"Why shouldn't I kill you right now?" Nightmare asked Papyrus, a sharpened tentacle poised are his soul.
"I DIDN'T COME FOR A FIGHT. I CAME TO ASK YOU FOR HELP," Papyrus explained, not phased at how close he was to dusting.
Nightmare was slightly perplexed by the fact that Papyrus was just staring him down. What was really getting at him was that he was being so negative. Papyruses were normally positive and sickening to him. Few would ever be negative, much less classic Papyrus.
"Why are you so... negative?" Nightmare asked, taking his tentacle away. It wasn't any use to hold it there, there was no fear coming off him in the slightest anyways.
"INK AND DREAM MADE A MISTAKE AND IT SEEMS I'M THE ONLY ONE TAKING ACTION TO FIX IT," Papyrus explained. "I NEED YOU ALL TO STOP THIS CHILDISH WAR TO SAVE MY BROTHER."
"And why do we have to save your brother?" asked an annoyed Killer from behind Nightmare.
"BECAUSE YOU ALL UNDERSTAND HOW IMMATURE, STUPID, AND SOMETIMES LAUGHABLE INK AND DREAM ARE WHEN THEY TRY AND RESCUE ANYONE," Papyrus said. Papyrus was never a fan of Ink, Dream, Nightmare, or any of the people that 'protected' the universe. To him, they all did more harm than good. If you wanted to help someone, it was better they know you're actually helping instead of assuming they knew everything they were doing wrong.
"What do you mean 'rescue someone'?" Dust asked from beside Papyrus, his knife slowly lowering after seeing Nightmare remove his tentacle.
"BECAUSE OF YOUR CHILDISH WAR WITH INK AND DEAM, THEY SENT MY BROTHER INTO ANOTHER MULTIVERSE TO GET A BIGGER TEAM," he explained, "BUT THEY HAVEN'T FOUND ANYWAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH HIM FOR TWO MONTHS. I'M ASKING FOR YOU TO STOP FIGHTING THE STAR SANSES LONG ENOUGH TO RESCUE MY BROTHER."
— | Classic | —
Classic hadn't expected to hear anything like that, much less someone from Cross' AU. It was definitely interesting. Then he remembered that Cross didn't have an AU.
"Wait, wait, wait. Cross has people from an AU that doesn't exist?" Classic asked to clarify.
"That's not it," Crazy said slightly annoyed. "Cross can still have the people of his AU, but certain circumstances are needed for those multiverses."
"Like what?" Classic asked.
"Hmm, an evil Ink, a half of a soul, and the destruction of almost an entire multiverse," Crazy said.
"That explains why I never knew," Classic said. "So, when am I going to get that 'army' to get out of here?"
"Just be patient," Crazy chided. "The armies here are formed by those who want to help."
"So, for us to make an army, we need to trust that most people want to help me?" Classic asked. "That shouldn't be the case! You have such strong people down here that you should just be able to make the army without asking them!"
"That's not how it works down here," Crazy said seriously. "Some of the people down here hate how they're special and would fight tooth and nail to keep any sort of army from being made."
Classic mulled over this. Why should some of these people shun their unique abilities? Now that he thought about it, he'd never really seen Crazy's abilities other than shapeshifting. Was Crazy self-conscious about his abilities?
"Are you self conscious?" Classic asked.
"About what?" Crazy asked.
"Your abilities."
Crazy looked away. He sighed and looked back to Classic. He then looked back down.
"Yeah, I am," Crazy said. "I just done't like them. Never have and I never will."
"What exactly are they other than the shapeshifting?" Classic asked fairly intrigued.
"Well, I can only shape shift into those that I've seen," Crazy clarified. "My other main ability is hypnotizing."
"You can hypnotize?" Classic asked surprised. "Please demonstrate."
"On who, you?" Crazy asked rhetorically.
"I guess me or that Papyrus," Classic said.
Before Crazy could say much else, X-Gaster came out of the back room. He looked proud and glad.
"Your army is waiting outside," he said, moving to the doors.
"There's no way you got together an army without sending people in and out those doors?" Classic asked, looking at the doors in disbelief.
"I have my ways," X-Gaster said with smile.
He threw the doors open and at least a thousand people stood on the other side, standing proudly. Classic saw many people he recognized. He saw Template and Illusion standing near the front, he saw some errors surrounding someone and went the assumption that it was BlueBerror based on the frantic waving from that direction, and what surprised him most was seeing almost every Nightmare standing in the front, standing to attention and awaiting orders.
"Listen!" X-Gaster said in an authoritative voice that commanded attention. "We have a guest that needs to get home but he has to get through the Center for that. He'll need your help getting there."
A few of the people nodded but the others gave incredulous looks.
"If you're wondering why we need all of you for something like this, it has come to my attention that Nightmare is also in need of help," X-Gaster said. A lot of people snorted and looked ready to quit right then. "He was thrown in the dungeons beneath the Center for saving our guest. It is unlikely that Dream has any idea about the fate of his brother so I feel that we should free him before Ink recalls him."
The Nightmare's straighten at that. Classic had seen how much they cared about their brothers when they thought no one was looking. He guessed that Dream not knowing about Nightmare's situation brought that out in them.
"Now, for more specific roles," X-Gaster continued once he knew everyone on board had their full attention on him. "Nightmares and Dreams, you are to be the inner guard or the inner layer of everything. Errors and Inks, you are the next layer. Everyone else is in the outer later. Malfunction, you in particular will stay closer to our guest than anyone else. If anyone gets through the inner layer, give them hell. Justice, I want you in the skies. I know you just lost a fight in the arena really bad, but I know you're still agile enough to distract."
"YES SIR!" they all shouted in unison.
X-Gaster gestured for Classic to go over to him. Classic went over and he felt the eyes of everyone there looking at him and evaluating him. Classic himself looked at two in particular that X-Gaster had called.
Justice looked a little worse for wear and was heavily leaning on a crutch. His wings were somewhat tattered and at least five feathers had fallen to the ground around his feet in the time he had been standing. Classic had to seriously wonder why X-Gaster would have him in the skies when his wings looked like the feathers would fall the moment he flapped them.
The other, Malfunction, was... unique. Based on the name, Classic guessed he was an Error, but he wouldn't have thought with how he looked. He had dark, pastel blue bones with a similarly colored jacket. His tears streaks were multicolored and didn't just go down his cheeks but also above his eyes. His eyes themselves were odd and weren't like Error's eye lights at all. They were multicolored with pastel colors and reminded Classic of pinwheels. He looked over at Classic and made eye contact. He nodded toward him and that was it.
Classic looked over at Crazy and saw him looking ashamed while looking at Malfunction. Did they know each other?
"We're here!" came an all too familiar voice from the side.
Classic saw Pj, Palette, and Goth going over to them each looking absolutely determined.
"Kids, I told you that you weren't going with them," X-Gaster said with a sigh.
"With all due respect sir, we didn't come to be told we couldn't. We came to join and protect someone that's been taking care of us better than any other adult has," Pj said looking X-Gaster in the eyes.
Classic would be lying if that didn't hit his soul at its core. He meant that much to these kids?
"You're only children. This could start an actual war with the Council and we could all be recalled," X-Gaster said. "I will not have children putting their lives on the line."
"We can defend ourselves just fine," Goth said, eye lights boring into X-Gaster's.
Classic could tell that these kids weren't going to take 'no' for an answer. But Classic could also tell that Ink wouldn't mind killing these people, especially the Inks. The last thing Classic wanted to think about is what he would do to two children were supposedly his. It was honestly scary.
Crazy silently groaned. Classic knew without a doubt that he had a soft spot for children. It was fun watching how he interacted with the children and the fact that he ran a joke shop made him wonder if he was just trying to prove himself to be alright. Classic knew that Crazy wanted to do everything in his power to get these children to not put themselves in harm's way for this, but he knew that these kids were determined to protect him.
X-Gaster pinched the bridge of his nose. He himself knew what horrors Ink could and would do to these people and the last thing he wanted was to start an all out war. Though, what else could this cause? Ink hates these people because hey didn't fit into any of the districts and most were outcodes or were versions of the Council. Ink would absolutely destroy the children.
"I am not going to let you three kill yourselves," he said, trying to stare the children down with a look that should've scared them.
Palette and Goth looked away almost immediately, but Pj held his gaze easily.
"We are not taking 'no' for an answer, sir," he said, his own gaze looking like that of an adult. Classic had known that Pj was the most mature one, but he hadn't expected this.
"Sir, I would suggest just letting them in," said a Nightmare. "We can all tell that they won't take 'no' for an answer so we might as well let them join."
"Brother, we can't let children join a war," said Shattered. Classic was surprised to here that his brother was also corrupted, but he couldn't linger on that.
"WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY CAN FIGHT," said Blueberror from the crowd.
Some muttered in reply, agreeing with the statement.
"I wouldn't doubt what these children can do," came a booming voice from above.
Classic looked up and saw Vacío looking down at the assembled army. Everyone seemed surprised that Vacío had come all the way there to defend these children.
"I've seen them sparring with each other behind the arena stands," Vacío explained. "Pj can create just about anything with his head, Palette's ability with any weapon is fascinating, and Goth's handle on his magic is astounding."
The army looked from Vacío to the kids and back again. They seemed to be curious as to whether or not believe the claims or not. X-Gaster gave a sigh of defeat before looking back to the children.
"Fine, but you are to stay within the inner guard no matter what," X-Gaster relented.
The children were about to cheer before realizing they needed to line up with everyone else.
"Now, you have two days to prepare yourselves. Check your uniforms and children, go find the tailor and get uniforms," X-Gaster commanded.
"YES SIR!" they all said, the children's voices a slightly higher pitch than everyone else's.
"Good. Dismissed until two days from now," X-Gaster said.
With a wave of his hand, the army went away. Some teleported, others ran off, but the children ran over to Classic and hugged him.
"We couldn't just not join the army to help you," said Palette.
"When we heard that X was making an army for you, we had to come," Goth reiterated.
"Even if we don't get to really fight, it'll be a nice middle finger to Ink," Pj said with a smile.
All Classic could do was hug the children. He was honored that all of this was to help him get home.
"Thank you kids," Classic said. It was all he could say.
"You all better get to the tailor. You need those uniforms soon," Crazy told them.
They quickly ran off after that was said, excited to be potentially sporting one of the army uniforms.
Crazy looked up at Vacío. "You care to explain watching the children sparring behind the stands?"
"There's not much to explain," Vacío said. "It's honestly hard to miss the randomly appearing objects that come up around the bleachers. And the significant sound of a Gaster blaster firing followed by a 'sorry' is hard not to pin on a kid."
"Well, why did you convince X-Gaster to let them join? They could get killed for Toby's sake!" Crazy yelled.
"I see you underestimate the children," Vacío said, turning around and walking off.
Crazy grumbled as his footsteps died away.
"Crazy, how about you go home," Classic said to calm him down. "You need some rest."
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right," Crazy said. "I just need to go visit someone before I leave. Knowing him, he's joined the army too."
Crazy walked away with that said. As Classic looked after him, he thought about what it was like back home. Did time move differently? He had only been here for a week at most, but what if he had been gone a year in his multiverse? It was scary to think of everything that could've happened while he was gone.
He shook himself and headed to the inn. He needed to get out but he had to wait. The army here, he knew, were going to make sure he got home, but at what cost?
— | Papyrus | —
Ink and Dream stared in shock as Papyrus lead Nightmare and his gang through a portal right into their hideout. When they went into battle stances, Papyrus held up a hand to stop them.
"NO NEED," Papyrus said and Nightmare's tentacles subconsciously sharpened. "THEY'RE ON OUR SIDE FOR NOW."
"That's... that's... that's impossible," Dream said, eyes trained on Nightmare who only glared back.
"Based on what Papyrus said, you lost Classic Sans," Killer said from behind Nightmare.
"And you do know what happens if he dies, right?" Nightmare asked.
When no one answered Nightmare gave an exasperated sigh.
"Our whole multiverse could collapse," he said.
"That can't be true," Dream said. He looked to Ink for conformation, but Ink's face was grave.
"So, consider this a temporary truce until we can get Classic back," Nightmare said.
They looked suspiciously at one another before shaking hands. This was just to get Classic back and they were going to do it as soon as possible.