A Living Nightmare

Chapter Eight

Ink and Dream fell out of the portal onto... actual grass. Not ashes like before.

Dream gasped in relief. "Ink! There's still time! They haven't destroyed everything like.... Like last time..!"

Ink nodded briskly, getting to his feet and looking around. "Now, if I was a Dark Sans trying to destroy a world, where would I start...?"

Dream dashed off towards the direction of Snowdin. "There's smoke coming from this way, stupid!"

Ink ran after him, whipping his brush out to be ready for an ambush. "Wait for me!"

The smoke from Snowdin Town was black and sulfurous, making the two skeletons wary of their step. The grass and woodland slowly burned to ashes and cinders, making the path somewhat slick and impossible to navigate quietly.

Screams could be heard from the nearby buildings, agonizingly cut off with brutal efficiency. Dream winced. The negativity here was so strong it gave him a migraine.

"H-hurry!" Dream demanded, rushing into the town. Ink followed suit as quickly as possible.

The smoke was worse in the town, making the skeletons cough painfully. The snow was stained unnatural shades of black, white and red from the ashes, dust and blood of other Monsters. Ink shuddered. This was an Original AU! The Dark Sanses had never gone after one of them before...

The two Star Sanses rushed towards the middle of town, where Gaster Blasters could be heard firing beams of pure energy. Dream pulled out his bow, an arrow on the string ready to fire. Ink summoned acidic paint to rest on the tip of his brush, prepared for battle.

The Dark Sanses were quite busy in the center of town, it seemed. They looked quite ferocious, with blood, sulfur and dust soaked into their clothes and smeared on their bones. They were destroying Snowdin with brutal efficiency, Gaster Blasters and bone attacks flying across the town, demolishing buildings, plants and monsters with almost no effort whatsoever.

Dream stepped out into view, his clothing already covered in soot. "HEY!!"

The Dark Sanses paused, turning almost simultaneously to glare at the Guardian of Positivity. Ink stepped next to Dream, his paintbrush raised defensively.

"Oh, look. It's the forever-happy idiot and his rainbow friend," Killer growled lowly.

The other Dark Sanses stepped in a semi-circle around Ink and Dream, leaving them with a few more targets than if they had stuck together.

"What do you want, Ink Spill?"

"Stop destroying this AU!" Ink said firmly, adjusting his grip on Broomie threateningly.

The Dark Sanses had varying degrees of scorn and amusement on their faces.

Killer began to circle the Star Sanses, the other Dark Sanses following his lead. "No can do, Inky. Boss's orders were to destroy it, and that's what we're doing."

Ink was having a bit of trouble following all the skeletons circling around him and Dream. Killer and Dust were going clockwise, Horror and Cross counterclockwise, so it was hard to keep track of all of them.

"But if you destroy this AU, all the copies of it will die, too! That's hundreds of AUs!" Dream tried to reason.

Cross rolled his eyes. "Well, duh. That's the point."

Ink leapt out suddenly, swinging his paintbrush aggressively at Cross and Horror. Dream took a cue from him and began to shoot arrows rapidly at Killer and Dust.