Toxic Positivity

Present

Dust was sitting in the parlour with Dream. He wanted to talk to the positive guardian about his friend, who he wasn't able to meet all of the time due to... reasons.

"So, he is a skeleton, of course, and he wears this kind of armour he calls his 'battle body'. Dust chuckled. "It looks ridiculous but he somehow manages to pull it off. He is actually pretty cool."

"Wow, really?" Dream was fully engrossed in the conversation about this 'Blue'. He sounded like a very interesting person.

"Yup, and he wants to be part of the Royal Guard in his Multiverse."

"What's that?"

"In each AU there is a ruler for all of the monsters. Most of the time it is an Asgore, but there can be variations. For example, in Blue's AU, Underswap, the ruler is Queen Toriel. The Royal Guard are a group of soldiers who work for her protecting the Royal Family and all of monsterkind. They are kind of like guardians, but for people."

"Oh, ok! What else do you know about him?"

"He likes making tacos, which always end up either really good or really bad. Only Horror was ever hungry enough to take that risk."

"Why was Horror hungry?"

"In his AU, food is rare. Boss helps out when he can, but Horror is now stuck with a big appetite for life. We just give him more food, and other than that everything is ok."

"I wanna make food for him!"

"He can cook for himself. Boss lets him have full reign over the kitchen downstairs. He cooks for all of us."

"I wonder who's cooking is better: Horror's or Blue's?"

"That... sounds like a cooking competition."

"What's a cooking competition?"

"When different chefs cook meals to see whose food is the tastiest."

"That sounds like fun!"

"It is. I remember when we had one for Blue's last birthday."

"When is Blue's next birthday?" Dream wanted to see a cooking competition.

"...Tomorrow." Dust had forgotten about that...

"I want to meet Blue!"

"Yeah, maybe not." Introducing Dream to the Star Sanses would just be asking for trouble.

"Why not?"

"W-well see... It isn't safe for you to leave."

"Pardon?" He tilted his head in confusion.

"Dream, the top floor is the only place that is safe for you. Even the rest of the castle is flooded with enough negativity to kill you."

"Oh... ok..." Dream thought for a moment. "You forgot, didn't you? About Blue's birthday." With his knees drawn up towards his chest, his arms wrapped around them, and that empty, soul-piercing gaze of his, Dust was reminded of all the warnings Nightmare had hammered into the gang's heads beforehand. Creepy...

"Wha- what makes you think that, Dream?"

Dream's eyelights dulled slightly as he gave his answer, "Your emotions..."

Ah, yes. Those would be a dead giveaway.

"Heh heh... Yeah, you got me." Dust chuckled nervously, trying to alleviate some of the tense atmosphere that hung between them.

"Do you at least have a present for him?"

"Umm, no."

Dream shot out of his seat, fists clenched as he gave his declaration with all of the conviction of a child who treated birthdays like a sacred tradition. "That's not good! But don't worry, I have an idea." Dream ran over to his dresser, and pulled out a circular silver brooch about the size of his hand. It had a single large sapphire embedded into the middle, and glistened brilliantly in the light. "Nightmare got this for me when we were little. A jeweller from the village had made it. It was before... things went bad." Before the villagers figured out that Nightmare was the Guardian of Negativity. Dream wrapped his hands around the object, and a soft glow emitted from him. After a few seconds, the glow faded, and Dream presented the brooch to Dust. "There! Now you have a present for him!"

"But- what? What is it?"

"A positivity amulet! Filled with hopes and dreams!" Dream placed the brooch in Dust's hands. It felt warm, powerful. It practically oozed magic.

"But Dream, I can't. This is your present. I need to make my own." Also, Nightmare may not be too happy about it...

"Then add your own touch! Here!" Dream handed Dust a needle. "Nighty told me that since silver is malleable, adding magic makes it easy for anything to cut it. Like this needle. You can carve a message into the back. Then, it would also be your present too!"

"Still, I don't want to lie to Blue. He would think that I made it all by myself."

"You can say it is from the both of us!"

"...Ok." Dust began to carve. It was a simple message: Never give up. Dust wanted to encourage Blue to achieve his dream of joining the Royal Guard. It was a little fiddly, with the pin on the back of the brooch getting in the way, but he managed to get the job done. Dust thanked Dream, and pocketed the present. His time had just run out, and unless he wanted a goopy chaperone, he had to return downstairs.

In the living room, Killer and Horror were on the sofa, battling each other in a combat-based RPG, Error was knitting in the corner on a hammock made of his own strings, and Nightmare was reading a book.

Looking up from his treasured literature, Nightmare silently scanned Dust's condition before returning to his reading.

Dust approached him, hesitant. Not exactly sure how to phrase what had happened, he fidgeted for a few seconds on the spot. Although Dream had a knack for making people open up, Nightmare was the opposite, his chilly, oppressive aura causing Dust to clam up.

A tentacle slithered into Dust's pocket, bringing out the birthday amulet and depositing it on Nightmare's empty palm.

"Um, Boss that's-"

"Care to explain why you have this?" Nightmare's singular eyelight zeroed in on Dust, aura flaring in anger-

No. He wasn't angry. Not yet.

Killer and Horror kept on playing. Error kept on knitting. Undisturbed.

"See, Dream said that-"

"Dream? Ah, I see." The tension immediately dissipated, and Dust noticed his shoulders relaxing as Nightmare handed the amulet back to him, his tentacles loosely curling in approval. "It fits with the rest of his outfit as well. Dream always had a good eye for colour." His gaze turned wistful, melancholic. "We used to compare handmade flower crowns all the time, to see whose was better. Though sometimes we wanted to see who could make his the worst." He chuckled to himself at the memories, then noticed that Dust was still there.

Nightmare opened a portal and pushed Dust towards it, with a slight hint of mirth in his eyelights, "Go ahead, give it to him. I'm sure Blue would appreciate such a thoughtful gift. There's a mission tomorrow, so you wouldn't be able to deliver it then."

How did he-

Dust stumbled through, realising that he had just been dropped off at Underswap's Snowdin. The portal closed behind him immediately, and Dust resigned himself to trudging through the snow towards Blue's house.

Hopefully, Stretch wasn't home...

NEXT UP: The brothers enjoy fun times with a glitchy pal.