The Cruel Prince Against the World

Chapter 2; Dream

I crumpled onto my hands and knees, breathing heavily as I gripped onto the floor in front of me. "..W-What..?" I stuttered out, my limbs weak with disuse. I'd look up, to be greeted with a short skeleton, with different colored eye lights, not to mention how the shape was different..?

Who..--

And then I remembered what had happened just moments ago. Or what I thought was moments ago..?

"..Where..--" I searched around desperately, looking for Nighty. Where was he..? 

My soul would ache, knowing deep down.. ..He was whoever that was, wasn't it? The monster covered in goop. 

"Hm? Oooooh- Yeah your brother's not here. Actually it's been like really long." He'd speak, looking around as I slowly got up.

"..What do you mean?" I'd hesitantly respond, brushing off the dirt. It looked..-- different. But wasn't I just with- ..Nightmare? Where did he go?

"You don't know? It's been like at least a hundred years. You were turned to stone ya know." 

"..W-What..?" No wonder I felt so stiff- ..No wonder it felt so unfamiliar to be moving now. I'd end up looking around at me, making sure that there weren't any parts of me still encased in stone, but luckily I wasn't, and I could see the fragments of stone that once had trapped me here. ..And mom. She was dead. The tree was gone. 

I'd turn around, crouching down a little so the other skeleton couldn't see what I was doing- This was so weird, though. ..I'd never seen another skeleton besides Nighty. 

I held my hands out in front of me, slowly bringing out my soul, the organ beating softly, glowing a golden yellow- ..The apple. I couldn't save any others, could I..? With a sigh, I put it back into my chest, before nearly jumping as the skeleton seemed to be right in front of me now. "What'cha doing?"

"U-Uh-" I stuttered.

"So anywayyyyy- Your brother's kinda rude. Keeps telling me to shut up or whatever- Oh and he keeps spreading negativity! Don't you two have like some sort of balance thingy???" 

I blinked. ..Huh? That didn't- That didn't make sense at all. Why would Nighty do that..? 

"..Why do you wanna know?" I'd ask cautiously. Who was this? They were acting so-- odd.. And whatever they said about Nighty couldn't have been true. He didn't act like that. He wouldn't..

"Oh! Right, you don't know who I am! I'm Ink! Creator of AUs! Oh wait you don't know those either. Uhhh- Alternate universes--- So we're all in some multiverse with different versions of ourselves and I'm the creator of em technically- (Though it's more the Creators, and I just protect it,) but anyway! So your brother's been a huge nuisance and then I remembered he had a twin, and you're like the opposite of him soooo- Could ya help?" 

I was so-- confused. ..So.. AUs? Alternate Universes? Multiverses? ..Nighty being a nuisance? And this guy here claiming to be the Creator of AUs.. 

It wasn't like there was anyone else I could trust though.

'Stupid. Naïve. Too trusting. Childish. You're going to get yourself killed one day Dream. And it'll be your fault. I won't even shed a tear.' 

I'd wince a little at that memory. ..Our only fight. The only fight we ever had. He didn't like me, did he? ..I did something wrong, and now he was gone.

"..Okay.."

.

"Huh? What are you okaying to??"

I blinked. "You just asked if I could help you-"

"Oh. I did?"

"Yeah-?"

"Oh, well uh, sure. Uhhhhhhhhhh. Oh yeah so Nightmare's like forming some team gang thing and I think-- uhhhh-" He seemed to check his scarf for a moment, scanning over the back side that was facing him, before his eye lights would switch to stars. "Ah! That's right. The 'Bad Sanses'?" Sanses?? I guess that was what we were. 

"Sooooooo- I guess we should get some name too."

"..U-Uh.. What about the Star Sanses?" I offered.

He shrugged in response and just nodded. "But hmm. Okay so like I think he's just been recruiting a bunch of deranged mentally ill murderers? Sooo- I think we should recruit someone too. But who?"

I opened my mouth to speak, before he quickly shushed me. "Oh! I have an idea! Cmon!" And then he grabbed his huge paintbrush which I just noticed, splattering the ground with ink, before gripping onto my wrist, dragging the both of us down, and oh dear-

I came back out in some sort of white yellow-ish gradient place, nearly falling over from how dizzy and off that kind of felt. I shivered a little- I doubt I'd get used to feeling ink absolutely drown me, getting into my skull and filling it up.

I'd blink a little, noticing how he had started to float around, defying gravity and looking at these little papers that were hung up to some invisible ceiling with strings. Huh?

"Welcome to the Doodlesphereee!" He dragged out, having gotten out some other paper out of nowhere, making little doodles with a pencil.

"U-Uh.. Ink-"

He'd peek his head up, staring at me with curiosity. "Who are you again?"

Did he have memory problems-? "Uh- I'm Dream?"

"Oh! Nightmare's brother! Oooh it's such a pleasure to meet you.. Uh, what were we doing?"

"We were gonna find a recruit for our uh, new team? Star Sanses?"

"Right! Hold on let me write that down.." He got a pen out from I think was his pocket, scribbling down onto his scarf. I wonder what other things he's written down there. Huh.

The pen seemed to vanish out of thin air- Or it was just floating somewhere, I don't know. I figured it would've been better to understand if I just stopped trying to make sense of it. 

He'd float around, looking at multiple different papers, before shaking his head, going off to others. Occasionally he would end up forgetting, and then asking, and then I'd have to remind him, but eventually he seemed to find a pick. "Oh! Perfect! Underswap!"

I blinked. "Under what?"

"Swap! He's like a royal guard or whatever- He fights for good and yada yada, or will. Let's go! We can convince him together and stuff-"

And then I was dragged into some-- paper?

I landed face first into a pile of snow, picking myself back up. Where-- A town? I looked at the convenient sign that was just next to me. "..Welcome to Snowdin.." I spoke aloud as I read.

Wait where was Ink????

I'd shift my circlet a bit, hoping that it wasn't off center or something like that, before taking a few steps in my boots, not used to this much heavy snow, compared to the almost always warm weather my AU? I think that's what it was called. ..It was so nice. Me and Nighty used to hang around underneath the tree, sharing smiles, jokes, laughter..- That wasn't going to happen anymore, was it?

I'd find the 'Swap' Ink was talking about- I mean they were right in front of each other. Oh.

And then we'd talk, and somehow manage to convince Swap? He seemed to be almost ecstatic over being able to actually do something helpful like that. ..I could tell, from his-- emotions. He must not have been trusted to do much here, huh? I guess he could seem a little childish to some. Maybe that was why.

And then we were back to the Doodlesphere, and I had to go through that very much uncomfortable experience of feeling my head full of ink all over again, before being here. Swap seemed just as confused, but a little bit excited. Curiosity, it seems, and excited to be able to make a difference.

I felt- like maybe we could do something.

..And. Ink had said we might've been able to 'cure' my brother- to fix him. And as stupid as it was.. I kind of believed him. I mean who wouldn't be able to return my brother back to normal if not the creator, or well more like protector himself?