My Friend Over the Phone

Chapter 22

     There's a disturbance somewhere.

     It had all the subtlety of a nuclear explosion. The Universes shook, some of the papers even detaching from the string that held them above the ground of the Doodlesphere.

     The helpers of the Sphere got to work immediately, helping reattach the papers and doing all that they could to prevent them from disintegrating. They unfortunately didn't get to all of them, but they got most of them. They couldn't fix them at all until the Master of their realm returned.

     No mortal being, perhaps not even the four gods would be able to understand where exactly this sudden quake came from, or why it even happened. But it did, and that was that for the time being.

     But it was scary all the same. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Well, it did, but it happened so long ago, three of the four gods of this Multiverse weren't in existence quite yet.

     From his study, Ink felt the world shake. He hadn't been in the mood to create lately, so he hadn't been. He had so many ideas, but after that 'fight' with Dream, he couldn't find the motivation to put any of his ideas into fruition. Besides, more creation would mean a jump in destruction most likely, and the idea of fighting Error didn't feel right anymore. But that shaking. It had most likely been eons since the last time he let his lack of motivation get this out of hand. But, he was facing a moral dilemma. He could fix this in a second, but Dream's words struck him harshly. The thought of being abandoned again by such amazing people sent tremors through his bones.

    He forced himself to get up. The Mutliverse's safety is more important than you and your quarrels, you idiot. Do what you were made for, he shamed himself as he grabbed his paintbrush and a notebook in which he had jotted down and stored his latest ideas.

    The bad thoughts that invaded his head didn't feel like his own somehow, but at the same time, it did. It was odd.

    He shook it off, and got to work. He couldn't bear to waste another second of delay, and neither could the Multiverse he was fated to protect.

    Everyone was working when the ground suddenly shook. They all quickly but safely put everything hey were holding on the floor, and stepped back from the taller not-yet secure monuments they had built so they wouldn't get crushed. Error wrapped his strings over all of them for good measure, really not wanting to build anything all over again. Thankfully, nothing fell from the unexpected quake, but the ground did split in certain places.

    "Y'know Nightmare, the knowledge that earthquakes happened in this area would've been helpful." Error remarked, a hint of saltiness apparent in his voice. "They..." he started, looking at the mess the earthquake had made, shocked. "They don't happen here. There's never been an earthquake here before for as long as I've lived."

    "Then what do you call that?"

    "I don't know! They've never happened here, Error! What else do you want me to say about that?!"

    "Stop it, you two!" Blue said, appearing in between the two and separating them with his arms. "There's no reason to fight over this! What happens, happens, and it didn't destroy anything we built or affected it in any way, so there's no reason to get angry." They both stepped away from each other and looked down. "Great, now lets just calm down, okay?" "Okay, I'm sorry Nightmare." Error said, still keeping his head down. His voice was genuine, so Nightmare said sorry back.

"Good! Now let's all get back to work, okay?" Blue said to them all, gesturing to all of the dismembered pieces laying on the ground all over the place. They all nodded. As Error did, he noticed his boyfriend's smile lessen a little, then grow to a straining point. He knows that Blue isn't really happy when he does that. He always made that face when Stretch was around. He went over to an area where no one else was working, pretending to pick up a piece as he noticed other's glances.

Once he double-checked that no one was looking his way, he teleported away.

It was now sunset, and everyone was heading home. Everyone had gotten lots of work done. Nightmare demanded that the first thing to return would be the library, and so they were able to finish that today, and fully furnish it as well. They also, without Nightmare's knowing, remade the bungalow under the Tree that had been wrecked during the incident, where the two Apple Brothers used to live. Poor Dream cried when he saw it exactly back to the way it was when he lived inside it.

They also made some of the small houses of which they had begun claiming as their own. Killer wanted his own house while Dream wanted to live in the bungalow, then they both stopped and realized it was too soon to move in with one another and stopped the disagreement. Nightmare and Cross moved in to their right(Nightmare wanted to know immediately if Killer's bed started 'creaking'), and Horror and Dust weren't sure where to go. They told Nightmare that they were still deciding which house to live in, but all of them are the same. After overhearing a conversation between the two a few hours ago, Nightmare knew that the real reason was, in fact, that Dust wanted Horror to live in the same house with him, but Horror was too shy to accept, but too fond of the other to decline. He only smirked at the excuse they gave and never brought it up with them. They all were about to leave, when Nightmare realized something.

"Where's Blue gone?" Everyone looked around, just now noticing that the bandanna-wearing skeleton was not present. "Wasn't he just here a minute ago?" Killer asked. "I thought he was..." Dust looked around again. "Error's gone too." Nightmare sighed. "I guess they went home early. C'mon guys, let's go."

"What happened?"

"I don't know! I thought we were okay, and then he left and hasn't talked to me since!"

...

"Is he mad at me, Blue? I don't understand what I did."

"No. At least, I don't think so? He stopped responding to me for a while as well, but today, he was fine. Going along with his life like he didn't just ignore everyone for three weeks."

...

"Well, I gotta go. Error's probably gonna be worried about me."

"Okay. Bye Blue."

"Bye Ink."