The Path We Walk

Ch.34 Plan Of Action

  After breakfast, we all made out way to the infirmary. Everyone spread out around the room on beds or just standing. Nightmare stood in the middle of the room where everyone could see him with his hands behind his back. I was leaning against the wall by doorway with Dil in my arms. All the spirit are gathered in the corner talking to eachother. "So what's the plan boss?" Dust asks.

  "We don't want anything to seem amiss, so we will go with our usual routine with adjustments. We'll be hitting Surface Aus. Horror, Cross, and Dust will be targeting the monsters and humans with priorities on the Sans and Papyrus." The two nod. "Wine and Coffee will be on resource gathering. Make sure to stay hidden." Wine and Coffee salute him. "Killer will stick with Gradient and target the human. None of the rest of us have the ability to stop the human from resetting and I know Gradient is inexperienced. This is just a precaution. Gradient will be wearing a disguise to hopefully pass as Error." Killer sighs in disappointment and mumbles about baby sitting. "Aster and I will take the high ground and wait for the stars to show up while I gather negativity. Aster, I'm going to ask that you leave your soul showing and desummon your hair." Nightmare says.

  I look at him confused at the request. "Can I ask why?" I say.

  "Oh! I think I know where boss is coming from! We had the same situation with me before. With how your soul is, it seems like your being forced to act against your will. Ink will be more hesitant to kill you. Without your hair you'll look like just another Sans. He doesn't want to destroy any of his precious creations if he doesn't have to." Killer explains.

  "But I'm not one of his creations." I point out.

  "Ya, but he doesn't know that. You realize just how many different Aus the guy has made? He already has the memory of a goldfish. He can't keep track of all the different copies and variations. He'll just assume your another one." Cross says.

  "While your strong and experienced in combat, you haven't been up against others of guardian and god level. Blue and my brother will not be able to hold back against us without Ink noticing. You haven't fought against any of them before and I must reluctantly admit they are powerful. You would likely be at about Blue's level, which is an achievement in and of itself considering he is able to keep up relatively well with two higher beings. But, you still lack the experience against them we all have, which is why I want you to stay by my side at all times." He tells me.

  "Are you sure you just don't want your girlfriend too far away? I'm pretty sure they can handle themselves just fine." Dust says calling Night out.

  Nightmare crosses his arms across his chest and starts muttering obscenities while blushing. The others laugh. I smile.

  "Anyways the priority right now isn't to destroy the Aus, but to get Ink's attention. This will likely be a longer mission, so I want you all to get a set of supplies. Food, water, and healing items will be must have for this mission. We will be gone anywhere from a few hours to days, so try to conserve your magic. We leave in one hour." Night says. We all nod.

  Those who could, shortcut away.  Others make their way out through the door. I walk up to Nightmare. "Are you going to be ok Night?" I ask the negativity guardian. He sighs.

  "I should be asking you that. We agreed that you wouldn't be a combatant and I'm putting my own soulmate in the middle of a war." Night whispers the last part to me.

  "We agreed I wouldn't have to kill anyone. I knew I would have to fight at some point no matter what. What kind of person would I be if I left the entire multiverse to simply be destroyed by an out of control creator. Us being soulmates has nothing to do with this. I can help, so I will." I tell him quietly.

  Night sighs and suddenly pulls me into his arms. I just enjoy his cool embrace. He gently runs his phalanges through my hair. After a moment I pull away. " I need to get ready to go. Do we have a place we meet?" I say. Nightmare nods.

  "We just meet in the living room. I'll open up a portal to the Au." He tells me.

  "Ok. I'll be there as soon as I can." I say and shortcut to my room.

  "I really wanted to go on a mission." Dil says as I set him on my nightstand.

  "I know Buttercup, but Nightmare is the boss. Plus we're going to a surface Au rather than an underground one. You probably would have a harder time traveling through a city's concrete than normal earth. This one just isn't the mission for you. I'm sure you can help in future ones. Even if we turn the counsel against Ink we would have to go around to maintain the balances still." I tell him. He huffs but seems to accept my explanation.

  I go my bathroom to undo my hair and take off my scarf. With a sigh, I look into the mirror and desummon my ecto-hair. I stick my scarf on the counter. I don't really like how I look with just my plain skull. I wouldn't call myself vain, but I do try to take care of myself and maintain my individuality. I just feel like I'm another Sans copy in the infinite omniverse. Slightly different, but not unique. I wonder if other versions of my original self exist out there somewhere, also brought here by greater forces. What are they like? What have they experienced? Do they feel the need to remain unique? Do they have their sanity? What kind of Sans would they be? Are they even a Sans? So many questions, but no way to answer them.

  I turn away from the mirror and go to my closet. I grab a bag I packed in case I was given mission. It already had a few bottles of water, some freeze dried food, healing candy, and some medical supplies. I place it in my inventory. I grab my aviator goggles and put them on. As I walk out the room, I grab my leather jacket and also put that on. I head through the hall, down the stairs, and into the living room. I'm met by everyone who's going on the mission. "Ready for your first mission newbie?" Killer teases.

  I give him a smirk. "From the day I was reborn." I tell him.

  "Let's get going." Nightmare says and opens a portal.

  One by one everyone runs through, until I'm the last left. Night holds his hand out to me. I grab onto it and he leads me through. The portal closes.