How to Establish Your Gang and Take Care of the Children in It

Rule 24: Ink is an Idiot. Take Advantage of This

"Underswap? You think that Papyrus-acting Sans can tell me what happened in Dreamtale?"

"No. I don't think that Sans has ever so much as left his AU. But there's an Outcode who visits every so often. He has a reputation for not caring about multiversal events, but he knows more than he lets on. Wait for a Negativity spike in Underswap, and you'll cross paths with him."

"You think he really knows?"

"Eh... honestly? Probably not. But trust me. Only a handful of Outcodes have popped up in the last century, and he's the only one that actually pays attention to odd AU's. If anyone can tell you about Dreamtale, it's Error."

Nightmare landed in Underswap, and a headache immediately started pounding behind his eyes.

Why was it so damn loud?

Angry shouting, desperate shouting, somewhat-amused-mostly-annoyed shouting, just a lot of shouting in general made Mare want to leave and curl up somewhere quiet, preferably with a book and a cup of hot chocolate. Not to mention all of the emotions scattered around him, anger and annoyance and fear and guilt and the thousand and one feelings that attacked his empathy until he had to drown it all out completely lest it drive him insane.

A light hand was placed on his shoulder, and Mare glanced at Killer with a small smile. "I'm fine," He said quietly. "It's just a bit overwhelming at first. I'll get used to it."

There was a particularly loud crash, followed by a string of curses that probably shouldn't be repeated, and the aggravated shouted of someone who just can't be left alone.

"Why i$ it alway$ y0u tw0?! Why can't y0u ju$t leave me the fuck al0ne?!"

Nightmare guessed who the you two was even before it was confirmed by Ink's voice shouting back, "We will once you stop destroying everything, Glitch! What do you have against AU's, huh?!"

"I haven't even de$tr0yed anything yet! I came here f0r a tw0-$ec0nd g0ddamn break, but n0000! The multiver$e hate$ me and taking a walk i$ a crime n0w!"

Nightmare and Killer walked over to the main Snowdin Road, where- predictably- four skeletons were talking. Or, it might have been more accurate to say shouting. Two of them were Ink and Dream, one was the Underswap Sans (Violet something-or-other), and the other was a black and red boned skeleton who- based on the glitches and Error signs- was Error. Tangerine or whoever was trapped, suspended by some sort of blue wire system, and Error was equally trapped, pinned in the air by one of Ink's paint-traps.

Of the four of them, only Dream noticed Nightmare and Killer, who weren't actually even attempting to be stealthy. The shiny skeleton looked at Nightmare's chest, where there was only a small tear in the fabric to show that a month or so earlier he had nearly been murdered. Dream glanced down at the bow in his hands, made a strange face, then looked back at Ink and Error without a single word.

"I won't let you destroy Underswap!" Ink shouted. "Especially not the base AU!"

"I d0n't want t0 de$tr0y Under$wap, y0u rejected $plat00n character!" Error yelled angrily. "But if y0u d0n't let me d0wn in the next three $ec0nd$ I'll eat y0ur $kull and u$e y0ur paint $upplie$ a$ $paghetti $auce!"

This conversation isn't going anywhere, Nightmare thought. He glanced at Killer. "You up for being a distraction for a moment?" He asked softly.

"Isn't being live bait Horror's job?" Killer replied. He flashed Mare a quick grin, then narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, studying Dream and Ink. "Yeah, I think so. Probably wouldn't take much to distract 'em. You gettin' the shouty one down, then?"