After only a few days in the Castle, you were trusted with a mission.

Nightmare had called you up to the throne room, saying it was urgent. At this point you had (surprisingly) nailed the location of most rooms, including your own.

In the few days you had spent here, the Papyrus servants had already begun to fear you. One time, you caught a Papyrus talking bad about Cross. You slapped him hard and crushed his tibia, threatening him by saying that if he ever blabbed about any Sans behind their backs they would pay.

Now they all stayed out of your way.

Of course, not all of the servants and guards were terrible. Some were nicer than others, some more helpful, some more defensive. Not one was perfect, and it annoyed you in a satisfying way.

Stalking down the halls, reinforced (F/C) hoodie protecting you from any stray weapons or magic, you bumped into a familiar figure.

A beat passed before Dust's face split into a smile and he hissed playfully, "(N/N)! I almost impaled you! You really need to be more careful, you know."

You returned the laughter as the two of you walked did the long hallway. "Kinda hard to believe that a few days ago you were trying to kill me, huh?" he chuckled, twirling a bone between his fingers. Every Sans, you learned, did that to keep their fingers busy. They especially did it around you, but then again you hadn't seen them do it not around you...

"Do you miss your brother sometimes?" You asked, curiosity getting the best of you. He grimaced and turned away for a second, and you could have sworn you heard him whispering to someone.

After a minute, he finally rasped, "Yeah. Every day. We really got close, being brothers and all. He... He did it for the Underground. They all did."

Seeing it was a touchy subject, you quickly backed off. The two of you walked the rest of the way in silence until you were right in front of the throne room's entry.

"Ladies first," he smirked, making an extravagant gesture to the huge door. You stuck out your tongue and walked through the door, sliding through so the door closed right behind you.

A muffled shout was heard from behind the barrier, and you laughed at Dust's misfortune. "Bold of you to assume I'm a lady."

Nightmare, slouched in his throne, looked stressed. You immediately lit up with concern. The two of you had grown together a little over the past days, usually meeting him in the library or on the throne.

"Finally, (N/N)," he teased lightly, although there was some restraint on his voice. "I thought I was going to die of boredom." His posture betrayed the coolness in his remark, almost like he had fought something.

Before you could ask any questions, he teleported to your side. Walking away, you kept up. Eventually you got lost in your thoughts of home, missing everything about it. Well, not everything, but enough. A few corridors later, the king finally spoke.

"Birdtale will be next," he grimaced, bringing you back to reality. "We must save it."

"Yeah, uhm, about that," you casually slid in, pulling your sleeves down a bit more. "Why do you guys 'destroy' the AU? Why not just hide it?"

Nightmare sighed and his tendrils flicked slightly. "If we put it into hiding," he said, "Then one of the Star Sanses—Ink—might be able to relocate it. If they relocate the universe, they'll find the Castle. If they find the Castle..."

He trailed off as the two of you approached the Bridge. The Bridge was where anyone could go to any AU, or simply the Doodlesphere ("Su-Suuu-ch a stup-p-p-pi-d na-ame," Error had once remarked). You had always loved being in the Doodlesphere, however, with all of the floating papers and colors.

But then again, the one time you did go in there was when you were almost caught by a strange skeleton with a long beige scarf and vials on their chest. They had reached out to you, calling you over. You had run away as fast as you could.

After Nightmare set up the Bridge to Birdtale, you stepped up to the column of darkness. Just behind you, gathered on your little trip, was Dust and Horror. They nodded at you, indicating that you should go first. Smirking back, you made sure all of your knives were there.

"Hey," a warped voice from behind you called. You turned, seeing Nightmare smiling at you. "Try not to get killed, alright? We would all hate to have that happen."

Laughing, you slid into the portal.

:):

Going from AU to AU was a strange feeling. It was slightly disturbing, actually. The warp was a distorted well of screaming voices. You always wished for it to be over quickly, although it didn't bother you as much as it should have.

Boy, Nightmare really was rubbing off on you, wasn't he?

As the teleportation period came to a close, you saw that the ground beneath your sneakers was covered in powdery stuff. Reaching down, you felt that it was cold and crumbly, and numbed your hand a little. Weird.

Brushing your hand off on your hoodie, you slid your hands into your pockets and looked around. There was no sky, just a huge roof with torches every now and then. There were small houses on the sides of the walls, some very far off of the ground.

Not that getting to the houses was a problem.

Muttering a small leaping spell, you jumped into the patio of one of the houses. Upon further inspection, the building was actually a shop. You smiled at the warmth radiating from the little shop as you opened the door. The smell of something very good wafted through your senses, filling you with comfort.

The shopkeeper, a rabbit, noticed your presence. "Well," she smiled at you, standing upright. "I've never seen you around here. Are you new?"

Nodding, you took in the scene. Everything was a warm yellowish orange and very neat to your satisfaction. A small display case showed little treats in various shapes and sizes, all looking delicious. With your mouth watering, you smiled back at the shopkeeper.

"Yeah," you responded, running your fingers over the display case. "I just got here." The shopkeeper's face brightened, her smile somehow growing even warmer.

"In that case," she laughed lightly, reaching under the counter. "Here. It's on the house."

She slid a small, delicious smelling paper bag into your thin arms. Looking up at her you pressed your lips together. You would avoid destroying this place. She was simply too kind to pay for peace through mild destruction. "I..." You trailed off, glancing back down at the bag. It smelled so good...

There was the sound of bells lightly tinkling behind you, and a Sans with goggles and a huge jacket walked in.

Taking this as your cue, you thanked the shopkeeper again and darted out the door. On your way out, you saw that this Sans had a huge pair of wings attached to him. Huh. Well, that's how they get around, then.

Now that you actually looked around, you could see that there were hundreds of monsters flying around on light and dark wings, blissful and happy. It almost made you feel bad. Almost.

But you knew this was for the best of everyone. The Star Sanses could not get to this world.

Leaping down again, you pressed your phone to your ear. Only a few hours after being 'established' in the Castle, you got every contact number of the others.

One ring. You tapped your foot against the cold stuff on the ground, making a delightful crunch sound. You had a sudden urge to take a handful of the stuff and plop it right on your head. You quickly pushed it down, saying that it would ruin your (H/C) hair and that Raspberry would laugh himself to death.

Two rings. Your impatience kicked in, and your face pulled into a frown. At least the tree you were leaning against was nice and stable.

Three rings. Stars, what's taking him so damn long to ans—

"I'm guessing you've scoped it out?" The raspy voice from the receiver made your lips twitch. Horror could be strange, sure, like now, but not like Nightmare. The latter was the master of strange and obscure things.

Checking your nails, you listened to Horror explain Nightmare's elaborate plan. Damage a few homes, snatch a few monsters, cloud the AU's signal. Easy peasy. At least, that's what Horror made it sound like.

Walking into the open was like walking onto the spotlight of a stage. Adrenaline coursed through your veins as heads turned and whispers were passed. Of course, you were never seen before, and your (F/C) hoodie stood out quite a lot.

A beat passed.

Don't worry, (N/N).

Two. You swept your (E/C) gaze around the small space, then looked up at the 'sky.'

This is for the best.

It was a shame, really. This place looked quite nice. Any moment now.

We're all going to be free.

A scream.

Heads were turning, wings were flapping, people were gaping when you threw your first knife. A bunny-like figure plummeted from the sky, yellow wings fluttering as she fell. Everyone could only stare before being shot down themselves.

The adrenaline had shifted into something else. You couldn't quite identify it yet, but oh boy was it something.

Killer was frenzying with Dust, the two having a hell of a time taking down the royal guard. You were just fine with hand-to-hand combat, slicing and dicing your way to victory. Many spells and hundreds of stab wounds later, you and the gang were surrounded by bodies. It was almost satisfying in an arcane way.

Nightmare glided past you, tendrils glistening with fresh blood, and smiled at you. "Not bad," he smirked. You shrugged it off and smiled back. Surprisingly, you hadn't seen him at all during the battle.

"Where were you during the fight?" You asked, raising your eyebrows. He laughed softly, a strangely likable sound.

"I wouldn't call it a fight..."

You laughed to yourself and looked away to where a new portal had spawned, not catching Nightmare's small blush at your giggle.

"Your highness," you drawled playfully, making an exaggerated gesture towards the darkness. He chortled before stepping through with a wink. You felt your cheeks heat up slightly. He almost never winked at anyone, ever. Especially not at you, or all people.

Suddenly, you heard the sound of another portal opening behind you. Whirling around, your eyes widened as you saw a golden opening in the side of a building.

Out of it stepped the skeleton that you saw in the Doodlesphere, and two others. They all looked dead serious.

Then another figure came out. They had a book close to their chest, and stood there timidly.

Your (E/C) eyes met.

Holy hell. Holy hell.

Before you could do anything, the Doodlesphere skeleton stepped in front of the other y—figure, and held out his paintbrush threateningly. You panicked. Everyone had already left, you couldn't reach your knives fast enough, the only weapon you had left on you was—

A cold hand grabbed you from behind and yanked you through the portal.

The last thing you saw was the golden one and the other figure looking at you in horror and regret.