50 - Visit



It had been six years since Ink was overthrown, and the state of the multiverse continued to improve. The school was currently having a break for a holiday, meaning the students would be out for about two weeks, and it also meant the house was almost empty! Although we enjoyed having the students around, a bit of silence was always nice; they were a bit loud at times. I wasn't exactly sure what holiday we were breaking for, but if it gave me two weeks of peace, I wasn't going to question it. I was currently sitting in the living room with Papyrus, getting some needed rest; I had seen to every student's safe departure, and it was tiring. Paps was a comfortable pillow; he was the best pillow. I didn't think he minded being a pillow, since he was actually the one who made me sleep; I had really grown out of my old habits. In the past, I would have slept all day if I could, until I snapped, that is; after that, I would rarely sleep. I didn't want to sleep: there was so much to do when I was awake! I really only slept when I was exhausted or Paps told me to, since I would never say no to Paps. He always looked out for me.


I was still having those nightmares that Ink triggered somehow; the others had attempted to reason with him, but he only replied with saying that they'd stop if I came to see him. I wasn't going to go see him; I could live with the nightmares - they were only that, anyway: nightmares. When I woke up, I was still curled up in Papyrus's lap, and he was looking down at me happily; I guess I slept long enough to satisfy him.


"Good night, bro." I greeted, looking up at him.


"Good night, brother!" Paps returned. "Did you have a restful sleep?"


"Yeah. You're the best, Paps."


"I am the Great Papyrus!"


"Is he awake now?" Killer was nearby. "I wanna play!"


"I suppose you can play now; my brother has received sufficient rest!"


"Finally!"


Killer grabbed my wrist and began to run as fast as he could around the house; with no large crowds to avoid, he was able to go at ridiculous speeds, such as ninety miles per hour. We never really questioned how he could run that fast, opting rather to just avoid him when we heard footsteps approaching us. When we were running through a certain hallway, he slowed down and eventually stopped; I guess he noticed that I was a bit tired out. I still hadn't increased my endurance much, even with a lot of exercise; I attributed it to my magic deficency, since I really should have had more endurance than I did with all the training I was doing. As we slowed, I noticed that I was more tired than I had thought, and Killer did too.


"Are ya okay, Dusty?" Killer wondered.


"Yeah..just a bit..tired." I panted.


"But ya just slept!"


"You were running for half an hour." 


"True..sorry Dusty.." 


"Where did we stop, anyway?" I had a headache.


"Oh, this's..." Killer paused. "We should move."


"Why?" I grasped my skull; it hurt.


"Just..come on."


"Okay.."


Killer grabbed my wrist and slowly walked away from the hallway, but my headache didn't get any better; I didn't understand it. One second I was completely fine, and the next, I was in pain. Killer seemed to notice my distress, and he walked slightly faster in response; he said he was taking me to Nightmare - Nightmare was always good with curing headaches. When we found Nightmare, he was in the library, obviously very focused on sorting books; he always made time for us, though - he was the best dad; if Paps ever became a dad, he would be the best dad, though. Nightmare turned to look at us when Killer made our presence known, and he looked rather worried about me.


"Is Dust all right?" Nightmare doted.


"His skull hurts." Killer frowned.


"Really, it's fine." I assured; they didn't listen. 


I was seated in the library against my will and Nightmare took a look at my skull; it actually really did hurt, but I wouldn't admit it. Nightmare used a bit of magic to attempt to heal the headache, figuring it was stress, but that action proved that it wasn't; the magic made the headache worse. It wasn't normal, that was for sure; after this was established, he tried to find another solution. He couldn't use magic, leaving the option of practical medicine; in other words, he decided to make some herbal tea. Tea was known throughout the multiverse as a surefire way to fix just about any common ailment if the correct blend was chosen, and it was the next best thing if pure magic didn't work. When I was given the tea, I once again tried to convince them that I was in fact fine, but I was proven wrong when the tea worsened the pain immensely. 


"Dust, are you all right?" Nightmare worried.


"I know I said I was.." I held my skull and grit my teeth from the pain. "But I'm not sure anymore!"


"Try to calm down, Dusty!" Killer urged.


"When did this start?" Nightmare turned to Killer.


"I think it started when we passed the basement when we were runnin,' but it wasn't this bad then!"


"Well, that certainly provides some insight." Nightmare looked back at me. "Dust, I'm going to pinpoint the source of the pain, all right?"


"S-sure." I was in too much pain to argue at the moment, and I really didn't want to argue anyway.


Nightmare put his hand to my skull and began to channel the slightest bit of magic through me, which surprisingly didn't worsen the pain - maybe it only responded to healing magic? When Nightmare took his hand away, he had an uncomfortable expression.


"This isn't good." He stated.


"What..is it?" I could barely think as the pain kept increasing; it was like somebody was controlling it.


"It's coming from your soul, Dust."


"L-like the nightmares?" 


"Exactly like the nightmares."


 I was afraid of that.


"What're we gonna do?" Killer questioned. 


"I'll go downstairs." Nightmare sighed. "See what he wants."


"Okay..I'll get Dust's brother! He always makes him feel better!"


"Good thinking; I'll be back in a while."


"Okay, Dad!"


I was in too much pain to speak as Killer and Nightmare both left me. When Killer returned with Paps, slight relief came over me, but it wasn't much. Papyrus immediately picked me up and hugged me, proceeding to sit with me in his lap; we both loved it when he did that, and I giggled a bit, despite the pain.


"How do you feel, brother?" Papyrus inquired.


"A-all right.." Paps could work miracles; some of the pain was gone, although it was still strong.


"You'll be fine, brother!"


"Okay..you're the best, Paps."


"I am the Great Papyrus!"


"I love you, bro."


"I love you too, brother!"


"Wanna play backgammon?" Killer ruined the moment - on purpose.


I buried my skull into my brother's shirt as the pain increased; it was getting almost unbearable. When Nightmare entered the library, he looked a bit upset.


"What'd he say?" Killer turned to Nightmare.


"He said he's going to keep increasing the pain until Dust gives in and goes to the basement." Nightmare growled.


"Why does he even want my brother to go down there?" Paps held me tighter.


"I don't know. To taunt, maybe; or at least I hope it's simply that."


I whimpered, trying to get closer to Paps; the pain was really getting to be unbearable. I didn't want to go downstairs, but I didn't want to continue like that either. I just wanted to hug my brother; Paps would protect me. Before long, I simply fell asleep while the others discussed plans of action; I was in too much pain to speak, and Paps told me to sleep. My dream was the same unpleasant one I had been having for almost a year now, but I had more or less gotten used to it; it would never give the same effect as dust, though. When I woke up, I was still in my brother's arms, but my headache was about twenty times worse, and I actually yelled when I realized it; it was far past being unbearable.


"Dust!" Nightmare was very worried now.


"Just calm down, brother!" Papyrus rubbed my spine in an effort to calm me down.


"I-it h-hurts!" I was shaking, and possibly crying, as I clung to Paps.


"Dusty?!" Killer didn't know what to do. 


"Dust, you can't take this much longer." Nightmare was right. "Should we take you down?"


I nodded solemnly, clinging more to Papyrus, who stood up, holding me, and followed Nightmare and Killer to the basement; Ink had won this round. When we reached the basement, the headache was suddenly relieved, practically disappearing; Ink was definitely controlling it. Paps carried me to the cell that held Ink, where I regretted my decision.


"Come to visit me?" Ink smiled. "That's nice."


"What do you want with him?" Nightmare got to the point. "Haven't you tortured him enough?"


"Of course not! How could I ever torture anybody enough?"


"It is very impolite to torture people, especially my brother!" Paps pointed out.


"Aw, but it's so much fun!"


"Someone ought to teach you some manners!"


"And someone ought to teach you your place; since when does a Papyrus tell anyone what to do?"


"Since forever." I answered, still not looking at Ink.


"Well, I guess I'll get right to the reason I wanted little Dust here." Ink chuckled.


"You hurt one atom of his skeleton and you'll pay." Nightmare threatened.


"Oh, I don't want to hurt him, just..use him."


Papyrus held me tighter instinctively when that was said, and I did the same to him; I didn't like Ink's mind.


"We're not going to let you do that, Ink." Nightmare was stern.


"That's..unfortunate." Ink chuckled. "I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." 


The ache from earlier returned, but much, much more painful than before, and it was in my soul instead of my skull; it felt like something was chipping away at it. I couldn't take it, holding Paps as close as I possibly could.


"You see, if you don't let me use him, he'll be in pain for the rest of his life." Ink had a plan. "You don't want that, now do you?"


"How are you doing that?!" Nightmare was angry.


"The injection I gave him! It linked his soul with my will, but I can't take full control unless..I can physically touch his soul!"


"Why didn't you just do it when we made you remove that paint?"


"That would be silly! His bones were broken! I wouldn't have any use for him! Now, however? Now I do, and I want him."


"Give us some time!"


"Hmm..very well." Ink released me from the pain for now, making me let out a sigh of relief. "When I make the pain come back, I expect him to return."


"Fine!" Nightmare hurried us out of the basement.


When we reached the hallway above, I was scared; I was scared for my family's lives. A meeting was called about it, which I had to attend, and it was actually assembled rather quickly; nobody was doing anything important. The attendees consisted of Paps, Nightmare, Error, Classic Sans, Dream, the swap brothers, Killer, Cross, Horror, and myself. When we were together, the reason for the meeting was revealed.


"Ink has gained leverage." Nightmare said.  


"What do you mean?" Classic Sans was dumbfounded. "He's in prison!"


"It seems that when he held custody of Dust, he injected something into his soul, allowing him to manipulate it through a link."


"But how?" Error was worried.


"I don't know, but he's only given us a limited time before he forces Dust to return; if he gains control, we could be fighting Dust, against all of our wills."


"Would a reset work?" Classic Sans asked. "Usually it purges any outside presences. I was mind-controlled once, and a reset cured it."


"Dust isn't affected by resets like the rest of us are." Killer enlightened.


"His code is broken." Error added. "No code, no affect; we were lucky it even brought him back to life."


"What if we extract the..whatever Ink put into him?" Dream suggested.


"Surgery on souls is only in its beginning stages; you're talking about a physical extraction." Nightmare wished we could do that. "It would have a higher chance of killing him than anything else, and I'm not willing to see him die, then stay that way through a reset."


"Then what do we do?" Papyrus held me tight; he refused to let me go after we met with Ink.


"Maybe we could bargain with him?" The swapped Papyrus input.


"What would he possibly want?" Nightmare looked sad. "He's got nothing. Dust is the only one he wants."


"Then..we don't seem to have a choice.." Dream wasn't happy.


"There's got to be something we're missing!" Error wasn't going to give up. "Maybe we could destroy the link somehow!"


"How do you usually destroy a link?" Nightmare wasn't familiar with that.


"Aren't they supposed to be unbreakable?" Classic Sans asked the question we all had.


"They can't be unbreakable!" Error declared. "There's got to be a way!"


"But how?"


"We'll find a way. We have to."


"Then we will." Nightmare joined. "Just because every book in the multiverse says a link is permanent doesn't mean it's true!"


"I never thought I'd hear you say that, brother." Dream was impressed. "We'll find that way, though!"


The rest of the group was in agreement; the link would be broken if they had to tear it apart with their bare hands. It was true that every book on the subject of links said they were to last forever, but nothing was impossible; attempts were started immediately, and I really hoped they worked.


We were doomed if they didn't.


~~~chapter end woot~~~


Dust bean hope.


Thanks for reading my decisive writing!


Bye!

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