A/N; I am trying so hard to write a coherent story out of the mess that was previously written you guys will have to bear with me and go along with it no matter how batshit crazy it seems I swear it all ties back.. except for the cream, the cream has little to no plot relevance I just felt like continuing with it
Ink's POV
"Your eyes.. when did they stop doing that thing?" Cross asked.
He'd been staring at me from the moment we stepped into the living room, Killer had noticed something too because he'd also started staring. I figured it was because they expected me to break the silence that followed because of what happened earlier on, but..
"What do you mean?" I asked cautiously, reaching up and gently tapping around my eye sockets.
"The.. the blinking thingy, your eyes change shape every time you blink, right?" He pointed out.
Killer gasped before speaking, "Ohh yeah, they're not doing that anymore!"
"What?"
They'd.. stopped changing shape? I mean, it wasn't too big of a deal, I never really thought about them too often anyway, but why?
"Maybe it's to do with you no longer being around Dream?" Cross suggested.
Killer scoffed, plopping himself down on the sofa. "That's stupid, he's been away from Dream for like.. at least three months now, right? Would'a happened way earlier than this."
Cross only responded by rolling his eyes and sitting down next to Killer. He seemed upset by his idea being shot down so easily.
"Speaking of Dream.." I began, deciding to stay standing.
I didn't plan on staying with them for too long, I had things I needed to ask Error and who knows how long that could take.
"Yeah, speaking of Dream.." Killer grinned, nudging Cross.
"Stop it! You really think this is the time for me to ask about that?!" Cross hissed, gently pushing Killer away from him.
"You act like stuff isn't gonna get worse soon, this is gonna be, like, the best time to ask about it."
"Oh, stop that! You don't know for sure if things will get worse, you're just thinking of the worst possible ways this could go."
What were they talking about now?
"Worse?" I asked.
The pair turned to face me, displaying highly differing expressions. Cross seemed worried about something, and Killer was.. well, Killer. He was grinning widely at me as if nothing was out of the ordinary, as if Nightmare hadn't struck him inside of the room.
"Killer thinks that Nightmare's planning to steal your Soul or something." He explained.
"I don't think, I know! You heard what Dust said!" Killer retorted.
What Dust said..? Had Dust found something out? If so.. why had he hidden it from me? I'd asked him if he knew anything not even three days ago and he claimed to know nothing. Unless he'd also been threatened to keep things from me.. but I didn't see him as the type to care if he was threatened.
"What did Dust say?"
"Oh, Dust said he found like a bunch of different papers on Nightmare's desk about uh.. what was it.." Killer began, trailing off.
"Soul Transference." Cross finished.
Killer nodded, leaning onto Cross. "Yeah, that! He's definitely planning something with your Soul, Ink! Why else would he be looking into-"
"This is what you've done with the information I gave you?"
We turned to face the voice, seeing Dust leaning against the doorframe. How long had he been there?!
Cross sat in silence, but Killer..
"Well, duh! What else am I s'posed to think, he literally made Ink a Soul and is now looking into whatever Cross said." He spoke, as if it was obvious.
I sat down, knowing that this would take forever. If Dust and Killer were to get into an argument with each other it would likely never end, the pair being the type to want to always come out on top. But.. Soul Transference? What the Hell was he planning to do? Take my Soul? There's no way anything like that could be possible, right? Besides, he'd made me a Soul.. if he needed one of his own he could just do whatever he did to me in the first place to get one himself.
"Well, I wouldn't expect you to know this," Dust began, walking over and flicking Killer on the skull, "but Ink and Nightmare need different Souls."
"What kind of logic is that? It's a Soul."
"I don't know if you're aware of the, ah, height difference between Ink and Nightmare,"
Of course he'd bring up the height difference, why wouldn't he?
"But Nightmare would need an entirely different Soul - both in size, and the other factor which I shouldn't even need to explain."
Other factor?
Killer stared deadpan at him, "Oh, please. Enlighten us idiots, oh gracious Lord of smartness."
Dust scoffed, "Nightmare's a Guardian, Ink is.. well, used to be a Protector. Ink's magic comes from, presumably, the creators. Nightmare's magic comes from the emotions of people around him."
Killer glanced over to me, quietly laughing. I guess the confusion was horrifically written across my face, because I couldn't understand a single thing Dust was on about. I understood the fact that our magic sources were different, but my mind was blank otherwise.
"Right, and for us even dumber folk what does that mean?" Cross asked.
"It means that unless Nightmare has somehow-" Dust paused, looking over to me.
"..somehow?" I prompted.
There was silence for a moment as all eyes were on Dust, before he ran off. I stood and began to run after him, but found myself being yanked back by someone.
"Don't! He's probably going to Nightmare and-"
I pushed against Cross' grasp, "which means I should go! If it's my Soul that's in danger-"
"And then what?" Killer called out from behind me.
And then what? What did he mean? Obviously I'd find out what Nightmare was planning to do and I'd put a stop to it, that's what!
"Nightmare won't spill shit if you're there, just leave Dust to get any information and he'll relay it back to us."
I stopped struggling. Killer was right, sort of. Nightmare wouldn't say much of anything if I was there, especially if he was trying to get everyone to lie to me.. but I didn't even know if Dust was on my side. I didn't know if anyone was. All of this could've still been some part of a multi levelled scheme against me. Nightmare was an insanely good planner, that fact was known across the Multiverse, so for his plan to have this many holes..
"I guess so." I relented, feeling Cross let go of me.
If there was nothing I could do, then whatever. My mind was burning with all the different possibilities of what could be happening.
"Do you have any idea what he was gonna say?" I asked, turning to the two skeletons.
Cross hummed for a moment, "Uh, well, we were talking about magic, so it has to have something to do with that.."
"Tch, who cares?" Killer yelled, standing up from the sofa.
What?! My life was possibly at risk and he didn't care?!
"I do!" I yelled back.
"What you should care about more is Crossy wanting to do some not so enemy-like things with your ex teammate!"
"Killer! I already told you this isn't the time!"
Killer remained silent, staring towards Cross.
"Killer." Cross said, sternly.
Killer took a step forward, opening his mouth but not saying anything.
"Killer, don't." Cross spoke again, reaching for his weapon.
"Cross and Dream, sitting in a tree-" Killer began to yell, turning and running as Cross made a mad dash after him.
"You are SUCH a CHILD!" He yelled, trying to hit Killer.
The sound of laughter could be heard as they both exited the room, leaving me alone there. If Cross was in love with Dream, it wasn't my business. Anybody could be in love with him and it wouldn't surprise me, well, maybe I'd be surprised if someone like Nightmare was in love with him..
I twitched, trying to get the thought out of my head. That wasn't what I should've been focused on at all. If Nightmare was actually planning to steal my Soul then that's what my attention should be focused on. But.. if what Dust had said was true, then Nightmare wouldn't be able to use it because of our size difference, so what would he need it for?
"Oh fucking finally, you won't believe how long I've been looking for you."
I turned to the voice, a smile coming onto my face as I saw Error.
"I'm glad you're here, it feels like you're the only one I can trust.. well, sorta. And even then that's only because of how unpredictable you are." I joked, walking over to him.
"As much as I love to be complimented I'm actually here because you decided to be an idiot, again!" He yelled, putting his hands onto his hips.
Seriously? That's what he decided to open with?
"What? I've just been here for the last however long, I didn't do-"
"You fought with Dream?! I told you not to go near him and you literally ignored me!" He interrupted, lightly prodding my chest with a finger.
"Well, I'm sorry if I decided not to listen to the guy who didn't even bother to give me a reason not to go near him!"
Error gasped and took a step back.
"WHAT?! It's not my fault you're terrible at picking up context clues!"
"Context clues?! All you've told me is not to trust Nightmare and not to go near Dream, what kind of info is that?"
"Ohh right," he laughed, "because the shit I say is the only context available to you. Open your fucking eyes Ink!" He screeched, pushing me back.
"You keep saying this shit but you're not making it any clearer, it's like you're just.. you're just trying to lead me on!"
"Lead you on? I'm trying to help you!"
I scoffed, "Well how about you give me literally any important information then, maybe then I'd believe that you were trying to help me."
He remained silent for a moment before turning away, "You know why I can't do that."
I rolled my eyes and laughed, "Unbelievable! With how close you two act with each other it's like you're dating each other!" I joked, turning away and beginning to leave the room.
"He told you about that?!"
I stopped in my tracks, trying to figure out if I'd misheard those words. Told me about what? That they..
"You're dating him?"
"What? No! Well, yes, but no! It's.. complicated!" He stuttered.
I stormed out, intending to get to the bottom of this. Couldn't trust Killer, couldn't trust Horror, now I couldn't even trust Error. Error, the one person I expected not to be on Nightmare's side! If he wouldn't answer my questions with the honesty that I wanted, then I'd go to the person who'd surprisingly been the most honest with me during my time here.
And I wasn't going to leave until I'd gotten answers to all of my questions. All of them.