Heya! I don't think I'll be putting anything before the chapter starts anymore, just because everything I'll want to say is probably going to be said after the chapter. (also, this is edited, took me 2 days and 2 nights - with very little sleep, because I don't know when I'd lose my motivation to do this - as well as a lot of smarties-)
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
As soon as Dream agreed on coming with them to find Error, the multiverse started to shake again, this one more destructive to the AUs than all the previous ones. Nightmare picked up his brother bridal style - as he was still recovering his strength - and made a portal to the original Outertale, the same one Error went to, to jump.
"But Boss what about our bags?! Shouldn't we jump with them on us?!" Dust yelled over the shaking and falling of books on shelves.
"There's no time for that! If we want to go, we've got to go now!" Everyone mentally said their goodbyes to all of their precious items before jumping through the portal, Nightmare and Dream being the last. Once they were all there, the group realized that the AU that was destroying itself was the one that they were in. They gotta jump now before all access to the void is forever lost, they'd never be able to join Error if that happened.
So, they formed a line, holding hands - in Nightmares case tentacles, since he was holding Dream - and started running towards the edge before someone could stop them and jumped, just as Ink came through the portal to see what was going on.
He gasped, and tried to get to Dream before he lost him forever, but he was too far away and they had already jumped, leaving Ink to continue his plan of ruling over this wrecked multiverse, without the rest of his Star Sans group. He did want to be the sole ruler of the multiverse after all, didn't he?
Destiny caught the 10 skeletons before they got painfully torn apart and put back together in the void for all eternity. They smiled to themself as they put them in the same place they had put Error, or rather, Misprint, in earlier. They looked as if they cringed - since they didn't exactly seem to have a face to do it with - when they changed the code for the whole group so they can better fit this multiverse. It looked like it hurt a lot, as they all whimpered in their sleep. Luckily they had remembered to heal Dream and whoever else who got hurt before this step, so it wouldn't hurt as much when they did inevitably change species altogether. They hope everything will be alright for them from now on.
When Nightmare woke up, he felt sore all over his body, like the feeling people with muscles say they get when they work out and feel it the next day. He still had connection to his tentacles - thank god - but his arms and legs felt... Like something no one should have to describe. It just felt really weird. He moved around a bit, trying to get rid of the weird feeling in his body, when he realized that his arms were currently empty of a certain golden skeleton. Alarmed, he shot upwards, only to hold back a yell when he realized why his body felt so weird. His arms and legs were transformed into four different tentacles, and the ones that are normally on his back, are now around his waist, the tentacles that were previously his legs being surrounded by them. To avoid panicking about his new octopus body, he looked around and saw that the rest of his group had also changed into hybrids of some kind.
Dream seemed to be part of a Yellow Tang Fish, his tail gold that gradually turns into a nice shade of orange for his fins, with a few scales of the same colour randomly scattered around. Blue has the tail of a Blue Whale, albeit much much smaller than the size that they actually are. Dust was part of some kind of Dolphin, probably a Dusky Dolphin, the dust that was constantly infused with his jacket showed with the design on his tail. Geno - who he had expected to be something along the lines of a Nurse Shark - was something he has never seen or read about before. He had a long, thin tail that replaced his legs, which gradually faded into a red near the tip of his tail fin, and it made him look a lot more elegant than he already was before transforming.
Killer was, ironically enough, a Killer Whale, and Cross was a Great White Shark. Nightmare guessed that Horror became a Manta Ray, considering how his arms became large fins, he could be wrong though. Fresh was, unsurprisingly, a Royal Gramma, and a very colorful one too, which meant he's past the stage of changing his gender from female to male. And last but not least, Violet, who had a shell surrounding his torso, chest, and back, so he was probably a sea turtle. At least he wouldn't feel so exposed anymore from having to show off all the time because of his AU.
He was extremely glad he read that book on animals during his last break now. Though, he realized that, much like Blue, most of their species' anatomy wasn't the actual size of the real sea creature, but a few times smaller or bigger. That, and the fact nobody was wearing a shirt, or pants, either because of their anatomy, or because they were underwater. Maybe it was a mix of both reasons, either way, the clothes would have restricted their movements. At least no one seemed to be in any pain at the moment.
Deciding that he should learn how to control his transformed limbs so he doesn't make a fool of himself in front of them later, he awkwardly dragged himself to the nearest patch of seaweed that was surrounding the area, which is a lot bigger than he had previously thought.
While he practiced using and honing his motor skills, he was extremely grateful that he had left to do this alone so that no one had to witness him struggling to control his new body, which consisted of slapping his skull and flipping himself upside down, with a lot of difficulty straightening himself up again, both of which happening more times than he'd like to admit. Though, after a while, he realized that he was easily able to control all but two of his tentacles, the ones that his legs had turned into.
However, he didn't take into account the abilities that his octopus half gave him, so when someone snuck up from behind and scared the living daylights (or would it be nightlights-?) out of him while he was practicing, the area was suddenly covered in black ink, making it hard for whoever had scared him to see. This allowed Nightmare to swim deeper into the seaweed, while he tried to comprehend what the heck just happened. That was also when he realized that he can camouflage within his surroundings, since his tentacles were now the color of the sand below him.
Hearing someone coming, he once again got startled and acted on his instincts, which made him quickly burrow into the sand to hide himself. Looking up he saw Dream, who looked as if he was having difficulty swimming, which would make sense seeing as Nightmare was also having some level of difficulty himself.
Not wanting to worry his brother any longer he got up from his spot on the ground, which surprised the heck out of Dream, and then returned to his natural color - black, like his goop - when Dream realized who was in front of him, and tackle-hugged (I feel as though I'll be using this term for a while) him.
"Brother! Why are we all part of some kind of sea creature?! Why are you an octopus?! Where are we?! Why were you in the seaweed instead of with everyone else?! How- mmf!" Nightmare cut him off by wrapping a tentacle around his mouth."Enough with the questions Dream. Firstly, we're in a different multiverse, presumably why we look like this now. I don't know why our anatomy changed into these specific forms. Secondly, I came in the seaweed so I can practice using my tentacles without making a fool of myself. I also read up on sea creatures out of boredom not too long ago, so I can tell you that I now have three hearts, nine brains, and funking blue blood and I am still trying to process that I have to control what color I am and that I spit out ink when scared. Also, can you do me a favour and tell the others not to make fun of me once I come out? I know they're most likely gonna do it anyway, well, everyone except maybe you, Blue, Violet, Geno, and maybe Fresh anyway."
Dream seemed to be processing something, then gasped, well as much as he can anyway with a tentacle wrapped around his mouth. He pointed to it, and Nightmare sighed, letting him go.
"If you read about sea creatures, then can you tell me what I am?"
"Yes I can. You are part of a Yellow Tang Fish. Unfortunately I didn't get to read too much on that particular fish just because my last break was... cut short. I can tell you what the rest are though. We should probably go to them first, stop any panic attacks from happening and whatnot." He started swimming back in the direction he came from, not wanting to know of the disasters that come from leaving them on their own for too long. Being underwater never stopped them from setting something on fire before-
"Umm... Brother?" Dream asked, breaking Nightmare out of his increasingly growing worry and anxiety induced thoughts.
"Hmm?"
"You do realize that you're currently holding my hand with what I'm assuming is your hand that was transformed into a tentacle, right?"
"What? Ah yes, well, in my defense, they all literally have minds of their own. Where else do you think my eight other brains are?" Nightmare replied with a smirk, to which Dream responded with an eye-roll, and they continued swimming towards where they hoped the others were. Not too long after however, they heard a shout, and Nightmare, being the overprotective leader of the group, suddenly sped up to the clearing, Dream still in hand- err... tentacle. During all of this though, Dream was surprised at how fast his brother had gotten used to having twice as many tentacles as he did before he became an octopus. He was still trying to learn how to use his tail properly and his brother had to learn how to control eight different limbs.
Once they emerged from the seaweed and into the clearing, Dust suddenly jumped onto Nightmare, thinking he was something else. This of course, led to ink being sprayed, Nightmare letting go of Dream, borrowing into the sand a few feet below them and once again camouflaging himself. Dust was really confused as to where the octopus went and why it looked like Nightmare, until he saw Dream, who was still swatting the water in front of him to try and get the ink away from him so he could see. Dust swam over to Dream.
"Hey, Dream, do you know where Boss went?"
"Uh, yes, I guess he got scared again." Dream said, while looking around for Nightmare. Dust, however, raised a brow when he heard that. Nightmare doesn't get scared that easily. "Anyway, he asked me to tell you to not make fun of his appearance since he was really certain that you would. He'll probably come out of hiding once the others know not to make fun of him for it."
"Uh, ok. Did he say who he wanted to know?"
"I'm pretty sure everyone has to be told. I'll tell Geno, Blue, Fresh, and Violet. You can tell the rest."
"Ok then."
Dream swam the small distance to get to the ground in order to search for Nightmare. He heard his brother sigh, and once again saw him remove himself from the ground and return to his normal color. It was honestly kinda freaky - but also really cool - watching that happen.
"I am never getting over the fact that I can get scared so easily as an octopus. C'mon let's go tell those who you said you would." While he was talking, one of his tentacles grabbed Dreams' arm again, most likely not a conscious move of his brother. The first monster they came across was Violet, who was getting used to having a shell permanently wrapped around his torso, and was currently trying to swim using his fin-turned hands and feet. Dang, that must've felt really weird to use at first. He, for whatever reason, seemed really jumpy, going into his shell whenever a sound breaks out. Nightmare knows that feeling as he had to experience being scared twice so far, with his instincts automatically carrying out a defence mechanism.
"Hey Viole-... Y'know I won't hurt you right? Why are you in your shell?" Dream asked softly, hoping the other would calm down. "I-I honestly don't know why I keep doing that, it's just my instincts are telling me to and I can't help but listen to them."
"Ah, so you're like me then, good to know. I'll have you know that these instincts are what the animal we became has. Mine is an octopus, so I-"
"Pffft- w-wait, so - heh - so when the others always called you an octopus, it was actually true?" Violet asked, coming out of his shell while trying his best not to let more snickers out than he already did at how funny that sounded. Nightmare meanwhile sighed, he saw this coming yet he was still surprised that it happened. He doesn't like how this turned out.
"Anyway, now that you're feeling better, can you swim? If not, I suggest you figure it out while I get the others, if you have already figured it out, then you can help me get the others. Just get them all to meet me over there by the rock." Then he left, pulling Dream along, who waved bye to Violet, before trying to keep up to Nightmare so his arm wasn't pulled out of its socket. Violet can only wave back a little and staring at where they went before chuckling to himself at how funny Nightmare's new body really was. He'd have to be careful not to laugh about it in front of him though, as he looked kinda upset when he did. He just hoped that the others wouldn't give him too much trouble.
"I honestly hope that I won't have to hide or camouflage because something scared me in front of the others. They'd never let me live it down." Nightmare said, waiting for Dream to catch up a bit, then continued to find someone else at a slower pace for his brother. Dream was thankful for this as it gave him the chance to learn how to swim properly.
"Well if that ever happens, brother, I will be on your side. You know that I'd never laugh at you, right?"
"Well yeah, I knew that the moment I accidently got startled the first time. You were the first one to see that happen by the way."
"Dream was the first one to see what happen?" They turned around to see Geno, or at least Dream did. Nightmare listened to his instincts again and squirted ink before diving to the sandy floor for camouflage. Geno, not expecting that, started coughing, much like Dream, and swatting away the ink in his face.
"Nightmare, you gotta stop doing that! I get that it's your instincts but this is the third time in the past five minutes! You know what, after we find everyone, we're gonna scare you until you get it under control." Nightmare sighed, coming out of camouflage, grumbling to himself. He obviously didn't like the idea of that happening anytime soon. "Anyway, to answer your question Geno, that was what I was the first to see happen."
"Ok, uh Night you good there?"
"What? Oh, yeah I'm fine, why do you ask?" He answered a bit grumpily, wiping off the sand on his skin.
"'Cuz you looked like you were expecting something bad to happen. Like someone's just gonna start throwing rocks at you or something despite knowing that no one would dare do that to you."
*mumbling from a goopy octopus*
"Can't exactly hear you Night, mind speaking up a bit?"
"I said: 'it has already happened before'!" The look on his face said everything they needed to know, betraying that wasn't what he wanted to say. He squirted out more ink before swimming away after making sure that his tentacles weren't attached to anybody.
"Brother wait! That's in the past! It won't happen anymore!" Dream exclaimed once he stopped coughing, helplessly reaching his hand out to the patch of seaweed where his brother went to lose the two that would definitely try to chase after him.
"I... didn't think he was that scared..." Geno muttered out, his skull glitching out more than it usually does, showing his concern.
"W-what do you m-mean? S-sorry, I can't seem to read emotions properly right now. I-I don't think he can either."
"Didn't you see the look on his face though? The one where- you know what, we can discuss this after we find him. He can explain what he meant by that afterwards as well. C'mon!" Geno replied, taking Dreams' hand into his own. Dream nodded, and just when they were about to find Nightmare in the seemingly never ending seaweed, a scream broke out.
2937 words! Yay! Also, yes I know that Nightmare is really out of character right now. There's a reason for that, and it will be explained probably in either next chapter or the one after that. I don't know, I just really like to see him like this for some reason. Pls don't attack meh ;-;
Anyway, this is a longer-ish chapter than the last one, I hope I edited it well enough so there aren't any spelling or grammatical errors. If there are, please tell me so I can fix it. Not sure when I'll update next, sorry for those who don't like cliffhangers. Also I'm trying to fit more dialogue in my chapters, but everytime that I do, there's just more narrative to keep it uneven and I can't control it! lkhfahkfhkjsahf;-;lahfnjkashfvnalkdjfhoiahgksahfsidf
Whelp, Hope you had/have a good day/night!