Chapter Text
It had only been a few days until something went wrong.
He didn’t even really remember what had happened, it all just…went black, and he swore there was something he was forgetting (aside from what had happened a few days ago) and he didn’t even have the energy to summon his eyelights and look around the room.
It was cold and damp, and his bones rattled desperately in search of warmth, clattering against his chains. His friend—what was his name again?—would have made fun of him for sounding like a Minecraft skeleton…whatever that was.
How long had it been since he’d seen him..? It certainly didn’t feel like just a few days.
The smell of musk and mold filled his senses, and he distantly remembered warmer days.
The sun.
The smell of apples and dirt.
The taste of a strawberry milkshake, freshly made.
A clatter rang out from somewhere on his right, and his eyelights only summoned enough to make out a hooded figure in black through the bars of his enclosure, hunched over and rifling through a decrepit old chest. The only other light in the dungeons came from a dying torch on the opposite side of the room.
From his point of view, lying on the ground, he couldn’t see what they were doing, but it looked as though a rusty old silver cup had fallen and they desperately sped up to avoid…something. Getting caught, probably.
“Don’t…don’t even try,” he muttered, so quietly he could barely hear himself. He knew what the figure was looking for as they turned around, clearly able to hear him better than himself.
A mask covered the lower half of their face, copper-ish goggles obscuring the top of their face, but the signature red hair of an Undyne slipped out of her hood.
If he focused hard enough, he could see her eyes–yes, eyes –widen as she recognized him.
“D-” she could barely get the first syllable out before a knife impaled her through her chest. As she dusted, falling to the floor, he couldn’t even bring himself to muster up enough magic to cry.
A red target soul was the only thing lighting up the space aside from the torch, and a loud cackle echoed as Killer looked down, holding the knife in his hand as the dust absorbed into a puddle of water on the floor. As the dust disappeared completely, his head angled upwards, and he could feel the monster’s eyelights, however invisible, focus on him.
“So, whaddya say?” He leaned forward and placed both hands on his knees in a condescending manner, his tone shifting to a more babying voice. He did whatever a skeleton’s version of a pout was as he asked, “Givin’ up already?”
His Cheshire grin spread slowly across his face yet again as he giggled, standing back up and leaning his weight on one leg. “Ya know, I thought you’d have more fight in ya.” His mouth scrunched. “I’m a liiiiiiiittle disappointed you didn’t deliver, but don’t worry, pretty boy!” He smiled, and he could feel the cruelty radiate in waves from the beast.
“There’s always another way to have fun !”
~~~
“ Mo-t-T-T HE R fU Ck –e-eE R !! ”
Error shrieked as a rat streaked underneath the table he was currently hiding under as well. In a world where looks could kill, Nightmare hoped Error was dead as he glared at him. Dolt.
Shouts echoed through the hallway as the parasite’s guards were finally alerted to their whereabouts, and Nightmare wasted absolutely no time darting out from the table and bolting down the hallway. Metal clanked behind him as he sprinted with the parasite’s books in his hand, and he snickered as he quickly turned left into a servant’s path, kicking the door closed and locking it with a jerk of his head and a wisp of magic.
People startled as he dashed through, and he left behind his fair share of apologies after knocking down an unfair share of food. Oops.
Anyways!
Currently, he was streaking through the east side of the palace, heading towards a banquet hall which then led to…what did it lead to again? He ducked underneath a particularly short doorway, tucking the books close to his chest as he tried to remember the layout of the palace. The human’s locket dug into his sternum uncomfortably, but he didn’t exactly have time to adjust it, so he let it be.
Now, what was next…
Oh yes, a library!
He’d have to loop back once losing the guards to climb up and leave the now-vandalized books in the worst positions possible.
Perhaps he could make them jump out the window. Not like they would die after Blue coded death out of anybody under Dream’s rule, anyways…he’d feel bad about it, though. Kinda.
…he made a note to go to sleep earlier that night. He’d pulled at least three all nighters in a row trying to finish processing then vandalizing the books (the latter of which taking significantly less time than the former), and they’d finally decided to move from the dead Something New to another universe, one dubbed something like “Zazatale”? He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he was sure he’d find out. He quickly approached the door to the banquet hall. Somehow, it had remained an incode despite the parasite’s near constant attempts at exposing every single universe to the wider Multiverse–
A pitch black bone nearly impaled his eye socket and he reflexively ducked, only to get the air knocked out of his non-existent lungs as Ink punched the books he was holding and was struck onto the ground, hitting his coccyx incredibly painfully. Nightmare wasn’t sure if the crack he’d heard from his spine was old age or a bone breaking. The books fell open around him, and it looked like a scene out of a highschool drama as Nightmare looked up at the soulless skeleton.
Despite there being what seemed like an infinite source of lights in the banquet hall, the only part of Ink’s face he could see were his eyelights, piercing white and barely visible as well.
Motherfu–
Blue strings wrapped around Ink’s neck and yanked him backwards, and Nightmare didn’t waste a moment scrambling up and running around Ink’s now flailing body. Disturbingly enough, Ink remained completely silent as he squirmed on the floor, arms restricted to his chest as the strings wrapped around him like a snake. Error cackled as the two made eye contact, then quickly went stone-faced. “ You l-l-left me-e, Dr. Mc-Suck-a-dick.”
Nightmare rolled his eyes. “You sold our cover, Error.” He shrugged as he walked up next to Error. “I had things to do.”
Error just snorted. “ Mmk buddy, like getting caught by this loser? ”
Ink writhed more aggressively. Nightmare regretted his previous lie of Ink “hiding” the human from the parasite. He doubted the poor monster would ever get out of the parasite’s hold ever again, if this behavior was any indicator. Guilt curled up deep in his stomach at the thought of Cross, who still hoped dearly that Ink was a good person deep inside.
Oh well.
Ink stopped writhing and fixed him with a confused glare. He ignored it.
Spit was collecting in his mouth due to the pain from his spine, and he quickly spat it out into a trash can. “Well, I technically did not get caught, so–”
Somebody coughed behind them and the pair slowly turned around. A platoon of guards, all with their spears and swords raised in their direction in a blindingly golden display, was facing them. Error looked at Nightmare quizzically. “ Well? ”
Nightmare swallowed the pain, annoyed at how more and more comical these situations got. The parasite really couldn’t hire smarter guards…? Then, he ran. Again. This time, Error smartly decided to follow closely behind him, and they were yet again part of a wild goose chase.
Out of the banquet hall, past the library, into the grand staircase, head up to the throne room but then dive into a supply closet.
This was a lot easier without all of those books. Not as clever, though. This wouldn’t be haunting them for months. He sighed in disappointment, then hissed in pain as he crouched in the closet, cradling his spine.
Open the hidden passage in the supply closet, let Error in first, then lock it shut with a glue-type magic he recently discovered he had, and let them try and break down the door.
Done.
Stars, his spine throbbed so terribly. If he was anyone else with a lower pain tolerance, they probably would have curled up screaming on the floor by now.
He made a turn left, Error following behind him down a staircase that Nightmare remembered led to the kitchens and at least three other hallways leading to noble dormitories, two of which had minimal traffic at this time of year due to being empty of nobles. He figured either of those hallways would work for their escape.
With this amount of pain, he assumed it was a break. That, or the amount of negativity in the Multiverse had decreased so much in the span of a few days that a simple bruise caused this much pain to him.
Fuck.
Once at the bottom of the stairs, there was a large circular room with three doors. He took the third one to the right, heading down yet another staircase that would head to the hallway. It also opened up a route to the dungeons, the kitchens, and a few noble dormitories.
Running down the hidden passageway, hearing the banging from the trapdoor, fueled him with adrenaline…and Error rammed into his back.
It was like a firework had gone off inside of his marrow–multiple, actually, and he collapsed to the floor in pain.
“w-WHaT THE fU-C-CK! Du-DDE??!”
Error gently touched the upper part of Nightmare’s spine, and he gestured to the lower part near his coccyx, Error immediately getting the message.
As Error readied his healing magic, the sound of an explosion ripped through the passageway and Error instead pulled him up behind him, leading him down the path. Error knew this route, but not as well as Nightmare did. He took them down a left, and it took Nightmare a second to process their route over the excruciating throbbing of his spine.
“Error, this heads towards the dungeons –!”
“ I know ! ” Error responded like a sassy teenager.
They reached the door and Error dropped down to his knees, taking out a lockpick from his pocket and working on the door. Nightmare leaned against the wall, trying to put as little pressure against his spine as possible.
“Error, what are you thinking , why are we going to the dungeons?! I’m aware they’re easy to break out of, but they are pesky and pathetic ! ” Nightmare hissed.
“ Exactly! We never go there, so why would they think we’re there in the first place?” Error said with a flourish of his hands as the door clicked, swinging open slightly.
He sent a string back the hallway and Nightmare heard two more doors open, presumably the other two routes to divert the guards’ attention. Nightmare rubbed his temples at his own stupidity. “Stars, you’re right.”
Error scoffed and smiled, holding the door open and bowing with a flourish. “ I’m always right, bitch.”
Nightmare stalked into the dungeons, dark and dusty. After a quick glance at the empty room, and a quick scan with his empathic sense, he sat down on his side to reduce stress on his spine. “So, are you still wondering if that strawberry banana smoothie has strawberries, then?”
Error immediately flushed dark blue and angrily whispered, “ THAT wAS ONE time , you c-c-CAlcium deficient s-slug .”
The door clicked closed behind Error, and Nightmare relaxed his skull on the floor; it was cold, but not uncomfortably so. As a stampede of feet rushed past them just as Error predicted, he got to work on healing Nightmare’s spine.
A quick lift of his shirt had Error hissing in sympathy, and Nightmare only slightly scared. He’d hardly even been hit by Ink, was it seriously that terrifying..? Perhaps he should start taking vitamin D and calcium supplements to see if that would help his increasing osteoporosis, though he doubted human cures would help magic diseases, especially when concerned with the emotional balance of the Multiverse or whatnot.
The familiar staticky and fuzzy feeling of Error’s healing magic quickly overtook his lumbar vertebrae, and the pain soon subsided to a manageable level. He knew that, once they returned, though, he’d need to provide some kind of support to aid the healing process since healing magic could only unfortunately do so much for him.
Perks of being a non-monster, non-human magical being whose physical and spiritual health relied on other people. Ugh.
Error helped him up once he finished with his spine, and Nightmare immediately pulled his knees into his chest and put his cheek on his knee like a little child.
Error quirked a brow.
With a sigh, Nightmare explained, “They’re going to see our vandalism nigh immediately upon looking at the books instead of finding them randomly in the library months from now like I planned on originally.” He pouted to emphasize his disappointment. Like a child.
He was met with a blank stare from Error. “ ...are we d-deadass right now. ”
Nightmare returned the stare and drawled, “Yes, absolutely, assuming that people even read anymore.”
Eye contact was held for about 21 seconds before the two began giggling. Nightmare wasn’t even sure what was so funny, but the two were giggling anyways.
He opened his empathetic sense again and scanned the area again, only finding two guards remaining in the nearby vicinity, unfortunately guarding the other entrance of the dungeons. It would have been hysterical to have exited the dungeons out of the front door if he could, but he would much rather rest than fight.
Otherwise, it seemed as though the servant’s pathways were empty. He’d have to go farther in them to see if the actual hallways were empty, but so far, it seemed as though the soldiers were stupid enough to simply go where they assumed they would go and not check every corner of the building for where they could have gone.
Perfect. For Nightmare and Error, not anybody else, thank the stars.
…or, actually, nevermind!
The sound of a lock clicking in place from the door they had just entered from had Error scrambling to unlock it again, and Nightmare felt the two guards outside move, hearing a faint click from the other door. Fuck .
However, instead of it being locked, light flooded into the dungeons, and the two quickly scrambled to hide within the darkest corners of the dungeons. Error, being emo, had an infinitely easier time hiding in what was simply a dark corner than Nightmare, who ended up underneath a pile of hay. Why in Nim’s name they had hay in the dungeons in their technologically advanced era blindsided Nightmare, but he didn’t particularly care as he felt the guards enter the dungeons.
Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the dungeons, dark and foreboding…for Nightmare, at least. The guards were giggling, excited about “catching the rebel for the first time”. One voice was high and nasally, the other dry and barely understandable. It made Nightmare sick to his stomach, though he was used to the excessive positivity at this point. And–wait. Re bel ? Not rebel s ?
The footsteps quickly approached his location, and he held his breath as they passed by excruciatingly slowly, almost like they were enjoying their time. In all honesty, they probably were enjoying their time in the same way that they enjoyed all other times in their life. Nothing was truly feeling new or amazing for them, just an endless sea of positivity and nothing to truly ground them.
In other words, constantly high with no regard for their own safety or well-being. He could already smell the odor from both of them presumably not showering, also presumably because they couldn’t feel disgust for their unhygienic statuses nor particularly feel bad about bothering other people because annoyance or guilt? It simply did not exist in the average person. He dreaded to see how poorly taken care of their clothes were if he could smell them that badly through the hay.
A loud sniffle, then the nasally voice said, “Hey, Error! Error…Sans? Is that right?”
The dry one affirmed the nasally one. He felt a whiff of joy from the nasally one and nearly threw up. Fuck , it was so unnaturally sweet .
“Error Sans!”
He felt Error’s confusion, flavorless and oddly textured, and already knew what he was thinking: what the fuck are these tweedle-dee tweedle-dum looking idiots doing looking for me, Error CQ the best motherfucker ever?
At least, something like that felt in character for him. Unfortunately.
“The boss said!...uh, what did he say again ?” the nasally one muttered.
Only more sweetness came from the dry one as opposed to annoyance, and Nightmare just wanted to scream. “He said that, if you turn Nightmare in, you can walk free!”
Nightmare figured he translated that whistle-speak wrong, considering how it sounded like he was wheezing laughing more than actually speaking (ex: Hee sedda’, if *cough* ya turn N*unintelligible*-n, *unintelligible* free! *cough cough*), but he already wanted to die. Seriously ? No actual way in all of reality, in all of the Multiverse did the parasite think that would work. Fuck no. Absolutely not. In absolutely no reality–
“ Awesome! He’s over here guys! I-i-in the hay. ” Error suddenly appeared out of his spot, teleported next to Nightmare, and Nightmare could only stare in disbelief as he ripped off the hay from Nightmare’s back. He blinked once, then twice as the guards came over, staring in awe at Error.
“Oh. Em. Gee. He really does look like a chump ! Awwww !”
Nightmare was going to kill himself. Right now.
…
Right after he killed Error, of course.
He swung at the traitor, but Error only grabbed his fist and smiled at him, waving as he walked backwards towards the exit.
“Error–” Nightmare tried to reason with him. “You can’t actually believe that idiocy.”
Error chuckled in an unusually masculine way. What did he think he was, cool ? Absolutely not .
“Obviously not, Hay-man. You” he emphasized this unnecessarily by pointing at Nightmare, “need a vacay, though. Enjoy !”
He glitched out of existence and Nightmare was left in the hay pile, staring up at the two guards.
Fucking little shit. Pinche mierda con la polla chiquitita . Chúpamela. (Fucking shit with the small dick . Suck my dick.)
What was the point of this? Why—oh.
Error, that rat-fearing fiend. He probably did this as revenge for Nightmare leaving him for screaming underneath that table. Que pelotudo . (How stupid ).
They should have brought Cross along with them instead of having him make cheese from fucking scratch. So what if Nightmare and Error missed the queso fresco they used to eat? So what!
Unfortunately, queso fresco wouldn’t help him as he was picked up under the arms by the two guards like an insolent child and dragged out of the hay pile. Stars, this was humiliating, and the fact that everybody who would eventually see them would only see this as a sort of entertainment and enjoy it only angered him further.
Tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum were also unfortunately rather muscular, so he complied rather than resisting given his newly discovered increase of bone porosity. The parasite would probably heal him, but he didn’t want to trust nor rely on that thing for anything .
As he was dragged unceremoniously throughout the hallways, he noticed a lack of a single living being aside from himself and the guards. With further examination, he noticed that, even stretching his empathic sense to the maximum, only he and the twin idiot guards were in the castle.
…odd.
Concerningly odd, actually.
The castle had been bustling previously, and for it to be cleared out this quickly..?
Not a good sign.
At the very least, it saved him from public humiliation, but he would rather the humiliation than private torture.
Unfortunately, that was how the parasite worked, and his terrible feeling was rewarded poorly by detecting the outer radius of the parasite’s aura. He kept his aura reigned in, but at its full span, it covered the entire city plus a bit extra, making everyone within it impossibly happier. However, this was how he controlled Ink, so he most likely reigned in Ink to his office. Or Ink’s cage. Nightmare had seen his room before, and he could confidently say there was not much difference. He was like a dog, that one. Only listening to the hand that feeds, except instead of feeding him food, the parasite feeds him the necessary emotional magic to keep him alive.
Rather sad, really. Ink had good variants out there. Nightmare rather liked the ones that used paint brushes and were kind hearted.
The two guards walked him down hallways that winded and, if he hadn’t already memorized the layout of the castle, would have had him lost nearly immediately.
Unfortunately, as they got closer and closer to the parasite’s aura, he felt vomit building up in his throat. His empathic sense closed, and he was left blind, though he doubted he was missing much.
Where did everyone go, though? Where could they have gone? He hadn’t heard a single announcement, so perhaps the parasite had used his aura to get everyone to leave? No, he would have sensed it and thrown up otherwise.
Unless he was too preoccupied with his spine..? No, he doubted it.
Or, they could have used a less archaic method and simply texted out the announcement. Idiot. Though he wasn’t sure how that could have reached everybody if people didn’t have access to their phone. What if someone was bathing? He couldn’t imagine someone being so addicted to their phone they’d use it in the shower of all places. Granted, he didn’t have one, so he didn’t know their properties, but–
They were rapidly approaching the parasite’s office. The air radiating from underneath the door was tense and heavy, thick with some kind of smoke that Nightmare was sure only he could see due to it being pure emotional magic , and he immediately tensed up.
“ Chill , dude, no need to be so tense. Just relaaax , and let the big man handle ya.”
Stars, how badly he wanted to clean this guard’s nostrils. It couldn’t be healthy how congested he was.
With that, the dry one knocked on the door and announced their presence. Nightmare was sure the parasite had noticed he was there the moment the guards had first picked him up.
There was a call from inside, and a few seconds later, Ink opened the door, releasing a plume of smoke that left Nightmare coughing.
“Come in,” he said mutely, stepping aside for the guards to drag him inside the room.
It was blindingly bright aside from the smoke due to the ridiculously large window behind the parasite’s desk, and it looked like he had been smoking excessively beforehand. If it wasn’t for the sheer positivity that Nightmare felt roiling in his stomach, he would think that the parasite had gotten high with Ink.
He preferred the smell of weed , he thought as he stumbled forward and vomited into a small trash can that was placed conveniently beside the door. A sharp pain came from his knees, and he was grateful he was wearing thicker pants that day.
A deep chuckle came from behind the desk, and Nightmare immediately hurled again, choking up bile. He heard the door close behind them as the two guards giggled away, walking away and leaving him behind with the two beasts. Of fucking course.
He tried to shut off his empathic sense as tightly as he could, but the parasite’s pleasure still seeped through. Swallowing more bile, he attempted to stand up. Cool hands reached around his neck to unclip his cape but Nightmare slapped them away, Ink swiftly returning to his position at the side of the parasite’s desk.
Trinket.
His eyelights were met with the most unfortunate sight he’d ever seen: the corpse of his brother, grown up and filled with a demon. It grinned at him, its smile too wide with its chin on its folded hands. A feather fluttered and fell down, swept to the side by Ink immediately.
Stars, how he hated this bitch .
It tilted its head at him. Curious. Eyes dissecting.
“Hello, brother. I see you’ve been doing well.”