Sans AUs Oneshots & Short Stories (Discontinued)

404ink: Siren's Call

(For future reference, which do you guys prefer? Having the bold and glitched text for characters like Nightmare and the glitches, or having it all just the same?)

Ink never asked to be born with the gift of the Siren's Call.

The creators had called it a gift from them. A blessing, if you will. The most beautiful voice in the entire Multiverse belonged to him, one of life's greatest treasures. The creators taught him how to sing and praised him for its splendor. But Ink's opinion of it was very different from theirs, and for very good reasons. While the creators saw beauty and achievement, he saw nothing but pain and misfortune. Really, it had all started with the first person who wasn't one of the creators.

He was a skeleton monster like himself, clad entirely in black and yellow. They'd only met by chance because Ink happened to have wandered into the world he lived in at the time, and let his voice truly flow outside of the confines of the Doodle Sphere. Ink could feel the immense positivity radiating off of his small frame, see the curiosity and awe in his eyes as he carefully watched and listened from a safe distance. That small fellow's name was Dream.

The two of them had been quick to mingle, desperate even. Ink's social life had been entirely restricted to the creators, and Dream had been trapped in a prison of stone for the past few centuries and everyone he once knew was long gone. Ink had been overjoyed to finally have a friend! He was sad that he couldn't follow his new friend throughout the Multiverse, but they would always meet back up in Dream's world to share stories and just.... talk. Ink never wanted it to end, but... it did. Much sooner than he wanted.

Dream had begged him to sing to him. Ink had initially declined the request but, as Dream's pleas became more and more choked, he caved in. His chest tightened as he got the feeling that something was seriously wrong, and that singing was the exact opposite of what he should be doing. But seeing his friend's pained eyes and shaking form, he didn't have the heart to turn down his request anymore.

He should have. Because he opened his mouth and sang for him that day, his friend's eyes closed and they would never open again. At that moment he felt the positivity in the world slip away, only for it to be focused entirely within himself merely seconds later. As Ink came to the realization of what had happened, he promised himself that he would never harm anyone with his voice ever again, cradling his friend's fading body as best he could. He made him a grave and decorated it with as many things he could find that his friend liked, which wasn't much because of his world's ravaged land.

The next time he dared to sing, another powerful entity came by. This one was covered from head to toe in a thick black substance that reminded him of goop, with four tentacle-like appendages sticking out from his backside. The aura of negativity radiating from him was so overwhelming that Ink had momentarily choked on his words. This one's name was Nightmare, he came to know. The bond they managed to form wasn't the same as with Dream, but it was something. Ink also came to find out that Nightmare was Dream's twin brother, the one who had turned him into stone and destroyed their once beautiful world.

Nightmare never did seem to be satisfied by his melodies like Dream was. One day, Ink noticed that the look on his face was somewhat menacing. He didn't think anything of it because of how Nightmare was. He was always cruel, cold, and menacing. Once again, his gut had warned him that something was wrong. It was in the way Nightmare had put his hand on his shoulder. But Ink hadn't been quick or strong enough to fend him off. The warmth from Dream's association with him-- the warmth he had never wanted to take-- was pulled from him in the form of a golden apple. As Nightmare left with it, Ink grew lonely and cold once more.

"But.... I thought we were.... friends....?" Ink coughed out, hoping that he would stay with him. "Why....?"

".... You thought we were friends?" Nightmare questioned, but there wasn't the remorseful and guilty look he'd been hoping for. "Oh, that's rich. I was only using you to figure out where exactly my brother was.... I got what I needed."