~ 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ~ {𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒙 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓}

Prologue: Plan

The king of negativity looked down through his portal at Dream.

The latter was currently visiting what remained of his old home, most likely to mourn his losses.

Nightmare laughed to himself, a terrifying sound that could strike fear in any being. There was no use looking back. If you look back too much, you'll never see the death wish right in front of you.

Then Ink was suddenly behind the golden guardian, a sorrowful look on his face. Nightmare sneered at his act. The artist couldn't feel anything alone. He was totally and absolutely dependent on his Emotion Vials, also known as EVs.

It was because of his hollowness that his team had first tried to recruit him. It almost worked, actually, if his stupid brother hadn't come around and 'saved' him. His bright and influential aura had filled Ink with good intent, therefore shattering any sort of hope of the artist becoming one of them.

Now the two were inseparable, and they had even gathered a little third wheel. Underswap Sans, otherwise known as Blueberry, was an innocent little muffin that could pack quite the punch. His aura reeked of child wonder and bliss.

He was also very, very annoying.

The first time they had ever fought, he was always making some stupid remark or doing some idiotic motion to the other members. What Nightmare wouldn't give to wipe that disgusting grin off of his skull...

Shaking the small skeleton from his thoughts, the king watched as Ink whispered a few words about Recoverytale. He smiled, single blue eye glowing with amusement. The ruler had sent Error to the universe, saying that it would be quite the diversion from his real plan.

The glitch had, at first, protested his job. Recoverytale was meaningless. Losing it would mean nothing, no progress towards their goal. Nightmare simply responded to his rant by saying that he wasn't thinking big enough.

Once the so-called 'Star Sans' were in Recoverytale, Error could tie them off. Meanwhile, another group of his pawns, him included, would take the mirror realm: Recoveryswap. Once Recoveryswap was taken, Error would destroy the original realm with Blueberry and Ink inside, killing them both.

Dream, however, was to be taken to him alive.

Nightmare wanted the final golden fruit. No. He needed the last fruit. It was the only way to ensure his security. It was the only way that his hunger for revenge to be satiated.

Something caught his eye before he waved the portal shut. Dream had said something to Ink who had opened a colorful portal, then took out a small book from underneath his cape.

Nightmare stiffened slightly.

The book was old, a thin leather-bound journal. It was covered in dust and slightly stained. Something about it made a small part of Nightmare twitch. Something about that notebook was very, very familiar.

Looking away fast, Nightmare closed the viewing portal. Calling over one of his Papyrus duplicate soldiers, he thought ahead to the coming events.

"Call over the remaining Sans," he ordered sharply, rising from his throne. "Tell then to meet me in Recoveryswap. We have some work to do." The Papyrus nodded once and hurried away. Cross, Raspberry, Killer, Horror, and himself would make quite the team.

It was a rare occasion that someone would meet any of them more than once.

Opening a portal to the simple universe of Recoveryswap, Nightmare smiled. It was peaceful there, no sign of suspicion. No genocide route had yet been committed, so the Frisk character of the timeline would have no 'ghost LV.'

It was perfect.

Oh, yes. This was certainly going to be fun.