Question: Should Ink know ?
Answer: No, no he should not know about Dream's position lol.
Question: The ones I'm afraid of are the people who Nightmare refers to. Even the star Sans would join hand with the gang if they took Dream and you're telling me that they are still a serious menace ? Is it just fairytales to keep Dream by his side for as long as possible ? Are they real and if yes, how does he know them ?
Answer: Yes, they are serious. They are not fairytales. We'll get into how Nightmare knows them soon. ;)
Question: Why not just infuse the outfit with Dream's aura?
Answer: ...I did not think of that. Genius idea. Too bad it's a bit late for that. ;-;
Comments are welcome and appreciated!
Please enjoy!
~~~~~
It had been two months since Blue had taken up the role of Guardian of Positivity. Almost everyone had accepted it by now, although there were still some that needed more convincing. Dream wasn't sure why those people couldn't just accept that Blue was the Guardian of Positivity, but he did enjoy going out with Nightmare and the gang when they did their work!
Well..he didn't enjoy all of it.
He liked seeing different universes, and he loved to pick flowers and admire all the interesting aspects of the AUs..but he didn't really like what Nightmare and the others did when they worked. They..hurt people. They hurt a lot of people, and they burned buildings down, and they made people sad..Dream didn't like that part. Nightmare told him that it was his job as the Guardian of Negativity to do those things, and he told Dream that it was all right that he didn't like it. He told Dream that he didn't like it, either. Once that was settled, Dream tried not to dwell on it; Nightmare didn't have a choice, and that was that. The universes would be reset eventually, anyway, which meant that the damage would be undone soon enough! Dream was happy that resets existed; they could undo bad things! At the moment, Dream was with Swapyrus and Robin in the castle, and the three were playing a very fun game! Nightmare and the others were out on a supply run, apparently to get food and other things - Dream couldn't come on those trips, unfortunately..
"Your turn, Robin!" Dream handed the bitty the dice.
"Thanks!" Robin flew up a few feet and let go of the blocks to roll them, since he couldn't exactly do it the 'correct' way.
"Ooh, you're going to jail." Swapyrus commented. "Bad luck."
"Aw, man.." Robin came back down, pushing his piece to the jail square. "I always have the worst luck with these.."
"It's okay, Robin!" Dream assured. "You'll roll doubles, and then you'll get out!"
"If you say so."
Swapyrus took his turn next, landing on a normal square. "How much do I owe you?"
"Uh.." Dream looked at his property card. "Six G!"
"Here ya go." Swapyrus paid his rent. "Your turn."
"Okay!" Dream took the dice and rolled, also landing on a property. "Um, I want to buy this one!"
"It's three hundred." Robin informed.
"Okay.." Dream counted out his money, before putting three hundred into the bank. "Mine!"
"All right, let's see.." Robin rolled again, unfortunately missing out on his chance to get doubles. "Woe is me; I'll be stuck in jail forever!"
Dream giggled; Robin was silly! "Your turn, Swap-" The little one paused, sensing the creation of a portal (Dust had taught him how to sense those!). "Oh, they're home! I wanna go say hi!"
"We'll wait for ya, kiddo." Swapyrus stated.
"Okay!"
Dream got up and ran down the halls, coming closer to the source of the portal, where he found the others!
"Nighty!" He ran up to hug his brother, chuckling when Nightmare lifted him up.
"It's good to see you, too, brother." Nightmare smiled. "Having fun with your friends?"
"Yeah! I'm winning!"
"I'm glad to hear that. And I suppose you'll be glad to hear that we're going to be going out later, all of us."
"Oh, boy!" Dream gasped eagerly. "Can we go to a universe with lots of flowers? I wanna make flower crowns for everyone!"
"I'll see what I can do."
"Yay!"
"We'll leave in an hour; make sure you're prepared."
"Okay, Nighty! Now I gotta go finish playing with Swap and Robin - bye!"
"Have fun, Dream."
Dream sprinted back to the living room to finish his game, informing his friends about the situation and their new time limit. Once that was settled, the three played quicker, trying to finish in time for Dream to still get ready to go before the mission. Within fifty minutes, Swap had the misfortune of landing on a hotel, and he was out of the game; Robin had been outed earlier for a similar reason.
"I win!" Dream hopped to his feet, cheering.
"Good job, kid - I won't go so easy on ya next time, though!"
"Well, I won't go easy, either!"
"You should start getting ready; you have to go in ten minutes." Robin reminded.
"Oh, yeah!" Dream nodded, running off to prepare. "Bye, Swap and Robin!"
"See ya, kid!" Swap waved, along with Robin.
Dream ran off to his and Nighty's room, humming as he grabbed a jacket; if the others decided to enter a Snowdin, it would be really cold, and he had regretted going the first time in short sleeves. Once he had his jacket, he took off his crown and cape, putting them by his bedside. He wanted to bring them, but the chance of losing them was too much to risk; these were gifts from Mama and Nighty, after all! After getting everything settled there, Dream left the room, heading to the kitchen to grab a quick snack before going; these missions could take hours, and Dream couldn't help getting hungry during them! He grabbed some grapes and crackers, stuffing them into his jacket pockets before deciding he was ready to go. He met the others in the living room, where he found that Swap had gone home - that made sense. Robin was sitting on the coffee table, kicking his legs.
"Ready, Dream?" Nightmare asked.
"Uh-huh!" Dream nodded, pulling his hood up in case it would be cold.
"Let's go, then." Nightmare opened a portal, and Cross, Killer, Dust, and Horror went through.
"Bye, Dream!" Robin waved; he was too small and fragile to go on missions, and he really didn't want to, anyway - he preferred the castle.
"Bye, Robin!" Dream giggled, hopping through the portal, and Nightmare followed, closing the gateway behind him.
This was, in fact, a Snowdin. It was one with flowers popping out of the snow, though; Nighty was so thoughtful! Dream grinned, picking one of the flowers eagerly; there were plenty to spare.
"Cross, you keep an eye on Dream." Nightmare ordered.
"Yes, boss." Cross saluted; one of the others always watched over Dream - he liked having the company.
"The rest of you, let's get started."
Nightmare walked off with Killer, Horror, and Dust, leaving Cross and Dream to enter the edge of the forest; that was where Dream was typically limited to roam, since he needed to stay out of sight. He sat down behind a bush, humming as he picked some more flowers and began his mission to make flower crowns for everyone - starting with Cross, of course! He weaved the stems carefully, making sure to do it exactly as he had once been taught..he may not have liked who had taught it to him, but he definitely liked flower crowns; that balanced everything out! He made crown after crown, until Ink and Blue showed up in the universe; Blue looked great in his new outfit! Nightmare and the others - minus Cross, of course - stood to oppose them, and a fight began. Dream then began his super-secret duties, making Blue's attacks glow a nice gold color. It was sometimes hard to get every single one, but Dream managed; he didn't like it when Blue sent a few dozen bones at a time, though!
Dream was fascinated by fights, however. There was something about them that seemed..natural. Maybe he got that feeling because a lot of his Guardian-related duties had just been fighting off people who had wanted the apples from the Tree; maybe it was a different reason. Whatever it was, though, it intrigued him. He had read a book once that said fights were a way of communicating complex emotions without words, whether those emotions were good or not. Fights could express fear, and they could express joy. Dream wasn't quite sure how yet, though. Humans seemed to think of fights as either entertainment or evil, with no in-between, but monsters had a different way of viewing things. He would find out eventually, but for now, he had to deal with the fact that he couldn't understand it fully, yet. Dream was okay with that, though; he would just figure it out as he got older, like everything else!
Dream wished he could grow older faster, sometimes..but at the same time, he didn't. What if-
Dream heard shuffling behind him. But he couldn't just ignore the battle; he had a job to do! But..he wanted to make sure Cross was all right. He turned for a split second, which quickly turned into more than a split second.
"Cross?" Dream turned his back to the battle, choosing to press himself as well as he could against the bush; Cross was nowhere to be seen, and the only thing in his place was a bunch of snow that had been moved around violently..
Dream tried to focus; he had to summon a weapon, because if Cross wasn't here, he..he needed to focus! He didn't have five seconds to compose himself before something was pressed over his face from behind. He felt a hand wrap around his ribcage, and he struggled, but whoever was holding him was so much stronger than he was! His breathing sped up, and he registered a faint smell..it was sweet, but it was also reminiscent of chemicals..his breathing began to slow, and his struggles ceased as his frame went limp. His eyesockets closed slowly, and the last thing he saw before descending into unconsciousness was..Cross..tied to a tree branch with..bright blue strings..
This battle was going well. Nightmare was feeling good today, and he could effortlessly dodge all the attacks that came his way. Bones and paint could not touch him! The fight today was straightforward, and he and his boys were easily overpowering Ink and Blue for the first fifteen minutes of the encounter. After those fifteen minutes, Blue's attacks stopped glowing, but Nightmare could hardly blame his brother; Dream had probably either gotten distracted or exhausted himself from all the magic use, both of which had happened a few times before. That was fine; Nightmare didn't mind that at all.
What wasn't fine was the sudden surge of panic he felt from Cross. He froze up from the intensity of it, allowing Ink to land a particularly startling blow, but he couldn't focus on that. He needed to end this fight now, because Cross was the one guarding Dream, and if he was panicking, that meant-
Dream would be fine. Dream would be just fine! Nightmare just had to get this stupid artist out of comission; Blue wasn't as much of a threat. He focused some particularly strong attacks onto the artist. And after just two minutes (he could only hope that wasn't too long), he had forced his enemies to retreat. As soon as they were gone, Nightmare made what could have only been described as a mad dash to Dream's hiding spot...Dream wasn't there.
"Cross?" Killer called out, from Nightmare's side.
"Dream?" Horror looked around.
A muffled voice reached them from above - Cross was..in a tree. Blue strings suspended him, and immediately, Nightmare's worries faded; Error had probably kidnapped Dream to have a visit again - it was the glitch's only way to invite someone to his home, it seemed. Nightmare used his tentacles to unwrap Cross, who still seemed panicked for some reason.
"What's the matter, Cross?" Nightmare questioned.
"D-Dream, he-" Cross stared at the bush.
"Yes, Dream isn't here..Error must have kidnapped him. It'll be fine, Cross; Dream will be fine."
"N-not Error.." Cross shook his skull; he was shaking..
"..What do you mean not Error? Those are his strings, right? So it must have been him."
"Boss.." Dust picked up a cloth from the snowy ground, smelling it before quickly pushing it away from himself, holding his skull with his free hand. "Chloroform - pretty concentrated, too.."
"..." Nightmare stared at the cloth.
No.
"Boss..it's just Error playing a prank, right?" Horror desperately wanted to believe that, almost as much as Nightmare did.
Nightmare's gaze shifted to the strings, and he let out a trembling sigh.
No..
"We..need to get back to the castle.." Nightmare whispered.
"..This isn't Error, is it?" Killer was worried; Nightmare could feel the worry sitting in the air as if it were wall pressing in from all sides.
"..No." Nightmare opened a portal home, slowly walking through.
His worst fears were coming true.
~~~chapter end woot~~~
Dream bean uh-
Dream bean..haha..
Thanks for reading my questionable search history writing!
Bye!