Their stance relaxed as they recognized the skeleton in front of them, who just looked at them with a smile, putting one of his hand down to finger gun the four brothers. "It's been a while, heh?"
"I was starting to think that you wouldn't come, Fresh." The colorful skeleton chuckled at that and shook his head. "And stay with those unrad pals? Nah, no way! And I wanted to see my favorite glitchy homie!" That being said, the colorful parasite went toward Drako and gave him the biggest hug that he ever gave to anyone. That's how much he missed his glitchy buddy.
Fresh didn't change much, he still wore his eye-catching outfit and his characteristic glasses, that showed the word 'HAPPY' instead of their usual 'YOLO'. But he also had shrunken into a younger version of himself, like Drako and Torment did. He was still smaller than Torment, making him look like he was fourteen or fifteen years old. Talking about Torment, the goopy skeleton was staring at Fresh with his brows furrowed, seeming quite curious about something. "Booyah! We have a lotta things to catch up on!"
Drako chuckled and hugged back the parasite, remembering everything that his brothers said that he did to 'avenge' him. For a Neutral Sans, it was quite a lot. "I GUeSs We DO... HoW DiD YoU FiND Us ThOUgh?"
The colorful skeleton smirked and let go of Drako, taking a few steps back before lowering his glasses, displaying his pink oval eyelight in his right eyesocket and a SOUL in perfect shape in his left eyesocket. He winked at Drako and put his glasses back on. "I know everything pal!" Drako just sighed, looking at the parasite with a deadpan expression. He wasn't even surprised by this answer; somehow, Fresh always knew everything. Which was sometimes rather creepy, by the way.
"But I didn't expect for our tots radical Crossy and Reapy to become fluffy balls... Oh well." He shrugged, not seeming to really care. They were alive and kicking, which was good enough for him. "Those radical Deities did change us into children, dunno why I'm surprised... Oh! And they gave me an actual SOUL! I have some awesome feelings now, it's da bomb!"
Torment hummed and nodded to himself. "So this is why I actually felt emotions coming from you." Fresh nodded with enthusiasm, quite happy to finally have a proper SOUL that would actually be able to last forever. Not that he was unhappy with his habit of possessing other Sanses and taking their SOULs as his own, but it was starting to get annoying to always depend on a host. "So, what are y'all lookin' for?"
Demise smirked, deciding to be playful. "I thought you knew everything? Shouldn't you know then?" Fresh chuckled, leaning on his skateboard –because he did come out of the portal by skating through it– and shaking his head with an amused smirk. "Oh but I know broski, just wanted ya to tell me yourself~" He paused, taking in Demise's surprised expression, while the others were left unimpressed, being way too used to the parasite's antics by now. "And I can even help you find those radical crystals, my fine pal!"
Demise could only gasp, looking at him in shock. How did he know? Just how?! He knew that the others liked to joke around by saying that he knew everything, but how?!
The three others sighed, not being disturbed at all by Fresh already knowing what they were looking for. It wasn't surprising anymore; Fresh not knowing would have shocked them, on the other hand.
"Do YoU KNow iN wHIcH AU tHEy cOuLD bE?" Fresh nodded, making his skateboard disappear in one of his famous 'Fresh poof' before placing an arm around Drako's shoulders, his hand ending on Demise's head and gently caressing it. Or well, it would have happened if Drako wasn't so damn tall. Fresh found himself wrapping his arm around Drako's waist instead, his glasses reading 'TALL BOI', making Drako chuckle. "Well I have a few ideas, yes."
Seeing the four brothers look at him curiously, Fresh continued. "Well I'm not totally sure, but did y'all try Magictale and UnderKeep?" He knew they didn't, of course. It was Fresh, after all. That guy somehow knew about the Balances without anyone telling him for Toby Fox's sake!
"No, why?" Fresh shrugged with a smile. "Magictale is known for its radical higher magic level, and I'm almost certain UnderKeep was the AU you found those radical crystals in our old Multiverse." Drako hummed, staring at the parasite who was leaning against him without a care in the world. "I gUEsS ThAT We CaN TRy UnDErKEEp ThEN..."
Fresh finger gunned him once again. "Aiight, say no more my glitchy homeslice!" He snapped his fingers, opening one of his neon colored portal and gesturing to them to go in. "Let's bounce!"
Drako chuckled. He would be lying if he said that he didn't miss the colorful parasite and his special lingo. Torment was the first to go in the portal, muttering things about it being too colorful for his liking. He was next, unwrapping Fresh's arm from his middle to go in the portal while Fresh summoned his skateboard once again and skated in the portal. The usual way for Fresh to pass through a portal, in sum.
They landed at the border of UnderKeep's version of Snowdin; which was a very lively medieval town with less snow than in the usual Snowdins, but still enough to recognize the town in itself. Fresh immediately turned away from the main path, going straight toward the forest with his skateboard and being closely followed by the brothers. "If you don't mind me asking Fresh, what happened in the Multiverse after we left?"
Fresh hummed, zigzagging on the snowy path and between some trees. "Oh, nothin' too interesting; Ink obvi continued to fill our Multiverse with unrad copies and I spread my tot awesome Fresh Virus while creatin' chaos. It was hella funny, but I'll explain more once we get back to your radical crib, aiight?"
Torment nodded, smirking slightly at the reaction that he imagined that Gaster would have at the sight of the 90's Nightmare. Oh, it was going to be fun. He couldn't wait to see how things would turn out. Drako, easily guessing why his brother was suddenly smirking, chuckled and shook his head in amusement. Gaster was not ready for Fresh. No one ever was before meeting the parasite. "DiD YoU MeET YoUR ALTeRnATe VErsIOnS YeT?"
Fresh turned toward him with a smirk, now skating backward. "Duh! Of course! Didn't get to talk to him tho, he was busy tryin' to find a new radical host." Torment hummed, nodding to himself. "So he doesn't have a SOUL either?" Fresh shrugged. "Prob not, m'not sure."
"And do you have a new name? Since there can't be two Freshs." The colorful parasite's smirk only got bigger. "Yep~ Y'all can call me Vibrant now~"
Drako chuckled at the new name. "It DoES FiT YoU WeLl, FrE-VIBraNT." The three others nodded in agreement. It did fit him quite well. The parasite nodded in satisfaction, his smirk turning into a soft smile at the sound of his new name. "Thanks my fine pal!"
After a few minutes of walking in the forest, seemingly taking random turns –but those turns were anything but random; Vibrant knew exactly where he was going– while discussing about random things –introducing their new names to Vibrant being one of those things–, they arrived in front of a cavern, not unlike the one where they met Vibrant in while in Birdtale, ironically.
Vibrant jumped down from his skateboard, unsummoning it in a 'Fresh poof' –should it be called a 'Vibrant poof' now?– once again before going inside of the cavern, soon followed by Torment and Drako, who looked around the strangely familiar surroundings. Vibrant didn't pay them any mind, going straight toward the end of the cavern and dropping on the floor next to a few small crystals, a cheeky smile on his face.
The four brothers soon joined him and gasped at the sight of the crystals. They were blank and seemed quite bland; basic even, but they knew better than to assume that. The magic aura that they emitted wasn't specially strong, but they recognized it as the same that their own crystals emitted. Demise whistled, impressed by Vibrant. He honestly didn't expect for the colorful parasite to actually guide them to the crystals. "Impressive Fr-Vibrant."
Vibrant smirked, feeling Demise's barely hidden incredulity. Torment and Drako soon started to work on extracting the crystals without destroying them, which easily took them half an hour, as it was a hard thing to do with only bone attacks, strings and tentacles. Which clearly weren't made to do the job. Once done, they cursed under their breaths. It was Killer who carved their crystals, which explained why it was so well made. "Do you think that this Multiverse's Killer would accept to do it for us? He did say that he wanted to adopt you, after all..."
Torment sighed, staring at the brut crystals in his and Drako's hands. "I don't think that we really have a choice if we want something nice for our family..." Vibrant raised a brow at that. "So you really got adopted by someone in this radical AU?... Dragontale, was it?"
"How did he find the name of the AU? You didn't tell it to anyone." Blade froze at his Chara's question, still not used to the fact that he was barely talking anymore, and didn't have his ghostly form. He then frowned, looking at Vibrant in confusion while the others nodded at the parasite's question. "How did you find out our AU's name? Even the codes shouldn't show the name until it's ready to welcome Multiversal travelers."
Vibrant smirked once again. "Those super rad Deities told me when they brought me here. They actually put me in Glitchy's Anti-Void but I got outta there quickly to visit this tot rad Multiverse." Drako frowned. So this was why he felt something weird in his Anti-Void but didn't find anything a few days ago. 'Wait...'
"WhY DiDN't YoU CoME DiReCtLY, If YOu WeRE ThERe FoR A FeW DAyS AlREAdY?" Vibrant shrugged, an apologetic look on his face, his glasses now showing 'SRY PAL'. "Just wanted to visit an' meet my radical counterpart. And I wanted to surprise y'all~"
Drako sighed. What else did he expect anyway? "So... We're kidnappin' Killer, homies?" The ex-Destroyer shrugged, watching his brothers' answer. Demise imitated him, Blade nodded with enthusiasm and Torment just continued to stare at the crystals before nodding. 'Welp, let's just hope that he is as talented as our Killer was...'
He felt Psyche pat his head, making his bonnet move slightly. He took it off and placed it once again on his head, making Vibrant whistle at the sight of his horns, since he was the only one who never saw them. "So you really became a dragon... Neat."
Drako chuckled and opened a portal toward Nightmare's castle, easily finding Killer, who was sharpening his knives in the living room, which made Torment groan in annoyance. He remembered all the times that he told their Killer not to do it in the living room. Obviously, Killer never listened.
Without leaving the forever crying skeleton the time to understand what was happening, Drako threw his strings at him, easily catching him and pulling him through the portal. When Killer realized that he was slightly getting kidnapped, he tried to struggle to free himself... Which was ridiculous since Drako had already long since let go of him. Not like Killer seemed to notice it.
They stared at the skeleton fighting against the air for a few seconds with amusement before Torment decided to stop him for ridiculing himself more. He cleared his throat, making Killer jump and look up to see the amused –and slightly sad, for some reason?– faces of the three skeletons and the two dragons. Understanding what just happened, the murderous skeleton blushed in embarrassment.
"Sorry for the unexpected kidnapping, but we... Need some help, and we heard that you knew how to carve, Mister." The brothers and Vibrant sweat dropped, finally realizing how awkward the situation was. Maybe they should have tried something else...
Somehow, it didn't seem to actually disturb Killer –but was it surprising, with all the stupid and probably even more awkward things that he must have done with Horror and Dust?–, who tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "I... Yes, I can carve, but why would that help you...?"
They noticed that the forever crying skeleton kept throwing glances at Vibrant –probably because he thought that there was only mini versions of Nightmare and Error, even if Vibrant didn't even try to hide himself unlike them–, who smirked and formed a 'V' with two of his fingers, inclining his head to the left with a soft smile. Killer smiled back, waving at the younger Fresh.
"WeLl, YoU SeE, We HaVE ThOSe NeCkLAcEs MAdE wItH CrYsTalS; LiKE a FAMiLy liNK, iF yOu WAnT... AnD We WAnTeD TO MaKE SoME FoR OuR YoUNgER bRoTHeRS AnD FaThEr, BuT We..." He paused, looking at the crystals as if they had personally offended him. "CaN'T cArvE FoR SHiT." Torment slapped the back of his skull with a tentacle, making him snicker silently while Killer was chuckling. "So WE NeEDeD HeLP AnD We CoINcIdENtLY hEaRD ThaT YoU WeRE GooD At IT... AnD We DiDN't WaNt a ToTal StRAnGER tO Do It."
Killer looked at them in confusion. "But... I am a total stranger for you...?" Drako and Torment froze at that, Demise looking at Drako as if he was a total dumbass while Vibrant was trying to hold back his laugh. "I... YeS, BuT We'RE MoRE CoNFoRTaBle WiTH YoU SiNCE We SaW YoU AnD YoUR FrIENdS ThRoUGH PoRTalS." Killer let out a small 'Oooh!', nodding to himself. "Seems logic, yeah."
It really wasn't logic, but if he believed that poor excuse, Drako wasn't going to complain. "I'll gladly help you kids!" They silently cringed at being called kids. This was the one thing that they would never get used to. Torment smiled politely, silently thanking Killer while giving him the crystals. "Could you explain me how you want them to look like?"
Torment nodded and kneeled next to Killer –who just realized at that moment that he never got up from the ground– and showed him his own necklace. "Like this." Killer hummed, staring at the crystal before starting to work. "If you don't mind me asking, why don't you just ask to the person who carved your necklaces to help you?"
They all tensed up and grimaced at the question. "I... He... Isn't alive anymore..."
Killer froze in his movements, turning his head toward the younger skeletons, only to see them look down in sadness at the simple thought of their own friend. He winced, feeling strangely bad for making them react this way. He killed people–well not so much anymore– and spread negativity with the gang for a living, damn it, it shouldn't affect him so much to see sad teens!
But maybe it was their resemblance with Nightmare and Error, two persons that he held dear in his SOUL, or maybe he was just weak against children, but he felt the need to comfort them, to protect them and to give them the love they supposedly never had before. It was quite a strange feeling, that he honestly didn't fully understand, but he would listen to it and make those children happy!
He gently placed the crystals and his knives on the floor and pulled the two teens near him in a hug, gesturing to Vibrant to join it too. Which the colorful skeleton did without complaining, internally cursing –yes, cursing– his new SOUL. His emotions were extremely strong, now that he actually and permanently had some, unlike when he possessed a Sans, who barely gave him emotions for a few days –weeks even if he was lucky enough and the SOUL was in perfect shape–. And even then, they were very weak. Now, they were stronger than ever and it made him want to bawl his eyes out.
Granted, he was a Neutral, and wasn't personally close to Killer or any of the gang's members, but it hurt so much. He never knew how much he actually cared for them until now.
What he didn't tell to the brothers was that he had a complete breakdown when he woke up in the Anti-Void –which was the actual reason that he quickly went into another AU–. All the emotions that he never truly felt came crashing on him, the realization of the loss of most of the gang not helping at all. Truly, he wasn't sure if having a SOUL really made him happy in the end, as he was now extremely emotional.
He'll get used to it eventually, but right now, he felt like shit. And no, he would not censor his thoughts on the matter.
He didn't last long before bursting into tears, surprising everyone, but also fueling the four brothers' sadness. They were all trying their hardest not to cry, but how could they do it when a clone of a brother of theirs was hugging them, comforting them about said brother's death? It was so hard...
In the end, they couldn't hold back the few tears that escaped their eyes while Killer was trying his best to comfort them, murmuring sweet words to them and gently rubbing their backs –of course, he didn't dispose of three arms so he couldn't do it for the three skeletons at the same time, but he mainly focused on the colorful one, as he seemed to be the most emotional right now–. They were muttering incomprehensible gibberish, but he did caught up enough to understand that their friend died in a fight and that they really missed him.
"H-Hey... It's okay kids, it was probably bound to happen, you... You wouldn't have been able to prevent their death from happening... I... They probably wouldn't want to see you so sad..."
Alright, now he was sure of it; he was no comforting material. He felt so awkward right now, damn it! What was he supposed to say?! Usually it was Error and Nightmare who comforted the others when they had a breakdown, and he was no exception!
What he didn't know though was that it could have been prevented. If they didn't decide to crash that damn party, even after learning that Drako was still alive... Or if they all had been closer to protect each others... There were so many ways that things could have ended differently...
It took a few minutes for them to finally calm down; Drako and Torment managing to do so first, quickly followed by Blade and Demise. Only Vibrant stayed inconsolable. Torment sighed and grabbed him with his tentacles, effectively pulling him away from Killer and becoming the object of his bone-crushing hug.
"Please, excuse our breakdown... We still have yet to finish mourning our dear brother..." Killer froze once again. He thought that they were only friends, but the fact that they were brothers made everything worse for them. It was actually amazing that they managed to seem so fine despite their loss. Dust, for example, still had nightmares –and no, it wasn't Nightmare's doing, he wasn't that horrible, quite the opposite actually– about his brother's death, and even Killer himself sometimes thought about his own brother. Granted, they didn't kill their brother, but it somehow felt the same for Killer.
He chuckled sadly, starting to work back on the crystals to keep his mind away from all the empathy eating at SOUL. "Heh, welcome to the dead brother's club."
It was not funny, he knew it, but he still said it to try and lift their spirits, even if only a little. He gained a pained chuckle from the brothers, who worked on comforting Vibrant.
Unsurprisingly, the colorful parasite ended up falling asleep from exhaustion –and because the brothers' hugs were damn soothing, mind you–, which resulted in Drako holding him bridal style. Of course, Psyche found that it was a good moment to tease him to death –something about him training for his future lover?–, but at this point, it became fairly normal. It didn't mean that Drako didn't want to slap them with a broom though.
It took maybe an hour before Killer finished with the crystals. Hour during which Torment took the time to warn Gaster that they might be a little late. They couldn't get grounded again when they had to meet Nightmare's gang the next day, after all.
Once done, they ended up with seven crystals; which wasn't surprising as it was the same number that they had in their old Multiverse –which, thankfully enough, was just enough for the whole gang back then–.
"Is that all you needed me for?" They nodded and thanked Killer while grabbing the crystals and putting them in their inventories. They could easily put the silver chain now. Killer smiled happily. "I'm happy that I could help!"
"Thank you, and once again, sorry for the kidnapping and the breakdown... We'll see you tomorrow, I suppose?" Killer nodded with enthusiasm, making them smile. "Great."
Before Torment could open a portal, another goopy octopus appeared in front of them. "I was starting to think that he wouldn't come!"
Yeah, they knew that it was only a question of time before Nightmare showed up. Or Dream, perhaps. Anyway, they were expecting to see at least one of the twins before the end of the day. So it didn't come as a surprise when the King of Negativity came to investigate on the sudden spike of negativity in UnderKeep. It doesn't mean that Torment didn't tense up at the sight of his counterpart, of course.
Nightmare... Didn't know what he expected to find while going into UnderKeep after sensing a strangely strong amount of negativity. Yes, he did think about his and Error's counterparts, as they seemed to have negative auras not unlike his own. Or maybe a new Outcode who somehow teleported in UnderKeep. But he didn't expect to find a younger version of Fresh sleeping in Drako's arms, nor to find Killer, who had mysteriously disappeared a while ago. Oh well, at least he wouldn't have to search for the forever crying skeleton.
Seriously, just how many were them?! It was starting to get concerning! Granted, Torment assured Error that there was no younger version of Dream, but he was starting to have doubts now! Was their AU full of younger versions of people that he knew?!
He must have stared at them for too long because Torment decided to interrupt the silence. "Sorry to leave so soon, but we must go, otherwise our father will be worried. Once again, thank you very much Mister Killer-" Killer cut him off. "Just call me Killer, please." Torment hummed, nodding at Killer's request. "Alright. Thank you Killer, and sorry for the kidnapping. We'll see you tomorrow."
That being said, Torment opened a portal and went through it, quickly followed by Drako, who still took the time to wave at Killer and Nightmare before going in. Both of them were surprised to see him carry the little Fresh with only one arm, but it wasn't the weirdest thing concerning those children at this point.
That left Killer alone with Nightmare who, once out of his surprised state, raised a brow and crossed his arms. "So you got kidnapped?"
"Yeaaaah... I was sharpening my knives in the living room and-" Nightmare cut him off. "Despite me telling you not to do so?" Killer only smiled innocently and continued to talk. "-and Drako pulled me through a portal with his strings because they needed my help to carve crystals." Nightmare paused, frowning slightly. "So he also has strings... Wait, how did they know that you can carve things?" Killer shrugged with a smile. "No idea. But now I want to adopt them even more!"
Nightmare sighed at this comment, knowing that he wouldn't get anything useful out of this conversation besides what he just learned. He wasn't even surprised by Killer's desire to adopt those teens anymore. "Let's just go back home... And don't you dare sharpen your knives in the living room ever again!"
They both knew that Killer wouldn't stop.
While this was happening, the four brothers had to face an angry father... Once again. It was starting to get repetitive. "Care to explain?"
They sweat dropped and smiled at Gaster. "Well... We were searching for something in an AU, but we didn't remember which one so..." Torment paused, letting Blade continue. Of course, he didn't mention what they were looking for, as to not ruin the surprise. "We had to search multiple AUs, which took longer than expected."
Demise then continued the explanation. "And we met Fresh while doing so... You remember him?" Gaster nodded, his gaze landing on the sleeping teen snuggling in Drako's arms. He couldn't stop himself from grimacing at all the different neon colors he was wearing, but the brothers could see how his gaze softened at the sight of the sleeping child. "Well he helped us find the AU."
Drako was the one to finish their explanation of what happened. "AnD tHEn We hAD tO kIDnAP KilLER, dOn'T lOOK aT mE lIkE tHAT, IT wAs NeCeSSARy, aND hAD a BrEAkdOWn, WhIcH tOOk SOme tImE. AfTER KiLLeR heLpED uS anD We cAME BaCk."
Gaster looked alarmed at the mention of the breakdown –and at how easily Drako talked about it– but didn't ask anything. Well he did try, but his sons all shook their heads simultaneously when he opened his mouth. Sometimes, they really were oddly synchronized, surprisingly enough.
He sighed and put his attention back on Vibrant. "Did he find a new name already?" Torment nodded. "Yes, Vibrant." Gaster nodded. 'Quite fitting...'
"Well put him in your room until he wakes up and come eat dinner." They nodded and went toward the kitchen while Drako went toward their room to finally put Vibrant down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yep, the 'mysterious' skeleton was Fresh, as some of you already guessed.
And Killer got slightly kidnapped, nothing too bad-
Once again, I would like to thank for her beautiful drawing! Thank you very much! <3
I have to apologize for not posting on Tuesday, I really couldn't. I was too busy and, honestly, way too tired to do any progress on this chapter. Once again, I'm sorry.
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! ^^
Lunar's out!~