"Dad!" Several voices yelled out.

Okay. Usually, if there was a shout at two in the morning, I would teleport instantly to the location of the shout, but four people yelling my name at the same time from different locations didn't exactly help. In light of that, I teleported to my second youngest son's room, since I hadn't heard Error's voice. Upon my arrival in Cross's room, I found my second youngest son sitting on his bed, holding..something. I approached him, wondering what it was.

"What happened?" I inquired, hoping that nothing had gone wrong in the middle of the night.

"Th-the multiverse.." Cross hesitantly replied; I honestly wished the multiverse would pick better times for these things.

"Yes? What happened with the multiverse?"

"It..m-magic..."

"Take your time." I sat down next to my son, getting a better look at the..weapon that lay in his hands.

"Gave...th-this.."

"The multiverse gave you this?"

"Y-yes.." 

"What is it for?"

"Battles..and emotional work.."

"I see. Do you know what it does?"

"Y-yes..I think."

"All right. Well, it's a bit too late to train..how about you go back to sleep, and I'll go make sure your older brothers are all right?"

"O-okay.."

"Good night, Cross."

"G-good night, Dad."

The rest of the conversations with my sons were similar. It seemed that the multiverse had gifted each of my older sons with a weapon, one which would assist in their duties. After sending my sons to bed, I decided to get some sleep myself, but I had to do something very important, first.

"Come on, pick up.." I muttered, using a payphone in a nearby universe; it helped that this one wasn't see-through.

"Hello, you've reached Tina's Turnips!" A voice that obviously belonged to a certain blueberry greeted me. 

"I need help."

"Hm..one turnip or two? Perhaps you'd like some seeds? We have a special on those all week!"

"..." I sighed. "Are you free tomorrow?"

"You could at least play along!" The blueberry pouted on the other end of the line.

"Sorry, but it's two-thirty in the morning, and I'm just not up to it." 

"Fair enough, what can I do ya for?"

"How many types of weaponry can you use?"

"All of the above, why?"

"One Mister MV has decided to drop a few off for my boys, and I have no idea what to do with them."

"Hm..that's an odd case. I'll look through my files and see what I can do."

"How much will this be?"

"My regular rate."

"All right. I'll see you tomorrow?" 

"Sure thing!"

"Thank you."

With that, I returned to my home, climbed into bed, and finally decided to get some much-needed sleep. My rest was peaceful, and when I woke, I felt well-rested..and five boys were sitting next to my bed, waiting for me to wake up..had I slept in?

"Um..good morning?" I sat up, facing my sons.

"Can you explain what happened last night now?" Killer sounded as if he had been waiting a lifetime for this information. 

"Not yet. I've called Blue over to see if he can help, but until he comes, I won't be entirely sure; I haven't been given any answers."

"All right.." Horror sighed. "Can we eat now?"

"Sure..since all of you are up, what would you like for breakfast?"

"Chocolate!"  Error shouted, almost immediately; I had been expecting that.

"Chocolate pancakes, waffles, chocolate yogurt as a side, what would you like, specifically?"

"Pancakes!" Error continued.

"Any objections?"

Silence.

"Chocolate pancakes it is!" I decided.

My boys followed me to the kitchen, and they talked to eachother as I cooked breakfast, mostly speaking about the weapons that had been gifted to them overnight. When breakfast had been cooked and eaten, my sons decided to play with their blasters for a while until the blueberry arrived, and they certainly did have fun!

"Dad, can blasters get dizzy?" Error asked, as Matrix spun around playfully. 

"No, I don't think so; he should be fine." I assured, chuckling at the blaster's antics.

"Back, beast!" Killer shouted, waving a stick at a squirrel who had come too close; Ash and Dust stayed behind Blade and Killer, who were protecting them from the squirrel, which was obviously some sort of scary monster. "You shall not hurt Dust!"

"Or Ash!" Dust helpfully added.

"Yes, or Ash!"

"Star, it's only a banana." Cross giggled as his blaster sniffed the fruit.

"Nibble, wait!" Horror tried to stop Nibble from eating the banana, but it was fruitless. And so was Cross, now.

"Hey!" Cross gasped dramatically. "That banana was Star's!"

"Sorry!" Horror shrugged as he reined in Nibble.

"Agh?!" Killer yelped and jumped back as the squirrel from earlier lept at his stick, grabbing it and running, but Killer didn't see that. "Get it off me, get it off! Where is it?!"

"It's gone, Killer!" Dust couldn't help laughing slightly.

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah..I was just testing you. You, uh, passed, by the way. Good..good job."

"Likely story." Dust snickered. 

"It isn't like you haven't done the same thing before!" Killer crosssed his arms and huffed.

"And you always protected me!" Dust hugged his big brother.

"Try this, Star." Cross was back from the kitchen, which he had gone to a moment ago. "This is better than a lousy banana, anyway!"

"Nibble, no!" Horror tried to hold his blaster back, but..

"Hey!" Cross whined, looking at Nibble, who was eating some grapes now. "Horror, I think Nibble's hungry.."

"Nibble's always hungry.."

"Can't you make him..less hungry?"

"I'll try.."

"Matrix, flip!" Error ordered; Matrix did a flip, and Error fed him a gummy bear. "Good job!"

"Killer, you're squishing me.." Dust pouted.

"I can't help it; you'll always be my little brother!" Killer chuckled, hugging his brother tightly.

 "Killer..."

"Okay, Star!" Cross had returned once again. "This time, Nibble won't steal your food, since Nibble isn't here!"

"Nibble, stop!" Horror shouted from the other side of the backyard.

"What?!" Cross shoved a peach into Star's mouth. "Eat quickly, Star! The food stealer is coming for our souls!"

When Nibble arrived on the scene, he was disappointed to find that there was no fruit for him to ste- borrow. Luckily for him..

"Catch, Nibble!" Error threw a gummy bear in the air, and Nibble caught it in his mouth skillfully. 

"Thanks, Error!" Horror was relieved that Nibble hadn't taken another fruit.

"You're welcome!" 

"Well, you seem busy today." The blueberry sat down next to me; by now, I was used to his silent entrances.

"Not very, just a bit surprised." I responded.

"Well, let's see those weapons, shall we?"

"Of course. Boys, Blue's here!"

"Blue!" My sons turned their attention to the blueberry, who smiled and waved. 

My boys began to ask Blue several types of questions, and he answered them all, to my surprise; I didn't know half of the things he spoke about nonchalantly! We eventually made our way to the training room downstairs, where my boys summoned the magic weapons they had been granted last night. Killer's weapon was a black knife, and it gave off an aura, one that displayed emotionlessness. Horror's weapon was a blue axe, which had an aura of hunger. Dust's weapon was two purple daggers, which both gave off fear. Cross's weapon was a red knife, according to the blueberry, but it was almost as big as he was! It was the largest knife I had ever seen! It gave off an aura of confidence. 

"So..what do we do with them?" Killer wondered. 

"That's what we're going to find out!" The blueberry walked up to Dust. "Stab me."

"What?!" Dust was startled at the prospect.

"Don't think about hurting me, just stab me; I have a feeling on this."

"Um..do I have to?"

"I have high enough HP to handle it, and if you don't want to hurt me, you won't."

"O-okay.." Dust nodded.

Hesitantly, Dust inserted a dagger into the blueberry's arm, but..it didn't pierce him?

"J-just as I had p-p-predicted." The blueberry shuddered. "Th-they're for e-e-emotions.."

The blueberry removed the dagger from his arm, and his bone was completely unscathed..I was glad that he knew what was going on, since I had no idea. 

"How are you not..?" I tilted my skull, never having seen anything like it..except- "Oh."

"Yeah, I figured you'd g-get it."

"So..they're like Dream's bow."

"Yep! That's also p-probably the only reason I v-volunteered to be st-stabbed!"

"In that case, I don't feel so helpless in this situation."

"Great! S-since you know more about the emotional side, and I know m-more on the fighting side, how about we sp-split up the workload?"

"That sounds beneficial."

So we did. Having had much experience with Dream's emotional weaponry, I found that my boys' weapons were much the same, except for the fact that they didn't inspire happiness.

"So why do we need these if we have our auras?" Killer inquired, at one point.

"Because one, there's a slight chance that only your auras will be suppressed if someone messes up with restraints, and two, if you want the effects to last, you can stab someone with your blade - or axe, Horror - without hurting them, and the emotional effects will last for..several hours, I believe." I replied. 

"So if I make someone emotionless, they'll stay that way for a few hours?"

"Quite right."

"So I can make someone clear out an entire buffet?" Horror chuckled at the thought.

"Yes, you can!"

Soon enough, my boys understood their weapons, and thanks to the blueberry, they were able to use them; it helped that only Cross's new knife was much different than what my sons had been using before. When the blueberry left, most of my boys went to play with Error, but Cross stayed behind, and I sat down next to him.

"Is something bothering you?" I noticed a bit of confusion coming from my second youngest.

"Yeah.." He sighed. "I..want to know..why am I the Guardian of..the Independent?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..Killer's got emotionlessness, Horror has hunger, and Dust has fear, but..is independence even a real emotion?"

"It inspires emotion, Cross. It inspires confidence, and it inspires courage! You are both of those things, and so much more."

"..Thanks, Dad..but there's something else.."

"I'm listening."

"The balance..is it going to split us apart?"

"..What do you mean?"

"..Emotions aren't as simple as negative and positive. Killer rules over the emotionless; wouldn't it make sense that he would work better with soulless beings and those without emotion? Horror rules over the hungry, and he would work with those who have troubles in those areas. Dust..Dust would help you. Error doesn't factor into emotions, but he'll no doubt be destroying more often if Ink makes more AUs.."

"Then there's you.."

"..I would work to do what you said, inspiring confidence..I don't want to leave you!" Cross hugged me; his tears told me all that I needed to know.

"Cross, no matter what happens, I won't let anyone take you from me." I comforted my son.

"Wh-what if th-the multiverse makes us fight?! Wh-what if it forces me to leave?!"

"..We'll take it one day at a time. Cross, whatever happens, I will always look out for you and your best interests. If what you fear will happen does happen, I will do my best to ensure that you are treated well, even if that means nightly visits and anonymous gifts." 

"R-really?"

"Really. Through everything, you are my son, and I won't let my son be treated badly." I wiped a tear away from my son's eyesocket. "But for now, you're still a minor, and I have full legal custody of you; you're not allowed to run away from this house until you're at least eighteen years of age, young man!"

Cross laughed a bit at that. "Th-thanks, Dad..I n-needed that."

"You're welcome, son. Now, shall we go see if Error's managed to get Matrix to lift him up to the top cabinet yet?"

"Wait, you know about that?!" Cross gasped.

"Oh, my silly boys, I don't have to be a genius to know that you and Error have been raiding the chocolate storage when I haven't been looking!"

"..Are you mad?"

"No, no, as long as you both eat a balanced diet and don't eat too much, I'm fine with it..but don't make it a habit, understand?"

"Yes, Dad."

"I love you, Cross."

"I love you too, Dad."

I loved my sons.

~~~chapter break woot~~~

Bean boys get shiny new weapons! 

And here is a picture of the bean boys, with their shiny new weapons!

Mm you can tell I just gave up with Horror and Cross's hands at some point.

Most of 'em just look ready to kill ya, then there's just Error, having the time of his life! xD

It is my personal headcanon that Dust is a smol bean, and therefore, I have made him a smol bean here.

Aaanyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thanks for-

Wait. You thought the chapter was..over? 

Oh..oh no, you are mistaken.

This was just..a break!

Now back to your regularly scheduled angst.

~~~chapter continue woot~~~

Blue.

I was returning to my home in Underswap after training Nightmare's children, where I was sure that my brother was going to be waiting for me; I had promised to be home for dinner, after all! When I stepped through the door, I found Ink and Dream on the couch next to my brother; that was interesting..perhaps they had been invited? Or they had invited themselves, which was more often than not the case, since they were always welcome!

"Hello, friends!" I waved happily to my friends, but..they didn't wave back? Had there been a death or something?

"Blue, we need to talk." Ink said the words I hated the most; they either led to my personal matters, which I was skillful at avoiding..or Ink was depressed again. If it was the latter, I would have to prepare for a three-hour-long sob story while Ink wore off his vials.

"Yes, friend Ink?"

"Just..be honest.."

"Honesty is my middle name!"

"Why were you at Nightmare's house earlier today?"

It took..great amounts of self-control not to let my smile waver. "Friend Ink, I was at a petting zoo all day!"

"No, Blue, you weren't. That was what you told us, but I was spying on- I mean I was passing by Nightmare's house when I saw you."

"Must have been a copy."

"I wish I could believe that, Blue..but you're under arrest."

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Blue bean arrest oh noes!

What is this? Plot? 44 chapters in?! Yyyyep. Now just wait 44 more chapters to find out the next piece of plot- just kidding!

Thanks for reading my plotted writing!

Bye!