God of Balance

Chapter Eight

Alloy woke up in the morning in a strange place. No, not strange. This is also home. There's a mess of strings across his left eye. Alloy can remember getting hit now, but it doesn't hurt anymore. He carefully peels off the strings and dumps them in a trash can next to his bed. Someone had laid Alloy's brush at the end of his bed while he was sleeping. He happily grabs it and jumps up to sling the paintbrush across his back. Alloy then takes a moment to look around the room. It's very bare. Besides the bed, the only other furniture is a desk shoved into the corner. A closet is sunk into the wall across from the bed. Then he sees the door. Alloy knows that he's safe here, but he doesn't quite know where 'here' is.

     He opens the door slowly, peeking out to look down both sides of the hallway. It's empty. Alloy steps out while keeping his feet silent. Several more doors line the hallway to the right. To the left, the hallway curves. Alloy doesn't want to invade anyone's privacy if they are bedrooms like his. He closes his bedroom door and turns to where the hallway curves. Alloy's curiosity is getting the better of him. He passes a window on the way. It's still really early. The sky is just starting lighten. Alloy gasps out loud when he sees where the hall leads. The space opens up to a grand staircase heading to the first floor. Two smaller sets of stairs are on either side leading up to a third floor.

Alloy smiles wide. He looks around again to make sure that no one is watching before running over the the stairs' railing. It's made of smooth wood and wider then Alloy's brush. The skeleton throws one leg over the banister. He snatches his other leg off the ground and squeals as he starts to slide. Alloy slides down faster and faster until he has no control over stopping. He goes flying off the end and hurtles towards the wall. Alloy's whole body liquifies into ink before splattering against the wall. Alloy reforms from the ink after it drops to the floor, now full out laughing. That was so much fun! Why else can he find!?

     Alloy abruptly sits up to scan his new surroundings. This looks like the main room of the house. The staircase splits it into two. On one side is a large sitting room. It looks well used. A few couches and arm chairs are all facing each other with a low table in the middle. An island bar cuts of the room from what looks like a large kitchen. Food! Alloy almost bolts right over, but he hesitates before looking at the other side of the staircase. His smile drops. This room might have been beautiful once, but now it's dull and dirty. Alloy doesn't like it. He stands up and pulls his paintbrush off his back.

Nightmare leaves his room well after sunup. He slept poorly, still reeling over the events from the day before. Alloy, huh? Will Ink have woken up by now? Nightmare doesn't know if he'll meet his comrade or a stranger. How is he suppose to treat Alloy? From what he saw yesterday, he's nothing like Error. Another grim thought enters Nightmare's head. He cracked Alloy's head pretty bad. Will he be afraid of Nightmare?

The King of Negativity is brought out of his musings when he reaches the bottom of the stairs. He's surprised to find Killer, Dust, and Horror all crouched down behind the railing. They're peeking out around the side and watching something.

      "What's going-", Nightmare tries to ask, but he's shushed by all three. Dust pulls him down to crouch on the stairs and points over to the next room.

     This manor was already here when the bad guys killed off the inhabitants and closed off this AU. Nightmare didn't design it. One side of the staircase leads off to a massive ballroom. It might have been beautiful once, but Nightmare has no use for it. The tiled floor and stained glass windows have become dirty over time. The chandeliers and other lightings don't work, so the room is cast in an eerie light. At least, that's how it looked last night. Everything looks pristine. More then that, all the colors have changed. The floor now has a yellow and gold checkered border around the walls. The center also has a new, beautiful design in the same colors. The windows don't show the same biblical scenes that they did before. Instead, many show scenes from the bad guy's AUs. Nightmare thinks he can make out a split design of the Doodle Sphere and the Anti-void in one.  The chandeliers are polished silver that seem to glow with something that's not quite fire. Large braziers line the wall with a similar light. They won't go out. Pink, purple, and blue banners and streamers line the walls. Even Nightmare has to admit that it's quite pretty.

     Alloy stands in the middle of his master piece. Cross stands across from him, looking nervous and uncomfortable. He had been the first one to come downstairs and find Alloy painting over the walls. Nightmare nearly loses it when he sees Cross wearing a suit of all things! The others can barely keep their giggles quiet.

     "I jusT don't kNow. Black on black sEems awfully.... pLain", Alloy thinks out loud. He has one hand on his chin, the other hanging onto his brush with the end planted like a staff.

     Cross doesn't answer, staring down at his outfit with a mortified look. He doesn't know how to treat Alloy. Error would never be caught dead doing anything like this.

     "Oh! I've gOt it", Alloy suddenly shouts, snapping his fingers. He lifts his paintbrush back up and paints over Cross's outfit again. The paint seems to come out of nowhere, likely a quirk of Alloy's magic. Cross staggers back a little from the force, and squints his eyes closed with the fear that Alloy might change something other then his clothes. Cross opens them and looks down once he sense Alloy step away. The black suit and black dress pants are gone. They've been replaced by a sweeping skirt that stops just shy of the floor. A bow is wrapped around the back of Cross's waist, and the extra material wraps up and around to form the bodice. Cross is wearing a dress. A maroon dress. His cheeks quickly flush the same shade of red. Alloy looks pleased.

     The others can't handle it anymore. Horror howls with laughter, loosing his balance and slipping down the last few stairs. Even Nightmare finds himself chuckling. Their cover is blown. Alloy's head whips around in an instant, and he smiles even wider.

     "Hey! MoRe people are hEre to joiN the pArty! I've got to get eVeryOne changed!". Alloy uses one hand to pull down black strings from his eye. The bad guys stop laughing. Alloy flings his strings at the nearest Monster: Killer. He panics and shoves Dust in front of him. Alloy's strings grab Dust by one ankle and pull him off his feet.

     "No No No! Why me!?", Dust squeals in terror as he's dragged across the floor. His fingers leave visible scratches in the new ballroom floor as Alloy reals him in.

     "Alloy? I'm gonna have to ask you not to torture my crew", Nightmare steps in. The situation is hilarious, but he has a promise to fulfill.

     "Will you dAnce with me instead?", Alloy let's go of his strings and looks up hopefully. Nightmare freezes. He can feel a faint blue blush creeping in. Nightmare doesn't know how to deal with this..... thing. What does he even say to that? Then, Nightmare sees the glint of amusement and mischief in Alloy's eyes. He's enjoying this! Alloy is laughing and teasing them all while keeping a calm smile. That is all Error.

"Alright, alright you've had your fun! No more painting in the house got it!?", Nightmare snaps. Alloy flinches. Nightmare instantly feels regretful. Hah! The King of Negativity! Feeling guilty!? Nightmare did nearly kill Allot the day before. There's still a few scratches near his left eye that didn't heal all the way. "I'm.... sorry for yesterday, Alloy", Nightmare admits, "And I'm also sorry for what I'm about to do".