We had been children for a year at this point, and a lot of improvements had been made - mainly concerning Ink. After he was identified as the freak he was, the logical choice of action was to figure out what to do with him; keeping him in a cell without the approval of the rest of the multiverse wasn't the best option. Long story short, there was a trial, and it was agreed that Ink would be locked up for quite a long time; ten years wasn't long to him, but it was enough for us. He had lost all previous status he may have had before, and he was certainly not going to be the Protector anymore; the multiverse would handle threats itself, and that was the best solution found: if something threatened a universe, other universes would help! As for us, we were too 'young' to help out in that aspect, still being small children; we didn't even seem to be growing, which was unsettling. As much as I liked being a kid, I wanted to grow up at some point. At the moment, our main focus was getting the bracelets off; we hadn't had many 'good night's sleeps' in months. We were still in our room, which was certifiably safer than before, and we were honestly bored; the bracelets weren't coming off. We had tried pulling, breaking them, and even cutting off their magic supply, all of which failed - the last one actually hurt me a little due to my condition.

"All right, we're going to try..um.." The swapped Papyrus had no clue what to do next; we had tried dozens of ways. "Unstiching the fabric?"

"We've tried that!" The swapped Sans wasn't looking as bright as usual. "We've tried everything! Nothing is working!"

"How can he even use them?" Dream wondered. "It isn't like he still has the controller!"

"We took that away, but it seems he knows something we don't." The swapped Papyrus sighed.

"Why don't we ask him?" Starstruck was so innocent. "Maybe he'll tell us!"

"I doubt it." 

"We'll just have to keep trying!" Dream declared. "There has to be a way!"

"Wh-what if..th-there isn't?" Cross was losing hope. "Wh-what if it's i-impossible?"

"Don't worry, Crossy!" Killer comforted. "We'll be okay!"

"I-I'm scared..."

"It'll be fine." Nightmare assured. "At least he's not here in person.."

"I g-guess.."

"Maybe we could try cutting off the magic again?" The swapped Papyrus suggested.

"No way." Nightmare was stern. "Dust almost died last time; we're not taking that risk again."

"I didn't really almost die.." I stated.

"Your soul stopped beating for ten minutes."

"Okay, I almost died.." I remembered that well. 

"Then what do we do?" The swapped Papyrus asked.

"I don't know.." Dream was upset. "Maybe we can think better in the morning..it's getting late."

"You mean..g-go to sleep?" Even Error was frightened of that aspect.

"You have to sleep some time..just..try to ignore him as much as you can, okay?"

"What...what does he tell you that makes you so afraid?" The swapped Papyrus questioned nicely, but it still made us uncomfortable. "Nevermind.."

"No, perhaps it could help.." Nightmare was hesitant, but he continued. "He tells me that all I've done is endanger the others in my weakness..that I never should have asked for help.."

"He says I'm just a murderer, despite what I do it for.." Error looked sad.

"I'm not good enough.." Killer sighed.

"I le' down m' 'ntire AU when I join'd." Horror frowned.

"I-I'm just a w-worthless creation th-that should have b-been d-destroyed long ago.." Cross was starting to cry.

"I don't deserve anything that I have..especially them.." I believed it.

"He..tells you that?" The swapped Sans pitied us.

We nodded, being pulled into a large, loving hug.

"You know that's not true.." Dream comforted.

"How long until we don't?" Nightmare wondered. "You tell someone something long enough, and they start to believe it!"

"That's true.." The swapped Papyrus admitted. 

"Well, do your best to ignore him.." Dream encouraged. "Good night.."

"Good night." We harmonized solemnly.

After this, the friends tucked us in, and we were left to try to go to sleep. After saying good night to Papyrus - the best brother deserved that, and he is the best! - as always, I closed my eyesockets and drifted off into another dusty nightmare, which was plagued by Ink's constant taunts. I didn't like his taunts, and they often woke the others up, who woke me up before he could continue into something worse. The one time I wasn't woken up, I had somehow broken an arm in my sleep; that wasn't the best sign. After that incident, the others made sure to wake me up as soon as they could; they knew that I couldn't wake up by myself, and that Ink would use that to his full advantage. When Ink began to get harsher with his taunts and really affected me, I was woken up by my family, who pulled me into a hug. I really didn't deserve their love, but I would cherish it anyway. We had only slept for thirty minutes before we were woken, and we knew Ink would just repeat what he had done if we went back to sleep, which left us only one option. We walked down the hall to Dream's room - he was temporarily living here - and knocked on the door softly. When the door opened, we were met with Dream, who looked a bit unhappy; he hadn't been himself since Ink was imprisoned, but he was slowly getting back to normal.

"Already?" Dream inquired, receiving nods. "Bad?"

We nodded once more.

"Do you want me to call Outer?" Dream asked.

"Not if it's too much trouble.." Nightmare said. "We wouldn't want to impose.."

"You know he doesn't mind; he loves having you around."

"We know, but.." Error paused. "We don't want him to think that..we're annoying.."

"You aren't annoying!"

"He said we were.."

"Well, he was wrong! You're some of the nicest, most considerate children I've ever come to know, and you've never been annoying in any way, and I love you!" Dream came down to our level and put his arms around us; we could tell that this was taking its toll on all of us. "I'll..call Outer."

Within a few minutes, Outer had been successfully called, and he arrived safely; he was always quick.

"We're ready if you're ready." Outer smiled. 

"I hope this isn't an inconvenience." Nightmare stated. "We wouldn't want you to lose sleep.."

"No worries! I'll sleep late anyway, and Starstruck can probably literally live without it!"

"Thanks again, Outer." Dream thanked.

"No problem!" Outer created a portal to his home, where we often went to retreat from Ink. "Let's go!"

Outer led us through the portal and showed us where we'd be sleeping; Starstruck usually liked having us sleep in his room, but sometimes Outer wanted to watch us, which left the choice between them. They had agreed that we would sleep in Starstruck's room tonight, which made us happy; we would have been happy either way, actually. Pillows and blankets were soon spread out of the floor, and good nights were said; we went to sleep pretty quickly. Ink didn't bother me in my rest, which I enjoyed immensely; he honestly scared us after a while. At first, we just couldn't fight back, and we had to accept it, but once he started taunting us with our weaknesses and fears, he became a fear. We were actually afraid when he walked into the room, even if there were others there; Dream probably picked up on it, but he passed it off as Ink's fear of something. We didn't like being alone with him, and now, we didn't have to; that made us feel safer than anyone knew. When morning came, we noticed that none of us had suffered Ink's taunting; at that moment, we realized something: we were only affected when we were in our room. Whenever we slept anywhere else, we were completely fine. As soon as Dream arrived, we told him the news.

"So, you're only affected there?" Dream summarized. 

"Exactly." Error confirmed. "Maybe it's short range, and he can only reach that universe?"

"That's a possibility." Nightmare admitted. 

"If this means you want to have sleepovers every night, I don't think Star and I would mind one bit." Outer approved. "You're always welcome here."

"Really?" We were shocked at the offer.

"Of course! We love having you kids around!"

"Are you sure?" Dream wanted confirmation. "I mean, they could end up living with you! You could essentially be raising them.."

"Hey, if I could raise Star, I can raise anybody."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Starstruck was unimpressed. 

"What do you want for dinner, bro?" Outer imitated. "The royal guard!"

"That was one time!"

"It was hilarious!" Outer broke out into laugher, soon followed by everyone else - including Starstruck.

"I may have had a minor obsession.."

"Minor. Sure."

"So you really don't mind?" Dream inquired.

"Not at all!" Outer confirmed. "We'd love to have them stay here, whether it's only for a little while or the rest of forever!"

"Absolutely!" Starstruck joined. 

"If you really think you're up for the challenge.." Dream received two nods and knelt down to our level. "All right. What do you guys think?"

"Can we?" We hoped.

"If you can behave well and respect their home..yes."

"Yay!"

"With that said, who wants cookies?" Outer chuckled, holding out a tray.

"I hope you aren't only going to feed them cookies." Dream giggled.

"Probably not, but cookies are cookies, am I right?"

"You're right." Dream took a cookie.

The day moved by quickly after this, and by the end of it, we were completely moved into the Outertale brothers' house; there wasn't much to bring, really. We were now living in their house, and our theory was correct; Ink couldn't reach us, and that was the best news we had heard in a long time. We still hadn't found a way for me to see Papyrus, even when he managed to appear for the others - that was unfortunate - which saddened me; I really wanted to see him. I wanted to hear what he had to say and see him at the same time. I loved him, and I didn't want to be cut off from him. Cross was great at relaying messages, but it still wasn't the same as actually being able to hear my brother; Ink really hated me, didn't he? The thought made me want to cry, and I often did. I would occasionally talk to Papyrus when I was scared; I knew he would hear me sometimes, if not all the time, and that cheered me up a little. Even if he wasn't there, I was comforted a bit. He's the best, whether he was listening or not, and I loved him either way.

After a week in Outertale, we had settled in nicely. The inhabitants seemed to like us, which was a big concern at first; we had no idea how they'd react to mini ex-murderers living as their neighbors, but they actually took it quite well! We mostly kept to ourselves, which was probably a good thing for most of the inhabitants; they most likely didn't want us playing with their children - at least, not yet. We stargazed and played games all day; it was actually peaceful. For once in our lives, there was peace...and we liked it. Outer and Starstruck seemed more than happy to help us with our childish exploits, even if it was something simple, such as climbing a tree. We also helped around the house; they said there was no need, but we insisted - we weren't going to live in someone's house without helping them a little. Overall, we were quickly accepted in Outertale, and that was surprising for us; we had never really belonged anywhere - except Horror, but that event with Undyne was very traumatizing for him, and he preferred to only go home when he had to. As for the rest of us, we had only belonged with Nightmare; he brought us together and made us a true family - despite what he said.

We were a family, and we could only grow closer.

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Dust bean family safer!

Thanks for reading my relocating writing!

Bye!