The Stage is Set

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Start notes: This takes place after Ink gets his soul and Error has calmed his glitching down. Nightmare has also been passive for a bit of time, so he isn't as strong as he could be due to the big shift so Killer tends to help him, he's still getting used to everything. Everyone is hanging out at the house that most of them live in, or just visit. Technically it's just Nightmare's castle but larger and located in the Doodlesphere. (Welcome, to the revised chapters. This one is largely the same.)

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"So... It's you that we should be thanking for Ink's soul. Right?" Blue turns his head to Green. Green looks away as he leans against the wall. He softly sighs before walking over to the love seat where Leo and Sage are.

"don't." He sits against Leo and pulls his hood over his face. He didn't want to be thanked. Leo sighs, he thought that they already moved past that, but it's okay. Ink frowns as he stares at Green. He was nicer when they met before, what changed? His eye lights were different as well. One was green and the other was completely blue, now the blue one is a teal.

"Wow. You're cold, dude." Dust rolls his eyes as he puts his feet up on the table. He didn't get to meet Green since the last time he was trying to hold back Sage.

Green looks away from him, even if Dust couldn't see his eye sockets. His vision blurs as tears build up in the corner of his eye sockets. He doesn't want to be rude, but he still can't fully forgive them. Out of habit, Green brings his left hand to his right shoulder. Leo shuffles Sage onto his lap for her to relax from the number of men in the room, and with his free arm holds Green close. He rubs Green's shoulder blade to help relax Green.

"Sorry about him. Just don't talk to him about that." Leo pauses for a moment before he shakes his head and smiles softly. "I'm sorry about that, I really shouldn't be rude either." He turns to Ink, trying his best to ignore the Moons. Their past meetings hadn't left the best impression on Leo. "I really should be thanking you though." Ink's eye lights change to exclamation marks as Dream, Error, Blue, Dust, Cross, and Green's eye lights turn to him.

"Me? Why me?" Leo softly chuckles as he blushes a soft orange with a royal blue at the edge. Out of habit, he brings his hand to his black choker with the orange flames embordered on it.

"W-well for one thing. For making us a house in a safer place. Even just making us a house was kind enough. Also protecting all three of us in different ways. Even if it didn't make sense to me at the time, thank you for trying to protect my Au years ago. I am grateful for you trying." Everyone stops talking and turns to Leo. Leo looks around with his one save-star eye light in confusion. Green sits up and looks at Leo with confusion and Sage stares up at Leo with sleepy curiosity. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

Ink's eye lights change again to question marks as he furrows his eyebrow ridges. "What? When did... Hold on." Ink grabs the edge of his scarf and starts to scan his scarf. He looks back up with even more confusion as his eye lights change back into a blue circle and a yellow star. "Nope. I didn't write anything down."

Dream thinks for a moment. "Maybe it wasn't Ink?" Leo lets out a hum.

"Well, I just assumed since I saw the small puddle of Ink I spilled take form." Ink thinks for a moment before looking back down at his scarf he flips it over before looking back up at Leo.

"That was you?!" Everyone looks at Ink.

"Kiki, What are you talking about?" Error grabs the end of Ink's scarf. Cross looks over Error's shoulder as well to look at the small note written on the scarf. Ink stares at Leo with a smile.

"Well a while ago, I thought someone had summoned me in this new Au, but no one was there when I got there." Leo chuckles with a small smile.

"Yeah, I had spilled my bottle of ink while I was eating and drawing. So, I went to go get something to clean it, but when I came back someone was there looking around." Leo starts to chuckle. "And eating the small number of strawberries I had left there." Ink blushes a rainbow and Dream chuckles.