I didn't sign up for that shit

The Truth of the Old

At first Cross thought the two were trying to fool him. Alternative universes were one thing. But whole different multiverses? That was something completely different. The thought that he was tiny compared to the bigger picture startled him. But Cross didn't think either of them were lying. There were just too serious anomalies for this. The first were the guardians. Nightmare had told them that there was only one Dreamtale in the multiverse. That even Ink was no longer able to create another. So it would be obvious that they weren't home after entering this AU. A lamia that looked like Fresh or a Lust with wings and horns could still be deported as some strange AU. But that? It was too big to ignore. Yet probably none of them wanted it to be true. Why else had no one brought it up? Cross knew that everyone must at least have had their guesses. But maybe it was still this little spark, despite everything, that they hadn't left their home entirely.

But whatever it was that kept everyone from saying it out loud before was now shattered as they were faced with the harsh reality.

“I'm sorry you had to find out this way. It must be quite a shock to you.", Drea- Hover said in a soft voice. Cross could tell he really didn't want to shake their reality that much. But it had been a plaster that had to be torn off. Who knows how far the misunderstandings would have gotten entangled if Hover hadn't brought it up?

"It's okay. We... kind of knew. That this was no longer our home. It's just hard to let go. After all, everything here is different from what we know it to be. Certain events might not have happened, or people we know might not exist, or are so different from what we know. Leaving the comfort of the acquaintance is… difficult.", Cross explained quietly to the two guardians. He hoped they understood. Because he didn't know how to describe it any other way.

"We can find out what else might be similar if it makes you comfortable. For this it would be best if you could explain to us what important events there were in your multiverse. Then we can match that." Cross didn't think Nightmares- Despair's idea was bad. But there was one thing that worried him.

"What if events of ours could still happen to yours and if we tell you now, the events can still be triggered?" Cross could only think of the incident where Despair would eat the apples and corrupt. What if one of the villagers heard it and tried to speed up the process to prevent the event?

Despair crouched at Cross's height, but looked at everyone else too. “You can tell us what happened without any problems. This is the only way we can find out what can help you."

"The Ink of our multiverse is an asshole. He doesn't care about balance and creates and creates without showing any signs that he will ever stop. That's why F4t3 kidnapped me from my AU, corrupted my code to the point that it brought me. F4t3 forced me into the position of the Destroyer. Of course, Inky wasn't thrilled that I was starting to destroy his creations. And instead of trying to listen to me and let me explain, he made a war out of it. The multiverse against me and later Nightmare, Despair's counterpart in our multiverse, and his gloom and doom boys." Error started it all and Cross could already see that the twins didn't look happy.

“Nightmare himself ate the black apples when he was a child after his village abused him. Dream ate the last golden apple and turned to stone for some reason. During the centuries that Dream was trapped in stone, Nightmare had made himself a name in the multiverse and built his empire. I myself was the first Nightmare had recruited for his "knights". Then came Dust and finally Horror. Neither of us did well in any way at first. We must have tried to kill each other at least ten times a day. But Boss helped us get better. The way was long, but both, mentally and physically, we were uphill again. Error had only been an occasional ally at the time. We didn't trust him and he didn't trust us. But in the end, Boss had managed to convince this stubborn donkey to join us too. And I don't think he's regretted it yet." Killer finished his speech by winking coquettishly at Error, who just rolled his eyes off. But Cross knew Error by now. He could tell that Error was flattered by Killer's act.

“Dream himself managed to free himself from the stone at some point. Ink had apparently taken him in and introduced him to the multiverse. We don't know what happened during that time or what Ink said to Dream, but when the Nightmare and Dream first met, Dream fought alongside Ink and an Underswap copy called Blueberry. Together they called themselves the Star Sanses and branded us, the “Bad Sanses”, as the bad guys. What was strange about it, however, is the fact that Dream actually knew of the balance he and Nightmare had to hold on to after all. According to Nightmare, it looked like Dream had forgotten all the lessons about balance. It seemed like he was following Ink blindly." Dust may not have said as much as Error or Killer, but his words seemed to have rocked the twins the most when Cross saw the way they both got their tails tightly intertwined and Despair had his wings almost protectively wrapped around Hover, correctly pointed.

Cross sighed softly when he realized it was his turn to explain the last part. "To be clear, the soullessness and boredom of Ink don't mix well with the madness and perfectionism of XGaster. I'm not sure how it started, but it seems like Ink showed XGaster the multiverse and inspired him to create his own perfect story. With a force called ‘Overwrite', XGaster overwrote the history of his AU over and over again, with just him, Frisk and Chara remembering the previous times. At some point it was enough for the two of them and they began to rebel. I ended up merging Chara's soul with mine and accidentally wiping out our universe. Ink came by at some point and promised me to be able to repair my AU again. But he couldn't. And once I knew that, my negativity was large enough that Nightmare found me and I joined him. I had asked to be able to take parts of the code from some AUs during the missions and bring them into mine, as a kind of rebuilding. However, I soon realized that it was a useless endeavor. It wouldn't bring my family back to me either. So with the help of Errors I brought the code parts back to their AUs. Dream had tried several times to save me from Nightmare, but nothing came of it. I found my family in them, which I didn't want to give up so easily. However, Dream had only stopped trying fully when Nightmare revealed the soul bond the six of us shared in the final fight. Many had assumed that Nightmare manipulated and abused us, whereby he actually only cared for us and loved us. And although this love we had for him and he had for us was purely platonic, we were satisfied. At least... until the event that apparently landed us here."

The shock on Hover and Despair's faces was evident to everyone. That alone led Cross to believe that things were quite different in this multiverse.

"Well...", Hover cleared his throat, "it seems that there is a big difference between our multiverses."