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werecat1234 · 27 days ago

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Multiverse Madness Chapter Thirty Eight

Dream was in Ccino's Cat Cafe, Murder laying next to him on the booth, staring at the ceiling with an irritated look on his face that didn't accurately display how irritated he actually was. After they'd found out that Ink was watching their meeting, all of them had had mixed reactions. Player was concerned, Core was even more so, Reaper and his brother Euthanizer were both alarmed, Reaper's brother more vocal about this, and he showed his concern much more than Reaper did. Dream could sense how all of them felt threatened and on edge from seeing Ink for the first time, and Knife and Color, who hadn't seen this before.... well...

Color had been on edge, and Knife had been amused and curious at first, but Dream could sense he was also slightly offput after a moment, like Knife had recognized or realized something; something Dream didn't know of, and that fact had Dream even more on edge, since nothing could really unnerve Knife like that. Sure, Sheath was easily unsettled, due to how emotional he was, but Knife was nearly numb in comparison, having rare surges of emotions or just flickers of one or two feelings at a time; the skeleton otherwise motivated by instincts, his own desires or opinions, or what he thought Color would want. Color and Dream had tried to get Knife to stop fixating on what Color wanted, but the way Knife viewed the world around him due to everything the human in his world had instilled in him... even the therapy they'd put him in hadn't had much results, and it had been years.

Dream was looking down at a cat that had moved to lay in his lap, this one being a calico with white fur, large purple and black spots, and there was some gold flecks mixed in. The feline was laying on it's stomach, black paw pads visible, and it was looking up at Dream with a teal left eye and a purple right eye, the left eye surrounded in a black spot. The cat was purring up at him, relaxed at Dream rubbed the fluffy fur of it's belly, and Dream knew which soul this cat represented, there wasn't a doubt in his mind, especially from looking over at Reality, who was sitting on the next booth over.

Reality had a cat with it's back paws on his lap, front paws on his shoulders as it nuzzled into his neck, and Dream could easily hear the purrs from where he was sitting, and there was a happy smile on his brother's face. It was one of the first times he'd seen Reality show happiness, and the sight made Dream even happier. The cat Reality had was a representation of Dream, with fluffy golden fur, dark orange stripes, white underfur, and cyan markings across it's body, the most notable being a cyan star on it's forehead, lines under it's eyes, and cyan stars across the rest of it's body.

Dream felt movement behind his own skull, looking at the back of the booth to see a white cat moving to rest half on the back of the booth, half on Dream's shoulder. The cat had gray stripes going down it's back, mixed with blue circles, and it had a blue bandana around it's neck, and even bluer eyes. Dream's soul ached at the sight, knowing who this cat represented, and he reached a hand back to the cat, gently petting it, yellow tears forming in his eye sockets as it curled into his neck.

"i'm so sorry i couldn't save you..." Dream whispered, the tears falling down his cheekbones, and the cat, not knowing why he was crying, only curled into him more, closing it's eyes and cuddling into him.

Dream heard Murder getting up, and he felt a hand on his unoccupied shoulder, Dream looking over to see Murder sitting next to him.

"i miss him too. what happened wasn't your fault, dream." Murder told him, and Dream looked down, the yellow tears still falling.

"i... i know, but.... i still miss him.... i was right there and i couldn't..." Dream trailed off, more tears falling.

"dream?" Reality spoke up, gaining his attention, "i... i don't know much about your friend, just what i've heard, but... none of what happened was your fault."

"i-" Dream started to protest, but Reality cut him off.

"dream, no. not everything needs to be on you, brother. it's not your fault."

Dream looked down again, the cat in his lap asleep, and so was the one half-laying on his shoulder.

"he's right." Ccino spoke up, and Dream looked over at him as he walked over, "you don't need to blame yourself for this, dream, really."

Ccino was wearing his cream colored, long sleeved sweater, black fingerless gloves and shorts, a short brown apron with a pawprint on the bottom right corner, along with fluffy pink bunny slippers. He sat down on a stool over to Dream's right, and he had a mug of what looked to be hot chocolate inside of it, and he was holding it out to Dream. Dream thanked him and accepted it, blowing away some of the steam, and finding that the drink was just the right temperature to drink based on how hot the cup was. Dream drank it, the beverage sweet and refreshing, and Ccino looked off to the side before speaking up.

"it was an accident, it wasn't your fault." Ccino continued, "ink told me all about it the night it happened, since he figured the cats would be upset, and they were."

"the cats react to what's happening in the multiverse?" Reality questioned.

"yeah. each cat is linked to a specific sans au type, but for the ones that are without any variants, those are more closely connected than the ones with several different versions. you and dream are each tied to a cat, but the cat resting by dream's shoulder was tied to all different underswap sanses like blue. he felt it when blue died, the whole cafe did, and i'm guessing something happened to ink, too..." Ccino frowned.

Dream grew worried at that, and he asked, "did something happen?..."

"yes, i told murder, but i forgot to tell him the cat was connected to ink... the poor thing stayed in a box for around a week, just eating, drinking, and using the litter box outside of the box, otherwise he was just going inside of the box..." Ccino frowned, "since he came out of the box, he's been.... he's not himself. he just goes off by himself or sticks close to the other new cat besides the one that represents reality.."

"shattered." Dream, Reality, and Murder all reached the same conclusion at once, and Ccino looked between them in confusion.

"uh... who?" Ccino questioned.

"shattered. the dream of my multiverse... the same thing that happened to nightmare happened to him..." Reality frowned, the cat currently demanding his attention headbutting him, and the frown didn't stick around long.

"oh... and i'm guessing he did something to ink?" Ccino winced.

"yeah... he got separated from his vials and shattered did something to him, we don't know what... we've run into him a few times now, but... it's been bad every time..." Dream frowned sadly.

"you'll get him back somehow, don't worry." Ccino reassured.

"ccino, you don't realize how bad it is. it's like shattered has him on some kind of leash. we've offered giving him his vials back, but he refused." Dream exclaimed, and Ccino's eye sockets widened.

"i've never known ink to lose his vials, much less refuse to get them back..." Ccino mumbled to himself.

"i haven't either, which means something is wrong." Dream responded, "error took me to where he found ink's vials, and it was...."

Dream shuddered, remembering the state of that au. Everything dead and rotten, wilting and withering away into an unnerving, haunting landscape, not to mention what had happened to the animals of the au... If Dream could sleep, he would have nightmares about it.

"bad?" Ccino guessed, and Dream nodded, "maybe another visit would provide a clue?"

"no, and besides, it's not worth going back there. as far as i can tell shattered corrupted the au inside and out..." Dream sighed, "it was awful, and i don't want to go back there as much as i don't want anyone else to see it..."

"we might need to, dream." Murder told him, "to understand what shattered is capable of."

"shattered brainwashed ink, isn't that enough?" Dream questioned him, and he winced a bit.

"that isn't what i meant. we know that shattered can do that, but if he ever decides to get involved in a fight.... dream, he can't be the exact same as nightmare when it comes to powers, can he? there has to be differences, right?" Murder asked.

". . . there's some, yes." Dream nodded, "nightmare's magic, i know his very well; it's distinct. it either completely turns everything into a void of darkness, or it just twists it. it doesn't seem wrong at first, but the more you look at it, the more terrifying everything is. trees stare at you, flower petals are broken souls, sand looks like dust, and the wind is this... this scream...."

"that... does sound kinda freaky..." Murder admitted, "what about shattered's?"

"everything just dies..." Dream responded, "fruits don't mutate, they rot, everything wilts and decays, and the animals... you haven't seen what nightmare can do with his magic; corrupting them into mindless, rabid things.... shattered can do that too, and he did, even to the most peaceful creatures.... it's sickening..."

"can you reverse it?" Reality questioned.

"i can reverse nightmare's, but i don't know about shattered's. reversing nightmare's always takes a lot of positivity, and everything is still alive. with shattered, everything was dead but the animals, and they were in a constant state of aggression.... the ground was covered in blood..." Dream shivered at the memory, "the animals i can help, but i don't know how to heal that large of a scale of what shattered can do without exhausting all of my powers, and shattered can just easily corrupt it again..."

"damn..." Reality muttered, looking off to the side, "maybe i could absorb the negativity?"

"reality, no. you don't need to absorb more than you already have." Dream told him, "your eyelight is... it's much more teal than it was when we first met, and it's been worsening lately."

"i've been checking the apple regularly, dream, it's ok. nothing's happened to it." Reality reassured, and Dream sighed.

"i'm not worried about the apple, brother. i'm worried about you." Dream said in exasperation, and Reality looked off to the side, "please, you need to stop. it's... it's not good for you..."

It was Reality's turn to sigh it seemed, and he replied, "i know, i know... there's just been so much negativity lately, between you, error, and everything else....."

"i know, but you don't need to absorb it all." Dream told his brother, and Murder snorted.

"someone's a hypocrite." Murder mumbled, and Dream lightly elbowed him in the side.

The movement seemed to wake up the cat representation of Blue, and Dream saw two white cat arms stretch past his skull before they wrapped around his neck, and Dream's soul melted as he felt the cat's head rest against his neck and chin.

Dream flinched as he heard yowling though, yellow eyelights shooting across the cafe, seeing a fluffy black cat with a single teal left eye cuddling with an orange cat with black marks going down from it's eyes. The two of them were cuddling in one of the shadowed spots of the cafe, with both seemingly trying to cling to each other more than the other one. There was a smoky black cat with red eyes watching them, and once the cat representation of Nightmare saw that one...

Ccino had to bolt up to break up the fight, the cat representation of Killer, of course, purring and watching the cats fight while meowing happily, causing Murder to scoff. Once the fight was broken up, the cat version of Nightmare was growling as it went back where it'd been before, laying back down and pulling the orange cat close to itself with it's front legs. The cat version of Killer made a happy meow, and both fell asleep after a few more moments. Did that mean Nightmare and Killer were close?

"so... nightmare and hate don't like each other i'm guessing?" Murder noted.

"it doesn't seem like it. i mean these two were fine years ago, but then they started getting into fights and uh... it's been interesting..." Ccino sighed, sitting back on the stool with the smoky black cat in his lap, "then again, a lot's changed in the cafe over the years, in both good and bad ways."

Dream nodded in understanding, and he requested, "if something else changes here... let me know? if the cats are reflecting on the behavior of those they represent, then maybe we could find out who else could join up with nightmare?"

"that's... actually very smart." Ccino said, and Dream smiled a bit, "yeah, i can let you know."

"thanks, ccino." Murder thanked him before Dream could.

"you're welcome." Ccino responded, and a beeping rang out from the kitchen, his eye sockets widening.

"crap, the macaroons!" Ccino exclaimed, bolting to the source of the noise.

Shattered was sitting on his throne, eye socket shut and smirking with satisfaction at the knowledge he now had from the help of his favorite weapon. He'd known it was a good idea to put that magic into his mind, and he would continue to use it to it's fullest potential. He'd healed Violet's leg after letting him grow increasingly frustrated from his lack of mobility, a way of teaching the skeleton not to mess up nearly as drastically in the future.

Reality, the name he'd learned his brother had been calling himself, had been quite a pain recently. Evading Ink when he'd sent him out to capture him, then later injuring him and forcing him to retreat after a long pursuit. Shattered almost regretted instructing Ink to only sleep when he was present, since when Ink returned, he needed to sleep to restore the stamina he'd lost, so Shattered had been unable to do anything for a few hours while Ink napped.

However, the fact that Ink was dependent on him for something that was now a necessity to his puppet the skeleton made it well worth it. Shattered could remember small memories from his host, including ones of him helping others through their negative feelings, cheering them up or being supportive of them. Well, the nice ones, anyways, the mean ones-

hurt

pain stop it-

leave him alone!-

don't hurt him!

'brother!!'

stop it! stop!

stop it, please!

stop it! no!

'nightmare!!' hurt

stop it no! help him-!

stop! 'nightmare!!! brother!!!!'

stop! stop!

stop stop!

Y O U ' R E H U R T I N G H I M , S T O P ! !

Shattered's eye socket snapped open as he felt the sharp rock shatter his host's left eye socket and the bone around it, the feeling and taste of the negativity apple finding it's way into Dream's mouth when he'd tried to scream in pain. Shattered moved to hold his hand over the goop covering where the left eye socket of this body should go, trying to soothe the phantom pain that wouldn't leave him, and it had been centuries since this had happened, and the pain was just like it'd been the first day. Shattered could still hear what came next; the sound of... well, the only way Shattered could think to describe the sounds that followed as strangled, agonized yowling as his form was melted away as Shattered replaced him, taking over this soul.

Such an unfortunate end for an unfortunate creature, Shattered left with glimpses of his memories, feelings, and feelings of anger, hurt, and the urge to protect the one his host had failed to. That being his host's brother, who was currently a massive thorn in Shattered's side, and yet he didn't want him hurt. So, he'd ordered Ink to capture Reality for him, to bring him to him, and he would deal with him. Reality was his to hurt, he wasn't sure his host's remnant emotions would allow him to see the skeleton getting harmed a second time, much less see the aftermath of injuries without being the cause of them himself.

He wanted Reality back in that stone more than anything, it was safe there. Safe from all of the pain, all of the vile threats who caused Shattered to first experience the feeling of a body melting into a magical ooze that burned all life it touched, the soul he now inhabited corrupting as he killed it's previous occupant, filled with so much darkness, hatred, and sadistic pleasure at the screams that had surrounded him when those fools saw what they had created that day. That was the only fond thing Shattered remembered about his creation, the rest of it was just filled with pain that he soon returned to it's sender tenfold, killing them in the process. Shattered was well aware most things cried when they were born, but Shattered hadn't cried, no, him and his host had screamed.

"I STILL SAY IT WASN'T MY FAULT." Violet spoke up, snapping Shattered out of his thoughts, "THEY CAME UP FROM BEHIND, I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING."

"that's why you stay aware of your surroundings, violet." Shattered sighed, "i don't have to be an empath to know that if anyone is going to attack, it'll be from behind."

"KILLER WASN'T LOOKING EITHER!" Violet pointed out.

"because you were supposed to be protecting him!" Shattered snapped, "you're a royal guard! are you not supposed to guard things?"

"I NEVER DID THE GUARDIAN PART, IT WAS ALWAYS THE ATTACKING." Violet explained.

"it's a wonder you had the occupation at all..." Shattered muttered.

"YOU DIDN'T EXACTLY HAVE A RESUME FOR ME TO FILL OUT!" Violet snapped, and a sharp glare from Shattered silenced him and made him cower in on himself a bit, Shattered using his aura on him.

"it's also a wonder you're not dead with that mouth of yours." Shattered hissed, "if i were less merciful, i would've tossed you in an abandoned genocide timeline to rot. appreciate that. i could've easily fired you as for your very first mission, you screwed it up."

". . . I'M SORRY, YOUR MAJESTY, IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN, I PROMISE..." Violet apologized.

"it better not, because if it does, i'll find a version of you with more competence." Shattered threatened.

He was supposed to be playing nice, but he was angry, and Violet had talked back. Besides, the sight of the egocentric, megalomaniatic, bloodthirsty brat cowering from his aura was very satisfying. On top of that, the niceness didn't work with Violet like it did with Ink. Ink responded well to it, and with Shattered subtly altering his mind to his whim, Ink was never going to turn on him.

Violet, though, he viewed it as a sign of weakness; a sign that he could step out of line with no repercussions. So, Shattered had to take means of insuring Violet stayed in line, which was by showing more of his true nature around the skeleton, and surprisingly it strengthened his loyalty by making Violet view Shattered like he'd viewed the ruler of his world. Nightmare's tactic was still useful, but in this case Violet wasn't someone it applied to. He would still likely use it with others once he got around to picking the right one, because he'd be honest, it was very fun.

"YOU WON'T HAVE TO, I PROMISE. I'LL PROVE MYSELF IN THE UPCOMING MISSION." Violet insisted.

"for your sake, i hope you do." Shattered responded, and Violet nodded hastily.

Shattered's throne room doors opened, and Shattered smirked at the skeleton who entered. Ink walked in, with more wounds since the last time Shattered had looked through his eyelights, which meant Ink had gotten into quite the fight... Ink stopped a bit in front of Shattered's throne, Shattered's smirk growing as Ink kneeled before him as always, just as he had taught him.

"violet, leave us." Shattered instructed firmly. Violet nodded, backing out of the room and leaving through a door, Shattered waiting until he was out of earshot before questioning Ink, "what happened?"

"once you stopped watching, error and i got into a fight, and then reality intervened again." Ink informed, looking up at him with those white eyelights of his, such a nice contrast to all the shapes and colors he'd originally had.

"and you won i'm assuming?" Shattered asked.

"i would have, boss, but he's too strong." Ink responded, and Shattered frowned, "the more negativity there is, the stronger it seems he is."

"at least you can't be sensed, and i assume they can't sense my magic within your mind, or your presence would be much more known, as would mine." Shattered muttered, "though that alliance we saw them make could prove to be quite troublesome..."

"i know everything about them, they said so themselves. i'll keep them from doing anything. after all, i know what makes them tic." Ink told him, "without my vials, there's no way for me to forget anything useful to you either."

"that's a good thing, and it will prove to be very useful." Shattered nodded, "you know, i think we should begin the first attacks. the aus that have been recruited should be ready by now, should they not?"

"they should be." Ink agreed.

"then let's put them to use. make them earn the immunity their aus were generously granted." Shattered smirked.

"there's a possibility some won't do it. some might chicken out." Ink noted.

"then give them a reason not to. if even with hate's aura they're too weak to go through with it, strike some fear into them. kill anyone who tries to rebel or betray us; make an example out of them." Shattered instructed, and Ink nodded.

"should it be a public execution?" Ink questioned.

"hmm... that's a good idea. good thinking, ink!" Shattered praised, "especially if someone powerful tries to revolt."

"and if others follow suit?" Ink asked.

"then you kill them too. you were once a symbol of hope, were you not?" Shattered smirked.

"i was." Ink nodded, and Shattered got up from his throne, crouching down to be at eye socket level with Ink.

"that's right, you were, and now you're a fallen star. my fallen star. let them see that your allegiance is to me. no one can protect them now, not with you by my side, so if they want to survive, they have to fall in line, just like you did." Shattered smirked, his hand cupping Ink's jaw, "and you'll ensure they will, won't you?"

"yes, boss." Ink nodded, and Shattered's smirk sharpened.

"good. oh, and that faking emotions thing you told me killer was teaching you, keep it up. constantly." Shattered ordered, "i want you to act like you like working for me, understand?"

Shattered was pleased as a smirk spread across Ink's face, and he responded, "yes, boss."

There was some small flaws, the dead look in his eyelights being one of them, but Shattered liked how it could probably unsettle others, so he didn't mention it.

"good. just like that. now, do you need me to heal anything?" Shattered questioned.

"it's just some scratches and fractures, i'll be fine in the morning." Ink reassured, "i was thinking about heading to the kitchen, though."

"you're still trying out that eating thing, hmm?" Shattered asked, amused by it.

"yeah, i've been.... well, without my vials, i can feel hungry..." Ink informed, and Shattered looked at him curiously, tentacles twitching behind his back.

"your emotionless state is full of surprises, isn't it?" Shattered mused, and Ink nodded.

"have you tried eating, boss?" Ink questioned, and Shattered paused, mind flashing back to those memories again, grip on Ink's jaw momentarily tightening before relaxing again.

"it's not something i particularly care for, no. you can eat all you like, however." Shattered responded.

Ink nodded, and he asked, "am i allowed to get up?"

"oh, yes." Shattered permitted; he'd almost forgotten.

Him and Ink stood up, Shattered releasing his jaw, and Ink headed to the kitchen, going through one of the doors and walking down the hallway. Shattered decided to follow him, seeing this as a moment to be 'friendly' with him, walking down the wooden hallway, carved out from the roots of this massive tree, and into the large kitchen, which had been stocked relatively recently. The kitchen was large, with stone tile floors, orange wooden cabinets, a sink with a faucet in the shape of a tree branch, nozzles made out of cobblestones, and the sink bowl itself was carved out of a stone. The countertops were made of black and amber marble as well, placed on more wooden counters with drawers and cabinets, and a large amber rug was in the center of the room.

There was a few stools by the countertops, Ink having added the wooden stools with black cushions, and the stitching was in orange. The lights built into the ceiling were filling the kitchen with... well, light, and it was bright enough to see everything, but dim enough to where it wouldn't hurt Shattered's eyelight. Bill had done it at some point when he'd stopped by, Shattered wasn't sure when, but Ink and Violet put the food to use.

Ink started looking through cabinets, grabbing a plate before looking through the fridge. Shattered wasn't sure what most foods were, having never learned or wanted to, and he saw Ink grabbing triangle pieces of something with red and white on top. It seemed like a form of bread on the bottom, and there was red sauce, and something white and stringy above that. He put it in a metal box with a window on it, and he pressed a few beeping buttons. From there an odd buzzing came from the machine, a light on, and it swirled the plate around.

"what... is it doing?" Shattered asked Ink, "is it heating up from the friction of that? is it going so fast it looks slow?" Ink let out a laugh at that, Shattered's tentacles sharpening in anger from Ink laughing at him. Ink saw the tentacles, since he cleared his throat and looked off to the side, and Shattered's tentacles relaxed. Shattered sighed, and he said, "i don't appreciate being laughed at, ink."

"i know, it wasn't at you. it was just... i used to think that's how it worked." Ink explained.

". . . oh." Shattered muttered, and he paused for a moment before sighing again, saying, "you don't have to be wary of them, ink. as i told you, so long as you stay in line, you aren't going to be harmed by me."

"i know, i'm sorry, boss. it's just a reaction my body has. i don't feel scared, or even anything, i just tense up." Ink told him.

"i know. i could sense if you were able to feel anything, but you haven't. not a sliver of emotion." Shattered smirked, "don't worry about how you tense up, it's a reflex. it'll go away in time, i'm sure."

Ink nodded, and the machine beeped, the shorter skeleton grabbing an oven mitt and opening the metal box before grabbing the plate with the glove. He closed the box, and an aroma was wafting off of the food Ink had warmed up, along with steam. Shattered knew what most basic appliances were, he just didn't know what that box was...

"ink?" Shattered got his attention, the skeleton looking up from where he was grabbing napkins.

"yeah, boss?" Ink replied.

"how does that box work? if it's a small oven, where is the magic element?" Shattered questioned.

"it's a miniature oven, boss. it has the magic on the top and on the sides, and it bounces it around inside, and the turn table spins it on the bottom." Ink informed.

"ah, i figured it was some form of oven. it's just missing the metal grates on the bottom, and i've never seen an oven swivel." Shattered hummed.

"yeah, it's weird." Ink agreed, sitting on one of the stools in the kitchen, this one by one of the main countertops in the kitchen.

Shattered sat by him, finding the stool comfortable, and he looked over at Ink as he began to eat the strange food.

"what... is that?" Shattered was unable to contain his curiosity.

"it's called pizza, boss." Ink responded, "you wanna try some?"

Shattered cringed, and he shook his skull no, "no, i'm just trying to do the socializing thing."

". . . thank you." It was so quiet Shattered almost didn't hear it.

"hmm? for what?" Shattered was confused because of something else now.

"trying." Ink responded, as though that answered Shattered's question, "you're trying to socialize. you could've broken every bone in my body after torturing me for hours again because i'd laughed at you earlier, but you didn't."

I wanted to...

"and that means something to you?" Shattered asked.

". . . yes. being able to make a mistake and not be punished for it is a nice feeling." Ink replied.

"consider it a mercy due to your loyalty to me. you spied on them for me, attempted to capture my idiot brother, and you chose me over dream. your loyalty is with me and you've proved it. you've succeeded in doing what i've told you to do more than you've failed." Shattered told him, "just don't let your screw ups surpass or get close to your successes, understand?"

"yes, boss." Ink nodded, taking another bite of his food, and he went to speak before Shattered held up his hand.

"don't speak with food in your mouth. it's disrespectful." Shattered instructed, and Ink finished chewing it before swallowing it.

"sorry, boss." Ink apologized, "guess that's one more point on the mistake list, huh?"

Shattered paused, and a small chuckle exited him, dark and echoing through the room, "no, you just don't know better."

Ink laughed a bit, and while it was fake, just like the first one was, Shattered was still pleased with it, since Ink was following his order and acting like he wasn't emotionless and empty and his.

"i'll pick up on it eventually." Ink told him, eating more of his food, "you have a rule book for how i should act when i... you know... act? so there's no more mix ups?"

Shattered smirked, and then he grinned, "i have some pointers, yes. finish your food, then we'll work on your facade."

Ink nodded, and he turned his focus to eating, Shattered patiently waiting. He wasn't going to tell Ink he could technically make him feel emotions due to his magic in the skeleton's mind, but those emotions would signal to Dream and Reality and any other empath not on his side that something was off. Besides, as much as it would be nice to puppeteer the skeleton's emotions, he liked Ink emotionless; he was easy to control and he didn't have emotions influencing his decisions. So no, Ink would stay his emotionless, obedient pet for as long as Shattered could keep him like this, and Shattered had no intentions of letting Ink go any time soon.

Ink finished his food after two more minutes, and he washed his plate in the sink, drying it off and putting it away, and Shattered prompted, "why don't we take this to the main living room?"

Ink nodded, and Shattered got up from his seat, teleporting them both to the main living room in this castle. The floors were an amber-gold mix, black couches around a black glass table with gold legs, and there was a black stone fireplace a bit away, filled with logs burning with an amber flame. A large black gem chandelier hung from a gold chain in the center of the room, gold strings going through the gems and connecting them to the black frame, and the lights were amber. There was also a dark orange rug around the couches, and while Shattered didn't see the point of a rug when there was already carpet, he would permit it.

There was black glass side tables on either side of the couches, the legs of them gold, and there was amber coasters on them for any drinks, and there was gold glass lamps to light up a bit more of the area. There was black bookcases along the walls, filled with a variety of books Shattered would likely never touch, but there was also different weapons on display, and above the fireplace was a large black screen, and it was apparently a "television", and he would spend a while trying to figure out exactly how that works, much less played things on it. On either side of the fireplace were cabinets containing several book looking things with discs inside of them, needing to be inserted into the television to be able to view their contents, yet another think Shattered didn't understand. Shattered sat down on one of the black couches, tentacles splayed across the seat, and Ink sat down across from him, hands folded in his lap.

"so, for starters, good job on acting like you hated dream, but i want you to ramp it up a notch. i want you to act like you despise him. don't waste an opportunity to hurt him emotionally, no matter what you have to do for it, make sure it cuts deep. next up, be serious most of the time, don't show a lot of humor, just mainly be annoyed when someone is being difficult and making your life and your missions harder than they need to be. get frustrated and show it, unless of course it's an ally, you can have more apparent patience with them." Shattered listed, Ink attentive.

"i can do that." Ink nodded.

"good. next up, i want you to, once again, act like you enjoy your job. smile when you harm someone, smirk when you hurt someone emotionally, and grin when you torture someone. you are an absolute sadist towards enemies. killer's advice on how and when to react to most things is good, just base everything on how an ally is acting. if there's none present, well... just aim for pissing your enemies off. make a sport of it!" Shattered grinned, "their negativity will be quite the treat for me."

"so what about when i should laugh?" Ink asked.

"laugh when your allies laugh, and laugh when your enemies cry. however, you are not to ever laugh at me, understand?" Shattered questioned.

"understood, boss." Ink nodded, and he paused for a moment, seeming thoughtful, and he spoke up, "is there ever a moment i'm allowed to let down the act? like in order to creep someone out?"

Shattered chuckled, Ink laughing a little with him, and Shattered's grin grew as he responded, "yes, you can do that. say something unnerving or unsettling to throw them off guard after you display a lot of 'emotions'."

"it sounds exhausting..." Ink sighed, eyelights looking down at his lap.

"maybe, but you don't want to act like a machine or concentrate on how empty you feel, right?" Shattered asked, and Ink nodded a bit, "then you just need to act, and you'll be just fine. you can sleep when you need to."

"alright, you got it." Ink nodded, "should i call nightmare and his team?"

"yes, that would work. tell them to meet us here tomorrow at noon. they can alert the aus they recruited, and oh, i'll make a list of our targets, send that list to hate so he knows where to put the snakes to start spreading hatred." Shattered instructed, "oh! and let them know we'll be attacking at night."

"boss?" Ink spoke up.

"yes?" Shattered questioned.

"i made the devices you wanted me to make, i figured it out, and i made a handbook on how to make more." Ink informed, and Shattered grinned.

"good. and the detonator?" Shattered wanted to make sure Ink had made everything.

"made." Ink smirked, and Shattered smiled.

"good. give it to dust tomorrow and tell him it's for project daybreak, and give the blueprints to the underfell alphys most likely to mass produce them." Shattered told him, and Ink nodded.

"you've got it, boss." Ink nodded, grabbing his phone and starting to make the calls.

This was going to be extremely entertaining...

Discord server: https://discord.gg/wQfvxyEuvj

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