If you take suggestions for redesigns still, may we see redesigns for Demitale Papyrus and Demitale Undyne? It’ll be fun to see the sparring pair together and how much their designs have changed!
Ayy no worries I still do take suggestions, just had a bit of an artblock. I did not draw them sparring but have my new takes on Demitale Papyrus and Undyne:
DEMI!PAPYRUS
The old Demi!Papyrus used to kinda be this cinnamon roll that needed to be protected at all costs. I no longer like that idea. I feel it no longer matches this story and infantilizes the actual character.
Therefore I re-imagined him as part of the royal guard working under Sans and Undyne. He is the most strong willed monster in the underground, as he never falls to become a full Demon.
As a Royal Guard he is forced to do some gruesome things, but he will do anything in his power to avoid violent outcomes. He is keeping the people safe from the tyrant king, even if this is not always possible. In other words, if you get captured by a royal guard you better hope it is Papyrus.
His relationship with his brother is strained due to their situation, but Papyrus empathy allows him to remain patient.
DEMI!UNDYNE
Undynes story remains the same for the most part. She is still the Captain of the Royal Guard who once faced the tyrant king and was utterly defeated. The burn scar on her face a constant reminder of her failure.
Everyday she is waiting for the right moment to strike again, to fight back. But her hope for such a moment is fading and she is on thin ice when it comes to keeping her sanity. Weather or not the fire inside of her reignites depends on the little human.
Least this is the base idea for now :) Do with it whatever you want.
After a bit of talking, Dream teleported himself, Abyss, and Error to the Omega Timeline; to one of the parks here, which was filled with flowers and trees to remind the residents of their homes. The ground was filled with flowers and grass, and the trees were lush with leaves and occasional fruits. He'd sensed Reality here, and he wanted him to meet Abyss, due to his brother loving books, and Abyss having a book with details about Alternate Universes and the Sanses of the multiverse. Reality perked up when he saw them, the purple-clothed skeleton having been sitting against a large tree, predictably with a book.
Dream couldn't read the title, so he didn't know what it was about, but knowing his brother, it was either informational or something edgy. Maybe even both; he'd once listened to his brother from this multiverse talk for hours about the plants or bugs or wildlife he'd read about, sometimes several facts about owls, showing him creepy pictures in the process while trying to convince him owls weren't all terrifying, but they were just... They were still creepy!
They were creepy and constantly stared at him like they wanted to rip his soul out of his chest and shred it with their sharp talons! Would he help one if it was hurt? Absolutely. Would he go near one otherwise? Hell no. Still, seeing Reality with that book, a small smile on his face as his eyelights scanned the pages... Dream missed seeing that...
"hey, dream!" Reality greeted, "hey error, and uh... hi fluffy guy?..."
"hey! my name's abyss!" Abyss greeted, "you must be reality? i heard about you from when i was in outertale. . . . hey, is that an encyclopedia of aus? i know some authors in the omega timeline have published some volumes on all the aus they've encountered, but i haven't seen a copy for myself."
"heh, yeah. i've been reading up on everything about the multiverse. i... don't really know much about aus and timeline types, so i'm trying to figure out more about them for the next time we go to one." Reality responded.
"you've read tricks for travelers? a hitchhikers guide to the multiverse? the timeline paradoxes?" Abyss listed, Reality nodding along.
"yeah, i've read most of the books at the library but this one, but it seems to go more off of guesses than anything. i can guarantee that something new sanses don't like chocolate." Reality replied.
"yeah, some of the information can be kinda biased, incorrect, or outdated. i've got my own book that i add to sometimes. it had a decent amount of aus, but i've been expanding on it." Abyss mentioned, and Reality's eye sockets widened, and Dream smiled as he saw his brother growing excited.
"really?! can i see it?" Reality requested, and Abyss laughed a little before nodding with a shrug.
"i don't see why not. no one can see the pages but me, but i could read it to you, and i can confirm anything you've read in the other books if you want?" Abyss offered.
"that would be amazing!" Reality replied, and Abyss teleported over to him, sitting down against the tree and grabbing a large red and white book from within his coat, and it didn't take Reality long to start asking questions.
Nightmare- not the thing that had taken him over, but his true brother... he'd always had an inquisitive nature. He loved learning, yes, but one thing he'd always wanted was someone to learn with him. He didn't like the villagers, but he'd always wanted friends, or at least a friend for him to geek out about something with, be it something insignificant or something major. Dream would never consider something his brother enjoyed as insignificant, especially with how much he would smile as he talked about it for hours at a time.
Dream usually didn't understand what his brother was talking about, but he nodded along anyways, trying to stay an engaged listener so his brother had someone to talk to about what he'd read, even if they didn't share interests. Dream knew it didn't compare to someone actually sharing those interests with him or knowing about the subject as well, and Dream truly wished that he'd been able to have someone like that before... Dream shook himself away from those thoughts, the memories bittersweet. His brother had been dead for five hundred years, but this one was alive, and he was happy.
Dream almost wanted to take a picture of that smile, but he figured that that would be weird, and it wouldn't be the same as causing Reality to smile like that more often. Dream knew a lot about AUs, yes, but that wasn't the only thing Reality was interested in. He enjoyed sciences, different types of magic and alchemy, especially runes, species of flora, fauna, and fungi, and practically anything there was to learn about. Dream had been tempted throughout the years to learn about what had interested his brother as a way of remembering him, but he had the same problem now that he'd had then: He didn't know how to read.
His brother had offered to teach him after he'd learned, but Dream had been so occupied by the villagers to where he didn't have time, and after that was being trapped in the stone, and then waking up and trying to stop the thing that had possessed his dead brother's corpse. There was some room for downtime now, as he had more help now than he had had before, but he didn't know how or who to ask.
Dream glanced at Error, knowing the skeleton could probably read, but he wasn't sure how to ask for his help. Error had been helping out with so much recently, he didn't want to add onto that ever-growing list. Dream glanced between Error and Reality and Abyss a few times, only to flinch as he saw Error staring at him after a glance.
"what?" Error questioned.
"do umm... do you know how to read?" Dream asked quietly, and he saw Error grow irritated.
"what's that supposed to mean? of course i do! do you think i'm stupid or somethi-?" Error started to question, and Dream held his hands up in a placating gesture, waving them from side to side hurriedly.
"no, no! that's not what i meant at all! i was just... i don't know how..." Dream admitted.
". . . what?" Error asked, looking doubtful, "you're like fourteen, how the hell can't you read?"
"i was never taught, ok?" Dream sighed, "i never really had time to learn, and just... can you teach me? please?"
"how did you text with me after blue died, then?" Error questioned.
"i turned on the text to speech and speech to text." Dream answered.
". . . look, i'll teach you, ok? it's not that difficult." Error sighed, "just-"
"never let ink learn about this, even if he's forgetful, he'd write it down so he remembered to tease us, i know." Dream sighed.
"there ya go. come on." Error opened a glitching white portal underneath them, and Dream yelped as he felt the ground vanish from under him before he felt onto a pile of blankets, all galaxy themed.
Dream wasn't surprised Error still had blankets from his friendship with Blue, he just wasn't sure why Error kept making Dream fall onto them. Dream looked up at Error, seeing him half into a glitching white portal, looking through several different books before grabbing a few. Dream could sense some negativity from the library as Error stole the books, and from the sounds of the yelling as Error closed the portal, the glitch had done it right in front of them. Error was laughing a bit, his snickering rising and lowering in pitch, looping back over itself a bit as he settled down. He turned to Dream, a few books in his hands, and he tossed them to him before plopping down in his bean bag chair.
". . . error, i need some help here. if i could just use a book, i would've done this already." Dream sighed.
"ugh, fine..." Error huffed, using strings to pull the blankets Dream was sitting on near him, more than an arm's length between them, "step one: open the book."
Dream flipped him off, causing Error to burst out laughing. Once the laughter had settled, Error wiped some tears from his eye sockets, and Dream sighed before opening the book, looking at the picture of an apple.
"a is for apple. it makes an 'ah' or 'aye' sound." Error described, and Dream nodded, flipping to the next page, "b is for book. it makes an 'ba' or 'beh' sound. most of it is pretty straightforward when you know the words, and you can spell them out. it might take a bit for you to get used to, but you'll probably get it, or you'll just sound like an idiot when you try reading something out loud and don't know how to pronounce it."
"gee, thanks..." Dream sighed sarcastically, and he turned the page again.
They went through the rest of the book, Error explaining each letter, and then they went through the next books, which had big letters and pictures, but they told stories. Dream wasn't sure how long they did this for, as time in the antivoid was nearly impossible to perceive, and eventually they went through the stack of books.
"so, why the sudden interest in learning? like, why now?" Error questioned.
"i don't know, i just... i want to be able to do something with my brother that he enjoys. before... all this, back before nightmare got... he used to always read, and he would always love talking about things he'd read. i could never read the books, though, and i never had time to learn. then... well, everything happened, and i've been busy." Dream sighed.
"so you're jealous of abyss and reality." Error smirked.
"no!" Dream denied, "how did you get 'jealousy' out of 'wanting to be able to bond with my brother'?"
"because you saw someone else bonding with him and you got jeeaaaaalooooousssss." Error snickered, "you're looking green with envy, banana. you sure you're ripe?"
Dream sighed, rolling his eyelights, "yes, i'm sure." Dream replied in exasperation, "i just like seeing him happy, and being able to read with him would make him happy."
". . . you know what else would make him happy?" Error questioned.
". . . i have a feeling no matter what i say you're just gonna say something anyways." Dream responded, and Error smirked.
"yep." Error confirmed, "me and blue used to have fun doing something, and sure, it was kinda stupid, but it was fun for when we were bored. we'd basically dress up in something we would never usually wear, be it a character from a show or just the opposite of ourselves."
Error and Blue... had played dress-up?... . . . Dream was torn between being surprised and just accepting the answer, since Error was renowned to be childish, and playing dress-up was a childish thing to do, so it made some sense... then again, this was Blue and the Destroyer of Worlds playing dress-up like little girls, and Dream had no idea what to do with that information.
"and you think reality would be happy with that?" Dream asked.
"well, not the two of you doing it, but you doing it. he'd find it hilarious." Error responded, smirking.
". . . what did you have in mind?" Dream questioned, and he felt dread in his soul as Error's smirk grew into a broad grin.
"hang on." Error told him, and he went through a glitching white portal, gone for a few minutes before returning, arms laden with dark gray and black clothes.
"oh hell no." Dream refused.
"oh come on! it's gonna be amazing!!" Error pleaded, "you won't know if you like it until you try it, and it would make your brother laugh! come on, dream! go goth!"
". . ." Oh the things Dream did for his brother... "alright, ok, but only for a little, and this information never reaches ink, ever. even after we get him back."
"i sure as hell won't tell him. i'm not sure about the others, though." Error shrugged, and Dream sighed, only to yelp as Error tossed the clothes at him before pulling up blankets all around him, making a make-shift privacy barrier, "get dressed, edgelord!"
Dream groaned, pinching the bridge of his nasal cavity before he started removing his clothes, and once he was bare boned, he looked over the picked out outfit with a grimace before getting dressed in it. He pulled on the dark gray short-sleeved shirt, which had black skulls and tombstones on the front with something written in indistinguishable writing on it in bright purple along the top. Next was a black hooded leather vest with silver spikes on the shoulders and turned to black lace sleeves past that, ending with studded cuffs around his wrists, followed by black fishnet fingerless gloves, which was odd for him to wear, as he never really had his fingers exposed outside of gloves before.
He pulled up the black jeans before putting on the belt, then the thankfully white socks so that he didn't have to deal with the black lint, and then the black sneakers with silver accents and red strings. Dream didn't dislike black, as his usual outfit had it in it, but it was broken up with the light yellows and gentle teals. This was just... edgy. Dream still wasn't removing his golden crown, though, which he knew probably made him look even weirder, but he didn't really care at this point. He probably already looked weird enough.
"ok!" Dream called out, and the blankets dropped.
Error had taken a picture before the blankets hit the floor, and then he was crying laughing moments later, a fluffy pink scarf wrapped around his neck. Dream sighed, rolling his eyelights, and he crossed his arms with an irritated expression on his face, waiting for Error to laugh himself out.
It took longer than expected.
After a few minutes, Error finally settled down, wiping tears from his eye sockets for the second time, and he took another two minutes to catch his breath.
"you done?" Dream asked, giving him an unimpressed look, and Error snickered before shaking his skull no.
"not quite." Error grinned, holding up a small glass container of black nail polish, and Dream sighed.
Dream sat down on the floor, Error sitting in front of him, and he opened the container, gesturing for Dream to hold out his hand, which he did, and then Error froze as he realized he'd need to touch Dream's hand in order to keep him steady.
"error, you really don't have to do this." Dream informed, both for his own sake and for Error's.
"no, it's ok! it was just easier with blue.. uh... hang on." Error grabbed a glove from off to the side, putting it on his right hand before he lightly grabbed Dream's wrist, a few glitches riddling through his hand from the contact.
Dream could sense his suppressed panic, which burned him slightly through the glove with how intense it was, and he spoke up, "error, you don't-"
"nope, i'm doing this. shut up." Error cut him off, and he started applying the nail polish to the tops of the ends of his fingers, and it was sloppy, but Dream didn't mention it.
"do umm... do you want me to ease your panic?" Dream offered.
"my ribs aren't broken, so no." Error refused, "i don't like people messing with my head. i've had nightmare terrify the crap out of me, i've had that nineties parasite possess me, and i've had the negativity sucked out of me while my ribs got healed. all of those things are much worse than putting nail polish on you to freak out your brother."
". . ." Dream sighed, "i'm sorry you've had to go through all of that-"
"don't." Error cut him off, "this is happy, mess with everyone time. not angst and pity party time."
Dream sighed again, shaking his skull a bit as he looked down. Error kept painting nails onto his fingertips, and Dream was starting to get a bit antsy. He'd never liked staying still after getting out of the stone, always needing to be doing something or he would start getting nervous and feeling the need to move around. His toes twitched in his new shoes, and he tried focusing on Error's painting in order to distract himself from the immobilization and stillness that came with letting Error paint nails on him.
"you ok?" Error asked, and Dream looked up at him, "you seem anxious."
"oh! no, i'm ok, i just... i don't like sitting still." Dream answered.
"i'm almost done with this hand, then you can move it around, just don't let anything touch them for a bit; it has to dry." Error instructed, and Dream nodded.
He looked to his left as he saw a pool of black paint on the ground, momentarily growing simultaneously hopeful and panicked as his mind shot to it potentially being Ink, only for PJ to emerge from the puddle. The skeleton had a lollipop in their mouth, headphones over their skull, faintly playing rock music, and they paused when they saw Dream and Error. Their eye sockets widened, their left eyelight becoming a rhombus as they looked between them in confusion and mild humor.
"uh... what the hell?..." PJ questioned.
"error's giving me a makeover to make my brother laugh." Dream explained, and Error smirked, snickering a bit.
". . . i'm bringing my phone for that." PJ informed, and Dream could sense them trying not to laugh, "umm.... could you do mine next?"
"really?" Error asked in surprise.
"yeah, why not." PJ shrugged, walking over and sitting down by them after taking a picture.
"hey, delete that!" Error snapped.
"then let me paint yours next!" PJ replied.
"no!" Error refused.
"then it looks like i'm not deleting it~" PJ chuckled, and Error groaned, glitching a bit more from his irritation.
"fiiiiiiiiiiiiinne." Error relented.
"thanks, dad." PJ smirked.
"don't call me that." Error glared.
"fine, father. . . . heh, 'luke, i am your father'." PJ laughed a bit to themself, and Dream smiled a bit despite not getting the joke.
Error rolled his eyelights, finishing with Dream's hand before moving to his second one, PJ watching the whole time, and the skeleton spoke up, "so, uh... 'cemetery chic', you feel edgy yet?"
"says the guy in a pink feather boa." PJ pointed out.
"i don't look like a colorblind test, though!" Error coutered.
"ouch." Dream laughed a little.
". . . i will go full goth, do not test me." PJ stated, "crescent has taught me his ways."
"who's crescent?" Error asked.
"nightmare and killer's kid in my multiverse. well, one of them." PJ answered with a shrug, and Error froze, Dream doing the same, but Error crashed.
"wait, they have kids?!" Dream exclaimed.
"yeah, and if it's any consolation, crescent hates both of them." PJ informed, and Dream was trying to process everything.
So, Murder and Knife apparently had... something going on, and now in another multiverse, nightmare and killer had kids?! Dream was technically a weird uncle, since Nightmare was possessing his dead brother's body, but it was still him....
Error groaned as the crash ended, rubbing his eye sockets, and he muttered, "woah, what boss/slave bias is going on there?"
"oh my god..." Dream groaned, pulling the hood of the vest up and over his skull, trying to hide in it.
"hell if i know." PJ shrugged.
". . . yeah i'm not gonna even think about that right now." Error decided, going back to painting nails onto Dream's fingertips.
"thank you." Dream sighed, deciding to ignore that information for now.
"do you think they're a thing here too?-" PJ started to ask.
"if they are i don't wanna know right now." Error cut him off.
"i don't blame you." Dream nodded.
Once Error finished with his fingers, Dream got up and started pacing around the Antivoid, staying mobile and actively doing something. He didn't find it easy to stay still often, the exceptions being if someone fell asleep against him or just simply needed a long hug. Besides that... he just wasn't a fan.
It didn't take too long for the nail polish to dry, and while he waited, Error painted nails onto the tips of PJ's fingers. Dream could sense several emotions coming from PJ, like usual. For example, they didn't like Error that much, but they also felt the urge to gain some kind of connection with him, and it made sense. Dream knew what it was like to have no present parent, and yes, he'd had a mother, but she was a tree.
PJ had two technical parents, as they were born from the remnants of their magic attacks, but Ink was not parent material. Even though Error wasn't exactly parent material, he still remembered things better and would remember how and when to take care of a child, if he would being the true question. Even still, with them having this little moment, which was the most PJ had probably had with any Error based on their emotions... PJ was happy. They were upset with themself that they were enjoying this, but they were still happy.
Once the nail polish was finished being used, Error put the cap back on, and he backed away from them, looking at Dream in amusement, asking, "ready to go see your brother?"
". . . you're sure this will make him happy? like, he won't be upset with you?" Dream questioned.
"one way to find out!" Error responded, and Dream yelped as the floor vanished from under his feet again.
He hit the grass with a groan, Error and PJ teleporting after him, and Dream rubbed at his eye sockets, hearing footsteps rapidly approaching.
"are you ok-?" Reality's voice asked, but he paused when he saw Dream's face, eye sockets widening and eyelights vanishing, "dream?!"
"hey, brother..." Dream winced, and Reality pulled him to his feet, hands on his shoulders.
"what the hell happened?!" Reality exclaimed, and Dream could hear Error laughing hysterically.
"umm.... it was error's idea?" Dream replied, and he heard Error laugh even harder.
Reality looked torn, glancing between Dream and Error, before he pulled Dream close in a hug, bursting out laughing a moment later. The ridiculousness of the situation seemed to have gotten to him, as he buried his face in Dream's shoulder, trying to keep his laughter somewhat quiet, but he was still almost laughing as hard as Error was. He was happy, though, something that made Dream smile, and he hugged Reality back.
"brother, are you ok?" Dream asked after a moment, Reality pulling away from the hug to look him over again, seemingly trying to keep his composure, only to break down snickering, skull lowering.
"dream- you- you are the worst goth i have ever seen." Reality wheezed.
"is that bad?" Dream questioned, unsure if he should try being edgy or not.
"no, no! you just- oh my god..." Reality laughed, "seriously, what the hell happened?!"
"i cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. i cannot even explain it to myself." Dream responded with a lowered tone, trying to be edgy, and Reality lost it.
Dream looked around, seeing a gathered crowd of people that was either crying laughing, or just stunned. Core and Abyss was watching him from by a tree, mouths agape, Fresh was taking pictures or a video, maybe both, and several others were scattered around. Dream wasn't sure how to handle all of the attention, his skull slightly flushed yellow, but sensing all of everyone's happiness, especially Reality's, made it all worth it. It'd been centuries since he'd heard his brother laugh like this.
Karma was lounging on the couch in Story's living room, trying to process what Player had informed them of. Cross- or X- well, both of them could hack someone and keep the signs of it hidden. They needed to be careful of anyone who got Overwritten, doing code checks after each encounter with Cross or X just to be safe. Karma... really didn't like dirty hackers, and the fact that this was happening... yeah, he was kinda pissed.
Stretch was on the couch next to him, Swap was sitting on the stairs, sending glances at Stretch when he wasn't looking, and the taller skeleton was doing the same to Swap. Aliza, the kid from Axetale that Dream had found, she was there too, getting a snack in the kitchen. Story walked in the front door, bags in their hands, and they were smiling a bit as they walked over.
"Karma, Stretch! Hey!" Story greeted like always, walking over and plopping down on the couch, "Guess what I found."
"ketchup?"
"AN INFINITE TACO CART?"
"a pack of cigs?"
Karma, Swap, and Story gave Stretch an unimpressed look, and Stretch shrugged, "genuine question, guys. sheesh."
". . ." Story was quiet for a moment before continuing, "I found a big haul of physics books at the supermarket, and I figured we could do a big binge of reading through these again."
"it has been a while..." Karma mumbled, "might be useful. swap, you know physics?"
Underswap Sanses never really knew much about them, but he'd learned overtime here that you should never judge someone because of the role they play in their AU, or the type of AU it was, as there could be several differences between each person, Dust and Murder being proof of that.
"NOT REALLY, BUT MY BROTHER DID. HE WAS ACTUALLY LOOKING INTO A TEACHING POSITION BEFORE... YOU KNOW..." Swap looked down at his hands with a sigh, "BUT I NEVER REALLY HAD MUCH INTEREST. THINGS FALL WHEN THEY'RE DROPPED, THAT'S ALL I NEED TO KNOW."
"fair." Karma shrugged.
He knew Swap was still dealing with the loss of his brother, just like how Stretch was his, and the two of them... it was very bittersweet for both of them to interact with each other, and Karma knew it probably hurt. Hell, he knew it did, as during his time here he'd seen so many versions of him and his brother seeing each other after Error had destroyed their timelines, probably killing their families in front of them. Karma... he still didn't like Error or the fact that he was involved, or the fact that Dream was being all buddy-buddy with him. Error wasn't as bad as Nightmare, but he was far from innocent and further from being able to redeem himself. The only reason he wasn't still destroying was because of the truce him and Ink had made, otherwise Error didn't regret his actions in the least. Karma just wanted all of this done and over with so that he wouldn't have to deal with Error much longer, because while he could be nice to Error, he still didn't like him. Karma... he usually believed the worst person could change if they just tried, but Error wouldn't change since he saw nothing wrong with his actions. Besides, him and his friends had lost almost everything to that guy, he wasn't going to forgive that, and neither would they. Sure, he was usually too lazy to hold grudges, but it took more effort to look past Error's past than to hate him for it, and that said something.
"Physics are kinda cool." Aliza said as she walked over, a sandwich on a plate in her hand, "My mom wrote about Sans- the one from my world, sorry that's still confusing... but she wrote about him enjoying physics."
"yeah, most sanses like physics, or the ones with his role." Stretch shrugged.
"I still don't understand that..." Aliza mumbled.
"hang on, one sec." Karma got up, teleporting to Story's room and putting some markers in his pockets and grabbing a large dry erase board on wheels from the closet before teleporting back downstairs with it, putting it in front of the TV. He gestured for Aliza to sit where he'd been sitting, and he uncapped a marker, drawing an outline of a box, "picture this as a universe, alright? it has timelines-" Karma drew smaller outlines of boxes down from it, making lines connecting them to the first box, "-that vary depending on how each event in a universe goes. they could be from minor or major events, the only thing that matters is they're different. make sense so far?"
Aliza nodded, answering, "So far, yeah."
"good. alright, so those timelines can split off into their own timelines, those into their own timelines, and so on. well, alternate universes are universes that have experiences major changes. those change the whole universe as a whole. the fun thing is that all alternate universes are just alternate timelines that experienced drastic changes early on, and they split off from the timeline they began from and are so different they're counted as their own world. now there's aus where monsters are humans and vice versa, aus where monsters are dragons or something like that, too." Karma continued.
"So are those actual Alternate Universes? Different from the originals?" Aliza questioned.
"not quite. they still experienced changes early on, just so early on the species changed. evolution itself can face changes, so can monsters coming into existence." Karma explained.
"So all Alternate Universes are Alternate Timelines, but not all Alternate Timelines are Alternate Universes?" Aliza asked.
"yup." Stretch nodded, "it's all in how similar they are to each other."
"Wait, if all of these are Alternate Universes and Alternate Timelines of a universe... what's the original?" Aliza questioned.
"well, that's the core of the multiverse. it's what caused all the aus and ats to exists, just by existing. it's the center of everything that exists, but it isn't the first thing to exist." Karma answered.
"So the core of this multiverse is just another timeline in some bigger multiverse?" Aliza asked.
"exactly." Karma nodded.
". . . Ok I understand it now but I wish I didn't." Aliza said.
"you're welcome for the crisises, kid." Karma chuckled, "and it gets better."
"Oh god..." Aliza groaned, tilting her head back, "How?"
"the timelines, well, most of them, have something called a 'reset button', which allows someone with the most determination in that universe to rewind the timeline to a set point in time, which creates a brand new timeline from that point, ending the other one. they can also 'load' after dying, which loops the timeline back a bit to the last time they used a 'save point'." Karma described.
"So like a video game?" Aliza questioned.
"yeah, basically, and we're all npcs." Karma confirmed, "anyways, they have that, and they can cause anything to happen. however, pretty much everyone in the timeline remembers snippets of the reset timelines through deja vu, like remembering preferences or remembering if someone was hurt or in danger. that can cause several issues if something like a genocide loop happens."
"Yikes... so the genocide timelines, are those just new timelines forming with each Reset, or is it the same one?" Aliza asked.
"nah, it's still a new one, but some stuff transfers over. enough resets happen, memories get clearer for people with above average determination, and uh... well, the multiverse is an angsty place." Karma sighed.
"Which is exactly what Nightmare wants. He wants everyone to suffer and go through hell so he can feed on it, which is what we want to stop." Story sighed, "Stretch lost his brother Blue to it a while ago, and Blue fought against Nightmare for years. Swap lost his whole world to that monster, including his brother."
". . . There's some kind of trope here, I know it." Aliza said, and Story snorted a bit.
"Yup. The multiverse can... well, it's hell sometimes, but it's home. There's some good spots in it, like this place. Core made this place themself, and they still expand on it so that everyone who wants sanctuary can get it." Story informed, "Without them... me and my bro would be dead."
"yeah, i would be dead, too." Karma mentioned, and Story stood up from the couch, walking over to him.
"And besides, without this place, I would've never met these two." Story headbutted Karma's shoulder, causing him to quietly go 'oof!'
"What about Stretch?" Aliza questioned.
"stretch... he just doesn't like going home to his world, so he's here full time." Karma answered.
"Yeah, I get that... I ran away from my home in my world, trying to get away from my Gramma. My mom wrote about the Underground, about her best friend Sans, and how if anything happened to her and my dad, that he would be responsible for taking care of me. Of course no one took that seriously, they thought she was insane, but... I still believed her, and I went down there. Everything was.... there wasn't anything there, and Dream told me about what happened to it and brought me here. He's hoping that I can convince someone who joined up with Nightmare to change sides before he can do anything too horrible, since I'll probably remind him of my mom." Aliza told them.
"that could work. nightmare having one less monster on his side is still one less monster." Karma nodded.
"I DOUBT IT'LL MAKE MUCH OF A DENT, CONSIDERING HOW MANY AUS HE PROBABLY HAS AT HIS DISPOSAL, BUT YOU'RE RIGHT. IT'S ONE LESS PERSON TO FIGHT." Swap nodded, "WHICH DEFINITELY DOESN'T HURT. ME AND DREAM BEAT NIGHTMARE ONCE, BUT I HAVEN'T ENCOUNTERED HIM SINCE THEN."
"yeah, nightmare's not easy to beat, and neither is anyone working for him. you heard about geno, right?" Karma asked.
"YEAH, I DID..." Swap sighed, "IT'S A GOOD THING THAT WAS FOUND OUT EARLY, BEFORE ANYTHING WORSE COULD HAVE HAPPENED. I HOPE HE DOESN'T FEEL TOO TERRIBLE ABOUT ANYTHING THAT HE DID..."
"i'm with ya on that, bro." Stretch agreed, and him and Swap winced, "sorry."
"NO, NO! IT'S OK!" Swap reassured, "REALLY, IT'S ALRIGHT. I MEAN WE ARE BROTHERS, JUST FROM DIFFERENT TIMELINES."
"yeah, i just know it hurts you to hear that." Stretch frowned.
"YES, BUT HAVING A VERSION OF MY BROTHER THAT'S ALIVE IS BETTER THAN NOT HAVING ONE AT ALL. IT JUST..." Swap trailed off, him and Stretch finishing in sync, "HURTS."
The group was quiet for a bit, and Karma wiped down the dry erase board with his sleeve, looking between the room's four other occupants, and he mentioned, "well, this conversation got angsty."
"Yup..." Story agreed, leaning against his side.
Sans was looking out over the fleeing monsters, watching them run away from them in fear and pain. He didn't necessarily like this job, but he didn't have a choice. He needed to do it voluntarily in order to protect his brother, and if he refused, Asgore would just make him do it anyways, and hurt his brother. Sans's jaw clenched a bit at that thought, his grip tightening on the black bone sword he was holding.
He'd gotten through this attack mostly unscathed, just a few minor scratches that wouldn't take too long to heal, each taking barely a fraction of HP. He heard footsteps next to him, and his yellow eyelights looked up to see Undyne, looking down at him in concern with her yellow slit pupil, the rest of her eye black. The black horns were visible through her bright red hair, most of it tied up in a wild ponytail with a black hair tie.
She was wearing her black armor with a chest-plate and shoulder-pads, large, sharp black metal gloves that went halfway up her arm, having three massive black spikes coming out of the back, black pants, and black metal boots. She had the black cuffs and choker for the damn chains around her wrists and next, the green chains dangling down from them and turning invisible after a couple links. Sans had his own dark blue chain coming down from his neck, only a few links visible right now, as was the default, but when Asgore decided to play puppet master, the chains became fully visible instead of vanishing from view after a few links.
"Sans? You ok?" Undyne asked, and he nodded.
"yeah, i'm fine..." Sans sighed, "just... this job never gets easier."
"No, it doesn't." Undyne agreed, and she asked, "What do you think about that alliance King Asgore mentioned?"
"the one with nightmare, hate, and that shattered guy?" Sans questioned, and she nodded.
He'd heard about that, the news having been the buzz of the Underground for the last few days. His departure was a welcome one, everyone taking their chance to have a break before the inevitable hell that would occur upon his return. Sans had gotten to take his little brother out for some ice cream, watch a movie while Undyne covered for him on guard duty, and just try and anticipate what the hell would happen next. Terrorizing other people- people with better lives than he did- who had chances he didn't... he didn't enjoy it.
He didn't feel jealous or envious of them and their freedom like some of the other members of the Royal Guard did, in fact he felt the opposite. He was glad there was versions of him and Papyrus who were happy; who had chances to do every day what him and his brother could only rarely get close to. He was wishful that one day, he and his brother could have those same chances, have that same freedom, even if it was far-fetched and hopeless. Hope kept monsters alive, after all, and that was his last hope, aside from his brother's wellbeing. This new agreement of working with other monsters who terrorized others voluntarily... he liked that less than his job, but he didn't have a choice in the matter.
"Yeah, that one." Undyne nodded, "What do you think those guys are like? I mean I heard that they were other versions of you, and I've been hearing about them for months. Hell, I've seen wanted posters of them up when we go to AUs they'd terrorized."
"no clue, but i'm not looking forward to finding out." Sans sighed, looking out at the flames engulfing the buildings that had once made up a peaceful town.
"One way to learn, though. We're supposed to meet up with some of them at an AU soon, maybe in a few days, but it could be less. King Asgore didn't say much, but... it's supposed to be pretty big." Undyne informed.
"thanks for the heads up." Sans thanked her.
"Of course." Undyne nodded, patting his back gently, mindful of her own strength, "You ever think about what it'd be like to have a life outside of terrorizing people?"
"yeah, sometimes..." all the time, "but it's not gonna happen as long as we've got these." Sans held up the short, dark blue chains coming down from his neck for emphasis.
"Yeah, I know. I just.... what would you do? I want to become a singer, but I don't like crowds that much, so I'd have to be blindfolded or something maybe." Undyne mentioned.
"that would work." Sans nodded, seeing how that could be iconic, "i would... i don't know... i wouldn't do this."
"Who would?" Undyne asked.
"your mom." Sans replied with a small smirk, receiving a snort and a light elbow from Undyne.
"Dork." Undyne rolled her eye, smiling a little.
"dweeb." Sans countered, and they both laughed a bit.
If he ever did get the chance to get out of this hell, he was taking her with him and Papyrus, that was for damn sure. The only question was if that day would ever come...
