Multiverse Madness Chapter Sixty One
TW! This chapters contains torture, gaslighting, manipulation, Shattered being a jerk, and Ink suffering. Not sure where to mark it, but it's like the first half of the chapter.
Shattered slammed Ink down onto the cobblestone floor of the dungeon cell, the currently terrified skeleton letting out a mix between a grunt and a yelp. The cell was still stained with black paint blood from the previous time Ink was here, and it looked like it was going to get a new coat. Shattered had thought he'd broken Ink enough to where if something like this were to happen, then Ink wouldn't have wanted to run away from him. He'd literally begged that glitch for protection from him, and that... well, that pissed Shattered off.
"i can't believe you, ink." Shattered sighed, "i can't believe you tried to betray me like that!!"
"n-no! it w-wasn't-!" Ink started, but Shattered cut him off.
"then what was it, ink?! you forget something, i'm in your head. every single thought you have, every emotion i decide to give you, belongs to ME. you were going to run." Shattered hissed, tentacles lashing behind him, "and i was attempting to be nice to you! i gave you emotions, ink! i didn't even punish you after you disobeyed me with the sleeping thing immediately afterwards!"
"i'm sorry!" Ink yelped, scooting himself into a corner, looking up at Shattered with those terrified light blue and purple eyelights, and Shattered feasted on his fear.
"are you? you know how i feel about treachery, ink! you have dealt with traitors yourself! you're lucky that glitch is the only one to witness that little incident back there, or things would've been much worse." Shattered snarled, stopping a step in front of Ink, watching and sensing his panic grew as he realized he had nowhere to go.
"sh-shattered, pl-please, i'm sorry! please!" Ink pleaded, and Shattered sighed, crouching down.
"no." Shattered told him simply, wrapping a tentacle around his ankle, standing up and flinging him across the cell and into one of the walls with enough force to crack the rocks.
Ink yelped, trying to pull himself up, but Shattered melted into the floor, zipping over before forming again, wrapping tentacles around his wrists and ankles and pinning them to the wall and floor respectively. Ink struggled, clearly terrified, and he tried freeing himself. Shattered sighed, making spikes form on the undersides of the tentacles, stabbing through Ink's bones, and he shrieked. Blood quickly oozed between Shattered's tentacles and Ink's bones, dripping onto the floor in streams, staining the rocks, and Shattered enjoyed the sight, it having been a while since he'd gotten to feed on so much terror like this.
"ink, stop trying to get away." Shattered hissed, and Ink froze, looking up at him while trembling, "trying to escape is pointless. i will always find you, no matter how far you run and no matter where you hide. do you understand?"
"y-yes...." Ink whispered quietly.
"yes what?" Shattered prompted.
"y-y-y-yes, b-boss..." Ink whimpered.
"good." Shattered praised, "now, if you ever do something like that again, i can promise you, there will be dire consequences."
"i-i un-underst-stand..." Ink responded, "c-can you pl-please stop st-stabbing me?"
Oh, how adorable. Ink actually believed Shattered was going to show him mercy... He wouldn't be receiving that until he was emotionless and obedient again. That skeleton was going to learn that being emotional would only cause him pain, and that lesson would last.
"why should i? you tried stabbing me in the back." Shattered spat, and Ink looked down, starting to cry, "oh ink, you were so much better when you were emotionless. do you know why?"
"b-because i w-w-was ob-obedient?..." Ink guessed, and Shattered chuckled a bit.
"that's a reason, yes. another reason is because i could trust you. you would never betray me, be it escaping pain that i was kind enough to not show you for a long while, or following orders." Shattered explained, "i am the only one you can count on, ink. the only one who won't abandon you because of who and what you are. you are an emotionless, soulless killer. you have tortured, you have killed, you have destroyed. who would take you back if you left my side?"
"dr-dream?" Ink asked, and he yelped as Shattered stabbed him in the shoulder, and he was clearly holding back from giving Shattered a further reaction as his black paint blood flooded out.
"ink, i thought i got it cemented in your skull already!! dream abandoned you!! he left you to deal with losing your friend alone!!! he doesn't care for you, ink! he never cared for who you were! you had to lie to him about who you were the whole time you knew him!" Shattered snapped, and Ink shrunk in on himself a bit, "and then he goes and replaces blue."
Ink looked down, trembling, and he whispered, "m-m-m-maybe th-there was m-more to i-it?....."
"don't make me strangle you again." Shattered said, and Ink's eye sockets widened before he went silent, "there is nothing more to it. he abandoned you, and then after a while he replaces your dead best friend. i wonder who he's replaced you with, ink."
"h-he w-" Ink yelped, but he was cut off as Shattered wrapped a tentacle around his throat, squeezing.
"he would. i know you're not this stupid, ink. otherwise i don't know what i'm wasting my time on." Shattered sighed, pinching the bridge of his nonexistent nasal cavity and loosening the tendril a bit, "he would. come on, you were right when you were emotionless! why do you cling to this unrealistic notion that he still cares about you?!"
"he- he w-was my fr-friend..." Ink whispered hoarsely.
"he was your friend." Shattered emphasized, "he's not anymore. no, he's replaced you with error, your enemy. someone he's bound to turn on as well. i'm nothing like dream, ink. i wouldn't abandon you like he did."
Shattered overheard a thought in Ink's head of 'that's why I tried running', and his eye socket narrowed, tentacles whipping behind him. Ink was going to regret that.
"oh ink, you should not have thought that." Shattered seethed, and he saw Ink truly terrified in that moment.
"n-no, please! it-it was a-an i-in-intrusive thought!" Ink begged.
"do not lie to me, ink!" Shattered snapped, and Ink squeezed his eye sockets shut, tears slipping through regardless, "i know you aren't that stupid! do not dare lie to me, because i assure you, lying to me will upset me much more than the truth! do you know why?"
"w-why?..." Ink asked.
"you might actually be that stupid when you aren't thinking clearly." Shattered sighed, "it's because lying is betraying me. being anything but honest, obedient, and loyal, is betraying me. and it hurts, ink, it does. you were the most loyal, perfect weapon for me, and now you're a pathetic, worthless mess. it's no wonder why dream abandoned you."
Ink trembled, crying even more despite trying not to, and he whispered, "i-i'm sorry, b-boss... pl-please..."
"you should be. you're immortal, ink, but today that is not a good thing for you. see, i can't kill you, but i can make you wish you were dead." Shattered smirked, "at least until you're emotionless again, and by then you'll have learned that trying to 'escape' me; the only one who actually gives a damn about you, is a horrible idea."
"i-i've l-le-learned, b-boss." Ink whimpered, looking back up at him again.
"oh, ink..." Shattered crooned as he crouched down, cupping his cheekbone in one of his hands, and he narrowed his eye socket before continuing lowly, "i wish i could believe that right now."
Ink yelped as Shattered let claws form at the end of his fingers, sinking into the side of his face and drawing more of his blood, which had already started to pool under him in a black puddle. Shattered pulled away, dragging his claws along the side of Ink's face as he did so, and Ink hiccupped, trying not to scream.
"i-i have!" Ink insisted, voice pained.
"no, you haven't." Shattered sighed, "not like this, ink. this is a problem. tell me why."
"b-because i-i'm not th-thinking cl-clearly?" Ink guessed, shaking.
"good! you aren't." Shattered praised, "not with those emotions. now, tell me what happened with error. why did you drink those vials, ink?"
"d-didn't you s-see-?" Ink started, but Shattered cut him off by stabbing a tentacle into the wall next to his skull.
"do not talk back to me. ever. now answer the question." Shattered ordered harshly.
"h-he forced me t-too... i tr-tried sp-sp-spitt-ting them ou-out..." Ink responded, bones rattling.
"then what?" Shattered prompted.
"i-i c-couldn't, a-and i re-remem-membered this..." Ink continued quietly, "i-i was sc-scared..."
"oh ink, you shouldn't have been scared." Shattered murmured gently, "if you had simply called out for me mentally, i would've come for you, and then we could've waited out those nasty vials. however, that didn't happen, did it?"
"n-no..." Ink mumbled.
"no, it didn't." Shattered shook his skull no, "now i have to put you through it all over again, because apparently i didn't get my point across the first time."
"n-no! y-you did!" Ink insisted, desperate.
"apparently not if you tried to betray me, ink!!!" Shattered snapped, and Ink curled in on himself further, "now i have to do this all over again! and why? because you can't listen! this emotional state of yours is nothing more than a weakness! a flaw! it makes me unable to count on you, and i hate that!"
"i'm sorry." Ink whispered.
"you will be." Shattered responded, tentacles twitching and sharpening behind himself.
"i-i already am!" Ink raised his voice a bit, pained and desperate.
"not enough." Shattered hissed, "all i can sense from you is pain and fear. you're only agreeing because of your emotions. without them, i can count on you to be honest. until then, i can't trust you."
"y-you can! boss, pl-please! i'm sorry! it- it was a mistake!" Ink pleaded.
"it was, and you'll be well aware of that later." Shattered told him, and Ink whimpered quietly, "i still can't believe this, ink. i don't know how you could do this to me."
"i-it won't h-happen again, i-i swear..." Ink whispered.
"i can't be certain of that. there could come a time where i'm forced back to my multiverse, and you're left here, stuck with those emotions of yours." Shattered sighed, "but i wouldn't stay there. i would find my way back, you know. i always can, and should that happen, and should i find out that you told the stars about daybreak, tore down everything i worked towards... oh ink... this would be a mercy. do you know what i would do to you then?"
"t-torture me f-for e-eternity?...." Ink guessed, and Shattered chuckled.
"oh no, you would eventually grow used to the pain, which isn't worth it when i could just wait for your emotions to drain, and then i would have my favorite ally back by my side. then i could make you kill every single one of them." Shattered smirked, and Ink looked terrified, "but i won't do that yet. see, what i would do is i would ensure you didn't exist. i would completely blank out that sweet little skull of yours. every memory, every thought, and i would create someone else to take your place! then i would have you kill them. i don't want that, though- you're my favorite, after all! however, if it was necessary..."
"it w-wouldn't be!" Ink squeaked, "i pr-promise! i won't t-tell a-any of th-them! e-ever!"
"not even dream?" Shattered asked.
"n-no!" Ink insisted.
". . . oh alright." Shattered relented, messing around in Ink's mind a little to ensure he kept his word, whether he wanted to or not.
Ink breathed out a sigh of relief, and he asked, "w-will you s-stop t-torturing me n-now?"
"ha! no." Shattered declined, flinging Ink across the cell again, releasing him from the tentacles stabbing him in the process, the impact with the wall causing him to yelp, "you're still due punishment for betraying me before, ink. you're not getting off easily here. you deserve this after all, and i want you to truly learn never to turn on me again."
Ink looked up at him fearfully, but he didn't try backing away from him this time, frozen in place. Good, he was learning after all.
"now ink, tell me. what are you?" Shattered asked, starting their old routine again.
Ink trembled a bit, before answering quietly, "y-your weapon..."
"and?" Shattered prompted, sharpening a tentacle and hovering it over Ink's clawed-at throat.
Ink shuddered, and he whispered, "ev-everyone a-against you's en-enemy..."
Shattered nodded a little, and he questioned, "and above all else?"
"y-yours..." Ink looked down, and Shattered stabbed his throat.
He let out a choked out yelp, reaching at his throat and starting to try and push the tentacle away, but he stopped, likely realizing he could do nothing to stop this. Shattered withdrew the tentacle, wrapping another around his throat to heal it enough for him to talk before moving it away.
"don't look down like that after you answer. it makes you seem dishonest, and you won't lie to me again, will you?" Shattered asked.
"n-never..." Ink answered, looking up at him.
"good." Shattered smiled, "now, ink?"
"y-yes, b-boss?" Ink responded.
"always address me as that. no matter what. never call me by name again, be it towards me or someone else, unless they are unsure as to who i am." Shattered instructed, "every time you respond to me, i want you to say it."
"y-yes, b-boss..." Ink obeyed.
"do you know why, ink?" Shattered questioned.
"w-why?..." Ink asked, and he quickly added, fearful, "b-boss.."
Shattered stabbed a tentacle into Ink's hand for the near forgettance, and he yelped quietly. That should teach him not to forget.
"so they know who you belong to, of course! we wouldn't want them thinking you belong to yourself, would we?" Shattered smirked.
"n-no, boss.." Ink replied.
"good." Shattered praised, "because that's not the case, is it? it never will be again."
"n-no, boss." Ink agreed, clearly forcing himself to look up at Shattered, "i-it won't be..."
"good. what will you do the next time you see error?" Shattered questioned.
"at-attack him, boss?..." Ink guessed.
"you're just guessing?" Shattered frowned, and Ink tensed.
"i- i wasn't sure if that's wh-what you would w-wan-!" Ink started, but Shattered held up a tentacle, cutting him off with a fearful gasp.
"of course i want you to attack him! he's the reason this is happening! you would've never betrayed me if he hadn't made you drink those wretched vials, and everything would be ok! i don't want to hurt you, but i have to make sure you know how much that upset me!" Shattered told him, putting his hands on his shoulders, "he is to blame for your suffering. this is his fault ink. so, again, what will you do the next time you see error?"
"attack h-him, boss." Ink answered.
"that's right." Shattered smirked, "make him hurt as much as he's caused you to be."
"o-ok, b-boss..." Ink nodded a little.
"and what will you do if encounter those vials again?" Shattered asked.
"d-don't l-let anyone m-make me dr-drink them, b-boss?" Ink responded.
"close, close. you will either destroy them, or you will bring them to me." Shattered instructed.
"un-understood, b-boss..." Ink nodded, and he looked down.
Shattered stabbed a tentacle through Ink's chest, causing him to scream as his bones were broken, "what did i say about looking down, ink? it makes you look reluctant. you shouldn't be reluctant."
"s-sorry, boss!" Ink apologized, clearly agonized.
Shattered sighed, "how much damn longer will it take for those emotions to wear off? they're getting on my nerves."
As much as it was nice to feed on Ink's fear and pain, Ink was more useful as an unfeeling weapon than a source of negativity, and Shattered was tired of Ink not being what he wanted him to be.
"i-i don't know..." Ink admitted quietly, and upon seeing the look from Shattered and another sharpened tendril, he added, panicked, "boss!"
"then let's find out." Shattered smirked, and Ink shivered.
A few hours passed before his eyelights were white again, empty of all emotions, and by that time he was covered in various stab marks, slashes, cuts, broken bones, and he looked utterly defeated, exactly what Shattered wanted.
"they're gone, boss." Ink informed, looking up at him, and Shattered smiled.
"good. come here." Shattered instructed as he sat on the stained floor across the room, and Ink stumbled over, collapsing at his feet with a pained grunt and a complete snapping of his severely fractured leg.
He pulled himself the rest of the way over, fingers digging into the cobblestone floor, and he fully collapsed next to Shattered, panting slightly. Shattered chuckled a bit, lifting him up easily and laying him across his lap, wrapping tentacles around his wounds and starting to heal him. Ink was clearly agonized regardless, but now his sensation of pain was numbed, just like everything else. While Shattered was healing him, he sank more magic into Ink's mind, reinforcing his control over his thoughts.
"better?" Shattered asked him with a smirk.
"yes, boss." Ink answered, relaxing there as his wounds were mended.
"good. never get near those vials again. ok? otherwise i won't be so kind. if you so much as see them, return to my side immediately." Shattered told him, and Ink nodded.
"of course, boss. it'll never happen again..." Ink said, "i'll make sure error regrets what he did. just like you wanted."
"don't you want that too?" Shattered questioned.
"i want what you want, right, boss?" Ink replied, looking for approval, and Shattered smirked.
"yes, you do." Shattered nodded, "torture him for me, will you? i want him to hurt, and you know how to accomplish that, right?"
"of course, boss. how could i forget?" Ink responded, and Shattered chuckled.
"you can't, and won't." Shattered smiled, and he finished healing Ink, releasing him from his tentacles, but Ink stayed laying there.
"my loyalty is yours. i can't believe i was so foolish, boss." Ink sighed, and Shattered grinned.
There was his weapon...
"you know how you get with emotions, ink. it's why you're better off without them. we just had to wait for them to wear off, and i had to ensure that if that problem returned, the same mistake wouldn't happen." Shattered told him, and Ink nodded.
"i understand, boss. i was pathetic, anyways. you were right." Ink said, and Shattered smirked, "i don't know why i would ever want to run away from you. i was an idiotic, pathetic mess..."
"you were, but you're all better now; good as new. now, i have some business to attend to with daybreak. in the mean time, go eat something, you're going to need the energy to stay awake until i return. and clean yourself up." Shattered instructed, and Ink nodded, pushing himself to stand up. He turned and looked at Shattered, and he saw the claw marks on his face had scarred, having healed on their own before Shattered could get to them, "and paint over those."
Ink reached up and felt the scars, and he nodded, paint forming around his body and fixing his outfit, the scars covered up with a blotch of black paint. He started heading to the door, stepping in his own blood, and Shattered reached past him with a tentacle and unlocked it. With a nod back at Shattered, Ink left the cell and started walking down the hallway, past a sleeping occupant of the dungeon who would remain asleep until Shattered needed him and decided to show off what he'd been doing in Predatortale. Shattered stood up and brushed himself off, and he teleported himself out of the cell and to another AU. It was time to start upping Daybreak's production, after all.
Murder wasn't happy to be excluded from helping to fight off the sieges, honestly. He was worried about Dream and the others, and he wanted to help, and he couldn't do that from Story's house. Unfortunately for him, Dream still wanted him to take some time off after the LV thing, and even though he felt fine, Dream wasn't convinced. Knife wasn't happy to be left out either, but not for the reason Murder was. See, Knife got bored very easily, and when that happened, it was in everyone's best interests to find something for him to do to prevent someone from getting hurt, angry, killed, or something getting blown up. Sometimes all of the above happened at once. Knife was pacing on the other side of the room, and sighed for the eighth time in a minute, loud and dramatic, causing Murder to sigh.
"knife, oh my god, just find something not destructive to do and quit acting like a bored child!" Murder snapped from where he was reclining on the couch.
"you?" Knife responded to that, and Murder's cheekbones went blue as he flipped him off.
"we're not messing with anyone right now, cut it out." Murder scolded, and Knife snickered, teleporting over to him and crouching on one of the arms of the couch, old and holey shoes getting some dirt on the green fabric, "knife, get your feet off the damn couch. you know starry hates when you get the couch all dirty."
"fine..." Knife sighed, and he flopped down horizontally across Murder, causing him to go 'oof!'
"knife!" Murder hissed, and Knife chuckled.
"hey, my feet are off the couch." Knife smirked, and Murder rolled his eyelights.
He looked back at Knife's feet, seeing the holes in the soles and how worn down and tattered they were, and the tied laces were decorative. They also stank. Horribly. Worse than a skunk that drank fart spray and ate a ton of chilis.
"how the hell long have you had those shoes?" Murder questioned, poking Knife's sock through one of the holes in the shoe.
"uh.... since i left my timeline?" Knife guessed, and he yelped as Murder picked him up before he started walking to the front door, "hey! where are we going?!"
"we're going to get you new shoes." Murder informed, "you're not fighting in those."
"they're fine!" Knife insisted, and Murder scoffed, teleporting near a mall before putting Knife down.
"they're not. you like new things so much, and yet you refuse to get new shoes." Murder responded, and Knife chuckled.
"i just like these." Knife shrugged.
"and there's probably another one just like it that doesn't look like it survived a nuclear blast." Murder told him.
"you kidding? these are more invulnerable than a twinkie!" Knife replied, and Murder rolled his eyelights again.
"well i'm sure another pair are too. let's go." Murder didn't leave him any room for arguing, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the doors.
Knife didn't help at all, keeping his feet straight down, making Murder literally drag him to the door. Once they got inside, that didn't change, just the tiles squeaked under Knife's feet, that is until he saw Spencer's, and then Murder was the one getting dragged there.
"knife, no!" Murder snapped.
"oh come on!" Knife pouted, and he smirked, "they might have some stuff there for us~"
". . . i will punch you." Murder stated, and Knife snickered.
"we go in there, there's gonna be a timeskip due to the contents of the store." Knife's smirk sharpened. Murder sighed, and he teleported them both to Hot Topic, and Knife looked up at the glowing white sign, then back at Murder, and he said, "acceptable."
Murder let go of his hand, and he walked into the store, only to turn around to find Knife starting to slowly step back towards Spencer's. Murder sighed, and he turned around, grabbed Knife's hand, and he pulled him into the store, which was playing "Animal I have become" by Three Days Grace, a song he and probably Knife related to uncomfortably well. Inside of the store, there was a lot of pop and emo merchandise and clothing, not to mention a lot of pop culture stuff Murder didn't keep up with all that much, but Knife probably did.
Murder pulled him over to where the shoes were, and he heard Knife gasp, grabbing a pair of Hello Kitty shoes with his free hand. The shoes were actually black boots with red-buckled black straps, red bows on the straps themselves, and they had red soles and stitching. That wasn't even mentioning the Hello Kitty on the sides of the heels of the boots. Nope.
"no." Murder denied, refusing to fight on the same side as someone who wore Hello Kitty shoes.
"killjoy." Knife sighed, and Murder let go of his hand, now more certain that he wouldn't run away, but he watched him closely so he wouldn't steal anything.
Knife eventually grabbed a box from a shelf, opening it and kicking his shoes off, revealing extremely holey and stained socks.
Murder stopped him before he could open the shoe box, and said, "nope, we're getting you new socks first."
"oh come on, they aren't that bad." Knife replied, and Murder gave him a blank look.
"fine..." Knife sighed, and he sat on a chair and removed the socks.
Murder immediately grabbed them and threw them in a trash bin, and he started looking through the socks in this store, trying to find any Knife would wear. Knife had his size, so that made things easier.
"can i at least get cat socks?" Knife requested.
". . . not hello kitty." Murder told him, "we would be a laughing stock."
". . . don't want your boyfriend to embarrass you?~" Knife teased, and Murder rolled his eyelights before flipping him off, looking through the socks.
He found some black socks with red stitching and red Hello Kitty bows embroidered on the backs and across the toes, and he grabbed them, and paid for them without a word. The cashier was a dark gray bunny monster with purple glasses and black hair, a fringe over her blue eyes and the hair was shoulder-length. She was wearing black eye shadow and eye-liner, and a short-sleeved shirt with some form of anime on it, a pale human with black hair and bags or makeup under his eyes, and he was wearing a white shirt.
The bunny was wearing a black skirt and black heels, visible from when she walked over to the register to ring him up. She greeted him, Murder responding with a small wave, and he was mostly embarrassed he was buying this. He handed over the G, and he took the socks back to Knife, grumbling under his breath as he tossed the socks at Knife, who started laughing upon seeing the look on Murder's face.
"you owe me for that." Murder glared, and Knife snickered, taking the tags off and putting on the socks, smiling at them.
"i should let you take me out for clothes more often." Knife mentioned with a smirk.
"don't make me regret this." Murder huffed.
"of course not!" Knife smiled, and he grabbed some black, very high heels that went up to his knees, putting them on with a grin. Murder then saw the Spencer's tag, and gave him a flat look, Knife snickering before taking them off and briefly teleporting away, likely putting them back. "no fun."
Knife then opened the shoe box, revealing some black platform boots with black laces, and the skeleton sighed dejectedly.
Murder gave him a questioning look, and he asked, "what?"
"i dunno how to tie laces." Knife admitted.
". . . you're not messing with me?" Murder questioned.
"no." Knife answered, and Murder sighed, and he crouched on the floor, less than pleased with this.
"put the damn shoes on, i'll teach you." Murder told him, "and don't breathe a word of this to anyone."
". . . thanks, babe." Knife smirked, and Murder glared at him but didn't say anything else, putting the boots on like asked, and Murder grabbed an end of a lace in each hand.
"watch carefully. i'm only explaining this once." Murder told him, and Knife nodded, "you start by making the letter 'x' with your laces." Murder did so, "then pull one end into the bottom gap," Murder pulled one of the ends under the cross, and he pulled it tight, "that starts the loop. got it so far?"
"yup." Knife nodded.
"good. next, you make a loop with a lace," Murder made a loop with the left lace, "and wrap the other lace around it, but loosely," Murder wrapped the other lace around the loop once, leaving space under it, "now take that end, and pull it through the gap," Murder grabbed the end of the lace, and he pulled it through the gap, creating a second loop, and then pulled both loops tight, "done."
"huh, that wasn't so bad." Knife shrugged.
"good, because you're doing the second one, just so i don't have to deal with you constantly wanting me to tie your laces." Murder replied, and Knife's shoulders slumped.
"ok, ok..." Knife sighed, and he started repeating Murder's steps, doing surprisingly well.
"you sure you didn't know?" Murder questioned, giving him a suspicious look.
"i didn't, i promise. they usually got pissed if i didn't get something right right away." Knife sighed, and Murder grimaced a little.
"got it... you want anything else while you're here?" Murder asked.
". . . oh my god!" Knife jumped up from his seat, running to something a few aisles away, and Murder tossed his old shoes in the trash before following after him.
"what'd you find?" Murder questioned, and Knife turned around, holding a stuffed toy of a human in an orange parka, the human having large eyes with black pupils, no irises, and their face was barely visible.
"oh my god!" Knife grinned, "they killed kenny!"
". . . what?" Murder asked.
". . . we're watching south park later, murds." Knife stated, and Murder wasn't sure if he should be worried or not.
He was going with yes.
Knife spent the next fifteen minutes looking through this 'South Park' stuff, and by the end of it, Murder and Knife walked up to the cashier, Knife having his arms filled with South Park stuff, a big grin on his face as he put everything on the counter, including the now empty shoe box as he jumped slightly from excitement. Exaggerated or not, Knife was happy right now. Something that had Murder concerned for his own safety. The cashier, the same bunny from before, started scanning the merchandise, smiling a little.
"You like South Park too?" The bunny asked, Knife nodding.
"yeah! favorite character?" Knife replied.
"Butters, easy." The bunny answered, "Yours?"
"kenny, definitely. well, him and cartman." Knife responded, "he hasn't seen the show yet, i'm gonna have him binge some of it with me tonight."
Knife elbowed Murder's side playfully, and Murder sighed. At least this was better than Knife setting something on fire.
"So, how long have you two been a couple?" The bunny questioned, and Knife smirked, hugging Murder from behind with his arms draped around his shoulders. Murder hated being smaller than Knife, if only by a few inches.
"around a month or so, and it's been great!" Knife grinned.
"Sorry, just- can I get a picture of you guys? We have a crazy couples wall here, and you guys are awesome!" The bunny requested.
"well-" Murder started, but Knife cut him off, saying, "of course!"
"Great!" The bunny smiled, taking a quick picture as Murder looked up at Knife, mentally plotting how to get back at him for this.
The picture printed out, and was pinned to the wall with a red pin, and the employees door swung open, an orange cat monster running out of the area, laughing. She had a black shirt with a cartoon light blue character on it, which had two white pieces of hair that acted like bangs, the back of his head having hair which split off into three parts, like an 'M', the top dark blue with a white streak, and the bottom black with light blue eyes. He had a cyan right eye and a dark blue left eye, a dark blue marking behind the cyan eye, and the cyan eye was outlined in black while the dark blue was outlined in white. He had a fluffy white collar with a blue eye pin in the middle, the pin outlined in silver, and large paned slashed sleeves with blue in the centers, the right sleeve white while the left was black, both ending in large white ruffles.
He otherwise wore a black onesie with a few cyan diamonds on it, one on the chest, one on the right foot and two on the left, and he had a split cape, black on the top and dark blue on the bottom, the bottom having more eyes. The cat monster also wore black sweatpants, dark blue sneakers, and was cackling while running away from a dragon monster. The dragon monster had black and red scales, blue eyes, red spikes, and red wing membranes, and was wearing ripped black jeans, a red shirt with a black leather jacket, and red sandals.
"Ali! What did you do?!" The bunny monster asked, turning as the orange cat monster ran past the three of them.
"Your mom!" The orange cat, Ali, replied with a smirk, and the bunny gave her a blank look, "Ok, fine! I hid Cherry's chocolate!"
"Do you have a death wish?!" The bunny exclaimed as the dragon pounced at Ali, who dodged with a laugh.
"Maybe!" Ali responded.
"Yes she does!" Cherry snapped, "Rain, help me! L's sleeping in the back after their all-nighter last night!"
"I can't either! I'm doing my job!" Rain replied.
"Too bad, so sad!" Ali giggled, throwing a Hershey's Kiss at Cherry before running out of the store, the dragon monster chasing after her.
"Sorry, my uh... my siblings can be... yeah..." Rain apologized, scanning and bagging the last item.
"you're alright, don't worry about it. i've seen crazier." Murder replied, handing over the G and paying for it because Knife, of course, would not.
Rain laughed a little before nodding, Knife excitedly grabbing the bags, and Murder hoped he would at least be somewhat entertained for a while. They left the store a few moments later, teleporting back to Story's house, everyone else already there, along with Red and his brother, having likely agreed to the spying mission, and a demon-like pair of another Sans and Papyrus Murder hadn't seen anywhere before. Him and Red went back a while, Red not a stranger to the Omega Timeline, and he'd known him and his brother would accept the opportunity to help avenge their Undyne.
"murder, knife! we were just about to go looking for you!" Dream exclaimed, "where were you?"
"went to hot topic." Murder shrugged, and Knife set his bags down in a corner, still clearly pleased with what he got at the store.
"you actually got him to get new shoes?" Color seemed surprised, "i've been trying for years! how'd you talk him into it?"
". . . ." Murder was silent, and Knife snickered.
"he got me fun socks." Knife answered, leaving the 'Hello Kitty' part out, "i'll show you later."
"wait wait wait, y'all went to hot topic, right? not spencer's?" Red asked, looking between the two of them.
"yeah?" Murder confirmed, looking at him in confusion.
"damn, ya didn't go there to get anythin' for you two ta try?" Red asked with a smirk, and Murder looked away, cheekbones probably blue right now.
How the hell did Red know?!
Knife laughed as he walked over, shaking his skull no, "nah, not this time."
"WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT?" Swap asked.
"nothing, don't worry about it." Murder told him, "how'd everything go?"
"well, everythin' wasn't too bad on our end. found somethin' weird in hotland on the core, but mighta just been the timeline." Red shrugged, "the underfell papyrus and sans we took the places of actually let us knock 'em out. they didn't wanna participate neither."
"things weren't too bad for us, either." Reality nodded, "shattered ran off during the fight, then me and dream helped error and pj fight nightmare and bill."
"and that fight..." PJ trailed off, looking at Error, who was laying and pouting on the floor, and they sighed, "bill's a pain in the coccyx."
"yup." Error sighed.
"AND I HELPED THESE TWO! MURDER, KNIFE! MEET REBEL AND RENEGADE! I HELPED THEM BREAK FREE FROM THE EVIL ASGORE WHO WAS ABLE TO CONTROL THEM! WE FOUGHT OFF MOST OF THE TIMELINE TOGETHER, AND VIOLET AND SOMEONE ELSE STORY SAID WENT BY WINE!" Swap explained, introducing the new Sans and Papyrus, and he started walking over to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle innocently labeled 'adult apple juice' and pouring himself a glass.
Murder missed alcohol so much.... He wasn't entirely sure why Swap drank; maybe dealing with the loss of his brother, but there was something else, too. Something he'd noticed right after meeting him, but he was unable to place it.
"yeah, wine's a pain." Karma sighed, "really someone to whine about."
Murder snorted despite himself, most of the room cracking up except for a few of the more serious occupants of the room.
"it wasn't too bad for us, either." Color said, "the murder time trio was there, and me, delta, and epic handled them. they're still such a pain to fight when they work together."
"tell me about it..." Dream sighed, "they're nightmare's top team, and they show it."
"i still wanna kick dust's tailbone again." Murder muttered.
"can always kick mi-~" Knife started, but Murder cut him off, "don't even start!"
"um... murder, can we talk for a moment?" Dream asked, and Murder hesitated for a moment before nodding, following Dream out of the house, and once the door was shut, Dream spoke up, "murder, i know you're your own skeleton, and i respect that, but some of your choices are.... murder, i'll always support you, no matter what, but this with knife... are you sure about this?"
. . . Damn it.
"ok, umm.. there's actually something you need to know about." Murder started, and Dream looked anxious, "we're not really... you know... a thing. we've just been doing it to mess with everyone."
"wait, what?" Dream asked, surprised, and Murder nodded.
"he figured it'd be a fun way of messing with everyone, and it would keep him entertained enough to not do anything stupid. besides, seeing everyone's faces when they think i actually find knife attractive is kinda hilarious." Murder chuckled a little.
"so the whole thing was just a joke? there was no kiss or anything?" Dream looked relieved.
"oh there was a kiss." Murder admitted, and Dream's relieved expression vanished, "but there was nothing behind it! i literally did it to shut him up so i could go back to sleep, i wasn't even thinking clearly when i did it since the lv was still wearing off. nothing romantic behind it from my end or from his. just an innocent way to mess with everyone."
"oh thank nim." Dream sighed in returning relief, "i was going to say i really thought you should reconsider your choices in romantic partners, considering how toxic that would be."
"heh, yeah, that's kinda why the reactions are funny. . . . you won't tell anyone, right?" Murder asked, "i wasn't really invested in this at first but it's honestly really fun messing with everyone."
Dream laughed a little, and shook his skull no, "no, i won't tell. you're having fun with this, and you're getting along with knife relatively well- at least you're not constantly trying to kill each other, so it's an improvement... i hope. still, you're having fun, and you deserve to have some fun with your life, even if that means an elaborate queerbaiting prank. just... tell me if it becomes something more, ok? i don't want you getting into an unhealthy relationship, you deserve so much better than that."
"it won't, don't worry." Murder reassured, "but uh... thanks..."
"of course." Dream replied, hugging him, and Murder hugged him back.
"can i help?" Reality questioned, and Murder flinched, him and Dream looking over to see him poke his skull around the side of the house.
"you... you wanna help?..." Murder asked, surprised.
"yeah, why not." Reality shrugged, "i like drama."
"stars, brother..." Dream sighed, him and Murder pulling away from the hug, and Reality laughed a little. Dream paused, and he asked, "has anyone seen aliza?"
"she left with core a while ago, something about finding the sans from her au." Murder recalled, "neither of them are back yet?"
"not that i can sense." Dream frowned, Reality shaking his skull no.
Core appeared a few moments later, form flickering into existence with several wounds, bleeding black blood and clutching one of their arms.
"core!" The three exclaimed, running over, and Dream asked, "what happened?!"
"i... i found axe, and i took aliza there to try getting through to him. it... didn't work, and i got crushed under a building, i barely got enough wiggle room to teleport out, but aliza... i think axe took her with him." Core explained, and Dream, Reality, and Murder exchanged glances.
Then Dream and Reality started swearing in Spanish, Murder in Korean.
This was not good.
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