#anyway. another side of the au multiverse

[lazaruswitch]

ok but what if AU with a grieving, frustrated, vengeful, universe-hopping, arguably unstable in certain regards, still deeply loving Willis Todd who saves/helps all the Jason Todd variations he comes across in his travels, because perhaps one cannot defy their own fate but he can at least try to change the fates of the Jay's, maybe his family was doomed to die in his world but that doesn't mean he should let these elseworld versions of his daughter suffer if he can prevent it

and what if I called this the Are you there, Dad? It's me, Judy AU because unbeknownst to this same Willis Todd, his daughter Judy crawls out of her grave at some point, because it's not enough to be fated to die, she must also be cursed to have her death undone, and she's scared and confused and cold and ill and she wants her dad, she's calling for him over and over, but her dad isn't even in her world anymore, he's away where she can't reach, making sure no other version of her dies while she shakes in the rain against the wings of a marble angel named Catherine

[meowzcw]

I finally drew my oc A-Sans normally on here instead of kawaii doodles 🔥🔥 (By the way he stole that jacket off a coat rack like a hermit crab, that's why it's like size asgore)

(I HAD TO FIX HIM SO THIS IS A REPOST OF MY OWN DRAWING 😭)

Reblogs are appreciated ‼️

His/au backstory down below if you wanna read 🦟 just a warning it's not original or anything and there's obv a lot of hcs and things picked from the multiverse because why not I just made him for fun 🎉

it's missing some info but those parts are mostly from Frisk's side of things since they're what caused everything to happen 🐺

Frisk basically got trapped in the underground for 7 years since the barrier wouldn't open due to one of the souls dying out and one day they selfishly yet desperately decided to go through with a genocide route for the first time, they didn't want to but they felt as if there was no other way

Sans met Frisk in judgment hall to stop them obvi and he tried to talk them out of continuing but Sans sucks at saying the right things so Frisk continued on anyways- Frisk struck first and got him on the face and Sans in return charged up his very op everything attack which is a one shot kill (can explain in another post if anyone's interested 🌹 it's a bit long but in short Frisk hopped into the core and some things bugged out bad, including stats of some monsters) and Frisk struck him again in the last second.

They died at the same time and due to the fact Sans shouldn't be able to use a move like that he ended up glitching out of the timeline into a battle sequence like out-code where the fight couldn't progress or end because Frisk wasn't there to do any actions. While Frisk continued into the judgment hall, except Sans wasn't there and things started to glitch out when they tried to go past the area. so they were forced to give up and go back to how it was before the genocide route. Just without Sans there

Sans got stuck in there for a few months until Error accidentally opened up the area during a silly fight with Ink- which Ink swiftly ditched Error to go check it out

Sans grew paranoid after being in there for so long so he started fighting Ink the second he saw movement thinking it was Frisk, but he was even more confused when he saw someone that looked exactly like him just in different clothes so he panicked and teleported outta there. And since he had dust all over him at the time Ink obvi wanted to know what happened, so he went to go look for him.

Ink soon found him and reassured him that he didn't need to worry about anything since everyone in his AU was alive, but advised him not to go back since Frisk might try another genocide run and succeed.

Sans accepted that and took his advice, Ink then explained the whole multiverse business, AU's and such, since Sans was pretty confused. He then asked Sans for his name since they didn't do a proper introduction, which Sans decided to call himself "A-Sans" because pretty much everyone that's usually out of their au is a sans.

A-Sans took Ink's advice the wrong way and forced himself to stop worrying about anything involving his AU since everyone was alive unlike those in the multiverse that were more unfortunate. which was hard to do since he missed everyone, felt guilty for leaving them behind all miserable and such so he took up drinking to help him stop worrying about it all.

Now he just hangs around in busy areas to nap all day by himself, people avoid talking to him because of the dust on his face and assume he killed someone.

-End 🔥

Personality wise A is very laid back and friendly, usually sleepy. He doesn't hold grudges and he forgives easily if it isn't too bad. He doesn't blame Frisk for what they did, he just wishes he was able to do something sooner to help them out before they got to that state.

And sorry if I repeat things or explain it all weird 🙏 it was 11am when I wrote this and I didn’t slept a wink but Imk if you have any questions!

[vicmillen]

Where's the Justice League?

So I been thinking about an AU with a merged setting. You know, where DP happened inside of DC multiverse.

Specifically, I've been thinking about the JL and the other capes, what's Danny's opinion on them and what would keep them out from the Amity clusterfuck.

Here's some thoughts:

At first it just didn't cross the trio's minds that they could or should call the JL.

Sure there's a literal portal to the afterlife in Fenton's basement, and sure there's dangerous beings coming out of it that endangered people's lives. But hey they're handling it! The whole thing is kinda sort of their fault anyways, and the three of them are gonna try their best to hide it and deal with it on their own.

They are teenagers after all.

Then comes the GIW, and Vald. Both of them makes a solid attempt at locking up the ghosty news within Amity. For different purposes, sure, but the results marks the foundation of a solid media blackout.

Fine by the trio, actually, they really don't need more attention being put on Phantom. The less people knows about Phantom, the safer Danny is. Since he's still hiding from his parents and they really don't want to find out if those threats are real or not.

As the danger level ratchets higher and higher though, it's inevitable that the JL would cross their minds. They are teenagers, after all. This world threatening bullshit is starting to get out of their depths, and they do know it. They may make questionable decisions sometimes but they're not complete morons.

Except, they also knows how dangerous it could get if the supers got involved. For all they are teenagers struggling with highschool, they do know what they're doing, mostly. Team Phantom knows how their enemies function, what powers are to be expected, and what equipments is needed to counter those. They knows what to look out for, and what to do when stuff goes wrong. Most of the time anyways.

They don't have the same confidence in the Justice League.

Which sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but hey. It's a matter of specialization, not absolute power. Besides, with the power and influence the JL have, they really can't risk any of them getting overshadowed.

They've all seen the aftermath of a mind controlled superman.

There is unfortunately, also the uncertainty of if the JL would even be on their side. Sure, the JL sounds reasonable and accepting enough to see through the GIW's bullshit, but that's just another thing that they can't afford to lose the gamble. The Fenton parents and the GIW is already hot on their heels, they can't afford the Justice League hunting Phantom for sports too.

All in all, it took a depressingly short amount of time for Team Phantom to start actively keeping themselves under JL's radar. The firewall around all things Amity gets reinforced, several times, and even the other locals learned to keep the ghosts to themselves.

What happens in Amity, stays in Amity.

So for almost three years Team Phantom deals with their own problems. Without outside help, but also without outside interference.

P.S.

For the sake of this setting, JLD has formed but isn't public knowledge yet, at least not until after the DP related plot concluded. So Team Phantom wouldn't have known to ask for them at that point. Also the whole timeline is completely made up and stretched out as I see fit. Canon is but the sandbox we play in, and it's mashups anyway so.

There are more of this au that I'm contemplating. We'll see if this gets a part two. Maybe about what caused team Phantom to leave Amity.

[chelleztjs18]

Somewhere In The Multiverse (W.M)

Scarlet Witch x Fem!MultiverseVariantReader! (Avengers AU)

Summary: After Westfield, as The Scarlet Witch, Wanda is in her endless journey to find her boys through the multiverse until one particular universe caught her attention.

Warning: None, I guess this is just something domestic with a sprinkle of angst. Let me know if I miss anything.

A/n: Hello! I'm back! I finally got this fic done after a while. I wrote the parts towards the ending when I'm down, so I couldn't really focus. Please bear with me if some part a little wonky or doesn't make sense. lol. Anyway, happy reading!

Main Masterlist

Five long dreadful years after Vision died and a guilt filled year after everything that happened in Westview, Wanda still desperately searches for her happiness. The longing for the happy life with Vision and her twin sons drew her to the Darkhold.

To Wanda, it’s the only way for her to get them back. Being the fast learner and powerful witch she is, she easily figured out ways to look around in different universes.

Universe after universe, Wanda sees different kinds of happy life her variants have with them. She can hear her son’s laughter. Different scenarios of life she dreamt about exist in another universe until there’s one that intrigues her.

In this one universe, no matter how many times she sees through it, Wanda only sees Billy and Tommy. They live happily just like in the others but she never sees herself nor Vision in it. The more she observes it the more she is drawn to it. Questions popped up in her mind. Do Vision and her exist in that particular universe? With whom do Tommy and Billy live? Who is the person behind their laughter and smile?

Wanda spends more time focusing on it and clues start to show up. She starts to see another figure with her twin sons, you.

Wanda never gets the chance to see your face. Every single time she tries to find out, she can only see the back of you. She doesn’t recognize you, your voice nor from your appearance. All of these surely drags her curiosity up to the surface of her mind.

With all the spells and ritual she learnt from The Darkhold, she decided to pay this universe a visit.

With an ease, Wanda gets into this different life in a different world yet seems to be familiar. She looks around and she figures that she is in the house where her sons live. Wanda instantly feels peaceful. At first it felt weird for her about how much she feels like she is home.

It's really calm and quiet. The house feels warm and cozy in her heart. Just like how she always dreams about even though part of her is wondering where the twins are. All the colors, furniture and decoration around seems like welcoming her home.

Wanda continues wandering around, her sights jumping from one spot to another. She even feels that she is attached to this universe, something that she never feels when she watches the others. Her hands start to touch around the couch, the coffee table and she lands her interest on one black shelf near the televisions. She found some books, a few of them are the ones that she read before. Her fingers keep slowly sliding around the lines of books on the shelves.

Another shelf on the other side really caught her attention. A mix of rows of movies and records on it. Wanda tilts her head curiously as soon as she sees a series of old sitcoms. Including her favorite ones that she used to watch with her parents. The urge she has inside her to pull the movies out and play it but she manages to control it and just looks at them with her glossy green eyes.

Wanda proceeded to look around more. She sees pictures on the walls, other tables and more shelves. A shaky soft gasp escaped her lips. She takes a closer look at the hung frames with mixed pictures of Tommy and Billy.

Wanda sees pictures of Tommy with his baseball team and a picture of him holding a big fish that he caught when he went fishing with you. She continues looking at the next pictures. She sees a picture of Billy winning his archery competition and all other random silly pictures of both of them.

Tears started to slowly fill her eyes. She can feel her hands getting a little shakier. Without hesitation, Wanda gently touches the face of the twins in the picture lovingly. Her lips quivered, a huge wave of emotions suddenly crashed onto her.

All mixed up feelings fill her heart, even Wanda herself doesn’t even know if it was happy tears or sad ones.

She wipes her tears right after she finds a few more pictures. Pictures that have herself from this universe in it with brown hair all smiling together with you in it. She sees you kiss her cheeks in one picture and she hugs you so close in the other. Some pictures have the four of you in it, as a happy family. Slowly bits and pieces of Wanda’s own conclusion start to gather around her mind. A little stack of mail on a table caught her attention.

“Y/n Y/L/N” Wanda mumbles under her breath reading the name on the envelopes. Wanda figures that it’s your name.

All of a sudden, Wanda hears something and it breaks her focus on the pictures. She is aware that someone is coming.

She hears familiar voices and suddenly she hears Billy scream for help. “Tommy, help me!”

“My boys.” she says under her breath at the same time with red wisps showing up wrapping around her hands. Wanda was ready to fight whoever dared to hurt them.

“No. This is why I suggested you pick a violin for the music class, not the Cello. Now, you can barely bring your other school stuff because it’s bigger than you.” Tommy replies with his straight to the point thoughts.

Wanda’s red wisps quickly disappeared and she let out a relieved sigh. A smile curves on her face hearing the conversation but right away turns to a confused frown after she hears your voice.

“Tommy, be nice to your brother and help him please. My hands are full with the groceries.” Wanda notices how gentle you talk to the boys and it draws her smile back. “Okay, okay. I’ll help you.” Tommy agrees in defeat.

Few seconds later, Wanda manages to manipulate the surroundings as soon as you and the twins walk into the house. Neither you or the boys see her there. Wanda hears Tommy’s complaining question. “Who likes to listen to Cello anyways?” The boys take off their shoes in random spots while you walk to the kitchen.

“Mommy does. So do I. You boys have to be supportive of each other, okay.” You answered as you put all the groceries on the kitchen counter. “Okay, Mama.” The twins’ voices overlap each other.

Wanda was surprised when they called you Mama. Are they your kids too? What about Vision? What happened to him? With all those confused and intrigued thoughts she follows them to their room, watching them put all their school stuff back to their shared bedroom but right after that they run back to the kitchen to help you.

It was very difficult for Wanda to hold herself back to not appear in front of the three of you and hug the twins but she didn’t want to scare everybody. She continues watching in silence every move you make.

“Mama, are you going to make chicken paprikash on Mommy’s birthday?” Tommy asks with a cute tone.

“Yes, I will, sweetheart.. We will celebrate it together with her favorite food.” you answer with a soft smile. Wanda has been too busy with the Darkhold and the multiverse and hearing that reminds her that it’s almost her birthday too. Since Pietro died, Wanda never celebrated her birthday anymore, she could care less about it. Surprisingly, what she is seeing from you and the boys drags her curiosity about this whole birthday thing in the next week.

Wanda spends the rest of the day watching you and the boys, thinking that the variant of herself in this universe will come. Wanda is really curious to see her but at the end of the night she starts to wonder why the variant isn’t home yet.

Seeing you put the boys to bed and you get ready to bed after as if you have been doing it by yourself for quiet sometimes makes her think of a temporary conclusion that your Wanda probably is on a mission.

Wanda keeps going back to your universe in the last few days, watching how your days and life go with the twins. The longer Wanda is around you and watches everything, the more she sees that you are very great with the twins. You take very good care of them and it’s undeniable that they love you so much. The boys are very close with you. They make you laugh as much as you make them. It warms Wanda’s heart seeing everything. Sometimes she doesn’t even realize that a smile always curls up on her face whenever she sees you smile and laugh. Wanda’s adoration towards you slowly built up in the last few days.

Sometimes you can feel someone’s watching or even feel like a familiar figure is in the room with the three of you. There are these unexplainable feelings you feel in you. You feel like you are complete again whenever you feel that presence around after all these years. You feel.. less lonely but you shrug the feelings off, thinking it was just probably because you miss your Wanda so much.

Days have passed and today is Wanda’s birthday. Deep down she is excited to see what will you and the boys do today even though part of her knows that it’s all for her variant, not her.

Wanda sees you wake up but she can’t figure out if you look happy or sad. It’s your Wanda’s birthday, why wouldn’t you look happy? Her thought starts to wonder. You sit up but your head hangs low as your hands cover your face for a few seconds as you take a deep breath. “Happy birthday Wanda.” you mumble under your breath. Confused, Wanda’s head tilted a little.

Your hands rub your face and you try to make a smile as soon as you hear running steps coming to your room and Wanda notices everything.

The crease on her forehead fades right away and a smile comes up right after she sees Billy and Tommy come into the room and get on the bed to hug you.

“Ma! Oh great, you are awake!” Tommy exclaimed.

“Oh good morning to both of you, my little monkeys! Of course I’m awake.” You tease them as you hug them back.

“Yeah Tommy. Mama wouldn’t forget Mommy’s birthday today. She already got everything planned, right Mama?” Billy asks.

“Of course! We gonna cook mommy’s favorite dish—”

“Paprikash! It’s our favorite too!” The boys’ voices overlap competing to finish your words. You laugh. “Yes, yes. Paprikash, it’s our favorite.” Wanda accidentally chuckles watching all the sweet conversation that is happening. You quickly look back to where you thought you hear the little chuckles. You could’ve sworn you hear a familiar sound behind you and again, you feel the warm presence. Wanda takes notice of what is going on.

“Oh and the cake! Will you let us help make the cake too?” Tommy questions you and brings your focus back on them.

“Of course buddy. I always let you and your brother make Mommy’s cake. She always likes the cake you two make.” you playfully play with their hair.

“Yes!” Billy and Tommy exclaimed excitedly at the same time and did high fives with each other. “Okay okay, now go take a shower and get ready for the day. I will make breakfast for you. After breakfast, I want you to do your homeworks first before you two go playing. I will let you boys know when it’s time to cook and bake for Mommy’s birthday okay?” You gently tell them and they nod before they both run out of your room.

Meanwhile you, you walk towards where you felt the warm presence earlier. Wanda nervously takes a step back when you get closer. Her brain was sure and remembered what she learnt from the dark hold that you shouldn’t be able to see her or know that she was there after she casted this particular spell. Wanda can’t lie to herself that she feels this little spark and maybe a connection with you. Her heart skips a beat when you stand right in front of her.

“Wands, are you here? I miss you so much.” you whisper softly with a very sad desperate tone. Hearing your sad voice got her thinking that something isn’t right. It led her to pay more attention to little details that she might have missed.

Series of activities you and the boys have been doing and how much fun the three of you have  draws Wanda’s urge to show herself to you but she knows it’s not the time just yet. At least not until she sees her variant.

The paprikash and the cake are finally ready and it’s still only the three of you. Wanda is perplexed even more when you and the boys do not even bother to wait and have the dinner together then proceed to the cake.

Her own curiosity is killing her when Billy, Tommy and you sing happy birthday without the variant is even there. You blow the candles together right after.

No video call or call? What’s going on? Perhaps she is on a secret mission that doesn't even allow a simple birthday call?

At the end of the night, you put the boys to bed. Wanda follows you walk to the kitchen to do the dishes.

You look calm at first, doing your chores. The house sounds a lot more quiet when the boys are asleep, soft low volume from the TV makes its way to be heard every now and then. Wanda notices little changes on your facial expressions gradually. She thinks that you look exhausted but as Wanda is turning around to go to check on the boys she hears you start to cry.

She finds you bawling in such sadness. Wanda starts to think that you look broken-hearted. Between sniffling and crying, you mumble but clear enough for her to hear. “I miss you so much, Wanda. I really wish you were here. I wish you never did what you did. Please come back.”

Seeing how hurt you are and how you mumbled in anguish makes Wanda’s heart ache and curious at the same time. What happened? Does it mean her variant isn’t on a mission as Wanda thought she was?

You start to sob as quietly as you can. Standing behind you, she feels the urge to calm you down even though she doesn’t really know you. Her eyes slowly turn glossy. Wanda can’t help it. Unbeknownst to you, she casted a spell and made herself slowly visible.

“Y/n, I–i’m so sorry for whatever happened to your..uh partner.” She said hesitantly yet full of concern for you as she gently touched your shoulder.

Wanda didn’t think it through. What she just did startled you. You gasp loudly and turn around in a split second very very shocked. Your face instantly loses its color as if you just saw a ghost, the ghost of the love of your life.

“Wa–Wanda? Is..Is..Is that you? No. No. That can’t be you. Who are you?!” You rapidly walk back to whichever direction you can just to get away from Wanda. You start to grab whatever you can reach and throw it at her. The twins’ plastic cup, forks, spatula, coffee mug, even a roll or paper towel. Her magic dodges everything right on time before it hits her. Panic and terrified, your instinct leads your hurried steps to your set of knives. You grab them one by one, and throw it at her with the thought of fighting for your life so you can go save the boys.

Once again, the red wisps do its work. It stops each knife at ease and keeps them frozen still mid air. One of the knives was stopped an inch right before her forehead. You see that she doesn’t even flinch. Wanda grabs it and puts it on the kitchen counter gently and then looks at you.

“Who the fuck are you? You are not Wanda.” you demand answers.

“I am Wanda Maximoff. Who–” Wanda answers but you didn’t let her finish.

“No! You are not Wanda! It’s impossible! My wife died five years ago.” you denied her and your voice starts to break. A little gasp breaks through Wanda’s lips after hearing what you just said but confusion takes over the surprised feelings in her.

The little silence of shocks puzzled you and got you thinking about what she wanted. Your instinct reminds you of your sons right away. “The boys.” You mumble and you quickly run. Unfortunately Wanda’s magic freezes you on the spot and you are floating mid air.

“Let me go! What do you want?!” you confronted her.

‘Tommy and Billy are in their room.” Wanda responds calmly. “What did you do to them?! Please don’t hurt them.” you said while you try to escape yourself from the red magic that limits your movements but it was all in vain.

“They are safe and sound asleep. I’m not a monster. I’m not going to hurt you or them. I will put you down and I just need you to tell me who you are and your life here.” Wanda offers you a one way deal.

Deep down you refuse to agree but it’s for the safety of your sons, you know better not to fight her or anything. You agreed in defeat.

Wanda gently lands you on the floor as she floats smoothly closer to you.

“Now tell me about your life here. No trick and no lies please.” she requested in a very soft voice.

You swallow down your fear hardly before you start telling her your life story. “You look like my wife, Wanda. She’s– she is the most amazing woman I have ever met. I was one of the scientists for S.H.I.E.L.D but then they transferred me to work with Tony and Bruce at the Avengers compound. That was where Wanda and I met.” Your eyes get glossy. Wanda notices your sad expression as she pays attention to everything you say but then you chuckle and smile a little talking more about your beloved deceased wife.

“She was a very shy person but once she got comfortable, she would turn into a very funny, caring and talkative person which made me fall for her. She is a great mother to our boys.” you continue as your hand starts to wipe the tears that slowly overfill your eyes.

“What happened to Vision? Where is he now?” Wanda’s forehead puckered as she asked another question.

You turn your head to her and answer the question with another question. “Who is Vision? I don’t know who you are talking about.”

“Vision, he–he was Jarvis and was created during Ultron’s attack on earth 616. Us, Avengers fought him and saved the world back then. Vision became one of us and that’s when Wanda– I–I meant that was when Vision and I got closer but Thanos killed him and uh– we have the boys, Tommy and Billy years after. It’s—It’s—It’s another thing that happened.” Her lips quiver shortly before she exhales a shaky breath while holding her tears back.

What Wanda just said really caught your attention that you shift yourself to face her. “Wait, what? Ultron’s attack? Earth 616? Did you say Jarvis was born? THE Jarvis, as in Tony’s AI? Thanos? Does this mean you are from another universe and the multiverse actually exists?” you start to ramble instant lines of questions.

“Yeah, Ultron. Ultron didn’t invade this universe? What about Thanos? What happened to me–I meant to your wife, Wanda?” Wanda took her turns asking your even more questions.

“Ultron happened here but everything worked out and there was no fight between The Avengers and Ultron in this universe. Jarvis is still Tony’s AI until now.” you explained.

“Tony’s alive? Jarvis still exists here? That’s why I didn’t see Vision here.” Wanda rambles out her thoughts to herself under her breath, connecting the dots.

“No Vision was created and yes, Tony’s still alive. Everybody is still alive, except.. Wanda.” you swallow hard when the memory hits you again, so hard that your heart aches. Sadness shows up in your face again. You feel Wanda’s hand holding you and it’s insanely bizarre that you feel the same comfort that you used to get when your Wanda did it.

“What happened?” Wanda hesitantly asks you with her soft voice.

“Thanos and his army came to attack. The Avengers were at war and fought them. I had a feeling that day, when I saw Wanda fly out of the compound with everybody else that I would never see her again even though she told me that she would come back for me and the boys.” tears start to fill your eyes to the brim slowly.

Wanda doesn’t know what to say when her mind comes up with a conclusion of what happened to your wife but she knows how you feel, she senses a great loss from you. Her heart feels yours aching. Her thumb rubbing the back of your hands and you continue your words.

“I was waiting and waiting and waiting for everybody to come back, for Wanda to come back. The second I saw Natasha and Clint at the door, I knew that—” you pause and swallow the lump in the back of your throat.

“I knew that I had lost her. Natasha told me that Wanda sacrificed herself to defeat Thanos and his army.” with that, you can’t hold your tears back anymore. You break in tears, sobbing your grief out.

Wanda quickly pulls you into her embrace. “Oh, detka. I know how you feel. Grief, loss and death are so hard to accept. Trust me, I know.” you cry even more once you hear Wanda’s voice calling you with the same exact pet names your wife always calls you with.

You asked Wanda more about what happened in her universe and her life. Wanda tells you everything from her childhood, Vision and including what happened at Westview. You both end up talking about everything all night.

Listening to everything that Wanda tells you while seeing her emotions through her eyes touches your heart. Knowing that Wanda lost her parents and twin brother just like your Wanda did brings out all the sympathy you have. It convinces you that this Wanda right in front of you is not a villain. You know your wife would do the same thing that happened in Westview if it happens to her.

“So, you were saying that the Darkhold and Multiverse exist? And you are The Scarlet Witch? There is only one Scarlet Witch in the multiverse and it’s you? This is crazy. I always have a theory that the Multiverse exists. I have been doing research and trying to find it so I can find—”

“Your wife?” Wanda finishes your sentence as if she has the same thoughts as you.

“Yes.” you admit.

“That’s what I was doing. I was so lost and alone. I just want my boys back and live a happy life with them. Then I saw this universe, the boys and you. I–I wanted to see why this universe looked different, no Vision and I didn’t see me either. I meant no harm to you or the boys.” Wanda’s eyes get teary. This time you pull her to a hug to comfort her.

“I understand, Wanda.”

After all the talk at night, the connection between you feels stronger. You agreed to let Wanda come visit to see the boys and you. Wanda humbly accepts even though you requested her not to show up to the boys just yet until you are sure and feel safe around her. All Wanda can do right now is to understand your request and it’s her way to thank you for your thoughtful decision.

Day by day and weeks by weeks, the more you and Wanda spend time together, the stronger the connections between you two. Wanda starts to smile again, so do you.

The hearts know what they want, slowly you and wanda start to fall for each other. You are slowly convinced that it’s time to let Wanda and the boys meet. It melts your heart to see Wanda’s smile when you tell her your decision.

_____

Billy and Tommy sit together waiting for you after you tell them that you need to talk with them. They smile at you right after they see you walk into the living room.

“Mama, we are not in trouble, aren’t we?” Tommy asks anxiously. “No, no you are not, silly. I just have something to tell both of you.” Tommy smiles again in relief after hearing your answer.

“What is it, Ma? Are you okay?” Billy lets out her question with furrowed eyebrows.

“Oh, sweetheart, yes, I’m okay.” you answered in awe while Wanda watched everything discreetly under the invisible spell. Her heart races with excitement and nervous feelings at the same time.

“Well, Tommy, Billy, do you remember the theory that I always talk with you two about the Multiverse?” This time, it’s your turn pitching a question to them. You clear your throat as if it works to shrug off the nervous feelings you are having right now.

“Yeah, the one that you said you are trying to find?” Billy asks.

“Yes, darling. So, well, guess what? Multiverse exists!” You exclaimed excitedly.

“Really?? Wow! That was awesome!” The boys respond with such a thrill. The twins are always interested in what you are working on and sciences. Sometimes you bond with them in the lab and the three of you always have a good time together.

“Wait, so it means there are other variants of me, Tommy and you in the multiverse?” Billy curiously asks you.

You can’t hold back your happy chuckles. “Yes, there are variants of us and also Mommy.”

They both gasp at the same time. “Mommy? Did you see her in the other universe?” Tommy gets closer to you as he asks you.

“Yes, yes I did.” you answered with a smile. Bubbles of joy burst in Wanda’s heart. Warmth spreads in her seeing their positive response.

“Does she look like our mommy, mama? Does–” Billy couldn’t wait her turn to ask you.

“Do you think she knows us, Mama?” Tommy interrupts her twin brother.

“Does she love as much as our Mommy does? Can we see her?” Billy chimed in with more questions. The boys’ voices overlap each other.

“Boys, boys. Okay, okay. Calm down. Wow, you two are very curious, aren’t you?” you giggle. The Maximoff brothers nod their heads rapidly followed by more smiles.

“How about you ask her yourself?” You suggest the idea as you tap their nose gently. Wanda takes it as her cue to show up. Their mouths slightly opened in amazement as soon as they saw Wanda.

“Hello, Billy, Hello Tommy.” Wanda greets them in a shaky voice, as she tries to keep herself together, holding her tears and smiling at the same time. Wanda walks closer to them slowly, trying not to scare them away.

The boys get off the couch and walk quickly to Wanda.

“Whoa, you look like Mommy.” Tommy comments. “I am your mommy, from another universe.” her tears roll down and Wanda quickly wipes it right before she crouches down to their eye level. As hard as you are trying not to cry but this view of Wanda and the boys really gets you. Tears escape the brim of your eyes.

“Can–can we hug you?” Billy shyly asks.

“Of course! Come here.” Wanda cries in happiness and extends her arms welcoming them in her hug. Tommy and Billy hug her hesitant at first but melt into the embrace a few seconds later. Wanda pulled them closer, cherishing every second of it with every piece of her. Tears escaped her eyes as she cried in happiness quietly. She never thought she would ever feel happiness again. Never in her mind since Westfield that she would be able to hug the twins ever again.

Wanda mouthed a thank you to you and seeing how happy, grateful she is, really touches your soul. You could really see the difference compared to how she was the first time you saw her that night. Right now, you could see how she really is, a devoted mom and a gentle loving woman.

The boys pull themselves back a little from the back. “Wow, you look exactly like her.” Billy comments in amazement as his eyes examine Wanda’s resemblance.

“I love both of you as much as your mommy does.” Wanda explains as she wipes her cheeks, a little smile shows up under the wet trails of her tears.

“So, you have your own Tommy and me? Where are they?” Billy asks curiously. You know it’s a hard question for her to answer so you try to stop it by changing the topic. “Billy, Tommy, why don’t you both show mommy–uh I meant uh Wanda the new set of legos you are building. I’m sure she would love to spend time with you two while I’m making dinner for all of us.”

The four of you spend the rest of the evening together. Wanda even helps you to put them to bed. Everything went well. The boys and you bond with her so easily as if there has always been natural connections between all of you, as if she is your wife and the mother of your sons from this universe.

_____

Almost a year after, Wanda still keeps coming back and forth from 616 universe to yours or sometimes she stays some nights there. You and Wanda have been dating for a few months. Everything has been great, the boys and you are getting a lot more comfortable having Wanda around.

Just like Wanda always envisioned before, the three of them often bake together. She gets more involved with the household and all the activities that four of you can do. Showing her around and how everything out there in your universe. There are some adjustments that she has to do but she doesn’t mind it at all.

Sometimes Wanda even goes with you to pick the boys up from school or comes to their theater school play. You and Wanda love each other. It feels like you have known her forever and Wanda finally feels like she’s home, with you and the boys.

Today is your and the boys’ first Christmas morning together with Wanda and it is a big day. You, Billy and Tommy have something planned. A surprise for Wanda.

The four of you are sitting near the fireplace with matching pajamas. You and Wanda smile while watching the boys open their presents. Laughter and joy fill your house.

“Boys, are you ready?” you gave them the cue. They quickly nod and grab a bigger square shape wrapped gift.

“It’s for you, Wanda.” you smile and tell her. Wanda’s cheeks blush and she smiles right away, followed by a little excited chuckles. “Aw, you guys. You don’t have to get me a gift.” she responds.

Wanda opens her gift and smiles. “Aw, did you boys draw this? It’s both of you, mama and…your mommy? Oh all four of you are in front of the fireplace and Christmas tree. This is really cute!” She asks while she looks excited yet confused.

“Yeah, they drew it and I reprint and enlarged it.” you explain while gently rubbing her back. The boys interrupt her thoughts while she is admiring the drawing.

“It’s us with Mama and you.” Tommy and Billy race each other to tell you about the drawing.

Wanda quickly raises her head and looks at the three of you, one by one slowly. “What?” she asks softly, trying to make sure if she heard it right.

“Yeah, it’s four of us just like how we are now.” Tommy added.

“Can we call you Mommy?” Wanda gasps gently as soon as she hears Billy’s question. She is lost at words. Her lips are slightly open, happy tears start to fill up to the brim of her eyes. Before she can even answer, Tommy says another thing.

“Yeah, our Mommy.”

With that the happy tears flow freely. “Yes, I��m always your mommy. You are my boys. Of course you can call me mommy.” Wanda pulls both of them in a tight hug. She closes her eyes, thinking that this is the happiest moment in her life after years of sadness and loneliness.

Little does she know, another surprise is coming. Tommy and Billy slowly get themselves out of Wanda’s warm loving hug and stand up straight, clearing their thoughts as if they are getting ready to do something.

To her surprise, the twins start to sing a song they made specially for her. She is astonished as soon as she hears the words they sing, asking her to move and live with them and with you. The way they call her their mommy in a serenade makes her heart leap. Happiness fills her like sunshine. Wanda can’t stop smiling ear to ear.

As soon as they are done singing, you ask her.

“Wanda, we love you. Will you move here and have a beautiful life with us as one family?” you ask as you look into her eyes and hold both of her hands.

“Yes, mommy! Please! Please! Come live with us and Mama.” Tommy’s and Billy’s thrilled voices overlapped each other as they jumped around in exhilaration.

“That has been my dream since I met all of you here. Yes, of course!” Wanda extends her arms, inviting the three of you into a group hug as a one happy family.

A/n: Welp, that's all for today peeps! I hope you enjoy this piece. Let me know what you think. Reblogs and comments are highly appreciated. Follow me for more and see you in next!

Cheerio!

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[sungbeam]

𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞

spiderman!kim sunwoo x reader (slight eric x reader)

6.7k words, spiderman across the spiderverse au, superhero au, est. relationship au, swearing, spoilers for the atsv movie! but some details of the plot are tweaked to fit my narrative (you'll see that i basically took one of the iconic scenes and put it in writing lol), mentions of death, mild violence, low-key not a full plot..?, kissing, slight angst, BARELY PROOFREAD IT'S LATE I'M SORRY

a/n: apologies in advance for shit poor storytelling in this one 😭 i just wanted to get this idea down and out before i chickened out TT

His name was Kim Sunwoo, and you happened to know his story pretty well. After all, he was Brooklyn's one and only Spiderman.

"AHHH HOLY SHIT—"

You pulled your phone away from your ear with practiced grace as Sunwoo screeched through the speaker. The words from your textbook blurred as your focus drifted completely away from your assignment.

"BABY, I ALMOST GOT HIT BY A BUS."

"Again?" You teased, flipping the page backward to restart your reading. There was no way you were going to be able to get anything done while on call with your boyfriend, especially while he was actively swinging across New York traffic.

You heard his huff over the long blast of a car horn. "Hey! It wasn't even my fault this time; that guy definitely had headphones in, which is totally illegal."

Snickering, you leaned back in your desk chair and peered out the window of your apartment's bedroom at the city beyond. He would probably be here any minute now. "You should go arrest him then. Aren't you Mister Superhero now?"

"Mister Multiversal Superhero," he corrected with a tone that definitely sounded like he had the biggest grin on his face.

You rolled your eyes good naturedly. "Uh-huh. So is Mister Multiversal Superhero almost here or do I have to find another superhero to come rescue me?"

Just as you said this, your eyes spotted a blur of black and red swinging himself around the apartment building at the end of your block. He was steadily making his way to you, as you knew he had been.

"Woah, wait, have you been seeing other superheroes?"

You rested your cheek against your fist as you watched him get closer and closer. "Well, now that we know that there are multiple universes out there, who knows?"

Spiderman landed quietly on the metal railing of your fire escape, hands braced between his legs in the iconic pose. His suit was black and tight to his skin, leaving close to nothing to the imagination and allowing for easy movement. The ensemble was completed by a red spider symbol drawn over his chest, and a black hoodie thrown over the uniform.

Sunwoo gazed at you from behind the white lenses of his mask on the other side of your window. His heart never failed to literally fly out of his body when he saw you look at him like that. "Ma'am, I'm going to need you to open this window up," he coughed in his forced deep voice, even though he knew that you knew exactly who he was. It was all for fun and to see you smile anyway.

You put your mouth near the speaker of your phone. "It's open, tiger."

Oh, dear heavens…

He could have fainted off the fire escape then, backflipped through the air, and landed kur-splat on the Brooklyn sidewalk while still maintaining the hearts in his eyes. He ended the call feeding through his mask's wireless control, before going through the familiar motions of wiggling the locking mechanism, hauling the window up, and slipping inside your bedroom. He was hit with the smell of your soap and your laundry detergent, and took in a lungful of it. This was what home smelled like. It was simple, yet quaint and soft and nothing like the busy, dangerous world outside.

You stood from your desk chair and walked into his embrace as he shot his web shooters at the window shutter strings and yanked your shutters down and closed. "Show off," you mused, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and using the other to gently pull the mask up and off his lower face.

"Only for you." His pouty lips smiled, and his arms came around your form. "Hi baby."

"Hi tiger." You grazed your thumb over his lips. "Everything okay today?"

"Mhm," he hummed, rubbing his lips together. "You're not gonna take the rest of the mask off?" He chuckled.

"I kind of like you like this."

"I knew it; is this what you use me for? You only love me for my—mmmh!" You shut him up as you yanked him over to you and drew his mouth to yours in a proper greeting kiss. He melted into you with a soft moan, hands cradling you at your waist and lower back as your fronts melded together.

When you both pulled back, Sunwoo took the opportunity to tear his mask off and shove the garment into the pocket of his jacket. The two of you shared a grin.

"So, I hear you're in need of rescu—"

BONK!

You and Sunwoo froze at the sound of the metal railing outside your window rattling, followed by a swear and a familiar-sounding voice hissing, "Ow!"

Sunwoo's smile slipped into an annoyed frown as he yanked the shutter string to send the shutter flying upward. The motion revealed a young man perched where Sunwoo had been just a couple of minutes ago, except in less of the classic Spiderman pose, and more of a one-foot-balance-act situation. The newcomer wore a costume in dark red and black, but a larger percentage of red than Sunwoo's red spider. He rubbed his forehead furiously from where Sunwoo guessed he had hit his head on the fire escape for the apartment above yours.

The thought made him break his irritated expression and laugh. "Changmin hyung, do you just suck at aiming or something?"

The scarlet spider's white eyes narrowed slightly, and he simply held the place where his head hurt. "Hey, you try swinging around in an alternate New York City! Your universe is similar enough to mine, but I feel like everything's been moved, like, an inch to the left. Absolutely ridiculous."

You smiled in amusement, too, taking a step back to settle down in your desk chair again while Sunwoo leaned against the wall next to the window and poked his head out. "Welcome to Earth 412, I guess," you chuckled.

The alternate Spider man made a little waving motion with his hand. "Yeah, thanks, Yn. You know, it's so weird being back here."

"Why are you back?" Sunwoo asked. "As much as I enjoy you cockblocking me—" He hissed as you delivered a swift kick to his shin, "—yah! Okay, okay, I'm sorry!—Sangyeon hyung only said to use the watches when called for." He gestured to the sleek, black watch wrapped around his left wrist. It was a way to communicate between universes, as well as perform a variety of different tasks, one of them being traveling from universe to universe, as well.

Changmin, the spider of Earth 115, sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I actually came to warn you."

Sunwoo tensed. "Huh?"

"Sangyeon's going to call you in soon."

"Oh, okay. I don't exactly see why you would need to warn me about that."

Changmin shook his head. "No, you don't—I can't… really tell you. Not here." His eyes flickered over to you, who sat listening intently. You and Sunwoo exchanged glances, and then Sunwoo looked back to his friend.

"Don't be held up on my account," you piped up in an attempt to lighten the mood. You stood and planted a kiss on Sunwoo's cheek. "Go do what you boys need to do."

Sunwoo smiled at you, grabbing your hand to give it a squeeze, before donning his mask once more. "I'll be back for dinner," he called back to you as he slipped out onto the fire escape with Changmin.

Your laugh rang in his ears as he swung away. "I'll hold you to it!"

Sunwoo grabbed onto the fire escape above yours to give him a swinging start, fingers triggering the firing mechanism of his web shooters as he defied gravity. With a WAHOO!, he slipped through the New York City skies, Changmin following closely after him. There was a place Sunwoo had in mind where the two of them could speak in private, without worry of anyone else eavesdropping or seeing them.

Behind the massive billboard face of Nike's most recent Air Jordans release, the two spider people landed near silent onto the cement rooftop. Sunwoo hopped up onto the railing behind the billboard, holding his arms as he walked across the beam with no problems. Changmin climbed up next to him, leaning against the end pole.

"So what's this all about?" Sunwoo asked above the cacophony of New York below.

Changmin crossed his arms. "You know when we recruited you?"

He stopped, turning to face his friend. "Yeah, what about it?" Sunwoo had been recruited to Sangyeon's team of multiversal spider people several months ago, when a particle collider in his universe threatened to dismantle the entirety of space and time as you knew it. When Sunwoo had stopped the collider from being restarted the first time, the resulting test had brought a handful of multiversal spiders crashing into Earth 412. It had been a mind blowing experience to learn about the multiverse, and that, for once, he wasn't actually alone.

He finally met people who understood him. He didn't have to carry the weight of this all by himself.

"We didn't tell you everything." There was a tension in his friend's shoulders and posture as he said this.

Sunwoo eyed him with trepidation and let out a nervous laugh. "What—what does that even mean?"

A tingling sensation erupted in Sunwoo's head, and both he and Changmin's focus whipped over toward the rooftop below where a large orange portal appeared. It felt as if it had torn a hole through the air, shoving its vacuum-like opening through the world. Sunwoo's heart leapt into his throat; it looked like he was about to find out from the man himself.

He briefly heard Changmin's curse disappear in the wind, and the two spiders leapt off the beams to meet the others coming through the portal to greet them.

Through the portal came one other, a Spiderman dressed in dark crimson and gold, a gold colored slab of lightweight metal attached to his back where four robotic metal legs would emerge when summoned. His helmet retracted, folding inwards on itself like that of a gradient—nano technology, as the wearer, Chanhee of Earth 426, had explained to Sunwoo when they first met.

"Did you tell him?" Chanhee asked Changmin.

The scarlet spider gave a brief shake of his head. "Nope," he said. Sunwoo could hear the disappointment in his tone.

"Told you coming earlier would've been better," Chanhee replied, inclining his head as he turned back to step into the portal, a silent beckon for them to follow.

Sunwoo exchanged glances with Changmin. "It's nice to see you too, hyung," Sunwoo teased.

Chanhee sent a look back to Sunwoo just before he stepped fully into the vortex portal. "You won't be saying that pretty soon."

He didn't have time to question any of this interaction, absolutely none. His brain ran wild with possibilities as he followed Changmin and Chanhee back to Earth 114. There was a sinking feeling in his gut… something he didn't even need his spider sense to tell him. Maybe he should have told you he wouldn't make it back for dinner after all.

The New York of Earth 114 was home to the headquarters of the multiversal spiders called the Spider Society. It didn't matter how many times Sunwoo saw it with his own eyes, he could never take the awe out of his mouth. His lips parted in wonder as he passed by criss crossing pathways slicing to his left, right, and above and below him. Spider-beings passed by him in masses, all ranging in different varieties from their own diverse universes.

His friends walked ahead of him whilst making quiet conversation with one another, though it seemed like a hushed argument. That was why he refrained from butting in; something made him stay out of it. He didn't know why he feared what came ahead. For once, it wasn't his head saying it; it was his gut.

The scarlet and iron spider were leading him deeper into headquarters to where the shadows ran darker and the machinery ran faster. They passed by Chanhee's usual workstation where he manned the Go Home Machine, the device that scanned a being's target DNA and sent them back from where they came. Usually it was meant for Anomalies, beings that managed to crawl through the cracks between universes and ended up in one that would not be able to sustain them. Usually.

Instead of Chanhee manning the helm, however, there were a couple other spiders Sunwoo didn't recognize trying to labor over it and watch the machine do its thing. Maybe they were his protégés?

"Hey! You guys aren't teenagers; keep an eye on it, would you?" Chanhee barked at the spiders there, who immediately jolted into action.

Chanhee shook his head with an aggravated sigh. "This is what happens when people can't do what they're supposed to." He sent Changmin a pointed look, to which the latter pointedly ignored.

Sunwoo raised a hand in greeting as a few of his other friends passed by. "Hey guys!"

"Sup man," Kevin, Earth 223's resident Spider, exclaimed back in a wave. He, Juyeon, and Haknyeon all seemed to be headed out somewhere together, most likely on an assignment of their own. There were a couple others who Sunwoo had yet to see just yet, but he had a feeling that was about to be remedied.

They passed all the way into the inner lair, a large tunnel space that opened up into a taller tower-like area, housing a floating platform that acted as an office space of sorts. Navy blue light shone through the skylight at the very top of the tower, washing all of the specimens below it in that cool toned filter.

"—just a kid, Sangyeon."

"I've already made up my mind. Don't fight me on this, Jacob. He's already here."

Sunwoo swallowed at the sound of the distinct voices; he had a sneaking suspicion that the he Sangyeon and Jacob were referring to was him. He fidgeted with the watch on his wrist, trying desperately to calm his palpitating heart.

Changmin and Chanhee led him to the edge of the dark tunnel to peer up into the blue tower office. "We brought him," Chanhee said, his voice echoing against the tower walls.

The raised platform began to slowly make its descent, and Sunwoo gradually saw the spiders located onboard. There was Jacob of Earth 530 with his black uniform and pale yellow accents; and then there was Sangyeon of Earth 114, this Earth, with his broad shoulders fitted in a blue and red costume, a spider on the back that looked closer to fangs rather than the insect itself. Sangyeon was different from most of the spiders here—he was self-made, in the way that he had to continually inject himself with this red shit that made Sunwoo squirm in order to retain his powers… at least, that was what Changmin told him.

When the platform had lowered enough to fully view Sangyeon and Jacob but not enough for it to reach the ground, the two executives turned to face their guests.

"Hi hyungs," Sunwoo greeted, attempting to force the nerves out of his voice.

Jacob shot him a sunshine-like smile. "Hello Sunwoo. Nice to see you." He jabbed Sangyeon in the side with his elbow, urging the eldest to make his greeting.

Sangyeon's stony expression did not change. "Do you know why you're here?"

Jacob made an exasperated face, but said nothing else.

Sunwoo swallowed. "No sir. I'm guessing it's not for tteokbokki."

From beside him, he heard Chanhee snort and had to turn his head away to laugh.

Sangyeon merely lifted an unamused brow. He silently walked off the platform and landed on the ground floor with ease. Jacob followed swiftly after him. "When we first recruited you—and I use that term loosely—" He narrowed his eyes at Changmin in nod to his unconventionally forceful method of getting Sunwoo onto the team, "—we failed to mention something to you."

"I've pieced that much together," Sunwoo said, hand reaching up to cup the back of his head.

"Do you know what we're all connected by?" The blue and red spider asked. "Not simply by the names or insect we represent, but the destinies, the canon events written into our very DNA."

Sunwoo cracked his knuckles, heart kick-starting in his chest again like it was chugging up the incline of a rollercoaster. "What… what do you mean by canon?"

"A canon event is something like a pattern. It's a solidified event in your life, Sunwoo—in all of our lives." Sangyeon activated something with his watch, and the room was engulfed in a living hologram of orange. Lines zigzagged amongst each other like the connected dots, and Sangyeon expanded them with a flourish, revealing a familiar lineup of spider people to whom Sunwoo was acquainted with.

The lights of the hologram cut across the shadows of Sangyeon's face like a nightmare. "We're all made who we are by these canon events. Each spider being from each verse is shackled to the death of a mentor figure—"

Scenes of uncles and fathers being murdered flashed before Sunwoo's widened eyes, his body going slack at seeing his own uncle's dying breath leave his body. He couldn't even figure out what to say or think; his tongue had gone heavy in his mouth, words stringing together as slow and thick as wet sand. He couldn't breathe, all of a sudden. His uncle's eyes lost the light in them, they dimmed and dimmed and dimmed—hadn't it been all his fault? Couldn't he have been there to stop the robber?

"—and the death of one Captain or his… child."

More hunched over figures, one after the other, blood, tears, death—why was this being shown to him? Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. Wait—did he just say Captain or his child?

"What," blew out of Sunwoo's mouth, breathlessly. "Wait, are you saying that—that Yn, my Yn, or her father is supposed to die?"

Sangyeon didn't answer immediately, but instead said gravely, "Canon events must happen, Sunwoo, or the fate of that world would be at stake. It would implode in on itself and destroy millions of innocent lives."

Sunwoo felt his heart rate spike, head whipping around to Jacob, to Changmin, to Chanhee. He imagined his eyes looked wild. "You're telling me she's going to die? Or her father—and, and what? What's the point of telling me all this?"

He couldn't let you die. He couldn't bear that devastation—not without at least trying to save you or your dad.

"When?" He huffed, fingers diving into his hair, mask fisted in one of his hands. "When is this happening?" He demanded.

A beat. "Three days."

Everything went quiet… and then the sound came rushing back in like a tidal wave crashing toward the shoreline.

"I have to save them—"

Jacob's voice cut in. "Sangyeon," like a warning.

But Sangyeon shook his head. "Oh no you don't."

Blood thundered in Sunwoo's ears as he yanked his mask back over his head and made a dash for the exit, only to have an orange, crystalline cage trap him in his place. Panic clambered into the dregs of his throat, suffocating suffocating suffocating…

"Sangyeon!"

"Sangyeon, don't do this!"

"He's just a fucking kid—!"

The world was spinning, and Sunwoo grunted as he punched and assaulted the cage walls, his friends pressing up against the outside and attempting to break through, too. "LET ME OUT!"

There were deep shadows beneath Sangyeon's eyes and he watched on with little to no sympathy. "It's for the good of the multiverse, Sunwoo. You'll understand someday."

Sunwoo bared his teeth. "You can't fucking expect me to not fight you on this."

"It will only be for a few days."

"Fuck you!" The amounting rage in Sunwoo's veins accumulated in a mass of electricity, and he forced that energy out at the force fields trapping him in. He screwed his eyes shut, arms swinging over his face, as he protected himself from the blast. When the cage shattered and blew his colleagues backward, Sunwoo wasted no time in sprinting down the hall.

An enraged roar followed after him—a web shooting past Sunwoo's face—not to grab Sunwoo, but instead to rip the watch right off his wrist.

He swore under his breath as he tripped over a piece of metal, cursing even more as he racked his brain for a way to get back to his earth.

"Bring me Kim Sunwoo," Sangyeon's voice boomed throughout the Spider Society's headquarters, accompanied by whirring red apocalypse lights, "don't let the Anomaly go home."

Anomaly—?

But Sunwoo had little time to dwell on that choice label as he slid through a closing doorway, nearly missing another spider's web flinging at his face.

"Okay, Sunwoo," he said aloud to himself as he emerged into the main quad area. It was bright out here, and hundreds of spider beings milled about like they were all at one massive Spider convention.

"He is an Anomaly, and considered armed and dangerous."

"Oh, shut the fuck up!" Sunwoo cried in distress, aiming his web shooter for one of the high rafters as everyone in the room set their eyes on him.

Dodging skilled versions of himself was not the easiest task, and he weaved through the masses like something akin to a thread through the eye of a needle.

He dared not look back as he crashed through one of the windows of the society headquarters and went soaring down into Earth 114's main city. The city itself was a funnel dive, forcing Sunwoo to zip his limbs to his side and thread the needle through multiple layers of hover transportation and floating roads. Cars were turned up on their sides and he nearly hit his head on a dozen traffic lights.

"Get him!"

"This guy is everywhere!" Sunwoo groaned as he leapt from hood to hood, eyes scanning for a place to duck into and hide. The tingling sensation in his brain was ever-present, and kept him well informed of the encroaching Lee Sangyeon.

"AHHH FUCK!" He screeched, forcefully diving off the side of the road. A long, screeching honk echoed after him. "It's always the buses!"

The level below became a labyrinth of metal rafters and pipes. Steam blew out from unseen origins, but provided the perfect cover for Sunwoo to slip through and catch his breath. He pressed his back up against one of the cool, metal bars, his fingers pressing against his eyes in an attempt to keep the tears at bay.

His heart was five palpitations from clearing his ribcage at this point. He needed a plan—he had to have a—

"What the—" Web slapped against his back and yanked him into an abandoned alcove, "—shit!"

Sunwoo groaned as he crashed to the hard ground, furiously rubbing his tailbone after the impact. He glanced up and met Changmin's eyes, who kneeled down beside him.

"Before you go all rage on me," Changmin said and held up his palms in surrender, "just hear me out, okay?"

Sunwoo's chest rose and fell rapidly. He narrowed his eyes on his friend whose face was hidden behind his own mask. "Yeah, okay… fine," he huffed, "but only… only because—" he staggered, climbing to his feet, "I need to catch my breath."

Changmin cocked his head as if he didn't believe that. "Ohh-kay whatever you say." But even as he said this, he still kept his hands out as if placating a hungry lion. "Sunwoo, I know it's a lot to take in—"

"Yeah, no shit," he spat. Fear spiked in his chest, so hard that it was experiencing a heart attack each time. His uncle's death replayed in his head over and over—but now your eyes, draining of life, joined that visual. It was enough to make dread weigh in the pit of his stomach, an anchor that dragged him down. And yet, the adrenaline was still there, the instinct to do something about it.

His friend suddenly tugged his mask off, revealing his face and mess of curls glistening in sweat and worry. "Hey man, I know it's scary and I know that it is unfair—"

"Hyung, he wants me to let them die!"

"It's to save lives, Sunwoo!"

"So you would let your own significant other die? Even if you have the foresight to save them?" Sunwoo scoffed in disbelief. "You would leave their life or their father's life to whatever bullshit—a canon event—dictated?"

Changmin's brows furrowed and he swallowed. "It is not that simple."

"It sounds pretty damn crystal clear to me."

His friend inched toward him. "We're all mad about it, Sunwoo—devastated, destroyed, even. It's not something easy to digest—and, and I admit that I haven't even fully digested it myself. It's not something I've really… I've really thought about."

Sunwoo stared into Changmin's eyes as if he could peer right into his soul. There was pain in Changmin's voice, a sort of tension that he could identify with. A tension that was human. Sunwoo's hands shook. "Changmin—" he exhaled, "—Changmin, I'm scared."

There was that sheen of compassion in Changmin's eyes as he planted his hands on either of Sunwoo's shoulders. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay. I got you."

And for a second, Sunwoo believed that.

Beep beep beep… Both heads whipped toward the watch on Changmin's wrist. "Target acquired. Changmin, we are heading toward you now." Sangyeon.

Betrayal ripped through Sunwoo, a strike of lightning, and he tore away from Changmin, stumbling and knees shaking. The latter gaped at him, then the watch on his wrist, mouth open like a gaping fish. "I—I swear to god, I didn't know it could do that—!"

It was no use. Sunwoo didn't have the time to entertain what ifs—he launched himself out of the alcove just as the walls crashed inward with the arrival of backup.

Think, Sunwoo, think!

Sunwoo furiously stumbled, clambered, whipped himself up and through vehicles screaming toward him and at him. His ears rang with the echoes of their horns, along with the distant (but encroaching) sound of Sangyeon's voice.

Why was keeping Sunwoo at bay so important? There was no way that stopping two people from being murdered would cause a rift in the space-time continuum. He couldn't be that important in the grand scheme of things—?

A hand grappled his ankle and Sunwoo yelped.

"Kid, you're making a mistake!" Sangyeon yelled above the cacophony of traffic raging all around them.

Sunwoo, heart beat tittering on the brink of collapse from the jumpscare, held firm to the hood of the SUV headed up and out of the main city. He peered under him, where Sangyeon stood just below, his hand stopping Sunwoo from going any further.

"You have nowhere to run, you know."

Sunwoo knew. God, he knew. "How could you step aside and let them die?" He exclaimed with his whole chest. He couldn't bear the thought.

A muscle feathered in Sangyeon's jaw. "You would choose the life of one person over millions? You're too young to understand, Sunwoo."

Youth, that was always the fucking argument, huh? Sunwoo's lip curled in disdain. "Just because you couldn't save whoever in your past doesn't mean that I—can't!" With the last word, he stomped Sangyeon's hand away with his other foot and flung himself further up to the next vehicle.

He heard the growl of rage behind him as he scrambled to swing himself up to the next thing. He slammed his fingers against his web shooter, spitting web fluid against the wind berating him at anything, literally anything it could catch.

When it caught onto something, he went flying with it—soaring up toward the sun on the high-speed train.

A flurry of spiders followed swiftly after him as Sunwoo continued his climb. Heart pounding, he gasped for air at this altitude, head twisting backward to catch a glimpse of how he had done so far.

You have nowhere to run, you know.

Well, Sunwoo didn't have to run anywhere. He just had to get far enough.

Sangyeon was the closest on his tail, his teeth bared, and for the first time, Sunwoo could see the threatening gleam of his razor-sharp canines. He made one massive leap up to where Sunwoo was, yanking down on his legs, clawing at his back. Sunwoo kicked his legs out in an attempt to fling him off—shot web fluid in Sangyeon's eyes, but it only seemed to irritate him even further.

Sunwoo cursed as he rolled out of the way of an incoming punch, cursing again when Sangyeon fisted the material of hoodie and pulled him into his grasp, predator meeting prey.

Sangyeon grasped him by the back of the head and slammed his face into the metal— "Maybe I should just get rid of you," he growled into Sunwoo's ear as the latter tried desperately to swing out of this hold, "you weren't even supposed to exist anyway."

Something foreign tugged at Sunwoo's chest. "Man, you gotta stop talking in riddles—!"

He pressed his side against the train car and horse-kicked Sangyeon's lower waist as hard as he possibly could. As if it happened in slow motion, he watched Sangyeon lose his grip and fumble to stay on board the train, but it was enough.

Sunwoo dove straight off the metro and headed straight for the now abandoned headquarters, hands jamming into the pockets of his hoodie and catching the wind to slow his fall. Wind roared through his ears, muffling the sound of Sangyeon's pure irritation as the older spider no doubt dove after him. Sunwoo's eyes zeroed in on his desired landing place, cradling his head with his arms to soften the impact.

The window shattered on impact—he tucked, rolled, and ran.

This time, he willed himself to turn invisible to the eye, even heightened spider eyes. His brain scrambled as he made a mad dash for the Go Home machine. It was somewhere around here—which damn hallway was it in—?!

"Where did he go?" Sunwoo heard from down one open corridor, which made him crawl up onto the ceiling and remain there until he got to his desired location. It hadn't been Sangyeon, but all of his friends had been chasing after him just the same.

He couldn't trust anyone.

Steeling his resolve, Sunwoo leapt off the ceiling and played around with the controls, dancing around the control panel and trying desperately not to panic. He couldn't have possibly run for an infinite amount of time; he only needed to buy himself time to use the one other option he had to get back home.

"Fuck fuck fuck," he muttered to himself when the monitor began playing a very loud song out of the speakers. But it was too late, even as his hand slammed down on the button to mute it.

"SOMEBODY'S PLAYING MY BALLROOM EXTRAVAGANZA." Yep, definitely a Chanhee playlist.

Sunwoo felt the sweat trickle down his spine—but then he swiped his way through controls and somehow managed to hit gold.

"Sequence initializing," announced the machine, and Sunwoo could have screamed with delight and relief.

That was, if he wasn't currently being hunted.

Still shrouded in his invisibility, Sunwoo swung himself onto the steel platform poised at the center of the massive chamber past the control board. A metal arm emerged from the side of the board, an amber orange light scanning over his form.

Chanhee and Changmin barreled into the room, going straight for the control board having yet seen Sunwoo on the platform.

"What's happening?" Changmin cried out as he gripped the edge of the railing, his eyes whipping between the platform and the computer.

Chanhee's two arms and mechanical spider limbs worked furiously to override the sequence. "I don't know!" He grunted. "It's not listening to me!"

"DNA match found. Go Home sequence, commencing."

Sunwoo's physical appearance materialized on the platform just as the machine arm began crafting a crystalline-like webbing around him from the ground up. When both Changmin and Chanhee saw him there, Sunwoo's arm raised, fingers poised over his web shooter trigger.

"Don't stop me," he said, forcing power into his voice. He was trying hard to not let his knees shake right now.

His friends gaped up at him. "Sunwoo, you can't—"

"WHAT'RE YOU DOING? STOP HIM!" And just like that, Sangyeon and company rushed into the chamber like a stampede of buffalo, the former of which going straight for the platform Sunwoo was on.

55% completion.

The crystal had just finished encasing Sunwoo in its cocoon, and Sunwoo yelled as Sangyeon slammed against the outside.

He flinched back. "Just let me go home! I want to go home!" He cried out, hugging his hands to his chest.

Sangyeon beat at the outside with his fist, at first, doing nothing to the crystal—but when it began to crack, Sunwoo's heart dropped clean into the pit of his stomach. "You know why you can't," the man grunted, rearing his fist back to land another solid CRACK to the cocoon, "I have to save the multiverse, and you're in my goddamn way."

75% completion.

"Just leave me alone!" Sunwoo shot back, then backed up against the opposite side of the capsule as Sangyeon's arm cracked through.

90% completion.

He cursed, feet scrambling against the platform as he tried to stay out of Sangyeon's reach.

"You're gonna regret—"

Sunwoo didn't catch the end of Sangyeon's sentence, though he could probably guess what it was. He felt the familiar, yet somehow alien, suction of the vacuum portal. One second, Sangyeon was breaking his fist against the crystal cocoon, and the next, Sunwoo was gone.

Sunwoo emerged in New York to a glorious late afternoon and fell straight out of that saturated, blue sky. He swore colorfully as he just managed to shoot his webs up at the nearest building and swing himself to safety. He landed on the edge of a rooftop, but he couldn't find the Air Jordan billboard he'd been at earlier.

But he noted Time Square just a few blocks down from him, and a few buildings he recognized from central New York City.

"Get to Yn," he muttered to himself, breath heaving as his heart palpitated in his chest. He determined the direction he had to go in, then began making the trek across the city.

His first priority was to find you, to warn you. He didn't know what or how the canon event would play out, but he desperately needed to make sure you and your dad were okay. You had to be okay—

Tears stung at the corners of his eyes as he narrowly missed another screaming bus, turning the corner to your apartment. The sun was sinking into the horizon now, casting an eerie, blood orange tint across the skyline.

He could barely get his thoughts in order: you, your dad, dead, alone, alone, alone.

As he neared your apartment, he could recognize your silhouette in the window as you hunched over your desk, no doubt studying hard as usual. A smile crept onto his face, a giddiness only you caused, sending a jolt of energy down his spine. He was relieved to be in your arms again soon, maybe even in time for dinner—

Wait.

He paused, web latching onto the fire escape above yours like usual, you never had sheer curtains. They were always shutters—

An internal alarm in his head screamed.

A blur of red and blue crashed into Sunwoo's body, sensing him and the body that tackled him, straight to the alley below. For a split second, he panicked at the thought of Sangyeon already finding him so soon, but it didn't take long for him to realize that… this wasn't Sangyeon.

He and his blue and red assailant wrestled on the floor of the alley, throwing punches that missed, ripping webbing from their eyes—Sunwoo swore as the other guy kneed him in the stomach and pinned his wrists and knees down.

"Who the fuck are you?"

Sunwoo's eyes widened as he came face to face with himself, but red and blue in all the weird places. There were silverish lines criss crossing across his suit mimicking the lines of a spider's web. This guy didn't sound like him though… He glared. "Who are you?"

With a surge of courage, he whipped his forehead upward and straight into his opponent's, sending him cursing and scrambling away.

Sunwoo wasn't in much better shape either, but though his forehead throbbed, he forced himself to his feet.

He and this… alternate Spiderman stood across from each other, walking in a tantalizingly slow circle, assessing the other. It felt awfully familiar, this experience; maybe he'd seen it in a meme somewhere.

"I'm Spiderman," Red and Blue drawled out slowly, carefully. His head cocked to the side. "Who are you?"

Sunwoo froze. "I'm Spiderman."

Red and Blue Spiderman stopped short. The white eyes of his mask narrowed. "Who sent you? Osborne? Doc Ock?"

Sunwoo made a face. "Who?" What was a Doc Ock...

"And what the hell do you want with Y—I-I mean, that… uh, that random girl in the apartment?" Red and Blue scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he stammered out a cover-up.

"Nice one," Sunwoo deadpanned. Then, as the information marinated in his head and the cogs in his brain began to turn, a realization dawned on him… and it filled him with pure terror.

Red and Blue must have sensed Sunwoo's dread. "What? Got nothing to say now? How about I—"

"What Earth is this?" Sunwoo blurted, head swiveling to and fro to find some kind of indication that he hadn't just royally screwed up. He shot a web up to the top of the nearest apartment building and swung himself up.

Red and Blue blinked. "Huh?" He swiftly followed after him. "Dude, dunno what rock you crawled out from under, but there's only one Earth in this solar system. You learn that shit in first grade." When he landed on the rooftop, he trailed after Sunwoo, who was busy soaking the skyline around him with a new pair of eyes.

Everything looked relatively the same.

It all smelled the same.

"—as always, this is your daily reminder to keep your eyes peeled for the Spider Menace!—" Sunwoo tracked that awfully annoying voice broadcasting from an electronic billboard more than a few blocks to the west. Featured on the screen was an older man with salt and pepper hair, and a mustache shaped like a broom. His face looked like one of those that were trapped in a perpetual state of irritation.

He made a face. "Who the fuck…"

Red and Blue made a guttural sound of disgust. "J. Jonah Jameson. My absolute best bud."

Sunwoo's head turned toward him. "People don't like you here?"

A snort. "I wish. Tough crowd, I guess."

Sunwoo pursed his lips into a small frown, but nodded. He could relate to that. The authorities and public had mixed views of him, especially at the start of his career. Even if he aimed to save people every time, he couldn't exactly pay for all of the damages done to buildings and structures and… well, people.

"You're not from here, are you?" Red and Blue said after a moment.

The dread, the panic, the fear, was beginning to creep into his nerves again. Sunwoo cracked his knuckles, trying to wrack his brain for next moves. Anything, anything. "Yeah," was all he could voice. Reality was a quicksand he was sinking into, deeper and deeper.

"I'm guessing that doesn't mean you're from LA, does it?"

Sunwoo laughed, but it was a sad sound. "I wish. No, it's more like… a different universe."

"So... you have your own Yn in that universe?"

Sunwoo swallowed. "Yeah."

His colleague gave a small nod, unable to find anything to say to soothe Sunwoo's nerves. There was so much trembling in his voice, his fingers, his knees…

From out of his periphery, Sunwoo spotted a hand extended out to him. "Well, since it seems we're both spider people—I'm Eric."

Sunwoo glanced from the hand offered and the red and blue mask, eyes locked on him expectantly. He clasped Eric's hand. "Sunwoo."

With a firm shake, Eric said, "Well Sunwoo, how about we find a way to get you home, huh?"

He hadn't even realized tears had dampened the fabric of his mask until he sniffled. Sunwoo released a shaky breath, eyes wandering back to the skyline that had looked so close to his, but was now a complete foreign entity. He had less than three days to get back home to you with seemingly no way back at all.

a/n: honestly unsure of a sequel lol but it would be cool to explore eric's spidey universe

tbz m.list

permanent taglist: @crazywittysassy @seomisaho @stopeatread @enhacolor @rnjfy @jaehunnyy @kpopjackie @spiderrenjunfics @soobin-chois @stayarmytinyzenmoa-l @mingiholic @ja4hyvn @vatterie @yogurteume @ethereal-engene @hyunjaespresent-deobi @justalildumpling @hongyangi @pxppxrmint @nerdypastacalzonespy @miusgirl @zhaixiaowen @wtfhyuck @winterchimez @sodafy @fluorescentloves @tinkerbell460 @kflixnet @gyulfriend

[ancha-aus]

RealAge AU Drabble - Parentalbond Dust

I am back :3 Another drabble for the RealAge AU (Thanks @spotaus as always for starting this treat by treating me to the first prompt that got this ball rolling)

First drabble Prev drabble Next drabble

Remember how in the last drabble I uploaded i mentioned those parentalbonds? (honestly if you read my drabbles in order these before things won't make ANY kind of sense... anyway!)

I had been thinking about how all of them bond with they new tiny boss and finally settles on how. The question then was. Who goes first?

I decided to go in order of who bonded with Nightmare first :3

So, big surprise. Dust. (everyone was surprised by this)

Warnings as always, unedited and unbeta'ed. We are here for a good and fun time.

Slight warning for Ghost/hallucination Papyrus being rude and mean and intrusive thoughts.

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Dust can admit that Nightmare is fast. Dust is just faster, by a lot.

As soon as Nightmare shifts Dust has an arm around him and drags him back to his side.

Nightmare glares at him, and it would have been terrifying and effective.

If Nightmare wasn't tiny.

Fuck DUst is still not over how TINY his boss is now.

Can Dust even still call him boss? That would be weird. Kiler tends to call Nightmare Tiny Boss now but Dust isn't quite set on a name yet.

Nightmare grumbles nad glares to the side once it becomes clear once again that Dust isn't going to get intimidated.

Nightmare glances at him before crossing his arms as he looks to the side "This is stupid."

Dust nods "I agree." Dust did not want to be here just watching Nightmare and keeping him from wandering and getting lost.

A cackle and then a whisper Really? First kidnaping and now keeping him a prisoner? How low you have sunk. Keeping a child captured and locked away.

Dust's hand forms a fist as he tries to ignore the muttering. They just need Nightmare to see he can trust them. That is all. That takes time. The chackle just chackles on.

Nightmare shoots him a look "It is stupid. I don't need supervision. I am fine on my own."

Dust goes to nod before blinking and shooting him a look "Yeah no. Nice try. I am staying right here."

Nightmare looks beyond annoyed but it is justified that one of them watches over him. Mostly because Nightmare had already managed to almost escape three times.

Look, it has been an hectic week since they euh... found Nightmare again.

Even more laughter that no one else hears Oh? That is what you call it now? That is what you call stalking a child? Following him everywhere? Finding out where he feels safest and surprising him there? Hah! Found! You are a liar and you even lie to yourself.

Dust glares harder at the dark wall as he pulls his knees up and leans on those as he watches the wall, still being a physical barrier between Nightmare and the door.

Nightmare glares at him but Dust just keeps glaring at the shedwall. Waiting. Hoping one of the others will come to relieve him of this babysitting duty. He hates it. He feels useless and stuck.

A huff Wow? Really? You decided to capture him and now you are annoyed you have to watch your prisoner? And even better the one you captured was the one to save you before? You really are thankless and impossible to please. You will never be happy or content and you don't deserve to feel other of those things.

Dust takes another deep breath. He needs a distraction. But what?!

Dust takes out his phone and scrolls through what he has on there. He sees a few movies and gets an idea.

He needs to wait while the others get supplies anyway. Cross is getting information about the multiverse, Horror is getting them food and Killer is getting them overall supplies.

Which means they should still be busy for a while.

Dust pauses as he shoots Nightmare a look. Nightmare had just been sitting there staring at his own feet as he wiggles his feet a bit. Distracted for a bit.

Dust grins as he reaches for Nightmare and quickly grabs him.

Nightmare immediantly freezes for a moment before glaring "What?!"

Dust grins and just turns him around and his old hoody that Nightmare had taken and stolen ages ago. and as Nightmare has his arms crossed he puts the hoody on him. He yelps but Dust doens't give him time to try and get his arms in the right sleeves. Instead Dust ties those together.

He thinks for a moment before grabbing his scarf and using that to tie up the slippery skeleton.

Dust takes a step back to watch his handy work and can't help but snort.

Nightmare looks shocked down at his state. The hoody already making it harder for him to move and now the scarf kept him even more from moving. The problem was. With Nightmare just being tiny and looking like a babybones... He looks plainly adorable. Fuck Dust kinda wished he had made a bow instead of a knot but he has a mission.

Dust nods and looks at Nightmare "Don't move. I am going to grab some food." He turns and leaves the shed.

It should take Nightmare at least a little while to escape that situation. And Nightmare hadn't tried another teleport after he butchered the last one and got them all thrown into a river. Which means that Dust doubts he will try another one soon.

Dust follows the road and by memory finds the pizza place they walked by not too long ago. He only has to wait for a little while before a delivery boy goes by on bike. He kicks off the guy and snatches the bag. Dust is already in the bushes again before the human has time to form a completely sentence.

Dust has to take a bit of a longer way back to make sure he doesn't go over the road. But as he cuts through backyards and gardens he can't help but feel a bit anxious. What if Nightmare escapes? How is he going to explain that.

By the time he is by the shed again he is close to shaking. He opens it and snorts as Nightmare seems to have fallen over. Less funny is the fact he has almost wiggled his way out of his trappings.

Dust puts the bag to the side and silently joins Nightmare's side "And? Is it working?"

Nightmare freezes before a mutter "I hate you."

That.

Dust isn't sure how to explain how much that hurts.

A sneer Really? Are your poor feelings hurt? By just that? What? Are you sad your so-called boss finally hates you? After all the disappointment and betrayal? And yet you feel sad? You truly are nothing but disgusting and disapointing trash.

Dust ignores it as he pulls Nightmare back upright and undoes the scarf binding and unknots the sleeves. Dust has already helped Nightmare with getting on of his arms into the right sleeve before Dust realises what he is doing.

Dust freezes and Nightmare ignores him as he quickly finishes dressing himself. After which Nightmare glances at him with an expecting look.

Dust instead just sits down on his spot on the ground. Opens the bag and fishes out the food. Oh nice. two pizzas instead of one. He lays both open near him before spotting some weird shake things, three of them. Dust shrugs again and places them near them. Next he grabs Nightmare again and pulls him right by his side as he opens his phone and scrolls through the movies.

Dust very quickly realises he deosn't really have movies without a high rating on his phone.Dust isn't even sure how far Nightmare's mind is at the moment.

Dust knows that Nightmare knows who they are. But Dust doens't know how old Nightmare is mentally at the moment. It isn't like Nightmare is sharing any of that information with them at the moment but Dust thinks he is at least a child again. He just also still has his adult form's memories and that is causing a bit of a disconnect.

Dust sighs and looks at Nightmare "Do you like horror movies?"

Nightmare shoots him a suspicious look before answering "I don't dislike them. They can be..." a frown as Ngihtmare thinks for a while before answering with some difficulty "interesting."

That was another thing that is slightly adorable. Nightmare is trying to still speak like he used to before but it seems that some of his knowledge has disappeared after regaining his true body.

Dust nods as he puts on the horror movie. It is one he thinks is okay even after seeing it four times. And only one of those four was because Dust had wanted to watch it.

He presses play and the movie starts.

Nightmare at first tries to keep his distance but it is a matter of time before he is focussed fully on the movie.

Dust grabs some food and eats it. He makes sure it push some towards Nightmare including one of the drinks.

The movie plays and they watch as some dude bro guy walks through the froest. Shouting about how he isn't scared and to come get him!

"... Why?"

Dust blinks and looks at Nightmare. Nightmare stares at him.

Dust looks back at his phone and the now paused movie "Why the guy is screaming? Mostly he is stupid?"

Nightmare frowns beofre looking away "No. I mean... Why.... this?"

Dust looks at the pizza and his phone "I just wanted to watch a movie?"

More frustration on Nightmare's face before he sighs. He then just looks back at the phone with a resigned expression. "okay."

Dust hates that. No. That isn't right. Nightmare doesn't give up and certainly doesn't give up getting answers to questions he has. Dust doesn't press play and looks at Nightmare "What why?"

Ngihtmare glances to the side. To all their things. "You don't... want to be here... with me. Why..."

Dust frowns "I told you? To make sure you don't escape."

More frustration on that tiny face and Ngihtmare looks away "it's not..." another sigh "whatever. When will you kill me?"

dead silence.

Dust turns sharply "What?!"

Nightmare shrugs "I figured... I wanne know."

Dust stares at Nightmare "What the hell? No we don't want you dead?! Why would we go out of our way to find you just to hurt and kill you?!"

Nightmare sits very still before shrugging again "it is the normal thing... normally."

The book. The fucking story. Fuck! He is a fucking idiot!

Nightmare is a child again! Nightmare is in the middle of his fucking trauma! To him the trauma happened days ago! Of course he thinks they would hurt him. That is what always happens.

How long has Nightmare thought that was the only reason anyone ever came to him? How long had a six year old have to fear the sound of someone approaching.

Dust looks away "We... aren't going to kill you... or hurt you." but... why would he beleive his words? Why would he believe anything any of them say after they arleady betrayed him once?

"okay."

It didn't sound like an okay in the way that he heard and believed what Dust said. it was an okay in the sense of a child being afraid to disagree.

Fuck.

Dust isn't sure how to... how to fix this mess. The mess he had partly created. He isn't even sure this can be fixed...

Dust glances back at him and speaks quieter "I mean it... we aren't going to hurt you. We don't want that." wait... he never... "I am sorry."

a long silence but he forces more out "we shouldn't have left. I shouldn't have left. I just... figured it wasn't my place anymore. I was wrong. I am sorry i left you." and it won't happen again.

Even just saying those things. Apologising. Dust feels lighter. It feels good. He needed Nightmare ot hear that Dust now realises.

Ngihtmare doens't say anything about it but does relax a tiny bit next to him. A very very fragile and tiny show of trust and Dust wants to grab it with both hands but he does't know how!

For now he turns the movie on again and makes sure the babybones is near him and eating and drinking.

Dust isn't even watching the movie anymore. He just listens out in case there is anyone who will try to hurt Nightmare or tempt this uneasy peace they have managed to create.

THe movie plays on and Dsut suddenly feels a weight against him. He turns and stares. Because Nightmare is asleep while leaning against him. Out like a light.

It doesn't even surprise Dust. As Dust doubts that Nightmare slept at all in this last week. Maybe even not before they took him with them.

Dust can't help but notice the very dark marks under those sockets. clear sighs of lack of sleep.

Dust moves slowly and carefully as he picks Nightmare up and puts him in his lap. Fuck he is freezing. Dust wraps his own hoody around him and it helps him relax.

He is safe. He is asleep. And while getting Ngihtmare to trust them again will be a long time and healing will be even longer... For now Dust is happy with his arms full of babybones.

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[ask-codeearasure]

The Outer Realms -- Chapter 17

<-[Previous Chapter]

[Next Chapter]->

Wish to refill Ink's Paints? Go to our Ask Box!

—-----

Chapter Seventeen:

Opposition

—----

“You can’t escape the past. Right? Be a shame if I had to put them on again. Cast Irons… well, it’s hard to clean.” – Vander (Arcane)

—-

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” asked Error, confused.

Ink had just finished filling him in on the information he got from Edge. Error was right, Dream was not dead, but technically he was dying or in critical condition. Whatever golden apples that other skeleton threw at them back in Dreamtale were probably sick twisted copies of his friend’s soul, but it also implied they probably knew where Dream was.

“I don’t know, who knows where these… Outer-what-ever is at…” Ink shrugged, “I just want to check on my dads before we even begin trying to find it.”

Zephyrtop was the last AU in the lineup anyways. For Error, sorting through the code there would be a breeze while Ink caught up with Gaster, Aster, and his four brothers. And considering the former two were the technical creators of Zephyrtop altogether, the probability of it staying destroyed if they were too late was second to none.

Besides, with two of the very few creators left in the multiverse secure under his belt and held highly in his figurative heart, maybe they could help Ink find Dream. Error could only do so much with a being who had no code to his existence anyways.

“My guess is we’ll have to pick a direction and then just keep going until we find something.” Error huffed, cleaning his glasses with his scarf. He was already annoyed with the prospect of another AU he had to recode, remove another destruction code, and-or adding that blasted counter-command just to keep that weird copy of himself from destroying another AU.

“But what if we go in the wrong direction?” Ink asked.

“Then we can loop around. If they called this place the Inner Circle, then the best assumption we have is that everything is in a circle, we can loop around until we find your side-piece.” Error stated as if it were a simple matter. 

“Dream is not my ‘side-piece’, Error,” Ink hissed through his teeth.

The glitch rolled his eyelights. Though he had to admit, he was downplaying the entire thing. Who knew how many AUs were technically out there. It could be hundreds to millions, a good amount of said AUs likely being destroyed by the copy-cat and thus just being blank white nothingness. So if they made the wrong assumption as to how far they could go or not would mean they’d be searching for days to even years.

Even Error understood they didn’t have much time, but there really was not much they could do outside of participate in these fucking guessing games. At this point playing a game of Russian Roulette would get them closer to finding Dream. They could split up, but Ink and his memory problems were as untrustworthy as a pipe bomb with a broken timer the size of a tactical nuke. You don’t know whether or not you defused the damn thing, and even if you did, would you really trust your life with it? So he was stuck here.

Plus, there was that husk running around, that stupid fucking anomaly wearing Ink’s face without a single care in the world. If there was the copy-cat and the husk, that meant there was the likely chance that they both have a similar history to him and Ink. They likely both fought each other over the same reasons and since that anomaly was a pain in the ass to take down, that meant that the other glitch was also going to be a problem.

Either that, or the only things they had going for them was at face-value.

Or he was overthinking it.

He probably was overthinking it.

Definitely.

There is no way Error couldn’t kick BOTH of those impostors’ asses SINGLE HANDEDLY, NO SWEAT, NO FUCKS GIVEN!

Ink tapped him on the forehead, prompting Error to jump and swat their smaller hand away. His friend wasn’t phased.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

The glitch snorted. “Not much. Are we going to your weird parents’ place or what?”

“Awww, did ya finally wanna meet my old men?” Ink playfully rocked back on his heels, loosely crossing his arms behind his back. “It’s about time, they’ve been asking about you for ages!”

He’s…? There is no way they’ve been talking about him to their fucking parents…? Why would they?

“Uh huh. Sure they were.” Error clicked his tongues in repulsion. “No, I just want to get this over with then go back to my Anti-Void and pretend none of this ever happened.”

“Oh. Okay.” Ink’s face fell, but at least they didn’t push the issue. They opened a portal to Zephyrtop’s motherboard and jumped in. Error followed suit, wishing that one day Ink would learn another way to make portals with literally anything else but paint. He hated the texture.

Both outcodes arrived, Ink pleasantly surprised at the fact Zephyrtop’s motherboard was actually decorated, and Error looking through every nook and cranny of the space to find the coding ‘screen’. 

The motherboard looked like a warehouse, storing blueprints and bullet point-filled cork boards, whiteboards only half cleaned, couches, coffee tables, a couple TV screens overlooking the main plaza, circus, and mansion where Ink’s fathers and siblings lived. It was obvious that through thick and thin, this universe was a well cared for outlier in comparison to the neglect all the others had gone through.

Knowing all this sooner would have made Error’s job so much easier in the past, but now that he’s thinking about this in the current day, any kind of prideful satisfaction the younger him would have gotten was nonexistent. Instead, the destroyer could only define one thing he felt from staring at the larger picture for so long.

Pity.

But of course, only Ink’s family would have given enough of a damn about their home to keep it this vibrant and alive, efficiently and effectively meeting the needs and wants of the characters inhabiting this universe.

It’s almost like being caretakers was a common theme in Ink’s family, and Error definitely didn’t fit the part. He didn’t even understand why he found this revelation so intriguing. It was unsettling, but Error had already been unsettled since before Ink made the portal.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, like they were being watched.

“I can’t find it,” Error set down the couch he had lifted and flopped on top of it. Since Gaster and Aster were still around and thriving, what was the point of going through this universe’s code? They probably had already thought of something to keep every creation of theirs protected.

“Maybe we should leave; take our chances looking for Dream without them.”

Ink shook his head, but didn’t look his friend in the eye and fiddled with the empty vials on his sash. It didn’t take rocket science for Error to tell he was anxious. The artist had been nothing short of distressed this entire time, both with and without sufficient doses of his paints.

“I can’t do that, Error, I need– I just need to see my dads, man. Maybe they don’t know what’s going on. I mean, they barely get out as is…”

“So what makes you think they’d know what to do?” Error sat up, grabbing a pillow and squeezing it, venting his frustration little by little into the carefully embroidered floral design in the fabric. “You just said they don’t leave as much. They don’t know the multiverse like we do.”

“Yeah, I know that, it’s just–... They’re creators, Error. They have access to some influence over all universes that we don’t!”

“So did XGaster, and look at what happened to him.”

Whatever train of thought Ink was trying so hard to uplift might as well have just crashed and exploded into a trillion pieces. The artist’s hands dropped from their sash, and they didn’t do much aside from stare at the floor. Right. Him. How could he forget?

“XGaster had… ambitions, I guess, but asking any help out of him would’ve been like pulling chicken’s teeth. Impossible,” Ink started. “I don’t really… know where that guy went either.”

“Oh, he's as good as dead,” Error’s tone lightened, using one of his arms to cushion his head and pulled a thread out of his eyesocket with the free one to fiddle with.

“Last I heard, he got killed by his own creations! If only I could’ve seen it myself, but when I went to XTale for any kind of entertainment, nothing was left.”

“Really?” Ink looked up, eyes wide. “Nothing left?”

“Nada!” Error twirled the string around his index finger, grinning to himself in amusement. “If anything did survive, maybe Dream or that BUG Core!Frisk got to them first.”

Maybe Ink should check the Omega Timeline for them later. He slightly recalled the XTale inhabitants primarily having a black and white color palette for their clothing, but because he had to juggle an overabundance of creators around the same time that AU was active, it’s not like he could go out of his way to give it any special attention.

Oh, how the tables have turned since then.

“Well if you don’t want to go, that’s okay, but I really want to.” Ink reached back for Broomie, but then the motherboard shifted. 

The both of them froze immediately, then whipped around to stare at each other. Ink cleared his throat and slowly took down his hand.

“Did uh… Error, did you do something?”

“You think I’d be quiet if I did???”

“Good point, good point…”

Suddenly, there were teal strings that quickly ripped through the ground beneath Ink in the shape of an ‘x’, the air was rushing towards the strange hole they made, dragging the artist with it. Error used his own string to ground himself as he grabbed Ink’s hand. The rushing air was unrelenting as if it was demanding Ink be dragged into whatever hell it had in waiting. Error could see that the window frame his string was tied to was starting to break, forcing him to make a choice.

Either he let go of Ink, or he went with them.

He undid the string and they both were dragged in.

The portal was unlike anything they had ever seen. It was like an endless hole of cubes that made reality. He could sense it was like the Anti-Void, but also not. This was nothing like his home, but it had the same energy as it. When they finally crashed into the ground, it was as if they had fallen off of a twelve story skyscraper.

As Error got up, he saw the ground was blocky and uneven, as if it was destroyed, remade and re-destroyed endlessly, glitching out like some awful video game that had been both incomplete and re-coded constantly.

He looked over to Ink who was rubbing his head and popping his neck, the impact obviously still affecting him somewhat.

Then he heard it.

A glitch-filled laugh.

“Really? I thought I was doin’ yous a favor ‘ere,” said the voice.

How the fuck did Ink mistake that guy for him? Color him insulted to the highest degree.

The glitch barely looked anything like him! In fact, there were more differences than there were similarities. The most prominent thing was the hood of the jacket. It was easily comparable to a large lion’s mane, almost like Mufasa got skinned after everyone left. Bright golden fur was so long that it reached the glitch’s knees. The jacket was black and lined with neon blue but also had teal diamond markings, showing where it had been resown together on the sleeves. Even his shorts had the same markings. He wore a dark maroon turtleneck and a gold and gray-indigo vest over it. There was also an odd neon blue animal skull on the side of the jacket, right below where the hood started. He also carried a similar colored sickle with a golden chain wrapped around his waist. Another thing was his left eyelight. It had the shape of an ‘x’ with several rings around it.

He didn’t even wear his Papyrus’ scarf.

If he did, then Error would at the very least believe Ink had some reason to mistake them for Geno. But no. Their stupidity truly outweighed the odds.

Maybe he should lend Ink his glasses sometime.

“Really, Error?” asked the glitch, “Yous just had ta follow tha idiot ‘ere?”

“And what’s it to you, of all anomalies?” Error himself straightened his posture, already reaching up to his eyesockets for more strings. In the corner of his vision, Ink was already on their feet, their grip on Broomie firm and ready for a fight.

“Oh nothin’,” the glitch hummed, he touched the corners of his own eyesockets but instead of summoning strings like the way Error himself did, they did come, but rather they stood straight like claws, “I was just gonna take ‘im out for ya as a little practice run for when I have ta put up wit’ an idiot of my own.”

Error heard Ink suck in a breath, the artist inching closer to him. Something about this new guy pissed him off beyond what he considered the normal annoyance, which is what every other anomaly had become to him these days.

But no. As far as the destroyer was concerned, this fucker’s intentions were clear.

He wanted to take his place. That very thought on its own made his marrow boil, his teeth baring to match his growing hatred.

“I see what you’re putting on the table, and my answer is FUCK NO.”

“Really think ya had a choice in dis?” the glitch asked when suddenly two large blocks of the land suddenly appeared and collided with Ink from two different sides. Sandwiching him before two teal strings cut right through them. “I was merely tellin’ yous what was about ta happen.”

Ink rematerialized next to Error, a portal painted below him. Broomie’s length was already chopped in half, and the artist’s hands were sporting new cuts, spewing his namesake out from between the joints, a stark contrast to the pristine white Error expected to see every time.

The guardian of the AUs blinked several times, his eyelights spinning several shades of red in different shapes before settling on a triangle and a target symbol.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!? THAT WAS A TOTAL SUCKER PUNCH!!!”

“Awes, ya pretendin’ ta be mad at lil’ ol’ me…” the glitch cooed, calmly walking off to the side, not really paying much attention to them. This was his domain, and it was clear he was beyond comfortable and confident here. “It’s real cute that ya pretend ta have emotions, Inky-boy. But ya really shouldn’t be playin’ wit’ people’s emotions, things can get real messy.”

The other error’s new target opened his mouth to interrupt, but then shut it, the accusation taking him off guard.

“What…? I don’t do that!”

“Suuure ya don’t. Like the way ya don’t treat everyone around ya, like they ain’t people? Like they’re jus’ some characters in a book that ya can interfere wit’, o’ watch dem struggle in tha misery planned fo’ em. Like tha way you don’t see me an’ Error as people?” the copy-cat stated, he checked his claws for a second and shrugged. He paused and looked directly at Ink, “Ya only go around an’ play hero, an don’t even care if dey get killed off anyways. Horrortale, Somethin’ New, Dusttale, or the otha AUs’ my friends are from. Ya don’ care about anyone or anythin’ but ya own entertainment.”

Error squinted bullets at the other, his freakish New York accent was getting annoying, and really fucking quick too. He’s sounding a hell of a lot like Nightmare with all that YAPPING.

“Ink, he’s fucking with you.”

Ink went to answer, but nothing he could possibly say came to mind. He wasn’t guilty of whatever the Error-copy was getting at, at least currently, he was free from it, but where the hell did he get that information? Why use it against them now? Was their decision and work to change completely ignored?

Error shifted, looking at his friend from the very edge of his vision.

“Ink?”

“I know he’s fucking with me! I want to know why.”

“Am I now?” the glitch snickered, “Ink, can ya really say I’m lyin’ ‘ere? I mean, let’s look at yer history! Tha moment yous get bored wit’ an AU your first tactic is ta ignore it like a child does wit’ a toy they’ve grown tired of, an’ if it still ain’t entertainin’ enough you let it destroy itself. Isn’t that why ya let Error run around? Yous was bored with Underswap an’ so ya let him keep that Swap!Sans around and let him do whatever he wanted?”

“Hey- HEY- NO, YOU THINK I KNEW WHAT HE DID TO BLUE??” Realizing what had happened to his friend had devastated Ink back then, almost to the point he genuinely thought of killing Error like Blue already tried. Where the fuck did this guy get off on assuming he didn’t care!?

“No, but yous expected it.” the glitch frowned, “I mean, yous had every opportunity ta stop ‘im before an’ after. But instead, ya just ran off wit’ tha rest of tha AU, replaced ‘im tha first chance ya got because ya realized far too late that tha poor guy was too far gone. I mean, it’s not like ya leave Error alive because ya like him. Ya don’t even actually feel anythin’. If ya did then… well yous a shit friend. Constantly leavin’ ya friends ta die in horrific ways, be it a Killer bein toyed with by Nightmare, Error ‘imself destroyin their AUs, Horrortales being allowed ta exist, leavin Dream ta get shot by Edelweiss– Oh…” he grinned as he feigned it as a ‘slip of the tongue’, “Oh right… Ol’ Dreamy gettin shot and put on life-support. And yous… yous was nowhere ta be found! Talk about carin’ ‘bout yer friends!”

“I DIDN’T KNOW ANY OF THAT UNTIL CURRENTLY, I–” Ink’s ribcage rattled, an indication of his frustration, which would only continue to spike to higher heights as their opponent kept talking.

Before Error could catch onto what the artist planned next, Ink was already gone, having summoned a gray and black gaster blaster and shot after the other error.

Error raced after him, letting his strings fly to as many lengths as possible, mainly in hope of grabbing his friend and dragging him back, but Ink had a head start and was too far ahead than what the glitch had accounted for.

Ink’s blaster wasn’t used to shoot their new adversary out of the air, but to propel him forward to fight him head-on. He did feel! His emotions were his own! And if he had known sooner what happened to Dream, he would have tracked down whoever had him themself just so they could be at his side! Whatever he needed and it was HIS!

But soon enough, the only thing Ink began to see for certain was the blind red of unrelenting rage.

“I’LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS!”

The glitch dodged Ink in an extremely odd way, Ink just…fazed right through him. The glitch patted his body down and grumbled, “So uncivilized…”

Error almost froze when he saw the scene. The glitch destablized himself. He turned himself into a string of code.

The copy-cat used his strings to grab Ink in a near identical way he did the first time when they met. But rather, they wrapped around his joints. "Oh what's tha matta Inky boy? I was jus’ sayin' tha truth! Ya neva thought we even truly felt pain, or despair. It was only until ya really started lookin' around that you toyed wit’ dat idea, and even then... can we really trust that ya learned yer lesson? That ya see us as people? Tell me, Ink, if ya really cared, then what would ya do on instinct if I were ta... order my friend ta kill that twerp Dream? Would ya even try ta care? Or would ya sit back an’ watch tha show jus’ ta see what’ll happen?”

They didn’t even answer, summoning bucketfuls worth of ink from between their joints, materializing bones and blasters to barrage the glitch with. 

Error blasted the other’s strings, freeing Ink for only a second before they were snagged again in his own contraption of electric blue strings, yanking them back to his side as he reached out for the code to this place, only for the singular thing for Error to hit was a barrier.

The glitch swerved his blaster sideways, ducking under a floating, disembodied wall he recognized as corrupted, carefully crafted code as well, but appeared in the form of organized rubble.

“Why didn’t you hit him too, Error? He wants to hurt Dream!” Ink pulled himself up and struggled against his bindings. Error only tightened them, which served to enrage the artist further.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS, DUMBASS!” Error shot back, continuing to dodge and weave between chunks of rubble and ruin. He noticed all of them had a particular pattern, grays and whites, teals and reds, some gold here and there. It was like his prior-known ‘copy’ themed this Anti-Void after himself! 

As much as he hated other errors more than anything else, there was a certain danger that came from being in another glitch’s direct territory. Given two other errors had almost succeeded in wiping him off the census in the past, Error wasn’t about to risk his neck a third time.

“He wanted to get a rise out of you, Ink! He was manipulating you–” Error looked back as he made another turn, only to see the artist gone, and his strings cut through. 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?”

“He didn’t really think dat through, did he?” asked the other glitch.

Error screamed, spinning around to face the other error, the strings hanging from his fingers and eyes whipping forward to snag a grip on him, but all their intended victim had to do to avoid them was lean backwards.

“How rude of me, I didn’t even introduce myself!” the glitch snickered, “The name is Digital Klezmer! Nice ta meetcha. Though it really don’ matta, I mean ya probably gonna die ‘ere too. Speakin’ o’ which, why’s you helpin’ that guy anyways? I thought you wanted ‘im dead.”

A gaster blaster that had the skull of some animal, maybe some sort of badger, appeared right beside Klezmer, aimed right at Error, ready to fire. Error mimicked the threat, doubling the amount of blasters on his end off the bat. His voice began to mutate, the tone fluctuating and basic voice changing dangerously. Error’s blasters fired.

“MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!”

Klezmer’s blaster fired off its own blast but it had a secondary action, shielding Klezmer enough to escape, teleporting behind Error and sitting down on one of the pieces of blocky rubble, “Oh Error, don’ tell me dat ya think he’s ya friend! That he cares about ya!”

The fellow glitch cackled, “Oh, dat’s RICH!” He summoned several bones to impale Error, but Error summoned another blaster to take the hit, the bones going right through it before both weapons dispersed. 

Error bit his tongues. He wasn’t giving this freaking psycho more fuel to tend with. He already had more than enough to make Ink snap, and Error had to find that idiot squid before Digital Klezmer did.

He teleported back to where he and Ink were first dragged in, leaving Klezmer in the dust like he fucking deserved, only to find no sign of him there.

“IIIIINNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!” 

Error’s voice echoed off the Anti-Void’s floating walls and ruins, and he took to scouring the area close enough to the ‘floor’, keeping all his senses geared for any and every fucking noise that might give away the artist’s location. Ink was so fucking DEAD once he found them. He was so tempted to POP THAT LITTLE HEAD OFF THEIR MIDGET BODY AND CHUCK IT INTO THE NEAREST HOTLAND LAVAPOOL.

—----------

Klezmer sighed when he saw Error teleported away. He shook his head and teleported to a deeper part of his Anti-Void. He really wasn’t going to get an answer to that question, now was he. He knew where Ink was, but what was the fun of going after the guy directly?

Nah.

Too boring. He wanted to see them squirm.

So he settled himself in his seat at his piano and began playing one of his favorite songs, Altale. Whoever wrote that song was more insane than Katagma. It was an oddly upbeat song. But it was also oddly fitting for this little moment between the two knuckleheads he dragged here, letting their hopes rise with the song. Now all he had to do was keep playing. Sure, he was leaving himself as an ‘open target’. But who said he didn’t know everything that was going on in his own territory? Not him.

And like magic, his bait had an impressive effect, and of course it was the Inner Realm’s husk that took it the quickest.

Ink materialized next to him, and could have smacked him upside the head with what was left of his ginormous paintbrush if he didn’t dematerialize into raw code a second before.

Klezmer summoned a gaster blaster that bit down on Ink’s torso, as he spoke, “Oh buddy, I really thought ya had more brains than my husk. I really did. Thanks for correctin’ me.”

Once again, Ink didn’t answer. One of their own blasters was summoned, chomping down on Klezmer’s own and yanking it back, dislodging Ink from its grip. The artist’s namesake dripped to the floor, showing the enemy’s blaster did in fact cut through parts of his ribcage, staining his colorful clothing, but he didn’t seem to care about the weight of his own survival.

Then finally, the shortstack spoke up, his voice shaking with emotion, dominated by an overwhelming layer of rage.

“How dare you.”

They looked second to an animal, a feral beast. More ink leaked out between their barred teeth, some trails dripping from their sockets as the red of their eyelights glowed brighter.

But one look at their sash made it clear every one of their regular vials had already been drunk dry, and it was several days ago too. So the only source of this extra power could only be one thing, and Digital Klezmer already knew well.

Sketch had tried to kill Error before, when both stooges were in the Doodlesphere, and Sketch’s defeat led to the loss of its backpack. That was the only extra source of power Ink had access to.

Ink dropped Broomie, the tool useless to him and broken beyond use. Not even the bristles were in functional order anymore. Everything the artist was using now came directly from his body, from his will.

“I don’t know what hurt you this badly in the past, dude, but whatever you’re after now isn’t worth it. Seriously.”

“What I’m after isn’t worth it?” Klezmer cackled, rubbing his face under his glasses, he stopped almost as quickly as he had started, “Just die.” Two spears made of his strings appeared right from under Ink, unfurling and lifting him up to slam him down on another platform deep in the Anti-Void.

“I wanna reverse all negative creation.” Klezmer growled, “All of it! No more of dis needless sufferin’ ya view as cheap entertainment! And unfortunately I need dat useless guardian alive ta do it! Yous husks are nothin’ but a nuisance! Ya don’t feel, ya don’t care about nobody but yaselves! Hell, if yous an’ Error were ta make some stupid deal, ya’d grow bored of it instantly and jus’ find some bullshit loophole ta find somethin’ you think would be more entertainin’ ta yous and only you!”

The ribbon spears dragged the still tied up artist into a wall of the blocky rubble.

“And yous think that ya know anythin’?! I’ve watched ya long enough ta know that you’re only playin’ wit’ everyone’s emotions ‘ere! How long till ya get bored of Dream an’ Error? What about dem Swap-folk? How long till dey just bore ya? A week?! You’d probably drag a Dust over dere just for sick kicks! At least what I do is merciful, unlike yous!”

He let go of Ink to see if he’s still breathing. Letting the cloud of smoke from the destruction clear.

“Never…”

The second thing he got was a rough cough, but as the smoke cleared, Ink pulled himself back up, the ink in his body surfacing to repair the damage done to his body. Some of the artist’s clothing had been torn off, revealing tattoos that looked like random scribbles covering his lower arms and ribcage, and other discolored, gray patches of bone. The rage in their eyes didn’t subside.

“I will NEVER get bored of them. Not any one of them.”

He met Digital Klezmer’s eye, a spiteful smile gracing his face instead of the twisted snarl the glitch had plastered on it minutes ago. 

“But of course you won’t believe that, since you already profiled me based on the other guy that tried to kill my FRIEND, right? Who’s the dumbass now?”

Ink coughed again, dispensing a pool of ink at his feet as his body struggled to cope again with the amount of damage this new error wanted so badly to remain in place. This guy wasn’t at all like Error, Ink knew this now.

He was worse, really, and that was from a mostly unbiased opinion.

“I don’t care what you assume of me. I would have been devastated if it succeeded, and I would have been devastated all the same if Dream died too!”

The artist stretched his arms out, the ink creating another Broomie right in his waiting hands.

“So fuck you.”

The glitch stared at Ink, almost as though he was seeing the words Ink spoke right before him in material form. Klezmer couldn’t help but mentally compare Ink to Sketch, chuckling. “I guess you’re right. Ya ain’t nothin’ like Sketch. Unlike Sketch, ya don’t just show off your emotionlessness, or selfishness… well, not anymore… And you are right, I don’t believe you’ve changed. Whether or not you have actually started to understand tha sufferin’ of those around yous or even have a speck of empathy. But you definitely ain’t anythin’ like Sketch.”

He summoned several strings and drew them back from a ring that circled them like a giant slingshot.

“Dis… might sting a bit.”

He let go. The makeshift arrow shot right through Ink, impaling him straight through the sternum and the vertebrae leading behind it, but before Klezmer could do anything more with it, a blast of energy snapped it into pieces at the midpoint, Error’s cobalt blue strings were flung about the immediate area, snatching Ink away.

If Ink’s rage was considered animalistic, Error’s was a different lifeform entirely. The glitch’s eyesockets were clogged with his namesake, binary code spinning in his skull like miniature supercells, collecting more and more power to properly launch the amount of destruction it considered a basic portion. The creature before the two other skeletons snarled, the glitching only amplifying the volume and distorting it beyond recognition.

It was debatable if Error could speak properly in this state, with his body barely keeping itself in one piece, but somehow he managed navigating his way all the way here from the other side of the Anti-Void. 

“yOU SHOuLD KnoW BEtteR ThAN TO BREAK mY ThINgs.”

Ink could barely tell what the fuck dragged itself by its arms out of Error’s mouth, or if it even came out of his mouth in the first place. Before he knew it, his friend began to clog the area with electric blue strings, drowning their perception of the area in wires tying them down. Ink couldn’t get a word in, his body creaking under the weight and the tightness of what was, hopefully, a very temporary prison.

The sounds outside were muted to him, but he could figure they were fighting out there.

“--- .... / .-. . .- .-.. .-.. -.--?” Klezmer didn’t even open his mouth, rather the sound – the morse code just emanated from him. He didn’t seem to be shocked, rather his reaction was one that showed he knew what it was like to be in the very state Error was in.

He didn’t even struggle against the strings, rather he destablized himself and kept moving. Now he was the one on the run. Whether or not he had expected it was unknown.

Error pursued him immediately, blasting through entire walls of code that blocked his way. If he was saying anything, emitting any noise at all, it was unintelligible to him. Meaningless. 

He used to destroy everything he hated to fuel his will to live, including minor glitches distantly related to the monstrosity he truly was. But at the same time, none of it made sense. None of the semantics surrounding his past were important. Only the anomaly attempting escape before his eyes, destabilized code bunched together in a being that only knew suffering and grief, abandonment and anger.

So much like him but at the same time so, so different.

It was PATHETIC.

The entity let out a deafening roar behind Klezmer, causing the code closest to him to glitch out momentarily, then proceed to function as it was a second after.

Of course, not all gods went through life unchallenged. There were rules to the madness they shared and pain they carried. Rules not even they understood clear as crystal. 

Klezmer used one of his strings to create a portal only for himself, a split second to get far from Error and to a higher ground, where he made hundreds of spears of his strings and even fractured bones. All with their own rings of strings like crossbows, all aimed at Error. With a golden smirk, he let them loose, each one doing thrice the amount of damage they did to Ink. All the while he made a crossbow for himself. One he could wield. But this one wouldn’t shoot a spear or bone. Rather the sickle’s chain that was previously tied to his waist and now having a small sharp knife made of his strings to ensure it went right through his target.

“Didn’t think I’d ‘ave ta use dis…” he mumbled to himself. “But color me surprised… bastard got a bigger temper ‘dan Wiess.”

There was a click in the Anti-Void as the hurricane of projectiles chased their target, just a shift in the layout code, like something just went missing. 

Then, it was like the ‘ceiling’ grew a corn maze of red bones, stretching half a horizon across the new, demented plaza, connected to a million more blue strings. The ground shook with another haunting scream, and the source of the challenge pulled down the floodgates right behind Klezmer’s projectiles, snapping some in two every which way, cracking down on the ‘floor’ and disembodied walls, splitting some into smaller chunks than they were initially. Dust and grime filled the atmosphere, blocking a clear shot of wherever the target was.

Laughter without a direct source echoed off of what remained of the walls around them, morphing the acoustics and Klezmer couldn’t help but laugh alongside Error. He took aim with his crossbow as several portals opened up with more shots of the crossbow-spears and bones.

He saw the game Error was playing and he’d happily play along, but this was his domain, not Error’s. Thus, he knew every inch Error ran through. Every spot he paused. Every weak point. And thus, he fired the chain. With a rattling sound, it took off and the strings extended and extended further and farther than it would’ve otherwise, dragging the blade with it right towards Error’s soul.

The sickle wasn’t anything that the two idiots had ever faced. It was an Outer Realms specialty. A weapon that specifically did True Damage. There were specific damage types in the Outer Realms, and True Damage was a specialty that Klezmer had thanks to the weapon, specifically only the weapon really. It could bypass all resistances, all armor and specifically target the soul of the opponent, even going as far as latching onto it if the opponent could survive the attack. Meaning that they’d have the weapon stuck onto their soul and out for Klezmer to attack directly. It almost felt like cheating, but it wasn’t his fault someone was stupid enough to stand still long enough to get hit by it.

—------------

Ink made progress centimeter by centimeter, trying to ignore the sound of destruction, screams, and even more destruction. He thought back to the decay of Underfell, the compounding collapse of reality itself before everything imploded into white. Pure white.

He shivered and pressed on, cutting more divots into his bones in the process so more ink could join with the ‘floor’ underneath him.

Then came Error’s roar, the ring of the sound breaking his nonexistent ears, and then the ‘ground’ rumbled. Ink felt something slip under them, and the cocoon around them loosened, but not by much. They were a sitting duck like this, and whether Error wanted his help or not, Ink was convinced he’d die out there.

He had gotten an odd feeling this other Error was vastly more powerful than initially given credit when he was dragged kicking and screaming into this version of the Anti-Void, He didn’t know whether it had an actual name aside from that, but it’s not like they could afford to care, not when so much was at stake.

He wanted them both dead. He made that message abundantly clear.

Ink felt the hole in his sternum and vertebrae mend, and he could finally dematerialize enough to slip through the dozens of layers of strings that bound him. They knew they were getting weaker, having lost more paint than any other fight they could recall, and the migraine had come pounding in when he was dragged in this place too.

Error was right. They really didn’t have the position to fight in confidence here, but they doubted his impostor was manipulating either of them. The things he screamed several minutes ago were in complete confidence and backed with indescribable pain.

Think, Ink, think!

The ground rumbled again, knocking Ink back down in a pool of his own fluids. Another scream, and in the distance, he spotted one of the biggest walls in the area come crashing down, glitching back into the air in far more pieces than it started out as.

Summoning a gaster blaster, Ink jumped on its head and sped his way towards the ensuing fight, ripping off a lock of Error’s abandoned string as they zoomed by.

—-------------

Pain was the one thing Error knew best, but this was too much in one sitting. The glitch ripped out one of the stupid arrows that managed to snag him and snapped it in half, not bothering to watch the material crumble as he went to tend to another spot right next to it.

No matter how much his STATs fluctuated, flying up and down the border of 0 HP and MAXED HP to cope with the sheer amount of stress he just put his body through, Error felt it wouldn’t heal as quickly as he wanted it to, and it was just his luck that his sight cleared just enough before Klezmer pelted him with another barrage of projectiles, overloading his body.

He didn’t want to die like this, but begging was so far out of bounds of the question at hand that it was practically nonexistent, even as Klezmer shot another attack right at him, one the blur of his vision could not keep up with, not even if it were slowed down to fit his needs. 

It was gold. Thin and gold and probably heavy, but boy did it look ugly either way.

It was already too late when Error finally registered the real weight of what was to come, if it were even possible for him. The glitch jolted backwards, a wildfire of agony igniting his body in response to its inability to move and its broken down state.

Then a dark blue blur of his own strings shot its way across his vision, wrapping around the attack. Ink entered the edge of Error’s sight, tugging the chain in his direction, ending up in pieces.

It happened far too quickly for anyone to truly realize what exactly the situation was. The crunching of bone or the splatter of thick globules of ink splashing on the destroyed ground. The most that the two glitches got was the horror on Error’s face and sheer shock on Klezmer’s own, but the thud of the body was heard and the moment the black and gray gaster blaster turned to a pool of ink in an attempt to save its master.

In that moment the two glitches realized exactly what had happened.

Ink had jumped in front of the attack to protect Error, sacrificing himself to the blade of the sickle.

“INK!”

Error jumped and tried to catch Ink but barely made it in time, catching Ink’s husk in mere centimeters before it hit the ground – if one could call it that, considering it still somewhat did. Ink’s husk was flayed, sliced clean in half, only leaving behind the rib cage and up. The last bits of ink from the blaster served itself to heal its master as much as it could but it wouldn’t reawaken him.

“Nononononononono—” Error’s glitching getting worse and far more unstable the more he spoke.

All the while Klezmer couldn’t comprehend the sight before him.

Ink had jumped in front of a fatal shot just to save someone that wasn’t himself.

He didn’t even dare speak. But all he could do was mentally argue with himself to try to comprehend the situation and what to do about it. He took a long deep breath and tore open a portal, bringing his chain back to himself.

“I’m gonna regret dis later, I jus’ know it.” he thought to himself. Out of the portal he got a vial of mixed oil paints.

Carefully he walked over to the fellow glitch, placed the vial and used a string to teleport Error, the vial, and the husk out of the Anti-Void without issues. He stood alone for a moment before sitting down at his piano and played a song he had received from Katagma who got it from some random game… something called Laura Plays the Piano. Whatever game it was, he was told it was depressing.

As if…

As he played though, he couldn’t get the image of Ink jumping in front of the sickle out of his mind. No, emotionless husk would do that. Sketch wouldn’t do it even if someone paid him.

No. That Ink did feel. And he felt a lot. He stopped playing and sighed, “Yeah… fuck me. I am tha dumbass ‘ere, I suppose.”

—------------

His soul raced a million miles a second, a trillion miles a zeptosecond, and no matter what Error said or how much he screamed, the body in his hands didn’t respond or move. Not an inch. Not a millimeter. Nothing.

And even then, as far as Error was concerned, nothing outside of him and what used to be Ink mattered. 

The multiverse could burn.

It was like Error’s vision was set ablaze itself, both with glitches and tears he never thought he’d cry again, those blue-transparent pearls landing on Ink’s face, brushing away bits of their namesake, their blood. 

Error felt the ground below them change to something softer, and air clearer, holding the weight of life, but what use was it if his friend wasn’t here? The one person who bothered to spend time and energy on him since they met, regardless of how destructive his behavior was by itself, was doomed, and the glitch knew exactly why.

Ink was low on paints, their literal fucking lifeforce, but he would have rather died instead of him, even if he didn’t truly understand how hard he’d be hit, or how many pieces their little body would end up in. 

The destroyer’s vision began to black out, and Error heard the crunching of grass up ahead of them. 

Danger. Danger. DANGER. He came to finish the job.

“G-GET AWAY FROM US— I’M WARNING YOU!!!”

The figure in the distance was colossal, bearing the slight reflection of light glasses would get from the sun at just the right angle, and it was just tall enough to be the threat at hand. It hesitated, then continued with another step forward, its voice ringing in and out of Error’s fried senses.

“Hell–..-? A|3 y0– 0;ay…—-?”

Its shape muddled further, the darkness closing in. Error knew he summoned something, some degree of magic in an attempt to scare them off, but he didn’t get to witness the result.

[ggswaywardgifrepository]

I am still ruminating over Bi-Han ugh. Clearly, I love the character. I also freely admit that a certain not-at-all-small part of his appeal is aesthetic. He's fucking gorgeous. There's no point pretending he's not. And in a game where that applies to pretty much everyone, he still stands out.

I also have found countless ways to headcanon around his dumb shit decisions. There are a lot, let's be reasonable. He does way more dumb shit than smart shit. But it's not hard to find meaning in his (bad) choices.

However, the writing seemed more intent to paint him as irredeemable in Khaos Reigns than even the main game did. Which was a slap in the face because the way the trailers were edited, we were all fired up for at least the beginnings of his redemption arc.

But the DLC dropped, all these new pre-fight dialogues are out there for us to hear, and his transgressions and lack of 'give a fuck' where his own morality is concerned just keeps mounting.

Honestly, I'm fine with Bi-Han staying evil, embracing the darkness and chaos. But I have zero faith that a totally, unashamedly, and permanently evil Bi-Han won't just be used as a means to put another character over as a hero for taking him out. His allegiance doesn't matter, his redemption or lack thereof, doesn't matter--none of it matters if he's not respected.

He is powerful enough to drop a Titan. No matter which side he ends up on, that deserves respect. He either needs to no longer do shit that takes him farther and farther from redemption (my boy is already teetering on the edge after attacking his brother's wedding), or villain Bi-Han needs to be respected as the threat he truly is.

And I know part of my issue is that I personally really want a redemption arc for him. But I also know I'm cool with unashamedly evil characters. I love Shang Tsung. His arc wasn't perfect in MK1 but overall he was well repped. He's a villain through and through and we love it because he's much better written.

(I'm meh on the way the multiverse shit affects basically everything in this game, and I admit it did cheapen Shang Tsung's story some.)

But he is consistently written. We aren't teased and taunted when it comes to how he's portrayed. He is pure evil and on his high horse about it and we love him anyway. So it isn't just a bunch of us "I can change him" types on a soapbox. (Please ignore that I am currently working on a BiShang AU that paints them both as good guys LMFAO I respect and honor them both as villains.)

Bi-Han has been written like trash from the onset of MK1 and the only depth that's been gleaned from or attributed to his character has come from fans desperate to apply meaning to the shit that he does.

Whatever. TL;DR: Bi-Han is awesome because he's hot and because fans are great at rationalizing his behavior. But he deserves better and so do we.

[ddejavvu]

Hi! I hope you're doing well! I love everything you write for Aaron Hotchner! I am so in love with this mannnn. I especially love the way you write dfd!hotch and all the lovey Hotch stuff.

So, anyway... in regards to this fic you wrote about aaron x fairy!reader (https://www.tumblr.com/ddejavvu/714841274143948800/fairyreader-with-hotch-hes-somewhere-in-the?source=share)... i am OBSESSED! Could you continue this story? Maybe where the reader and Aaron fall in love, he takes her home (loves on her hehehe) and introduces her to Jack. He would love his magical mum so much, would tell all his classmates..

With Aaron, she would be so cute and innocent and shy 🤭

Anyway, that's just what me and another person in the comments of the fic thought.

Would you consider this for a fic? Mvm or any other day, whenever you find the time, babe.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Sorry for ranting 😬

Love,

Peanut

today is multiverse monday, send me any au you can think of! :)

thank you for being so kind! i'm glad you like my writing <333

--

"That's him," Aaron stops in Jack's doorway, whispering only loud enough so that you can hear him where you're perched on his shoulder, your hands gripping the collar of his shirt.

You'd stayed settled in his pocket for the jet ride home, which was entirely too loud, and the drive back to his office, but once he'd gotten you into his apartment, you'd fluttered up beside his head.

"He looks cozy," You note, the little boy's cheek pudged up and rosy against his pillow. His blonde hair is mussed slightly, and his fleece dinosaur pajamas are clinging tight to his frame.

"Mhm," Aaron nods, shutting the door behind him as he makes his way down the hall to his own bedroom, "Did it get cold in the forest? How'd you keep warm?"

"Mostly feathers and leaves," You hum, kicking your feet lightly back and forth against his chest, "I never got too cold. Sometimes the wind would pick up, though, and it'd all blow away."

Aaron hums sympathetically, and the hand that's gripping his collar, pressed up against his throat, feels the vibrations. You inch slightly closer to his face, but you're not sure that he notices while he rummages through a dresser drawer of his.

"Okay," He grabs fistfuls of socks, all neatly folded and crisp white, chucking them onto a chair in the corner, "You can sleep here, I'll leave it open if you want to move around."

You flutter into the empty drawer, intent on settling down onto the wood, but his palm slips beneath you just before you can touch the brown material, cupping you in his hand instead.

"Wait," He chuckles, "I'm gonna get padding for you. Did you sleep on the wood of that birdhouse this whole time?"

"Yeah," You shrug, hands braced on his palm while you lay on one hip, staring inquizitively up at him, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," He assures you, a kind smile on his face as he fishes two t-shirts out of a lower drawer, "It just probably wasn't as comfortable for you as this is about to be."

He settles the shirts into the base of the drawer, putting them side-by-side so that they fill the space completely. They're folded, and add three or four layers of padding for when you'll eventually go to sleep.

"There, and-" He struggles to grab one of the pairs of socks without jostling you in his palm, smoothing out the lumps in the fabric and placing it into the drawer, "How's that for a pillow?"

He doesn't dump you off of his hand like you're worried he will, instead he lets you crawl off of his palm and onto the shirts. You test out the bed he's made for you, noting that the shirts smell a little bit like the forest you'd just left, woodsy and rough. Your head falls gently against the makeshift pillow, and the fabric of his rolled up socks is gentle on your skin. It's softer than anything you'd had available in the forest, even the fluffy feathers from the birds that fluttered through your woods every winter.

"I like it," You wriggle happily over your bedding, snuggling your face into the socks and grinning up at Aaron, "It's really comfy."

"I'm glad," Aaron hums, smiling down at you from where he's standing over your drawer. He looks handsome with a smile on, his face soft and sweet as it looms over your own.

"Aaron," You rise to your knees, reaching for his cheeks with both of your hands, much smaller than the surface area you put them on. His eyes shine, glittering just like your wings as he raises his brows, humming down at you with the softest voice you've ever heard.

"Thank you. For helping me with my house, for taking me with you, for making me comfortable. Just... thank you."

"Of course," He smiles, lashes fluttering as he blinks, "I'm glad I could help you like you helped me."

You flutter your wings in response, shaking some glitter off onto the shirts below you, but you don't mind. They propel you upwards, and you end up face-to-face with Aaron, your lips puckered primly to kiss the tip of his nose.

It's different from the first time you'd done it, more familiar now, but he still blushes just the same. His skin heats up beneath your palms as you thank him for his help, backing away far enough to catch the gaze of his pretty brown eyes.

He reaches for your face next, with only one finger to tilt your chin up. You comply easily, your own eyes shining as he puckers his lips.

His are much bigger than yours, and it's hard to aim for your nose. What he catches is a stripe across your entire face, cheeks and all when he aims for the tip of your nose.

The sensation of his lips over your face makes you giggle, and your laughter spurs on his own. Then you're just giggly together, standing in the dim light of his bedroom, your hands on his cheeks and his finger beneath your chin, laughing an inch from each others faces.

"Goodnight," He bids you, the same lips that had just stamped over your cheeks curving into a smile. You wish him the same, and you miss his presence the second he steps away to change his clothes.

He peeks into your drawer when he gets out of the closet, finding you already bundled up beneath the first layer of one of his shirts, neckline pulled up to your chin. You've shut your eyes, clearly tuckered out from your long day, and he slips under his own blankets with a similar fatigue.

It's only when his light snores begin to fill the room that you open your eyes again, peering carefully over the rim of the drawer you're in. He's flat on his back with one arm thrown over his head, so you flutter across the room to stand carefully on his chest. His breathing is even and he doesn't wake at your presence, which gives you the o-k to sneak a hand beneath the neckline of his shirt, slipping beneath the hem just like you had in your drawer. This t-shirt, the one that he's wearing, smells even more like the forest you'd left, and you wonder if that's just how Aaron smells.

His skin his warm and soft as you lay yourself flat over it, tucked carefully into his neckline and sprawled out over his chest. It's much easier to fall asleep here than it had been on the sock-pillow, but that's no insult to Aaron's laundry-folding abilities. The socks couldn't possibly have produced this same euphoric serenity that's coursing through your veins now as you lay with Aaron, and your eyes flutter shut with little regard to how he'll react to having piles of glitter on his chest from your wings. That's a morning problem, and this is a nighttime solution.

[fan-maniaer]

I didn't feel I had the motivation to make any designs for my au today. BUT i did make a design for what will be the main plot of my au.

THE TMNT MULTIVERSE

This is the main vocal point of my aus plot. It heavily dives into the multiverse aspect of TMNT and will help explain the rules of the TMNT multiverse and expand it to new heights.

And if you pay attention to the slots, you can spot some fan made aus, so here's all creators who made these aus that I used to fill in some slots.

Rufwooff

Indieyuugure

Egg04

Wondrous-art

camilieoart

melliedoodles

r00tten

Glitter-alienZ

idot-mushroom

drnurssie

I also snuck another au in there made by me, but I haven't revealed anything about it yet. You'll probably find it, Farley, quickly. Anyways, that all I wanted to share for right now. I'll probably be back with more designs from my TMNT au. You can ask questions about how I envision the TMNT multiverse works, but for now, I'll cathc you guys on the flip side.

[bonetrousledbones]

question can you infodump about your Little Guys (atbb) to me because ive been following for like a year and i still dont totally understand them past papyrus au. they are really cool tho

oh my god ok so. first off atbb is the acronym for my ask blog @ask-the-bone-boys that's been on hiatus for a little over a year now. it was born in 2018 out of the annoyance of everything au-centered being sans and also a way to explore how the classic "aus get stuck in the original universe" fic trope would go if it was somebody from the "original" story leaving their universe instead. and also an excuse to make papyrus miserable to be fully honest

also also im going to preface this by saying i ship selfcest and there is some selfcest in this story ok if anybody has issue with that then uh. oopsies (i can explain the way i view it at another time if anybody;s interested but im already gonna ramble like hell here so not rn)

with that groundwork laid im gonna put this under a cut lmao dont click this

for the sake of organization- part 1: RUSS

STARTING AT THE BEGINNING so some very basic backstory for this Undertale Papyrus specifically is that he and his brother are twins, they grew up bouncing around several foster homes until they decided to run away to live in the woods on their 14th birthday, where they lived in a bigass tent for three years until Papyrus got badly injured and they had to get help from the townspeople, who uh kinda unofficially adopted them and thats how "they just showed up one day"

then more time passed and around 3 years after getting to the surface Papyrus was booted out of his universe by Mysterious Circumstances. he got a very bad introduction to the multiverse because the place he landed was my own version of horrortale, undermunch. there he meets Spooks!

i have a whole side-fic where you can read in better detail how this goes but basically monsters don't turn to dust in this world and also Spooks is a cannibal, which Papyrus doesn't know until he realizes he was fed spaghetti made out of a rabbit monster. IN addition to that, Spooks has very different magic from other aus, that being it's pretty much all concentrated into a kind of blue-magic-venom that comes out of his teeth like a snake.

Long story short Papyrus has to escape from Spooks somehow, and that's how he learns he's able to move through universes by himself. It still takes him a while to learn how to without being in a life-or-death situation, but that's ok because almost every other universe he goes to after that puts him into a life-or-death situation :>

and then FINALLY he gets spat out into a variation of Underswap, where he meets Honey. this one's a bit spoilery because i haven't finished writing this fic yet BUT its ok because this will be so so so disorganized. anyway so Papyrus is scared of Honey at first because he's been getting completely fucking obliterated by the multiverse (his leg is broken and he's wearing a chest plate he stole from a different papyrus who died in front of him) but Honey is relatively patient with him and lets him stay on his couch on the surface. This is where Papyrus gets the nickname Russ!

Russ is dealing with a broken leg when he shows up in this universe, so he stays with Honey for a little over three months while he recovers from that as well as (some of) the multiverse traumas he'd been collecting up to that point. The main things that he still can't shake are nightmares, trust/attachment issues, and EXTREME food paranoia. he refuses to eat anything he hasn't prepared himself, and even that can be a struggle. Also, because of how long he spent without getting it properly treated, his leg never fully heals.

He starts getting really really homesick the longer he stays in this universe. It builds up over his whole stay, but only starts to get Very Bad after he gets the cast off of his leg. Honey's home is extremely similar to his own home, and sometimes just seeing him and his brother interacting with each other makes Russ upset.

OH I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE CODEPENDENCY ok so at some point Russ just starts completely clinging to Honey and Honey doesn't know what to do about it so he just kinda. unintentionally feeds into it and this turns into Russ sleeping in Honey's bed and blah blah blah eventually this becomes a problem for Honey because he doesn't know how to address Russ's homesickness and clinginess without hurting him somehow even though Honey is extremely stressed and actively burning out

Then Russ overhears Honey venting to Undyne and feels. crushed. And he reacts incredibly rationally! By avoiding Honey as much as possible! But it does not take him long at all to break down and the two finally have a chat about boundaries. They work out a plan together that Honey thinks will genuinely help and Russ thinks will get himself off of Honey's back. The plan is that they'll figure out how to control Russ's world-hopping ability and get him back home.

The idea is that if he's able to control when and how he leaves, he can control where he goes. Then, when he inevitably lands in his home, he'll pop back in Underswap and tell Honey how it went. Because he can control it! Of course!

Honey gives him one of his hoodies and a photo camera to remember him by. Russ tries to figure out what it was in the past that might have helped him jump universes, which was the desire to be just about anywhere other than where he was at that moment. So, he just, thought about going home instead!

And it worked! And he left Honey's universe! And then he realized he didn't land at his home at all! And when he tried to go back to Honey's universe, he went somewhere entirely different as well! And he never saw Honey again! Wahoo!

This is the point where he just becomes a complete mess I'm not gonna lie to you, he starts drinking even though he really really REALLY hates alcohol, he only eats enough to stay conscious, he gets into fights just for the adrenaline rush, and only stays in one universe long enough to confirm it's not his home before either leaving for the next one or collapsing somewhere and hoping he doesn't get attacked while he sleeps for two hours

then he lands in Edge's universe and this needs a part two now OOPS

[lex-jots]

Incoherent post stream YV brainworms

Less me putting on my tinfoil hat and spouting theories and more me just being very excited that all of these threads are coming together. I've only been a fan since February-ish but one theme/motif that I've seen a lot with Finn in particular is the idea of, idk, fragments? facets? multiversal stuff? Ultimately, the idea of having all sorts of "sides." "Everything is not what it seems" and all that. Even before today's stream it's been teased a lot. Hell, Auron's series is going to be called "Shattered" lmfao-

There's the obvious: Finn has several AUs in which he plays very different roles in each world he occupies, like Withered!Finn and EoE!Finn. Garden variety "normal" Finn is a tooth-rottingly sweet cottagecore florist, but we also get to see what he'd be like if he were, say, a violent sadomasochist LOL, or an epic fantasy protagonist with tremendous responsibility.

Seeing all the ways in which each version of him is different is super fun, but I also think the most interesting part of experiencing these versions of him is finding what they have in common. Each version of him gives us parallax to who he actually is.

If you took away all the inhibitions of the tooth-rottingly sweet cottagecore florist, what would be left? Withered!Finn is the answer. If you gave the tooth-rottingly sweet cottagecore florist the weight of responsibility over an entire country (and possibly world[s]), what would he do with it? What will he do when faced with a tough decision? EoE!Finn will answer that.

And while Finn isn't the only one with AU versions of himself, Finn is unique in how thoroughly they seem to be tied into the story. Withered!Finn has mentioned mage Finn several times I think, and obviously EoE!Finn turned back the clock in Bittersweet ch. 3.

Withered!Finn was also described as a "fragment" of in the description of the stalking audio.

i'm running out of steam-

something something the idea of "fragments" also appeared in the EoE teaser but i can't find the timestamp in the stream atm, might make another post in which i put on my tinfoil hat and hyper analyze the trailers and stuff... anyway seeing all the little foreshadowing seeds about fragments and facets come together is immensely satisfying

also the cut from the hyper serious and creepy shattered trailer to a half naked finn with bunny ears going "HUH????" absolutely sent me so forgive me if my memory isn't great, i was laughing too hard

[mediocre-noodle]

for the assorted multiverses, i just have harry potter (mom showed me when i was young hhhh i dont interact w it anymore bc loss of interest and uhm. *stares at jk rowling* eugh) and avatar: the last airbender (its the best ever /j)

the only thing i have written down for HP lore-wise is literally “HATES DUMBLEDORE” i mean. you do you. i did a house test for him bc i was bored— he got ravenclaw. not even surprised -> im a ravenclaw. his patronous is a nebelung cat which is funny bc my childhood cat was a nebelung (i have photos if you wanna see) (theyre from 2017 im so glad i have them still)

for ATLA:

THERE WAS AN ATLA PICREW AND IT WAS COOL OKAY? AAABJDNSNJS

dallas to aang & zuko, talking about ozai: you need me to kill that guy for you? 👀 /ref

“i’m gonna say that he’s probably an outlier bc of the world-hopper thing. something like an avatar but not? aang and the others are still the avatar, dallas isn’t considered an avatar. he can control all elements but isn’t an avatar bc he isn’t a reincarnation. the only reason he can bend all 4 is bc of his otherworldly status.” <- dallas also is a part of The Family aka is OP as FUCK! he has powers from that before he came to ATLA’s universe but he only bends the 4 elements and then the sub-types of bending styles (metal bending, blood bending, healing, lava bending, etc.) of the ATLA universe so no one gets suspicious.

cant add anything about Korra bc i havent watched it. im too attached to aang :[

thats really the only 2 assorted universes i have solid, written lore for. hermitcraft is dallas healing, nothing written yet— no ideas. i dont dare of bringing dallas into the DSMP. no way. that would only send him into a relapse. oh right! uhh i did think of some genshin ideas but its not in my notes… its in disc though lemme grab it-

THE FOLLOWING IS COPIED N PASTED!! (was talking about dsmp to a friend that doesnt know dsmp)

had a vivid reminder of one scene from an animatic (i think??) off dsmp wilbur asking (read: demanding) philza to kill him

and i literally forgot it was dsmp— i was just thinking of a crazed face and that person desperately asking another to ruin them through with a sword, while in a bout of insanity and mental breakdown. said sword is held by the other person (the one being asked to kill) and the insane one is basically pressing it into their own neck as they yell and scream to ‘just kill me!’

and i was like. hm. i cant remeber what thats from.

and i open my photo folders and scroll titles and then see dsmp related ones and go OH MY GOD ITS THE C!WILBUR DEATH—

anyways the reason i bright this up is bc i got the random vision of the scene i saw,,,

but w dallas during a breakdown of his. ***(AU bc i would not do anything to this extent)***

like oh my god imagine being the person on the other side of the sword???

i’m thinking genshin maybe. and rn, venti bc dallas and venti are like— BESTIES.

and imagine???

dallas is like: just kill me— *kinda crazy wide eyes and smile but yk also small bit of tears. not a lot,,

venti: *literally in tears* no— no!? dallas, i’m not doing that?!

dallas: this world is better off without me! besides, it’s not like i *won’t* come back!! you could push me off a cliff and break every bone in my goddamn body and *i’d be fine!!!*

venti: no, you wouldn’t be fine!? what the fuck?! im not going to *kill* you!||

or whatever idk i’m not good with writing mentally unstable characters in that way.

(btw venti doesn’t kill dallas, just wraps him up in a hug until the episode passes or whatever while venti cries. dallas apologizes for saying that, even though they both know he wasn’t in the right state of mind bc he still kinda traumatized venti. they tend to walk on eggshells when it comes to dallas’ suicidal tendencies after that— jumping into fights, taking blows for others, no self-preservation, etc.)

anywayssss :p

I WAS GOING THROUGH CHATS TO FIND MORE DALLAS MORE. GOOD NEWS. I DID FIND MORE AHHAAH

was finding music for dallas spotify playlist and got sad over lore again. and then nesquik (their nickname) started grilling me over how okd dallas is ehe

first two speak for themselves i think? the last ome was on the topic of dying and then brought up how The Eyes cannot die. (aether is the name of the male MC)

anywho-

DALLAS LORE!!!!!!!!!!!!

poor gyu :(((((( hes just a little silly!!!!! just needs a big ol hug!!!!!!!!

[huffle-dork]

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 18: Resurgence

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

Bro follows Marvin's car from above as they head back to the hotel. It's dark, so luckily no one notices him or Jackie high in the sky. After a while, Marvin turns into a car lot of a tall four-story building. This is it, the Sola-Ray Hotel. Marvin parks around the back.

Bro zips down with Jackie in his arms and then gently lands and helps Jackie to his feet. He grins, “Well dude? How was the flight?” 

“That was awesome!” Jackie grins excitedly. “Like a ride at an amusement park! Holy shit, dude!” 

Bro laughs and does a big dramatic bow, “Well! Thank you for flying Air Fantastic then my good sir!”

Marvin gets out of the driver’s seat, while Chase gets out of the passenger’s. “This is definitely nicer than the motel,” Chase says. “Not that the motel was bad. How’d you guys afford this place?” 

“Hotels aren’t that expensive,” Marvin says. 

“They’re pretty expensive,” Jackie says. “I have no idea how you managed to live in them for years.” 

“Got lucky with my big performance days, I guess.” Marvin shrugs. He looks back into the backseat of the car. “How’s Alt?”

Bro blinks back and goes to check the backseat too. Alt blearily looks up to Bro with pale eyes and not a lot of recognition before they flutter back shut. Bro sighs, “Still pretty out of it.” He opens the door and goes to scoop Alt up, holding him close to his chest.

“He can have the bed when we get back to the room,” Schneep says, getting out of the car. “Or, ah… one of them.” 

“The beds are going to be a problem,” Marvin mutters. He’s standing at the side door into the hotel, unlocking it with his room key. “We only brought one inflatable mattress. And there’s only room for two people on each bed.” He opens the door and gestures for the others to follow him inside. “This way. We’re on the second floor so we’re taking the elevator.”

Bro follows after them, “Oh you guys are so nice but I think I have enough on me to get us a room! We gotta figure out what we’re doing next anyways… I’d hate to take up all that space too.”

Are you sure? JJ asks. We’d be happy to share. 

“I don’t think we’re able to share, that’s the problem,” Marvin says, leading the way to the elevator. 

“Besides, there’s clearly a lot we need to talk about,” Chase adds quietly. 

“Here, other Chase.” Marvin reaches into his pocket and pulls out a card of some kind. “Go get a room in the lobby, show them my member card and ask if you can have a room close to 222. That’s ours.” 

“Heheh. 222.” Jackie giggles. 

Bro blinks in surprise, “oh…” He then smiles warmly and nods, “Okay, thanks Marvin…” 

“You are not going to make him carry his brother around while getting a room, are you?” Schneep asks, frowning.

Bro looks back at Schneep then down at Alt and frowns, “Oh yeah… that’s be kinda suspicious… or like- would worry the staff. So, your room first then.” He laughs.

“Right, yeah. Oops.” Marvin laughs a little. “Up we go, then.” 

One short elevator ride and walk down a hall later, and they arrived at the room where Marvin, Jameson, and Schneep are staying. 

“You guys get a balcony?” Chase notices. “No fair.” 

“Hey, you’re staying here for the night, so it’s yours now too,” Marvin says. 

“Here, put Alt here.” Schneep gestures to the nearest bed.

Bro whistles at the sight. “Damn! This is a nice hotel!” He goes to set Alt down then straightens back up, “Alright, you all hang tight- I’ll go get us a room.” He takes the card from Marvin and hurries back down to the lobby.

"We'll look after him!" Jackie promises as Bro leaves. 

Another short elevator ride later, Bro is in the lobby of the hotel. It's nice enough, if a bit generic. There's a woman behind the check-in counter wearing a blue polo shirt with the hotel's logo on the lapel, helping out a shorter red haired person wearing a pink hoodie. They seem to have been buying things from the hotel snack store--which is, apparently, a thing that exists, hidden in a small alcove next to the check-in counter. 

Bro blinks around the lobby and sees the people behind the counter. He hums and then comes over and leans on the counter, patiently waiting for the women to be done.

"Thank you," says the woman behind the counter. 

"Y-yeah, uh, thank you," says the other person. They quickly put their purchases in their hoodie pocket—looks like a bunch of candy bars—and then turns around. They blink, taking in Bro for the first time. "Uh... hi?" 

"Hello sir," the woman behind the counter says. "How can I help you?"

Bro waves, “Hi! I just need a 2 person room please- but if you’re busy I can wait!”

"Oh, uh—no, I'm done now," says the person in the pink hoodie. "You, uh... go ahead." They pause, then start slowly walking away, glancing back at Bro occasionally. Huh... weird. Bro blinks after the person in the pink hoodie. Huh… does he know them…?

"Alright, a 2 person room," the woman behind the counter says. "One bed or two?"

Bro looks back at the woman and smiles, “2 please.”

"Got it." The woman types something out on a computer. "Any preference or requirements on location?"

“Oh near 222 would be great! My friends are staying there,” Bro says.

"Alright!" The woman types out some more. "Oh, you're in luck, 219 is available." That room is down the hall a little bit. "How will you be paying, sir?"

“Nice that’s perfect!” Bro slides over Marvin’s card, “Here use this, please.”

"Ah, thank you." The woman takes the card and scans it. Then hands it back to Bro and grabs a couple keys from below the counter. "Here you go, sir. Enjoy your stay."

“Thanks! Have a good night!” Bro says cheerfully as he takes the keys and Marvin’s card back. He waves then hurries back towards the elevator to go back upstairs.

A short ride later, he's back on the second floor. And as he starts to go down the hall, he sees that same person as before--the one with the short red hair and pink hoodie. They're standing at a door--208, looks like--and as he shows up they quickly unlock the door and head inside.

Bro blinks again in confusion. He almost wants to call to the person but… that’d probably be weird. Maybe they’re just a bit unnerved by built guys- he’s gotten that before… he shrugs and hurries back over to other’s room and goes to knock on the door.

Jackie opens it up. "Hey!" He smiles. "You got your own room, then? Hey you want some popcorn? We're making some." At that very moment a beep goes off from inside the room. "Oh perfect timing." Jackie laughs.

“Oh fuck yes?” Bro says laughing as he walks back in. “And yeah! We’ll be in 219~”

"Hell yeah." 

The other guys are relaxing inside the room. Chase has claimed the other bed on account of his injuries and is laying down starfish style. Schneep has dragged the desk chair into the gap between the two beds so he can keep an eye on both him and Alt. Marvin is getting the popcorn out of the microwave. And JJ is sitting in the armchair with a book. 

"Did I hear you say 219?" Marvin asks.

“Yup that’s our room!” Bro grins, flopping down on the bed next to Alt. Alt mumbles a bit and then curls up. “We’re real lucky we got something close! Oh yeah here’s your card back, Marv.” Bro says getting up to hand him back the card.

"Thanks." Marvin grins and takes it. He then starts sorting out the popcorn into plastic cups that come with the room. Apparently there are no bowls. 

"Alt, are you awake?" Schneep asks gently.

Alt blearily blinks up at Schneep- his vision’s a bit blurry so he stares at him blankly for a second. He then rests his head on the pillow more and mumbles, “k’nda…”

Schneep lets out a breath of relief. "Good. Ah... I am sorry about earlier. I should not have... reacted like that. I-is there anything you need?"

Alt blinks a bit slowly, then shakes his head, “m’good Henny…” he slurs, his eyelids fluttering again. 

Bro looks back towards Alt with a concerned expression.

Schneep blinks. "A bit delirious, it seems." 

"He needs some more rest, I guess," Chase says, turning his head to look at him. 

“Yeah… we haven’t been home in a while too-“ Bro sighs. “Hopefully he’ll be better in the morning…”

"Maybe you should go somewhere quieter than a room with five guys. You think you can carry him to your room on your own?" Chase adds.

"I can help if you need it," Jackie says. "I'll at least unlock the door. It can be awkward to do that while you're carrying something."

Bro looks back at Jackie and is about to wave him off but then he laughs, “Sure dude, that’d be nice.”

"Got it." Jackie smiles. "Let's go, then. I'll carry the popcorn for you too." He picks up two of the plastic cup.

Bro laughs more and goes to grab up Alt, “Alright!” Before they get too far, Bro fumbles to get the key for Jackie and hands it to him before walking down the hall to their room.

Good night, B-R-O, JJ says. 

"Sleep well," Chase adds. 

"Hope Alt feels better after a rest," Marvin adds. 

“Thanks guys!” Bro calls.

Jackie walks down the hall with them, unlocking the door for Bro. The inside of the room looks a lot like the one the guys are staying in, though a bit smaller, and with only a large window instead of a balcony. Jackie puts the popcorn down on the counter in the small kitchenette area and the keys on top of the dresser.

Bro hurries to set Alt back down on a bed and replace his Ice pack before turning to smile at Jackie. “Thanks dude- guess it’s time for us all to get some rest, huh? It’s been a crazy day.”

Jackie laughs. "It hasn't even been crazy all day, it's been a crazy night. But... I'm really glad that I've found Chase. And that the others found me." He smiles. "We still need to talk about some stuff, I think. Personal stuff. But... I'm just so glad. Thank you for your help. Have a good night, okay?"

Bro beams, clapping Jackie on the shoulder, “I’m so glad we could help dude. Hope you guys figure it out and we’ll see you in the morning!”

"Yeah, see you!" Jackie grins. "Good night." And with that, he heads out, leaving Bro and Alt alone for the night. 

Bro smiles and then takes care of Alt- making sure they both can rest as easily as possible. He checks to make sure they still have all the TRVLR pieces and eventually flops into bed and passes out. 

----------

The morning comes quickly and Alt blinks blearily at the morning sun. He finally seems to have rested enough to be fully conscious as he stiffly pulls himself out of bed, rubbing at his head. “Hngh…” 

“Morning bro!” Bro says brightly, handing Alt the cup of popcorn. “the lads saved us some popcorn. But we can go get breakfast in a second.”

Alt nods and takes the popcorn, quietly eating as he tries to gain his senses again.

A few moments later, there's a knock at the door. "H-hello?" Schneep's voice comes from the other side. "Are you two awake?"

Bro hurries over to answer, “yeah! Good morning, Hen!”

Schneep is standing right outside their door, wearing a different outfit than yesterday, a sort of tweed button-down. "Good morning," he says. "I was not sure if you are morning people. But breakfast is happening downstairs right now. We could bring you something back if you want to sleep." 

“Oh I am! Alt isn’t,” Bro laughs. 

Alt grumbles. 

“Breakfast sounds brilliant.” 

Alt’s head perks up on the bed behind Bro, like a cat hearing someone fill their food bowl.

"Excellent." Schneep smiles. "Marvin and Chase are sleeping in a bit, but Jackie, JJ, and I are heading down soon. I will go tell them you'll be joining us. You let Alt know." He heads down the hall and goes back into the room.

Bro laughs, “Alright see you in a sec!” He looks behind him and smirks, “You feeling good enough for breakfast?” 

Alt makes a pouty face, “…maybe-“ 

Bro laughs more, “Get your shoes on then~!” 

Alt chuckles a bit then tries to glitch up but feels a bit dizzy doing so. But he shakes himself off and starts grabbing his stuff. Soon enough Bro and Alt head down to meet the others.

The attached breakfast area is a bit crowded. Half of it is filled with tables and benches, the other half has the food. Pastries, cereal, toast, drinks--and there are some machines to quickly make pancakes and things like sausages and bacon. Though there is a bit of a line. 

Alt warily sticks close to Bro as they enter the crowd, grumpily narrowing his eyes at everyone like a cat. 

"Hey!" Jackie waves at Bro and Alt as they appear. "Grab something and get over here!"

Bro waves at Jackie and grins. The boys go through the line, Bro getting lots of bacon and meat and eggs. Alt got pancakes, bacon and a bit of juice. Oh and of course, coffee for both of them. They head over to where they saw Jackie.

"Here, saved you two seats." Jackie points at the other two seats at the table. Which just happen to be the seats closer to the edge of the room, away from the crowd. Alt perks up as he sees the seats are away from eveyone and hurries over.

Good morning! JJ says cheerfully. He has some scrambled eggs and toast, as well as a cup of tea. Jackie, meanwhile, has bacon and eggs and juice, while Schneep has some waffles and coffee. How did you two sleep?

Bro chuckles and sits down, “Morning! Oh I slept grand- felt good to rest on an actual bed!” He grins. 

As soon as Alt sits down he starts digging into his food- completely missing JJ’s question until Bro nudges him. Alt blinks and then swallows quickly to mumble out, “…uh- fine. I think… still kinda dizzy but food will help. Probably-“ He shrugs.

Jackie nods. "Yeah. You did some crazy shit yesterday, with that other guy. With the eye-patch." He glances around. "I'm guessing he's not coming down? Maybe he doesn't need to eat?" 

“Oh Anti doesn’t need to eat, pretty sure,” Bro says. “…wait, no, definitely sure cuz he hasn’t eaten this whole time! He doesn’t sleep either- I remember that.” 

"Food will almost definitely help," Schneep says. "Even if you are getting sick or something. It will be better to have the calories to burn." He hesitates. "Do you... remember what I said last night? O-or have you forgotten? You were very out of it."

Alt has another full mouth when Henrik addresses him. He blinks at him comically before clearing his throat. “Uh- …did you… say something to me? Uh I’m sorry I… don’t remember much. All of it felt like I was uh- sleepwalking is probably the best way to describe it.”

"Ah... y-yes that makes sense." Schneep nods and shifts awkwardly. "I... want to apologize for... my reaction last night. I-I should not have... reacted so strongly. And I definitely should not have hit you like that." He shakes his head. "It is not your fault. Not your fault at all."

Alt blinks a bit more in confusion, then touches his sore nose. “Oh!” He looks away, poking at his food. “…thanks Schneep but… I-It’s okay… I get it…”

"It is not okay, but thank you," Schneep says quietly. "It is clear that you are not the same. I should have seen that." 

Jameson pats his shoulder reassuringly. 

Alt tries to smile and he nods at Schneep shyly. 

"Wow... serious mood first thing in the morning," Jackie says. "We had enough of that last night, didn't we? C'mon guys!" He smiles at everyone. "Let's just enjoy this while we can! How often do we meet people from another world? Never!" 

Schneep laughs a little. "I suppose you are right."

Bro laughs and tips his glass towards Jackie, “He’s right! You all can ask all your questions now~”

Henrik already asked Alt a lot last night, Jameson says. 

"Hey! I, well, I was curious!" Schneep says defensively. "And I still am." 

"Go on, then." Jackie took a bite of his bacon. 

"Ah. Well." Schneep's mind seems to go momentarily blank. "Where do you all live? The city and such. And Marvin is probably curious about your magic,. I will let him ask all the detailed questions, but do you have some sort of... magical organization? Or is there some sort of superhero organization? You have been to many worlds, yes? What are some of the strangest?"

Bro grins, “Fun ones! Okay uh- we’re from Brighton! No superhero organization- kinda just me trying my best.” He laughs. 

Alt takes a sip of his coffee, “There’s a magic circle back home but we try to avoid them. They don’t like the type of magic I do. Chaos magic at least- I learn from my mentor who runs her own shop and there’s a couple covens around.” 

“Oh strangest places!” Bro says excitedly, “the alien fish one sure was weird. But also very cool.” 

“Hmm… I think the last one we were in- the future one. It was on a huge space station- couple of you guys were aliens.” Alt adds. “Well- technically they were all aliens on that ocean planet too- just… merman aliens!”

Jameon's eyes go wide upon hearing Alt's recounts of magic in his world. We have a sort of magical government here. The Association of British and Iris Magicians. 

"ABIM," Jackie says, pronouncing it like a single word. "Marvin calls them the 'magic police.' He's not a fan, but that's just him not liking authority. They're actually pretty alright. 

Alt nods, “Yeah I’ve heard that name in a couple places… alright sounds about right.” 

“But enough about that. Aliens?!" Jackie says quickly.

Schneep is clearly fascinated. "Not just aliens, but--aliens who are merpeople? That is truly bizarre." 

“It was but it was cool! But they were also.. experiments? Technically we went to that place twice but… the second time was ah- messed up timeline…” Bro says. 

Alt subconsciously touches his jaw- where there’s a faint straight scar. 

"Are there superhero organizations out there?" Jackie asks excitedly. "They have to exist in one world, right?" 

Luckily Jackie changes the subject and Bro nods eagerly, “Yeah dude!! There’s a whole world where most of you have powers and are supers too! Well- some are villains but they do good! You’re a hero named Windstorm there!” 

"Wooooow." Jackie whistles. "That so much cooler than me calling myself Jackieboy Man. And the police calling me 'that red-clad vigilante.'" 

And there have to be worlds with lots of magic, doesn't there? JJ asks.

Alt looks to JJ and smiles, “Yeah there’s a couple! There’s a medieval would we went to that had a forest just teeming with magic. And one where you guys were fae creatures too. Oh- or the one with werewolves and vampires!”

JJ gasps. There's a whole variety of worlds out there! 

"There really is." Schneep is leaning forward, drawn into this. "But that all sounds hard to keep track of. You both must have been through so many. Seen so much."

“We really have,” Bro laughs, sipping his coffee. “…they’re all been great though- in their own way. Even the ones that sucked- we met good lads in all of them. Saved some people.” 

Alt smiles too, looking contemplative. “Yeah… it’s… it’s been hard but- so fun too… it’s good to know uh… we can do good… when we’re somewhere new.” He then looks down and finds his necklace and looks at it with a slightly sad expression. “…I am… kinda missing home though.”

Jackie nods slowly. "Well... why can't you go home now?" 

Because their device is still broken, right? JJ asks. You were looking for the parts. 

"Well if it is broken, how have you been getting place to place?" Schneep frowns.

“Anti was contacting another Sam who can open up rifts.” Bro explains, “The rifts are what caused the TRVLR to break in the first place- and they used to just pop up and take us to another random place. But Anti’s been watching over us.” 

Alt feels the TRVLR bag in his pocket. “…we might need to stop by the IRIS we found this at… see if they have some way to fix it. I think… I dunno. And we still have… another Anti to deal with too.” Alt sighs.

"Another one?" Jackie raises an eyebrow. 

Jameson pales a bit but he tries to hide it from Alt. 

"Hmm." Schneep purses his lips. "Perhaps you will need to go there. Or perhaps... well, I mentioned yesterday that our IRIS had blueprints for a TRVLR design, yes? That was a while ago. I would not be surprised if they progressed to construction by now. If we could find them, we may find something to fix your TRVLR. That is a big maybe, though. I am not sure how we could help with the other... the other one, though."

Alt nods, “That’s fair… he’s our problem to deal with.” His expression gets stormy at this, gripping tightly on his coffee mug. 

Bro sees this and hums slightly, “Either way with IRIS is gonna be tricky… those guys aren’t necessarily big fans of us- or… maybe they’re too big of fans… I dunno how we’d even be able to get in to see the plans!”

Schneep chuckles a little. "Well... I told Alt this as well, but... I have been undercover there for some time." 

“Wooahhh undercover?? Like a spy!” Bro whispers excitedly, “Bro that’s wicked!”

Schneep’s expression becomes serious again. "We were looking for Chase through them. They had him for some time last month." 

Jameson nods slowly. We could get in with Henrik's permissions. But the problem would be FINDING a location to use them at. 

"Marvin could help with that," Jackie says. "Maybe. If he can't, maybe Alt can."

Alt seems to come back to the conversation and blinks up at JJ and Henrik, “…they had Chase? Huh… and you guys… don’t know where IRIS is? How were you uncover there then?”

"We know where IRIS was back in Mirygale," Schneep says. "But we are more north now, I do not know if they have a location up here, I only know of the three around the city."

“Ohhh okay… I’m guessing we’re a bit far from Mirygale then?” Alt asks.

"Almost three hours' drive north," Schneep confirms.

Alt shudders. “Yeah- not sure I’m up for that.” 

Bro laughs, “We could look around and see! Having permissions makes it wayyy easier than going to where we found the TRVLR!”

"Maybe you can check something on a computer?" Jackie asks. "If they have access to databases from the outside, I know some agencies don't do that." 

"Yes, IRIS is one of those organizations," Schneep says. "We will have to either find some magical-technical way to get into their database from a remote computer, or track down a location with magic." 

But for now, we eat breakfast, JJ says. And bring some back for Marvin and Chase.

Alt perks up, “Oh- I bet Anti could help with that. He’s really good at getting info like that.” 

Bro laughs. “JJ’s right that can wait though- I want seconds!” Miraculously, Alt and Bro have picked off most of their plates by now. Bro excuses himself to go get more.

"Ooooo, seconds, good idea!" Jackie says, standing up. 

Schneep laughs. "You two are as bad as he is." He hasn't even halfway finished his waffles. 

JJ laughs as well, a silent breathy sound. 

“We’re just a hungry bunch of guys!” Alt grins, following after them. 

Once the guys are finished with breakfast, Schneep gets some extra stuff for Marvin and Jameson—a couple muffins, two cartons of milk, some toast, and some fruit. He carefully balances this all on two of the hotel's paper plates, layered on top of each other for support, as the group walks back towards the elevators.

Bro watches Schneep balance then laughs, going to take some of it. “here Schneep lemme help!”

"Thank you, Chase. Or, ah... Bro." Schneep nods. 

Bro grins, “No problem!” 

I call the lift button, JJ says, hurrying over. 

"No me!" Jackie says, but JJ reaches it first, pressing the button. "Oh boooo. Okay I get the one on the inside."

Alt laughs at Jackie and JJ’s race. Man- breakfast really did help him feel better.

One short elevator ride later, they're back to the second floor. Jackie unlocks the door to Room 222. "We're back!" he shouts as they head inside. 

Chase is sitting up in one of the beds, flipping through the first pages of the book JJ was reading last night. Marvin is still trying to sleep on the air mattress. He pulls the blanket over his head—it makes a strange rustling sound as he does so, like it's full of rice—and groans. 

Chase rolls his eyes and smiles at the others. "Hey, guys."

Bro cheerfully waves and goes to hand the plate of breakfast he has to Chase, “Morning! You sleep okay, other me?” 

“Well… as good as I could,” Chase says. “I was stabbed.” 

“Ohh yeah… right- that.. probably sucked.” Bro says with a wince, “But uh- breakfast?” 

“Breakfast,” Chase agrees, shifting position so he’s sitting on the side of the bed. “What did you get? Ooooo toast!” 

Alt goes to sit across from Marvin on a bed and snickers, “Mood-“

“Shhhh,” Marvin says from beneath the blanket. 

Alt giggles quieter.

Schneep chuckles. “Marvin do you want a muffin,” Marvin lifts the blanket up slightly.

Marvin fully pushes the blanket aside and sighs. “Well, seems like I’m not gonna get any sleep with you all running around.”

“Sorry,” Alt laughs. “The breakfast is pretty good though~” he grins. 

Bro laughs, making sure Chase has a good hold on the plate before going to sit down next to Alt, plopping a bit hard and making Alt jolt and wobble a bit as the bed moves around. He makes a face at Bro who just grins.

Were you reading my book? JJ asks Chase curiously. 

“I mean…” Chase says between bites of breakfast. “I woke up. Didn’t have much to do. Thought I’d check it out. I didn’t think you liked urban fantasy?” 

We picked it up in the last town, Marvin insisted that I try something new. The book is now sitting on the nightstand between the beds. It’s titled “Shadow City: Book One: A New Unlife” and seems to be the first in a series.

Bro blinks and goes to look over the book, “Oh! This looks fun! Definitely gonna be different than anything you’re used to though, Jay,” he laughs.

Jameson smiles. I suppose that’s why Marvin recommended it. 

“That, and it’s just really fun,” Marvin says, sitting up. Schneep hands him a chocolate muffin and Marvin rolls off the inflatable mattress and walks over to the desk to eat. Evidently not a fan of eating in bed like Chase is. 

“I really like the main character so far,” Chase says. “What do the kids say these days? Right. He’s just like me for real. Anyway, what’s the plan for today?” 

“You’re probably not gonna like it,” Jackie says. “We uh… we have to check out an IRIS place.” 

Chase freezes for a moment. “Huh.”

“Oh we might not need to go in person,” Alt says, pulling out his phone. “Were you listening during breakfast Anti? Think there’s a way you can hack into IRIS’s systems?”

“It’ll take some time, but yes.” Anti gives a thumbs up. “You’re lucky I’ve had practice. It took me a couple days the first time I tried, but by now I’ve got a pattern down.” 

“Aren’t you, uh… from a different universe, though?” Jackie asks slowly. “Will it even be the same here?” 

“It won’t in every world, but yours and mine are really similar,” Anti explains. “IRIS should be consistent between the two of them.”

Alt nods, “Yeah I’ve noticed… it’s like- the exact opposite of your world…” he hums. “Kinda strange huh? But… fingers crossed IRIS is easy enough to get into… I’d like to avoid going there if we can.” 

Bro nods, “Though if we have to I’m sure we could handle it!”

Alright, that's sorted, then! JJ says cheerfully. So we just have to wait. 

"Hmm." Marvin frowns. "I don't like waiting. What if something happens while we do?" 

At that very moment, a scream echoes from down the hall. The timing is so perfect that it would be funny if it wasn't so worrying. 

"You just had to jinx it!" Jackie shouts, and immediately rushes out the door.

Bro springs up and immediately rushes right behind Jackie. 

“Chase!” Alt calls after him then clumsily tries to glitch to catch up.

The others glance at each other then follow as fast as they can. 

Down the hallway, a door bursts open. Someone rushes out, only for lightning to arc down from one of the lights in the ceiling, burning a hole in the carpet at their feet. They yelp and back up, glancing over their shoulder back into their room. 

"Hey!" Jackie shouts. "Is everything okay?!" 

The person glances down towards him. "No!" They shout. Hang on--that's the same person Bro saw last night, with the red hair. They're now wearing a set of navy blue pajamas with pink highlights, but it's still clearly them. And--that's their room, 208.

Bro blinks in surprise at seeing the red head from yesterday. Then he quickly looks into the room and tries to get closer, “What happened?!”

"I-I don't know! Someone's attacking me!" the person stammers. 

Alt hurries to try to lead the person away, “Are you okay?” He asks gently.

"Y-yeah I'm fine," they say, eyes wide. 

The inside of their room is lit up red. In the center of it, hovering... is that Anti who's been trailing them, grinning wildly. "Welcome!" he says, voice echoing. "Fancy seeing you here!" 

"That's your bitch?" Jackie mutters to Bro and Alt.

Bro’s eyes widen and his stomach drops. Alt pales too and he gets in front of the person protectively. “You should run…!” Alt warns them. 

“What are you doing?! Attacking random civilians?!” Bro growls, eyes lighting up bright blue.

The red Anti laughs. "Random? Oh no, this isn't random at all! I knew I'd find something here! Couldn't resist seeing them in person, could you?" 

The person stiffens. "I--w-who--" 

"Doesn't matter. You'll be gone soon." The lights in the hallway dim and another bolt shoots out--

Alt immediately glitches in front of the others, holding out both his hands and summoning a glitching shield to block the lightning. “W-What the hell are you talking about?!” He growls at the red Anti. 

Bro takes over standing in front of the civilian. “Stop this Anti! I thought your beef was with us!” 

Anti grins. "I don't have any 'beef' with you. If you were to stop getting in my way, I'd let you go. But you won't, will you? You're just that type of people!" 

"This is pointless!" Marvin snaps, throwing a hand out. 

Magic shoots out--and passes right through Anti's image. He laughs. "Oh you poor fucking fool! You can't defeat me!" His smile widens. "So... why don't you join me instead?" 

"What the fuck are you--" Marvin starts to say, but suddenly his body turns to the side, jerking like someone forcibly turned him around, and a blast of green magic shoots out at the rest of the group.

Alt’s eyes widen and he shouts out, glitching to throw himself over the civilian and protect them. The magic hits him and he cries out, slumping a bit against the person. 

Bro manages to dodge out of the way but shouts out as he sees Alt get hurt, “Alt!” He then growls out at Anti and is almost ready to attack him before realizing that’s how he got Marvin. So he curses and then goes to grab Marvin’s arms and yank them behind him.

Jackie manages to protect himself against the blast with that few seconds of protection his powers lend him. The others all manage to dodge by running further down the hall, where the magic fades. Chase yelps a bit as he gets caught by the edge of it, but he's mostly unhurt. 

The person cries out as Alt falls against them. "A-Alt?!" 

"Alt!" Jackie rushes to his side. "I-I know, it burns, but please get up!" 

Alt groans and shakily tries to push himself back up, biting back another pained cry as the magic burns. He looks back up at the person with a bit of surprise as they say his name, “Wait- you…?”

The stranger's eyes widen as they realize what they said. "Um--I--" 

Marvin dodges Bro's grasp. "Th-that wasn't me!" He gasps. "I'm not--not doing this!" 

“I know it’s not you!” Bro tries to reassure him. “He’s controlling your body!” 

Anti's image has disappeared, but they can still hear his laughter. Marvin's eyes widen as his hand jerks to the side and fires off a beam of purple and green light towards Alt and the person. Jackie's head snaps over and he pushes both of them out of the way, barely managing to avoid getting hit himself.

Alt’s head snaps back towards Marvin then he yells in surprise as Jackie pushes him and the person back. He winces, curling up slightly. “F-fuck I… I don’t have a lot of magic yet- I-I’m still recovering!” 

Bro tries to grab Marvin again to try to stop him.

Marvin disappears in a puff of smoke, reappearing behind Alt and the stranger. He lunges for them, but Jackie spins around and fires off a blast of energy. It hits Marvin in the stomach and pushes him back. "Sorry!" he shouts. 

"It's okay I get it!" Marvin shouts back. "Oh god, this is different. I'm fucking--aware." 

"How do we deal with this fucking guy?!" Chase shouts. 

“Alt’s magic can-!” Bro tries to say—

"You don't," Anti's voice says smugly. "Jackie, don't fight it." 

"Don't fight what?" Jackie asks. Then his muscles lock up. "Oh fuck." He lunges towards Bro, a globe of silvery green energy encasing his hand as he goes to punch him.

Bro  dodges Jackie’s punch and pants, his eyes widening a bit in panic. “Fuck fuck fuck-!” 

Alt tries to catch his breath then looks at the stranger with wide eyes, “Who are you?! Do you know why he’s going after you??”

"I--M-my name is Crystal," the guest says. "I don't--he might be--the red is new, but he might be--" 

"I know you can help me," Anti's voice comes from directly over the guest--Crystal's shoulder. "It's you who can help me delete everything." 

Crystal jumps. "O-oh, he is that one," they whisper. 

Alt’s eyes widen even more as he gasps, “Crystal?! like… like Huffle’s friend??”

Alt hears Anti’s voice and grabs Crystal and tries to pull them to their feet and away. “H-How are you here?!” 

Marvin staggers to his feet again. "Guys watch out!" He shouts, throwing a ball of magic towards the others. Right after he does, the other three down the hall rush him behind, piling on top of him. But they're too late to stop the spell.

Bro yells in pain and then topples to the floor as the magic hits, the spell scrambling his brain. 

“Chase!” Alt cries out.

“Well uh—look out!” Crystal grabs Alt and pulls him back into the room. The ball of Marvin’s magic hits the floor and explodes into a ring of bright green light. Crystal closes the door, blocking it off, then opens it again. 

Alt yelps as he’s pulled and blinks as Crystal closes the door to block the magic, “Dude quick thinking-“ 

“I don’t know who you are but do you know how to deal with this guy?!” Chase asks as he and the other two try to keep Marvin pinned down. 

“I, uh—w-we need to get out of here,” Crystal stammers. “That’s all I can think of!” 

Jackie turns towards them and Alt and fires off another beam.

Alt looks around in a panic. “But Jackie and Marvin! A-And Cha-!” He tries to yell then he gets blasted back by Jackie’s magic and skids back farther into the room. He coughs harshly, vision blurring.

Crystal also goes flying back, hitting the end of the bed and yelping in surprise. 

"I-I'm sorry!" Jackie says, stepping forward into the room against his will. His hand raises again-- And then 

Alt's phone crackles with static and a bunch of pixels burst out. They attach to Jackie's body for a moment, causing him to gasp and collapse. Then they pull back and form into Anti--their Anti. "I was wondering if that was your voice," he says, looking back at Crystal. 

Crystal's eyes widen. "A-An--!" 

"Okay we're running short on timee so we have to try a shortcut," Anti says, looking around. "Everyone link up!"

Alt groans and shakily pushes himself up. He watches as Anti stops Jackie then he nods, going to glitch and grab Crystal, Jackie then back out into the hallway to grab Bro. Spots dance in his eyes as he kneels next to Bro, gasping for breath. “E-Everyone get over here!” He shouts.

Chase hurries over and grabs onto Jackie. JJ and Schneep drag Marvin between them and link up as well. "Everyone close your eyes!" Anti says, undoing his eye-patch. 

"Ņ͞o!" The red Anti forms again. All the lights in the hotels shut off, leaving him as the only visible thing. "Don't you fucking--"  "And here we go!" Anti's eyes turn bright green, and the others feel the ground beneath their feet disappear.

[palesmokeisinthevoid]

Doodles of Ice Moon

Earth’s taking well to having another sibling, especially since she never really got to know Moon and Lunar here

Bloodmoon at some point got bribed to not kill people in the Pizzaplex, basically they provide a place to stay, some blood bags, and the infinite supplies of rats that inevitably made their home in the Plex, and in exchange he doesn’t kill the residents of the plex nor the guests. Not sure if that would actually work but fuck it. Backup Eclipse is also still sharing a body with them but he doesn’t really come out that much because revenge has kind of…become pretty difficult when literally no one wants to make you a body.

The Creator knows what Voidlings are but they tend to not appear in their side of the multiverse, on account of not many people here getting banished to the Void…which now that I think about…there is someone else who could’ve ended up in the void in this au…anyway he’s curious about what’s going on there…probably not a good idea for him but it’d definitely benefit everyone else

[aldryrththerainbowheart]

The fairiest of all 1/2

Note: Based on this ask, I basically wrote this...I don't even know what this is, but I like it. A lot. I'm currently jumping between this and four other wips. It's like my brain won't rest and just keeps on spitting out AUs. Anyway, my main source is Celtic mythology with some Fey Wanderer and Feylost from dnd. The reader is technically not a changeling, because they are actually the original human taken by the fairies. Also, this Dante is dmc anime Dante, because I think he does not get enough love. I'll be posting part two cause this is already too long and it expanded WAY above my expectations.

Enjoy this helter-skelter of magical worlds.

Rainbow Dragon

The existence of demons and the infernal lands they inhabit is widely accepted in Redgrave and the rest of the world. However, the other world almost mirrors ours. A place that is always changing, always shifting. A place up is down, light is dark and nothing is as it seems. Unlike the underworld, it's so deeply intertwined with ours that it's sometimes impossible to tell it apart. But if you look closer you just may catch fleeting sight of it.

You grew up in the World of the Fae after disappearing from your home plane as a child. Your parents made a pact with a Fairy that they'll get whatever they wish for in exchange for their firstborn. Only when they held a wailing infant in their arms they realized what they got themselves into. Faefolk is too whimsical and fleeting to take on the responsibility of raising a human child, but they did their best.

Living in this world shaped you, whether physically or psychologically. You're a bit too easy in your step, almost as if you were floating. When you're happy, you smell sweetly like nectar or honey. Your hair grows unnaturally fast. Flowers bloom in your presence. You have little to no concept of time and space. You can't keep still even when sitting down. You almost always space out, as if your consciousness was split between two worlds.

All good things come to an end. Your Fae parent realized that there's no place for a human in the Otherworld, and because they cared about you, they knew you have to go back. Being figuratively spat out of your only home after reaching what your Fae patron considered mature age was like a slap in the face. The beginnings were...rough. You quickly realized that the human world is completely different from the Fae world. To this day, there are still many things you don't understand, but you've grown to accept that.

As much as you wished to leave your old life behind, once you touch the veil, you cannot stay away from it. What about the family of Brownies that lives in your old apartment building? Or that Dryad whose tree did not get cut down because you almost turned the city upside down to get signatures for the petition? Do the locals feel safer after those disappearances caused by the Redcapes residing on one of the roads leading out of the city? And that Merfolk, about to be sold by the local mafia to be a pet of some rich asshole? Time and time again, you found yourself being pushed between two sides of the conflict of two worlds.

You realized the potential of a human acclimated into the world of the fae. And so, you became a mediator between the Otherworld and the human world. The fey warden guards the place where the veil unravels and takes care of unwanted visitors that step over it in one direction or another. Luckily, you have your fairy friends to help you with this task. Also the wide variety of skills and abilities at your disposal.

A fey mystique surrounds you. Now as a fey wanderer, you represent both the mortal and the fey realms. As you wander the multiverse, your joyful laughter brightens the hearts of the downtrodden, and your martial prowess strikes terror in your foes, for great is the mirth of the fey and dreadful is their fury. You are able to augment your weapons with mind-scarring magic, drawn from the gloomy hollows of the Unseelie fey. Your experience with the fey guarded your mind and sharpened your tongue. You are not easily charmed or frightened and your mouth can get you out of any sticky situation. The Seelie court has blessed you with the assistance of the fey. You can call forth fey spirits. You can slip in and out of Fey world to move in a blink of an eye.

With the life you have, you were sure that there's nothing in this world that could surprise you. You were about to be proven wrong.

You met at a fair. So inconspicuous, like you were just average people or people at all. Your senses were alerted of the otherworldy presence. You started scouting immediately, but after half an hour you gave up, hoping the perpetrator will reveal themselves eventually. To distract yourself, you headed to one of the stands to buy ice cream. Just as you were about to dig into your cone, you caught sight of a handsome man in the crowd. He was easy to spot, towering over everyone, tails of bright red coats fluttering dramatically around him, snow-white hair sticking out like a sore thumb. When his eyes met yours for a brief moment, you completely forgot your surroundings, causing you to walk into one of the striped poles that held the string lights. The ice cream ended on shoes. Drat.

The incident successfully got rid of any cravings for snacks, so you took your chance at the Ferris wheel instead. When it was finally your turn, you couldn't believe who they paired you up with. The ride was a little awkward at first. The man in red did not seem to want to strike up a conversation and you yourself were finding yourself at a loss for words. You noticed the big guitar case he was holding.

"Are you a musician? Will you be performing tonight?" You offered him your best charming smile.

The man looked at you in surprise. "Um, no...my performances are for...different crowd."

"Ooooh," you nodded in understanding. "So, you're some rock star who tries to go low profile, got it." You grinned. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." and you finished it with a cheeky wink.

He laughed. Finally, he laughed, and it was the sexiest sound ever. His blue eyes filled with mirth, few white strands fell to his face. "You seem to be more of a Funk person yourself." He looked you up and down and you felt yourself shiver like his gaze was a physical touch.

You lifted your arms in defeat, "Hey, everybody needs a little Groove in their life."

Dante opened his mouth, probably to say something charming, funny, or flirty, or that he's madly in love with you, hopefully. You never found out, because at that moment, right when you were at the top of the Ferris wheel, the machine jerked to a halt. If Dante hasn't caught you in his strong arms, you would've probably fallen off.

"Whew! That was close. Looks we're gonna be stuck here for a while-" You turned to him with a flirtatious grin, but Dante had the same serious glare with which he stepped into the booth.

Before he had any chance to react he jumped over the railing and down onto one support beam holding the wheel. That's when you noticed it. As vast as your knowledge of the various fey is, you've never seen a creature like this before. Something between a big lizard and a centipede, with a terrible grin filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth, was gnawing at the center of the Ferris wheel. That thing wants the entire thing to collapse, you realized.

As if it sensed your gaze, the monster had turned to you, a disgusting grin widening even more as if it knew about your realization. Your silent exchange was pierced by a gunshot and the lights of the attraction fizzled out, followed by several terrified screams.

What will you do? What can you do? You asked yourself as you watched the mysterious man in red discard his guitar case and pull out a huge claymore. You only gaped as he lifted it over his head like it weighed nothing and slashed at the monster.

The slippery bastard dodged, curling its slimy body away, and slinked away on one of the support beams towards another unsuspect person in the nearest booth, but not before disappearing out of sight with a few ripples over its scaly skin. Camouflage. It seems the hunter realized it too, because he stood frozen at the center point of the Ferris wheel, trying to locate the creature.

From the corner of your eye, you saw a ripple in the air. You wanted to yell at the man to warn him, but that would alert the creature as well. It seems a little bit of magic is needed here.

Dante was alerted by a bright colorful sheen right above him. When he lifted his head, instead of the demon he saw its silhouette outlined in the mysterious light. Without hesitating, he jumped up and slashed vertically. He was rewarded by a howling screech and one severed leg falling down. The monster decided to retreat into safety, now that its location was revealed. Unfortunately, it decided your booth is the best choice. When the beast noticed the tiny human hunched in the corner of the booth, it snarled menacingly. Fangs baring in the victory at the easy prey. Any normal human would shit themselves at this moment. If you were normal, that is.

You wasted no time in showering the beast in a cordon of incorporeal violet needles. With a hiss of pain, the monster leaped at you with renewed rage. At that point, the booth could not hold your combined weights any longer and collapsed. Dante watched helplessly as the booth dislocated from its position on the wheel’s rim. He tried to get to you with all the inhuman speed he possessed. Desperate to save you, a strange person with a bright sparkle in their eyes and a sweet scent tickling his nose. He can’t stand the thought of your eyes losing that bright sheen, to be just another voice to haunt him in his dreams. That’s when he saw it. Instead of erratic descent on the concrete, you were…floating down. As if you were riding on pixie dust, you were surrounded by golden sparkles, legs poised, ready for the descent, arms perched above you. He only extended his arms in silent shock as you gently settled into his arms.

You locked eyes for a moment and Dante desperately scrambled for the things to say. THE Dante Sparda was at a loss for words, and you didn’t seem to be doing much better.

“That was…uh…”

“Yeah…” You couldn’t help but laugh at the bizarreness of the situation. Your laugh sounded like the tinkling of the bells, and Dante felt a smile stretching his lips as if of their own volition. As if he couldn’t help but be happy around you. Who are you?

The small world you two were in was disturbed by a loud crash of the booth hitting the ground. “Let’s get out of here,” Dante exclaimed sternly as he carried you away from the situation. Your eyes were still trained on the broken booth, still wondering what kind of creature you just saw.

“It’s better if you forget what just transpired here,” Dante told you as you stood several feet away from the ruckus as the police and firemen secured the area around ferries wheel. He spoke to you while you were both looking at the scene, not once looking at you.

“What was that thing that attacked us?” You ignored his question and bite into a cookie you pulled out of the sack filled with baked goods. The monster attack seemed to reawaken your craving for snacks.

“You don’t wanna know.”

“You don’t know what I don’t want to know.” You parried between the munching. If there’s something that stayed with you since leaving the Otherworld it’s your love for wordplay.

All he did was shoot you an annoyed look. You realized that this is not the way to go and asked him instead, “All right, what type of creature are you then?”

He finally looked at you, and he was met with those bright, sharp eyes again. They made the knot in his stomach tighter, his throat a bit too dry. He’s attracted to you, and that really won’t do. Especially since you seem to see straight through him.

He turned away and started walking away. He was acting like a jackass, and you were so nice to him. Even offered him one of your cookies. Hopefully, it’ll be enough for you to be put off by him. But then he felt a small hand tug on his with surprising strength.

“I said wait! Where do you think you’re going? It’s rude to walk away when someone’s asking you a question, you know?” You put your hands on your hips and waddled a finger in front of his face.

You were putting his silent brooding tough guy persona under strain.

“Dante.”

“Huh?”

“Name’s Dante.” He blurted out. Damn, he wasn’t supposed to say that. You really making him lose his hard-earned control.

Well, at least you were getting somewhere. “Nice to meet you, Dante.” You extended your hand,and without a second thought, Dante grabbed it.

“So, ferris wheel may be closed, but other attractions are still open. What do say we tried shooting game?” “I…” “Awesome! Let’s go.” Without letting go of his hand, you pulled him after you. You knew you were pushy, but being carried by this guy princess-style gave you a new boost of serotonin and new hope to try again.

Dante watched the small palm resting in his hand and pondered how he got himself into this again. You’re just so…maddening, bubbly, and intoxicating, and the syrupy-sweet scent that clung to you was driving him mad. Just as he was about to excuse himself again you turned to him and gave him a dazzling smile that completely disarmed him.

“Oh, by the way, my name is…”