The Stage is Set

The Crying DayDream pt.10

Crybaby - Melanie Martinez

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Error stares with wide sockets. He barely feels the impact of the wet inky floor on his knees. He continues to stare out, at just the one memory. A family. A child. How could a child hurt his soul so much? They've never crossed his mind, not more than twice. He doesn't know if he ever wants kids. He does, but he doesn't at the same time. It's scary to think about. What if he hurts them? What if he isn't cut out to be a parent? Is that why he's not with Ink there? In that rewrite? Did he get cold feet and leave Ink alone? Why would he do that? He feels angry at himself before it fades into sadness. He would never leave Ink alone with a kid. No, he can't. It's hard on skeletons to go through pregnancy and labor. It's stressful and takes too much magic for a sole parent to go through alone. It doesn't matter if he's a guardian or not. Is it harder without a soul? There also isn't enough data on what happens to the AUs when or if they have kids. Error can't help but worry if something bad had happened to Ink during the pregnancy. But if the child isn't here... he looks away.

Stars, these rewrites are horrible.

Cross stifles his tears, the rewrites had taken a nibbling from him. He doesn't understand. Did he do something wrong? If all of them have had rewrites, why didn't his nibbling stay? Is it something the creators can do? Just take them away? Why did they do that? Why did they take his hope of a large family away from him? Why isn't he allowed to remember these things? Why can't he remember his nibbling? Surely he met them after their birth, right? He looks away, he doesn't want to imagine it. He shouldn't. He can't. It's too painful. He can't torture his mind like this, not when he still has to find and save his brother. He moves on to another memory. He looks at it with the hope that it would give more information that would help them leave the room.

Killer moves to Error. His soul pulses in agony. A child. Something that Ink had made. A life that Ink had made. Isn't that something that Ink's wanted to do for a long time? That child should have been something that creators had no leverage over. He wonders who they could've been, what their name could've been. What were the three names Ink had said earlier? PaperJam? Stain? Jasmine? Could this have been one of those three? But aren't PaperJam and Stain twins? Isn't that how it was for Tainted? So would this child have been Jasmine? He wonders what Jasmine could've been. What magic they had, he wants to know everything. Anything Ink was willing to tell to help Ink work through the pain of these rewrites. Killer holds Error close to his soul, sending a pulse of love and comfort to him.

Error clings onto Killer, looking at him with tears in his sockets. "A child."

Killer nods with a weak smile. "A child."

Error looks back, watching the memory play again. Watching for more than just a glimpse of what they could've had. "D-do... Do." Error looks down at the floor. "Do you want..." He trails off as Killer sits next to him.

"Do I want a kid? Kids?" Error nods and Killer smiles sadly at the memory. He stares at Ink's content expression as Dream holds him. "I do. I really do." Error looks down with shame flooding his face. He's not sure if he could be a parent. Killer leans against him. "Would I be ready to be a parent? Not in the slightest." Error looks at him with shock. "Error, I don't think any one of us would be ready to be parents. Especially not Ink, not with this trauma. Void below, I have no idea how he's stayed... Well, himself." Killer looks at Error with a soft gaze. "If it were to happen though, we won't be alone. There's the four of us, yeah? And our friends. We wouldn't be alone in this. We have a village so to speak. Plus it won't be for a long time, so we don't have to worry about that for now. All we need to do is worry about getting out of this mess alive and in one piece."

Error wipes his tears. "Yeah. You're right." He leans against Killer with a sigh. He stares out, eyes drifting over to the other memories from different rewrites. He points over to another one as he sits up. His gaze locked onto something behind the memory, something heading towards Nightmare and Dream. "Kills, look." Killer follows his finger, and his sockets widen in shock before morphing into a panic. "Is that-"

Killer curses before pulling Error up. "We got to go!" Killer pats his pockets. "Shit! We dropped our weapons back there!" He turns to Error, "Error! Make a shield, we need it yesterday! Go protect Nightmare and what's left of Dream!"

"On it!" Error pulls the glasses out of his pocket before putting them on. He ports over to the two before taking strings from his sockets. He weaves them as fast as he dares to without making any holes in the pattern. His fingers glitch with the stress of a time limit on the complex pattern.

"Cross!" Cross turns, and a horrified expression stretches across his face as he looks behind Killer. His pips latch on the threat immediately, and he looks to Killer for the game plan. "Go grab your weapon! We have to protect Dream!"

Cross ports over to his swords, grabbing them before running over to Error's side. He raises them as he looks for the threat once more. His pips dart around the darkness, waiting for a glint to give its location away. Killer digs his daggers out from the ink before porting to Nightmare's back. He looks side to side before looking over his shoulder with a panicked worry. Nightmare grips his staff tightly as he stares in horror at the cloud of dust that spreads in front of them. Creation is nowhere to be seen, gone the moment Error put the glasses back on. Error continues to press on, making the shield so it's ready when needed. Killer curses under his breath. They're already too late.

Shattered has Dream.