My Friend Over the Phone

Chapter 45

"It's hard to explain. But you all have to believe me."

    Error tried to explain what he saw, what Ink said and did. Cross had entered with Nightmare's spirit, and after a quick catch-up on Killer's part, Cross listened to Error's story carefully.

    "So it was Fate, then?" Cross asked Error. The latter nodded. "I don't know who this 'Fate' is, but I'm gonna kick their ass," Killer remarked. "please don't," Dream replied, "they're still in ink's body."

    "Dream's got a point," Cross added. Nightmare's spirit swirled around him, stopping next to his ear duct for a moment. "Besides, we can't just go in there and beat them up if they're a deity. We wouldn't have a chance of winning a fight like that. We need a plan."

    "But have any of you actually seen Fate in Ink's body since Error got deleted and Nightmare lost his body?" Blue asked. Everyone fell silent. "The spell they cast was supposed to banish whoever it was cast on, so how do we know they're still a threat?"

    "Well, the Multiverse is still crumbing," Cross said unsurely.

    "That's not how it works," Dust replied, "the Multiverse can't fix itself due to its artificiality. It could be getting worse just because of the damage Fate has done."

    "but, even if fate is no longer a problem, shouldn't we look for ink?" Dream asked, worried for his friend. Nightmare's spirit flew towards Dream, circling his skull and flaming angrily. "i know you don't like him, brother, but he's my friend. i can't abandon him again. that's what caused this mess in the first place."

    No one else could hear Nightmare except for Dream, and even so, elemental dialect isn't so much words as it is expressing emotions. His communication with Dream would be really hard to translate, but in response to Dream's comment, his aggravated brother says something along the lines of "Ink's choices are not your fault, Dream, and if that guy EVER tries to claim that it was, I'll shove his paint bottles so far up his ass that he'll never have to drink them again!" Despite himself, Dream chuckled a little. "don't worry, brother. that won't happen."

    Killer squeezed Dream's upper arm, bringing him back to the conversation. "So, where would Ink's body even be?" Cross asked. Nightmare drifted back towards his fiancé as he spoke. "Because Error and Nightmare were... and Ink was the recipient of that spell, so where is he?"

    Nightmare urged Dream to go to the castle's library. Dream wasn't fully sure why, but he was pretty certain that it had something to do with finding Ink. Of course, he could tell that the Negative Guardian doesn't actually want to find the self-proclaimed Protector of AU's, but Dream could tell that Nightmare wants to do this for him and Error. Killer came with them, to act as Dream's eyes for whatever it is they were looking for.

    "what happened with error?" Dream asked in elemental dialect to his brother while Killer thumbed through one of the many, many bookshelves. Nightmare didn't respond at all, but Dream could tell he had something to say. "brother, please tell me," he urged. Killer looked at him, raising a brow, before turning back to the shelf.

    "...I didn't mean to," was something along the lines of what Nightmare responded with. "I didn't realize what I did, until Error... I had put him under my control." If Dream were a more dramatic person, he would've gasped.

"why?"

    "I don't know! I told you, I have no idea what happened! I was angry at him, because he wouldn't help me with..." Nightmare trailed off, realizing he hadn't told Dream what happened to Ink to begin with. "with what, brother?" Dream asked. Nightmare made a noise similar to a long sigh.