Author's note: I struggled. Lord knows I struggled. I try my best to research for my story, I really do, I wanna be a good writer for the fandom. But this was a first, I couldn't find what I was looking for, I kept mixing things up and not realizing when I searched for the wrong thing. Ugh, so I'm just going to take what I do know and just wing it. I... I can't. I'm doing what I did with the daycare, making my own version... kinda... in this case. Ugh... have fun reading this and the next chapter. My head hurts.
I stayed on guard only for a few minutes. The most I heard was a few birds above. Nothing too alarming. Once the other two started stirring I was immediately at their sides. First, I tended to Lust since he wasn't used to doing things like this like Swap probably was.
"Hey, come on Lust. Nice and easy. Sit up." I helped Lust sit up and gave he a quick look over. He was fine.
"Ugh, my head. Where are we?" He placed a hand to his skull blinking to clear his vision.
"No idea, that's the fun part," I said before assisting Swap in the same way. He was quick to recover and get to his feet with one hand on his hip and another above his eyes shielding them the rays that reached us.
"Ah, we made it to... um to..." he trailed off and looked towards me for an answer. I could only shrug and he returned to his previous pose.
"...a new location! Seems nice. Lots of green, in this area anyways. Oh, let me help," he said noticing Lust before getting on the other side of him. We helped the sassy skeleton to his feet and Swap took a few steps away to look around once he saw that I had Lust steady.
"Thank you dears, I feel so cared for," He said in his usual tone.
"I can drop you."
"You wont," Lust said with a smirk and I stared at him a second before letting go. I caught him again before he could fall and I smirked since he panicked a bit.
"How cruel."
"Aww, thank you." I said before making sure he was actually good to stand without help. We approached Swap before walking together on a worn out path.
The area we were in looked like a woods with tall trees reaching to the skies and sunlight filtering through branches and leaves, leaving warm spots scattered on the floor moving at the slightest disturbance like a breeze. It was rather peaceful. As we walked up an incline the trees were thinning out shining more light down to the earthy grounds. At the top we were greeted to the view of an open field full of wild flowers and tall grass. The breeze blowing through gave a nice effect. There were a few hills, some large rocks, and the faded path seem to stick with the lower levels of the environment.
"Woah, this place looks nice! Let's go!" Swap leaped forwards only for me to quickly reach forward and grab the clothing behind his neck.
"Ack! Error!" He sounded like he choked and I quickly eased up.
"Whoops, sorry but I can't let you go off like that. I'm not entirely sure that this place is safe. I have no idea what this place even is and I don't need you running into a trap or something." I was paranoid sure, but I had reason to be.
"Hmm, I suggest listening to Error. They've done this enough times to know what to do," Lust said as his gaze wandered the open space in front of us. Swap chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oh right, my bad."
"You're fine Swap, just be careful," I said before letting him go. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but it was better to be safe than sorry. I spotted a couple of butterflies fluttering by flowers and a few colorful birds would occasionally swoop around the field before going up to a branch.
"I'll assume it's safe," I said and Swap immediately ran ahead heading for a hill that had a few large rocks on top. Lust shrugged at me as he entered the area next following Swap at his own pace. I was quick to follow as well not wanting to separate from them.
"Well at least this seems nice," Lust said and I nodded.
"Yeah, but it's weird to me. The other times I've gone somewhere my appearance changed in some kind of way. Either my clothes or my physical body, yet this time nothing is different."
"Ah, well maybe it's something on the inside?" Lust tried suggesting.
"Maybe... I'm usually clueless with these things."
"Lets not think too hard about it ok. I'm sure everything will be ok, I'll ask you something so you can think about something else. What would you want to happen one day coming to one of these aus? Out of curiosity of course." Lust asked a question that I didn't even think about. What would I want if I had the choice? There were so many possibilities. Only one really came to mind as I was listening to our surroundings.
"You know what would be interesting? Wings, like Birdtale. The idea of flying sounds pleasant. I'd like to fly in the sky and feel free.
"Flying sounds wonderful and that just reminds me that I need to make more outfit with feathers. But feathers are such a pain to work with." Lust groaned a bit and I chuckled.
"I can only imagine."
"Hey you two! Look!" Swap called us over and we picked up the pace. Swap was standing on top of the rocks looking out in the distance. I didn't climb up but stepped around the rock and saw what he saw. On the left in the distance looked like a ravine. Very rocky. But in the distance more in front of us was a structure.
"What is that?" I asked narrowing my eyes. I felt a tap on my cheek and saw Lust had a pair of glasses.
"When did you-"
"I was prepared, you're always going around so I figured you'd forget your own." Lust said seeming rather pleased with himself as I put the glasses on cursing my vision. Usually people were close enough for my vision not to be an issue. Or I was fighting with someone and tunnel vision kicking in.
"Anyways, but to my question..."
"Not sure. Looks like a castle," Swap said before Lust also chipped in.
"More like a walled city with tall buildings to me. Wait, who's your friend?" I heard him ask and saw something that I didn't notice before. A yellow bird in Swap's hand. It was in front of his body so I didn't see it as we were heading up to him.
"Oh this? I don't know. They were already on the rock when I got here. Aren't they cute? I tired to shooing him away but he landed in my hand. I see no harm in holding him."
"Oh, how do you know it's a he?" Lust asked while rested his hands behind his head.
"Aren't colorful birds usually males?" Swap asked a bit confused looking at the creature in his hand.
"As far as I'm aware, yes. But we don't know if this is some different species so they could be a her. Either way you know you can't keep it right?" I asked raising a bone brow not even question why he was just holding the thing instead of putting it back down.
"I know, I know, I'm just gonna hold it until we move on."
"Speaking of moving on, I want to check out that ravine over there. Something about it doesn't look natural and I'm not sure why," I said as I gestured to the area on the left.
"Ok, let me just-" Swap went to put the bird down but it just flew back up to his face making him reel back alarmed. With a startled yelp he fell off the rock and I reached out with me strings catching him like a net. Swap sighed in relief.
"Phew, thanks Error."
"We just got here and I don't need you breaking something or else I'll feel Dream's scorn, and then your brother's, whichever comes first." Lust looked confused with what I said
"Why not Ink?"
"Do you think I care enough about Ink to care for his opinion? Besides he'll forget about it pretty fast and just say 'oh well' before moving on with his day. Dream however gives off that mom energy sometimes. Caring, nice, ect. So if I let Swap get hurt, then I would have to face Dream because I doubt he would let it go like Ink would. Stretch is a whole other story and I can only hope he likes me enough to forgive me if something were to happen."
"Error dear, you're a destroyer yet Swap Papyrus gets to you?" Lust said with an amused look.
"Yes, I can have weaknesses too you know."
"Oh I'm aware," Lust said with a nudge as Swap joined us brushing himself off.
"Ease up Error, I'm not glass," he said as the bird from earlier landed on the fluff of Lust's clothing at his shoulders.
"I know, but I can do what I want," I ignored the bird and we headed off to the ravine Swap spotted. Lust and Swap seemed pretty entertained with the bird while I mainly looked at our surroundings.
At the ravine I noticed it looked too messy. Not naturally formed from natural causes.
"Yeesh, looks like a fight happened around here," I said after a bit of looking around.
"How can you tell?" Lust asked reminding me that he's not much of a fighter.
"I've been in enough fights, serious or not, and the ground looks like it's been uplifted or just torn into. By who or what I'm not sure."
"Oh yeah, I see it." Swap said brushing his hand on a patch of grass that was covered up by moved dirt.
"So... is that bad for us?" Lust asked a bit concerned but seemed the relax feeling the new bird friend move a bit from under his fingers.
"I don't know yet but I'm assuming yes. Anyone one able to do this has strength, power, or is some kind of creature. I would say let's turn back but we literally found out nothing yet." I really would rather leave but I had no information to bring back with me. A waste of a trip.
Something also felt off. I wasn't sure why but it felt like we were being watched. I've looked around many times but seen no body. I would just say paranoia but being watched wasn't a thought that just goes away.
"Should we go to the structure in the distance?" Swap asked and I looked towards it. Something about it seemed... familiar. I haven't been here before, I'm pretty sure I haven't. The air felt light. A bit too light now that I thought about it. It surrounded us like a pressure that I was far too used to.
That bird tried hopping from Lust to me but I wasn't having it. Immediately, I was swatting my hand shooing the creature away from my head.
"Ugh, buzz off."
"Error, its just a bird silly." Lust said as the small thing returned to his shoulder fluff.
"A bird that I don't care for. I don't like strangers touching me, animals included. Especially unknown animals." I gave the yellow creature a glare getting annoyed with its presence. Now that I was actually looking at it I don't recognize what type of bird it was. Granted there were a lot I didn't know but this one just seemed too... unique.
"Let's just go." I said.
I barely took a step before a flurry of feathers rushed past us effectively startling us. We were too close to the ravine and the weakened ground broke causing us to tumble in. Not far down but enough to be on a different ground level. Lust groaned falling in a heep and Swap slide to a stop next to him. I tumbled a bit and was pretty pissed with what just happened.
"You know what, I'm killing that bird." I pushed myself up ready to shortcut myself back up.
"Well that's not very nice. The bird just wanted to say hello," A voice called out echoing in the ravine. It sounded familiar yet not at the same time. Almost like-
"Dream? What are you doing here?" Swap asked and I looked up seeing a bright skeleton. I thought it was Dream as well but I notice the extra feathery limbs they had once they leaned forwards a bit more. Someone I definitely didn't want to see.
"Swap, that's not Dream."