. 'Ficking moron.' Bliss cursed himself with a frown. It was already a blessing that anyone would ever worry about a disgusting sinner like himself, and here he was, taking it for granted.

The baby's usually unexpressive face showed a rare trace of emotions. He seemed to be sad, perhaps he had realized he did something bad.

Papyrus also was a bit surprised by Sans, and even more so after seeing the baby look sad. "Sans, it's alright. I shouldn't have gotten distracted." He said feeling a bit guilty, after all it was his fault, he was supposed to keep an eye on Bliss the whole time but ended up getting distracted after a while.

He didn't like seeing the baby sad. "What matters is that Bliss is fine!" Papyrus said as a smile finally grew on his face.

That only made Bliss feel even worse, the guilt burning in his chest grew more. He hasn't even apologized and the blame had already been taken from him.

Bliss' frown deepened, but then he felt a gentle squeeze on his hand. He glanced to the side, the little Sheep boy timidly give him small smile as if to comfort him. He had already forgotten the little kid was still holding his hand, his palm felt warm and the feeling seemed to reach Bliss' SOUL. It was a very small gesture, but its affect was quite big.

That made Bliss freeze for a moment. Actions always spoke louder than words, as a person of few words, Bliss knew that, but perhaps his actions spoke too loud, always aggressive and restless. Unlike these people around him. Their actions were small and soft yet the meaning behind them always seemed to make their way into his SOUL.

Although Bliss had warmed up to the Skeleton brothers, and cared for them, he still had a hard time showing that. Expressing affection was not something he knew how to do, he never did. His method of showing he cared had always been either passive by doing whatever they wanted, or through violence, by threatening to kill whoever dared to hurt them. After all, what would a cold and emotionless destroyer know of warmth and affection?

Even after being showered by the warmth of their embrace and smiles, he could not respond with the same affective language, he didn't know how, or perhaps he just didn't try.

With resolve in his eyes, Bliss looked up at the tall Skeleton, who was patiently smiling at him. Bliss moved his free hand and reached up to pat Papyrus' much bigger hand.

"Papy, sowy." He said with a serious look, and following Lux's example, Bliss gently squeezed Papyrus' hand hoping to transmit to him some kind of comfort.

Seeing Papyrus' face immediately lit up and eyes shine with pure joy, Bliss' SOUL lightened up a bit.

Sans sighed and scratched the back on his head, it was hard to keep mad like this. Well, as long as these two are safe and happy he didn't care for anything else.

Lux seemed a bit relieved that the mood was better. Although he was still nervously fidgeted with his feet, while holding the baby's hand and worriedly glancing at Bliss from time to time.

The Dogi couple who had just stood there awkwardly under the tense mood, finally sighed in relief too.

After having calmed down, Papyrus finally noticed who was the other baby next to Bliss. It was the fluffy little prince.