As Dread rifled through the box of spare electronics, he heaved a sigh. Boy, he felt really tired for some reason. Not emotionally tired, but physically tired. Was his magic low?
He ran a quick check on himself to get a feel for his magic and—oh. Oh, no wonder he was so tired. He was operating off of maybe a tenth of his magic. Yeah, he didn't have nearly enough magic to be able to port back on his own. Though he was a bit worried. It shouldn't have taken that much power to teleport to a new line.
Was it because he... wasn't in the best frame of mind when he left? Did he "overspend" because he was so... upset? Was he coming down with something that was messing with his magic?
Dread pulled his shaky hands out of the box and covered his face, focusing on breathing for a moment. This was not ideal. He kept riling himself up into a panic every few minutes. This wasn't healthy.
The sooner he found a phone he could use, the sooner he could find a way home. And the sooner he got home, the sooner he could stop feeling like he was about to barf up whatever magic he had left in his system. Which was a genuinely scary proposition to him, now that he knew how little he had left. This was such a terrible idea, why did he do it in the first place.
Oh, right, because panic attacks aren't logical, and he'd been in the midst of one for the past several months. All because of... what, exactly? A single kid?
He wasn't scared of Frisk anymore. His Frisk was just a small, scared child, who just wanted to live an okay life. It was everyone else he was afraid of.
Dread sighed and rubbed his knuckles. Was Undyne still mad at him for punching her? Was punching her even the right course of action? He didn't know anymore. He'd done so many dumb things the past few days he wasn't sure of anything anymore.
Maybe he shouldn't have picked that fight online. Maybe he shouldn't have punched the captain of the guard. Maybe he was wrong and all humans really did deserve to...
No, fuck that. Fuck that entire line of reasoning. If that were true, if being abused, tortured, whatever, really justified killing an entire people, then monsters would also deserve to die. The original Monster-Human War would have been justified. And if Dread really, truly bought that, he'd just hand over the human and let his people go to war and die.
...Like the Dread of this timeline did.
Dread grimaced at the thought and threw himself into rummaging through the box again.
Sometimes, the nightmare in the last corridor doesn’t end with the child killing him.
Sometimes, his concentration slips. Sometimes, for the briefest of moments, his emotions get the better of him. His grief and rage and desire to make them go back overcome his self-control.
Sometimes, he kills the human.
The hall was splattered with blood, the human’s broken body lying limp on the floor. Oh god, what did he do? He didn’t mean to, he wasn’t thinking, he’s sorry, he didn’t mean to kill them!
He fell to his knees, muttering apologies to a corpse, wishing, praying, begging them to get back up, to load, to reset, anything, anything, he’s sorry, he’s sorry, he’s so sorry
Papyrus woke up in a panic, tears streaming down his face. His soul is pounding so hard in his chest that it’s choking him. He tries to suck in a breath but the air refuses to cooperate. It’s like trying to breathe through a straw, except someone’s pinched it closed and almost nothing is getting through. He wheezes and whines as he struggles to breathe, curls in on himself and clutches his chest like that’s somehow going to make it easier.
He can handle dying in his dreams. He knows his dreams show “the future”, but the future is full of time travel so he knows that even if/when he dies, it’s not going to be permanent.
It’s killing he has a hard time stomaching. The realization that he really does have it in him to take a life.
It was hard to imagine that this other Papyrus hadn't been home in five years. Or at least, hadn't been back to Snowdin in that long. Dread idly wondered if this Papyrus was even still alive, because he couldn't imagine being away from his home for so long. Not without a good reason. God, he'd b...
((Dread goes looking for a phone to contact the outside world with and gets a few unwelcome surprises.))
Ace Well, two of them will be getting rest at least. For... a little while. A couple hours into sleep Ace shifts some and his lil nose disappears under the blankets again. Dread [Dread lets out a sleepy little huff and curls up under his blankets. He's shuddering a little bit.] CB [Lazy pet pa...
And let’s end things with... yet more nightmares! Oh, what fun. They’re all going to become insomniacs at this rate.
Muses involved:
Dread, from here
Wasp/CB, @coolskeletonsdontcry
Ace, @acetheskeleton
Delta, Fjord, & Ace There is definitely a scene waiting here for Dread when he gets back. Fjord is laying on his side, bleeding from wounds on his chest and stomach, his breathing labored and shallow. He's laying next to Delta, whose unconscious next to him, just holding one of his hands. Dread ...
And the two storylines finally converge. Dread arrives home to a grisly scene, and then once that’s dealt with he gets to finally hold his boyfriends again. For a little bit, at least.
Muses involved:
Dread, WD, Frisk, and Toriel, from here
Wasp/CB, @coolskeletonsdontcry
Ace, @acetheskeleton
Delta and Fjord, @deltagaster
Dread, Frisk, & Toriel [Time for Frisk to lead them all outside. There's a pile of leaves next to the door to Toriel's house, which Frisk makes a beeline for.] 😬 IS THAT WHERE THE SAVE POINT IS? 🍂 Yeah-huh! 😬 OKAY, GOOD! THAT'S ACTUALLY A REALLY CONVENIENT SPOT. CB Yeah, that's really nice...
Dread’s been about how to test out this save/load thing for a while, so he’s got A Plan. A really clever plan! That is going to end up running up against some unforeseen problems...
Muses involved:
Dread, Frisk, and Toriel, from here
Wasp/CB, @coolskeletonsdontcry
Ace, @acetheskeleton
The stand for Muffet's spider bake sale was pretty simple, just a table with some of her wares laid out. The occasional little spider could be seen skittering around the table, checking on the wares and whatnot. The pastries on display looked delicious, if ridiculously expensive. 9999 G for a single donut? Talk about highway robbery.
Undyne leaned over the table, hands on her hips, inspecting the layout.
"Yikes, those are some steep prices."
"They all go to a good cause!" Muffet said with a big smile.
Undyne looked a little skeptical at Muffet's claim.
"I'm saving up for a heated limo to help ferry my family members in the Ruins out here. Because they can't handle the cold of Snowdin, you know."
"Ooooh, okay, yeah, that does make sense!" Undyne said, nodding in agreement. She'd have loved to say something like "Snowdin SUCKS," but Papyrus was with her and she felt bad about badmouthing his home just because she hated the cold. Not that the heat of Hotland was much better, especially in all this heavy armor.
Papyrus, meanwhile, just quietly looked over the table, watching the little spiders flitting around and busying themselves with various tasks.
"WOWIE, YOUR SPIDER FRIENDS ARE VERY DILIGENT WORKERS!" Papyrus said, resting his hand against the table.
Muffet paused in her conversation with Undyne to flash Papyrus a proud smile.
"They're so diligent because they know if they don't work hard, they'll be turned into donuts, ahuhuhuhuhu~"
"THAT'S A BIT OF A STEEP PUNISHMENT."
"I'm only kidding, deary. We don't turn lazy spiders into donuts here."
Papyrus gave her a pleased grin.
"OH, OKAY! THAT'S A RELIEF!"
Papyrus felt something brushing against the inside edge of the hole in his hand and glanced down just in time to see a spider scurrying out of it. His eyes went wide and for a brief moment he tensed up. And then all hell broke loose.
Papyrus let out a yell and reflexively flailed his arm, stumbling back and away from the table. Muffet let out a gasp as the poor little spider got launched into the air. She scrambled to catch the little thing with a couple of her hands, and shot Papyrus an indignant glare.
He fell backward onto his tailbone, not even registering the pain from the impact, and scooted backward as fast as he could until he backed up against a wall. He was breathing hard, his breath coming out in wheezing gasps. His head was spinning and he couldn't see straight. The only thing he could see was Wasp's changed face with bugs pouring out of his mouth...
When he finally managed to calm down enough to register what was going on around him, he found Undyne kneeling over him, holding his hands and talking to him. Muffet stood a few paces away, holding a mug of something in one pair of hands and looking mildly concerned.
"You're okay, Papyrus, I promise you. Everything's okay. You're safe."
Papyrus wheezed and whimpered, leaning in and touching his forehead to Undyne's. She gently pressed her forehead against his and continued making soothing noises.
Muffet quietly walked over and kneeled next to him, offering the cup of steaming hot cider to him.
"I don't like giving things away for free, but... take this. I still expect one of you to pay me for this, but prices can be negotiated after you've calmed down."
Papyrus nodded and took the cup, sipping at it and just trying to focus on all the attendant sensations. The smell, the heat, the taste. He focused on the way Undyne kept rubbing his shoulder, the way her skin felt against his bony forehead (weird. It felt weird. Like some sort of weird squishy thing stretched out over bone). He focused on the soft tip-tap of Muffet's feet as she walked away from them.
"How are you feeling, dude?"
Papyrus took a few deep breaths before speaking.
"B-BETTER."
Undyne smiled, feeling relieved. She rubbed his shoulder before standing up and pulling him to his feet. She turned to Muffet.
"Hey, how much do I owe you for the cider?"
Muffet pursed her lips as she thought it over. She tapped one set of claws against the tabletop for a moment, before breaking into a friendly grin.
"240 G. But don't worry about paying me right away. You'll be coming by this way next week, won't you?"
Undyne eyed her warily for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah, I will be."
"Well, you can pay me then. Don't forget, ahuhuhuhuhu~"
Undyne gave her a strained smile, feeling like she just metaphorically sold her soul.
"Uh, okay... Come on, Papyrus, let's get you home."