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fallenasleepyetagain · 2 years ago

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Boat Conversations - Dreamswap Fic

Part One

(although you don't need to read it before you read this one)

Media: UTMV/UTAU - Dreamswap

Genres: Pirate AU, human AU, the trio of Buffoons talking about their experiences at sea, gen-fic, dialogue & exposition heavy? (it's fun tho I promise), can be interpreted as romance, Kevin is featured pretty prominently (he's my silly guy), can be seen as romance, heavy emphasis on Nightmare and Error's relationship

Characters: Nightmare, Cross (she/her), Error (she/her), Kevin the Chicken, Dream (mentioned), Ink (she/her, mentioned), Blue (mentioned), unnamed members of Cross' family (mentioned)

Pairing(s): Cross/Nightmare/Error (Their relationship can be taken either romantically or platonically)

CW/TW: Mention of family death, mention of a suicide mission, mentions of abuse (nothing in detail), mentions of ship crashes, if you know the characters' backstories then any TW for them apply here.

Other Notes: @raccoon-in-a-dumpster I wrote more :3 This time featuring the Meme Squad! (sorry it took a bit LOL)

Word Count: 5373 Words

The small boat swayed side to side along the water. The sail was down, but not aimed anywhere. The moon was at its fullest and the sky was clear. All of the stars in the sky sparkled and reflected in the water. The boat itself was small, and only housed three people and a chicken. Yes, a chicken. A seaside chicken that wasn’t meant for eating was certainly unusual, but Nightmare would never do anything without his best buddy. Speaking of, Nightmare was one of the three members aboard the small ship. The ship was made of a gorgeous red wood, with one large sail, one small sail, and not many other decorations on it. It was a pretty ship, but not exactly extravagant. Not like Dream von Licht’s Radiance. Nightmare stroked Kevin’s (that's the chicken) hackles, the small bird trilling as he did so. Nightmare walked the length of his ship, which wasn’t named. It was likely that he would have to replace it sooner rather than later. He couldn’t get attached to it. Dream always came by with his troops and burned down, punctured holes, or whatever the fuck else to his ship.

The amount of boats he had gone through within the couple of months he’s been with his two other buddies was well into the double digits. It was exhausting having to steal ships constantly, and having to get new stuff over and over. Sometimes, he just considered handing himself over to Dream, that it wasn’t worth the trouble of fighting back. He always shook his head and tried desperately not to think about that kind of outcome. He wasn’t going to give up that easily. If Dream wanted him, then the bastard would have to get him himself.

The chicken in his arms shifted and squirmed, and Nightmare set Kevin down and gently scratched his head. He had made it to the helm of the boat and glanced around. It was quiet, and the air was crisp. It wasn’t a terribly cold night, and he was able to just wear a short-sleeved shirt without much issue. He slipped his hands into his pockets, Kevin trailing him, preening himself every so often. He looped around the helm and then started a trek back to the otherside of the boat. He wasn’t planning on sleeping tonight, so pacing the boat and hanging out with his chicken was the plan for the night.

Once Nightmare got to the other side of the boat, he realized that staying up wasn’t going to be a solo activity. Kevin cooed, announcing both his and Nightmare’s presence to Error who was sitting at the edge of the boat. She appeared unconcerned at the fact that she could fall right over into the ocean. She had a cup of coffee in her hands, and it was still steaming.

Nightmare shifted awkwardly on his feet, “Hey?”

Error flinched slightly, but turned her head around. She pushed up her red, comically large, rounded glasses. Settling them on her nose. “Sup. Have a seat?”

Without too much difficulty, Nightmare hopped over the fence and plopped next to Error, a good amount of space between them. Error had a whole set up out here, damn. With a fresh cup of coffee, and some sort of crochet project in her lap. There was also a lantern on the opposite side of her, sitting precariously on the fence behind her.

“Does that not give you anxiety?” Nightmare asked, wheezing out slightly. She took a glance at what he was referring to, that being the lantern.

Error shrugged, the crochet needles clinking together as she mindlessly worked on the project. “It’ll be fine. I’m pretty much anxious all the time.”

“SAME!” Cross shouted from the window leading to the living space. Error put her head in her hands and Nightmare snickered.

“COME DOWN HERE AND JOIN US!” Nightmare shouted back, laughing slightly to himself.

“OK!” And the window was slammed closed.

“And there goes my peace and quiet.” Error said, accented with an eye roll and a soft, if exasperated smile. Nightmare snickered in response, and leaned back. It was a little nerve wracking, being at the very edge of the ship. Luckily the skies were clear, and the water wasn’t moving too fast. If one of them were to fall in, they’d be alright. It would be scary and shitty but they wouldn’t drown or be left behind.

“What are you doing up?” Error asked him, going back to her crochet project.

“Couldn’t sleep. You?”

Error just shrugged, and turned to her side to pet Kevin’s head, since he had appeared out of nowhere to join them. The chicken cooed as Error stroked his head, and sat down when she ceased.

“Vague but ok.”

“My answer is the same as yours, dickhead, I couldn't sleep.”

“Don’t you complain about being tired all the time?”

“Don’t you?” Nightmare scoffed and rolled his eyes. Error got him there. He pulled up one of his legs into his lap, allowing the other one to dangle over the edge. After a few moments, Cross had finally made her way down to the back of the boat. Cross looked at the two dangling over the edge, before deciding to make the objectively correct decision to not sit along the ledge of the boat. Kevin burrowed himself in between Cross’s feet, and tucked his head back into himself, making the decision that none of the humans on the boat can seem to make: going to sleep.

“Couldn’t sleep either?”

“Yup.” Nightmare said as Error hummed in agreement. Cross paused and slid down the fence, sitting down, her back to Nightmare’s. The boat rocked side to side gently, the waves crashing against the wood, the smell of the sea, and the sound of Error’s crocheting needles clicking together was nice. It was just the three (er…four) of them on the open water, no Dream or navy in sight. None of them could remember the last time they had a relaxed, not stressful time like this.

They had no need to be anywhere, and being on the sea was the safest option for them. They were outlawed everywhere else. Supplies were high and they had no need to make any stops. Being at sea, with no place to go in mind was nice. Just allowing the sea to take them to wherever they wanted. Cross bent down and scritched at Kevin’s neck, the rooster cooing slightly in his sleep. Nightmare yawned and stretched his arms out, his back popping as he did so.

“It’s quiet tonight.” Error spoke, her tongue sticking out of her mouth slightly as she worked.

“It’s nice though. Especially without Captain Von Bitch on our asses.”

“Mm.” Error nodded, pushing back a braid that had fallen in front of her face. “Although I do question his motives.”

“I think his motives are that he’s an asshole.”

“That is not what I mean at all but okay.”

Nightmare leaned against his knees and looked at Error. He wasn’t particularly fond of this conversation, but he wanted to see what Error was thinking. Especially if he needed to correct any factual errors that Error might have about him. The last thing he wanted was his friends believing that Dream was less of a dick than he actually was. Some people believed that Dream was some angel, and it pissed him off to no end. “What…do you mean then?”

“We do not qualify as pirates, since we hardly even steal and most violence we do is in self defense. While I don’t think our actions are well within the law - CROSS - but we aren’t pirates. And Dream exists in this weird gray area of not-pirate but also not-navy. And yet he claims that we’re pirates and he is not and it just doesn’t make sense? In all technicality he’s breaking the law as much as we are.” Error paused, “Does that make sense? I don’t know if I’m making sense.”

“No no, I totally get it.” Nightmare shook his head. “It’s because he’s a hypocrite. It’s part of who he is.” They had both deserted the navy. And yet he was the one Dream called a pirate. Truly if dramatic irony was a person, it would be Dream.

“You’ve known him for like, forever then?” Cross questioned, one of her eyebrows raised.

“Unfortunately.”

How could Nightmare not notice the quiet exchange of eye-contact between Error and Cross? The silent gesture of Error telling Cross to not to push any further. He liked that about Error, really. He knew that she understood not wanting to talk about someone, or even think about them. She knew when it was time to change subjects. He appreciated it. He pretended that he didn’t see it though, preferring to stroke Kevin’s head. The chicken purred, which is a thing that could happen! Most people associate purring with cats but chickens do it too! Nightmare loved telling Error and Cross chicken facts. Error found it less fun but Cross was always interested.

“I think it’s kind of mean to blame me for all the crimes we commit. You and Nightmare aren’t innocent either!”

Error rolled her eyes so hard that Nightmare worried that she would roll them into a different dimension. “I never said that we weren’t. You just tend to steal shit even though you don’t have to. Then we get in trouble and then we have to go back out to sea which makes us vulnerable.”

“You people don’t appreciate me.”

“I appreciate you, Cross.” Nightmare spoke, looking up at her.

A hand gently patted his forehead and he snickered, “THANK YOU.”

There was another silence, and the three took a second to listen. There was the sloshing of the waves against their vessel, Kevin’s soft trilling, the clicking of Error’s knitting needles, and no sound of another ship approaching them. It had been around a year since Nightmare picked up Error to be a part of his mini “pirate” crew, and nearly two years since he found Cross. To say that they were close was an understatement. At sea it was just them, they couldn’t exactly get away from each other. They had seen shit, and been through shit, and even though Nightmare was sure that they’d eventually get tired of his bullshut and leave, they didn’t.

Some aspects of their personal history often got lost. Nightmare was especially notorious for not talking about himself. And most of their conversations were making up random stories or telling each other ridiculous stories about who knows what. It was inevitable that heavier conversations would come up on occasion.

Much to Cross and Error’s misfortune, Nightmare was feeling particularly somber. Maybe it was the nighttime, the quiet, or maybe he was just in a more grim mood than usual.

“Cross?”

The clicking of knitting needles got quieter, “Yea?”

“Have you lived at sea before? Like as a kid?” Nightmare asked. He was honestly hoping that she had, it would just make his brain happy. He hadn’t gone out to sea until he was nineteen and Error was a maybe. She couldn’t remember much of her life before she met Blue, and subsequently Nightmare and Error. The last thing she remembered were flashes of a terrible storm, and then awakening on a beach where she met Blue. It was entirely possible that she was always at sea, but no one could really be sure. If Cross was always at sea, then it would just make their little group complete.

“Dude I’ve been on the ocean since I was little.”

Nightmare mentally pumped his fist.

“Really? I didn’t think that it would be a good idea to bring kids onto open water.” Error commented, taking a second to stop her knitting and look up at Cross. Cross nodded, leaning into the ship railing.

“It’s not. My dad was a retired navy officer and I think it fucked him up badly or some bullshit. Maybe he was always fucking nuts, who knows. I never really had a home on land until I was like, twenty. Then I met you guys and the rest is history.” Cross laughed softly, although it didn’t reach her face. She spoke of her father on occasion, often by cussing or cursing him out.

“What happened?”

“My family had enough, y’know?” Nightmare and Error could only assume what Cross had meant. “And one day when I was seventeen or so, I dunno, they dropped me off at a town with an old family friend. I wanted to go with them but…my mom made me stay behind.”

“Cross you don’t-” Nightmare started before Cross shushed him. She took a seat on the opposite side of the fence, back to back from Nightmare.

“I know I don’t man. But I think I want to?”

“Jeez.” Nightmare grabbed Kevin and tossed him over the fence. The chicken, who was rightfully startled, screamed and ran off, squawking as he did so. Error gave Nightmare a look, something she did often, and he shrugged in response. He would give Kevin a small piece of bread as an apology. He didn’t give Kevin bread too often, since it did almost nothing in terms of nutrients. His bird friend liked it though, so it was a good apology gift when he pulled shit.

It wasn’t often that the trio worked in sync together. While they worked efficiently during fights and outrunning Dream and his gaggle of self-righteous fools, on their off time they often had some clashes. Nothing relationship ruining, it was just they were always doing different things that sometimes contended with each other. However, that night they all had the same thought process. Nightmare hopped over the fence and plopped right down next to Cross. Error did the same, going on the opposite side of Nightmare.

There was a heavy silence. Cross was the most open out of the trio, but even this felt extremely personal. But Cross also had a point. Sometimes holding things in for too long was harmful, and Nightmare knew that better than anyone.

“Go ahead Cross.” Error prompted, her voice soft. She set her knitting needles down, her knees tucked into her chest.

“Ahah um.” Ah. It wouldn’t be a Cross-centered conversation if she didn’t try to back out of it. However both Nightmare and Error had gotten quite skilled at pushing back at Cross when she made an attempt to change the conversation topic.

“Don’t even think about it, Cross.” Nightmare said before anything else could happen, his voice sharp and to the point.

Cross’s mismatched eyes looked helplessly back at Error, who just stared back, the glare of the sun hiding most of her eyes through her glasses. She nodded at Cross, who took a deep breath.

“It was a suicide mission.” The words held heavy in the air. Error’s eyes widened for a second, but she didn’t react in any other way. Nightmare put his hand on Cross’s forearm. “They, my family, knew that the only way to get dad out of the picture was to go down with him. My mom left me with a family friend. I don’t think she wanted me to die. I don’t know why.” Cross scoffed.

“I worked with that family friend for a few years.” Cross looked down at Nightmare, “Then I met you.” The two shared a moment, shared a smile between each other.

“There was more than that, but y’know.” Nightmare shrugged, turning to Error who’s face said nothing. Although he knew better than that. He figured that he should clear up some of the timing for her, since she wasn’t there until a few months later. Of course, she wasn’t left entirely in the dark. Especially since Cross would often rant and rave about her relationship with Ink and how Dream had wronged their friendship.

Error knew more about Ink’s past and history with Cross than both Cross and Nightmare expected. A few months into being a member on Nightmare’s ship, by complete coincidence, Nightmare and Dream had docked in neighboring towns. Error couldn’t sleep and, apparently, neither could Ink. At first, Error thought a fight would ensue on the dock. But it didn’t. They just sat down next to each other, legs hanging over the ocean water. They just chatted. About nothing in particular. It was similar to what the trio were doing now. Error hadn’t told them about it, and she doubts she ever will. Although Error did learn a few things about Ink.

The most prevalent being that their stories were quite similar. Neither of them really remembered their life before meeting Dream and Nightmare. However Ink did have some memories of her childhood, unlike Error who had lost everything. It was interesting, to hear about someone else’s amnesia. She could only assume that her’s was due to the ship crash that she suspected took place before meeting Blue while Ink’s was due to trauma or something like that. Of course, Ink didn’t tell her everything. Most of their conversation was just a back and forth of ranting about things that annoyed them. However, one of the things Ink talked about, briefly, she wasn’t much for conversation, was that sometimes things would remind her of specific childhood events. Suddenly memories long forgotten would just…appear in her mind.

To Error, that sounded like hell.

They had talked briefly a few times after that meeting. Nightmare would never again dock in a city anywhere near Dream. Even if it meant stretching rations over a day or two longer than they should be. Life on the sea was comfortable, despite it all.

“Wooph, thanks guys.” Cross looked between the two of them, a smile appearing on her face. “I think I needed that.”

“Yeah, of course.” Error said, her body no longer as tense as it was before.

“...I don’t think I’ve told anyone that before.” Cross added, voice going soft. That time, it was Nightmare who responded, arms crossed and resolute in his tone, “Well obviously. Why would you?”

“Nightmare.” Error punched, not with her full strength, him in his arm, and he yelped in surprise. “What he means is: thanks for trusting us Cross. We’re for you.” Nightmare rolled his eyes as he rubbed his arm, but his gaze softened when he made eye contact with Cross once more. He nodded, patting Cross’s forearm. It was awkward, but who would they be if they weren’t?

Cross laughed and a large yawn escaped her as she did so. She leaned back as she did so, a low grunt slowly leaving her. Exhausted. With a grunt, Cross stood up. Her hands reached around to her back and she stretched, and Nightmare could hear her spine pop as she did so. The three of them all struggled with their sleeping schedules, Nightmare the most, and all for different reasons. If one of them was going to head to bed first, it was almost a guarantee that it would be Cross.

“I think I’m gonna…head on up.” She ruffled Nightmare’s hair as she spoke, much to his displeasure. “Fuckin’ spent.”

Error nodded, messing with her gloves, “That makes sense. Sleep on this, and if you wanna talk about it a bit more in the morning, you can. We’ll be here.” She snorted as she finished, as Cross was now leaning on Nightmare with her hand on his head. He was not amused one bit.

After messing up Nightmare’s hair a final time Cross spoke, “Yeah. Thanks. Will you two be…?” Nightmare shrugged, “Well. Good night, if you end up sleeping that is.”

“‘Night Cross.” Nightmare waved as Cross disappeared behind the corner and into their quarters. The ship was small and getting around it was easy enough, although it had little room for their sleeping quarters. The three of them had to sleep in the same general area, they really had no other choice. Error and Cross adjusted to it fine, for one reason or another, but Nightmare? Nightmare struggled. With his, well, nightmares. Ironic, huh?

So to avoid having that uncomfortable conversation, Nightmare just had the most fucked up sleep schedule known to man. It was worth it. Probably. Since it was just the three of them, they had to swap out who would do night shifts. It was often Nightmare who offered, so that he could stay up. He didn’t sleep very much anyway, the least he could do was be productive at night. That wasn’t every night though, as Error and Cross also took their fair share of night shifts. Nightmare didn’t sleep much at night when they did though, often plagued with terrors. So he compromised with his body. He often napped in short periods, not long enough to go into REM sleep and dream, but long enough that his brain could rest. It really sucked honestly, but it worked.

“You gonna head up soon too?” He asked, turning his head towards Error who had picked up her knitting needles and continued her project. His legs were crossed and he leaned into his hand. Both he and Error looked like shrimps, both of their posture being shitty as hell.

“Are you?”

“I didn’t plan to.”

“Do you mind if I stay up with you?”

Nightmare blinked a few times, “Nah, not at all.”

There was a small smile on Error’s face, “Cool.”

Silence covered them like a soft blanket. Nightmare and Error didn’t hang out one on one that often, but when they did it was nice. She was just…chill. There wasn’t really a need to talk, although they totally could. He considered it, briefly, before seeing how enthralled Error was in her work. His tired eyes drifted up into the sky, the stars dancing in his vision. Error knew a lot about the stars and how to navigate with them, although from where he couldn’t say. His mouth opened to speak, to start some kind of conversation but she beat him to it.

“Mind if I ask you something?” Before he could respond, she added on, “You can say no, by the way. It might be kinda sensitive.” Error watched his face, at his dark blue eyes that looked almost purple in some lights. He squinted at her.

“Shoot.”

“Why did you leave the navy?”

“Oh. Yeah no, that’s not a hard question.” Nightmare paused as the tapping of bird feet on the deck slowly got louder. With a scream, Kevin lept into Nightmare’s arms, getting comfortable in his lap. “Hey buddy. Forgiven me already? Haha. Anyways, I deserted for a few reasons, um. The main one being I didn’t want to be part of the navy y’know? It was never a goal of mine to…fight, I guess? Being a military personnel sounds like hell. And when I did get drafted, I hated how both Dream and I were being treated. We both did.

“Dream was always more into it than I was. But I won’t get into his whole…everything.” There was a lot there. And honestly? He didn’t really want to think about the past, and his whole relationship with Dream. It was like putting salt in an open wound. On many occasions, he wondered if Dream thought about him the way he thought about Dream. There was this sour fondness that came up whenever he thought about their time together. And every time the wound he thought he had sewn up opened wide up for all to see.

Error nodded, knowing better than to push Nightmare about Dream. He looked over at her, and she just looked back at him. He did leave his reasoning unfinished.

“And eventually…I just kinda left. Went AWOL. I tried to convince Dream to come with me, but uh,” He forced a laugh into his voice, but his face was still tugged back into a sneer, “He already decided how he felt about me.”

“Do you have any idea why?”

“Why what?”

“Why he…y’know,” Error gestured with her hands.

Luckily, Nightmare knew what she meant.

“Not really. If I had to guess, I’d say that he saw how the military was running and thought that he could do a better job. He was always like that. Observing things and then making them better. When I went AWOL, I guess he lobbed me in with pirates and stuff? I couldn’t tell you why he did that.”

There, of course, was more to it than that. But Nightmare had reached his “talking about Dream” limit for the day, and he suspected Error could tell.

Nightmare stroked Kevin’s neck, “Dream’s mind is fucking enigma.”

The knitting needles and project were slowly being put away. “It really is, isn’t it?” She turned to look him in the eye, “Are you alright?”

“What?” He raised an eyebrow at her, “Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“We just had a deep conversation, of course I’m going to check in on you.”

God, Error was so cool like that. Nightmare scoffed slightly, but smiled at the sentiment. “Error, dude, I’m fine. Promise.”

“If you insist.” Error stood up, gathering up her knitting supplies in her hands. “I’m going to head off to bed. Or, try at least. You coming?”

“In a bit.”

With a nod, Error began to head back into the sleeping quarters. Nightmare had totally lied about heading back to bed, although he wondered if Error picked up on it. Not with Cross and Error being in the same room. He had filled in his quota of talking to his friends about important shit for the month, and he was not going to explain his horrendous nightmares. His nightmares varied in content and who was present. Very rarely were they just unsettling, making him wake up in a cold sweat. More often than not, he’d wake up in tears and gasping for air. And sometimes, on the worst nights, he would wake up screaming. That was the thing that he wanted to avoid at all costs.

However, there appeared to be a change in plans. Before Error could get far, Cross came barrelling from the door to the quarters. Nightmare could see the startled look on her face and stood up, keeping Kevin in his arms. She slid to a halt, around an arms length away from Nightmare, and Error pressed herself up against the nearby wall to avoid being touched.

“Guys,” Cross heaved, not bothering to take a second to catch her breath. Sweat dripped from her forehead. Her eyes glanced wearily from Nightmare to Error, clearly shaken up. “It’s Dream, his ship, port side.”

“God fuckin’ damnit.” Nightmare seethed, setting Kevin down on a nearby barrel. The chicken didn’t even stir in his sleep. “Let’s go. I need to see how far he is. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to avoid him.”

The Trio of Idiots all made a fast dash to the front of the ship. Kevin and Error’s knitting supplies were left behind. Sometimes Nightmare cursed the messy nature of all of them, just leaving shit around with no reasoning behind it. Things often got lost or misplaced and sometimes it pissed him off, especially when he went to find something and it ended up falling right off of the ship. However, he had to thank both his, Error’s, and Cross’s lack of organization, as his spyglass was sitting precariously on top of some boxes. He grabbed as he ran up the bow, getting as far up it as he could. Cross and Error soon joined him, the cold sea wind blowing in all of their faces. Nightmare raised the spyglass up to his left eye and glanced around at the port side.

The horizon between the endless blue ocean and star-covered sky is cut by a massive ship. Nightmare didn’t even need the skyglass to recognize it.

Radiance.

That stupid ship and its stupid name and its stupid captain!

“Is it him?”

“Oh it’s fucking him alright.” Nightmare said, grinding his teeth as he did so. He focused on the ship. It was, thank god, not coming straight for them. He squinted at the bow. There was someone on it, talking to Dream. He could recognize Dream from a mile away, especially with his bright golden hair. But there was someone next to him. Someone he didn’t recognize. He stepped closer to the edge, leaning over to get a better look. Cross put her hand on his shoulder, to both stabilize him as well as getting into the position to catch him if he slipped. The last thing they needed was any of them falling into the water while Dream was around.

It was dark, and without memories to fill in the gaps, Nightmare couldn’t get a good grasp as to what exactly he looked like. There was some light illuminating from the Radiance, but not enough. Damnit! It also didn’t help that the stranger had pressed themself up against Dream either.

“What is it?” Error asked, “What do you see?”

“Some, uh, guy.”

“A guy?”

Nightmare adjusted the focus on the spyglass. He struggled to separate the stranger from Dream, but he did his best. “Yeah…wearing a blue something? A scarf maybe? They’ve got what I think is short brown hair and, uh, yeah that's about it.”

There wasn’t much to his description, but once he stepped back, he saw the startled expression on Error’s face. Wordlessly, he handed Error the spyglass so she could get a look. Cross shifted on her feet awkwardly, unsure if she should stabilize Error like she did with Nightmare or not. She glanced towards Nightmare who shook his head. Error was much more careful with her feet placement, and grounded herself securely.

Error hesitated. She didn’t raise the spyglass to her glasses for a moment too long. She swallowed hard, and she prayed to whatever deity that existed that Nightmare was wrong. That it was somewhere else, anyone else. She focused the spyglass and focused on where Dream and the other person were. Despite the multiple layers of glass between her eye and what she was seeing, it was clear enough who was on The Radiance. Error’s heart began to race, apprehension and adrenaline rushing through her. She staggered backwards, bumping into Nightmare, who shifted to her right.

“What’s the matter? Do you know him?”

A scoff left Error’s mouth, and she took her glasses off of her face and wiped them down with her skirt. “Do I know him? Yeah, I fucking know him.” She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. Taking any grievances on Nightmare and Cross wasn’t a good idea. “It’s Blue.”

“WHAT?!” Cross stands there mouth agape.

“What is he doing with Dream of all people??”

“Who the hell knows!” Error rubbed her temples, “It’s…whatever. Right now we need to make sure we avoid his line of sight.”

The other two nodded, and Cross left to begin unveiling the sails, setting them up to catch as much wind as possible. Error’s job was to make sure cannons were loaded and working properly. While once might think that Cross should have that heavy lifting job, it was often much harder to work the sails. It’s also what Cross did on her dad’s ship, so hey, if it isn't broken don’t fix it. And often Nightmare took his position as captain (no one calls him captain) and steered the ship, assisting Cross and Error when necessary. When Error finished, she often assisted Nightmare or Cross in whatever they needed, and vice versa.

Before Error could get to work, Nightmare grabbed her by her sleeve. Despite there being no actual contact, she still jumped. He immediately pulled his hands away.

“Shit, sorry.”

“It’s fine. What’s up? We need to keep moving.”

“I know.” Nightmare crossed his arms. “Just…We care about you, y’know. If you need anything, I’m here.”

Error pushes her glasses up, the glare from the moon concealing her expression. With some hesitation, she grabs Nightmare’s hand with her gloved one. Wordlessly, she squeezes it, rubbing the back of his hand. A silent thank you.

She lets go of his hand before adjusting her glasses a final time, “Now, let’s beat some not-pirate ass.”

“Hell yeah.”

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asukamood · 2 years ago

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Fallen Angel (IV)

***

Previous post — Next post

First post

***

Contains my headcanons for Shattered, don’t mind me here-

Warnings: mentioned violence/blood/torture?

Synopsis: “W... What?” He finally managed to let out, feeling like the entire world had crashed down on his shoulders, his vision swaying and blurring. “What do you mean?”

Dream looked even more confused as he backed away from him a little bit, keeping his eyes on him as he rubbed some circles on his bruised wrists. “I’m quite positive that my question is easy enough to answer, who are you?”

***

“W... What?” He finally managed to let out, feeling like the entire world had crashed down on his shoulders, his vision swaying and blurring. “What do you mean?”

He started shaking as he laughed nervously, confusing the other one in front of him even further. “I don’t think it’s really the time to be joking Dream...”

Said one’s eyes widened before narrowing, glaring. The realization that he was being wary of him hit Blue cold in the soul, feeling like a thousand knives had just stabbed him to his fragile heart. “How do you know my name?”

He fell silent at that, his head lowering to look at the ground as he felt his fake smile decaying away as his trembling started to get worse. “Do you...” He looked up and could see the other’s shocked expression even with his blurry vision. “... really not remember me?”

Dream’s eyes softened as he frowned, looking away from Blue’s teary expression. “... I really don’t know who you are.”

Blue had to violently fight back the urge to cry as he heard hurried footsteps from the other side of the door before the door was kicked open by a familiar, purple-eyed spawn of the Devil.

He looked like he was going to say something before he scattered back, only narrowly grabbing the doorway before he fell onto the opposite wall. “Holy shit! That’s a lot of negativity, what the hell is--” Then he met Dream’s golden red eyes and stiffened. “... going on?”

Both looked at each other in shock, neither expecting to see the others.

“Dream?” He hesitantly called, stepping into the room and kneeling over to him. “Is that... actually you?”

Dream nodded. “I... have seen you before.” Nightmare froze at the sentence, the dots clicking in his mind. “You’re Nightmare, right?”

Instead of answering him, said one turned toward Blue with a blank stare. “What the hell happened?”

Blue shook his head. “I don’t know.” His voice cracked and he would have given everything if it meant he could disappear right at this moment. Was this what people called a Divine punishment? Or was that simply karma? Whether it was one or the other, it was definitely working at making him utterly miserable. “I wish I could tell you.”

Nightmare turned back to Dream, suddenly lunging at him and making him yelp in surprise. He fell onto his back to the floor and both Blue and Nightmare were surprised to hear an inaudible whimper of pain from Dream.

As if on cue, a golden portal opened in the middle of the room before a yellow figure came crashing into it face first, the portal soon closing as a frustrated scream came from the other side of the connection.

“Wow, that was way too close for comfort!” The yellow person, who was soon identified as Ori, exclaimed before getting up and dusting himself. Despite saying that, he looked quite healthy for someone who just fought against three people with two of them having an advantage against him.

If Nightmare wasn’t too busy worrying about Dream’s current state, perhaps he would have questioned how strong Ori really was, but that will have to wait.

He turned to look at the other three and his eyes stopped at seeing Dream’s current form. A quiet ‘oh’ left him before he stepped closer to the duo on the floor, his pupils fixated on Dream’s angel dragon wings. “It looks like we were too late after all.”

“Too late?” Dream frowned, one of his hands reaching out to his bleeding back. “Too late for what?”

“... They turned him into a corrupt, didn’t they?” Nightmare finally backed away; his eyebrows furrowed. As a response, Ori nodded and moved over to Dream, his hands glowing a dim yellow/green as Dream felt his wounds starting to heal.

“They have yes, I was not expecting them to be able to pull off such a feat in so little time.” The radiance in his palms grew dimmer before finally fading away as he turned to Blue, his eyes softening. “Blue, are you hurt anywhere?”

At his name being suddenly called, Blue jolted, snapping out of his thoughts. “What? Oh uh, I think I do have some injuries here and there, but I don’t think they’re really that serious.” By the look on Ori’s face, he could probably tell that he was lying but instead of calling him out for it, he simply crouched over and took out bandages this time, knowing healing magic would have little to no effect on him.

Dream, who was still extremely confused as to what was going on, was starting to lose the little patience he had left to get answers from any of the people he had been speaking to. “Is someone finally going to answer me or are you ignoring me on purpose?”

“We would love to, really.” Blue spoke up in a blank voice. This situation felt surreal, like he was watching someone else answering him. “But first, we need to establish something.”

Nightmare must have had the same idea since he too turned toward Dream, his face stone serious. This must have been odd to him since the latter frowned at the expression, his eyes shining with confusion.

“Dream, how much do you remember?” Ori, who was not here when it was first discovered that Dream had some sort of amnesia, had his eyes blown wide open, pupils shrinking to a concerning size.

Dream held his head as he squeezed eyes shut, eyebrows furrowed.

“I’m... not quite sure what kind of answer are you expecting from me.” He admitted, shaking his head as he looked back at Nightmare, the only one he recognized. “You are acting as if I were supposed to know all of you. I am fairly sure we have never met.”

Blue turned away before anyone could notice the hurt in his expression.

“Well, you and I have never met, that part holds true at least.” Ori said as the others stayed silent. “It seems like turning corrupted really does mess with your memories.”

His words made Blue perk up, his eyebrows raised in a silent question. When Ori did not seem to notice him, he took a shaky breath as he shoved all his emotions to the back of his mind, praying that his voice would not betray him now.

“You sound like this case has happened before.” He stopped there, knowing his luck with a steady voice was running dry.

“Because it has.” Ori confirmed his theory as he opened the door (when was it closed?), Cross and Error both yelping as they suddenly tumbled to the ground. The new people made Dream flinch again. “A similar thing happened to Shattered, except she didn’t retain any memory from her life at all, she didn’t even know her name.”

Nightmare was not liking the sound of that at all, his hands reaching up to bite his nails.

Meanwhile, Ori helped Error and Cross up as he gestured to them, eyes locked onto Dream’s. “Do you recognize these two, Dream?” He shook his head.

“Do you know what Justice Reigns is then?” Dream hesitated before ultimately shaking his head once again.

“The name sounds familiar.” He confessed, scratching his neck in discomfort as everyone’s eyes were glued to him, most of them being strangers to him not helping. “But I can’t put a finger as to why it sounds familiar or what it is actually.”

“He doesn’t remember anything from after the Apple Incident.” Blue concluded, his arms crossed around his chest in a vague attempt to comfort himself or at least to distract himself from the fact that he caused Dream to forget about an entire century of Dream’s life.

“And going by his emotions, he doesn’t seem to know anything about that event either.” Nightmare added, looking even more conflicted about this entire situation.

His two friends looked over to him in worry, the lighter one of them offering a hug that the purple one gladly accepted. Meanwhile, Error had turned toward Ori.

“You said that it happened before, has that ‘Shattered’ person ever found her memories back eventually?” The question had everyone set their focus onto Ori again who looked conflicted hearing the question, as if he did not know if he should or not answer it truthfully.

That increased the general anxiety in the room by tenfold.

“She... partially recovered them.” He made a pause before continuing. “She recovered her memories about Yan, or her equivalent of Blue, and certain memories about Nightmare. Although, I am afraid that she has yet to learn the whole truth.”

He lowered his head, muttering the next part to himself. “Besides, it’s probably better if she doesn’t remember everything that happened to her when she still went by the name Dream.”

“How did she recover those memories?” While it was one lone question, two voices had spoken up to inquire about it. The two owners of said voices turned toward each other and neither was surprised to see who the other person was. Blue and Nightmare were the closest to Dream after all.

The very said name was also paying remarkably close attention to Ori’s words, curious as to what memories had been lost to... whatever happened to him to cause this in the first place.

Ori took some time to answer the question. “Her memories responded to certain triggers. I know that Yan managed to to get her memories back of her by putting them in a similar setting as before and those about Nightmare’s when she attacked Yan.”

The room fell silent again.

“I’m afraid that’s all the information I have.” Ori looked genuinely guilty about not being able to provide more support. “Would you like me to check up on her to discover if she has made any progress?”

Dream was the one who responded this time. “If you would be so kind.”

Ori nodded and he jumped as his phone suddenly buzzed loudly, he picked up the phone, his expression turning even more guilty as he hung up.

“I sincerely apologize, it seems like I am needed in my own multiverse. Will you all be okay on your own?”

“Yes.” Everyone could tell the sincerity behind that word was questionable at best. “It is fine, you can go. I will keep you updated.” Ori nodded, giving Blue his most encouraging smile before a glitchy portal opened and he disappeared through it once again.

Now, even the slight calm he was feeling thanks to Ori’s aura had disappeared.

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gonermaker-ocpicrew · 5 months ago

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so you want to view normal undertale(/deltarune) content

this is mainly a place to put some of my blacklisted tags if anyone needs them.

if you're extremely new here, you probably noticed that the big undertale tags are dominated by content for aus that have moderate at best relevancy to the game and characters itself (dubbed "sans aus"). there also continues to be shameless posting of ships like fran.s and fontces.t. (if you're more interested in deltarune, good for you since those particular tags are a lot more usable and this guide won't be as helpful to you.)

first, i'd like to mention the safeutdr tag (also tagged "safe utdr"). it expressly forbids problematic ships, sexualization of underage characters, and portraying the human characters with yellow skin. it also happens to have minimal sans au content. the catch is that not everyone/everything that qualifies use the tag.

keep in mind that the canon relevancy of these aus is ultimately subjective. (underfell, glitchtale, and horrortale especially are not inherently sans-centric from what i've seen, and some people tag canon-adjacent AUs as "UTMV".). this is also a list made by someone who's gone out of her way to blacklist this stuff due to simple oversaturation since day one, so don't take my word as gospel wrt canon relevancy. i will occasionally update this list, so reblogs may be slightly outdated.

there is ultimately no guarantee that blacklisting these tags will purify your searches; some people are assholes that don't tag appropriately (especially those that gender frisk/kris/chara) or do so only with rare specific tags.

for "safety":

asriel x chara chans chara x asriel chara x gaster chara x papyrus chara x sans charasriel chasriel female chara female frisk female kris frisk x sans frisk x papyrus frisk x gaster fontcest frans male frisk male chara male kris papyrus x frisk papyrus x chara papyrus x sans swapcest sans x papyrus sans x chara sans x frisk

for plain filtering:

au sans cross sans dream sans dreamtale dust sans dust!sans dusttale echo dust eclipsetale epic sans errink error sans error!sans errorink errortale fallen dreamswap fatal error fell sans fellsans fellswap fresh sans fresh!sans freshtale geno sans glitch!sans glitchtale goth sans gztale horror sans horrortale ink sans ink!sans killer sans killertale lust sans mafiatale murder sans murdertale nightmare sans outer!dust au outer!dust sans palette roller sans paperjam sans au sans aus sans fusion sans oc sans x reader sans x sans sanscest slash sans soul sans swap sans swap papyrus swapfell swapfell papyrus swapfell sans trickster sans uf sans underfell underlust undertop undertop!gaster underverse ut au utmv wine sans xchara xfrisk xtale xtale cross xtale fanart zeltale zephrtale

Bonus tip: If you're ok with having all posts tagged with your blacklisted tags and words completely off the site as you view it from a browser, you can install the Xkit Rewritten extension, open it while visiting Tumblr, and select the "hide filtered posts entirely" feature under Tweaks.

#undertale #saying something tag #i wasnt gonna post this but i saw some people complain about the san.s (au) oversaturation and how they struggled to filter things out

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thatoneastralghost · 7 months ago

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Welcome to my blog!

What is this?

This blog is for me to share my AU's, most of them belonging to FNAF and Undertale! The reason for this is because I don't want my posts to be buried by reposts!

Asks?

Feel free to ask me anything about any of my AU's!

Links:

[Dreamswap and Dragons]

DS&D Introduction

DS&D Dream

DS&D Ink

DS&D Finch

DS&D Blue

DS&D Nightmare

DS&D Error

DS&D Cross

DS&D Randy

DS&D Hacker

DS&D Bobby

[TBA]

[In Stars and Time]

ISAT AU rambles

More ISAT au rambles

Some fun facts about my ISAT AU

[Legend of Zelda content]

Child Link idea

Child Link Design

Child Link doodles

[Mechanic Sun]

M!Sun Theory

M!Sun info dump

M!Sun art

M!Sun question #1

[Undertale Fallen Children]

Fallen Children designs

Justice & Bravery Photo

Isabella ask #1

Isabelle ask #2

Isabelle ask #3

Isabelle ask #4

Justice & Patience Redesign

Bravery & Integrity Redesign

Kindness & Perseverance Redesign

“I'll always protect you” - Michael/Clover/Justice & Evelyn/Rain/Patience

Clover doodle

Lost_NotFound.mp3

“Last performance” - Isabelle/Integrity

#ut #uty #undertale #fnaf #Au's #alternate universe #ask me anything #asks #ask blog #original content #sams #tsams #sun and moon show au #mechanic sun au #mechanic sun

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artsyfangirl · 3 years ago

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Would anyone like to hear about my UTMV self insert OCs? I could talk about them here and then make their proper profiles on my OC blog.

Most of them have been reworked recently, design wise, and all of them have had a bit of development. Originally, they were going to be one person, just the different aliases the character used in the various AUs. Like how Ink tries to fit in when he visits AUs.

But then I got attached to the designs and the reasons I gave for certain features, so they’re separate now. Interestingly, most of them are of differing ages.

The DreamTale OC is the original in this situation, as she was meant to be the character that took on all of these different aliases. Now, she’s just something unique. As for why she’s the original (in-world explanation)? I’m not sure. Maybe her presence caused a change in the multiverse?

I currently have and am able to talk about the following OCs (listed by their AUs/lackthereof/AU that is inspired by the character they were designed to align to):

KillerTale

HorrorTale

DustTale

UnderSwap

SwapFell

UnderLust

Nerd And Jock

Vampire Verse

PJ’s Daycare

Omega Timeline! OC

Error! OC

Ink! OC

AfterTale

DanceTale

Empireverse

OuterTale

LittleTale

DreamTale! OC

Those currently being worked on:

ReaperTale

DreamSwap

BirdTale

FellSwap

Etc!

Those that are being worked on are categorized as such due to their lack of design. I design them, and then use that to help make their story. I did use to have designs for RT, BT, DS, and a few others, but they have been lost, and FS hasn’t been reworked yet.

Feel free to ask any questions! You can use question games for ideas if you don’t know what to ask. As long as I can understand the question, I’ll do my best to answer it!

Tagging one or two friends literally just because I wanna talk to them about these OCs. :D

@112-writes @nihilistic-wobbufet

Also, I have a Monster!OC now, as well as a Fallen Human OC! And two skele OCs to accompany the Monster OC. You can ask about them as well!

#my ocs tag #my ocs do not steal #utmv au #utmv oc #self insert

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arthursaus · 3 years ago

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So! Some stuff about my interpretation of the UTMV!

Yes, it’s finally that time, since I’ve fallen back into the rabbit hole and wanna share some of my HCs that have been piling up for at least four or five years now at this point!

So. My interpretation is not a F!God!Error interpretation, my Error chooses to destroy of his own will. Though yes, he does kinda get verbally harassed by the voices (anons) if he goes too long without destroying, and the balance is in danger.

Speaking of! Yes, the balance IS a thing, and is Ink aware of it? I HAVE NO IDEA!! Thing is, I have several different ‘scenarios’ in my interpretation. For instance, I have one for Ink being, at his core, a manipulative entity that only ‘protects’ the AUs because they stimulate his mind, and others for Ink not being such a cold hearted bastard.

So, it kinda depends? In my scenario with all the ship kids and fusions, Ink definitely knows, because I’ll give him that much to be able to navigate all this with, but my other interpretation scenarios aren’t set in stone as to Ink’s knowledge of the balance.

Each interpretation is kind of a separate timeline almost, within my overall interpretation. So there’s a ‘timeline’ with all of most of the ship kids and fusions that I know, and others without them.

My interpretations can vary from rather canon in terms of characterization (ie Ink, Nightmare, etc.) to more personal, fanon ranges. For instance, yes, I acknowledge in my HCs that Nightmare’s a cold hearted bastard and is technically kind of a parasite or something that took on the memories, knowledge, and everything really of Passive Nightmare. However I personally prefer the kind of Nightmare we see in Nightmare Castle, for instance. So you’ll see more of that and softer Nightmare than canon Nightmare.

As with in that one Bad Guys x reader harem fic I love, AUs naturally decay over time, after their storyline is through or they’ve fulfilled their purpose. Error can’t destroy EVERYTHING, after all.

And yes, I’m a simp, so you will be seeing a lot of fanon stuff in terms of monster culture and stuff, especially when it comes to HorrorTale, as HorrorTale’s culture has lots of room to explore and I love what I’ve seen for it within the fandom already.

Each of the characters has at least one nickname! The nicknames tend to shift depending on what name I feel like using at any given time. That’s all I can think of rn! Feel free to ask questions about any character you’d like! I will say that I’m not very well versed in newer AUs, and same goes for DreamTale AUs. For DT AUs, I’m best with the original, DreamSwap, and maybe a few other characters from different AUs.

Let me know if you’d like to see UTMV content on my main blog too! Requests are open, as always!

#utmv au #my interpretation

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xechos-stuff · 5 years ago

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Warnings: Major character death and visuals of stabbing Fandom: Undertale (Dreamswap) Characters: DS Dream and DS Nightmare (Pre-Apple incident included) Credits: Dreamswap belongs to @//onebizarrekai Word Count: 997 words

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“Dream! Dream!” Nightmare called, waving over to him to get his attention… or well try to anyways. It would always be a bit hard for him to try and get the other’s attention focused onto him. Everytime he needed the other’s attention, Dream would always either be reading a book, talking with one of the villagers, or just ignoring him in general which in a way, made sense. In fact, he’d probably ignore himself if he was in Dream’s position.

The positive guardian currently was sitting on a branch of the tree they had to guard, reading a massive red velvet book. Reading equals knowledge, and he’d love to know everything there was to it in the world. He wanted to know more things beyond where they lived.

After a few more attempts of trying to get Dream’s attention, to which he had failed many many times, he pouted, puffing his cheeks out a bit before climbing up to the tree branch that the other was on. He had almost fallen off of the tree a handful of times, though once he reached the branch, he snatched away the book in Dream’s hands, dropped down, and looked up towards him with a big shit eating grin.

Dream blinked as his book was suddenly stolen and looked over towards the thief who did it. He knew it had obviously been Nightmare, since no other person here would be bold enough to do that. He gave the other a half glare before jumping down from the tree. “Do you want something?” The guardian asked, folding his arms and shifted his weight onto his left leg.

Nightmare overall just gave the other a shrug, “Not necessarily,” He stated, flipping through the book and landed on a random page. He read it for a bit before discarding the idea of actually reading, “I just wanted your attention.”

Dream huffed, approaching Nightmare as he did. “You’re insufferable.” He stated.

Nightmare only grinned in reply, “That’s what you always say!” He responded, taking a step back as he did before breaking out into a full sprint around the other side of the tree.

-----

Dear lovely best friend here I hope we have some time…

Dream didn’t mean for this to happen, but it happened and he couldn’t reverse the situation. He had meant to push the other with his sword, but… he pushed the thought away again, feeling his soul drop down heavily. The CEO of Justice Reigns fell to his knees, breaking down into a quiet sob.

The purple guardian, stab wound where his soul was, bleeding out through it and with some blood dripping down from his mouth chuckled slightly. He looked over to Dream, giving him a saddened look. “So, this is the end?” Dream choked back another sob, feeling a sudden ache where his soul would be. It’s happening he thought, the bond is happening.

Now since I’ve stabbed us both I’ve realized we will die…

The good looking angel looked over at the smaller, pulling him close to embrace him in a hug. He knew he didn’t deserve it, he didn’t deserve anything from Nightmare after everything he’s actually done to him. He should’ve never eaten the apples now, rethinking through their 124 years, he couldn’t pinpoint a single good memory besides when they were kids.

Nightmare grumbled once he was pulled into a hug but was already starting to tear up. He would be dusted in minutes, leaving Cross and Error behind with no note or trace of him besides his dust and clothes. Night buried his face into the other’s chest, crying into it before starting to lightly smack the other. “You. Fucking. Dumbass.” He said, pausing every time he spoke. After that, he broke into some little tantrum, smacking the other lightly over and over and over again.

But please don’t worry dear, we’ll be together now...

Dream took them like bullets, letting out soft quiet whimpers every time he was hit. He deserved them, especially from Nightmare. “I sincerely apologize for this…” He croaked out, feeling his chest starting to ache again, the pain was undeniably terrible.

The shorter of the two gave Dream another smack, though that one was a bit more harder. “Don’t use your stupid language for this! Can you see we’re dying now!!!” He yelled in anger, annoyance, and most of all, fear. He had never been generally afraid of anything minor, but he had his hidden fears. He didn’t want to die. He’s survived for years, for himself, and for Dream. He wouldn’t want to lose that winning streak now.

“I’m sorry…” Dream spoke again, genuinely he is. He wasn’t apologizing and feeling bad that he’s killed them both but mostly himself, but he was apologizing for everything he’s put the other through. JR’s CEO wished that he could travel through time, but he knew it was impossible to do so. So he’ll just accept his fate, going down down down until he can’t feel anything.

I’m sorry for everything, my sincerest apologies…

“Stop. Shut up.” Nightmare shuddered, gasping slightly at the lack of air he’s receiving. “Just… lay down… for a second.

Dream complied, pulling them both to the ground while still clinging to Nightmare closely, not being able to stop the tears from falling. He felt terrible about this whole situation and was blaming himself for these things. He would’ve moved a hand towards his chest to clutch it, but his body wouldn’t let him as he continued to cling onto Night.

It was at an astonishing moment once Dream had felt the other press a kiss onto his lips quickly. It was a soft and gentle one, meant for comfort mostly. When they parted, Dream only sobbed more, hoping this all was just a nightmare he was having. Though this so-called nightmare felt extremely real.

“I love you, angel boy.” Nightmare muttered before taking his final breath.

I hope when we reunite, you’ll forever be happy...

#echo writes #sweammare #ds dreammare #ds dream #ds nightmare #dreamswap #angst #major character death tw #stabbing tw

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hahaedgyman · 5 years ago

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Dreamtale: Mirrored Fates

(Note: While this is a Dreamswap-Esc AU, I didn't call it Dreamswap since two AUs with a name like that already exist.)

(Other note: The Spirit of The Tree here is Male, Because Swap. I just thought that'd be a nice touch.)

This is essentially an AU I made based on Dreamswap and SwapDream respectively.

Essentially, it started the same as Dreamtale. However, Dream saw the bullying. He saw his brother constantly being abused, and tried to stop them. Little changed, and he saw how manipulative and dark the people were acting. How apathetic they were to suffering, and after a long time, he began to become apathetic himself. He developed Sociopathy.

Now, don't be hasty. He isn't just immediately a villain. He was still friends with Nightmare, and eventually, Nightmare was able to convince the bullies to stop, and even befriended them. (Insert Deltarune Sans Joke here.) However, one day, the wise old man told a prophecy. Of a final battle of The forces of good and evil. Whilst he rarely told of the future, everything he told ended up being true. Minor or Major.

Sage as he was, he often avoided being vague. He however, created a prophecy. A Hero would rise up, and defeat Darkness once and for all. What form would Darkness take? He was rather unclear. Darkness represented evil, and then he said of the hero that he was a humble man, and not only any man or monster, but an emotional guardian. Now, this reached Dream's ears. Given The Man's often Accuracy when it came to prophecies, Dream of course was rather full of himself. Of course it would be him! Nightmare was Negativity, Evil, and Darkness. Dream would rise up and stop him, and what a fantastic tale it would be!

Dream thought of course, any alternative was impossible. While the evil may not be his brother, he knew he was obviously the hero of the prophecy. He began to get annoyed. Nightmare began to be warmed up to by the people of the village, after they had accepted him. Dream found this unfounded, and declared it openly. Of course, due to his vanity, the villagers grew annoyed, and began throwing objects and insults at him. Dream, enraged, walked over to the tree of feelings, grabbing a negativity apple.

(Btw here, The Apples don't change when touched. They just hurt, kind of like Dream's positivity arrows hurt Nightmare, rather than just being negativity'd.)

Then Dream ate it, declaring that he was an incorruptible spirit. The people of the villagers backed up in fear, afraid of what would happen. Dream however, began to feel pain and suffering. Dream refused defeat, and noticing their fear, staggered up. "See? I am not corrupt!" He declared. The villagers backed up once more, as Dream sat there, waiting for admiration. His face turned to grimace. "Fine, I shall show again then!" He said, as he ate another negativity apple, and another, and another. He became to weak, as he tried to reach for the last negativity apple, only to fall frail, as his body began to melt and dust from all this negative energy. Nightmare, in fear of his brother's death, quickly grabbed a positive apple, giving it to Dream. Dream ate it, and it gave him his strength back. But more than before.

Dream had a taste of power, and he wanted more. He took more positivity apples, consuming them. As he ate more and more, he grew more powerful. Until the tree was almost entirely barren. There was only one negativity apple left. Nightmare staggered back. Dream lifted his arms up, as wings sprouted from his back. He had fused The Positive and Negative Energy; bending it to his will. He turned to the people. The Disgusting peasants, who didn't bow to him. He raised his arms. The Sun glew brighter, as Nightmare tried to stand in its way, shield them with shadow, but he was only but a boy, fighting against The Sun itself. It began to melt the people, melting their very skin and bones, giving them a slow and painful death. Nightmare couldn't help any of them, and could barely help himself as he began to melt. He stumbled towards the tree, begging his father for his strength. He fumbled around, grabbing The Negativity apple. He heard the voice of his father. "Eat it, I have imbued the last of my power into it. It will save you, my son." The voice said. Nightmare listened, his teeth sinking into the apple, as he ate it, it imbued him with its power, as his aura pushed Dream back, as Dream was caught off guard. The Sun turned back to normal. Those who had been hiding behind areas of shade, or somehow evading the sun, turned. It was back to a normal day, but it turned to rain, as Dream and Nightmare circled each other. Dream gloated about the fact he saw as Obvious. Nightmare only held 1/1000th of the power he did. But he underestimated it. In truth, that was the voice of their father. He had imbued his power into the apple. It was much more powerful than any other. But dream still had the advantage. Not only was it day, where he was most powerful. But he still did have many more. Sure it was one strong apple, but it doesn't do much against the unlimited power dream had. Nightmare knew his brother was no more, corrupted by his own inhibition. Nightmare summoned an aggressive weapon, unlike his brother of the original Dreamtale.

A Rapier's handle appeared in his hand.

The two entered a battle for the ages, but it was looking bad. Dream was to powerful, especially with the sun. Nightmare stood no chance, and was barely able to fight back. Eventually, as all hope seemed lost, The Sun exited the horizon, and the full moon rose.

Imbued with its power, Nightmare fought back, and disarmed Dream from The Claymore he wielded. Nightmare slashed Dream across the chest, wounding him. Then, with one last blast of power, he slammed his wounded brother into the tree. Sealing him in there. The energy was rebalanced. Nightmare took up the mantle of his Fallen Brother. He was now The Guardian of both Energies.

But... this would not be eternal.

500 years later, as The Sun rose, a yellow crack formed in the tree, as Dream tore his way out. Angrier than ever. Sadly, Nightmare was resting on the tree, startled to see his brother crawling out, fine, and very very angry.

Due to it being Dawn, Nightmare knew that he stood no chance. He remembered their battle 500 years ago. While he himself didn't want to run, he knew what he had to do. He had to protect Negativity. He fled, evacuating those of the village, which was now a city. It was to no avail. Dream began taking their souls, and puppeteering them. He claimed the souls, and the beings, humans and monsters alike, became soulless husks. Serving Dream's Every whim. Dream felt no remorse, as he destroyed everything. Humans and Monsters were cruel entities. Why should he give them MERCY? They were just weak power sources to him, nothing more. After all, Dream would give them a utopia. The least they could do was assist him in creating this utopia. Nightmare fled from the city, fearfully. The spirit of his father gave him advice, and Nightmare escaped to a different AU, as Dream conquered his home.

Basically,

Dream's a Megalomaniacal Sociopath who believes that he is the being from the prophecy. Every "Minor" thing he does is simply excusable to him. A necessary sacrifice. Due to his Sociopathic State, he doesn't think with morality. Kind of like Flowey from The Original Game.

Now, if you're wondering about AUs, well, that'll take more time to write down. But similar to Dreamswap, The Characters in each AU are different.

The only character that's mostly the same to Dreamswap is Blue. (I call him Underswap Sans mostly, since, I have something of a thing against the name "Blueberry," but if you need a nickname, I just call him Crossbones. Or just call him blue still, lolol.)

Ink is still swapped with Cross

Nightmare and Dream are still swapped

Error and Blue are still Swapped.

however, there are additional swaps.

Underswap Papyrus Swaps with Fatal_Error. (Kind of. Fatal doesn't exist in the story, but US Papyrus is kind of like Fatal.)

Underswap Chara is now CORE Frisk. (Core existed, but they were restored by Papyrus. Long story.)

There are a few other AUs Involved.

Horrortale

Killertale

Dusttale

Underfell

Othertale

Reapertale (Briefly Mentioned)

Aftertale

Alphatale (Doesn't do much, yet.)

Peacetale (Not really, but Infected Sans exists here. So technically Peacetale does as well.)

#undertale #undertale aus #undertaleau #dreamswap #dreamtale

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drk-mnd-fds · 11 months ago

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I decided to make a mini comic, now I will publish 1-2 pages and later I will publish the last page.

Page 3

Fallen!DreamSwap belong to me

Original DreamSwap belong to onebizarrekai

#fallen dreamswap #undertale #digital art #undertale au #dreamswap #art #fallen dreamswap nightmare #dreamswap au #fallen dreamswap error #fallen dreamswap dream

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dreamtalemf · 5 years ago

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The Start of The AU

(Note: An Identical Post to this exists. I just reposted it here so that you didn’t have to scroll through my account’s posts to know how the AU started.)

(Note 2: While this is a Dreamswap-Esc AU, I didn't call it Dreamswap since two AUs with a name like that already exist.)

(Note 3: The Spirit of The Tree here is Male, Because Swap. I just thought that'd be a nice touch.)

This is essentially an AU I made based on Dreamswap and SwapDream respectively.

(Btw here, The Apples don't change when touched. They just hurt, kind of like Dream's positivity arrows hurt Nightmare, rather than just being negativity'd.)

A Rapier's handle appeared in his hand.

But... this would not be eternal.

Basically,

Now, if you're wondering about AUs, well, that'll take more time to write down. But similar to Dreamswap, The Characters in each AU are different.

Ink is still swapped with Cross

Nightmare and Dream are still swapped

Error and Blue are still Swapped.

however, there are additional swaps.

Underswap Papyrus Swaps with Fatal_Error. (Kind of. Fatal doesn't exist in the story, but US Papyrus is kind of like Fatal.)

Underswap Chara is now CORE Frisk. (Core existed, but they were restored by Papyrus. Long story.)

There are a few other AUs Involved.

Horrortale

Killertale

Dusttale

Underfell

Othertale

Reapertale (Briefly Mentioned)

Aftertale

Alphatale (Doesn't do much, yet.)

Peacetale (Not really, but Infected Sans exists here. So technically Peacetale does as well.)

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moonstonemoonlight · 6 years ago

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My part of the trade with @izzy-the-bizzy! They asked for DS Insomnia :D

Dreamswap by Onebizarrekai

They had a mutual agreement to keep their relationship out of public eye. Not exactly secret, per se - especially since Nightmare, Cross, and Ink knew they were, as Ink put it, ‘sucking face’ - but Error shied away from the unwanted clout of being ‘the CEO’s boyfriend’ and Dream was afraid of such information getting into the wrong hands.

It was fairly easy to be discreet - despite Nightmare’s insistence that anyone who looked could see them making heart eyes at each other - they found times to be alone and uninterrupted, where they could speak freely and bask in each other’s company. On sleepless nights, the two of them wandered the castle halls together in companionable silence, occasionally broken by whispers.

Error reminded him of Ani, in a bittersweet way. It was something Dream learned in little ways as they got to know each other. He had their kindness and emotional wisdom, a kind of unpronounced strength that was achingly familiar.

Dream would often see him at the orphanage, and watch or greet Error when he spoke with the children or brought supplies. Error admitted to him that for years he had dropped off hand-knitted items in secret; that it was nice to see that the kids he had helped from afar were doing well.

When they were still only friends Dream had found himself unsure if he could - or should - pursue a relationship with Error when he saw someone else in him. He still held Ani in his heart, and didn’t think he could give up their memory in order to be with someone. It had taken weeks (and a few pointed talks from his brother) for Dream to open up again to the idea, to find the unique threads of Error’s personality that he had fallen in love with, and realise that he loved him for more than a reflection of one long dead.

One sleepless night he found Error walking the halls, and from the smudged darkness under his eyes Dream guessed he couldn’t sleep either.

Somehow they got to talking under the moonlight. Error listened when Dream started to explain, and although he had not spoken of Ani in years the words came easier as he talked. He missed them, their death had been too soon, they had deserved better. He explained the sun necklace he never went without.

Error was understanding (gentle, even) with his feelings. He didn’t ask Dream to give up his love for Ani to love someone else. When they broached the subject of a relationship, both agreed to take things slowly.

Error grew more comfortable slowly, as he had - and still did - with Nightmare and Cross. He brushed arms with him casually, leaned into Dream’s side when they were near each other, gave him small, precious smiles and little signs of contentment as he relaxed in Dream’s presence. Even as Error frequented light touches and delicate, forewarned affection, Dream preferred to let Error initiate contact and decide what he was comfortable with, not wanting to push him. Error seemed to appreciate the consideration.

Walking together on sleepless nights became something they shared - more often than was probably healthy, really, but Dream didn’t need to sleep much and Error claimed he was used to insomnia - and Dream had soon showed Error his favourite nooks of the castle to sit by moonlight, his favourite places in the garden. He didn’t expect to have overmuch in common with Error, but in whispered exchanges Error shared his own stories, half remembered loss and trust, building a purpose out of himself that mirrored Dream’s own.

The first time Error asked to hold his hand Dream felt a little starstruck. Their hands cradled each other’s lightly, and Dream felt soft tingling in his chest like warm bursts of stardust. They had stolen a moment out of sight, meeting in Dream’s room, and when Error pulled his hands away he happily informed Dream that his face was glowing as brightly as his wings, or rather ‘brighter than a burning lemon’, which had them both snickering quietly, even as Dream hid his face in his hands. Although, it was Error’s turn to blush when Dream quietly told him that his handholding felt like butterfly kisses.

The first time Error kissed him, the warmth in his chest spread and filled his entire body, and when Error leaned back he gave a wispy laugh and told him that he glowed. Dream fluffed his wings and grumbled indignantly at the comment, but couldn’t exactly contest it, feeling the warmth in his face. He returned a kiss to Error’s forehead as the other leaned against him, and although his cheeks dimmed their blazing yellow the warmth in his chest settled into his soul.

Attempting to keep their relationship private meant their main havens were Dream’s office and his room, with Error’s room being declared off-limits by a very disgruntled Cross, who had only barely warmed up to Dream in the months since they had stopped legally being enemies.

In his office, Dream found himself doing paperwork more frequently in his armchair than at his desk, as it was larger and could accommodate two people comfortably. And although Error still avoided excessive touch, he would occasionally join Dream on the armchair, if only for a few minutes.

Speaking of which, Error chose that moment to arrange himself on the armchair, sprawled beside and on top of Dream. Error tucked his head under Dream’s chin, taking a look at the page he was reading. Dream did his utmost best to not turn into a sunlamp. He tentatively rested his head on Error’s, relaxing after a moment when Error showed no sign of discomfort, and went back to his work with a smile. His wings curled delicately around them.

Without bothering to knock Ink poked his head around the door, holding a stack of papers.

“You two are gooier than valentines chocolates.” he informed them.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Dream replied absently. Error shifted to peck a pointed kiss on his cheek, leaving a warm spark behind, then unfolded and stood from the armchair.

“Seeya, lovebirds.” Ink stuck his tongue out and left the paperwork on the desk as Error flopped in the unattended seat. He was quiet from a moment, then swung his head to look at Dream.

“Mm, now I want gooey chocolates.”

Dream huffed a laugh at him, glancing over his papers with a grin. “We’ll get some later.”

#writing #trade #writing trade #dreamswap #ds dream #ds insomnia #ds errordream #asdfghjkl #fluff is hard #this was fun though :3 #chrono

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asukamood · 2 years ago

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Fallen Angel (II)

Most probably the last post for a while, hope you enjoy-

OG Dream will also arrive but do not worry, it’s all for plot purposes and not just because I love that man.

This part is the calm before the storm…

***

Previous part — Next part

***

Warnings: Self-blaming/guilt, swearing

Synopsis: ““I do know where he is, yes.” Blue said after a while, wishing to break the silence. “But heading there like that wouldn’t be… intelligent. Especially considering what you are, Nightmare.”

His eyes narrowed. “Then what? We wait around until whoever has got him decides they’ve played with him enough?” Venom filled his voice as he spoke. “Radiants don’t walk around in cities like that, I hope you are aware.”

“Well…” Then, he had an illumination. Goodness, how did he not think of that before? “Actually I might know someone like that.””

***

A few minutes later, when Blue’s breathing had gotten better, Nightmare’s hands went back to clawing at his hoodie. He didn’t comment on it even though it kinda hurt, he probably deserved it anyway.

“Now that you’re not about to die in the lamest way known to man, tell me, in full sentences, just what the fuck is going on and what it has to do with Dream.” He was staring straight into his soul, his eyebrows furrowed with worry. Blue didn’t even need to think to know that he was trying to read his emotions.

He couldn’t even tell if his barrier was still up, he was way too exhausted to think about it. “Has none of you kept up with the news lately?”

Cross shook his head, Error made sure he wouldn’t have any eye contact with the other so he started to study carefully the craftsmanship of the wooden floor below him. Nightmare’s impatience grew and his grip on Blue’s shoulders tightened.

“No, we have not. Now stop delaying the moment and tell me before I shove my staff up your a—”

Again, it was Cross that interrupted Nightmare. “Hitting him where the sun doesn’t shine isn’t gonna make him want to talk to you Night.” He looked intrigued by the information that Blue was going to drop despite hating Dream with every cell in his body. For once, Nightmare was so explosive that it made Cross look calm, which was quite the achievement itself.

“It would be funny to watch though.” Error said from across the room, still staring at the floor.

That natural response seemed to calm Blue down a bit. He still felt awful and the anxiety of Koroit following him was still here but at least he felt like some things still remained the same. Nightmare was about to say something before he was cut off by Blue: “Dream…”

All eyes turned to him. “... He’s missing.” Blue chose not to tell them about his involvement in Dream’s kidnapping, otherwise, Nightmare might just murder him on the spot before he would be able to give them his location. He honestly felt like he deserved to die but he would only accept it if Dream was the one who did that. After all, it was him that got hurt because of his actions, whether he was forced or not.

“He’s missing?” Cross repeated, his eyes widened. “How the fu–”

“Shut up Cross.” Nightmare cut him off, the worry in his eyes practically making him glow. “Continue.”

“Dream had imprisoned a corrupt named Obsidian in a cell. Two of his… acquaintances made up a plan to get him out of there and…” He took a second to phrase the next part. “Change him, for short. They’ve succeeded and Dream is now most likely getting tortured—“

“Do you know where he is?” Nightmare suddenly interrupted, an indescribable feeling passing on his face.

“Nightmare, you’re not thinking of trying to rescue him, are you?” Error asked a bit worryingly, finally leaving the floor alone. “We don’t even know what they’re capable of doing and-“

Nightmare shook his head. “I don’t care, I can’t just leave him there!” He snapped, raising his arm to his mouth’s level before starting to nip at his nails nervously. “For all I know he’s going to…” Nightmare shook his head and let the sentence die in the atmosphere. They all knew what he wanted to say.

“I do know where he is, yes.” Blue said after a while, wishing to break the silence. “But heading there like that wouldn’t be… intelligent. Especially considering what you are, Nightmare.”

“Well…” Then, he had an illumination. Goodness, how did he not think of that before? “Actually I might know someone like that.”

A look of shock flashed on Nightmare’s face. “You do? How? I haven’t seen a single one apart from Dream in my entire existence. Which says a lot.”

“I’ll explain later, I have to go make a call.” Blue stated, standing up with slight difficulty. He still felt so weak, he hated it. Then he walked to the opposite corner of where the others were standing and took his phone out of his pocket.

Meanwhile, the remaining members of the meme squad were staring at each other with equal confusion.

“Am I the only one who feels like they are talking a foreign language?” Error shook his head, shrugging.

“No, I have no clue about what they’re talking about either.” Cross let out a sigh of relief.

***

Blue held up the phone in his ear as he listened to the ringing sound of his phone. He would normally give little care about it but considering the situation, he hoped that the other would pick up as fast as possible. Another one rang out. Waiting has never felt so long before, it felt like an eternity has passed already.

Please pick up.

“Hello? Blue?” Most of the tension in his shoulders evaporated as soon as he heard the crystalline voice ranging in his ears. Thank god, he wasn’t fighting his own Nightmare for once. “What’s wrong?”

“Hey, it’s very complicated to explain but I really need your help right now. Can you go to the address I just sent you?” A little silence fell on the other side of the phone, only broken by the occasional sounds of clothes ruffling.

“Of course!” The other cheerfully said after a while. “Although, I might have to get Error to lend me a hand for this one, I’ve never been there before.” Blue swiped the air as if the other could see him.

“That’s totally fine.” He wanted to add something else but couldn’t as the other best him to it.

“And Blue?” He waited for said man to make a noise of confirmation, to show that he was listening. “Take deep breaths, I can sense your worry from over there.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “Will do, I’ll see you in a minute then.”

The original Dream hung up.

***

“Okay, can you tell us what is going on now?” Nightmare looked beyond pissed but Blue could see that it was all a facade, more than frustrated he was worried, very worried, maybe as much or more than Blue. That really said something.

“As I said before, we need a radiant to counter their negative energy.” He pointed to his phone. “I called one over, I hope it doesn’t bother you guys?”

Error sighed. “As if our opinion really mattered here…” He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Cross shrugged, not quite knowing how he should react to this. Nightmare on the other hand had gone back to biting his nails, anxiously waiting.

After a few seconds, a sizzle echoed throughout the room. The noise grew louder before a thin line was drawn in one corner. The rift was forced open in a mess of glitches and an endless void of white appeared before them. Even Blue was startled by that but that may just be because of the lack of sleep.

In the corner, blond hair came into view quickly before disappearing as fast it came. “Thanks Error, I owe you one!” The voice from the call shouted, another muffled and glitchy one responding something inaudible. The meme squad raised an eyebrow, Nightmare and Cross staring at their friend that went by the same name.

The latter shrugged, shaking his head to signal he had no clue what this was about.

A few seconds later, the original Dream stepped in, his aura seeping into the room and immediately making Blue feel better. He knew it was artificial happiness but it still felt great to have a break after that day filled with endless guilt.

The portal closed behind him and Dream opened his mouth to say something before he locked eyes with Nightmare. Both of them had their eyes widened and for a second, sadness swept through their irises before they shook their heads and looked away.

While Nightmare was stealing glances from Dream occasionally, Cross’s eyes had been stuck studying the circlet that the original version of the CEO of JR had on his head.

“Hold on, isn’t that the same circlet that Dream wears?” He remarked after a while, looking the boy up and down. Said one laughed sheepishly, being used to hearing this.

“I don’t doubt it is.” He responded, approaching the meme squad and smiling, his eyes lingering a second more onto Nightmare. “My name is also Dream but since that would be confusing for you all, you can call me Ori.”

The three of them nodded, also giving their names. After the introduction was made, Blue pressed his finger against Ori’s shoulder, which made the latter stare at him.

“Oh yes.” His cheerful smile faded to be replaced with a solemn expression. “What was the issue you needed my help with? Seeing your emotional state, I’m guessing it’s something serious.”

“Dream was abducted.” Ori’s unblinking stare urged him to continue. “By corrupts.” Once the word left his mouth, Ori grumbled under his breath a curse, his eyebrows furrowing.

“How many of them are there?” Blue held up two fingers as an answer, he didn’t trust himself with speaking at the moment. “I see, I should be able to get rid of them, yes.” That relieved him slightly.

“Do you need any help with that? I would be happy to oblige.” Nightmare suddenly spoke up, a mix of concern and anger painted on his expression. Error protested against that but the shorter one paid it no mind.

Ori shook his head. “I can understand your desire to participate in the battle however, your negativity will only weaken me there and fighting fire with fire has rarely ever worked.” Nightmare frowned, clearly displeased. “Besides, I think it would be better if you were there when he comes back. Seeing a familiar face might help him calm down a bit and who knows if they’ll manage to track him down there.”

“…” Nightmare sighed before admitting he would like to see how he’s doing first and foremost. “Although, if they do come here I can’t promise not to beat their asses.”

Cross playfully slapped Nightmare’s back. “I would be happy to help with that too! I couldn’t care less about Dream but if you’re going then so am I!” Nightmare facepalmed but couldn’t help the little smile to twitch at his lips even with all this tension in his body.

Error raised his thumb as an approbation.

Ori then turned to Blue. “I know you don’t like fights very much but I think I’m gonna need you to free your Dream, is that okay?”

“I…”

You got him into that mess, it’s only right if you get him out of there.

Who cares if you end up triggered?

You’re not even the one who’s going to fight…

Blue chased away these thoughts and took a deep breath. “Yeah. I will be fine.”

Ori gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder as well as a smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t let them hurt you or let them intervene in your escape with him. Besides…” He took a step closer to him, whispering so only he could hear what he was about to say. “Whatever you did, I’m sure he’ll forgive you.”

Blue startled at that, glancing at him with his jaw open.

He pointed to his chest, the space where his soul would be. “Empathy.”

“… I hope my barrier comes back on soon. I don’t like having someone read my emotions.” He confessed as Dream chuckled.

“You guys should go.” Nightmare suddenly materialized between them, making Dream let out a squeak of surprise. “I don’t like the thought of Dream spending any more time with these bastards.”

“Me neither.”

Blue’s hand was trembling when he showed Dream where they were going.

#dreamswap #ds dream #he’s mentioned at least #angst #ship #ds blue #drueswap #dream #ds nightmare #ds cross #ds error #error sans #fallen angel

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ebelwrites · 6 years ago

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Heya, it’s been a while. Sorry for the long break; things have been kinda crazy in my world for a while. I got my computer back up and running with nothing lost, but it’s just been one thing after another in my world right now and finding the motivation to write has been hard. I’m going to try and force myself to make time for writing because I have really missed it. I’ve got a trade and a bad sans poly story in the works, but for now, here’s something that I wrote a while back and rediscovered in my documents.

A human Dreamswap story, with trans!Nightmare and a more queer platonic relationship between Dream and Nightmare. Just some cute stuff and focusing on Dream and Nightmare’s bond. Hope you all like it, and I will hopefully get back into the grove of things in short order!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dream could not keep the smile off his face as he entered the recovery room. That expression was mirrored on every face he saw, especially on the one in the bed. Cross and Error each sat on either side of the hospital bed, hovering near their datemate should he need anything. Further to the side were Finch and Ink, close enough to be supportive but far enough away that they didn’t crowd. And the brightest smile in the room was on Nightmare. His old friend was resting in the hospital bed, the top end raised so that he could sit up and interact with everyone. He looked tired and a bit pained, but he was happy, and that was enough to make Dream smile as well.

“Dream!” Nightmare exclaimed when he saw him, wiggling in excitement. He looked like he wanted to wave his arms around, but Dream knew from his research that wouldn’t be a good idea. “You’re here!”

“Of course I am.” Dream moved closer, intentionally going onto Error’s side and taking Nightmare’s hand. “How are you feeling?”

“A bit sore,” Nightmare admitted, “but good. Like a weight’s been taken off.” Dream lightly squeezed Nightmare’s hand, getting a squeeze in return. “They’re also giving me the good stuff. I like these pain meds.” One of Error’s hands found its way onto Dream’s shoulder, and gave the winged man a comforting and supportive look. Dream was about to say something when one of the doctors entered the room.

“Well, it looks like you’re good to go, young man,” she said, checking things off her clipboard as she spoke. “Everything looks fine; you can continue your recovery at home.” There is a round of cheers throughout the room, good will surging through everyone.

“Doctor?” Dream queried once the noise had died down. “What things should he, and the rest of us, be careful of during recovery? What time period are we looking at?”

“About two weeks recovery, all up.” The doctor responded, flipping some pages. “At one week, he will need to come in for a check up, so that we can remove his compression bindings and see how he’s healing. He should not remove the bindings before then, which means no showering until after that appointment.” There was a bit of choked, nervous laughter from Error and Cross at that; the doctor continued on as though she didn’t hear them. “Other than that, no strenuous activity; nothing that is going to put stress on his body, especially his upper torso and arms. He should not be lifting his arms up during his recovery and he shouldn’t be doing any heavy lifting.” She looked over the top of her clipboard to Nightmare.

“You will most likely feel sore and sensitive for some weeks, even after we give you the all clear. Over the counter pain medications should be taken as needed, and use ice packs to reduce any swelling. One thing you should know; swelling can last as little as two weeks, but could also last as long as four to six months. Do not worry if you are on the longer end of that spectrum; it will subside eventually.” With that, she finally put down her clipboard and gave Nightmare a smile. “And I believe that is everything. All you need to do now is sign the release papers, and you will be on your way!” Nightmare gave another cheer, and Cross immediately moved to help Nightmare stand up.

“Let’s get you home, Love.” He said as he helped to support Nightmare’s weight, arm around Nightmare’s waist for support. Finch and Ink gave a wave from where they were standing by the door.

“We’ll come check in you later, ‘kay?” Ink said, flashing a grin and a wave before ducking out the door. Finch gave him an unamused look as he disappeared, before turning back to Nightmare.

“Take it easy. We will visit you after we finish work for today.” Finch at least waits until Nightmare gives him a cheery, ‘Bye bye!’, before leaving. Dream watched all of this, happy that his old friend has managed to develop such a support network, before he stood and moved over to Nightmare. Cross almost seemed like he was about to do the usual posturing routine he does whenever he interacts with Dream, but refrained from doing so while holding Nightmare. Which was good; Dream didn’t feel like battling the old grudge of his friend’s datemate at the moment. Right now, Dream’s entire focus was on Nightmare.

“Ready to head home?” Nightmare flashed a giant grin to Dream’s small smile, but neither were any less sincere than the other.

“Yep!” Dream briefly wondered when was the last time Nightmare had sounded so cheery; it had been a while. “But can we stop and get burgers or something before we head back to the apartment? I’m starving!” There was a smattering of laughter from all four of them as they led Nightmare out the doors of his recovery room.

“You can have whatever you want,” Error said, sliding into the open side of Nightmare and taking the other’s hand. “We’ll make a stop.” Dream couldn’t help the fond smile on his face as he watched the three of them walk together, Cross and Error on either side and ready to support Nightmare should he need the help. Despite his reservations about one of them, he had to admit that they were both dearly devoted to Nightmare. It eased his worries about the future; Nightmare would be fine, with all of them standing beside him.

Yes, Dream thought to himself as he signed off on the release paperwork, Nightmare would be just fine.

~~~~~~~~~

It was late at night, a few days after Nightmare’s surgery. Dream was returning to his rooms, after having stayed up until past midnight to finish up on some paperwork. He was quietly making his way through the halls, doing his best to make sure he didn’t wake any of the sleeping occupants, when he noticed a faint light and muffled sounds coming from underneath the door leading to Nightmare/Error/Cross’ common room. He paused outside the door for a moment, listening carefully. It sounded like the tv was on, which aligned with the faint light that didn’t seem to be from a lamp or ceiling light, as well as what sounded like static.

Strangely, he couldn’t hear anything else, no talking or conversation between the datemates. He supposed they must have all fallen asleep watching a show or something. He debated with himself for a moment, before ultimately deciding to go in and turn off the tv. He didn’t want the noise and light to eventually wake up the sleeping trio, and also it would be better if he could avoid power wastage. When he opened the door, however, he didn’t see the three bodies he expected. Instead, he saw only one, and that one was wide awake. Nightmare stared back at him from his position on the couch. The other was lying down, ice pack clutched to his chest, and he looked remarkably tired.

“Nightmare?” He asked softly, not knowing where Error or Cross were and not wanting to wake them if they were sleeping. “What are you doing up so late?”

“Sore,” Nightmare croaked out. “Couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t want to wake my datemates up.” Dream nodded, before stepping into the room and quietly closing the door.

“Do you want some company?” Nightmare’s eyes gave Dream his answer without having to say anything. Dream gave a smile, making a quick turn to grab another ice pack and a tub of ice cream from the freezer, alongside two spoons, before making his way to the couch and sitting near Nightmare’s head. “Here, take this one,” he helped Nightmare swap the old ice pack for the new one, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s melted by now.” Nightmare let out a moan as the cold hit his sore chest, relaxing into the numbing chill.

“You are a saint,” Nightmare whispers, resting his head on Dream’s thigh and digging out a scoop of ice cream. Dream gave a tender smile and ran his hand through Nightmare’s hair before turning his attention to the tv screen.

“So, what are we watching?” Nightmare gave a shrug against his leg.

“Whatever was first on when I hit the power button.” Dream rolled his eyes a little at that before grabbing the remote and flicking through the channels. He eventually stopped on the nature channel, figuring it would be entertaining enough without being so entertaining that Nightmare wouldn’t ever get to sleep. The black-haired male let out a few grumbles at his choice, but comforted himself with ice cream.

Much to Dream’s hypothesis and satisfaction, it only took a few episodes before Nightmare drifted off to sleep, sticking ice cream surrounding his mouth and faintly snoring. Dream huffed a laugh before cleaning up Nightmare’s face and grabbing the afghan off the end of the couch, covering Nightmare with the blanket. He fished out the remote once more, killing the tv. His hand had not stopped running gently through Nightmare’s hair and Dream couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face as he looked down at his old friend.

“Sleep well, Nightmare,” he said softly, feeling his own exhaustion begin to settle in his bones. “May you have pleasant dreams this time.” It took only a few minutes more for Dream himself to drop off into sleep.

Both boys slept well into the next morning, still cuddled to each other when they woke.

~~~~~~~

“Dream!” Nightmare burst into his office, whining dramatically. “Dream! My datemates are being mean to me!”

“Uh huh,” Dream said, not even looking up from his paperwork and paying on the bare minimum of attention. Nightmare being dramatic wasn’t anything new in his life.

“They kicked me out of the shared bed!”

“Did they, now?” Dream signed off on another form, his voice devoid of any emotion.

“They said I stink!”

“You do.” Nightmare let out a dramatic gasp of betrayal and Dream couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Nightmare, it has been six days since you last bathed. I understand that these are your doctor’s orders but, at the same time, you reek. We will all be grateful once you get the sign off tomorrow; and the first thing you do after getting that sign off better be going and taking a freaking shower!” Nightmare pouted at him, and Dream let out a sigh in response.

“You think I like this?” Nightmare’s voice was distinctly whiny and Dream could already feel a headache coming on. “I’ve been wearing the same bandages for six days! I can feel the grime on me! It’s disgusting!”

“It is only for one more day,” Dream sighed out. “Just one more day; then you can take a nice, long scrub, and cuddle with your datemates, and everyone will be happy again. But until that time,” Dream waved his hand in front of his nose, face curling up slightly, “do you mind?” Nightmare’s jaw almost hit the floor. He stared in disbelief and indignation for a minute or two, before spinning around and marching out the door.

“Ink!” He screamed, slamming the office door behind him. Dream managed to contain his laughter until he was certain that Nightmare was out of hearing range, then it tumbled out of him without restraint.

Oh, Nightmare could be just as dramatic as he remembered. He was rather glad that hadn’t changed in all these years.

~~~~~~~~

“Well,” the doctor said, looking up from their examination notes. “It appears that I can give you the all clear!” Nightmare let out a ‘Woot!’ and bounced in his chair, until the doctor gave him a stern look and he settled down. “You still have to take it easy. No running, no heavy lifting, no raising your arms above chest level; at least for another week or so. Nothing that’s going to prevent your body from healing itself. But you can finally rid yourself of the compression binder and lift the restriction on showers and baths.”

“Thank the stars above,” Error not-so-subtly whispered behind them. Nightmare spun his head around to give a glare in Error’s direction, but it didn’t last long before a giant grin spread across his face.

“You know what that means?” Nightmare bounced to his feet and, in a split second, his hoodie was off and in the air. “I’m officially shirtless, baby!”

“Nightmare! Put your clothes back on!” Dream immediately got to his feet and snatched the hoodie out of the air, but it was too late to grab Nightmare as well. He just danced around the room, always out of Dream’s reach, chanting ‘no shirt, no shirt’.

“No shirt!” Just when Dream didn’t think it could get any worse, Ink was on his feet and without the top part of his clothes as well. Dream wasn’t sure how Ink had managed to strip his many layers in such a short time, but he had, and was now joining Nightmare in his dancing and chanting. At least Finch had the good sense to not join in; merely hiding his face underneath his hat.

“Well,” the doctor capped her pen and stood up with hardly any sense of urgency. “I think I’ll leave you to handle this.” And then she was out the door before Dream could say anything. Within mere moments of her leaving, Error, Cross, and Finch all sped out the door to join her.

“Wait! Don’t leave me!” Dream tried to get them to stop, but they didn’t even look at him and it was too late. He was the only one left to try and get Ink and Nightmare to put their shirts back on.

It would take quite some time for Dream to grab hold of the two of them and be able to wrestle them back into their shirts; or in Ink’s case, the tattered remains of his shirt. But even when he managed it, the two of them did not stop smiling. And honestly, Dream couldn’t stop smiling either.

For as many headaches as Nightmare gave him, it was good to see him finally enjoying and feeling comfortable in his own body. Dream hoped he’d get to continue seeing it a lot more in the future.

#Dreamswap #DS!Dream #DS!Nightmare #DS!Cross #DS!Error #DS!Ink #Acrossnighterrors #queer platonic Dreammare #just cute babs being cute babs #Nightmare gets top surgery #He's a happy boi #Dream and Nightmare are very close but they aren't dating or have romantic feelings for each other here #They just love and support each other

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