God of Ruin

Part Three

The seven skeleton monsters are quiet all the way down the hall and to the living room. Dream and Sci scan the place curiously, it being their first time in the bag guy's hideout. The manor isn't as unkept or damaged as one would assume. Nightmare remains standing, agitated, but the others choose spots on the couches and chairs to sit down.

     "........ Who do you think would even be able to interact with code like that? I remember Ink telling me that his paint creates code, but he couldn't see it in that way or tamper with it," Dream says quietly, hands clasped in his lap.

     "Error is the only one I've heard of. He could open the code for about anything. I'm sure he was capable of 'ripping' it, but he preferred to delete the entire thing as quickly as possible," Cross adds.

     "Now, um, before you guys do anything rash, I think we should try and learn more about who this attacker is. What's motivating them? How far do their abilities with the codes extend?" Sci nervously speaks up. His suggestion is met with several hisses and grumbles.

     "As much as I want to introduce this guy to the torture chamber, Sci is right. We need to learn more." Nightmare is a little more level headed than his boys, and tries to calm the children. "We don't know what we're up against."

     "The let's learn! Alloy might not know who attacked him, but Ink will. It'd be for his own good. Alloy might even agree. When he wakes up, Nightmare can knock Error out like he did before."  Killer starts off strong, but looses steam as he realizes how awful it sounds out loud. Alloy is terrified of touch, and that's what it would take to talk to Ink.

     Sci unintentionally lets a sound of protest escape his lips. All attention turns back to him, and he hunches down a little. Everyone here seems much closer to Alloy than Sci is, but he's been spending a lot of time lately trying to figure out how Error and Ink's fusion might affect Alloy, if only to satiate his own curiosity. That's why he and Dream had been meeting in the first place. Sci had discovered a few.... issues that might come up.

"Well? spit it out," Dust prompts.

"O-Okay, Okay," Sci takes a deep breath, "Well, I been doing a lot of small-scale experiments to figure out exactly how Alloy..... happened.... and what it could mean in the future. I've had to use opposing magic forces since real Monster souls are put of the question."

"We don't care about your morals. What's so bad that we can't talk to Ink?" Horror keeps his tone gruff, but he's genuinely curious. Almost everything about Alloy is still a mystery.

"Right. An example, hmm. Let's say that you've lost a leg. It limits pretty much every aspect of your life. Then, you receive a prosthetic that's so reliable and comfortable that you forget you ever lost your leg in the first place. If you suddenly lost the fake leg, you'd feel even more lost than before," Sci gains confidence as he explains his theories, "With most of the magic samples I've tested, one or both of the samples aren't able to function as well after separation. Most samples decay despite special treatment. My experiments are closer to how Nightmare's magic interacts with the negativity apples, but I think some of the same principles can be applied to Alloy."

"So what you're saying is..... Alloy may be unstable when Ink or Error are out of commission. Shouldn't it be okay since they technically share a body?" Nightmare doesn't quite get it. This is making him a little worried for himself, too. If his magic ever did fail him, would he go out with it, too?

"You're on the right track, but it's more then that. In order for the magic samples to last together for any amount of time, they have to be close to the same level of power. I imagine Ink and Error are a pretty close match. Alloy's body might not take the strain well if the magic gets out of balance. And...... I don't think it will even be possible for too much longer."

"WHAT!?"

"I-I-I I'm just explaining what the s-samples displayed," Sci stutters. He knew they wouldn't like this part, "Not only are the magic pairs unstable when one is stronger, but the longer I left them fused, the less there was to separate later. The magics combine and absorb each other until there's nothing left that's distinguishable. Alloy's situation is a lot more complicated, but I imagine some of Error and Ink's more distinct traits will disappear. If he's already been this way for three months......"

Silence claims the space as everyone tries to digest what Sci is trying to explain. Error and Ink are going to disappear, and it's not safe to do anything about it. Nightmare doesn't particularly care much for Ink, but Error....... Error's been around a lot longer than Nightmare or Dream. It took a while for the destroyer to warm up to the gang, but they were the first people to reach out to him. Nightmare enjoyed Error's reliable presence. Now that the balance has been revealed, Nightmare is just now realizing how much the glitch must have cared for them to put up with a job he hated. How many broken bones did Error take for Monsters he will never meet?

Alloy is not Error, but Nightmare's felt an obligation to look after him, given the circumstances. That worry was made much more frustrating with his disappearance. Alloy didn't take the time for the gang or others to get to know him. Nightmare doesn't quite know how to treat him and has no memories with this new God. Alloy must feel differently if he took the time to collect all those gifts. Error and Ink's fading memories make Alloy consider people he barely knows as friends or family. It's confusing. Nightmare just wants a bit of time to sit this kid down and figure them out.

"Well, if we can't ask Ink directly, I bet he can still provide us with some answers," Dream speaks up, breaking his brother's train of thought.

"How's that?"

"Ink's memory has never been too good at the best of times. He used to write down information on every AU he created, and kept track of the number of copies. I bet we can find Alloy's attacker somewhere in the records he keeps in DreamTale," Dream gets excited about the idea, making his aura rise back up, causing Nightmare to feel nauseous again.

"Okay, and after we figure out this man's deal, we'll kill them," Horror smiles.

"No! No, we shouldn't immediately resort to violence. It could just be a big misunderstanding. It's Alloy's call to make," Dream adds the last part in the hopes that will pacify the group of killers.

Though murder is not off the table, Dream and Sci get the others to agree and wait to see what they find in Ink's old records. The day has already been bad, so they agree to go to DreamTale in the morning when Alloy's woken up.

"Alright, now for the love of the gods, get out of my AU. You're aura's giving me a headache," Nightmare opens a goopy portal and gestures for his brother and Sci to leave.

Once they do, Nightmare sighs in relief. That sickly sweet aura was messing with him today more than usual. After telling his boys, Nightmare makes his way upstairs to lay down for a while. Tomorrow will bring more of Dream, and he's not looking forward to it. Nightmare pauses at the door to Error's old room. He argues with himself before giving in and deciding to check in on Alloy.

In the next few moments, residents swear that Nightmare's furious screaming could be heard from several multiverses away. Alloy's gone, and all that's left is a handwritten note:

Be back soon! *winky face*