After the events of Birdtale, Nightmare (who had so graciously pulled you through to safety) had rebuked you. It went a little bit like this:

"(N/N), are you insane? Do you know who those monsters were?"

"No! Of course not! If I did, I would have known how to protect myself!"

"Did you know their weaknesses? Sure you didn't. Am I wrong?"

"Well actually, Mr. High-And-Mighty, I don't know their weaknesses. So how was I supposed to know what to do? They aren't in the inter dimensional archive of monsters, and—"

A few beat of silence when you saw the unidentifiable look on Nightmare's face.

"...Did you read the whole thing?"

"What?"

He leaned forward more, neon cyan eyes throwing daggers of the sharpest material. You almost flinched. Almost.

"Did. You. Read. The. Whole. Archive. Of. Universes."

"...No, I only read up to C." That was a huge book. Huuuuuuuge. You had no idea there were so many universes.

Leaning back in the velvet chair, Nightmare sighed and rubbed his temples. It was an adorable nervous habit—adorable??

Before your thoughts could get further carried away, Nightmare resumed his little speech. "You were lucky I lingered. If I had not, you could have died. Or worse, captured."

"I appreciate the concern," you drawled. But there was a small part of you that did like the concern. You didn't realize until after you left that it had always been there. "Why don't you want me to read the whole—"

"(N/N), you're one of my best fighters," the king intruded, aggravating you slightly. "I would hate to lose you so soon."

Cocking your head to the side, you narrowed your eyes. Trying to make your (E/C) gaze as hard as possible, you uttered, "Great to know that you actually value me. Why don't we have a little... Castle Chat?"

Castle Chats were little sessions that you and Nightmare had, mostly just talking about how the Castle worked. It was made up usually of you asking a question, then him asking one about yourself and your past. It took time, but it was always time well spent.

Nightmare sighed again, yet he nodded. Guess he had stuff on his mind, too.

"I'll go first," you smirked, reviving a cold glare from the inky monster. "Sooooo..." you trailed off, thinking of a question. You had to soften him up a bit before asking the real questions. "Is this place a world of its own?"

"Ah ah, (N/N)," the king interrupted. "I'm going first this time. What do you think of Dust?"

Reclining further, you furrowed your brow slightly. What did you think of Dust? "Well," you started, "He's nice. He treats me well, and he was one of the first people I met. I guess that he's a pretty cool guy for someone with such a horrid past."

Your lips twitched. "Yeah. I like him."

Nightmare twitched slightly, a hint of a feeling that he had never quite felt before spiking. It was slightly like jealousy, had a touch of anger, and... something else. Something he had tried to hold back for the longest time.

"MY TURN," you shouted unnecessarily, folding your hand under your chin. "Is the Castle an AU all ok its own?"   

"Almost," he answered, "But not exactly. It's more of a manifestation of my mind, shifting as my mind shifts."

Your thoughts wandered to the other day when you saw violet buttercups blossoming in your new room's windowsill. Ms. Toriel would have shunned the flowers, saying that they were quite obviously fake. Ms. Toriel...

Will I ever see them again? Sans, Papyrus,
Chara... Where are they? Are they gone? Where did my world go? Will we ever see each other ever again??

"Hello? (N/N)?" A deep voice snapped you out of your thoughts. "Are you feeling alright?"

Your fingers brushed up against your cheek, and came back glazed with a wet substance. More tears fell to replace the old, and you covered your face with your (F/C) sleeve.

You hated letting people see you like this.

Although the sleeve covered your eyes, you could still hear Nightmare move a little in his chair. Lowering the fabric slowly and carefully so he wouldn't see, you peered at his reaction.

Nightmare looked at you with a surprising sense of understanding. He reached out, but then flinched backwards.

"...Why don't you read in the library, (N/N)." The pity and empathy in his voice was suddenly was veiled behind slight indifference. "You look like you need a break, and you probably need one. After all, one's first mission will always be one of the most traumatizing."

Nodding absently, you stood on shaky legs. Nightmare sighed and glared at you. "Fine. I'll take you."

"But I didn't—" Without another peep from you, Nightmare grabbed you with a dead cold hand and enveloped your forms in inky darkness.

Within moments, you were in the side library. It was practically a sanctuary for books, a rainbow of colors illuminating the many dark shelves. As Nightmare began to walk away, you tapped his shoulder. He flinched.

"...Why do you have such a huge library?" You instantly mentally facepalmed. Wow, (N/N). You really screwed it up now.

To your surprise, Nightmare was silent for a few moments, invisible brow furrowing slightly. He looked very deep in thought, almost like he was coming up with an excuse.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw three more violet buttercups blossom on a table.

After a few more awkward moments of silence, he breathed, "I don't know." Then he walked away and disappeared without another word.

Huffing, you stalked over to the place you had placed a mental bookmark. The shelves seemed to lead up to the huge book, and even you had a bit of a struggle carrying the thick book.

It was strange how you could still admire books. Sure, you preferred technology, but sometimes a book was a relief. This particular book caught your eye, it's opalescent cover shifting at every angle. The shapes seemed to shift every time you glanced at it.

As you sat down, you suddenly realized how the temperature had significantly grown warmer. Pulling down your hood, you flipped open to the page you had left off on.

Birdtale

-All occupants have wings to fly
-All occupants are fairly normal; personalities the same
-Underground is more forgiving

You lost yourself in the little stories, eventually tuning out everything around you. Something seemed... off. You could have sworn the ink had been a little more solid, a little more readable. Now it was like the ink was disappearing right off of the page.

You didn't even notice another form slide into the seat behind you.

"Sooooooo," Dust drawled, sifting loftily in the chair, "How was your little 'Talk' with Nightmare?"

You gave an over dramatic sigh and turned to him, rolling your (E/C) orbs. "Fine," you shot back, "Why do you need to know?"

The skeleton chuckled. "Can't a guy be curious every now and then?" Suddenly, his gaze fell to the book.

"...How much of that have you read?" The question caught you off guard, and he flipped through the C chapter. "Damn," he muttered, "You read fast don't you?"

You shrug indifferently and smirk, "I haven't had a lot to do." Dust stopped at a certain page in the D chapter, his mismatched gaze narrowing.

"(N/N)," he said cautiously, almost like someone was listening. You looked around, slightly nervous now, as he continued, "Look. There's a page just... gone."

"Hm?" Looking carefully at the seam, you actually did see the remains of a page, almost like someone had ripped it out in desperation.

Like they wanted to forget something.

There were a few more moments of silence as the two of you inspected the page, but there was one tiny little detail in the back of your mind.

What happened to my universe? Where is it? When a universe disappears, where does it go? How's Chara? Ms. Toriel? Mr. Asgore? Sans? Papyrus? Where did everyone go—

"—/N)? Hey, (N/N)?" Dust snapped his fingers in front of your face. "You still there?"

Snapping out of your trance, you nodded. "Why, is there something actually important you want to say?" Dust snorted, shaking his head. Then he pointed back down at the page.

"We should look into this a little," he suggested boldly, making your eyebrows raise. "To hell with what Nightmare thinks about questions. We need ANSWERS!"

You let off a small laugh, turning away just in time to miss the light blush dusting Dust's cheekbones. "Suuuure," you grinned, closing the book. "You've known him longer. Is there some sort of punishment for doing something he doesn't want you to?"

Dust flinched.

"...I'll take that as a yes," you muttered, standing. Returning the book to the pedestal, you felt Dust's gaze burning into your back. "I'm guessing you want me to go first?"

"No no," he said hurriedly, waving you off. "I'll test the waters first. Just to make sure there aren't any sharks."

A corner of your lips pulled up. Of course Dust would do that. This was a pretty good crowd you were with. Sure, their names were a bit morbid and their pasts were not that great, but they couldn't help it.

They were made that way.

The room temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees, and Dust shivered. Despite being in a hoodie, the skeleton seemed to be chilled by the sudden plummet.

"Welp," he sighed, "That's my cue... Thanks for spending some time with me." He smiled lopsidedly, inching away from you. You hadn't even noticed how close he had gotten.

"But really, thanks. It was fun," he smiled, before teleporting away to his room.

Laughing softly to yourself, the temperate returned to normal in a snap. The book was pushed open again, your mind unable to stop thinking about the strange little anomaly. Your fingers absently trailed over the torn page.

Closing the book again, you took a deep breath. In. Out. Not that hard.

Whirling around, you fixed your mind on your new goal. Find Nightmare. Ask him about the book's torn page.

You needed answers.

(Can you guess what the violet buttercups are and/or representing?)