Dreamcrash

Thirty: Note

"I need to heal. Now go."

I hear the sound of Nightmare's three workers teleporting off. He collapses once they're gone. "Wow, that hurt... Haha, you've improved a lot since last time..." He mutters, voice suddenly not as threatening. "But I've still won more..." Silence falls and I hear Nightmare panting as he apparently heals himself. He stands back up after a moment as someone returns.

"Boss, I found a place."

"Alright." Corrupted me's voice switches back to its normal growl. "Let's see it."

I shoot up from my spot on the ground. I'm still in the Art Dome, and everything feels fine. Seed and Patch aren't back yet, and neither is Pen. However, I see a note floating by the Master Sheet, which I guessed is from one of the Protectors. I stand up and grab it.

The first thing I notice is the letter is neatly folded up, something I can't see any of the Protectors doing. The second thing gives me chills. The letter is wrapped up in a lime string, tied with a little bow. I untie it, slip the string off, unfold the paper, and read it.

Dear Night,

After what happened a few days ago, I hope you've at least recovered enough to process this. I've seen you fight with Blackout and know you must have many questions, like how I coded him to enter someone's subconscious and why he can make you so angry by just being there. I know you don't trust me, but please, let down your guard. I only want to explain things. After all, he's our creation. You have a right to know.

If you're still up for taking my offer, or would like to know the answers, meet me one week from now. You know where to find me.

Yours truly, Error 403

I feel every bone in my body tense. Answers about why Blackout messes with my emotions and info on what happened that night my memory went blank? Yes, please! But, it is Three, so I don't know if he can be trusted. And I apparently 'knew where to find him'? I thought as hard as I could, but nothing came. Maybe Three just overestimated me. 

Another person disappointed because of me...

I shove the thought out of my head. Who cares how Three feels? Certainly not me! 

But to focus on more pressing matters, this was the chance to finally figure out the answers to the questions I've had for so long. It's risky, for sure, and if I just disappeared, the Protectors would be worried. I sit back down and decide to wait until they return.

Pen comes back first, hands shoved in his pockets and hood up. He gives me a halfhearted wave as he comes in and collapses across from me, head down. Patch and Seed return a minute later, looking surprisingly well, but I could feel confusion from both of them. They were deep in discussion about something.

"..Yeah, that would make sense, but I doubt it's what actually happened."

"It's gotta be, why else would he disappear like that?"

"Plans? I dunno. That was just weird."

"Hey guys. How'd it go?" I ask. 

"Odd. Halfway through the fight, Blackout went poof. We hammered Three after that," Patch responds, then looks at Pen. "Pen, you good?"

Pen seemed to pull himself farther into his jacket. "I hate True Pacifist endings."

"I know. But whatever fallen human number eight that's in that AU deserves a break."

"Yeah, yeah, I know..."

"Hey guys, change of subject, we have a slight problem," I say. Patch and Seed look at me while Pen stands up. "I found this while you were out." I hand Pen the note and he reads it out loud. Silence fills the Art Dome once he's done.

"Well... I say No. It's definitely a trap." Patch says. Seed nods. They turn to look at Pen, who's staring at the paper, his eyelights gone.

"Pen? Are you okay?"

He looks back at us, eyelights small dots of dark orange. "How the-" he swore- "did this end up in here?"

"I don't know! I just found it!"

"Well, that means we have a really big problem."

"How so?"

"Because, if this note is from the destroyers, that means one of them put it here. Which means that a destroyer got into the Art Dome. And if one got in, so could the others."

We stare at Pen, shocked. He looks me in the eyelights. "Alright Night. By doing whatever the hell you did with Three, you got us into this situation. So you're going to get us out."