#my head horte (<- is probably dehydrated)

[moonfurthetemmie]

Ok so fair warning. The plot part of Sunfall is suuuuper long and kinda incoherent. Like, it's basically brain vomit. This is also what 99% of all my AU notes look like.

its also REALLY fucking long. did i mention that. it's really, really long. 5k words.

side note, if there's anything you think i should tag for, feel free to ask. i think my joyfriend is watching twilight with people, and I can't brain in the slightest right now, so I can only think of one cw tag.

A new universe Happened, with a new Tree of Feelings and a new Nightmare and Dream. This one got fucked up, though. Like, super extra fucked up. 

The new spirits had nothing to do with it, and had no idea what was going on until it was too late. They managed to escape the AU before they got killed along with their home, but in doing do they release the thing into the rest of the multiverse. It follows them around, sensing their magic and wanting very much to take it.

Everywhere they go, people think they brought this thing with them on purpose. The thing isn’t super powerful yet, but it’s gaining power. 

Some people that see it are sent into fits of terror, rage, or are filled with seething hatred. They turn into horrid beasts that attack anything that moves; including each other.

Others are transfixed; something about this thing is so mesmerizing, it fills them with a sense of peace, happiness, love. They transform into seemingly angelic creatures, that peacefully wander…until they sense a person. Or one of the corrupted beasts. If one of these senses you, you won’t know until it’s too late. They’re just as deadly.

The newbies make it onto the news. Which immediately catches Dream’s attention. He’d been hearing strange rumors but What In The Goddamn

He goes to investigate himself, and realizes real fast that these two are not bringing this thing with them on purpose.

The new spirits are very young. they’re adults, but like. early twenties. They’re very confused as to what happened, and where they are. Why is there another spirit??? is there another tree?? what the shit

They introduce themselves as Orion and Corvus, and explain what they can, but they really don’t know what happened. there were probably signs but they didn’t. see. or notice.

Dream’s both very irritated with them and also like ‘well i didn’t even know shit like this could happen so i don’t know what fricken signs there’d be’ and he offers to let them stay in JR. They agree, gladly; they’ve barely had a chance to rest between running from this thing and trying to figure out how to get rid of it.

Unfortunately Dream is one of the few people who realized they were running from the Death Cloud(TM) turning people into horrid creatures and not causing it. There’s a loooooot of people who are mad Dream took them in and he’s getting so much shit about it. 

Corvus and Orion are very adamant that they’re going to need the other guardian from Dream’s AU to help with this. They’ve been trying to fight the creatures the thing spawns, and it, but with no success, save for dispatching a few of the beasts. They’re sure Dream on his own won’t be enough. They do not understand why he thinks negativity is bad and are just getting more stubborn every time he’s like ‘no, I’m not getting nightmare’s help. We don’t need him.’

Eventually he caves but goes ‘you’re going to have to find him yourselves and convince him to help. I’ve been trying to arrest him for the past one hundred years and I have no idea where he is. He probably won’t be too eager to help since JR is involved, either.’

He was right, but they manage to convince the Meme Squad and Dream to meet in some neutral place or something. There is no neutral ground in this situation but whatever. Dream also brings Ink and Finch. For security purposes n shit. 

They end up meeting by Dream and Nightmare’s Tree. Corvus and Orion are a little nervous about it, given what happened to theirs and the fact that the thing (which people have started calling ‘the Maelstrom’) seems to be following them around, but it’s probably fine. Right? Right.

Anyways hi Nightmare & Co., tldr ‘shits fucked and we’re going to need people who know what they’re doing and can deal with weird emotion shit. And apparently we aren’t qualified on our own, so. help please??? We’re in way over our heads’

Nightmare is wary, and he’s not so sure about this. He doesn’t want the multiverse to get eaten by a magic emotion cloud, either, but he’s not sure what he could do about it. He also doesn’t trust Dream and JR at all, shockingly.

He’s not given much time to consider, though, because speak of the devil: The Maelstrom has arrived.

Usually, when it shows up, it goes for any people in the area, or looks for Corvus and Orion.

This time, it almost immediately attacks Dream and Nightmare’s Tree

“WHOA WHAT THE FUCK”

“Oh my god we have to stop it-”

Unfortunately just being near The Maelstrom is fucking with the magic in the Tree, and the second it touches it, the Tree just…turns to sludge. And the magic it had is released, and the Maelstrom absorbs all of it.

When the thing had first come into being, it was about the size of your average car. It had been slowly been growing, and was closer to the size of a two-story house by the time it attacked Dream and Nightmare’s Tree. 

It damn near tripled in size after absorbing that Tree’s magic. And they can hear laughter coming from it. Beasts seem to suddenly materialize out of nothing, most of which turn to them.

Corvus and Orion get ready to try to do something about it, but Dream’s like “You two are going to get yourselves killed. We need to leave now.”

They do, though not without a few scrapes from the beasts. 

They end up back in JR, and they’re all very quiet until Cross goes “s. so. How do you plan on dealing with an evil sentient cloud, exactly???”

Corvus and Orion shrug helplessly

Dream looks pale. “...I’m beginning to suspect I know why it was following the two of you around. We need to find some way to deal with it, and quickly. I get the feeling time is not on our side.”

After that the entire meme squad is pretty much on board. They’d managed to miss a lot of the Maelstrom’s bullshit (to be fair, lots of things happened in a rather short period of time) and only knew there was some fucked up cloud thing turning people into horrible creatures. They didn’t know it was radiance and corruption. They also didn’t think it was going to try to eat other sources of positivity and negativity so um!!! That’s not good!!!!!!!

They try to make a plan, but things are worse than Dream thought. The entire multiverse is demanding to know why JR isn’t taking care of this dumb fuckin cloud!! Someone says they saw him, his captain, and his personal assistant meet with the two girls that showed up when the Maelstrom did, and the Meme Squad. 

Dream is also having his crisis about positivity not being as great as he thought in real time so he has to deal with the people’s fear and paranoia and shouting, and his crisis, and The Maelstrom getting bigger and stronger, and also Nightmare, Cross, and Error being like “boy i sure am glad that radiance is pure and shit and all the creatures made of radiance are peaceful and totally on our side” while trying to make a plan with everyone.

Most of JR is going through a similar ‘crisis’ as Dream, though he’s definitely feeling it most. Dream is keeping as many of his people updated on the Maelstrom’s shit as he can.

The Meme Squad didn’t realize any of this was happening, though, and are surprised when they find they can walk through JR almost completely unimpeded. They get a few dirty looks from time to time, but no one gives them shit. They ask Dream if he’d actually told everyone that they weren’t to be arrested or whatever and Dream just blinks and goes “...I honestly completely forgot about that, between everything going on.”

“you forgot you were trying to kill me for the past century?”

“No, I forgot to tell the guards that you’re free to roam the castle.”

“...you were actually going to???”

“Nightmare i have four or five things i have to pay attention to right now please do not start this right now. You can bitch about it as much as you want after we deal with The Maelstrom but if you start now i’m going to have a stress-induced heart attack and then we’ll both be fucked”

“Understandable have a nice day”

Stress what stress what are you talking about

Much too soon, Dream gets a report that the Maelstrom is attacking a very densely populated city. Literally the best plan they have right now is Ink’s (very not serious) suggestion of “clouds are made of gases, right? Maybe if we cool it down enough we can have an evil emotions ice cube instead of a cloud and we can lock it up in a deep freezer in Antarctica or something.” but fuck they can’t let it kill everyone, or turn all of those people into beasts

Dream, Corvus, Orion, the Meme Squad, and many other JR people including Ink and Finch go after The Maelstrom. The manage to lure it away from the city, but there’s already so many beasts. The ones it seems to be creating out of thin air are small and very weak, but it can make a lot of them, very fast. Many of Dream’s people are either killed or turned; sometimes both, as their former teammates have to cut them down.

Dream is severely injured in the fight, and his injuries, made from a far out-of-control magic that directly opposes his own, are basically eating away at him.

Corvus and Orion, though? The poor fools get petrified. Orion got smacked with some of  The Maelstrom’s corruption while she was trying to fend off one of the beasts. One hit, and suddenly she was stone. That uh…that scared Corvus a little. She managed to dispatch the beast before it destroyed Orion, but she was too panicked. She saw the blinding, poisoned radiance coming and just froze.

Between them being turned to stone and Dream looking like he’s dying from his wound, it was decided it was time for a tactical retreat.

The survivors of the attack didn’t come back feeling at all victorious. They weren’t even sure they’d managed to chase off the Maelstrom. They’d lost all those people for nothing.

Dream knew he’d need a back-up plan in case shit hit the fan, and he did have one, but none of those accounted for the possibility of Corvus and Orion getting turned to stone, so he’s going to have to rethink that. He starts making notes of what’s happened, and puts together everything they know about the entity, so Corvus and Orion can see them when they’re revived. He’s not sure what will happen to Corvus and Orion’s memories after they’re stone for who knows how long, so he doesn’t want to take chances. He knows they can be revived, though. He’s not sure how, but he can still sense their auras, so he knows they’re not dead, and if they’re not dead then whatever this is must be reversible somehow. Right…?

Once the others have recovered from the fight, they carefully return to the site of battle. Much to their relief, almost all of the beasts are ignoring the lovely garden decorations, and they manage to bring Corvus and Orion’s statues to JR. It’s a bit of an Ordeal, but they manage. They’re carefully stored in a secret area under the castle that’s usually reserved as an emergency shelter.

Dream talks to Nightmare, Finch, Ink, Cross, and Error, and goes ‘ok so. Corvus and Orion are going to need someone to keep an eye on them and protect them while they’re like that. I won’t be able to, and…well, I don’t think JR is going to survive this. Not with how the people are talking.’

Cross and Error don’t really want to help Dream, just on principle alone, but Dream unfortunately has a point. Finch and Ink tho are down

Nightmare doesn’t make Cross and Error help, but he says ‘you two know more about the tree and its bullshit than most people. you’re like, some of the most qualified people to do this.’

Dream’s got more time than they thought, though, and he and Nightmare follow the Maelstrom and try to learn as much as they can about it and the creatures it spawns. They do their best to keep the others from knowing, too; they’ll insist Dream and Nightmare Not Do That, so Dream doesn’t kill the both of them faster and Nightmare doesn’t get the pair of them killed. 

It’s strange to be working together like this after all this time, but they don’t want to risk anyone else’s safety. They’re dying anyways, they might as well do it. Nightmare’s the one that actually follows the thing and watches, with a body cam and a radio so Dream can see what’s going on and Nightmare can tell him anything else he sees/figures out. Dream writes down everything he can. He’s not in any shape to be in the field but by god is he going to do what he can to help. They both note that no one else has turned to stone.

They get a lot of info; a very impressive amount of info given their (literal) deadline, but eventually Dream succumbs to his injuries, taking Nightmare with him. Before that happens, though, Cross and Error decide to do what they can to help out, and Nightmare asks them to help Finch and Ink sort through the notes Dream’s making (“About what??” “just listen-”) and organize it and maybe translate things into common english instead Dream English if need be. 

As much as Dream wanted to organize it as he went, they didn’t have time. So it’s a mess. 

Cross, Error, Ink, and Finch do as they were asked, and are. A little scared, actually. Holy shit. They got all this?? Nothing on how to beat the thing, but it’s still way more than they knew before.

(they notice that Dream’s hand writing gets steadily shakier. The later notes are almost unreadable. He must’ve been in a lot of pain. Cross and Error wonder if Nightmare started to feel it at some point before they died.)

There’s…not much to do after that, though. There’s no telling when the new spirits are going to wake up. The four of them aren’t sure they’ll be around long enough to see them wake. 

After a while, Ink goes ‘yknow i think someone was working on cloning whole people. We could clone ourselves’

Finch: have they even managed to do that yet

Ink: i don’t know but we could ask. They’d probably jump at the chance to have a bunch of willing test subjects too

Cross: oh fuck yeah, mad science

Error: doesn’t cloning mean creating an embryo or something

Cross: Cross: i know what you’re getting at and i am no longer excited

Finch: We could probably find surrogates. 

Error and Cross: Dubious eyebrow raise

Ink: or they could grow the clones in a big test tube

Finch: I’m pretty sure that only works in movies

Error: That’d be way cooler, though. And we wouldn’t have to find someone who’d be willing to be the surrogate of clones of the two people who were closest to JR’s most wanted criminal

Ink: and i mean, really, all you’ll have to do is recreate the amniotic sac fluid and find a way to get an umbilical chord to connect to a thing of fetus nutrients 

Finch: that is a horrifying mental image

Cross: The umbilical chord takes nutrients and shit from the blood of the pregnant person so really you’d just need a giant bag of blood

Finch: Jess Christ

Cross: If it was his blood it’d have to be wine, and I don’t think that’s good for a fetus

Error: I think it would cause a fetus deletus

Finch: I’m going to have a fucking aneurism

anyways. 

The four of them go to find the Cloning Scientist™ 

Hey wait who’s that

It’s BLOO

Yeah the scientist person was basically putting out fliers that was like “VOLUNTEERS WANTED: TRYING TO MAKE CLONES” and Blue was like “well i’ve got nothing better to do. sure”

He’s also just showed up

It’s very awkward with him, Cross, and Error but the girls and Finch are like ‘excuse me we were looking for the person who’s researching cloning?’ and the scientist started fucking vibrating 

Thats SO MANY MORE PEOPLE than they expected!!! Holy shit!!!!! Fuck yeah they’ll make clones of you!! Or, try to. They think they’ve perfected the technique but there’s only one way to find out for sure, and anything could go wrong. So like jot that down

Conveniently they’ve also figured out how to incubate a fetus in a giant test tube, which they tried with animal clones first, so they don’t need to find surrogates, or carry the clones themselves! Which, that last one wouldn’t be an option for blue anyways, but he’s just here to donate his cells to science so he doesn’t care about that. They did this partly because ‘fuck yeah test tube babies’, and partly so that if something happened, they’d only lose the clone and not risk the surrogate’s life also. Pregnancy complications are scary

Blue has had no fuckin idea what’s been going on; he’s heard some things, but the shit hasn’t reached his AU yet so it’s mostly been from the News. They fill him in. He goes 👁️👁️ ‘what’

Very fun! Anyways

The other four are like ‘s. So. what do we do now’

Finch goes ‘mm. I should probably tell my boyfriend about this’

‘,,,is he interested in cloning shit or something’

‘Nnnot as far as I know?’

‘,,?? Im confused’

‘.....who do you think is going to have to take care of the clones when they’re born’

Three blank stares of ‘oh, shit.’

‘Oh for fucks sake you three’

Currently Blue doesn’t have to worry about this. He is not intending to train the child to protect and watch over a pair of idiots who could decide the future of the multiverse when they wake up. He’s more than happy to let the Scientist take care of the clone.

The five of them go check in with the cloning scientist a few times. Blue out of curiosity, and the others to mostly just make sure nothing’s wrong. Finch and the girls have even offered to help fund them if they need it, and while the scientist isn’t sure they want to take Cross and Error in particular up on that offer, they do appreciate it. Things are going along pretty well!

As the months tick away, lots of things happen.

Finch has some people take a look at Corvus and Orion, and see if they can find some way to revive them. So far there’s been nothing, except basically a rehash of what Dream said about them still being alive bc I Feel Auras, but there was a tentative suggestion of putting them in a room with an AOE magic suppressor to try to degrade whatever ‘curse’ this is faster, if they can’t find a proper counter-spell or cure or whatever.

Hacker also decides that yeah he’ll absolutely help Finch take care of his clone. He’s not like, amazing with kids, but he’s not going to make Finch deal with it himself. They can probably figure out a lot of it together, right? Also there’s Randy

Cross, Ink, Error, and Finch get together and go “I don’t think any of us know how to take care of kids maybe we should like. Do this together or something. Group support or whatever.”

The people know Dream’s dead, but they’re still pushing for JR to do something. Maybe he’s gone, but surely they can figure something out? Unless this was all planned from the beginning!

Yeah, that’s really stupid; but they’re terrified. Not knowing who to blame, they pin it on someone. 

Plus, JR is trying to find a leader! Finch is a good fit, but he’s not sure he can juggling that and watching over Corvus and Orion and raising his clone, even with Hacker’s help, so he’s basically like ‘nah not it’. Ink knows enough about the inner workings of JR that she hypothetically could, but not only does she not want to, no one else wants her to. Which leaves…about 50 people who are qualified and yelling ‘pick me pick me!!’ There’s not a whole lot they can do without a leader. All the lower people in the hierarchy can decide what they want their underlings to do, sure, but they’re having a hell of a time trying to coordinate with each other and fucking cooperate. It doesn’t help that many of them are insisting that it’s useless to try to fight this. 

Unnervingly, for every person who says this in fear, there’s another who seems to be at peace with the thought.

Also, one of the unexpected benefits of the clones getting to incubate in test tubes means that you don’t need an ultrasound to see how the little shits are doing! It didn’t take the scientist very long to notice that Ink’s clone was doing something weird. They called literally everyone, because Blue has expressed curiosity in the clones and the others have other investments that they refuse to disclose (suspicious, but whatever. science), when they realized they had fucking TWINS

“GUYS ink’s clone is two”

“,,,,what”

“TWINS”

“....what the fuck”

“I KNOW :DD”

They were so excited. Ink was not so excited, but it was kind of cool. The scientist had to bring a proper baby doctor in to take a look (who was also kinda fascinated by the test tube babies) to tell if they were twins or not, since it was basically just a lump of tissue at that point, so while Scientist called everyone to see, there…really wasn’t much to see, except the medical doctor being fascinated by the clones’ development and how well Scientist managed to execute this, and Scientist furiously scribbling notes and talking a mile a minute about how “Well with how the clones were made, it should’ve occurred to me that identical twins were a possibility. But what were the chances-” 

“About 32 in every 1,000 live births,” the doctor calls from across the room. “This is so much more helpful than an ultrasound! A shame we can’t do this for every baby.”

“-Twins!!!” the scientist says grinning, like an excited parent. Ink, the actual to-be parent of the twins, looks like she’s writing her will in her head.

Finally, after roughly nine months, the five who got cloned get a call from the cloning scientist, who is VERY excited. The test tube fetuses are now whole ass babies!!!! They have successfully cloned a human! Five of them, even! ...or. Six? Five humans, six clones. Yeah.

Cross, Ink, Error, and Finch can’t take their clones yet, because the Doctor is back and needs to run tests to make sure they’re healthy, which Scientist is very very excited about. They also want to keep an eye on the little guys for a few days to make sure everything’s fine.

…On the second day Finch calls Cross and Error in a panic and says the Maelstrom found its way to JR.

The come rushing, only to find Blue there too. He says Scientist called him and said they needed someone to grab the clones and get them out of the AU, and that they weren’t sure they themself would make it out. He was not expecting the Maelstrom to have shown is misty ass but uhh. That’s not good

The three of them find Finch quickly, who tells them to grab the clones and run. He and Ink are on their way to get Corvus and Orion, but people are already turning into beasts. the Maelstrom has gotten powerful enough that its mere presence can cause transformations, even if you’re not aware of it. Be careful.

When they get to the lab, the scientist and doctor are already dead. There’s a pair of beasts in there; one of each kind, who seem more focused on each other than the screaming baby clones, thank god. 

They definitely notice the adults, though. Cross gets the things’ attention and tells Blue and Error to get the clones out of there. They have to yell at Blue a few times to get him to move; he’s just been staring in horror at the bodies. When they get him to snap out of it, though, he moves fast. The clones get out quick, and Error has Blue go through the portal with the last of them while she helps Cross dispatch the beasts.

Later Blue and Error will wonder how the heck they made that go so smoothly between the two of them, given gestures at their relationship, but it’s done now. 

They try to get to the shelter where Corvus and Orion are, but there’s too many beasts and panicking people in the way. They, grudgingly, meet up with Blue and the baby clones

“,,,,error why are we all in Blue’s house”

“Well i wasn’t bringing him, Ink, or Finch to our house, and there’s not exactly anyone else we know who even lives outside of JR. Did you want me to drop him and the babies off in the baby section of walmart???”

“ok yeah that’s fair”

Ink and Finch found even more beasts in the shelter. And blood. They realize that people had tried to hide here when the Maelstrom showed up, but weren’t spared any more than those upstairs had been. 

They try not to think about how many of the beasts were people they knew, and just try to kill them before they can get to Orion and Corvus. The spirits are locked in a room that only Finch has a key for, but all the beasts seem eager to get in there. Many are trying to tear the door down. 

It’s almost an hour before Cross, Error, and Blue see Ink and Finch. They look grim, and are covered in the beasts’ blood, but Orion and Corvus are safe. After they get nice long showers, they all trade stories. 

There are six entire homeless baby clones in Blue’s living room. Five are already spoken for, but…?

Blue’s clone is fast asleep. They’d been the first to fall asleep once they’d been taken to safety. Some of the others were still crying, but Blue’s clone seemed content. 

After some careful consideration (read: making excuses to himself despite knowing better) he decides he’s going to try to take care of them.

The others are like ‘you can. Find someone to adopt them’ but he’s apparently made up his mind. Why is entirely beyond them but Finch invites him to the parent support group thing

Cross and Error take lil Xena and Java home, and Finch and Ink are like ‘welp time to head home’

And then stop and blink

They lived in jr. in the apartments. Which was under attack a little bit ago. um.

‘,,,,actually blue can you take these guys a sec.’

‘Yeeaaah go make sure things are ok’

Nothing is okay, the castle is wrecked. Several portions of wall have collapsed. There’s beasts everywhere. 

They might be able to get through the rubble to rescue some of their shit, but not with these beasts. Finch wants to at least look for survivors, but it’s too risky. 

Congratulations you two, you are now homeless. Finch can at least move in with Hacker, but Ink doesn’t have anywhere to go, unless she wants to try moving in with Blue, Cross and Error, or Finch and Hacker and Hacker’s adoptive dad and sister. Which she really doesn’t. She’ll have to stay with someone for a while though.

She ends up staying with Blue until she can afford her own place. She doesn’t really want to ask Cross and Error and is real sure they wouldn’t let her move in anyways. Even if it looks like JR is completely gone and she wouldn’t get them arrested.

They gotta do something about Corvus and Orion, though. They’re just kinda sitting in Blue’s yard right now and the Maelstrom is definitely trying to get at them, so they really, really can’t stay there. 

They get moved several times before, after a lot of research on the side and some very risky stealth trips to the ruins of JR’s various labs and shit, they figure out how to make a room that can conceal Corvus and Orion’s auras. They stick a magic suppressor in there, too. Just in case it does help revive them.

Some of the research that Dream and Nightmare did was lost in the attack on JR, but Ink and Finch managed to save most of it, and between the four of them they did actually remember some of what was missing and wrote it down. They’re sure there’s still stuff missing, but they’re going to try to learn more about the Maelstrom anyways so,,

They make as many copies of the notes as they can, though. Just in case. The main bulk of it, the thick notebook Dream had started his notes in and that the others had carefully sorted through, stays with Corvus and Orion. Cross, Ink, Finch, and Error each have a copy. They give one to Blue too just in case because these notes are all they have on how they could possibly deal with this thing, and how it works. They can’t lose them.

As the clone kids get older the adults are very transparent about what they are. It feels like something they probably shouldn’t hide. The kids don’t fully understand for a while though.

Finch and the girls also take their clones to see statues Corvus and Orion. They add more complicated stuff to the story of who the two are as the kids get older, until it’s Everything.

Eventually, when the kids are no longer kids and are whole ass adults, and the older versions are middle-aged at best, Orion and Corvus de-petrify 

They may not have been frozen in ice for the past ~20 years, but dear god their brains are mushy. Corvus keeps flirting with everyone, including herself when she sees her reflection. Orion is dazed and keeps mumbling something about calamari. Neither can stand on their own. Anyone who gets too near Corv gets “i bet you’re sooooo strong <333 you should carry me <3333”

They’re still loopy and dumb when the older ones get there, and Corv is like ‘omg it’s you guys <3333 hi <333’ while Orion goes ‘you were there too,,,,,with the fucking,,,,,squid cloud,,,’

The older ones completely ignore Corv’s flirting. Sorry sweetie but you’re still like 20 you’re too young for them now. Corv is SO upset

Once the spirits recover some (and corv is absolutely mortified by her own behavior while Orion tries not to snicker) the others catch them up on what’s happened

“The fuck you mean you cloned yourselves. Also who the hell is that guy”

“that’s blue he’s just some guy. He also cloned himself but only for science”

“What”

And now Corvus and Orion have to take a crash course in all the info the older ones have gathered in the past two decades, and also maybe get better at fighting. They were decent before but it wasn’t enough, and now the thing has gotten stronger.