Lost Soul

Chapter Twenty-Three

Now that the five of them are together, other monsters are weary to get close. There was no back-up plan for if the bad guys managed to regroup. The occasional long-ranged attack is fired at them, but Soul uses his borrowed magic to create walls of bones to defend them. The action is quickly tiring him out even further.

"This is crazy. Ink has never organized an attack of this scale before," Cross huffs. He knocks a bone attack out of the air with his sword when Soul is a little too slow.

"Dust's hurt. Bad," Horror says gruffly. He tried his best to defend both of them when Dust went down, but Horror was hopelessly outnumbered.

"Are you okay, Boss?" Killer asks skeptically, looking Nightmare's half-corrupted form up and down.

"What should we do now, Nightmare? We can't keep-" Cross is quickly interrupted.

"Let me think!" Soul snaps. His head is a jumbled mess of thought and rouge emotion. Soul isn't going to able to keep Nightmare standing for much longer, but Soul won't leave without finding Error. The situation is bad. The bad Sanses can't fight any more. Soul promised Nightmare that he would save them all. "Hold this."

"What?" Horror stumbles when Dust is dumped into his arms. Horror can't fight when carrying someone! He has to be careful just to keep the head of his axe away from from Dust.

"Cross, do you have enough magic to make a portal?" Soul asks quickly.

"I do, but just once," Cross admits. He doesn't like being seen as weak. Cross jumps a bit when he realizes that there's something weird about that question. "Wait, Nightmare, Are you saying that you can't portal?"

"Nightmare isn't home right now," Soul finally admits. He bats away an attack and winces when it stings his long tendril. Why does Nightmare have to have nerves in these things?

The three of them stare at Soul in confusion. It takes a moment to connect the dots in the best of battle, and Horror is actually the one to say it. "Soul?" He asks.

"Don't freak out," Soul says quickly. He's distracted by keeping an eye on the battlefield and looking for Error. There's a light tremor in his body now that makes his elongated limbs shake. "Nightmare asked me to help after he was knocked unconscious."

"....... What are you going to have us do?" Cross asks, obviously a little uneasy. He was still himself when Soul hitched a ride, but it seems Nightmare is not so lucky.

"You guys aren't doing anything. I told Nightmare that'd I'd get you all to safety." Soul's attention snaps upwards. "Killer! Shoot down that Gaster Blaster." To pull this off, Soul has decided that he must be faster. The bad Sanses don't need to be here for the plan that Soul is concocting.

Killer reacts quickly despite the situation. He fires an attack off at a Gaster Blaster that had gotten too close. The monster riding on top of it is shocked as their ride disintegrates. The Undertone Sans plummets towards the ground before teleporting to safety. Tone wasn't paying attention in his panic and teleports way too close to the scary monsters. He squeaks as he's grabbed by a long tentacle. Tone was not supposed to be a part of this battle. He was only there to watch from a high advantage point and report what he saw. Tone wouldn't have come at all if his friend Ink hadn't asked Tone specifically.

Nightmare finally succumbs to exhaustion and collapses as Soul switches body. Cross grabs Nightmare before he hits his head on the ground. Thanks to spending so much time listening to Soul's wild stories, it's obvious to the others that Soul just switched bodies.

Tone really wants to go home. Soul tries his best to shake off that fearful thought as he jumps to his feet. Tone's magic is jittery as Soul calls on it, creating a dome of music notes around the group that counteracts any attacks fired their way. "Cross! Open the por-portal now and get out of here." Soul tries to raise his voice, but it cracks halfway through. Tone really wants his brother. This is scary.