Unwanted protection

An inky mistake by any other name (is called a paper jam)

Papyrus was looking at the phone, while Cross, Lust and CORE where in the room with him, all waiting for the call; it was the third one so far, and Papyrus couldn't wait for Sci and his team to find a way inside Dreamtale.

Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern; that was the only thought inside his skull, a great fear of the weekly phonecalls becoming the only way of ever having contact with Sans.

Lust noticed his anxiety and patted his arm in comfort.
"Cheer up hun, you're about to hear from your brother."
Papyrus simply looked at the other skeleton, and Lust flinched. He appreciated the efforts of everyone around him, but he couldn't deal with these half-assed attempts at cheering him up: they weren't going to bring his brother back.

The phone ringed, and he quickly answered, while the other people present held their breath.

"Sans!"
"Hello Papy."
His brother's tone was more tense than the two previous calls, and that worried him.
"Hi Stretch."
Cross inhaled sharply, hearing Dream's voice.
"Hi Dream, fancy hearing from you. Is your brother there as well?"
Why is he letting you speak?
"Nightmare is occupied at the moment. Actually, it's just me, Blue and Horror on the phone right now."
The four of them looked at each other with apprehension, asking themselves the same question: what happened?
Knowing that Horror was the only one present, Papyrus decided to risk being a little more open.

"So, everyone else is busy? What are they doing?"
There was a pause, then Horror said: "You can... tell him... it's not a... big deal..."
"A-alright then." Sans became more nervous. "Well, Dust is doing his own thing, he simply didn't want to be on call today. Killer is... he's grounded. And Nightmare is, in his lab, I think."

Papyrus felt on edge. They had known about Nightmare's lab for quite some time, it was one of the first things Cross had told them about when he had become their informant, and the fact that the negative Guardian was spending time there instead of monitoring what Sans and Dream were saying to Papyrus (who was, by all account, a big liability), meant that he was preparing something big.
Sans also avoided mentioning what Error and Ink were doing, and that was cause for concern too. What was so horrible that his brother couldn't say? He then felt someone poking him, and turned to look at Cross, who had a pensive expression. He mouthed Ask about Killer.

Unsure, Papyrus asked: "Killer got... grounded? What do you mean?"
There was another pause, then Dream said: "Well, he upset Ink, and Error" Dream's voice shook at the name, and Cross glared at the phone "beat him up. Nightmare decided to not heal him completely, because he had been warned multiple times. He's stuck in his room until he gets better."

The tension in the room rose. They all knew Error was a violent person, but Cross had told them he always restrained himself from hurting Nightmare and the others, to not strain his alliance with the Guardian. Had Killer done something drastic, or was Error becoming more volatile? Were the Stars in danger?

"Why was Ink upset?"
The other line remained silent. Why weren't they responding?! Lust started pacing, anxious. Then they heard Sans's voice.
"Ink is... not well." Papyrus was filled with dread. "He had a breakdown five days ago and now... he, well-"
"He thinks... his doll... is a baby..."

...What?

The others seemed to sense their confusion, as Dream clarified: "Error made him a puppet and, and Ink treats it like a- a real child." The Guardian sounded on the verge of crying, and Papyrus couldn't blame him. He felt sick, thinking about Ink, the strongest person he knew, basically a god, being reduced to a delusional loon. CORE's eyes were widened, and they froze in place, Lust was covering his mouth with his hands, distraught, and Cross was tightening his fists and staring at the phone with murderous intent.