Etsuko's strength seemed to have increased tenfold, no doubt due to the rage that now animated the slightest of his movements. This rage, this burning fire kindled by Yumerai, this inferno of terror and resentment that he only wanted to pour out. And what better targets than his four opponents to let go, to let off steam?
He smiled sadistically, pulled out his appendages and shot them at Yumerai, but the bloody archer dodged far too well, too quickly and nimbly for the corrupt painter.
Realizing that he would come to nothing, he weighed down and made a blaster appear, firing blindly at his enemies, taking great care to have part of the city in the background. If he couldn't hit his opponents, he was at least going to destroy Underlust as he had done in his timeline!
Unaware of his thoughts, Yumerai teleported himself away from the blaster, as did Ink, Error, and Nightmare ... until the Creator froze.
"He's targeting Snowdine!" he cried as he understood the attitude of his double, the double ready to sacrifice innocent monsters!
It's too late for that. Having no time to prepare a shield, our four protagonists watched helplessly as the ray headed towards the city... ...only to crash into a massive sword, which seemed like a flash of magic to come between the beam and the city.
Etsuko and Yumerai's eyes opened wide, and if the corrupt being felt a new reason to be angry, the archer couldn't help but hiccup feverishly.
As Ink, Error, and Nightmare watched in amazement, a hooded figure teleported into the heavens, and landed with ease on the handle of the sword.
Etsuko screamed in rage, before the ink at his feet formed a circle and revealed a portal, into which he hurriedly rushed.
Yumerai yelped, and clumsily regained his wits to put his enemy under yoke. But Etsuko vanished just before the arrow stabbed him, causing the guard to swear as he tightened his grip on his bow.
Behind him, the figure jumped to the ground and retrieved the sword to hang it on his back.
Thus Nightmare, Ink and Error witnessed the most unlikely scene they had ever seen: Yumerai violently kicked a snowdrift into a snowdrift while screaming:
"I'm gonna get him!"
What the figure sighed as it approached him:
"And at what cost? How long are you going to continue with this behavior?"
The guard turned around and looked at the other one:
"I didn't ask you, Cross! And what are you doing here?!"
The swordsman looked up to the sky, took off the hood that had protected him from the dust and snow, and revealed his jaded face, where his characteristic red scar could be seen... and another scar in one of his eyes. Still, he was in every way similar to the Cross that Nightmare, Ink or Error knew, and everyone understood that they were dealing with a different version of the future.
Yumerai got even angrier, but instead of accusing Cross again, he took his head in his hands, almost scratching himself with his knuckles as he cowered, shouting. A scream of hatred, of despair, which seemed to make everything around him tremble, which accompanied the tears of guilt that came to drown the poor archer's face:
"DAMN! I could have fixed everything ! I would have killed him and all this would have been over !!
- Dream ... began the swordsman.
- NOT DREAM ! YUMERAI! YU-ME-RAI!
- Yumerai, even if you kill Ink - something I know you can't do - you'll never achieve anything. Nightmare is also here."
The guard hiccupped, as hurt by the truth as by Cross' attitude, who seemed to really take him for a stupid kid. This only pushed him further into his entrenchment, and finally he collapsed to his knees, managing miserably to control his sobs.
Nightmare flinched. Surely this Dream wasn't HIS Dream. But that didn't change the fact that he was a version of his twin, the twin he loved so much and had been trying to catch up with for some time ... so seeing his dear brother in such a miserable state made him seethe with anger. He clenched his fists, his magic began to crackle, but before he could tell how he thought about this Cross, Ink interrupted him:
"Nightmare... Let's not get carried away. Those two saved us and Underlust..."
True, but this Cross was still unbearable to see. Besides, where did he get such a powerful sword from? Last I heard, their own Cross didn't have such a weapon! Nightmare sighed, finally grumbling and giving up on the idea of a monochromatic soapbox.
Instead, he approached Yumerai cautiously, which was easy since the archer wasn't paying any attention to him. However, the master of misfortune tensed up a little more with each step: why didn't he feel the positive aura of this Dream?
"Hey, D... Yumerai."
The Dream Keeper finally leapt to raise his tearful gaze to him, making Nightmare tremble as he nearly retreated. Yumerai sniffed softly and ran a hand across his face, clumsily wiping away the slowly drying tears.
"...oh... it's you..." he replied weakly.
Nightmare raised an archway:
"... Yeah, that's... me."
The archer stood up feverishly to face him, as if he had never had such a tearful fit the moment before, despite the salty traces clearly visible on his cheeks. Cross, for his part, did not make the slightest comment and looked at both of them impassively.
"I'm sorry about all this... Yumerai apologized - both to Nightmare and the other two. In view of the situation, I think you understand what's going on ...
- That an Ink from the future has come back to the past to kill us? Yeah, we know about that,"Error retorted, approaching in turn.
The sight of the Destroyer froze the archer, who quickly looked away, suddenly very uncomfortable:
"... Y-Yes, indeed, but not only. Cross and I come from the future, and unfortunately ... The Bad Sans of our time have also visited your timeline. I've come to stop them..."
He went on to give Cross a black look:
"...and you are going back to our house.
- I'm not going back.
- You have no business there! How could you leave Lux alone?!"
The swordsman raised his eyes to heaven for the second time:
"Are you really asking me to go back to our collapsing timeline that may cost us our lives?
- I am asking you to go and look after our daughter!
- But she's fine, I took her with me! What do you think?"
Yumerai petrified, becoming livid with terror:
"You took her... with you? What the hell has gotten into you?! She is the ideal prey for our enemies!!
- Would you have preferred to leave her alone with us?
- NO! That's why I wanted you to stay with her !!!
- By staying with her, I risked condemning us both."
Yumerai opened his mouth, finally giving up the idea of retorting and dryly protesting. Cross always had the last word anyway.
Ink raised an eyebrow:
"Oh done... I'd just like to establish two things... the first... Nightmare, why did you call my future self 'Estuko'?
- Mm... I figured a nickname would prevent misunderstandings.
- Okay. Might as well do the same with the other future travelers, then! Dream is Yumerai, Nightmare is Oshoku and Cross is Shiroken!"
The group observed the painter with scepticism, and it was Error who decided to break the silence:
"... And our opinion in all this? Then how did you come up with nicknames so quickly?
- Own, you underestimate me Ruru! I've been thinking about it since my double arrived, I'll tell you! And, uh... It was the flowers that gave me those names!"
Nightmare nearly choked:
"The flowers?"
Ink pouffa before nodding his head:
"Didn't you know Nighty? The Creators can communicate with us through the flower echoes. They usually never do... except on rare occasions. And today, one of them gave me nicknames for your you and the Cross of the Future!"
Cross from the future who seemed to have plunged into deep reflection, before finally having a very slight smile:
"Shiroken... I approve. I like it."
This made Yumerai look up at the sky, annoyed. Cross always made him think that changing his name was ridiculous, and today he accepted to be named Shiroken without the slightest hesitation? He blew, holding back the comment that was tickling his puck, and came to look away ... to get tense when his eyes met those of Error.
He swallowed but found himself unable to look away. Why was the Destroyer staring at him like that? What was he thinking? Why was it so hard to guess his thoughts when Yumerai felt like an open book? There had always been this strange power relationship between them. The archer, although he could feel the emotions, struggled to understand the Glitch. And conversely, Error - who couldn't feel the emotions - managed to read him with a simple glance!
A cold sweat ran down the guard's throat. Even though it was easy to read him... Error couldn't guess it all, could he? He couldn't guess how he felt about him, could he? Because besides making him deeply uncomfortable, it could also make his past self look childish!
Feeling himself on the verge of cracking up again, the archer turned his attention to Ink:
"You were talking about a second thing to establish, right?"
Ink nodded his head, regaining his serious air, but above all terribly worried:
"Yumerai... You know Nyx, don't you?"
The guard petrified, as did Shiroken, who suddenly seemed much more interested, before suddenly grabbing the painter by the shoulders:
"Nyx?! Is he alive?! Where is he, how is he?!"
The swordsman came to pull him gently back:
"Dr... Yume, calm down.
- I can't, all right?! Stop trying to temper me!
- T...
- I know there's no point in overreacting! I know there's no point in yelling, crying, brooding! But damn it, it feels good, you know? Blowing up, going crazy, I got a right to do that once in a while!
- That's...
- It's useless, isn't it? Stupid? Laughable? What am I to you, a kid? I'm probably overreacting, but you've closed yourself off beyond reason! It won't kill you to cry once, if only to mourn Epic once and for all!"
The silence fell back abruptly, heavy with meaning and sudden guilt. Yumerai's guilt when he felt the hand on his arm tensing up, Shiroken's face lost a second of its impassivity to hint at a shock and a suffering that had been mastered with difficulty.
Finally the swordsman gently released him, regaining his composure despite his slightly weaker voice:
"... I just wanted to say... that Ink couldn't answer us if you were asking him too many questions..."
New silence, even heavier than the previous one. The palpable uneasiness failed to shake the three skeletons of the past, and while Yumerai tried to apologize, the words failed to come out and he shamefully lowered his gaze, nervously triturating his phalanges, while Shiroken turned away his eyes in his turn.
"... Hmm... Ink resumed after clearing his throat. Actually, about Nyx... He's alive. But he's not well.."
The duo from the future looked up at him lividly.
=== ===
For the umpteenth time, silence hung over the group. Our protagonists were back in Dreamtale, at the castle, with the Bad Sans, Insomnia, PaperJam and Plum. Everyone had taken their seats in the living room and had been waiting for a while. They were waiting for Yumerai to examine Nyx, who had been put in his room.
Nobody dared to speak up. And even if someone had the courage, what could he have said? What was there to say? They all had so many questions... and none of them had any answers.
None of them... except...
"Shiroken?" Cross called out timidly, leaning against the table.
His version of the future uttered a slight "Mm... ..." without giving him a glance, as he sat in an armchair, busy cleaning the blade of his sword. A sword that intrigued his double from the past:
"... Where did you get such a weapon? I have no such weapon.
- ... No, you don't. At this time, you possess a sword a little less impressive."
Shiroken raised his head to take a melancholy look at his counterpart's weapon:
"...I remember when I had such a sword... I had escaped Chara's control, but I had managed to keep control of his abilities."
He went back to cleaning his blade, before ceasing his movement to observe its reflection, caught in a visibly difficult reflection in view of its arcade pucker. He sighed:
"... You have to know how to make concessions. Freedom is not always the best solution."
What petrified Cross:
"... What do you mean? What's happening to you... what's going to happen to me?
- Nothing will happen to you. The timeline has been changed, you won't take the same route as me. So don't worry about anything and just try not to have any regrets. Like... don't wait until you lose the ones you love to admit how you feel about them."
Under normal circumstances, Cross would probably have blushed. But at that moment, the warning frightened him to take a step towards his double, while his soul was beating a little faster:
"... Is Epic going to get killed?"
And the trembling of his voice had not escaped anyone's notice, let alone Nightmare's, who felt the growing fear of his subordinate.
Shiroken seemed to hesitate, raised his head, perceived the curious and apprehensive looks of others. He sighed again:
"... Ignore my timeline. I told you, it has nothing to do with yours. Nyx has completely changed the course of things.
- But if he hadn't, what would have happened?" Killer intervened, gently squeezing Insomnia against him.
The one from the future began tapping frantically against his sword, a sign of an anxiety he was losing control of:
"... At home ... Nightmare and Ink had an affair. It came out by accident, and some people didn't accept it. Already the inhabitants of the AUS, who blamed Ink, their protector, for making a pact with the public enemy."
To his words, the painter reached out without interrupting the story:
"... of course, Error and Killer didn't accept it either. Error's attacks became more violent and frequent ... As for Killer, he closed himself off. Life in the castle became more oppressive, and this outpouring of bad feelings made Nightmare unstable."
Dust was surprised:
"What? But the boss gets his power from negativity!
- That's true, he agreed. But the wrong amount of power has consequences. If Shiroken is right, my doppelganger must have received a monstrous dose of negativity, too much power in one go.
- ... ...and it drove him to insanity..."Killer whispered.
A nod from Nightmare, who gently embraced his lover's waist with one of his appendages while questioning Shiroken:
"But what was Yumerai doing? He's the keeper of positivity. It's his role to ensure balance and set me limits, just like I do with my Dream."
The swordsman frankly froze this time, as if this question had just burned him, that Nightmare should never have asked it.
"... Yumerai did the best he could. He never ceased to do his best, even to this day. Whether it was to right the wrongs of others or his own, he always surpassed himself, always went beyond his limits. And today, he is the one who is on the verge of dementia and despair."
He came to shoot Nightmare with a glance, sliding his hand on the handle of his sword while the threat was obvious:
"... If anyone comes to accuse him of anything..."
He didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to. Well, fortunately, Nightmare was the last person who would blame his twin for such a thing. After all, hadn't he himself failed in his duty as guardian many times?
Finally, Shiroken went back to cleaning up after himself:
"...the birth of Nyx was the last straw. The breaking point. I understand that Error and Ink had had a violent argument, which ended when Ink's vials were broken."
Words that made both the Creator and the Destroyer shudder, and Shiroken didn't help by continuing:
"...as for Killer, he vanished overnight. Finally, 'disappeared' ... he simply went to Color, as he had threatened him so many times. You can imagine how angry Nightmare was at that moment."
Oh, 'anger' was an understatement. Nightmare had gone into a terrible, shattering rage that had driven him to destroy several AUs in just a few days, generating even more negativity in the entire multiverse.
Horror, who had stood back until then, suddenly raised his voice:
"Why didn't they have an abortion?"
Time seemed to stand still.
"...what? Shiroken wondered.
- ... Ink and Nightmare. I don't know which one carried the child, I guess it was Ink, but... why didn't they just abort?"
Ink became a little paler, suddenly terribly feverish, and probably would have wavered if Error hadn't held him back:
"Inky, what's going on? inquired the Destroyer worriedly.
- ... I... I know why Etsuko didn't have an abortion..."
His comrades looked at him. He stuttered:
"Never... never... never would I allow the destruction of a being I had created... No matter how small ... no matter how 'failed' or 'unwanted' it may be ... when I create something, I cannot destroy it, that's all ...
- ... Yet your version of the future didn't hesitate to attack you and Underlust," Plum intervened, staring at him, bitter that his universe had been attacked. Underlust may not have been the most incredible place on the multiverse, but it was still his home.
Ink passed a hand over his face, had to sit on the couch to come to his senses:
"I know... I know... I'm sorry, it's... Shiroken, you said his vials were broken?
- Yes, I did.
- ... ...it's because of my connection with Ruru that I can now feel without my vials. But as for Etsuko... if he didn't benefit from this bond, he must have ended up like a rag doll, devoid of all emotion.
- ... and from what I saw he must have been corrupted by a black apple, Nightmare said. Etsuko is therefore no longer a vulgar rag doll... but an evil doll made only of negativity."
Shiroken slowly nodded his head, agreeing to say it, and the silence fell back to give everyone time to assimilate the information.
At least until footsteps resounded from across the hall, to reach the living room and let out an exhausted Yumerai.
Ink got up immediately:
"What's up? How is Nyx?"
Shiroken stood up in his turn, but to leave his place to the archer who came to slump in the armchair with great pleasure, before answering with a sigh:
"He's asleep.
- ... He's asleep ...? Ink repeated confusedly.
- Yes. Several years ago ... well ... more years in our timeline... my brother put a spell on Nyx. A spell that prevented him from sleeping. The kind of spell that drives anyone crazy after not even a few days, and I don't understand how Nyx could last for years... Fuck, he probably cracked countless times without me knowing about it..."
Words that freeze the others before Nightmare gets carried away :
"And now what, why is Nyx sleeping now? My doppelganger removed the spell?
- ... it seems... Yumerai replied feverishly. And of course, Nyx's body and mind couldn't stand it... being deprived of sleep, only to have it suddenly come back... And again, it's a miracle he didn't die instantly. The spell must have worn off before my brother pulled it off, but..."
He closed his eyes, trying to stay calm:
"...in short...he's making up for all the years he didn't sleep."
Nightmare petrified, as did his classmates, who understood the gravity of the situation.
"So Nyx has gone to sleep for many years?!" exclaimed Horror.
Yumerai nervously tweaked his knuckles, before finally giving the dreaded answer: he nodded slowly, as if by fate.
The shock was hard for everyone. As they assembled the complete puzzle, they slowly became aware of everything they had ignored until then. Nyx who had appeared mysterious, but nevertheless smiling and quiet, like a support, a friend, someone they could count on ... and who suffered in silence from the beginning. Who withstood the hardships without gnashing his teeth.
And as everyone felt their souls getting weighed down by these revelations, a voice of unshakeable gentleness came out of nowhere:
"Is it really wrong?"
They were startled, and Yumerai suddenly stood up and looked around him:
"Wha... Lux, is that you?!"
And Shiroken, in turn, stood up and gave his companion a jaded look:
"I told you she came with me...
- Don't start! She didn't show up, I thought ...
- That I had lied to you?"
A sigh was heard:
"Fathers, can you please stop this useless arguing?"
The light from the ceiling light sizzled suddenly, once again surprising the assembly, before the emitted light came to illuminate the centre of the room, to give a glimpse of a silhouette that emerged from the luminosity, revealing a young female skeleton, whose cracked skull let out a mauve magic that created a short hair, and whose frank fell on one of her eyes. The other one, however, showed a purple pupil that moved from one corner of the room to the other, before stopping on Yumerai:
"Dad, the fact that Nyny's asleep seems to be a foregone conclusion. But isn't it better in reality?"
The archer was confused:
"What do you mean... ?
- We know him. Nyx was exhausted, his sleepless nights drove him crazy. The less he slept, the more he lost his lucidity about his actions. How many times did he fail to return to his parents to 'please' them? How many times did he almost betray us, convincing himself that it was the best choice? You know better than I do, Dad: someone who doesn't sleep becomes fragile. All the more so when that same person is forced to eat black apples every day."
Nightmare petrified, before shattering the table on which he smashed one of his appendages:
"WHAT?!"
Obviously the others yelped and the fear caused a tearful fit in Insomnia, which Killer hastened to rock awkwardly.
Paperjam, him, came to take refuge against his parents trembling:
"... Y-Yes ... Nyx eats black apples ...
- Did you know that?! Ink exclaimed.
- ... I- He... when we slept together... he panicked... he needed to eat one..."
Shiroken growled:
"... He had a withdrawal seizure."
And little PJ became livid:
"... And so... He needs those apples to live? Does he really need them? If he doesn't eat them, he'll have a fit again?
- Yes, he will.
- B...But the evil Nightmare said he has more apples!"
Shiroken and Yumerai looked at him in terror, while Lux flinched for the first time despite his seemingly impassive look.
"He... has no more apples?" repeated the archer.
Paperjam nodded his head as tears came to his eyes:
"S-so if he sleeps, but he's out of it... What happens?
- ... I just... stuttered Yumerai. I don't know, I just... There are too many possibilities. Either sleep will prevent him from having a seizure, or no... Or lack of apple might keep him from waking up, or he might... he might..."
The fallen goalkeeper's breath began to quicken as he curled up again, his body shaking more and more. Shiroken knelt down beside him in panic, to clumsily take him in his arms and comfort him as best he could, but Yumerai didn't even catch his gentle attentions.
Lux bit her tongue, then turned to the Ink and the Nightmare of the past:
"Well, I'm taking command of our next operation."
The master of misfortune is outraged:
"Are you kidding? I-
- Do you want to help Nyx or not?"
The guard swallowed his reply, which Lux took as an affirmation:
"Look, we don't have hundreds of solutions... And I'm like you: not sure what the best choice is. I just want Nyny to be okay, I want my parents to be okay ... and that won't be possible as long as the bad guys on our timeline want to destroy us.
- ... Fighting them will be complicated, Shiroken intervened. We've faced them before, they know our moves. And they also know their doubles from the past. We can't take them by surprise.
- ... Yes, we can. Maybe we can... by using the ones they don't know."
The young teenager turned her head towards Paperjam and Insomnia. Immediately, Error and Killer stepped in:
"But are you sick?! cried the Glitch. Leave our sons out of this! The other nutcase from the future has already tried to kill them!"
Lux began to fiddle with the bottom of her white dress, annoyed:
"So what? Are we going to attack them knowing that we won't be surprised, or are we just going to wait cowardly for them to attack us first?"
But Yumerai's voice interrupted his daughter:
"...or we send them back to our timeline... and we close the portal..."
Lux turned to him:
"... Daddy... this doesn't solve our problem...
- ... If... But yes, that's it... !"
The archer rose abruptly, his arches gathered:
"That's how we're going to do it!
- ... C-Come like this? I don't understand Dad, how... ?
- We'll do all three. We'll act first using the ones they don't know... and wait for them to attack us."
And as the archer began to explain further, the rest of the group held its breath.
[They'd only get one chance]