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werecat1234 · 24 days ago

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Multiverse Madness Chapter Fifty One

After visiting Ink's adopted parents, Dream started looking into the AUs that had participated in the sieges, Error tracing the monsters' codes back to their AUs. He didn't transport them back, as something had prevented him from doing so- probably Bill -but he did help look for connections between the AUs. The Underfell AU attacked them once they saw them, the Fellswap doing the same, the Predatortale was something they didn't have to investigate much, but the Gaster was dead, and the Sans was nowhere to be seen, his code registering somewhere not in Predatortale or in Underswap, which Dream didn't know how to feel about, and the Axetale....

Most of the monsters there were in Candytale, feasting on the AU with an insatiable hunger, and that Sans wasn't registering in Candytale or Axetale either. Something was blocking Error from tracing the codes, which again pointed towards Bill. When Dream investigated Axetale further, dust had been spread throughout the Papyrus's room, signs of a monster funeral, and there weren't many monsters here, most of them too far gone in the plague of this world to be rational... Except for one soul.

Dream traced it, recognizing it as a human, and he knew which human they probably were. He hurried there, seeing that he was right. He saw a teenage human girl, with brown hair that went mid-way down her back, blue eyes, and light tan skin. She was wearing a pink hoodie with a beige hood, hoodie strings, and sleeve cuffs, blue jeans, pink sneakers, and a black backpack.

She looked at him in surprise and confusion, and she asked, "Sans? You look.... different than how my mom described..."

"oh, no! my name's dream." Dream informed.

From what he knew about this variant, since Ink told him about practically every AU, the Sans and Frisk had been best friends, Frisk went up to the surface, and was unable to return to the Underground. She'd been a descendant of a powerful wizard though, and they'd fallen in love, and Frisk had died when she gave birth to her daughter, and her father died later on in a car crash. They'd been working on a way to get through the barrier, but they hadn't accomplished it. This girl, Aliza, was probably here following her mother's journals, trying to free the Underground and find Sans, especially since Frisk had named Sans as Aliza's god parent, but unfortunately the Sans wasn't here due to Nightmare's interference.

"Oh, sorry. Do you know where I can find him?" Aliza asked.

"i unfortunately don't. a lot has happened here, and i don't know where he is. it's not safe here, though; it's dangerous. it's different from when your mom was here."

"Yeah, it seems... not at all what she described..." Aliza looked off to the side, then back at Dream.

"i can get you somewhere safe, though?" Dream offered, "and i can explain what's going on, too?"

". . . It can't be much worse than here, or at my gramma's..." Aliza mumbled, looking off to the side before looking back at him, "Where are we going exactly?"

"it's called the omega timeline. i'm from the multiverse which, another explanation, but the omega timeline is a safe place." Dream informed.

". . . . . Ok... And you can help me find Sans too?" Aliza asked.

"i will." Dream nodded.

What side the Sans would be on, he wasn't sure... He would probably recognize Frisk's characteristics in Aliza, and the timeline's script was still premade in him to the point of it being instinctual to want to protect her. She was his last link to his best friend, and he would do anything to protect her, and she would in the end seek him out no matter where he was. Axetale Sanses were pure at heart, or well, soul, so maybe he would make the right choice, and if he was with Nightmare, he would turn against him, and stay with Aliza in the Omega Timeline.

"Then let's go." Aliza decided, and Dream nodded, teleporting them both to the Omega Timeline.

Shattered was thinking about who he would recruit next, thoughtful, and he felt Ink stir next to him. His eyelight flicked down to look at Ink as he slowly woke up, eye sockets cracking open before his white eyelights looked up at him. Ink had slept for around eight hours, something that was a bit surprising, and annoying, as Shattered had things to do, but the control it gave him over Ink was well worth it. Besides, it gave him plenty of time to scheme and plan.

"good morning, ink. sleep well?" Shattered smiled, looking down at him, and he nodded a bit.

"yeah, i did. good morning, boss." Ink replied, and he started to sit up, groaning a bit as he did.

"did you not heal all the way?" Shattered questioned.

"no, i did, boss. i'm just sore." Ink responded, "fresh kicked my coccyx yesterday."

Shattered noted how Ink wasn't acting, likely feeling too tired to do so, or his freshly awoken mind hadn't remembered yet.

"you're not acting, ink?" Shattered asked.

"sorry, boss." Ink apologized, sounding regretful, and Shattered smirked.

"it's fine, don't worry. you were tired, that's all." Shattered reassured, and Ink nodded a bit.

Ink moved to lay down again, looking up at Shattered with his skull in his lap, and he questioned, "what's on the agenda today?"

"well, i've been thinking about who to recruit next." Shattered answered, "but i can't find someone who would both willingly join me and would be useful..."

"it has to be willing, boss?" Ink asked.

"that was the ide. why do you ask?" Shattered responded.

"i was unwilling when you recruited me." Ink mentioned, "you can be persuasive."

"i can, can't i?~" Shattered smirked, "very well. who do you recommend?"

"well, one of the stronger ones off of the top of my mind is the sans from malfratale." Ink answered, "he might be useful for you, if you manage to persuade him."

Shattered smirked, remembering Ink telling him about the AU, and he replied, "i'll look into it. in the mean time, i need you to get your strength up, the next attacks are in a few days, remember?"

Ink nodded a bit, and he replied, "can do, boss; i'll eat some breakfast. will the new sans need some too?"

"he might; make sure it's healing food in case he puts up a fight." Shattered instructed, and Ink nodded.

Ink got up, sitting up with a wince before sliding off of the bed, landing on his feet before heading to the door.

He paused, looking back at Shattered and saying, "the new outfit looks good, boss."

Shattered smirked, pleased, and he replied, "thank you, ink."

Ink nodded, heading out of the room, and Shattered dissolved into a swirl of black goop, shooting through the ceiling and heading out into the multiverse. He searched around the AUs, looking through the AUs and their timelines for the perfect one for what he needed, and after a bit of searching, he found it. He'd give the Sans a chance to work for him willingly, otherwise he would opt for... more extreme methods of getting what he wanted. He found the Sans in the snowy forest around the Snowdin of his world, and Shattered was quick to be noticed.

The skeleton was wearing a black hoodie with a gray hood, gray sleeves with two purple stripes on the upper arms, and there was a broken upside-down purple heart on his chest. Under the hoodie was a gray turtleneck, and he also wore black sweatpants with a white stripe down each side, a chain attached on the left side of his pants' waistband, black fingerless gloves, and purple sneakers. His right eye socket had two red scars over it, like he'd been scratched, and the eye socket held a red diamond eyelight, and his left was a red circle with a purple circle around it.

"who are you?" The Sans questioned, already on guard.

"someone who has an offer for you." Shattered smirked.

"i'll pass." He refused, and Shattered blinked.

"you- you didn't even hear what my offer was yet!" Shattered pointed out.

"i don't need to." The skeleton responded.

"why not??" Shattered demanded, "even if i don't have good intentions towards most, don't pretend you're not quite the little scoundrel."

"because i can tell you're bad news, and sure, i might not exactly be on good terms with the law, but you're on another level of bad." The Sans replied.

"oh am i? i'm flattered." Shattered smirked, "does this mean you'll join me out of fear?"

"nah, just take... whatever you're planning... away from here." The Sans refused a second time.

"what i'm planning? what i'm planning is to convince you to join me. you're quite powerful, and you could be quite the asset." Shattered told him, "i'm not leaving until you say yes."

"still, no." The skeleton shot him down, and Shattered frowned.

Shattered shot a tentacle forward, slamming into his chest and pinning him to a tree, and he approached him. The skeleton struggled, summoning sharp bones and Gaster Blasters, but Shattered dealt with them effortlessly. Tentacles extended out from the ground, wrapping around the Gaster Blasters and squeezing, snuffing them out of existence, and the bones were dealt with the same way.

"i wish you'd accepted my offer instead of refusing; it's quite inconvenient." Shattered told him.

"find... someone else!" The Sans told him, straining as Shattered wrapped a tentacle around his throat.

"see that's the thing, i don't want to. you have a lot of fight in you, and that'll be very useful to me." Shattered smirked, plunging another tentacle into the skeleton's ribcage.

He gasped in pain as Shattered wrapped the tendril around his soul, pulling it out of his chest. Shattered retracted the tentacle, moving it to his hand, cupping it as it floated in his palm. With one swift movement the monster would be dead, a pile of dust, but he was lucky Shattered had a use for him.

"g-go to hell!" The Sans spat.

"unwise words to someone who holds your very essence in his hand." Shattered responded, closing his hand a bit, fingers grazing over the upside-down heart, and the skeleton hissed in pain, "i tried being nice, you know. you could join my team, be important to the fate of the multiverse itself. that is what my offer was; for you to become a multiversal criminal. you'd like it."

"i'm not joining your damn gang... i learned my lesson not to trust offers like that the first time around..." The skeleton glared.

"hmm... perhaps, but i believe i can give you a new perspective." Shattered grinned.

"how the hell- urgh!" He doubled over as much as he could from where he was restrained, Shattered sinking his magic into the soul.

Tendrils extended up from his palm, radiating amber magic, and they wrapped and coiled around the white soul. The sharp tips stabbed into it's surface like needles, something Shattered knew probably hurt, and he seeped his magic into it. He took control over his soul, despite it's resistance, and he made the skeleton feel intense loyalty towards him. He brought out his negative aspects, burying the positive, and he especially took control over his hate.

The white soul turned black, an amber glow around it, then it returned to being white as Shattered hid his magic's presence, and he released it from the tendrils before letting it return to the Sans's chest. His breathing was labored and pained, and his eyelights had gone from a vibrant red to a malevolent dark orange, black liquid seeping from his eye sockets. Shattered let him drop to the ground with a soft thump, and he watched as his soul adjusted to the magic that now corrupted it. It took a few minutes for him to gain his bearings, but once he did, he looked up at Shattered, a smirk growing on his face.

"did you reconsider my offer?" Shattered asked.

"yeah.... i'm in..." The Sans replied, and Shattered helped him up.

He rubbed at his skull, likely in pain, and Shattered mentioned, "you're going to need an alias, though, as there are other versions of you, and you need to be able to be distinguished from them."

"you called me scoundrel before... how about that?" The Sans suggested, and Shattered smirked, nodding in approval.

"scoundrel it is, then. welcome to the team." Shattered grinned, Scoundrel grinning back, and Shattered teleported them to his castle.

Sure, he could've handled things... a bit differently, but Ink had recommended this Sans variant, and Shattered didn't want to track down another one. Besides, Shattered wanted him on his side, and when Shattered wanted something, he ensured he would get it, that included this skeleton on his team. Sure, manipulating was fun, but Scoundrel had so much fight in him, and he wouldn't let his guard down; even now he wouldn't, not without Shattered taking complete control over his mind, which he was avoiding right now. He could still manipulate Scoundrel with his magic in his mind; he'd been doing that to Ink for weeks. It wouldn't take long for Scoundrel to be a perfect pawn, which is exactly what Shattered wanted.

Geno was trying to sleep, and despite it being the middle of the night, he couldn't get a wink of rest. Ever since the attack a couple days ago, things had been tense. The monsters from that other AU had been present in the city, even with Player leaving a clone here in order to try dealing with things, and while Geno and the others had tried fighting them, it wasn't effective. They were stuck here, but they weren't attempting to coexist, which Geno didn't expect them to.

They were here to cause problems; to spread negativity and chaos and pain. They were here willingly to hurt everyone they could, at least from what Geno could tell. If they were here for something more, he wasn't sure, but he wasn't focused on that right now. What he was focused on was protecting those he cared about, and he was doing a pretty good job at that.

Undyne had them in a safehouse outside of the city; actually near the top of Mt. Ebott, and it was out of the line of fire. Most of the monsters had taken to securing the city, where most of the population was, and Geno had seen some patrols along the mountains. It was all Royal Guard, or at least monsters with Royal Guard training from what Undyne had observed, and they ranged from relatively easy to beat or avoid, or they required running instead of trying to fight them. Geno didn't like running from fights; he preferred to stay and hold his own in situations like this, and it pissed him off to have to hide from people trying to hurt his friends and family.

It was perfectly rational to want to protect them; to eliminate those threats, and Geno knew that. He couldn't get rid of those monsters, though, not with how powerful some of them were, and he couldn't fight them on his own, since most of the time he left by himself to try and get a better idea of the situation. He kept the others inside of the safehouse the best he could, by either lying, not telling them he was leaving, and when that failed, Sans being the main one to figure him out, he just teleported out of the building so that he couldn't be followed. Sans never said anything to Undyne, Asgore, Toriel, or Alphys, and definitely not to Papyrus, and he only confronted Geno on it directly, which he appreciated, but he still wished he could evade Sans better.

Unfortunately Sans had figured him out a long while ago, so any hopes of that happening had been squashed like a bug on Papyrus's car's windshield as it sped down the highway. It felt much longer than a few days, but they'd been very long days, and they'd been exhausting as well. Especially with him currently being unable to sleep, which could be from the stress, or from his mind almost being taken over during the attack. That was still.... Geno didn't know how to handle that.

Those feelings hadn't gone away, the effects hadn't worn off, and if he wasn't black and white with a glitching x blocking his vision, he'd think he was being influenced, but that was ridiculous. It was just taking longer, that was it! The fact that it still hadn't worn off still concerned Geno regardless, making his staring at the ceiling in hopes of passing out even less productive, and he sighed. He gave up, getting out of bed, detangling the blankets from his feet before he could be tripped by them, and he started pacing in front of the window.

The room itself was pretty plain, with a bed, two nightstands, a desk, wardrobe, a chair, and a lamp on each nightstand. The windows had curtains to prevent visibility into the room when they were closed, but Geno opened them, letting some moonlight stream into the room. He was suddenly aware of someone teleporting into his room, and he whirled around, and upon seeing it was Cross, his first reaction normally would've been to form attacks, but he felt something in his mind preventing him from doing so. So Geno stood there, on edge, especially from how Cross's red eyelights were burning into him. Cross walked forward, Geno tense but not hostile, and Cross spoke up.

"You can relax, you know." Cross informed, his voice odd, but Geno couldn't place why, "I'm not going to hurt you, all I want is to talk."

"you want to talk after what happened in the city?" Geno questioned.

"I think we can both agree those were... difficult circumstances. I had someone there I care about, and you had someone there you care about." Cross mentioned, "I didn't want my teammate and friend to get hurt."

"i felt that... in my head, after you tried getting in there..." Geno mumbled, half wondering why he was telling him this.

"Huh, I thought something like that was happening when I accessed soul codes..." Cross mused thoughtfully, glancing off to the side before looking back at Geno, "No hard feelings about that? It's not like it'll be happening again."

"why not?" Geno questioned.

"Because we already got what we wanted from your timeline, and the other Royal Guard is causing negativity to the point that we don't need to attack this place again." Cross replied, "It's not like my teammates are out of danger, though. The rest of the multiverse is still a threat."

Geno... the idea of Cross or his teammates getting hurt.... bothered him for some reason. It scratched something in his mind uncomfortably, like he didn't want them hurt even though the last time they'd been here they'd hurt Classic, Undyne, and his timeline. The timeline wouldn't be attacked by them now, though. Cross said so himself, it was just that evil Royal Guard, Cross and his teammates had nothing to do with them. Why was Geno trusting what Cross told him?... Geno wasn't sure, but it didn't feel like Cross would lie to him.

"you said the rest of the mulltiverse is a threat?" Geno asked.

"Yep. We've actually got another attack coming up tomorrow, and who knows what could happen on those missions." Cross mentioned.

That wrongness came back again, twice as powerful as before, and Geno couldn't get it out of his head. That need to protect them was too strong; too overpowering. He... he felt like he needed to do something about it. Geno tried once again to shake it out of his skull, but the feeling stayed firmly planted.

"You ok?" Cross questioned.

"i'm fine." Geno responded, trying to reassure him for a reason he didn't understand.

"You don't like the idea of them getting hurt either, do you?" Cross observed, and Geno looked off to the side, "Maybe you can help prevent that from happening?"

"how?" Geno was confused, he would say he was confused if he was asked, but he knew he wanted to know because he wanted to help.

"Well, that human; Player, they're still here, right?" Cross mentioned, and Geno nodded.

"yeah?..." Geno verified.

"Well, talk to them about joining up with the Stars; see if you can get in with them." Cross told him, and Geno blinked.

"isn't that counterproductive?" Geno asked.

"Not if you're not trying to hurt us. If we get in a pinch and you're there to help, you can. Think of it like being a double-agent. You can gain their trust, gain information on their plans, and you can write it down on a piece of paper and slip it to one of us secretly during a battle. You could keep everyone safe, and I'll look into helping those you care about with those troops." Cross explained, and Geno thought it over.

So much of his mind was in agreement with the plan, feeling that need to keep them safe, and there was only a small part in disagreement. Geno didn't think that that part was important, though, not with how small it was, so he ignored it.

"i can do that." Geno agreed, and Cross walked over to him.

Geno felt his spine tense instinctively, even though he felt calm inside. Cross had made it clear he wouldn't hurt him, and they'd made an agreement that seemed perfectly logical and fair to Geno. A glitching white 'x' appeared over his eye sockets before it vanished again, nothing seeming different, and Geno looked at him in confusion.

"It keeps empaths from noticing anything about your motivations or plans. It seems like you want to go after us and are an enemy to us, but you aren't. Just to protect you." Cross explained, and Geno nodded a bit.

"thanks." Geno thanked him, surprised but approving of the quick thinking and preparations for the worst case scenarios.

"Of course. We're on the same side, and we have to look out for each other. Oh, that reminds me." Cross reached into one of his pockets and grabbing a black phone, handing it to Geno, who accepted it, "This phone has all of our numbers on it."

"how did you guys know i'd agree to help?" Geno questioned.

"My boss is an empath, he figured you'd wanna help." Cross shrugged.

"that... makes sense..." Geno accepted.

These guys had still attacked his timeline in the past, why was he trusti- A glitching white 'x' appeared over his eye sockets again, and the thought cut itself off before he forgot about it entirely. Of course Cross was trustworthy; he had no reason to lie to him. His timeline was safe now, they wouldn't hurt him or those he cared about, and he would help Cross protect the people he cared about.

He didnt want them hurt, even though he didn't fully understand why, and that urge to protect them was powerful, and he couldn't ignore it. They were allies now, he should care if they got hurt or not, and he did. He just felt how much Cross cared earlier, and now hx caxxd txo. The glitching white 'x' Geno hadn't even noticed appear vanished again, flickering out of existence and settling into the back of his mind in soft static.

"So, do you think you can get in on the attack tomorrow? Watch our backs?" Cross asked, and of course Geno could.

"yeah, i can do that." Geno nodded.

"You can hurt whoever you're fighting, just not too bad, and make it for theatrics." Cross informed.

Why was he taking orders from-? The glitching white 'x' reappeared, and the thought vanished without a trace. The static reappeared as the 'x' vanished, and Geno blinked, unsure of what he'd been thinking, before he nodded to Cross's instructions.

"yeah, that's easy. should i still use the paper or should i text you guys stuff when i get the chance?" Geno questioned.

"That'll work, just be careful about it." Cross nodded, and his phone chimed, "They're asking if you can help tomorrow."

"yeah, count me in." Geno nodded, looking down at the phone, and when he looked up, Cross was gone.

Geno pocketed the black phone before pulling out the one Player gave him, and he called them.

"Geno? What're you doing up this late? Everything ok?" Player asked, answering after a few moments.

"yeah, i'm ok. i was just wondering if i could help with the darks." Geno responded.

"I thought you said you wanted to stay back and protect your friends and family?" Player questioned.

He'd said that? He probably had, but he didn't remember.

"i changed my mind. the best way to protect them is taking the fight to the damn darks, right?" Geno responded.

Player was quiet for a moment before saying, "Alright, yeah. I'll talk with Dream and see if we can get you filled in on everything going on."

"that would be awesome, thanks." Geno accepted.

"You're welco- drat!" Explosions rang out over the phone, and Player hung up.

Now all he had to do was wait.

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