The apple fell far from the tree, then it rolled back

Chapter 1

The Multiverse is alive, and not at the same time. It's not something that can be explained in words. It isn't a god or Fate or anything fully conscious, but at the same time it's aware of every thing happening in it.

Every meeting, every friendship, every marriage.

Every argument, every fight.... every war.

The war between monsters and humans was supposed to happen. The prophecy of the angel saviour existed long before the monsters were banished underground, and could only be fulfilled after the tragedy.

The push and pull of creation and destruction was a constant, a rise and fall. Something had to exist to be destroyed, but there had to be space for something new to exist.

The Creator and The Destroyer fell into their roles quickly, though their own pasts were ironically filled with Destruction for the Creator and Creation for the Destroyer.

Ink's universe disappeared, his own soul destroyed, and Error was a creation born out of an alternate timeline.

The War between Positivity and Negativity was going to be a conflict, and also a bond that lasted a lifetime. So many things happened, and the bond wasn't happening. The two were getting further and further apart, and the war between them was getting worse and worse.

It needed some form of intervention.

It was the same war as always - how many years has it been? How many encounters, how many fights?

How many resets has Underswap gone through already? How's Berry holding up?

At some point, the two brothers charged at each other. Everyone knew to stand back when that happened. Each time, they'd try to overpower the other, and each time neither of them would win. The usual flash of bright and dark energy was expected, so everyone closed their eyes. Everyone had already known to look away, so nobody knew what happened.

The clash was there, but it felt different somehow. It didn't come from either of the two deities, it seemed like it was something much, much bigger.

Blue felt Ink's grip on his wrist loosen, and he took that as a sign to slowly open his eyes.

What he saw startled him.

In the place of the two guardians of feelings were what looked like two tiny skeletons. Not quite babybones, but definitely still young kids.

Everyone was frozen, staring at them.

Ink, Blue, Killer, Dust, Horror, Cross... They all stood a few feet back.

The kids were either injured or asleep, but in any case they lay there motionless.

Between a bunch of big brothers, it was Blue's brotherly instinct that drove him to inspect the kids first. He stepped forward, making his way to the kids, who both immediately stirred. The one who Blue could recognize as a tiny version of Nightmare's singular eye light zoomed in on Blue, then quickly at the other surrounding skeletons.

" Who are you? What do you want? "

They said in what sounded like Spanish but an old, long forgotten accent of the language. Blue tilted his head in confusion. Dream spoke Spanish to them occasionally- that's how he could tell the accent was different- but he never taught it to them.

When Cross stepped forward, Blue flinched, trying to access what his enemy was going to do by looking at his very neutral expression. That's when Cross opened his mouth and started translating what the child said.

Blue's eyes widened...he didn't know Cross knew Spanish. He didn't know anything about him.

"Yo soy Cross, es Blue. Somos guardias." (I'm Cross, he's Blue. We're guards)

Cross pointed at himself, then at Blue. That, coupled with their names, made Blue assume that he was introducing them. Was he saying they were guards? Blue looked at Cross, who was giving him an unsure look. Blue nodded in response, guessing that mentioning it would make the kiddos feel safer.

"Mano? ¿Estás bien?" (Bro? Are you okay?(Mano is a shortening of hermano=brother))

The little Nightmare decided to ask his brother, concern lacing his voice.

"Si... Hermano?"

Dream's response was filled with confusion as he looked at his brother.

"Boss asked Dream if he's okay, he said yes."

Cross said to Blue, and they'd clearly forgotten they were supposed to be fighting.

The twins looked at each other. Nightmare then looked down at himself, not understanding the look Dream was giving him...and then he screamed.

It took a few minutes until everything calmed down. The kids hand each other's hands tightly.

"So, what do we do now...?"

Ink asked, his right eyelight a red question mark and the other a yellow circle. The other skeletons had gathered close to each other, the closest they'd ever been, excluding some kind of fight.

"We can't....separate them...they're clingy"

Horror ruled out, though it was kind of obvious.

"Easy! We could all stay at the same place!"

Ink replied enthusiastically, not realizing the problem.

"And where exactly would that be?"

The Sanses were reminded of the fact that, despite the fact they were getting along...they were supposed to be enemies. In what was almost like a chain reaction, the ones from opposite teams standing closer to each other stepped apart, grimacing. This reaction made Ink stop to think.

"Our castle is out of the question. Boss wouldn't allow it if he was himself"

Dust and Horror nodded in agreement with what Killer said. Cross would've agreed if he wasn't busy trying to explain something to the little brothers.

"So's our base. There's stuff there and no space"

Ink avoided saying the stuff was important, but they could all already guess that.

"We need something neutral with enough space...and maybe with someone who can figure out how long this'll last"

There was one option, it'd be perfect. One that Ink and Blue knew, but the others will have to be introduced to.

"I think it's time you get to know the Omega Timeline."