Hola!

Before we begin, a question was asked: how do the copies get along? Like, for example, there are multiple Swap Papyrus' running around in the army. What are their opinions of each other?

Answer: It really depends on the individual. Personally, I believe that the copies aren't exactly alike, since that would be boring. They all have their quirks that make them unique from all the others, and it would be unfair to group them together just because they come from the same "string" of universes. One swap Sans may be a bit temperamental, while another one might be a sweet innocent bean (like the fandom's favorite Blueberry, who is a sack of adorableness; I call those types twinkies), and another may be a busybody. I can't really say how copies in general get along, but when it comes to those of the same "type," yes, they find it weird - they actually find everything weird at first, really. After a few months, though, they just get used to it. They accept that there are other "thems," just as everyone did before the empire. It isn't really a new problem; the only difference is that now there's an evil empire ruling over everything.

That was kind of long. Sorry.

Have a picture of Cape bean!

Comments are welcome and appreciated!

Please enjoy!

~~~~~

"Consideration"

Classification: fluff.

Warnings: hate, anger.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

Missions were common. Being told to work with someone else was also common. Just...why did it have to be him?

"Brother, will you at least speak to me?" My brother requested.

I scoffed, continuing to walk. Ink had sent me on a mission with my brother to capture a prominent rebel base, and it was just us, which meant that I couldn't simply speak with someone else or ignore him. Instead, we walked side by side, and I hated it. When Ink had told me that I would have to work with him, I had begged him to reconsider, but he wouldn't give in..I was stuck with him. My brother continued to pester me until we reached a specific point that I had been wishing to reach.

"Shh!" I warned. "We're entering their patrol perimeter."

My brother sighed. "Brother, won't you at least listen?"

"No. Now be quiet."

"Brother, please.."

"No!" I shouted. "I will never listen to you!"

"..." He bowed his skull slightly, feigning disappointment; I knew better than to believe that. "I just thought-"

"You thought wrong! I don't want to hear another word from you before we-"

I felt something hit me in the back of my skull, and I blacked out almost instantly. That..that idiot had put our mission in jeopardy! If he hadn't been so intent on speaking to me, we would have had a quick mission, and everything would have been fine! It was just another failure in his long line of stupid decisions. When I eventually woke up, I opened my eyesockets to see..a cell. Of course he would have gotten us captured...I was going to request a private torture session with him when we returned to the compound. I sat up on the rock floor to find that I wasn't restrained (that was a mistake on the rebels' end, no doubt), but..he was in the same cell as I was..I wondered if they had a different one he could have gone to..or I could have gone to. My brother gave me a small smile when he saw that I was awake, and I reciprocated with a glare; he had probably surrendered just to annoy me! After a minute of silence, footsteps approached the cell, and a Sans walked in front of the cell, allowing us to see him.

"Let me out!" I demanded.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible." He replied.

"Then let him out!" I pointed at my brother.

"..That is also not possible."

"Ugh.."

"He is not fond of me." My brother enlightened. "I, on the other hand, am very fond of him."

"..That's weird." The Sans muttered. "Anyway, we're a bit busy at the moment, so we'll keep you two here until we can arrange a proper interrogation; enjoy yourselves for the next few days."

"Are you honestly leaving me here with him?!" I was never going to make it..I would die here..

"Yes." The Sans walked away.

I growled, my anger eventually turning into a frustrated yell; I was going to be stuck with my least favorite person in the multiverse..for several days! The cell was empty, only housing us; he sat in one corner, and I sat in the opposite one, glaring at him if he dared to even move. We received a small portion of food once a day, and it was that time when I allowed him to come close, only for a moment, just because I knew that Ink wouldn't have enjoyed it if I had allowed him to die..he wasn't as easy to reset as I was, since he turned to dust when he died. By the time three days had passed, I began to feel a sensation..a need. Ink had trained me to need many things (it had formerly been a way to gain my trust, according to him, and it had worked), such as torture, high-magic-content foods, and his favor...but this need..was probably the worst. I had never been sent on long missions alone because of it, and it was horrible when I didn't have someone that I trusted around when the need came, but it was one that I simply couldn't resist..I needed affection. It didn't matter who it was from; I just needed it, because Ink had trained me to need it, and..the only person I could get it from was..him. I resisted for as long as I possibly could, but it was no use; I had to just deal with it.

My brother knew of my needs; Ink had told him about them, unfortunately, and when I shakily made my way toward the tall skeleton, he didn't say a word, only waiting for me. I shivered as I crawled into his lap, and I whimpered against the hard metal..I didn't usually do this with guards, and if I did, I always had them take their armor off..my brother didn't think to do that, of course, since he didn't care if I felt comfortable or not; it was only further proof that he just wanted me in order to-

"Wh-what are you doing?" I questioned, quietly.

"I..want you to be comfortable, brother.." He..took off his chestplate..

I had mixed feelings as my brother cast his armor aside; surely he didn't care..my mind was just fragile when I needed affection..that was all, and if I had had my good, sound logic at this time, I would have seen right through his stupid ploy! I knew better; Ink had taught me to know better, after all, and I couldn't have disappointed him! This was just a plot to gain control over me; that was all it was, and I wouldn't fall for it. I...did enjoy the warmth, though. That meant nothing! He was just catering to my needs, as a good subordinate would, of course. Maybe...I could just stay here for a while. I closed my eyesockets as my brother rubbed my skull, and I fell asleep soon after. The warmth continued throughout my sleep, and I was thankful for it, even if it did come from my brother...but why would he continue after I had fallen asleep? The only possible conclusion was the one that I didn't want to think about..the one in which he actually did care...but I knew he didn't; Ink had told me so! Ink...wasn't here. I knew he would tell me to disregard my thoughts, but..I had to know; perhaps I had been..wrong. Maybe my brother had gotten over his manipulative tendencies..maybe it was just a phase, and it was gone now? Why else would he have comforted me, even when I was asleep?! I had to give him a chance..and if he proved himself to be the same person he had been before, I would know.

"Papyrus?" I spoke, when I awoke; I noticed that my skull was resting against his sternum comfortably.

"Y-yes, brother?" He responded.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do..what?"

"You let me sleep on you instead of setting me aside; tell me why."

"..I did not want you to be cold; I know how you shiver.."

"..." I..he knew about that? "You..do?"

"You never were suited well for the cold, brother."

"..I guess not." I frowned, leaning closer into him. "I...thank you."

"Hm?" He seemed surprised.

"Thank you..for not being inconsiderate. It..thank you."

"I would never be inconsiderate toward you, brother." He tightened his grip on me, but not hard..he was gentle.

"...Papyrus?"

"Yes, brother?"

"...I..don't know if I'll regret this..." I paused for a brief moment, before continuing. "But..I want to give you a chance. If..i-if you really do care about me..p-please don't mess this up..I-I couldn't take it t-twice.."

"..I understand." He smiled down at me. "I will not let you down..and if I do, I will only have myself to blame. Thank you for the chance to make things right..it means a lot to me."

"I hope so.."

He continued to cuddle with me, and I allowed him to keep me with him for the remainder of our captivity, however long that would have been. It was cold in that cell, anyway, and the warmth he gave was comforting..much better than freezing. Five days after our capture, the Sans returned, and he began to speak to us; I was still in Papyrus's lap.

"I see you two have gotten over your differences.." He mentioned. "Well, we're ready to begin our interrogations, and we expect answers."

Needless to say, they didn't get any, and by the fifth round, they were becoming annoyed. Inevitably, they decided to give up for a while, and they allowed us to have some more time together. I hadn't realized before that Papyrus's hold was so warm..I could practically feel the care..how long had that been there? I began to realize that..he really did care for me; I had been so wrapped up with my grudge that I hadn't seen it..I had been blind. When he had begged me to speak with him, I had reported him, and I had harmed him..I had wanted nothing to do with him, but he had continued to try. No matter how much he was hurt, and no matter what he lost, he continued to care. A manipulator wouldn't have done that; a manipulator would have let go the moment things had begun to go wrong, and a manipulator would have found a new target. Papyrus hadn't done that; he had done the opposite. He had paid so much for his actions, and yet he had still tried! I realized it now..he really did care for me....

He always had.

"P-Papyrus?" I addressed, trying to keep my tears from falling.

"Yes, brother?" He responded.

"I-I'm sorry.." I couldn't stop myself; I sobbed.

"It is all right, brother; you did nothing wrong." He comforted me.

"I-I did e-everything wrong!"

"Everything will be okay, brother; I will never stop loving you."

"I-I don't deserve y-you.."

"Yes, you do, brother; you have always deserved the world."

"I-I love you s-so much.."

"I love you, too, brother."

I had neglected to realize that my brother had cared for me for..so long; I wanted to make up for every second! I did my best in the two weeks we spent in that cell together. The rebels had essentially given up on trying to interrogate us, especially since all we truly wanted was to be together, and when the first rescue mission arrived, they didn't hesitate to hand us over without a fight; we were worthless to them. The first problem arose when we entered Ink's room; he was lying on his bed, and he sat up when we entered.

"Here, Dusty, you can get away from that cruel skeleton now." He ordered.

"Papyrus isn't cruel.." I said, walking over; Ink simply didn't know that Papyrus was genuine yet, but that wouldn't have stopped me from obeying my master.

"...What."

"Papyrus isn't cruel; he actually cares for me! I'm really happy about that, but I'm also sad, since I didn't realize it until he hugged me."

"...I see." Ink glanced at Papyrus. "I thought he was a manipulator; you told me you hated him.."

"He wasn't a manipulator; I only thought that, since..." I paused; why had I thought that?

"Why did you think that, Dusty?" Ink picked me up and held my arms tightly.

"I..." I knew that something had made me think that.. "I don't..remember."

"Hm." Ink put me down. "Well, I'm happy to hear that your relationship with Papyrus has improved, but I do hope that this means you won't be giving him unauthorized favors."

"Of course not, Ink! I wouldn't betray you; besides, only manipulators would ask me to betray you, and Papyrus isn't one of those! Right, Papyrus?"

"Right, brother!" Papyrus nodded, smiling.

"Well, if you're entirely sure, I'll support your decision." Ink smiled, and I smiled back; I knew he would have been happy! "But if he does turn out to be a manipulator, I'll be there for you, okay, Dusty?"

"All right, Ink; I know he won't, though!"

"Good. Now, I've had high rank forty-six doing your duties for a while, now; would you go relieve him while I speak to Papyrus?"

"Yes, Ink!" I nodded, hopping off Ink's lap.

I hugged Papyrus on my way out.

~~~~~

"Darkest"

This short takes place in the Vantablack timeline.

Classification: angst.

Warnings: threats.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

"If I do this, you have to promise you'll be quiet, toy." He told me, and I nodded eagerly in response, ignoring how it hurt my neck. "Then stay still; this will hurt."

A sharp blade was jammed into the seal that had kept me quiet for so long, and it..was painful. I couldn't keep my tears from falling as the seal was broken, but when it was, I smiled widely; I could speak! I couldn't right now, since I had been told not to, but I had the ability! One week ago, Ink, Papyrus, and Dream had spoken about removing my seal; they wanted to hear my screams again as they tortured me, and they had decided that they would institute a new rule. I could speak for three reasons: to demand to be tortured (my pacifier had brought me close to it, some days, but I couldn't have spoken if I had wanted to), to answer direct questions, and to alert my owners about intruders, especially if they were trying to rescue me. I..didn't think anyone would even try to rescue me at this point, but they wanted to make sure. When the seal was entirely gone, Dream let me out of his hold, and Ink grinned.

"Toy, it's time for you to drink." He gave me a cup that was filled with my pacifier - he gave it to me three times a day, now, and it was impossible to resist anymore; I wanted the peace, and I wanted the acceptance. "It should be easier now, since you can do it yourself."

Without hesitation, I lifted the liquid to my mouth, and I drank the entire cup, much to the contentment of my owners. They had become less harsh recently, for some reason; perhaps the pacifier was distorting my thoughts..I really had no clue. All I knew was that I was meant to be tortured, and I had to do whatever I was told; it wasn't so bad. It had been a few months since Dream had been turned, and he had grown to enjoy his new life by Ink's side, just as Papyrus had. He wasn't on the same level as Papyrus was, but he was in a new category; Ink had called him a "commander." He was higher than a high rank, but he was lower than Papyrus and Ink, and he was content with his position. When I had finished drinking my pacifier, Dream and Papyrus left the room to go on some missions, while Ink stayed behind to watch me.

"You haven't spoken for quite some time." Ink said. "If you need to practice, you may; you won't be any good if you can't speak properly when the time comes."

With that said, I tried to make sounds; it was harder than I had initially expected. Under Ink's guidance, however, I regained my ability to talk coherently, but I couldn't help but to wonder why..why did they give me mercy? I was just a worthless toy; the pacifier made my suffering less, and being able to speak..it didn't make any sense! In the past, they had cast me off as useless, but- use? They..they were setting me up. There was no doubt; they had found a use for me, and they were lessening my torture to permit me to become useful. The pacifier had made me pliable, and being able to speak was a tool..I wondered what I could have been useful for. Five hours later, I was back in my cage, and Ink was on his bed, doing some work. I wanted to just ask why they were doing all this, but asking questions wasn't something a toy was supposed to do; toys weren't supposed to have thoughts..they were just supposed to give enjoyment. I was just a thing; if I ever voiced my thoughts and questions, I would have been pulled out of my cell and forced into a torture session..without the soothing effects of my pacifier. I should have just stopped thinking; Ink might have picked up on it if he saw my contemplating expression.

"Master." Papyrus addressed Ink as he entered the room.

"Yes, Papyrus?" Ink looked up.

"Are you busy?"

"Not particularly. Why are you interested?"

"I have a concern.."

"..About the toy?"

"Yes."

"Voice it." Ink put his work aside, and I listened closely; I wondered if even Papyrus was left questioning why I was being treated this way..perhaps he would ask what I could have been useful for..or there might have been a different conclusion that I hadn't thought of?

"Why are we taking it so slowly?" Papyrus's question shattered my hopes; he knew exactly what was going on, and my questions were left unanswered. "You know perfectly well that we could turn it in a day, yet you prolong it?"

"Ah, Papyrus.." Ink reclined on his bed as I contemplated what 'turn' meant..were they trying to turn me evil? I didn't want to be evil! "Taking time will..strengthen the effects. You are right; we could perform the entire operation in a day, and it would be effective, but allowing its body time to adjust to larger doses and require larger doses forces a dependency. If we were to be interrupted, it would be forced to seek out a substitute, and it would continue the process itself, eventually reaching permanency whether we are present or not. If we did it in a day, it could be persuaded off its course, and we would have to waste more time. This way, there will be no turning back, and it will be ours forever."

"I see.." Papyrus glanced in my direction, and he chuckled. "I think it's afraid."

"How sad." Ink grinned at my fear as I cowered in my cage..I did not enjoy that explanation, and my questions were still unanswered! He stepped over to my cage, and he stuck a hand inside, running his cold phalanges across my skull and forcing my gaze up to him. "Let me tell you something, toy..you should be afraid. I know you haven't figured out everything; you're not intelligent, and you already know that. If you ever begin to feel an intense pain in your soul that isn't from us, know that the end is near."

I whimpered as Ink left me with that frightening note, and I curled up in fear as I realized that the end was near..I had been feeling soul pains for about three weeks by now..

I was terrified.

~~~~~

"Spies"

Classification: kind of a little angst but not too much.

Warnings: breaking bones.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Spies were commonplace. In a world in which individuals could only be on one side or the other, they were necessary. Ink had spies that acted as if they were escaped prisoners in the hopes that the resistance would pick them up; the only downside was the fact that some of those spies were actually trying to escape, but that was why Ink sent so many. The resistance and rebel groups sent their own spies that pretended to be guards, inhabitants, or other beings under Ink's rule; the downside for them was that almost all of them were found during Ink's monthly spy searches, in which every AU and guard was looked over, inhabitants were listed, and those who weren't supposed to exist were brought to Ink. Occasionally, a mistake was made, and a being who was not a spy was rounded up with the others, but Ink was good at sensing lies, and most of those mistakes were sent back to their homes with little to no trouble. Any spies who could survive those searches were very skilled, and they obviously knew how to blend in. This week, Ink had had a very successful spy search, and five beings had been brought into his room; all of them were wearing guard outfits. As per usual, Ink sat on his bed above the possible spies, who were on their knees before him, and I sat on the ground, frowning sadly at the possible spies..punishments were very varied for confirmed spies.

"Good morning, possible spies!" Ink greeted his victims with a smile. "Before we begin, would anyone like to confess? I think you'll have a much better time than the others if you do..less pain, too.."

None of them moved, but a couple of them began to sweat.

"Very well." Ink chuckled, before lowering his arm off the side of his bed and resting it on my skull. "Now, I'm sure you've noticed my toy; this is Dusty. Does anyone, by any chance, have any association with..I don't know..his brother?"

Two of the guards took quick glances at me; their expressions told me that, yes, they did know my brother, and I bowed my skull in sadness, knowing that those two wouldn't last much longer. None of them confessed, however.

"I see." Ink nodded, lifting his hand. "Well, if none of you know his brother, you obviously don't know him, and therefore..you wouldn't be opposed to breaking a measly bone in order to prove your innocence..isn't that right?" Ink looked closely at his victims' expressions. "I mean, any normal guard would see it as a daily occurrence; the dungeon isn't only for a few guards, and everyone has broken a few bones. You go first."

Ink gestured to the leftmost unfortunate soul, who had been one of the two who had looked at me. He stood, and I held out my right arm; this was a routine procedure that I had been trained to take part in, and Ink didn't have to force me to offer a bone anymore..he would have punished me if he did. The victim whispered a small apology to me before grabbing my arm with both of his hands, and a snap rang out a moment later, followed by a scream of pain. The next victim was offered my left arm, and he broke it without hesitation; I sincerely doubted whether he was a spy. The third snapped my right leg, but he apologized first. The fourth was the other who had looked at me; he didn't seem as if he wanted to break my remaining leg.

"You're up." Ink spoke to the fourth one. "Break it."

"I-I-I can't.." The fourth refused.

"How unfortunate." Ink focused on the fourth. "So, how long have you been a spy?"

"I'm n-not.." The fourth was struggling.

"You're actually pitiful right now; whoever signed you up as a spy made a big mistake, wouldn't you agree?"

"I-I'm not a s-spy.."

"Then tell me who you are." Ink ordered. "You may be spared."

"I-I'm n-new..I-I wasn't r-r-registered.." The fourth was weeping.

"New guards are always registered.."

"U-used to be a r-r-resistance s-soldier..b-base was d-destroyed.."

"Ah." Ink understood. "In that case, you may go outside to be checked and confirmed..if you can answer this one question: how long did you spend in the dungeon?"

"O-one month.."

"Standard resistance procedure..you're free to go, but you'll have to be registered within the week."

"Y-yes, Sir." The fourth ran out of the room; he was lucky.

"Last one, break his other leg."

The final victim did as ordered, and now there were four possible spies. I was also in a large amount of pain, but Ink had further use for me, which led to a two-minute break in which Ink healed my limbs. After that, Ink turned his attention back to the possible spies.

"Well, since you have no attachment to my toy or his brother, let's see how well you know the rules." Ink pulled out one of his guard rule books, which every guard was supposed to have memorized at least the majority of. "You, how many guards are in every normal section, not including the high rank?"

"One hundred." The first answered confidently.

"You, when is the next holiday?"

"Your next birthday." The second replied.

"You, how long does a typical torture session last?"

"O-one to th-three hours, Sir." The third said.

"..." Ink paused, looking back at his book. "A typical torture session given by me?"

"F-five hours."

"..How many personal possessions is a low rank allowed?"

"T-two..?"

"What's the standard punishment for a spy?"

"Um.." The third didn't know.

"Indeed." Ink grinned at the third. "I suppose you'll be finding that one out firsthand, then; Dusty, take him outside."

I silently nodded, standing and taking the third's hand. I walked him outside to a group of real guards, and I told them that this possible spy was even more of a possible spy..I felt bad for him. When I returned to my seat beside Ink, he was beginning the next test. The first, second, and fifth possible spies were the only ones remaining. The third test was a series of questions regarding training for normal guards, and the first victim answered his questions incorrectly, followed by the fifth. Both of them were sent to join the third, and the second was the only victim remaining.

"Do you feel confident?" Ink questioned.

"Yes, Sir." The second nodded.

"Do you feel..doubtful?"

"No, Sir."

"Do you want to tell me who you are?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Do so."

"Would you believe a double agent?"

"..." Ink hummed. "Yes. Go confirm your identity with your commander; you will be killed if you're lying.."

"Yes, Sir."

The second left, and Ink pulled me onto his bed for a cuddle session.

I didn't believe I would have ever understood spying, really.

~~~~~

"Curtains"

Classification: angst.

Warnings: death.

Canonicity: not canon.

~~~~~

They had failed. The resistance had launched another attempt to rescue Error, but Ink had caught them - all of them. It had been a last-resort attempt, as Ink had betrayed his promise to Dream; he had attacked Dreamtale. The few survivors had done their best, but Ink had blocked off the hallway that led to freedom, and Error was still imprisoned. In honor of the defeat of the resistance, Ink was hosting an event, and no one knew what it was - not even the high ranks. On the day of the event, every guard was brought to the training field, and a cage was set on the stage; Error sat inside it, skull bowed. Initially, I wondered if Ink was going to induct him into his army; I would have been able to see him more often, if that was the case! In front of the cage sat the former leaders of the resistance that had been recently captured, with my brother in the center; they had been chained to the ground on their knees, and they looked sadly at Error. All the guards were sad, too, but I really didn't understand why; the resistance had only been overthrown, and that was it...was I missing something? I walked by Ink's side as he went up onto the stage, and when he reached his spot next to the cage, I waved to Error and my brother, giving them a small smile of reassurance.

"Good morning, everyone!" Ink began his speech - I hoped it wouldn't have taken too long this time - with a smile. "For the past week, all of you have been looking forward to this day, and there have been many rumors about the main event. Well, there is one that has seemed to circulate more than the others, and I think all of you have heard it at least once..it's right." Ink's confirmation brought shock and sadness to the crowd, but..I honestly hadn't heard it..I had been in Ink's room since the defeat of the resistance, and I hadn't heard any rumors. "Don't worry, though; the fun won't be lost..because I'm certain that some haven't heard it..along with..Dusty. I'll start the show now; I hope you all enjoy it!"

With that vague statement, I tilted my skull in confusion as Ink began to walk to the cage; my brother and his friends struggled desperately against their chains, but I didn't know why..had they heard the rumor? Ink entered the cage, and Error looked at me with a small smile. I began to smile back, wondering if he was going to be turned into a guard (we would have lots of fun together if he was!), but my smile turned to a cold stare when Ink pulled out a blade. Error wasn't being turned into a guard..he was being killed! Error continued to smile at me despite that; he had known of his fate..and he was..comforting me? I wanted to run to him, but my legs wouldn't move. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't find my voice. All I could do was watch as the blade was lifted, and I watched.

"Any last words?" Ink offered.

"..." Error continued to smile at me. "Leave my dust in good hands."

Good hands. The last two words he spoke became my purpose. He wanted me to be good..I vowed that I would be; I would be good for him. I would remain good.

They wouldn't take my uncle from me again.

~~~~~

"Intelligence"

Classification: probably more on the comedy side.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

I wasn't smart; I knew that. Ink knew that, too. Fell, Dream, and Blue all knew that. Even the high ranks knew that. I wouldn't have been Ink's toy if I was smart; I would have been free. I was Ink's toy, however, and over the years, I simply hadn't needed my former intelligence; being a toy wasn't necessarily difficult. All I really needed to know was Ink's habits; he took care of the rest. He fed me, and he gave me a place to live; I didn't have to know anything to survive, since I died regularly. After so many years, I simply forgot things such as math and science..I didn't need to know anything about stars except that they were beautiful and came out at night. I didn't need to know what the sun was made of. I didn't need to know much of anything. Sure, Ink's games sometimes involved questions about math and science, but he never gave me enough time to answer anyway; there was no use in learning. Instead of learning, I simply forgot. People began to compare me with a child, since I didn't know enough to be called an adult. Ink wouldn't have allowed me to learn about things anyway; he would have called it a waste of time and punished me for the mere thought. What I did know, I knew well, but those things were mostly related to my friends and family or Ink, along with some facts about torture.

"Dusty, one of the scientists from the lab made this thing that tests how smart someone is." Ink brought up, one day. "I'm going to try it on you, okay?"

"Okay." I had no reason to decline; that would have ended in pain, and if there was one thing I knew was bad, it was pain.

"All right, question one: how many bones are in the normal skeleton's body?"

"I don't know." I answered.

"Dusty, you can't just say that; you need to give some sort of answer!"

"..Over a hundred?"

"Better. How much magic does the average monster have at age ten?"

"..Can I skip questions?"

"No, Dusty."

"..." I hummed in thought, but nothing was coming up; I decided to guess. "Twenty points?"

"How many districts are in an average Underground?"

"..Are the Ruins included?"

"Yes."

"Five, then."

"What is the chemical formula for water?"

"Uh..." I didn't think water was a chemical.. "Is it..none?"

"What process do plants use to create oxygen?"

"..What's oxygen?"

"..." Ink looked at me confusedly. "Do you seriously not know this?"

"..No? Or..yes? Um..your question is hard.."

"Just answer."

"Uh..oxygening?"

"What's two squared?"

"A..rectangle?"

"...What animal is likely to hatch from an egg that is found on the edge of a cliff? There are multiple best answers for this, Dusty."

"A chick chick!" I knew that chick chicks hatched from eggs! Ink had taken me to farm AUs before, and there had been lots of eggs with the chick chicks!

"..." Ink sighed. "This will be the last question I'll even dare to give you, and it will be so simple that even you should get it right! Dusty, what is the item of clothing that directly covers the ribs and sternum?"

"Jacket!" I knew that! I loved my jacket!

"..." Ink facepalmed; I wondered why. "Dusty...do you not understand what the word 'directly' means?"

"Um..kind of?"

"I figured. I'll get your score."

A moment later, Ink had my score, and he looked at me with a disappointed frown.

"Dusty." He addressed.

"Yes?" I looked up at him, hugging my Hope.

"The lowest rank on here requires that you get at least two questions right. You didn't even get that. You are lower than incompetent!"

"Are you going to hurt me?"

"...I should, but I'm not going to, because your blatant stupidity could actually work in my favor at some point. Instead, I'll cuddle you."

Ink let me climb onto his bed, and he cuddled me. I had known that I wasn't smart, but that was okay.

I didn't have to be.

~~~~~

"Escape"

Classification: fluff kind of.

Warnings: nothing too bad, really.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

I had done it..kind of. I couldn't exactly move, and I was in an unknown universe, but I was free! The chains around my wrists and ankles didn't exactly give that appearance, however. It had begun on a normal day. Ink had decided that he wanted to torture me in the dungeon today, and I had been forced to go along with him. In an on-the-spot decision, Ink had chained me to the bars of a cage and tortured me for about three hours before realizing that he didn't have some of the items he had intended to hurt me with, and he had left me alone while he went to get them. I had soon noticed that one of the links in my chains was weak, and I had managed to break myself away from the bars, attracting the attention of nearby guards. Hastily, I had grabbed a knife, and when a guard opened the door to my cage, I had threatened him with it, ordering him to open a portal to somewhere random. Well, my plan had worked...except for the fact that I was crippled, and no one was here to help me. I had been lying here for about twenty minutes when someone came upon me; I hoped there were no guards nearby.

"Hey!" Someone shouted. "I found someone!"

At that, multiple sets of footsteps approached me, and my previously-face-down body was turned over.

"Must be a dungeon escapee." One of them guessed.

"But he only looks like a kid.." Another mentioned.

"Kids sometimes get it worst." A third reminded.

"Right.."

"Let's take him to headquarters." The second voice said.

"I've got him." The first picked me up.

One of the group members created a portal, and they carried me through it to what I assumed was their base. I was laid on a table, and a different person soon arrived.

"A finding?" The new one asked.

"Yeah." The second voice confirmed. "We found him in the forest, and we think he's a dungeon escapee; he also looks like a kid, so I don't know if he'll be very useful, but that's for you to decide."

"Indeed." The new one walked over to the table, and he looked at me carefully. "I'll get these chains off him, then I'll see if we can do anything with him. Continue your rounds as normal."

"Sure thing, captain."

The group left, and the "captain" remained. I was acquainted with certain terms of rebel dialect from being forced to attend interrogations, and the term "captain" wasn't unfamiliar. In the past, the term "sir" was commonplace; now, it was a term that was immediately identified with the empire, and no rebels were comfortable with using it. Instead, they used other terms, such as "boss," "commander," or "captain"; some factions had even made new terms for leaders, but that didn't really matter at the moment. All it gave me was the knowledge that the new person was the leader of this rebel faction. He began to remove the chains that had bound my limbs together, and the newfound freedom was a welcome change. I hadn't expected him to heal my wounds, though; that would have been a waste of magic if I wasn't of any use to them..I decided not to question it.

"What's this..?" He had moved his hands up to my neck, where he found..a collar; Ink had taken me on a walk earlier, and he had neglected to take the collar and leash off yet...and with the collar came the tag. "..."

He removed the collar, and he read the tag several times; he was likely wondering if it was true, since the words "property of the dictator" didn't leave much room for misinterpretation. After reading the tag about ten times, he turned his gaze to me, and I knew exactly what he was thinking.

"P-p-please don't s-send me b-b-back.." I begged; I had only just escaped!

"..You're worth more to us if we use you as ransom." He stated a fact, but his tone implied that his mind was not made up in the least.

"I-I can w-work..I-I'll do anything..d-don't send me back.." I sobbed.

"You shouldn't throw that statement around too much; a great many people would take advantage of the word 'anything.' Although, with what this tag implies, I don't doubt that you mean it."

"I-I do.."

"This type of choice doesn't come by every day." He hummed, beginning to pace around the table in thought. "And if I chose to let you stay, there would be risk to my entire faction; he would have your magic signature."

I frowned slightly; he was right. Ink had my magic signature, and he could track me easily with it.

"Ransom would be easier." He considered. "Effective, too. There would be minimal risk if I simply request protection; he wouldn't be burdened by ignoring such a small faction, and we could even just send you back ourselves..he wouldn't have to lift a finger. Letting you stay...would offer just the opposite. More sentries would have to be posted at every watch, and sending you out on a mission would mean losing you, not to mention the fact that it's well-known of your higher magic requirements; we would have to risk a lot just to feed you for one day, and we don't have those resources. You see where I stand; would you care to offer a different point of view?"

He was right..I would have been a burden if I stayed in his base. My magic requirements were more than five times what normal monsters required, and that food could have gone to more than five capable, hardworking people rather than useless me. I was also injured, and I would have required medical care, which he would have wanted to save for those who were useful to him. I couldn't offer him anything that he couldn't get from anyone else, and if he were to have given me what I needed, it would have been charity. Charity was dead in a world in which resources were scarce and only the most capable could survive. If he gave me what I needed, his faction would have killed him and sent me back to Ink in exchange for goods or protection. He wanted to survive, too, and I understood that. I had nothing to offer him, except for an apology. There was no useful information I could offer him, and there was nothing I could do physically. Food shipments for the empire were guarded so heavily that it would have been suicide to try to hijack one, and supplies were teleported directly into the compound from the manufacturing point, if the supplies weren't manufactured in the compound! I had nothing.

"I can't of-offer anything." I decided to admit. "I-I'm sorry.."

He sighed, standing by my side and nodding. "Then what do you propose I do, if you don't want to go back?"

"...W-would you be w-willing to.." I trailed off; why did I even try to bother asking?

"I'm listening."

"..Th-the resistance..c-can you m-maybe..."

"I'll speak with them, but as of this moment, I can't treat you as a regular escapee. Someone else could be healed with time and be treated like anyone else. They could join us in a few months at the most, and they could earn their keep. You unfortunately cannot, and therefore, you are not going to be treated as an escapee; you're a prisoner, and when I speak to the resistance about you, you're an item to be sold to the first customer. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes.." I understood.

"Good. Can you walk?"

"I-I can t-try.."

He helped me down from the table, and I managed to walk on my slightly-less-injured legs. He led me to the cells in the base, and I didn't fight him when he locked me inside one; I had hope. Being a prisoner actually wasn't so bad; since I was being held for a ransom, I was worth being fed, and the people in the rebel faction were very kind to me! They sometimes talked about things with me while they brought me food. After a few days, I realized that they were actually trying to subtly get information from me, and I told them that if they wanted to know something, they just had to ask; I had no loyalties with Ink, and I was happy to share his secrets! I didn't share his personal secrets, though - only his work secrets - since I still respected his personal boundaries, even if he had tortured me. After a week, the rebels heard back from the resistance.

"What did they say?" I wanted to know.

"They accepted my price, and you're going to be picked up in an hour." The leader of the rebel faction replied.

"Thank you!" I smiled jovially; I was going to see my brother again!

One hour later, the leader of the faction returned to my cell, and he opened the door, gesturing for me to follow him. He led me to the entrance of the base, where I saw..my brother! Papyrus was here! I wanted to run up and hug him, but first, I hugged the leader of the faction; he had done what very few other rebel leaders would have done in his situation, and I was very thankful for it! I then ran up to Papyrus and hugged him tightly, being pulled up into his grasp.

"Thank you.." I wept tears of joy; I was finally with my brother!

"Thank you, brother." Papyrus's voice was a comfort after so long, and I savored it.

I was finally safe.

~~~~~

"Warmth"

Classification: angst to fluff.

Warnings: coldness.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Ink liked comfort. If there ever had been a lap of luxury, he had it. The inhabitants of the empire usually only had what was in their universes; imports were for important people. Guards had low-quality mattresses with uncomfortable pillows and blankets. High ranks had higher-quality furniture, and they were probably the ones with the most comfortable resting areas among the subjects of the empire, but..Ink had the best. His spine didn't require much support, and he slept more comfortably with a soft mattress; he had the softest one I had ever felt. His blankets were both warm and comfortable; they were the type that simply begged one to snuggle into. His pillows were soft, as well; the pillowcases were as soft as the blankets. His bedframe was a shiny silver that offered a crystal-clear reflection, and it completed the type of bed that was fit for a king; Ink didn't like the term "king," however, and he said that it was a bed fit for him. I couldn't help but agree. Whenever Ink decided that he wanted to cuddle with me, I felt what he lived with, and it was much better than the hard, paint-covered floor. I knew that he was conditioning me, but I couldn't help but go along with it..I didn't feel comfort often. The warmth was another factor that made his bed appealing.

"Dusty, what are you doing?" Ink looked over to me, likely noticing how I was looking at his bed.

"N-nothing.." I stuttered, pulling my arms around myself more; it was cold, and I was shivering.

"Are you all right?" He inquired, but he knew that I was cold; the hint of a grin on his face confirmed that.

"F-f-fine.." I couldn't let him get to me..it was only the cold!

"Do you want to cuddle?"

"N-n-n-no.." I had to resist the temptation; he wouldn't have gotten me this time! I could perservere!

"Okay, then, you can freeze, if you would prefer."

I frowned, watching as Ink mocked me by snuggling into his blankets and letting out a contented hum. He was only trying to manipulate me; I knew that! The tears that dripped out of my eyesockets didn't help my cause. I decided to lie down, hoping that I would have been able to preserve my limited warmth better if I curled up. I tried, but the attempt was ultimately futile; it was too cold. After a few minutes, Ink addressed me again.

"Are you certain you don't want to cuddle in my nice, warm bed?" He tempted me. "I'd say it's about fifty degrees warmer over here.."

"S-s-stop.." I couldn't think about warmth; he wasn't going to manipulate me more!

"Oh, Dusty, have you forgotten that toys aren't supposed to order their masters? I suppose a punishment is in order."

A punishment...good. My mind would have been diverted to things other than the cold, and I would have been able to ignore it!

"I'll just lower the temperature another forty degrees, just for you." He..that jerk! "There we go; I hope you learn your lesson, Dusty..and this time, you won't get the privilege of cuddling with me."

I wept as Ink pulled his blankets around himself, and I shivered harder as the cold began to affect me more; I no longer had the temptation, but now I was wishing for it! Ten minutes after he had turned down the temperature, I felt my tears freezing to my face. I should have just given in and cuddled with him! I had learned my lesson! I wouldn't have made that mistake again..I just wanted to be warm..

"P-p-please.." My voice was so tiny that I doubted if Ink would even hear it..but he did.

"Hm?" He directed his attention toward me.

"I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry.."

"For what?"

"C-c-cold.."

"Sorry for being cold? Dusty, that's your punishment; you don't have to apologize for your punishment working."

"N-n-no.."

"What are you sorry for, Dusty?"

"O-o-o-ord-d-der.."

"You're sorry for giving me an order?"

"Y-y-y-yes!"

"Hm.." Ink glanced at his bed. "You want to cuddle now?"

"P-p-please.."

"Very well, come up here."

I tried to uncurl myself, but...I couldn't move. Ink sighed, realizing this. He walked over to me, and he picked me up to carry me back to his bed. Once he had set me down on the warm blankets, he sat down on the bed, and he wrapped himself up. After that, he pulled me into his lap, and I did my best to cuddle him with my limited motion; I didn't want to go back to the cold floor! Ink seemed to enjoy my newfound gratefulness toward him, and he was kind enough to allow me to spend the night under the warm blankets, provided I cuddled him well enough.

"I hope you've learned your lesson, Dusty." Ink said, at one point.

"I have!" I nodded, wanting to appease him in order to stay.

"Another step on the path to becoming my perfect little toy.." He chuckled lowly.

"Huh?" I hadn't heard his last statement..what had he said?

"I just said that you're a good little toy, Dusty."

"Oh." I accepted his answer; I didn't want to get into an argument and risk sleeping on the cold floor! "Okay."

"Good toy, Dusty..good toy."

I was grateful for Ink's small mercies.

~~~~~

"Rake"

This short was requested by my brother!

Also, this isn't even really ATE, but he put the request in that area, so I guess I'll just go with it.

UD Dream and Nightmare can be found in Brightness in Bondage.

Classification: weird.

Warnings: death.

Canonicity: no. Not canon. Never.

~~~~~

UD!Dream's point of view.

I was walking down a sidewalk. Nightmare was next to me, holding a rake. In a split second, he tripped, and the rake fell so that the end was under my boot. I stepped down helplessly, and the rake hit me in the face.

I died.

~~~~~

"Growing"

This short was requested by Cashagon on Ao3!

This short takes place in an alternate route of the "Baby" timeline!

Small note: as many people know, growing up is different for every person. As are "phases." To put it briefly, I've never had a rebellious phase (call me what you will, but I don't think I'll have one), and I have no idea what they're like or what people say when they have one. As a result, Dusty won't have one either. The "teenage years" are basically not gonna be as exciting as you may have been hoping for, but I'll do my best to make this short enjoyable.

Classification: fluff and angst.

Warnings: sad Dusty.

Canonicity: alternate timeline of an alternate timeline.

~~~~~

Ink's point of view.

Dusty was growing. He had begun to walk and talk, and rumors of a cure for his "disability" were fading with his babyhood. His growth rate was completely normal now, and everyone assumed that he would reach adult age in roughly eighteen to twenty years. His current interests were toy cars and dinosaurs.

"Rawr!" He bounced a toy dino around, running around his room with a wide smile.

"Watch out for sharp things, Dusty!" I warned.

"'Kay, 'kay, Inky!" He giggled.

He honestly was an amazing child, and I savored every moment I spent with him; I had to, since his childhood was now limited..I suddenly found myself within a time constraint. There was so much to do and not enough time to do all of it! We had gone to at least three kiddie amusement parks by the time he was five, though, and he was enjoying his life greatly. Well, until school started.

"Inky, I don't wanna go.." He clung to my arm, showing fear.

"It'll be okay, Dusty; this school is very nice, and they'll take good care of you." I assured. "And you'll meet lots of new friends, too."

"I don't want new friends; I want you!"

"I know, Dusty, but you have to learn."

"Can't you teach me?"

"No, Dusty, I can't."

"Can't or won't?"

"..." I sighed; both of us knew I could have taught him everything there was to know, but his brother wanted him to have friends his age, and that involved going to a school with others. "Dusty, your brother wants you to go here so you can meet new friends."

"Why do I need new friends? Aren't you, Dream, Blue, Fell, Outer, Classic, and everyone else my friends?"

"Yes, Dusty, but with friends who are your age, you can play games that we simply can't."

"Like what?"

"Like hide and seek, but everyone is smaller!"

"..." Dusty frowned.

"Just try it for one day, okay? If you don't like it, I'll speak to your brother."

"Okay.." He nodded.

"Do you want your doll?"

"Mhm.."

"Here you go, Dusty." I gave him his Killer doll, and he hugged it. "Have a good day at school."

"I'll try.."

"That's all we ask."

Needless to say, it hadn't been great. Upon finding Dusty's tendency to hug his doll constantly, the other children had made fun of him; when I had first heard the news..

"I'll kill them!" I growled, struggling in Papyrus's firm grip.

I ended up tutoring Dusty at home, which was the best possible outcome, in my opinion. If those cruel children didn't want Dusty with them, they wouldn't get him; he was too good for them anyway! Dusty preferred my tutoring, and his childlike mindset was enriched with knowledge about anything I could think of. By the time he was ten years old, he was the smartest ten year old in the multiverse (at least, I liked to think so).

"Papyrus, why do you have to go to meetings so often?" He asked, one morning during breakfast.

"Because that is my job, brother." Papyrus answered. "I did not intend for it to happen, but I ended up working with the council of judges."

"How?"

"..." Papyrus fell silent.

Despite the fact that it had been a few decades ago, the multiverse hadn't forgotten my reign of terror, and Papyrus and I had agreed long ago to never tell Dusty about it. He didn't know about the fact that I was (more like had been) evil, and he wasn't aware of the fact that there had ever been a dictatorship; many families and schools had agreed not to disclose that information until the children were old enough to handle it, and Dusty....would never have been old enough.

"Are you okay?" Dusty tilted his skull.

"Yes, brother, I am fine." Papyrus nodded.

"How did you end up working with the council?"

"..They noticed my skills, and they decided that they liked me."

"Oh." Dusty believed the lie, to our relief. "Ink, can we go to the park today?"

"Sure, Dusty." I smiled.

When Dusty was fifteen years old, his interests had long since shifted from games and toys to things he could do with his mind; he liked to perform silly science experiments and stargaze for hours on end. The only toy he had kept was his doll, which sat on his nightstand; he often said that he didn't know why he liked it so much..I regretted what I had done.

"Hi, Uncle Error!" Dusty hugged Error, who had come for a visit.

"Hey, Dust." Error greeted. "How have you been?"

"I've been good; Ink is showing me how to paint!"

"That's..nice." Error frowned slightly; he had still had nightmares of his captivity, and no amount of consoling helped him..he had forgiven me, for some reason, though.

"I'm not really good at it, but Ink really is! He made a super-lifelike painting of Thunder and Lightning!"

"I'm certain you're also good at it."

"If a bunch of scribbles counts as good."

"Are you kidding? A bunch of scribbles is a masterpiece!"

Dusty chuckled. "I doubt it."

"Ah, stuff and nonsense; I'm sure your art is wonderful."

"You'd be the only one."

"What is this? Someone else not sharing my refined taste in art? How pitiful!"

Dusty burst out into laughter at Error's dramatic performance, and I would have been lying if I said that I didn't. The rest of the day passed with fun and games, and when bedtime came upon the house, Dusty and I were on the couch in the living room, looking for a movie to watch in the cover of darkness; I had agreed to let him stay up late for a movie, since he was getting older.

"See anything?" I wondered.

"Not yet." Dusty shook his skull, flipping through the movies available. "All the movies nowadays are weird; there's no villains, just heroes. As much as I like a hero, he's gotta have someone to fight against, not just 'the darkness.'"

I hummed. Many children who had grown up without knowledge of the empire had made similar comments; no one in the movies wanted to play the part of a villain, since..they had suffered at the hands of one.

"Maybe there's a good documentary.." Dusty sighed, mumbling as he scrolled through the documentaries, and I lay back, waiting for him to find something good to watch. "Savannah, ocean, mountains, Outertale, Snowdins, surface culture, royalty, boring, boring, boring, Underswap, Fellswap vs. Swapfell, deep oceans, fish, birds, castles, kingdoms, empires, e-"

"Hm?" I opened my eyesockets, turning to see Dusty, curious why he had stopped.

"Ink, you're on tv!" He chuckled, pointing to the documentary he had stopped on.

My eyelights flickered out; someone had made a documentary about my empire! I had to stop this.

"Let's see what that's about!" Dusty had horrible ideas that needed an immediate cessation.

"Nah, it doesn't look interesting." I quickly shook my skull, trying to be subtle.

"Really? It looks pretty interesting to me.."

"No, I can see the cheap quality; that director's known for putting crude things in his movies, anyway, and I don't want you to be exposed to that."

"...Ink, he made the Outertale documentary you liked so much."

"..I..that's not him; it's the other director with his name."

"How do you know?"

"I just know, Dusty. Don't watch that."

"Why?" Dusty questioned; he was becoming suspicious of me. "Why wouldn't you want to at least see why your picture's on the front of this one?"

"Um.." I didn't know what to say.. "It's complicated.."

"Ink, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine. Please, Dusty, just don't watch that movie."

"..." Dusty sighed, shaking his skull. "All right, but I'll be expecting a well-thought-out explanation in the morning."

"And you'll get it!" I assured.

"Good night, Ink."

"Good night, Dusty."

Dusty went to bed, and I exhaled deeply; this was bad! Papyrus was at a meeting right now, but I decided that family matters would have reigned over multiversal matters! I ran to the phone, and I called the meeting center.

"A meeting is in progress." A Toriel picked up the phone.

"I need to speak to Papyrus." I stated.

"He's in the middle of a very important discussion."

"What I need to say is also very, very important!"

"..I'll see if I can get him, but I wouldn't count on it. Who shall I say is calling?"

"Ink."

"Please hold."

I tapped my foot rapidly as I waited for Papyrus to pick up, hoping he would take this seriously!

"Ink, is something the matter?" He spoke to me, after about two minutes of holding.

"Papyrus, this is bad!" I may have been overreacting, but I didn't care!

"What?! Is the house on fire? Is my brother okay?"

"H-he might find out! We were looking for a movie to watch, and some crazy person made a documentary about you-know-what!"

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I'm not!"

"I will be over as soon as I can; is he in bed?"

"Yeah, but he's expecting an explanation in the morning."

"Just hold on, Ink; I will get this meeting wrapped up as soon as possible."

I pit the phone down and sat down at the dining room table, sighing and laying my skull on my arms. Papyrus arrived half an hour later, and he brought Error, Fell, and Dream with him. They sat down at the table with me, and we began to figure things out. When morning came, none of us had gotten any sleep, but we had a plan, and the caffeine in our drinks helped. Dusty came out for breakfast at seven o'clock.

"Good morning." He greeted, before tilting his skull. "I like visits, but why are all of you here? Am I missing something?"

"Take a seat, brother." Papyrus gestured to a chair, and Dusty sat down hesitantly.

"Am I in trouble?" Dusty assumed incorrectly.

"No, brother. Ink tells me that you saw something last night."

"Is this about that documentary?"

"Yes, brother."

"Okay, what's so special about it?"

"...There's something we've neglected to tell you, Dust." Fell sighed. "Something we didn't think you were ready for; we still don't think you're ready for it, but we have no choice now."

"What is it?"

"..I used to rule the multiverse." I said.

Silence, before Dusty began to laugh. "That's funny, but you're not exactly a king."

"A dictator." I looked Dusty in the eyelights, intent on showing him that this was no joke. "I enslaved the entire multiverse for several decades, until I was defeated by your brother. That is why he works with the council."

Dusty had stopped laughing, but it was obvious that he still didn't take this seriously. "So..is someone gonna jump out at me now, or..?"

"It isn't a joke, Dust." Dream shook his skull. "Trillions of people suffered at Ink's hands, and every person in this room was affected in some way."

"Everyone except me." Dusty still didn't understand.

"You were affected the worst." Fell shook his skull.

"I would have been a baby; why would a supposed 'dictator' switch to babysitting a newborn?"

"You weren't a newborn, and you weren't a baby." I got to the part of the conversation that was undoubtedly going to be the hardest part. "For some reason, after a long time, you were turned into a baby..without your memories. You had an old life before this, and you had a different family; I murdered them, and I turned you into my prisoner, torturing you for several decades. At some point, you turned into a baby, and I found out that I actually cared about you; I surrendered my empire willingly when your brother confronted me, and everyone has chosen to forget about it."

"..." Dusty scoffed, smiling. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard; is this a prank? It isn't April, you know."

"We watched the documentary while you were asleep." Error mentioned. "If you watch it, you'll see yourself, and you'll see me; there's a reason it's rated R, though."

"There's an entire hour about you.." Dream sighed.

"I don't believe you." Dusty said, plainly. "I'll watch the thing, but I won't see me, because I wasn't born then, if it truly happened, which I doubt, and I never took up acting."

Dusty watched it, and he was proven wrong. He locked himself in his room after that; he wasn't ready. I knocked on his door later in the day.

"Dusty, are you all right in there?" I inquired.

Dusty sobbed inside, saying nothing, but what he would have said was clear; I knew he had been soulbroken when he saw that documentary..what I had done to him.

"..I'm sorry for everything." I apologized. "You won't see me again."

I left. It was for the best; Dusty knew what I had done, and he had been right to choose not to forgive me. I had committed horrible things to so many people, and I didn't deserve forgiveness. It was natural that he didn't want to see me. No one tried to stop me from leaving; they knew that I wasn't going to stay, no matter what they said. A week later, I had taken up residence..in an AU. People weren't exactly keen on renting a room out to an old dictator, and I was..homeless. That was probably for the best; without a home, I was able to disappear easier. Two months of being homeless later, I was approached by..Papyrus.

"Ink, you are a difficult skeleton to find." He mentioned.

"That's why I'm living in an alley instead of on a sidewalk." I replied.

"Ink, I am here to ask you to come back."

"..Why would I even be welcome?"

"My brother..he misses you."

"He knows what I did to him. He doesn't know what he wants."

"He feels bad for causing you to run off."

"Guess who feels bad about not doing it sooner."

"He has forgiven you, and I have, as well; he only wants to have you back. "

"Did you tell him how long he waited to have you back? He'll forget about me; he's got a good life ahead of him."

"Ink..he is refusing to do anything more than eat until you come back..he will not sleep, study, or even look at the stars unless you return; I have tried to get him to move on, but he simply will not."

"..." I lowered my skull slightly.

"He is laying all the blame on himself, Ink..I do not know what to do.."

"..He isn't..moving on?"

"Not even for Error."

I sighed. "Okay."

I returned with Papyrus, and soon, I was being hugged tightly by the child I had watched grow up.

"I-I'm sorry, Ink.." He sobbed, clutching to me as if his life depended on it. "I-I didn't mean t-to make you go.."

"It's okay, Dusty." I hugged him back, coming down to his level. "I won't leave again."

"P-p-promise?"

"..I promise."

I was needed.

~~~~~

"Time Travel"

This short was requested by Cashagon on Ao3!

Classification: comedy.

Warnings: Ink being an absolute boss.

Canonicity: alternate timeline (pun intended).

~~~~~

Ink's point of view.

"Are we sure this is going to work?" I wasn't sure.

"Of course!" Blue performed his signature laugh. "We've had, like, twenty people working on this thing, and in theory, you should find yourself in the future!"

"..Does it have to be me?"

"You're the only one with sufficient magic levels, and you're immortal." Nightmare reminded.

"You are, too!"

"Yeah, but my magic is linked to the tree, and we're several very big numbers of lightyears away! I'm kind of weak, here."

"Please sit." Outer gestured to the chair, and I sat down.

"Uh, guys, what if I'm not actually immortal?" I presented a fear.

"Relax, Uncle Ink!" Nightmare comforted. "Everything should work well, and since this is time travel, we can just bring you back a few seconds later for us."

"What if I get stuck there?!"

"Then..you can meet your future self, I guess?"

"But if I was sent to the future and didn't come back, would I even have a future self?!"

"Um.." Swapyrus hummed. "That's an interesting theory. If you can't find yourself there, then..I guess you'll know if you're stuck."

"I don't like this.." I whined as I was strapped in. "What if I do get stuck, and because I wasn't here to fight corruption, the world gets corrupted and everyone dies?!"

"..Let's stop thinking of hypotheticals." Classic suggested.

"Are you not afraid that everyone will die?!" I tried to add logic to the discussion. "I am afraid!"

"Relax, and take a few deep breaths." Nightmare laid a hand on my shoulder. "Everything will be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm certain."

"Can you bring me back a souvenir?" Blue hoped.

"I'll try.." I inhaled.

"All right, you should have about a day in the future, and then you should return here in about..a minute." Outer enlightened. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yes!" Everyone except me replied.

"I guess.." I sighed.

The time machine was turned on, and I closed my eyesockets as..I fell onto the ground? I cracked open an eyesocket, finding..forest? So..this was the future. Well, my best option would have been to find civilization..and hopefully find myself, to make sure I wasn't stuck here. How far into the future was I, anyway? I stood up, brushing myself off, and I wandered. This forest was..big. I wasn't entirely sure where civilization was, and- a house! I grinned as I located an actual house in the forest, and I decided to knock on the door. Apparently, the owner of the house didn't like visitors, since I was trapped in a net a second later, and I was knocked unconscious; that was..an interesting welcome. If they didn't want visitors, they could have just said so! When I woke from my unexpected rest, I found myself tied to a chair - seriously, what kind of people did I find? - with..a lot of skeletons staring at me. I recognized two of them.

"Hi, Outer!" I grinned at the familiar faces. "Hi, Classic!"

"Don't give us that friendly act." Outer scoffed.

"Uh..whatcha talkin' 'bout?" I was confused.

"You know what he's talking about, Ink." Classic glared.

"...How long was I out?"

"Half an hour, ya soulless freak." An unidentified - but clearly cruel - skeleton remarked.

"Wow, soulless?" I winced. "That's kind of harsh, don't you think?"

"Just the truth."

"...I think you have me mixed up with someone else.."

"That is highly unlikely, seeing as you are Ink." A Papyrus shook his skull.

"Well, I'm Ink, but I'm certainly not soulless."

"What a joke!" Someone mocked a laugh. "Everyone in the multiverse knows that you don't have a soul!"

"..." I tilted my skull. "I can clear this up pretty easily.."

I decided to let them see my soul, and their reactions were...unexpected. They donned looks of shock, and I found myself in an interesting situation.

"Why did you think I was soulless?" I wondered.

"Y-you are- or, you were.." Classic seemed as confused as I was, but I came up with an idea.

"So, uh, do you two remember that time you sent me to the future in a time machine?" I hoped they did..

"That was litral centuries ago.." Outer informed.

"Huh." I tilted my skull. "Well, I guess I'm from literal centuries ago! This future looks really weird, though; do you guys have flying cars yet?"

"..You mean you're the Ink we sent into the future several centuries ago?" Classic began to understand.

"Uh-huh!" I nodded.

"..Are you by any chance secretly evil?"

"Uh, I don't think so.." I thought that that was a weird question. "Honestly, I think you guys were the evil ones! You didn't even give me a countdown before sending me to possible doom!"

"..Spec, private talk." Outer moved the Papyrus out of the room.

"so, do you have flying cars?" I asked.

"No." Classic answered.

"What about hoverboards?"

"No."

"Do you have blenders that play classical music?"

"..No."

"Lawns that cut themselves?"

"No."

"What do you have? The future sounds boring!"

"Ink, for your own safety, we aren't going to talk about the future."

"Why not?" I pouted.

"Because we aren't."

"But Blue asked for a souvenir! How can I get him the best future gift ever if I can't know about the future?"

"..." Classic sighed. "How long until you go back?"

"Uh, one, two...I think twenty-three hours? Swap said a day, but I'm not really sure how exact that is. By the way, did I come back from this, or is this your first time seeing me in several centuries?"

"..You came back."

"Yay! I live! What was it like when I came back? Wait! What did I bring back for Blue?"

"..You brought him a sword."

"A sword?! That sounds awesome! By the way, why's everyone glaring at me? Did I do something bad in the future?"

"..." Classic avoided my gaze.

"What? Did I prank everyone? My pranks don't get that bad, do they?"

"We aren't going to talk about you."

"Why? That's, like, the best part of all the time travel movies! The main character meets themself or their ancestors or descendents, and they have to try to try to avoid a possible horrible event that happens in order to save the world!"

Classic paused, before looking back to me.

"What did you just say?"

"The main character in time travel movies has to save the world?"

"...I think you're onto something.."

"I am?"

"Papyrus!"

Classic ran out of the room, and I was left with the glaring skeletons who looked like they wanted to hurt me.

"So...how's the weather in the future?" I tried to make small talk. "Does it rain cupcakes?"

No one responded, and my question was left unanswered, sadly. Several minutes passed with a ridiculous amount of glaring, and I had decided that if the unknown skeletons weren't going to talk to me, I would simply talk for them.

"More tea, grouch number four?" I looked to the fourth grouch from the left. "Oh, here you go! How many lumps of sugar do you want? My goodness, grouch number four! You certainly cannot have fifteen lumps of sugar in your tea! You'll get a sugar rush! What's that, grouch number seven? Oh, I'm so happy for them! Give them my regards!"

"Ink." Outer addressed.

"Yes?" I looked to my friend from the future.

"After careful consideration, we've decided to tell you about the future."

"Yes!" I giggled. "Okay, what happens?"

"You're an evil dictator."

"..." I blinked. "What?"

"You conquered the multiverse, Ink."

"...Are we talking about the same me? I'm a Guardian of the multiverse...not a dictator.."

"Well, centuries of change can do things."

"..Is that why everyone's glaring?"

"Yep. You're also soulless in the future, and you've tortured millions of innocent people."

"..." I contemplated my future life choices. "Why?"

"No one knows; only you would know that."

"Well, what about Nightmare?"

"What about him?"

"He's my adopted nephew, if you remember correctly; what happens to him?"

"..Ink, you killed him."

"I-" I froze; what in the world could have possessed me to want to kill my nephew?! "I what?! Oh, that is it! Take me to future me! I'll set him straight! I'll teach him right and wrong, and I'll give him the worst scolding he'll ever hear! I'll paralyze him! No one touches my nephew!"

Everyone in the room paled at my reaction; I didn't care. I wanted to ensure that my future self saw the light, and to do that, I had to meet him..and maybe slap him around a few times. I didn't care if he was me from the future; I would set him on the straight and narrow before going back home with the undoubtedly awesome sword I would give to Blue. It didn't take much time to convince them to take me to future me, and soon enough, Outer and the Papyrus had taken me to the original Undertale, where I would face off against myself. I wished I had brought my paintbrush into the time machine, but I supposed that a wooden board would simply have to work.

"So, how do I get in?" I inquired.

"Well, you could just walk in." Outer suggested. "You are still you."

"Hm..good idea. I'll come running if something goes wrong, but in theory, he wouldn't he able to hurt me severely, since it would only be hurting himself."

"In theory." The Papyrus repeated.

"I'll see you, then."

"Good luck." Outer wished.

"Thanks!"

I left the cover, and I began to walk toward the building, dragging a large wooden board behind me. Normally, I wouldn't have stooped to such methods of punishment, but it was technically me, and if I had done what Outer and Classic said I had done, I deserved it; I was more willing to take their words for it. An armored judge (I wanted to know what was up with that, but I was on a mission to reprimand my future self, which left little time for such things) was kind enough to hold the door open for me, and I began my trek through the large building that future me was probably in. I hummed a tune as I dragged my board around, looking for my other. After an hour, I caught sight of a large paintbrush, and I walked in its direction, eventually seeing the back of someone who was exactly my height, and I knew it was me. I swung my board at the back of his skull, and he somehow was not knocked out by this, only growling and turning around.

"Naughty!" I hit him again.

"What the heck?!" Future me was bewildered as I smacked him again with my board.

"You've been a very bad individual, and you are going to stop!" A hit.

By this time, the armored people were standing in a circle, watching me as I reprimanded my future self.

"What are you?!" Future me seemed uncomfortable as I hit him again with my board.

"I am your past self, and I am very disappointed in your irresponsible actions!" I continued to beat my future self. "Do you realize what a letdown you are?!"

"I'm a dictator!"

"You're a sorry excuse for a Guardian! I'm gonna knock some sense into you!"

"Back off!" He swung his brush at me.

"Not until you learn some manners!"

"I'll murder you!"

I chuckled slightly at that, pulling out a spray bottle. "But I'm you..you'd only be killing yourself."

"What kind of fever dream is this..?" He seemed very uncomfortable and confused.

"Now be good!"

"Absolutely not!"

I sprayed him.

"Ew!" He tried to get the offending liquid off his face. "What is that?!"

"Paint remover! Now be good!"

"You little twit!"

I sprayed him again, and he spluttered as he wiped the paint remover off his face, but it was beginning to remove some of his ink stain..

"I'll..I'll torture you!" He threatened.

"Bad!" I sprayed him again. "Be good!"

"Will you stop that!"

"Only when you prove to be a good person!"

"That will never happen- agh!" He tackled me after I sprayed him again.

The fight didn't last long, and soon enough, one of us was tied to a chair, magic suppressed. It wasn't me.

"Let me go!" He struggled. "This is demeaning!"

"Humility is good for your soul." I mentioned.

"I have no soul!"

"That doesn't make you any different from anyone else! Your first lesson is respecting others!"

Outer and the Papyrus eventually joined me in my teaching, and after fifteen hours and thirty spray bottles, future me was beginning to see some improvement. He was actually trying to be good, since he didn't want his allergic reaction to the paint remover to get any worse. When it had been nearly twenty-four hours after my arrival, I said my goodbyes to the future people, since I had no clue when I would be sent back.

"Here you go, Ink." Classic presented me with a..sword! "Something for Blue."

"Thanks!" I chuckled happily, knowing that Blue was going to love this! "And..I won't be like him."

"I wouldn't be so sure.."

"What do you mean?" I tilted my skull.

"..You'll find out soon enough. Just be as good as you can be, all right?"

"I..okay. I'll do my best, Classic!"

"That's all I could ask. You know, you've made a lot of people happy."

"Yep.." I smiled, looking over to the Papyrus, who was happily hugging his brother; I didn't know the full story, but it was obvious that they loved eachother. "Good luck with everything, and make sure that rascal turns out good; if I do end up in his shoes (which I will try to avoid at all costs), I wouldn't want to be locked up and forgotten.."

"We'll make sure he's good."

"Thanks." I turned to future me. "And you had better behave!"

"I-I will!" Future me nodded vigorously.

"Good!" I grinned, turning back to Classic. "I, uh, don't know when I'll go back, so.."

"Bye."

"Good bye. By the way, do I ever get sent Back to the Future?"

"Nope, this was the only time we tried..but we might try again..just in case."

"Yeah..I hope that goes well."

"..."

"This is really awkward.."

"Yeah, it is.."

"I'm sort of just hoping I'll flash back just to escape the awkwardness..but it isn't happening.."

"It'll happen eventually..." Classic hummed. "Maybe if I start to tell you something about the future you're not supposed to know about, the world will take you back to avoid your knowledge."

"It's worth a try."

"For your next birthday, you get duck slippers."

"...I don't think the world cares if I know that."

"Hm..maybe a more dramatic approach.." Classic tapped his foot for a moment before donning a shocked expression. "Ink! Whatever you do, don't-"

I fell onto the ground.

"You look like you've been through a lot." Nightmare chuckled, helping me to my feet.

"Yeah, it was really.." I trailed off..what was I going to say? "Um.."

"What was the future like?" Blue questioned.

"I..." I tilted my skull in thought. "I don't remember.."

"Aww!" Blue sighed. "What's that?"

"Huh?" I looked down, finding..a sword? "Oh, wow..I wonder where this came from..."

"Is it my souvenir?"

"I mean, I guess..if you want it.."

"Thanks!" Blue accepted the sword, grinning happily.

"You don't remember anything?" Outer sighed.

"Nope..sorry." I shrugged. "Maybe time travel's just not meant to be.."

"Bummer.." Classic frowned. "I was really hoping to find out if the resets ever ended.."

"Well, we can always find out the normal way: waiting!" I smiled. "Besides, at least we know there is a future."

"I guess.."

"Uncle Ink, can we visit Outertale?" Nightmare wanted to see the stars. "Please?"

"Sure, buddy!" I nodded, hugging my nephew. "I'll take you to the best spot there is!"

"Yay!"

Several centuries later, I found myself utterly bewildered as past me beat me with a wooden board.

~~~~~

"Succession"

This short was requested by Cashagon on Ao3!

This short takes place in the "Papa" timeline.

Classification: fluff and a bit of comedy.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

Papa was gone. He had gone out to a battle four weeks ago, and no one had seen him since. I had been staying in the guard lounge with Dream and the swapped Sans, and I was worried! Some of the low ranks were speaking about rebellion, and the high ranks had been taking over Papa's job in a frenzy; they weren't doing a very good job. This morning, I was sitting at a table in the guard lounge, eating breakfast with Fell, Dream, and the swapped Sans. Normally, Fell wouldn't have been allowed in here, but Papa had said that I had the power to take Fell wherever I wanted him, and I didn't want him to miss breakfast!

"When do you think Papa will come back?" I wondered.

"Probably sometime this week." The swapped Sans answered.

"You said that last week.."

"Well, there's more of a chance for it to happen this week!"

"..Do you think he's okay?"

"I think he's fine, Dust." Dream assured.

"..You're sure?"

"Kid, he's always fine." Fell chuckled. "He probably just needs a break from everything, and he'll come back when he's ready."

"Why wouldn't he tell me?"

"..I don't know."

"Mail." A low rank approched our table, before handing me an envelope and leaving.

"..What do I do?" I tilted my skull.

"Open it." Fell shrugged.

"Okay.."

I opened the envelope, finding a letter. It had a lot of long words that I didn't know the meanings of, though, and I decided to hand it to Dream, who probably would have had better luck figuring out what it meant.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"..Well, it means that if the current ruler is absent for a month, leadership of the empire goes to..his heir." Dream explained.

"Papa doesn't have hair." I tilted my skull.

"Not hair, Dust - heir. It's the next in line to the throne."

"Who's that?"

"...Dust, that would be you."

"..I don't know how to rule an empire.."

"Well, it's apparently your job, now.."

"..." I thought for a few minutes.

I wasn't really sure what people who ruled empires did! I had seen Papa go to meetings and stuff, but..maybe I could do this. I just had to do what Papa did! What did Papa do, though? He woke up every morning and went to work..what did he do at work? I had only accompanied him a few times, and I didn't know everything..maybe Fell, Dream, and the swapped Sans could help me!

"Would you guys help me?" I hoped.

"Sure, kid." Fell nodded. "Anything you need us for, we'll try to help."

"Thanks!" I grinned, glad that I had the best friends in the entire world!

"Here to serve, kid."

It was hard. I tried to do something really simple - calling the high ranks for a meeting, which I had seen Papa do hundreds of times - and no one had listened! Dream and the swapped Sans were the only high ranks there, and they were the ones helping me!

"I don't think I'm meant to take Papa's job.." I sighed, curling up in my chair. "Nobody listens to me, and nobody cares about me.."

"Well, we care." The swapped Sans looked on the bright side.

"Yeah, but you're my friends! Papa gets everyone to listen to him, whether they like him or not! How does he do that?!"

"Leverage." Dream answered.

"What's that?" I tilted my skull in question.

"It's..having something to threaten others with; in order to keep the high ranks in line, your papa makes sure that they know that if they break a serious rule, they'll be demoted, and no high rank wants that."

"..Could I do that?"

"I mean.." Dream shrugged. "You could try. I'm not sure if they'll take a demotion seriously coming from you, though."

"What else can I use as leverage?"

"I have a plan!" The swapped Sans exclaimed.

The next day, the high ranks woke up at their usual hour, but something was different today.

"Hey, where's breakfast?" One of them sat at a table impatiently.

"There is none." The swapped Sans answered.

"What do you mean?" Another asked.

"This is a punishment." I announced.

A high rank scoffed. "Do you honestly think this is going to do anything?"

"Uh-huh." I nodded. "You didn't come to my meeting yesterday, so you don't get to eat."

"So we can go to the cafeteria instead." Another rolled his eyelights.

"This room is locked." Dream shook his skull. "No one's leaving."

"Portals-" A high rank found that he couldn't open a portal. "What..?"

"No magic, either." Fell chuckled; his idea to suppress their magic had been a great one!

"You can't do this to us!" One of them glared at me.

"While Papa's away, I'm in charge, and whatever he could do to you, I can, too." I crossed my arms. "I might not be as strong as he is, but I can keep you in line, and I will."

"You little twit!" A high rank growled.

"Wait, if we can't get out, neither can they; they're trapped in here with us!" One of the high ranks thought.

"No, we are going to be out." The swapped Sans shook his skull. "There's a low rank posted outside the door; when you're ready to comply, let him know, and we'll come back."

The swapped Sans opened a portal, and the four of us entered it, leaving the high ranks to endure their punishment. We proceeded to go to the cafeteria, where we got our breakfast. Afer breakfast, we went to the announcement center, where I would make an announcement; I was hoping that everything would turn out all right. When we got there, the Head of Announcements looked at our group over his counter, but..I was too short.

"Can I help you?" He offered.

"Fell, could you pick me up, please?" I wanted to see over the counter.

"Sure thing, kid." Fell picked me up, holding me up to the counter.

"Thank you!"

"Oh, Dust, what can I help you with?" The Head of Announcements was a friend. "Do you want to play with the microphones again?"

"Not today. While Papa's away, I'm going to do..whatever he does..I'm still trying to figure that part out, but I want to make an announcement to tell everyone!"

"Ah, I see. Well, your Papa usually makes his announcements right here, with this microphone." He held up the device in question. "I can turn it on, and it'll broadcast through every speaker in the compound."

"Thank you!"

"Anything for you, Dust."

The Head of Announcements took a moment to set up the microphone, and when it was set up, I sat on the counter - Fell had put me down - and spoke through it.

"Uh, hello?" I flinched slightly as the sound of my voice came through on an overhead speaker; at least I knew it worked! "Ooh, that's awesome!"

"Announcement, Dust." Dream kindly reminded.

"Oh, right! Um, hello everyone! You probably know by now that Papa is away for a while - if you don't know, he is - and, um..while he's away, I'm going to take his place. I don't really know how to do that, but I'll do my best! Papa would probably call everyone out to the stage outdoors, but I don't want to ruin anyone's schedule, so..keep doing good, I guess! Also, since I'm in charge now, I can make rules, right? Rule number one is going to be really easy: please don't do the rebellion thing; that sounds scary, and people could get really hurt! I don't want anyone to get hurt, so I'm making this rule to keep everyone safe! Rule number two is also easy! I know that a lot of people are sad a lot, and I don't really know why, but rule two will make it better! If you're sad, you can get a free hug from someone! The other person doesn't have to be sad, just someone. Also, if someone sad is trying to get a hug, please don't push them away; if you can't hug them, please stay with them until they find someone they can hug, since sad people need comfort a lot! I know that this will help, since when Papa is sad, he says that my hugs make his sadness go away! I think hugs are really good, so hugging sad people is a rule now. I think that's all. Have a good day, everyone!"

I gave the microphone back to the Head of Announcements, who gave me a thumbs up. "That was a great announcement, Dust; you didn't overdo it, and you didn't upset anyone..I think."

"I don't see how anyone could get upset about an announcement like that." Fell rubbed my skull playfully, and I giggled. "What do we do now, sir?"

"Um.." I thought about it. "We could go see if the high ranks want to listen yet."

"Good idea, it's almost lunchtime, and they haven't eaten a thing." Dream reminded.

"Do you think that I'm being too harsh?"

"No." Fell, Dream, and the swapped Sans harmonized.

"Okay."

We walked to the entrance of the guard lounge. On the way there, I noticed that a lot of people were hugging eachother; that was great! When we reached the entrance, the low rank we had posted there was still standing by the doorway, and we asked him if the high ranks had given in yet. They hadn't, and we decided to spend the rest of the day thinking of ways to improve the empire while Papa was away; he would be proud of me when he returned home! He would also be proud of Dream, Fell, and the swapped Sans, since I couldn't do this without their help! Over the next few days, we made new rules, and the high ranks gave in, which was exciting! I had punished them successfully! The high ranks said that they respected my ruthlessness (I didn't know what that word meant, and my friends wouldn't tell me) and that they would obey me as they would have obeyed Papa; I was ecstatic!

"What do we do about the rebel base in Underswap copy eighty-seven, sir?" A high rank wondered, during one of our meetings.

"Um..what does Papa do with rebels?" I questioned.

"Standard procedure is to capture the base and take the rebels prisoner; their leader would be interrogated for valuable information before being imprisoned also."

"..." That sounded a bit harsh, but if Papa did it, it must have been okay! "If Papa says that's what we do, then I guess we do that. How many sections does he usually send?"

"Only one, sometimes less."

"All right. You take your section to capture the base, but make sure not to hurt anyone too bad; if you do, you have to hug them and make them feel better, okay?"

"..Yes, sir."

"And I'll do the interrogation like Papa does!"

The base was captured, and I sat in Papa's interrogation room, waiting for the rebel leader to come to be interrogated. I..had no clue what to ask, but at least I knew what an interrogation was! The rebel leader was soon brought in, and he was set in the chair across from me; he was a Sans.

"Hi!" I grinned, greeting the rebel leader. "I'm Dusty; what's your name?"

"I refuse to answer any questions." The rebel leader..he wasn't supposed to do that!

"Um..you're not supposed to do that." I frowned. "You're supposed to answer the questions so I can get super secret information and..do something with it...probably. Since you won't tell me your name, I'll call you Gravy." I chuckled; I had been wanting something with gravy on it all day, and the swapped Sans had promised to make me something! "Gravy, what's your favorite color?"

"..How is that supposed to give you secret information?" He scoffed.

"I don't know, but interrogations are supposed to be asking questions, right? Favorite colors make good questions!"

"You've never done this before, have you?"

"Nope! This is my first time, but I think I'm doing good! So what's your favorite color?"

"..Green."

"I like blue; red scares me, though, but I don't know why. Next question: do you like stars?"

"..Yeah."

"I do, too! Did you have stars in your universe?"

"Yep."

"That's awesome! Hm..I guess I should probably ask you about rebel things, since you're a rebel..do rebels have dress codes?"

"Nope." He snickered.

"If you meet other rebels, do you have a secret handshake?"

"No."

"Do you fight with other rebels?"

"Not usually, but there are some violent ones..I think they just went crazy."

"What about the resistance?"

"They're all right, I guess." He shrugged. "More of a target, though."

"So why'd you become a rebel?"

"I guess I wanted something to stand for.."

"Are you sad?"

"..What do you mean?"

"Just..are you sad? Unhappy?"

"My base just got captured, and I failed as a leader; do you think I'm happy?"

"I guess not." I stood up, and I began to walk over to him.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Giving you a hug." I hugged him. "Sad people need hugs; do you feel better yet?"

"..." He began to cry.

"It's okay; let it all out, and you'll feel better when you're done."

I hugged Gravy for ten minutes, and he had stopped crying by then.

"Do you feel better now?" I wondered, still hugging him.

"Yeah.." He nodded, smiling.

"I sort of need information.." I mentioned. "Do you have any? It's okay if you don't; I can just keep hugging you."

"I know the locations of some more rebel bases.."

"That would be really helpful."

Five more base locations were added to the list, and five more bases were captured. By the time I had been in power for a month, thirty rebel bases had fallen, but no one seemed unhappy; the prisoners were hugged and given good food. Some rebels turned themselves in because their living conditions were worse than being a prisoner; I was certain that Papa would be proud! I had been in power for one and a half months now, and I was currently in a meeting with the high ranks.

"I don't think we should be so kind to the prisoners." A high rank voiced his opinion. "We're an evil empire, not a daycare."

"The rebels like it." I stated. "They keep turning themselves in; I think we're doing good."

"Yeah, this system is much better." A different high rank agreed. "We don't even have to do anything; they come to us."

"I still think we should start torturing them again." The first scoffed.

"Can't you torture your relief?" A third pointed out.

"The same victim gets boring."

"As long as Papa-" I was cut off.

The door to the meeting room opened, and..

"Papa!" I gasped, hopping to my feet happily and running over the table to jump into Papa's arms. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too, Dusty." Papa hugged me, rubbing my skull. "Were you good while I was gone?"

"Mhm! Where did you go?"

"I just needed a vacation; I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it was urgent."

"That's okay!"

"Did everything run smoothly in my absence?" Papa addressed the high ranks.

"Yes, Sir." They replied.

"Good." Papa paused, looking at me before turning back to the high ranks. "..What's going on in here?"

"We were just having a meeting, Sir." A high rank responded.

"Who was leading it?"

"Him." The high rank gestured to me.

"..Dusty, what have you been doing?"

"I took over for you." I answered.

"..." Papa looked between us again. "And you convinced them to listen to you?"

"Yep!"

"..Dusty, we're going to talk about this in our room."

"Okay, Papa."

Papa took me to our room, and he set me on his bed.

"What did you do?" He inquired.

"I did your job!" I grinned.

"Did you torture anyone?"

"No."

"Did you kill anyone?"

"No."

"Did you defeat the resistance?"

"No."

"What did you do, then?"

"I hugged people!"

Papa chuckled. "Well, I guess there's no harm done, then. Dusty, you can go play; I'm going to take care of that string of rebel bases in the Underfells."

"I already did that, Papa."

Papa paused, before looking at me. "What?"

"I got the high ranks to capture the bases, and now they're gone!"

"What about the rebels?"

"They're in the dungeon."

"..Then I guess I'll interrogate them."

"I already did that, Papa."

"..Dusty, are you secretly a great dictator?"

"Dream, Blue, and Fell helped me."

"..I'm going to have a little chat with them."

"Are you proud of me, Papa?"

"..." Papa sighed slightly, before smiling at me. "I guess I am; good job, Dusty, but don't do that again without more supervision..I don't want to come back to an injured son."

"Okay, Papa!"

Papa was proud of me.

~~~~~

"Crawler"

This short was requested by Cashagon on Ao3!

Classification: fluff.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

This was weird. People didn't just go to bed as an adult and wake up as a baby! Ink was apparently the exception; I had determined that as soon as I had seen him. Now, two hours later, I was sitting on Ink's bed, rocking a tiny giggly skeleton. Despite everything seeming to work against me, I actually wasn't too horrified. I had raised Papyrus from the moment he had been born to the point at which I had gone insane, and I was by no means unfamiliar with the proper way to treat a baby; I could take care of a baby Ink. The problem was the fact that the empire was essentially going to collapse, and I was wondering how to survive. Those who had supported Ink would have obviously blamed me for this occurrence, and I didn't want to face what punishment they might have had in store for me; those who wanted the empire to fall would have gone to work while I was being pummeled. My main goal was to keep Ink safe; I hadn't intended to, but I had already gotten attached, and leaving this wonderful child behind was not an option. It was unfortunate that his enemies would have wanted to kill him now that he couldn't defend himself. My first course of action was to wait for Fell to show up; I had told a high rank earlier that Ink was ill in bed and that he wanted my babysitter to watch over me while he recovered. When the knock arrived, I told Fell to come in, and he was quickly introduced to the situation.

"Uh, kid?" He looked at the baby confusedly. "What's going on?"

"Ink is a baby." I replied. "With him in this state, the empire is going to collapse, and I need your help to get out before it happens."

"..What am I supposed to do?"

"Find a way to get me to the resistance, please."

"On it, kid."

It had been fairly easy; Dream had created the portal, and after three hours of preparations, Fell, Dream, the swapped Sans, and I were sitting in the resistance base. They were confused at first, but they eventually agreed to it, and I reunited with my brother while taking care of Ink. Papyrus wasn't thrilled about the fact that I was devoting myself to taking care of a baby version of the one who had tormented me for years on end, but he understood my reasoning. Ink was now harmless, anyway, and I could take care of him responsibly. While the empire fell, I taught Ink how to play patty cake.

"Pah!" Ink cooed, clapping my hands with a silly grin.

"You're doing better, Ink!" I praised. "Someday, you'll be able to say the words!"

"Pah teh cah!"

"You're very close!"

When the empire finally collapsed, I taught Ink how to crawl.

"You can do it, Ink!" I encouraged.

"Buh." Ink lay on the floor, not moving at all.

"Or you can nap.." I shrugged, lying down beside him.

"Nah." Ink rolled over to hug me in his sleep.

When Papyrus and I moved into a house together in a refuge universe, I adopted Ink.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Papyrus wasn't as close to Ink as I was.

"Uh-huh." I nodded, holding Ink's hands as he stood on my legs, believing he was on top of the world.

"You cannot undo this."

"I know."

"He will be your responsibility."

"Yep."

"..You are not going to be swayed otherwise, are you?"

"Nope."

"Very well."

When my family was brought back to life, they supported me.

"Hey, little guy!" Killer tickled Ink. "Oh, ya like this?"

"Eee!" Ink laughed happily.

"Does that make him my grandson?" Nightmare wondered.

"I think so." I nodded.

"Hm. I think I will enjoy being a grandfather."

"You make a great one. Oh, it's time to feed him. Ink, do you want some strawberries?"

"Sah!" He squealed happily, reaching for the strawberry baby food I had.

"Here you go, Ink." I fed him.

I loved him.

~~~~~

That was kind of short, but I really didn't see it going any other way.

"Mommy"

This short was requested by Cashagon on Ao3!

This short takes place in a non-canon variant of the "Papa" timeline!

Classification: fluff.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: alternate timeline of an alternate timeline.

~~~~~

I liked school. It taught me a lot of things, such as how trees grew and why stars shone so brightly; I enjoyed learning about those things. Today, however, had been different; we had learned about families. The only family I knew of that I had was my brother, Uncle Error, and Papa, but..school had said that there was a different type of parent; I wasn't sure of what a "mommy" did, but the teacher had said that if I had a papa, I also had a mommy..I wondered who it was.

"Papa?" I looked up to Papa when my homework assignment including the family showed up.

"Yes, Dusty?" He looked to me, smiling happily.

"Do I have a mommy?"

"..Where did you hear about that?"

"School. Teacher says that if I have a papa, I have to have a mommy, too."

"Hm." Papa contemplated it, before chuckling softly to himself. "Well, you could just say Fell's your mommy; he does spend a lot of time with you."

"Ooh! Thank you, Papa! I love you!"

"I love you, too, Dusty."

With my homework done, I decided to go play with Fell; I could also tell him the great news! He would have probably been happy to find out that he was my mommy; I still wasn't entirely sure what a mommy did, but I believed that Fell was doing a good job, since he protected me a lot from people who wanted to hurt me. When we made it to the courtyard, we sat down on a bench, and I decided to give Fell the good news.

"Fell, guess what I learned today!" I giggled.

"What'd you learn, kid?" He questioned.

"I learned that people have mommies! Can you guess who mine is?"

Fell chuckled. "I don't know, who?"

"You!"

"..What?"

"I asked Papa who my mommy was, and he told me it was you! Isn't this awesome?"

"K-kid, I can't be your mommy."

"Why not?" I frowned; I thought he would have been happier..

"Because..mommies do things like making sure kids are fed, and safe, and they keep them out of trouble, and..I can't do that!"

"..But Fell, you do do all that.." I tilted my skull. "You always tell me when it's time to eat, and you protect me from the high ranks, and you tell me when something is dangerous..why can't you be my mommy?"

"I.." Fell looked at me, before lowering his skull and sighing. "I guess I have no choice; I'll be your mommy, kid."

"Yay!"

I hugged Fell, and he hugged me back. He was a good mommy; Papa had admitted that once, which meant that it was true, since Papa didn't usually like to compliment anyone else but me! I didn't call Fell my mommy, since it made him feel a little uncomfortable (something about being called that in public?), but he knew that I thought of him in that way, and that was good enough for me! A couple months after finding out that Fell was my mommy, we were out in a surface universe, sitting near a lake.

"Mommy?" I looked up to him, and he turned his attention to me; he was usually fine with the name if we were alone.

"Yeah, kid?" He responded.

"I love you."

"I..I love you, too, kid."

"Don't ever leave me..please."

"What makes you think I'd do something like that?"

"..Last time, when the high ranks defeated you and hurt me bad..Papa said if you didn't do better, he'd send you away.." I couldn't help my tears. "I don't want you to go.."

"He..said that?"

"M-mhm.."

"Kid.." He held my shoulders, looking me in the eyelights. "I won't ever let that happen. Thank you for telling me what your papa said; I'll do a better job of protecting you, and then he won't threaten to send me away, okay?"

"Okay." I nodded, and Fell wiped the tears from my eyesockets.

"Now, what do you want to do?"

"I want to hug you, mommy.."

Fell smiled. "Well, I'm certain we can arrange that."

I hugged him, and he made me comfortable.

Fell was a good mommy.

~~~~~

"Red-Handed"

This short was requested by Cashagon on Ao3!

This short takes place in the "Baby" timeline!

Classification: bit of fluff but mostly angst.

Warnings: violence.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

Ink's point of view.

Baby Dusty was well-known. Many people had attributed the fall of my empire to the sole fact that he had turned into a baby, and he had been given lots of fame. Being a baby, he didn't exactly know that, but he enjoyed the attention he received in public. Unfortunately, this also made him a target for some former allies of mine, who wanted the empire back. The kidnapping that had taken place several years ago had probably been committed by some of them; I only hoped that I had had few allies back then. It was midnight now, and I had been reading a book when I heard a sound..footsteps. My room was right next to Dusty's, and I was capable of hearing what happened in the adjoining room. Normally, I would have believed it to have been Papyrus, but..he would have come down the stairs. My curiosity now piqued, I put my book down, and just in case, I grabbed the knife that lay on my nightstand; Papyrus had agreed to allow me one weapon for self-defense, and I had chosen a simple knife. Slowly, I walked out of my room, and I turned, noticing that Dusty's bedroom door was open. I walked in, turning on the light...

"Hey!" I glared; a stranger was holding Dusty! That was not right!

"Waa!" Dusty was woken by my loud yell, and he was now crying; Papyrus would be down shortly.

"Put him down!" I demanded of the stranger, who had frozen when I saw him; I gripped my knife tightly.

"..Yes, Sir." The stranger..dropped Dusty; I was going to murder him!

I tackled the stranger, and I stabbed him with my knife; he seemed to also have a knife, and I felt it cut through one of my femurs, but I didn't care, since he had been trying to hurt Dusty! A few seconds later, I had pinned the invader down, and Papyrus entered the room to see Dusty, crying on the floor, and me, holding a knife to the invader's soul.

"..I see you have the situation under control." He commented, desummoning a bone.

"Papyrus, if this monster is not taken away from me in the next ten seconds, I am going to have a relapse of my torture days!" I informed; I could have hurt him in so many ways..

"Calm down, Ink." Papyrus latched some handcuffs onto the monster (yes, he had handcuffs handy), and he took him through a portal, presumably to a prison.

"I'm sorry for yelling, Dusty." I crawled over to the crying baby, picking him up gently and hugging him. "I just had to scare that mean kidnapper. Are you okay?"

"Buh..buh.." Dusty wept; I felt a crack in the back of his skull.

"I'll fix you up, Dusty; I'll make the pain go away."

I laid Dusty in his crib, and I retrieved some healing supplies from the first aid kit, making sure that I could fix Dusty's crack. To my relief, the thick carpet had cushioned his fall a bit, and the crack wasn't too severe; Dusty would be fine in a few days, provided the healing magic did its job. After a (possibly excessive, but I was being cautious) healing session, I tucked Dusty back in, and said a good night.

Dusty was safe.

~~~~~

"Recovery"

This short takes place in the "Escape" timeline!

Classification: fluff.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

By the way, Cape is in this, but it isn't the Cape in canon, sort of. In this timeline, Cape and Dusty didn't meet, but..well, you'll see. This was actually Cape's first character idea :3

~~~~~

I hadn't left someone's side. Ever since being handed over to the resistance, I had been afraid of being alone. When Papyrus was in the base, I was by his side, and when he was out on a mission, I usually stayed with Classic Sans or Outer, who were Papyrus's trusted friends. Despite the fact that I was probably annoying, they didn't complain about me; they only cared about Papyrus's happiness, and with me around, he was very happy. This had been going on for a month, and when Papyrus sat down with me to talk about it, I became reasonably frightened.

"Brother, I am afraid that you simply cannot stay by my side constantly." Papyrus said the words I had dreaded.

"B-but what if s-someone tries to take me?" I posed a realistic scenario.

"Brother, I am not saying that you cannot stay by my side sometimes, but you are your own person."

"B-but.."

"Brother, listen to me." He laid a hand on my shoulder. "You have been hurt by others for a long time, and I understand that you must be feeling so many emotions that I could never comprehend..but there is a better way."

"..Th-there is?"

"Yes, brother, there is. In this base, we have a place called the 'safe room,' and that room is where people who have been harmed by the empire can go daily for help. Every day, at noon, people such as yourself can attend a sort of class, and you can meet others who have been tortured as well; they will help you to recover from your experiences. Does that sound like something you would be interested in?"

"..W-will you be there?"

"No, brother, the room is only open to those who have been harmed by the empire."

"B-but didn't i-it hurt you in f-fights?"

"Brother..'harmed' is intended in the torture sense. If you are interested, you may go there every day, and they will help you. Do you want to try that?"

"..W-will they make the b-bad dreams g-go away?"

"..With time, they may, but at the very least, you will meet others who will understand what you have been through, and you may meet a lot of friends. What do you say?"

"..I-if you want me to try it..I-I'll go.."

"Thank you for being so brave, brother."

"I-I'm not brave.."

"..A large majority of the people who have been harmed by the empire never take the first step; by agreeing to go, you have proven yourself to be very brave. It is almost noon; would you like to start today?"

"..Y-yes, please."

"Very well, I will walk you."

I took Papyrus's hand, and he began to walk me down the corridors of the base, giving me some verbal encouragement as we walked. Honestly, I was afraid; I was going to sit in a room with people I didn't know, and I was going to be forced to talk about the roughest period of my life! How was that healing?! Papyrus told me that Dream had used to lead this, but when he was turned into a guard, leaders had been difficult to come by. For several years, leaders had flip-flopped, and not all of them had been good. After more than a decade, however, one of the people who had been harmed had stepped up and led the group; he was an Underswap Sans, and he had led the groups ever since..Papyrus said that he was a better leader, since he had been harmed, too. I only hoped that he was right. When we reached the room, the door was open, and inside was a room that was..very different from what I had expected. It was covered with pillows and blankets, and..it looked comfortable. The Underswap Sans that Papyrus had mentioned earlier came up to the doorway when he saw us, and I clung to Papyrus's leg; I didn't want to leave him! I had changed my mind..I didn't want to do this!

"Your brother?" The Sans sounded different from his original counterpart..his voice was lighter, and..it sounded nicer..calmer.

"Yes..he is a bit hesitant about this." Papyrus nodded.

"Well, I'll see if I can help him." He came down to my level, kneeling down to see me. "Hello, Dust. My name is Cape, and I would really love it if you would join us today; we have a very fun day planned, and you can do lots of exciting things, like coloring, putting puzzles together, and even just cuddling!"

"..." I turned my skull to look at him better..that actually didn't sound too bad..

"I know you've been through a lot, but we want to help you; would you be willing to oblige us?"

"..." I nodded, slowly...maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as I had thought..

"That's good - really good. Would you like to come in?"

I looked up to Papyrus before hugging him goodbye, and I followed the Sans named Cape inside the room. The clock soon read noon, and Cape closed the door, locking it tightly; that..scared me. There were about twenty other people in the room, and they began to sit in a circle; I decided to join them, as Cape did. Soon enough, he began to speak.

"Now, there is a new member of our little group joining us today, and his name is Dust." He introduced me. "As all of you were made welcome when you joined us, I expect you to be just as welcoming with him. As always, the details of his torment will not be brought to light until he chooses to reveal them, and at no point will be he forced to recount any event without his approval; with that said, we can begin today's conversation. Because Dust is new, I will again explain how the conversation works. At the beginning of each day, we have a chance for anyone to recount the events of their torment, or even just one event. This is entirely optional, and no one should feel pressured to share anything until they are ready. This stage of healing is likely a long way away for many of you, and most days go by with no sharing at all. When any person is ready to share is different from any other person; some take decades to reach a point at which they are comfortable, while some may take mere weeks. Personally, I took two years to reach that point, but when I did, I felt a great weight lift off me; it really does help to talk about it with those you know. Speaking of knowing, you will get to know the others in our group; we have lots of group activities every day, and they are meant to help you relax and heal. With that said, is there anyone who is willing to share anything?"

No one was willing, and I certainly wasn't. After two minutes of silence, Cape nodded.

"Very well." He said. "In that case, we will move on to our activites for today. Today, we have a special activity: crossword puzzles! If anyone doesn't want to try a crossword puzzle, they may request a different activity, but the rest of you will be split into pairs to try to figure out the puzzles; I will hand them out, and you may choose partners."

I..didn't know what to do. I didn't know anyone there, and I wouldn't have been a very good partner..I curled up.

"Um, hey.." Someone..spoke to me? "You're new, right?"

I raised my skull, finding that the one speaking was an Asriel, and I nodded.

"Do you..want to partner with me?" He offered.

I decided to nod, since I didn't want to be rude. The Asriel seemed happy, and when we received our crossword, he placed it in front of us. The first word to find was a four-letter word, and the hint was "an object filled with paper, but it looks like a sandwich."

"Um..do you know what that is?" He looked to me, and I thought.

"A-a..book?" I knew that books were like that.

"Oh, yeah!" He chuckled, filling in the blank. "You're good at this!"

"Th-thanks.." I smiled; maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all!

"Now, what's a food put on a stick? Five letters."

"K-kebab?"

"Hey, you're great at this!" He grinned, hugging me.

I..really liked this place. For the next few hours, the Asriel and I went through many crosswords, and we had a lot of fun doing it! When the time reached five o'clock, we formed a circle again, and Cape smiled at everyone.

"Today was a good day." He stated. "Now, your caretakers will be allowed to enter the room to pick you up soon, and standard procedure is for you to wait for whoever will pick you up. If you have no one, you may leave whenever you please. Just in case any of you were unaware, this room is never off-limits to any of you, and if you ever need a place to relax or someone to talk to, the door is always open to you, even in the middle of the night. In addition, you will never be alone here; I actually live right through that door on the side, and I'll never turn any of you down. If you ever come late to a daily meeting and you find the door locked, don't be afraid; you can simply knock three times, and I'll let you in. That concludes our daily meeting."

Cape unlocked the door, and a group of people were outside; many of the ones inside the room went out to meet them, but I was a bit afraid of the crowd..I decided to wait for some of the people to leave, and I wasn't the only one with that line of thought, since a few others stayed behind with me. When the crowd thinned out, I decided to go, walking to the doorway and looking around for Papyrus, who was right there. I ran up to him and hugged him.

"Hello, brother!" He picked me up, hugging me tightly. "Did you have a good time?"

"Mhm!" I smiled. "I made a new friend, and we played with crosswords!"

"I am very happy to hear that you had fun. It is time for dinner; would you like to accompany me?"

"Yep! I love you, Papyrus."

"I love you, too, brother; let us get something to eat, though..I do not know about you, but I am starving."

"Good idea." I nodded; I was hungry, too.

I was beginning to heal.

~~~~~

"Shatter"

This short takes place in the "Heirs" timeline (OC alert)!

Classification: angst.

Warnings: emotionlessness, sadness, mentions of torture, poor Dusty, OCs.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

Brush's point of view.

Paint and I were twenty-one years old, and everything was great! Paint had improved his fighting ability, and I had been improving in my manipulation; things were very fun, and I was happy about it. Today was a rather normal day, except for the fact that Dusty wasn't cooking lunch; Dad and Paint had decided to take Dusty to practice some torture techniques in the courtyard, and I had stayed behind. I wasn't the best cook, but I wasn't incapable; Dusty had taught me some things when I was younger, and I could competently create several dishes without help. Dad had told me that they would stay out until sunset, though, and I was justifiably surprised when they walked into the room while I was halfway through my lunch.

"Hey, Dad!" I greeted. "Home early?"

"...Somewhat." Dad..didn't seem very enthusiastic.

"Did everything go well?"

"..Not exactly. Paint, bring him in."

"Okay, Dad.." Paint sighed, bringing Dusty in..but something was..different.

"Brush." Dad sat down at the table across from me, grabbing my attention. "You know by now that not everything in life can go smoothly."

"What happened?" I wanted to know what had gone wrong; had someone been hurt?!

"..We had been going for two hours, and nothing notable had occurred. In a split-second, someone entered the courtyard, and..Dusty saw him. It was his brother..coming to try to save him. Paint and I attacked him, and we forced him to retreat, with severe injuries.."

"What about Dusty?"

"...The event gave him a large amount of hope..and it removed it just as fast; he wasn't able to take it. I'm sorry, Brush, but it shattered him."

"..Wh-what?! But Dusty can't shatter!"

"..He did. Brush, sometimes, things just happen; we can't control everything, and things just go wrong. It wasn't anyone's fault; it just..happened."

"B-but.."

"Brush, I know you were friends with him, but you have to try to move on; there's no way to get him back."

"There has to be a way!" I shouted. "He can't just leave me!"

"Brush, you can't help him..no one can."

"I-I can try..and I'm going to."

"..I guess I can't stop you..but do be careful."

"I will..I'll get him back."

"Well, if it's possible, I know you'll find the way. I love you, honey."

"I love you, too, Daddy."

Dad and Paint left, and I sat down next to Dusty on the floor. I noted that he didn't stop me and pull up a chair as he usually did, instead just allowing me to sit on the floor; when he decided to acknowledge my existence, he turned his skull to look at me..his eyelights were so dim, and his face held no emotion.

"Dusty..what happened to you?" I sighed, hugging him; he didn't hug me back. "I'm going to fix you..I promise you that!"

For the rest of the day, I pulled out my old textbooks and searched for possible ways to fix Dusty, but every single one of them said the same thing: shattering was permanent. The first day was fruitless. When Dad and Paint returned home, I had made no progress.

"Dusty, make us some dinner." Dad ordered, and Dusty stood up, wordlessly walking to the kitchen. "Hm..did you get him to say anything?"

"No.." I shook my skull. "I didn't try that.."

"Hey, Dusty! Come over here!"

Dusty approached, still mute.

"When I order you to do something, you say, 'yes, Ink,' all right?" Dad said.

"Yes, Ink." Dusty's voice was..monotone..it sounded so wrong.

"Now go make dinner."

"Yes, Ink."

Dusty returned to the kitchen, and I buried my face in my hands; I needed to get him back! After thirty minutes of waiting for dinner, Dusty brought our plates to the table, and he set them before us, but..

"..What is this..?" Paint..did not want to eat it..

"It probably tastes better than it looks." Dad shrugged, taking a bite; his reaction was a retraction of his previous statement. "Brush, we need to fix Dusty, or else we aren't going to be able to eat; this is the worst thing I have ever tasted!"

"Ugh.." Paint pushed his plate away, before folding his arms and laying his skull down.

Day two arrived quickly, but instead of just me, Dad and Paint stood by my side, intending to fix Dusty.

"Perhaps something physical." I suggested, sitting down on my bed. "Dusty, come and cuddle me."

Dusty walked over, and he crawled into my lap, cuddling me. I returned the action by petting him, which he would have usually begun to purr to; he didn't purr.

"No emotion, sis." Paint reported, looking at Dusty's expression.

"This is going to be difficult.." I sighed.

We tried everything. We tried good food, bad food, allowing him to sleep on a bed instead of the floor, letting him play, and even allowing him to visit his friends! He didn't react to any of it..Dad proposed torture, but..

"Oh, come on!" Dad was getting annoyed; Dusty didn't even blink when his bones were broken. "What do you want from us?!"

Dusty did not reply, only staring at Dad with a blank expression.

"Maybe something he loves?" I hoped. "He always liked his bunnies.."

Paint nodded, retrieving the animals. When they were brought to Dusty, he..pet them..he pet them!

"Not smiling..but this is an improvement!" Dad grinned. "What else did he like?"

"His dumb doll." Paint answered.

"Where is it?" I questioned.

"Um..I think he put it aside when we started to torture him.." Paint pondered. "I don't know where.."

"Paint, search the courtyard." Dad ordered. "I'll come with you. Brush, see if you can get any other reactions from Dusty."

"Yes, Dad." We replied, going about our orders.

I sat down next to Dusty, and he looked at me; his hand was still running over the soft fur of his bunnies.

"Do you like them?" I asked.

"They are fine." He replied, voice still unemotional.

"Do you feel anything?"

"I feel fur."

"..I mean emotionally."

"I do not."

"Are you certain?"

"I am."

"..." I took the bunnies away, hiding them from his sight. "Do you feel anything now?"

"No."

"Oh.." I frowned, giving the bunnies back; he resumed his petting. "Why are you petting them?"

"..." Dusty didn't answer.

"Dusty, why are you petting the bunnies?"

"..I want to."

"That's good." I smiled. "Is there anything else you want to do?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"..Dusty, how do you feel about me?"

"You are one of my masters."

"I mean..do you feel any emotion when you see me?"

"No."

"..If you could run away, would you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"My purpose is to remain with my masters and obey them."

"..Do you ever wish to not obey us?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I am not meant to."

"...What if I order you to feel emotion?"

"I am unable to do that; you would have to punish me."

"What if I choose not to punish you?"

"That is your choice."

"..I'm sorry, Dusty."

The room fell silent, and it stayed silent until Dad and Paint returned with the doll. They gave it to me, and I decided to present it to Dusty carefully.

"Dusty, I have a present for you." I stated. "Do you want to see it?"

"Slaves are not meant to have possessions." He said.

"Well, I'm going to give you one anyway. Do you want to see it?"

"No."

"..I want you to want to see it. Do you want to see it?"

"No. I require a punishment for my disobedience."

"Your punishment is having to accept the gift. Take it."

I presented the doll to Dusty, and he took it, before looking down at it.

"Do you feel anything?"

"No."

"..D-do you want anything?"

"No."

"Wh-why don't you..?" I began to sob; Dusty was never going to be fixed!

I didn't enjoy crying, and I seldom did it, but..I just wanted Dusty back! Dad and Paint didn't try to comfort me; they knew that the only thing that would make me feel better was if Dusty came back, and he would never come back! I continued to cry, but after what felt like five minutes, someone hugged me..someone small. I opened my eyesockets to see..Dusty. He was hugging me!

"D-Dusty?" I looked down at him hopefully.

"Yes, Brush?" He looked up at me; his eyelights were still dim, but he showed emotion!

"C-come back.."

"..." Dusty blinked, and his eyelights glowed a bit brighter; he was trying. "It's hard."

"Tell me, Dusty; tell me what you feel."

"I feel..sad. It was easier to not feel anything. I don't want to feel anything." His eyelights dimmed again. "Feeling hurts."

"Dusty, feeling can hurt, but it can also be wonderful." I held his hands tightly. "Don't you feel good when you pet your bunnies and play with your doll? Don't you want to feel that?"

"I don't want to be hurt." He dimmed, and his face began to lose emotion; I had to work fast.

"But, Dusty, don't you enjoy seeing all your friends and talking to them? Don't you like smiling and feeling good?"

A slight brightening, before dimming once more. "There's no point. There is no hope. There is no joy. What joy I have is taken away from me, and it hurts more than before. I don't want to feel temporary hope if it will be robbed from me the next minute."

"..How long have you felt this way?"

"Since my capture."

"Dusty..your friends don't want you to give up; I don't want you to give up!"

"I already did."

"..When?"

"When my hope was stolen. There was no point then. There is no point now. If I try to fight it, I will inevitably fall anyway; I don't want to be hurt." He dimmed quickly.

"But, Dusty! You can't give in to this! How would your friends feel? How would I feel?!"

"..You would forget me. People as strong as you can move on - get over things."

"No, Dusty! I can't! I won't! I can't simply forget you!"

"Why not?"

"Because I love you, Dusty; you raised me, and you cared for me! I can't forget that..you mean so much to me, and I would suffer if you gave in now.."

"..." He brightened a little, before wavering, deciding to dim. "Nothing will change."

"I.." I lowered my skull; he..was right.

"I will continue to suffer, and you will inevitably move on. I would rather suffer without feeling; it would be easier."

"Dusty..I know how you must see it; your world is so much different from mine..but if you make the decision to give in to this, you will never feel joy, and you will never come back. If..if you ever are freed, you won't feel the joy you will want to feel, and..you will be trapped as an emotionless husk for the rest of your life. I know it seems good now, but a time will come in which you may have a happy ending..wouldn't you rather have the ability to enjoy it?"

"..." Dusty said nothing, but his eyelights began to brighten; they didn't reach their usual luster (they had always been dim, though), but they weren't as dim as they had been.

"Dusty? Are you...there?"

"..Yes." Dusty nodded, tears beginning to flow from his eyesockets.

"Welcome back, Dusty."

"..I'm sorry.."

"No one is mad, Dusty; I'm glad you decided to come back."

"..It hurts.."

"I know, Dusty." I stroked his spine softly; the term 'shattered' was literal..his soul was going to need some medical attention. "Dad, Dusty is going to need some bedrest."

Dad sighed, before nodding. "I guess it's a small price to pay."

Dusty was placed in my bed, and Dad used his magic to heal him soul slowly; if a large amount of healing magic was used on a soul in too little time, the damage could have been more extensive, and he could have relapsed, which no one wanted. While he was stuck in bed, I spoke to him regularly.

"How do you feel?" I asked, three days later.

"..Scared." He frowned.

"Of what?"

"..I had the chance to have no emotion; I didn't have to return, but I did. I'm still not sure that I made the right choice. When I heal, everything will be exactly as it's always been, and I'll still be a worthless slave. The torture will continue to hurt, and I'll continue to cry. I could have been free from everything..but I chose to come back, and for what? I came back for a hollow hope of happiness..one that may never come."

"..It'll come."

"How do you know? How could you possibly know that what you said wasn't just a lie to convince me not to leave?"

"Because..I care about you."

"A stupid mistake. I'm not worth caring for; I'm so selfish that I wanted to give up my entire life just to not feel the pain of it."

"..." I sighed. "Dusty..you had an opportunity, and you knew the consequences of either choice you made; that much is clear. It's true that you would have been better off if you had taken the other road, but do you want to know what would have happened if you had?"

"I already know; Ink would have killed me, and he wouldn't have reset me."

"..No." I shook my skull. "Dusty, your brother is the leader of the resistance; if he received word that you had died, or even if you had simply gone into that state, it would have broken his soul, because..he would think that he was the cause of it. If he took it hard enough, the resistance would fall, and then what would happen?"

"...I would have doomed thousands of people." Dusty realized, and I nodded solemnly.

"I couldn't let you make that decision, Dusty."

"I-I'm so sorry.." He began to weep. "I-I didn't think.."

"It's okay; it didn't happen, and those people are safe. Just..promise me you won't try to do that again."

"I-I promise!"

"Good."

After that conversation, Dusty seemed more accepting of his situation, and when he was healed, he went back to the Dusty we knew and loved.

"This looks so good, Dusty!" I complimented his cooking.

"Th-thank you." He smiled, savoring the compliment.

"It's better than that 'dinner' he made before!" Dad snickered, and Paint groaned.

"That stuff could have been used for torture!" Paint declared.

"..." Dad looked at Dusty. "Dusty, do you remember how you made that disgusting dish?"

"I don't." Dusty shook his skull.

"Dusty, don't lie to me."

Dusty took a step back. "I-I don't want to b-be the cause f-for torture o-of another.."

"At least write down the recipe."

"..." Dusty whimpered.

"Dusty, that wasn't a request."

"Y-yes, Ink.."

All was back to normal.

~~~~~

"Carwash"

Classification: comedy.

Warnings: breaking the law.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Ink was driving again. We were in a red convertible that he had stolen from this surface universe's Papyrus, and we were being chased by the police. At the moment, Ink was zigzagging through the streets of a city, and the police were having a tough time chasing him; as for me, I was crying in the passenger seat, hoping this torment would end soon.

"Hold on, Dusty!" Ink chuckled, making a sharp turn; I curled up tighter, firming my grip on my Hope.

We made a turn, and we were going straight into..a building! I screamed loudly as Ink zoomed into the building, but he slowed down quickly.

"What can I do for you, sir?" A human walked up to the car.

"Um.." Ink looked around, before smirking. "Could you give us a good scrub down?"

"Sure thing, just ten dollars."

"I only have this..I think it's worth around two thousand, maybe more, if you take it to an exchange." Ink handed the human one G.

"I-is this real gold?!" The human was shocked.

"Mhm. I go around doing good deeds every so often, and you're the lucky winner today."

"Th-thank you, sir!"

"Don't mention it." Ink smiled. "Where do we go?"

"Just down the way, here, sir."

The human led the car down a path, and I looked around; this place was weird. There were lots of colorful things, and it smelled like fruit. Suddenly, a large group of humans surrounded the car, and they began to..wash it? Before long, I found myself giggling at the way the humans washed the car, and they were very kind; some of them played around with me, and I enjoyed that a lot! Ten minutes later, the humans had finished washing the car, and we left the building, being found by..police. That was convenient. The police saved me from another possible joyride, and Ink was arrested once again.

All was well, for a while, at least.

~~~~~

"Impossible"

Classification: drama, I guess.

Warnings: violence, threats.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Papyrus's point of view.

Another day, another attempt to save my brother. It had been eight years, and I was determined to make this try count. Right now, we were at the drawing board.

"Why don't we go in through the windows?" Someone suggested.

"The windows to the dictator's room are unbreakable, and all others would require hallway maneuvering." I informed. "They are also open only to the courtyard, which is only accessible through the surface, not to mention the fact that we would be seen."

"Do we have any inside contacts?" Another hoped.

"No, we lost contact with the last one last week." Classic sighed.

"How about an assault?"

"We don't have the numbers or tools." Outer shook his skull.

"Disguising as a soldier?" A third input.

"That would be easy getting in, but getting out would be a different story."

"What about walking in with a guard outfit, securing him, going out a window, and escaping over the roof?" A fourth had a solid plan, but..

"We tried that several times; each party was caught or almost caught." I remembered the narrow escapes vividly..

"What about entering through the dungeon?" Someone..had a good idea, if the dungeon had an entrance..

"I don't think it has an entrance.." Classic shook his skull. "The only solid entrances are through the courtyard from the surface, select windows, and the front door, all of which are very hard to access without being caught."

"What if we didn't disguise ourselves as soldiers..but as other workers?" The second posed an interesting scenario.

"Such as?" Outer inquired, interested.

"Janitors?"

"That would not work; the soldiers clean the compound themselves." I enlightened.

"What about..scientists?" The third said. "They wear lab coats, which are easy to move in, and they aren't restricted to judges."

"We could pose as new arrivals." I nodded, thinking more on the idea. "One group can present an idea that the dictator would be unable to resist, while the second group enters the room in his absence and takes my brother out; questions would be easily resolved by saying that the dictator ordered for him to take part in an experiment..this could work."

"Who goes?" Classic wondered.

"I will lead the second group, but the first group would have a higher chance of being caught by the dictator."

"Yeah.."

In the end, we decided on five members for the second group and three for the first; Outer would lead the first, and I would lead the second. After finishing the details of our plan, we showed up at the entrance to the compound, dressed in scientific clothing.

"State your business." A guard at the door ordered.

"We're here to join the scientists in the lab." Outer explained. "Could you let us in?"

"There are no new arrivals on the schedule.."

"There was an accident; we've been called in to help clean it up."

"Hm..all right. Can you find your way there?"

"Yes, we've already been given instruction."

"Go ahead."

The door was opened, and we entered. Now we just had to make it to the dictator's-

"Guys, we might need a plan b.." One of the group members in group one whispered.

"Why?" Outer questioned.

"Isn't that Ink?" He pointed down the hall, and there was the dictator...with my brother.

"My brother is with him." I stated. "We can follow from a distance."

We did so, tailing the dictator as he walked through the various hallways with my brother. Over time, we had learned to walk through the compound in the most inconspicuous manner - by being abrupt. Most of the guards in the compound were discontent, and they trudged around unhappily; we followed their example, and no one was the wiser. Soon, the dictator reached his destination, which was..ironically, the laboratory. We walked in without a problem.

"Hey, would one of you help me with this?" A nearby scientist required assistance, and one of our group two members volunteered to go.

The rest of us dispersed, but we kept a very close watch on the dictator. I, in particular, got close; my brother didn't look well. The dictator had put him on a leash, and he was covered in paint..I hoped it was paint.

"Is it ready?" The dictator impatiently asked a scientist.

"I-it might take another week, Sir; the chemical balancing is very precise, and-" A scientist was cut off.

"I don't want to hear about chemical balancing! What I want is for this new serum to be ready by tomorrow!"

"Y-yes, Sir..wh-when do we begin testing?"

"Tomorrow - are you deaf?"

"N-no, Sir..we will have it ready."

"You had better." The dictator tugged on the leash, forcing my brother closer to him. "And while we're here, I want you to administer a sedative to Dusty; I have an entire afternoon of work to do, and I simply don't have time for him."

"Yes, Sir..which type would you like him to have?"

"Give him the type that puts him out instantly; it'll keep him out for at least twelve hours."

"Yes, Sir."

I signaled to my team as the scientist prepared the sedative; that would work in our favor. Outer understood my plan; one of us would step in and administer the sedative, but not to my brother - to the dictator. A member of team one approached the scientist as he looked through the different sedatives - out of view of the dictator - and weaved a small story that would convince the scientist to allow him to perform the deed. The scientist agreed, and our team member was given the syringe. The duo walked over to the dictator and my brother, and the dictator didn't seem to care about the fact that someone else was administering the sedative.

"Dusty, show him your soul." The dictator urged.

"D-do I have to?" My brother was reluctant. "I-I promise I'll be good.."

"No, Dusty, now show him your soul."

My brother frowned, letting his soul out. Our team member moved the syringe in, but before he could inject it into my brother's soul, he jabbed it into the dictator's arm..and the dictator retaliated accordingly.

"Oh, that was a good try.." The dictator chuckled, his grip firmly on our team member's arm, which was tight behind his back. "But not good enough. Tell me: who do you align yourself with?"

My brother jumped up, trying to grab the syringe that was still lodged in the dictator's arm, but it was to no avail; the dictator kicked him down, and the crack from his sternum was audible, as was his scream of pain.

"Don't help these criminals, Dusty; I was being kind before, but now, I'll simply have to give you the sedative that gives you nightmares." The dictator shook his skull before turning his attention back to our team member. "Ah, toys, am I right? Always thinking they can get away with things..someday, though, he'll learn. Take Dusty and give him that one, doctor; I'll finish this up."

"Yes, Sir." The scientist picked up my brother and carried him away.

Well, with my brother out of the picture, we had to rescue our team member; we couldn't afford to lose anyone, even at the cost of our mission. We attacked the dictator, and he was ready for us, unsheathing his weapon of choice. The battle was short, since we were now only retreating; we were gone within a minute, and all of us had escaped successfully. The mission had been another failure to add to our long list of failures, but someday..

Someday, we would succeed.

~~~~~

"Pet"

Classification: fluff.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Ink was amazing. He knew everything one could have ever wished to know, and he made great use of his knowledge! He knew things such as how to pet me in just the right places, how much to feed me, and how to run an empire! He was just..the best. There was nothing else to it. Right now, we were playing in the courtyard, and he was ensuring that I got enough exercise; I didn't need much, but if I didn't play every once in a while, I became restless, and Ink didn't like it when I was restless.

"Fetch, Dusty!" Ink threw a stick, and I ran after it obediently, picking it up and running it back over to him, where he rubbed my skull in reward. "Good toy! You're so good at this game!"

"Master, I'm not the good one - that would be you." I complimented. "I could never be as good as you at anything!"

"Oh, Dusty, believe it or not, you are better than me at some things."

"Like..what?"

"You're better at being a toy."

"I bet you would take the title, if you ever became a toy; you would be so much better than I would.."

"You are so sweet!" Ink sat down on the grass, allowing me to cuddle him. "But you know that higher beings such as me can't be toys."

"I know, but there's no way you'd be bad at it!"

"True." He nodded. "But I think, in this case, you are the winner of 'best toy.'"

"Thank you, master.." I buried my face in his shirt, slightly overwhelmed by the compliments; I wasn't used to being talked about in such a way!

"Well, I think twenty rounds of fetch is enough exercise for one week; are you tired yet?"

"Yes, Ink.." I yawned, indicating that I was, in fact, tired.

"Here, I'll carry you."

Ink picked me up, and I hugged him tightly, intending to pay him back for this kindness; I didn't deserve to be carried around everywhere. If anything, it was he who deserved to be carried around! When we arrived at his room, he laid me on his bed, and he lay down, pulling me up to lie beside him. He stroked my spine as we relaxed, but that was making me very tired..

"Ink.." I yawned again. "I-I don't think I can..stay up.."

"That's why I'm petting you, Dusty." Ink replied. "Get some rest; I have work to do."

"Yes..Ink.."

I closed my eyesockets, and I fell asleep.

Ink was a good owner.

~~~~~

"Appreciation"

This short takes place in the "Consideration" timeline!

Classification: fluff.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

Papyrus and I had grown close. Instead of avoiding him in my free time, I opted to spend time with him, and during joint missions, I took his words and suggestions into account; he actually had some very good ideas, and I should have paid attention to them sooner. Today, we had both finished our work before lunch, and he had invited me to eat with him. I had had to ask Ink if I was allowed to eat anything, but he had given his approval, and I soon joined Papyrus and his friends (I had also invited Fell, which I was allowed to do, thankfully) at a table in the guard cafeteria. Most high ranks ate their food in the guard lounge, but Papyrus and his friends sometimes ate with the low ranks; their actions showed respect for their troops, and that was an admirable trait. At the table were some of my friends and his friends: Dream, the swapped Sans, Fell, Outer, and Starstruck.

"Hey, kid." Fell smiled when I showed up, and I waved.

"Hello!" I greeted, sitting next to my brother.

"I see that you two have improved your relations." Outer mentioned.

"Yes, we really have." Papyrus confirmed.

"It's nice to see." Starstruck mentioned.

"It was my fault we had drifted apart in the first place." I shrugged.

"How so?" Dream wondered.

"I let..." I began to feel lightheaded..had I been saying something?

"Are you all right, kid?" Fell noticed that I didn't feel well.

"Yeah.." I shook my skull, the feeling fading. "What were we talking about?"

"What was that?" Outer didn't seem to like that.

"Mental adjustment memory inhibitor." Papyrus sighed.

"Um..what?" I tilted my skull in question; was Papyrus getting into the technology department? "Aren't those only in testing?"

"Yes, I just had to remind myself of a later event."

"Oh." I blinked. "Okay!"

"So, do you two have anything planned for today?" The swapped Sans inquired.

"We are going to stargaze for a while." Papyrus revealed.

"And cuddle!" I added, hugging him.

"That sounds relaxing." Dream smiled.

"Do you have anything planned?" I wondered.

"I'm going to help around the compound, as usual."

"And I'm going to be busy with dinner!" The swapped Sans grinned.

"We have work to do." Outer sighed.

"You get used to it, after the first couple decades." Fell assured.

"Well, that's reassuring."

We continued our meal together, mostly talking about things we planned to do or places we wanted to go. I felt bad for Fell, Outer, and Starstruck; they had little to no free time, since they were low ranks..maybe they would achieve their dreams someday. Lunch lasted for about half an hour, and when it ended, everyone went about their business; Papyrus and I entered a surface universe to watch the stars. We found ourselves in an open field, and I climbed into my brother's lap when he had taken off his hard armor; he knew I didn't like cuddling with metal. It wasn't hard to stargaze in the middle of the day; several surface universes were dark while the compound was in daylight, and this was one of them.

"Are you cold, brother?" Papyrus inquired, upon seeing a small shiver; it was a bit cold in this field..at night.

"A little.." I cuddled closer to my brother, searching for his warmth.

"Here." He took a blanket out of..somewhere, and he wrapped it around me.

"Aren't you cold?" I wondered, hoping he wasn't.

"No, I am not quite as susceptible as you are." Papyrus chuckled, wrapping the blanket around me more, to make me comfortable.

"Thank you.." I hugged him.

"I would never leave you wanting, brother."

"I know..I wish I could be as cool as you are.."

"Brother, you have always been so."

"No..I couldn't ever reach your amount of coolness..you're the second coolest person ever.."

"I doubt it." Papyrus shook his skull. "I find you to be much cooler."

"..I guess we feel the same way about eachother." I giggled slightly.

"I love you, brother."

"I love you, too, Papyrus."

I would always love him.

~~~~~

"Pitch"

This short takes place in the "Vantablack" timeline!

Classification: maybe angst?

Warnings: violence.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

I was in pain. The soul pains had lasted for nearly two months, and they had only been increasing in intensity. They knew I was feeling it; they had begun to watch me closely when I whimpered in pain. My pacifier was given to me more often, and I felt the effects throughout my body constantly. I might have whimpered, but...I was enjoying the pain. The pacifier didn't give me a choice. Before one dose could run out, the next was already on the way; I hadn't thought clearly in weeks. Ink had said that I was close to whatever they were trying to accomplish, and he had allowed me to spend the days on his bed as he watched me, waiting for the inevitable moment when something would happen. I could barely move, and what movements I did make hurt. Everything hurt. I had accepted that. I was currently whimpering, and Ink had lain down, watching me..always watching. Then it happened. My shoulders relaxed, and my tense position turned to something else..something comfortable. I smiled slightly; the pain was much more bearable now.

"Toy?" Ink grabbed my attention, and I looked at him. "Do you feel well?"

"Yes." I confirmed.

"Do you feel pain?"

"Yes."

"Would you like more?"

"Yes.." The pacifier had forced me to confirm.

"You can have it..if you answer this question honestly: do you want to leave?"

"..Yes." I truly did..

"Poor toy.." He chuckled, running a hand over my skull. "You don't have to be afraid anymore..because you've been rescued by the resistance!"

"Wh-" I had to stop myself from finishing my question; toys weren't supposed to ask questions!

"Oh, you poor little thing, so confused. We're going to send you to the resistance, and they won't have a choice but to take you in...with your tracker. We'll attack them during the night, and they won't have anywhere to run.."

"..." I needed to ask some questions; I was going to be injured either way, with this plan, and I wanted to get something out of it. "After?"

"What did you say?" He looked at me in question.

"Wh-what happens..after?"

"To you, I presume?" He recieved a nod. "If you must know, you will continue as you are."

"..What about the pacifier?"

"You want to know why we've given it to you." He received another nod. "...Let's just say that..you were a better toy before I turned into..this. You only need a bit of improvement to please me now, and with that, you will hopefully reach a state that pleases me greatly."

"I-if not?"

"..There are more ways to change you..but this one is the simplest."

"Doesn't..sound like they said."

"..I told them it will turn you evil. If they knew what it really does, they wouldn't have been so welcoming."

"..Can't y-you control them?"

"..." He sighed. "Papyrus is..stubborn. His allegiance is strained as it is; after the resistance has fallen, I will make the proper amends to his code..along with Dream's."

"Why..tell me?"

He tried to form a small, genuine smile..he hadn't done that in decades. "You used to be the only one I could trust..I want someone to trust again."

Despite everything, I smiled, and I grabbed his hand; if he wanted to trust me, I would be what he wanted me to be. He might have hurt me beyond all limits, but this was the first shred of goodness I had found in him in several lifetimes, and I was determined to see it grow. If that meant being his confidant, I would do it. He dropped me off in a universe a little while later, after a harsh beating between the trio to make my injuries as severe as possible. I felt bad about participating in the fall of the resistance, but the trio had made sure to inhibit my speech; I had no way of warning the resistance anyway. I was taken in, and I spent the rest of the day in a soft hospital bed; upon nightfall, when everyone was asleep but the night watch, a section - maybe more than one - of guards sneaked into the base, and without making a sound, they began to overtake it. No alarms were sounded, and no fights took place until the most-populated areas of the base were attacked; it took mere minutes for them to fall. The next day, I was set on Ink's bed (I found it much more comfortable than my cage, and Ink seemed more welcoming in letting me stay by his side) as he and his subordinates addressed the remaining resistance leaders: Outer, Blue, and Fell. I smiled sadly at Fell, remembering the times we had spent together; those had been good times.

"Well, I suppose that's that." Ink grinned malevolently at his captives. "No more resistance. I'll be happy to invite all of you back into the army, and you'll even get a promotion!"

"What do you mean?" Blue was cautious about this.

"Well, high ranks and low ranks don't cut it anymore, and now there's a new sort of rank: commanders. Reserved only for the best, of course, and you have proven to be in that category. Papyrus will be in charge of your training, and by the end of it, you should turn out a bit like Dream."

"D-Dream?" Blue looked at his old friend fearfully. "Wh-what did he do to you..?"

"Only showed me the light." Dream chuckled darkly. "I look forward to working with you..it is such fun."

"You monster!" Blue struggled in his chains, to no avail.

"Well, I think that's enough." Ink decided. "Dream, show them their new quarters; I'm going to speak with Papyrus about a matter that is private."

"Yes, master!" Dream nodded, taking the prisoners away.

"What did you want to talk to me about, master?" Papyrus asked, after Dream had closed the door.

"I've discovered a new script that I've tested on several prisoners; it increases strength and intelligence, and I would like to use it on you."

"..Am I not strong enough already for you, master?"

"You are, but won't you humor me?"

"I don't exactly enjoy being changed.." Papyrus had expressed his opinions before, mainly after seeing Ink's code manipulation work an execution..it had been horrifying.

"I know, but it isn't as if you'll be that different; this is only ability, Papyrus."

"Right." Papyrus nodded, albeit hesitantly. "It'll only take a moment, right?"

"Indeed." Ink assured. "Then you can send in Dream; I'd like to do this with him, too."

"All right."

"Get down on your knees; this will hurt immensely."

"Yes, master."

Papyrus obeyed, and Ink opened a code bar. I didn't enjoy seeing his agony, but I had no choice; he was harmed often anyway, and he could take it. Ink took five painful minutes to fix his code, and I watched every second of it; I didn't really mind watching pain anymore, since I had been subjected to it so much. Instead of reacting, I simply relaxed, watching the process. Ink's fingers flew across the code bar, changing and rearranging bits of code, forcing Papyrus to bend to his will. As soon as the process ended, Papyrus stopped his screaming, and he took a large breath to calm himself.

"Do you feel stronger?" Ink inquired.

"No.." Papyrus's voice betrayed his confusion. "What..did you do?"

"..Ah, yes, this process takes time to fully adjust!" Ink chuckled, feigning forgetfulness. "You should begin to feel the effects slowly over the next few weeks, but don't worry if you don't; it's still happening."

"..If you say so."

"Now, would you tell Dream to come for the same treatment? Take over the introduction for the new commanders."

"Yes, master."

Papyrus left, and a while later, Dream entered the room. He was given the same treatment, but he didn't seem to be as wary of it; he wasn't as acquainted with code manipulation as Papyrus was. He soon took his leave, and I was left alone with Ink.

"Well, that wasn't so hard." He smiled, knowing that his subordinates would now be more loyal to him. "Toy, about what we spoke about before..I want to know that you will be loyal to me. In order for me to trust you..I have to know some things. Will you be trustworthy?"

"Yes." I answered; I was fairly trustworthy.

"How do I know?"

"..T-too scared to b-betray you.."

"That is true.." He nodded. "I suppose that's really it. Toy, I don't usually make allowances for people..but I know that you were an exception, a long time ago..I told you everything, didn't I?"

"Yes."

"..Did you ever tell anyone?"

"No."

"..You aren't lying. You..never told anyone?"

"P-personal things are..personal."

"..If I trusted you..would you tell anyone?"

"N-not unless th-they hurt me b-bad.."

"Why would that make any difference?"

"Y-you used to..i-interrogate me..couldn't h-hide anything.."

"Oh..I remember that. Those were interesting times. Well, I guess no one is really going to interrogate you; I'll trust you."

He began to trust me, and my life became..easier. Instead of lying in my cage all day, I spent the majority of the days in Ink's bed, only staying in my cage when Ink wasn't present; he sometimes allowed me to rest on his bed unattended if I had been especially good on a certain day. In addition, he took the spikes out of my collar, and he healed my neck; that was an unforseen act of mercy, and I was very grateful for it! Whenever I had to be punished or tortured, he gave me a sip of my pacifier first, to make me enjoy the pain; the effects were permanent now, but that extra sip went a long way. In return for his kindness, I listened to his problems, and I did my best to offer comfort when he needed it. I became the perfect pet he had always wanted, and he enjoyed my submission. Over time, the former leaders of the resistance were turned to Ink's side, and after undergoing the "loyalty treatment," as Ink referred to it, they were now his commanders, and they all liked to request to torture me. All but one. Fell never asked to torture me..he was the kindest one to me of the group. When he was asked about it, he answered with an explanation of his past with me, and he simply couldn't think to hurt me; I was grateful for that.

"Well.." Ink hummed, reclining in his bed; his hand rested on my skull, but he rarely ever rubbed it...he was doing so now, and I was enjoying the soft touch. "A century and a half of rule..the resistance is gone, my toy is submissive, and I am..pleased. Perhaps in the second half of this century, we can get rid of all those rebels. Do you think we can do that?"

"Yes, master." The commanders and Papyrus replied.

"Good, good." He nodded. "Hurry along and get to work, then; I don't want to be disturbed for the rest of the day, and I mean it."

They left, and Ink and I were alone. He took me into his arms, and I cuddled him obediently.

I had accepted my life for what it was.

~~~~~

"Dustbelief"

Note: I couldn't find it in me to make Ghost Dust a non-jerk, because that would make real pain and sadness..so he's an actual jerk.

Dustbelief belongs to Aude-javel.

Classification: fluff and angst.

Warnings: manipulative character.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~

"Dusty!" Ink called me from down the hall, and I turned to see him, tilting my skull in question.

"Yes, Ink?" I walked a few steps forward to meet Ink.

"You were supposed to be in my room ten minutes ago!"

"I-I was?" I hadn't remembered that..I must have forgotten something. "I'm sorry..I forgot."

Ink sighed, waving it off. "Whatever. I guess you were half asleep when I told you, anyway. Dusty, your mission is to conquer a special AU; it recently popped onto the charts, and I think you can handle it fine on your own, okay?"

"Yes, Ink." I nodded. "Shall I go now?"

"Yes, here are the coordinates."

After memorizing the coordinates, I opened a portal (I had loved being able to do that again, even if it was with an electronic device; my magic simply wouldn't allow it) and walked through, finding..

"This is weird.." I muttered to myself.

It looked like..home. Home when Dusttale was home...during my isolation. Dust swirled in the air, and a thick layer of it coated the ground. I didn't like the feel of it, but Ink had given me an order, and I wasn't going to let him down! I began to walk around. Snowdin was..empty. The Ruins door had been blown open somehow, and there was no one in sight. Waterfall was equally empty..or so I thought. I fell to the ground strategically when an attack flew past my skull, narrowly missing me. I looked at it, finding that it was a bone. This place gave me very bad feelings. I unsheathed my daggers, intending to fight this opponent. When I stood to face him, I lowered my daggers, and he lowered his sword. He was a Papyrus, but his eyelights were multicolored, as mine were. He wore a brown trenchcoat, and his scarf was much longer than any other version of him I had seen. By his side..was a ghost. It looked like me.

"..Sans?" He spoke, with a quiet hint of disbelief.

"..I'm not your Sans." I chose to glare; this universe was going to be conquered, even if there were only a few beings in it!

"But..I see you..you have to be him.."

"Don't think that way, Paps." The ghost scolded. "He's just another source of LV; he has a lot, too..you should kill him."

"..." The Papyrus hesitated.

A manipulative ghost. Multicolored eyelights. LV. This universe..was the Disbelief variant of mine. This Papyrus had gone through what I had..and his brother was trying to manipulate him. I had to conquer this universe..but maybe..I could do something nice first.

"Do you want to sit down?" I offered; the ghost screamed against it, but the Papyrus nodded, cautiously.

I sheathed my daggers, and he desummoned his sword. Quietly, we sat down in the field of echo flowers I had found him in. The ghost began to get angry, but I was going to get this Papyrus away from him; I knew what it was like, although I didn't necessarily remember Papyrus ever being this hostile..perhaps it was because my mind had been clouded back then.

"Going to kill the human?" I assumed.

"My goal is to force it to reset." The Papyrus corrected. "But..I have killed it several times."

"Why?"

"To avenge my brother. It made me kill him; it is only fair that it suffers."

"Made you?"

"..Indirectly..but it is still responsible, and I will have vengeance."

"Did you choose that path for yourself?"

"Yes..with a bit of help from my brother."

"He's the ghost, isn't he?"

"You can see me..?" He floated by my face, and I nodded; he glared at me. "Stop getting in the way! The human must fall, and Papyrus is the only one who can do it!"

"You don't have to listen to him, you know."

"..I killed him." The Papyrus didn't understand. "I have to avenge him..I have to kill the human and force it to reset."

"You have your own life."

"Don't listen to him, Papyrus; I'm your older brother." The ghost tried to manipulate the Papyrus. "I raised you; I know what's best for you. Kill him, and take his LV; you might even be able to spare the rest of the Underground!"

"Do you want to see my home?" I offered.

"..I have to kill you." The Papyrus still needed help.

"No, you don't. If you let him control the rest of your life, he will; take it from someone who knows."

"You..know?"

"I did what you're doing now, and I made the mistake of listening to my ghost. Take it from me; he won't help you when you need it most."

"..." The Papyrus looked at his furious, screaming ghost sadly, before grabbing my hand. "Where..is your home?"

"Follow me."

I opened a portal, and the Papyrus followed me through, coming out in Ink's room. Ink was on his bed, doing paperwork, and he looked up when we entered.

"Dusty...who is this?" He questioned.

"This is the Papyrus from the universe you sent me to." I answered.

"..Ans why is he here?"

"Because he's my alternate! The universe was like mine!"

"..." Ink tooks a closer look at the Papyrus. "Indeed, he does bear a striking resemblance to you.."

"Ink?"

"Yes, Dusty?"

"Could he maybe..not be made into a guard?"

"What makes you request that?"

"..I feel bad for him."

Ink sighed. "What will he be, then?"

"My friend."

"You want me to spare one soul..just so he can be your friend?"

"Mhm." I nodded.

"All right." Ink shrugged, relenting.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome, but if he isn't going to work, keep him somewhere away from the compound.

"Can he use the cabin in the woods?"

"I suppose."

"Thank you, Ink!"

Like that, I made a portal to an abandoned building outside the compound, located in the woods that sat on the mountain; Ink had made this cabin for emergencies, but there were currently no emergencies! The Papyrus was settled in comfortably, and within the week, we had formed a strong bond. My brother would never understand such things, but this version of him was..very easy to be friends with. He seemed happy, at least, when I told him that the human wouldn't do anything to him anymore. He didn't get the information of how, though. He was actually very content, and that was enough for me! I visited him every once in a while, and we often talked about recent events and other things.

I was glad I had a new friend.

~~~~~

"Demotion"

Classification: angst and comedy.

Warnings: none.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

High ranks had few fears. They weren't afraid of Ink (unless he was mad), and they weren't afraid of their subordinates. They stood bravely against rebels and the like, but there was one place in which they fell short: demotion. Although it wasn't often, high ranks were sometimes stripped of their command and sent to be low ranks; in essence, they lost everything. They lost their section, their warm bed, their freedoms, their possessions, and their will; while high ranks could often do whatever they wished as long as it wasn't against the rules, low ranks had no such freedom. They went from a calm existence to a sudden working into the ground, and they were afraid; Ink had made sure of that. Of course, demotions didn't just happen for any reason, and high ranks often only had small punishments for misdeeds. When it came to treason, disloyalty, or defiance, however, all bets were off. The last one was taking a chance, but the others were serious; Ink's mood could easily sway his decisions. The least serious offense that a high rank had been demoted for was instinctively refusing to take the life of his favorite subordinate on a day in which Ink had been in a horrible mood; high ranks had been spared from worse, however. Today, a high rank had been confirmed to have taken part in treasonous actions (the worst offense one could take part in, unless they had been a former rebel or resistance member, in which case, it was expected), and Ink was going to relieve him of his duty; I was coming along.

"Hurry up, Dusty!" Ink urged me to follow him faster.

I sighed, moving my legs faster to keep up; sometimes, being short was hard. We eventually made it to the guard lounge, however, and we entered. I knew that Ink was going to demote high rank sixty-two, and I instinctively looked for that high rank, wondering if he was present. I didn't see him at first, but he soon showed himself, quietly standing in a corner to avoid attracting unnecessary attention; unfortunately for him, Ink was fully intent on giving him his unwanted attention.

"Sixty-two!" Ink addressed, upon sighting his victim. "Front and center!"

High rank sixty-two flinched slightly, before standing in front of Ink; I gave him a sad look, indicating his fate.

"Y-yes, Sir?" He stammered.

"Do you have a relief, by any chance?"

"Y-yes, Sir.."

"Call it forward."

"Yes, Sir."

The high rank called for his relief, who came up to the group; he was a Papyrus, likely used to keep the high rank's area clean.

"High rank sixty-two, I hereby strip you of your high standing on the charge of treason; you will find your new quarters in room 205,968 of the low rank division. I will oversee your departure from the guard lounge. Dusty, take care of his relief."

"Um.." I shrugged. "Okay."

Well, I supposed I had no choice. I took the former high rank's relief to Ink's room, where I covered him in blankets and made him feel comfortable. This brought questions.

"What..are you doing?" The relief wondered.

"He told me to take care of you." I smiled. "Do you need anything?"

"Uh..no."

"Okay..do you want anything?"

"I want to go home, but I don't think that's really an option anymore.."

"And I don't have portal capabilities.." I frowned. "Want to play with my bunnies?"

"You have bunnies?"

"Yep!"

The relief and I ended up playing with my bunnies, and we had a great time together! An hour later, Ink entered the room, likely having take the former high rank all the way to his new room.

"..Dusty, what is that doing here?" He inquired, when he saw the relief.

"You told me to take care of him." I reminded. "He's very comfortable!"

"..." Ink facepalmed. "This is why I can't tell you to do things."

Ink groaned, dragging the relief out of the room; I waved when they left.

I was glad I could make someone happy.

~~~~~

"Repute"

I started writing this before I got the request, but the basis of the request fit so well with the short that I am going to just insert the request. :3

This short was requested by Aubrey on Ao3!

Cape is in this.

Classification: mostly angst.

Warnings: violence, torture, threats, blood.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Cape's point of view.

I had gained a reputation. After Dusty's third visit with me, my owner found out that he had trained me to be a perfect relief, and, to my surprise, he didn't become angry; instead, he actually thought it was cool! I was apparently the only relief who had received training, and it was made evident in my difference from the others. They tried to fight their owners; I didn't. They would do everything in their power to hinder their owners; I wouldn't. The other reliefs had no interest in their owners' affairs; I made it my job to know what was going on. Three months after my arrival, I was known to be a good relief, and a fair amount of conversation was made about me; I wasn't sure how to take that at first, but Dusty assured me that it was a good thing, as long as I didn't brag, or really say anything. I had to be subconsciously aware, but being seen as I was wouldn't spare me from punishment for misdeeds; it would worsen the punishments, since I was expected to be better than the others. The more they spoke, the more I had to remain vigilant; I did my best, and that was all I could do. I had to be humble, repectful, and meek; it was easier said than done, but I always ensured that I did everything in my power to obey my owner, and if that wasn't enough, I at least had the ability to say that I had tried.

"You've done well, lately." My owner was proud of my behavior and work ethic; I was happy to please him. "Keep up the good work."

"I'll do my best, master." I nodded.

"I'm going to be out for a while; you can take care of your daily duties while I'm out, and if you finish, you can take a break until I get back."

"Yes, master. Thank you, master."

My owner left, and I went about my duties. Having a reputation, however, was both good and bad. It was good because everyone saw me as a model servant, but it was bad because..everyone knew me. They didn't try to hinder my work, but they did hold some sort of envy for me..the other reliefs, at least - the high ranks envied my owner. With that said, not all the high ranks or servants were like that; some of them actually did have very strong bonds, and they wouldn't have given eachother up for the world. Those were few, though. It only took me two hours to finish my work, and when I was done, I sat down on the floor, intending to take a breather before my owner returned.

"Hey." A voice took me out of my thoughts, and I turned my skull. to the right; I found myself looking at a neighboring high rank, who had often watched me.

"Um..me?" I wanted to make sure that I was the one being addressed, although I had little doubt, since he was staring straight at me.

"Yeah, you. Come here."

I remained silent for a moment, before deciding to go along with it; I stood, approaching the high rank. When I stopped, he grabbed my wrist tightly.

"One sound.." He warned. "And you won't see the light of day again...understand?"

I nodded shakily; that was a fairly clear threat.

"Just hold still." He ordered.

It was against the rules for a high rank to mess with another's relief. They could taunt them, and they could joke about them, but they were not to harm them. Reliefs were counted as property, and doing just about anything with a high rank's property without permission was explicitly forbidden. Unfortunately, this high rank didn't seem to care. He kept it quiet, however, which meant that he wasn't breaking bones; he was only cutting into them. It seemed to do the same thing, though; it hurt, and in the end, he had sawed clear through my radius. As soon as he was done with my right, he went to my left, and he did the same, carefully clearing the blood that seeped from the wounds. I tried not to whimper; if this high rank wanted to, he could have killed me inconspicuously and hid my dust somewhere no one would ever find it..I didn't want to die. When he finished, he pulled my sleeves down and grabbed both my hands, and he made several cuts in them before shooing me away, but not before sending me a warning glare, lest I spoke of this to anyone. I curled up on the floor as soon as I could, holding my hands close to me..writing would be painful now, but I had to be obedient, and if that meant a bit of pain in my hands, I would simply have to endure. My owner returned ten minutes later.

"Cape, are you awake?" He wondered, looking at my curled-up figure.

"Y-yes, master." I nodded, sitting up; I kept my arms behind my back. "Just resting."

"All right, well, I have some work for you to do." He pulled out some paper and a pen, holding them out to me; I took the items accordingly, resisting the urge to flinch when the cuts in my hands were irritated. "Ready?"

I nodded, gripping the pen. He started, and I wrote. My hands felt as if they were on fire, and I wanted to cry; I didn't, though..I was too afraid of what the other high rank might have done to me if my owner found out. Ten minutes after the beginning, we were finished, and I handed the items back to my owner. I expected him to simply put them aside, but..he paused.

"Cape, are you all right?" He must have noticed something..what did I do wrong?

"..." I looked down, not exactly feeling like having this conversation.

"Cape, come up here."

I quietly obeyed, sitting on my owner's bed. He pulled me closer to him, and he ordered me to show him my hands..and arms, when he noticed the blood stains in my jacket. My cuts hadn't had time to close, and all that writing must have aggravated them..the blood must have dripped onto the pen, and my owner had seen it.

"Did you do this to yourself?" He inquired, and I shook my skull. "Who did?"

"..." I felt tears forming in my eyesockets; I was too afraid!

"Did they threaten you?" He assumed, receiving a nod. "A high rank?" Another nod. "Well, come on."

I was a bit confused when my owner began to lead me out of the guard lounge, but I followed him nonetheless. What really struck me as odd was the fact that we were heading toward the dictator's room..was he going to have me killed?! I didn't mean to hide this from him! Was that against the rules?! I had made a mistake..

"What?" The dictator opened the door when my owner knocked.

"Sir, my property was tampered with, but I'm unsure of who did it; may I request your assistance?" My owner..wasn't having me killed?

"..." The dictator looked back into his room for a moment, before speaking. "I guess Dusty can wait a while. What was tampered with?"

"My relief, Sir. Show him."

I obeyed, pulling up my sleeves and holding my arms out.

"Hm.." He examined my hands. "Strategic cuts..does he work with his hands a lot?"

"Yes, Sir." My owner confirmed.

"Does he have any enemies?"

"..Most of the other reliefs envy him, and most of the other high ranks envy my having him.."

"..I guess that means we're checking the security tapes."

The dictator led us to the security room, and he located a recording of the event. After watching it, both of them knew who had committed the deed: high rank eighty-five. This revelation made way for a visit to the guard lounge, where the aforementioned high rank abided still, working on his own paperwork. My owner and the dictator approached his bed, and he hesitantly rose his skull to see them.

"..Did I do something wrong?" He acted as if he were innocent.

"You tried to cripple my relief." My owner presented the wrongdoing.

"Well, he lied to you; I guess he isn't so perfect after all."

"He hasn't said a word; the security cameras have decided your fate." The dictator was firm.

"O-oh.." The high rank was now on edge, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to pin it on me.

"Your possessions have been destroyed; don't let this be a repeat occurrence." The dictator teleported away, and the high rank found that his former possessions were gone.

"You little twit.." The high rank glared harshly at me, but my owner pulled me onto his bed, where he began to heal my cuts.

I believed that he cared for me.

~~~~~

"Interrogation"

Classification: um..kind of angst?

Warnings: self-harm, manipulation.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

I was seated at a table with one other. A rebel sat across from me, strapped into a chair and incapable of escaping. I had been Ink's right hand for quite a while now, and interroagtions were just another facet of daily life.

"You are a rebel, correct?" I made my first question an easy one.

"I refuse to answer any questions." The rebel glared at me.

"That isn't how it's going to work, this time." I informed; the rebel had already endured three other interrogations, and I was the one who dealt with repeat avoiders. "You either answer my questions..or you and I can stay here for as long as you want; I'm patient, but don't test me. "

"I refuse to answer your questions."

"Mhm." I nodded, deciding on a plan of attack; I wondered if the rebel had any compassion. "I suppose I'll just have to- h-help.."

The rebel was startled by my sudden change in character; I had gone from a serious interrogator to someone who needed help. The compassion strategy was always a fun one!

"Quiet!" I growled at myself, regaining my serious outlook.

"What..was that?" The rebel asked.

"Nothing, ignore it. As I was saying, you are a rebel; that's rather obvious. How many bases does your faction control?"

"I will not answer you!"

"Then I suppose.." I unsheathed a dagger. "We'll have to do this the hard- n-no, d-don't hurt him- I said silence!"

"What is wrong with you..?"

"H-he's innocent- do you think I care about that?! Do you honestly think I would ever actually spare someone?! We've gone over this thousands of times since we were trapped in this accursed body together; I do not show mercy."

"You..are two..?" The rebel was falling for my act.

"You are in no place to ask questions." I glared. "How many bases does your faction control?"

"I can't give you that information."

"Then I will have to torture you- don't! P-please, have mercy!" I conjured a low growl. "Did I not tell you to be silent? It appears that you require a lesson- w-wait, no, I-I- too late."

I jammed the dagger into my own arm, and I let out a convincing cry of pain; I loved the compassion strategy. I stabbed myself a few more times, begging and pleading for it to stop, before stopping accordingly, and the rebel was falling for every second of it.

"Now, if you will, be silent and let me interrogate this rebel." I said, glaring at the rebel.

"Y-you're a monster.." The rebel was visibly afraid.

"Tell me how many bases your faction controls; I don't think we'll be interrupted this time."

"..Four." The rebel conceded.

"Where are they?" I picked up a pen and began to write.

"Underfell copies 207, 592, 769, and 375..all in forests."

"Thank you for your cooperation. Are you a judge?"

"..." The rebel hesitated; I supposed I would have to give him more incentive.

"I said- h-help me..p-please- that's it! I have had it with you!" I prepared to stab myself once more, but I was stopped short.

"Wait!" The rebel ceased my actions. "Don't hurt them..I-I'm a judge."

"..I suppose I will allow it."

The judge answered the rest of my questions without hesitation, and he was ready to be inducted into the army within two hours.

I loved the compassion strategy.

~~~~~

"Protected"

This short was requested by cerophii on Ao3!

This short takes place in the "Revived" timeline!

Classification: torture/comfort.

Warnings: torture, lots of torture, more torture, the most graphic torture in this group of shorts, and..torture.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

(Btw, there are only, like, two paragraphs of torture).

~~~~~

My family did a lot of things. Plans to overthrow Ink were common, and the consequences were painful..very painful. Each time they failed, Ink made my suffering worse, and it had gotten to the point at which I was physically unable to handle the pain..years ago. I was terrified when even a mention of a plan to overthrow Ink came up; I didn't want to face the pain. I didn't tell my family, though; they were sad enough that I was even being punished..they didn't deserve to be told that I wanted them to stop opposing Ink at all. I didn't want to be a burden; I could endure. That was what I told myself, at least; my certainty faded when Ink started the punishments. Today, I had been left in Ink's room alone. Ink had rushed out quickly earlier, and he hadn't told me why, but that was fine; I didn't need to know. I became afraid when the door opened, revealing Ink's furious expression; that was never a good sign. I whimpered when he put his hands around my neck and began to crush my spine.

"Dusty..do you know what happened today?" Ink growled lowly, and I shook my skull in fear. "Your stupid family tried again."

I was scared to death; Ink was going to hurt me more..I didn't want to be hurt..

"P-please.." I sobbed, not wanting to go through more pain. "M-mercy.."

"No.." Ink began to drag me out of his room. "There will be no mercy."

I cried all the way to the dungeon, where Ink threw me into an empty cage. He began by taking my clothes off, likely to protect them from the horrors that faced me. Without a shred of hesitation, he coated my body in paint, soul and all. The cuts began soon after. His first goal was to get the paint inside my bones and soul, which hurt more than simply coating them, and the pain would flare up again when a bone that contained paint or my soul was injured. From that point on, he would begin the real torture..and I would regret living. This time, he created a pot of water, and he placed a metal sheet above it, before using his code magic to raise the temperature. I was restrained to the sheet of metal. By this time, I knew what he was going to do; the water's boiling below me was just a taunt. Ink was going to make my blood boil...for real. With the paint in my bones, I would be in unimaginable pain..and if I died, he could just bring me back. I screamed out in pain as the burning sensation began, but it didn't ease my pain. It kept getting hotter and hotter..and the metal sheet started to glow. It had already begun to melt my bones, but seeing it..made it much worse. It glowed a vibrant red below me, and I thought Ink was intending to melt me..until the temperature dropped.

The metal was still hot, but the air..was frigid. The part of me that touched the metal begged for coolness, while the part of me that wasn't was begging for warmth. There was no middle ground, and my blood boiled, while the rest of it froze. I wished I could feel numb, but all I felt was pain. I had barely been keeping my skull off the metal before, but my energy was gone. I let my skull fall, and my face began to burn. This continued until I died; I wasn't sure what had happened, but agony would have been a understatement. When I finally perished, I was reset, and I clung to Ink's legs, begging him not to hurt me more..I couldn't take it!

Ink sighed. "Fine, but expect more pain next time."

"Th-thank you.." I was grateful beyond measure.

"Come on, your family wants to speak to you." Ink had long since acknowledged them as my family; he found it funny, for some reason.

I followed Ink to his room, holding my jacket around me tightly. When we made it there, my family were sitting on the floor, and they seemed sad. Ink left me alone with them, and I broke down, sobbing; Nightmare pulled me into his hold, trying to comfort me.

"It's okay, Dusty.." Killer lied. "You're safe now."

"N-never safe.." I wept.

"This one was a bad one, wasn't it?" Nightmare knew, and he pulled me closer to him. "We're sorry, Dust."

"S-sorry, Dust.." Cross frowned. "W-we tried really h-hard this time..I-I guess it w-wasn't enough."

"S-stop.." I begged.

"Huh?" Horror didn't understand.

"D-don't be s-s-sorry.."

"Why..not?" Nightmare questioned.

"I-it's gonna h-happen again..a-and again..and a-again..I c-can't take it.."

"..." Nightmare understood. "You..want us to stop."

"P-please.."

"But..we can't." Killer thought.

"We gotta take 'im down.." Horror believed.

"W-we can't just g-give up!" Cross was determined.

"Boys.." Nightmare looked at the others. "We've gone too far."

"What..do ya mean?" Killer didn't understand.

"...He hurts Dust more severely every time..we were told that the first time..we're past the four hundredth."

The others lowered their skulls, realizing what I had wanted to hide from them.

"We've been makin' Dusty suffer.." Killer's voice was quiet.

"B-but..what ab-about Ink?" Cross had a good point. "W-we can't just l-let him continue like this..c-can we?"

"Under normal circumstances, I would say that we can't stop." Nightmare admitted. "This is bigger than just one person, and if we can stop him, we should.." He sighed, bowing his skull. "On the other hand..Dust admitted that he can't take it; with the way he constantly tries to assure us that he's all right..even when he clearly isn't..this must be truly unbearable for him. We have a choice to make, boys; we can either drop it and spare Dust, leaving the multiverse in a dictatorship..or we continue, and if we fail, he suffers more."

"The e-entire multiverse...o-or one soul." Cross evidently didn't like this decision.

"I'm done." Killer stated. "I'm not gonna hurt Dusty anymore."

"My bro's been countin' on us.." Horror frowned.

"..His s-situation hasn't been g-getting worse." Cross pointed out. "Y-your brother is strong, b-but.." Cross trailed off before he said that I wasn't..but everyone got the message anyway.

"Yer right." Horror nodded. He c'n take i'; Dusty can't."

"Are we in agreement?" Nightmare inquired.

"We ain't gonna fight." Horror confirmed.

"It's settled, then; our plans to overthrow the empire..are done."

They held to their vow, and Ink didn't torture me as hard as before. I felt bad that I had even done that, but my family reassured me, telling me that they understood. Ink was pleased with their newfound obedience, too, but it was for a different reason. From what I understood, Horror's brother had taken the news a bit hard at first, but he had eventually accepted it, opting to hold on to the hope that the empire would one day fall, even if not by my family's hands. In the end, no one was mad about it, and the other guards understood; they knew what it was like to have a family member on the line.

My family and I were happy.

~~~~~

"Shadow"

This short takes place in the "Vantablack" timeline!

Classification: neutral.

Warnings: nothing too bad, actually.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

Being an emperor's (Ink had taken to the term, deciding that he liked it better than dictator) pet was..interesting. Since I was no longer only used for torture, I had time to..enjoy things. I enjoyed my pacifier, and I enjoyed cuddling with Ink. I also enjoyed being fed regularly; since I now required energy, Ink had been feeding me more often, and I was happy. Torture was still a significant part of my life, but it didn't reign anymore; Ink's whims reigned, and I liked those better. As for the commanders and Papyrus, they believed that I had been turned evil by the pacifier, since Ink had told them that; as a result, everyone believed that I had been turned evil. I hadn't, of course, but it wasn't as if that mattered; Ink had trained me to act in a certain way while others were nearby, and my actions would neither confirm nor deny whether the claims were true. Today, Ink was giving the daily missions to his commanders, and I lay on his bed next to him, lying against him softly as he had trained me to. In essence, I was to act like a domesticated pet, and it wasn't difficult, since..I truly felt like one. The collar, the training..it was impossible not to feel like a pet sometimes.

"Blue, you will be in charge of quelling a riot in Underswap copy ninety-three." He stated.

"Yes, master." Blue nodded, before walking out of the room.

"And Fell, you will be on compound duty." He finished; Fell was the last on his list.

"Yes, master." Fell left as well, and only Ink, Papyrus, and I remained.

"Is there anything I can do for you, master?" Papyrus had been more willing to appease Ink since receiving the loyalty treatment.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Ink answered. "I'm going to take the toy on a walk today; you will be in charge of my affairs until we return."

"Yes, master.." Papyrus sighed.

"..Is there something on your mind, Papyrus?"

"..Why do you give it so much freedom?" Despite his loyalty, Papyrus couldn't help his questions. "It's only a toy; does it really deserve our mercy?"

"Papyrus, recall your shaping period. You were a misguided rebel, and I turned you into the leader of my armies. Dream was a rebel, too, and so were the other commanders; each of them had extensive shaping periods, if you recall."

"I remember..but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Describe Dream."

"He is..a good leader. He offers no mercy, and he lulls his victims into a false sense of security with his aura. He enjoys torture, and he is loyal only to you. Why is that important?"

"Describe Dream before."

"..He was an idiotic rebel with ideals that weren't feasible. He thought there was good in all beings, and he was willing to fight to prove it. He was..strong-willed."

"Quite a change, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, but what does that matter?"

"How did we treat him in our custody?"

"We kept him in the dungeon. He was fed scraps, and he was forced to torture whoever was placed in front of him. He was beaten regularly, and his punishments were severe; it was mainly to break him down."

"And how do we treat him now?"

"He is a celebrated leader of the army. He forces respect, and he eats as well as we do. He has a private room in the compound for his quarters, which he can adjust to his soul's content, and he cannot be denied by any guards. He is honored among the highest."

"Describe him in a single word regarding his attitude toward me."

"..Loyal."

"Was he loyal before his shaping?"

"No."

"Do you see now, Papyrus?"

"..This is about loyalty."

"Some have longer shaping periods than others."

"Is the toy..truly loyal? Have you tested it? How can you be sure it isn't faking its loyalty? It may have been turned evil, but that doesn't mean it's loyal; it may mean the opposite."

"..I haven't tested its loyalty; it doesn't need to be tested."

"..Would you allow me to test it, master? I will determine whether it is loyal or not."

"..." Ink looked down at me, and I gave him a pleading expression; Papyrus would have hurt me! "One test."

"Thank you, master." Papyrus bowed in respect, before turning his sights to me. "Here, toy."

I frowned, sitting up and hopping off the bed; I stood before him, hoping this would be quick.

"If you are truly loyal..you would endure to the end to protect your master." He smirked. "Would you?"

"..I am not intended for protection." I replied. "I am for amusement and entertainment."

"Quite right..." He hummed, before getting an idea. "Then..you would be obliged to do anything your master wishes."

"If it is within my abilities."

"Master, I have a simple request." Papyrus spoke to Ink. "Since the toy is now inherently evil..it would be reluctant to perform a good deed."

"That makes sense." Ink smiled, knowing that I wouldn't have been opposed to the idea in the least.

"Will you order it to be good throughout the day? If it refuses, or if it cannot do it, it isn't loyal."

"..That's a wonderful idea. I shall command it to be kind to every being we meet, and that will ensure its loyalty. Thank you, Papyrus."

"Of course, master. And..if it does fail..may I have the honor of securing its loyalty?"

"I can't think of anyone better. It's settled, then; toy, perform acts of kindness on our walk."

"Yes, master." I nodded.

Ink and I set out shortly after that. He was going to half-walk, half-inspect his universes, as always. Usually, I was to be silent and uninterested, ignoring all others but Ink, but today, I could be myself! I was looking forward to our first meeting, which was with a high rank in a universe. I picked a flower as he came into sight.

"How is the AU?" Ink skipped greetings; they weren't important to him.

"Fine, Emperor." The high rank responded; in addition to liking the title, Ink had also made it law to address him as such, with the exclusions of those who called him master.

"I picked this for you." I held out the flower to the high rank, and he was..surprised, to say the least!

"Wh-what?" The high rank was wary, and he had the right; good deeds were frowned upon nowadays.

"This is a gift."

"I-I.." He took the flower hesitantly, looking at it carefully. "D-did I do something wrong?"

"My toy is just..out of sorts today." Ink shrugged. "It has the urge to do..good. I'm sure it'll be back to normal tomorrow."

"..Y-yes, Emperor."

We continued in that fashion, and I enjoyed it greatly! Kindess was hard to find in the world today; people were afraid of it, and they thought it would hurt them. I had been saddened when a guard flinched at a simple compliment..things weren't supposed to be that way. When we returned to Ink's room, Papyrus was surprised to hear the news that I had been good all day, peforming acts of kindness at every turn; he hadn't expected that.

"I suppose..it really is loyal.." Papyrus accepted it. "And you treat it better because of that.."

"Indeed." Ink confirmed, sitting on his bed; I lay down next to him. "It's as I said earlier: shaping takes longer for some."

"Yes, master..I understand now. Do I have any other duties for the rest of the day?"

"No, that will be all; you may go about your personal activities."

"Thank you, master."

Papyrus left the room, and Ink and I were alone. He began to rub my skull as a reward, saying that he knew I would pass the test. I was glad I had, too; Papyrus would have beaten me far past senseless if I had failed.

"Toy.." Ink addressed. "You..once had a name, didn't you?"

"I..did.." I answered.

"What was it?"

"..You called me Dusty."

"..Why did I remove it from you?"

"You said toys weren't supposed to have identities..that we're only meant to be tortured. A name gave a purpose, and you didn't want me to have purpose. You just wanted to hurt me."

"..Would you like it back?"

"..Papyrus would get suspicious; you lectured him about how I shouldn't have a name..you drilled it into his skull. If you went back on that now.."

"He would see me as weak." Ink ran his hand down my spine, petting me as I lay by his side. "..You're right, but I must reward you in some way..if not a name, then what with?"

"..I don't need anything."

"Toy, I am going to reward you with something. Do you desire anything?"

"..." I had many desires, but none of them would have been proper to ask for.

"...How can you not want anything?"

"I.." I glanced over to my cage, knowing what to ask for. "If you must reward me..the only thing I could ask of you is for the cage to leave."

"..You don't like it, do you?"

"It..hurts in there.."

"All right." Ink..accepted? "You may stay by my side in my presence, and you may have the room to yourself in my absence."

"..Thank you.."

"I wouldn't upset my favorite toy!" Ink smiled..genuinely.

The cage was removed with a portal, and Ink allowed me to sleep in his bed that night, held tightly in his arms as he slept. I believed that there was good in him.

I just had to find it.

~~~~~

"Disowned"

Cape is in this.

Classification: angst.

Warnings: bad things happen.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

It had been a year. My owner and I were close, and Dusty and I were good friends. I had moved on from the pain I had suffered at first; pain was temporary, and..I doubted I would be able to see my universe ever again. I had accepted my home here. Unfortunately, as time had gone on, the other high ranks had been increasingly envious of my owner, even going so far as to hinder his work to get him punished; I had done my best to take the blame for whatever I could, but I couldn't protect him from everything. Eventually, the day came when it couldn't go on any longer. My owner had sat down with me in an empty room, and we spoke.

"Cape.." He sighed. "I can't keep you. Ink's already suspicious, and I can't keep being interrupted all the time..if I can't finish my work for this month..I'll be demoted..and you'll be killed."

I nodded sadly. "I know.."

"I've enjoyed your service, but it's time for it to end. I've thought a lot about this, and I've spoken to the other high ranks; none of them will take you on offer. You're good..but you're too good..the one who would take you would suffer the same as I have."

"And..your options are.."

"..My only options are to kill you or send you to the dungeon..and I don't want to kill you."

"..I understand." I needed to speak with Dusty. "Can I..talk to Dusty..before you send me?"

"Of course. I..I'm sorry."

"I forgive you..your needs come before mine."

My owner wrapped his arms around me, hugging me.

"You've been a great help to me..I wish it didn't have to be this way." He sighed, before letting me go. "Let's go get things taken care of."

My owner took me down the corridors of the compound, until we reached the ever-familiar door to the dictator's room. I hoped everything would be all right as my owner knocked on the door. Within a few seconds, the dictator answered, and he hummed at our presence.

"Do you want something?" He inquired.

"Sir..I'm inclined to disown my relief." My owner said the dreaded words.

"..And why do you believe this concerns me?"

"He..would like to see his friend..before he goes down to the dungeon."

"Oh." The dictator looked at me, recalling who I was. "I see..well, I suppose I can allow that; I'd like to talk with you about your recent work, actually. Enter, lowly being."

With that, I entered the room, and the dictator spoke with my owner about some things. Dusty seemed happy to see me, smiling at my appearance; I gave a small smile back, wondering if this was the last time I would be seeing my friend. I sat down next to him.

"It's nice to see you again, Cape!" Dusty hugged me. "How have you been?"

"..Not very good." I frowned.

"Oh? Were you punished for something? Did you lose some form of trust? I can help!"

"No..I'm afraid you can't." I shook my skull.

"What..happened?"

"The other high ransk have been hindering my owner..he can't finish all his work because of me..envy has spread, and..he's on the verge of a demotion. He had to make a choice, and his needs towered over mine. No other high ranks will take me because of the fact that they would be in his shoes in little to no time at all. I'm..being sent to the dungeon..forever."

Dusty paled, his eyesockets beginning to fill with tears. "B-but..you can't!"

"It's either that or be killed..and I'm not the one with the option."

"I..I don't want to lose you.."

"I know..but sometimes, unexpected things happen; I have to accept it. Dusty..I need to ask you something.."

"Y-yes?" Dusty responded, as I wiped his tears away.

"..How does one escape the dungeon?"

Dusty bowed his skull, hugging me tighter; I gave him a moment to regain his control.

"Not a lot of ways." He stated. "If you're confined to a cell, fiddle with everything you can find. The tool counters..they're feared, but some of them have secret passageways; I once saw one triggered by picking up a knife. Don't be afraid of anything. Twist bars, scratch at cracks, and touch everything you can find. Every cell has at least one way out..and if you meet the right guard, you can threaten him to open a portal. That way is tricky, though; if it doesn't work, you might get punished..you will get punished. If you're put in a cage, do the same thing, but your space will be smaller; try to find weak links in the chain..but do it at night. A cage clattering to the floor during the day will attract nearby guards; the screaming during the night will cover the sound up. If you don't have a passageway into a portal or something of the like, and you end up on the dungeon floor, run around and look for a uniform of some sort; anything will do. Walk around during the day until you can find someone to open a portal for you, but don't say you're a prisoner; just say your magic's not capable of making portals. And..don't tell anyone of your plans; prisoners get rewarded for turning others in."

"..Thank you." I smiled gratefully.

"One last thing.."

"Yes?"

"..Don't look for passageways in the dungeon walls. There are only two, and you never want to go near either of them. The first one leads..here. If you walk in here during the middle of the night, your life is forfeit, and you will die. The second leads to Ink's..collection. Rooms in that hallway are deadly. Testing for torture devices takes place in those rooms, and they don't always stop for bedtime. Some are automatic, targeting anyone who enters them; others are manual, and those who are kept there either love to torture new victims..or will kill you to escape. Some are filled with torture devices, and some are extra space for the future."

"Good to know." I hugged Dusty; he was the best friend I had in this place. "I can't thank you enough for this."

"Your escape will be enough; I want you to be happy." Dusty paused for a moment, before continuing. "I should warn you, though..even with this information..you may be crippled too much to try to escape. Do it while you have motion; you'll have a better chance that way. Directly after a reset would be best. Don't let the fear get to you; you can escape, even if it takes decades..it may very well be that way. Don't give up; spending twenty years in there and escaping is better than giving up and spending eternity there. Good luck, Cape."

"Thank you, Dusty..I'll never forget you."

"I won't forget you, either. Good bye."

"Bye, Dusty..I hope we meet again someday."

"..I'd like that."

I was sent to the dungeon within an hour, placed in a cell.

~~~~~

"Solemnity"

Classification: kind of angst.

Warnings: taunting and bullying.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Blue's point of view.

I had used to be happy. Being a soldier had once been my dream..but I hadn't expected to receive it in such a way. I had used to laugh and sing. I had once been in control of my personal world, making my own decisions and doing what I wanted to! The betrayal had hurt me. I had tried to be the same, at first, but it had gotten so hard! One day..I just stopped smiling. What use was there to smile when I wasn't happy? Ink had taught me a lot of things in my life; he had taught me about AUs, how to stand up to people, and how to fight..it made me wonder if any of that had even been real. Maybe he had been good once..a long time ago. I remembered the times way back when..when he would sacrifice anything for his friends. He had put hismself in danger so many times; had that all been an act? No..that had been real. I wasn't sure when he had changed, but I remembered the day that I realized that my formerly outgoing friend had become..reclusive. He had been good once; he could be good again..I just had to wait. There was good in everyone; I had learned that a long time ago, and I knew it to be true. Ink could change his ways..and I intended to be there for him if he did.

On the other hand, Ink had taught me a lot after introducing me to his army. He had taught me how to suffer, and he had taught me how to create pain. I had never wanted that. While there was a part of me that yearned for the friend I had once known, a different part of me told me that my hopes were meaningless; Ink was a bad person, and people like that..were difficult to change. I just wished I knew why he was like this! Part of me..wanted to reciprocate Ink's hospitality. I couldn't deny that I wanted to hurt him; I wanted justice for everyone he had hurt. I wanted to take out my rage, and I wanted him to be in my sights as I did. I wouldn't have even had those thoughts if it hadn't been for him! Was it so wrong to want vengeance for all he had done?! Sometimes..I didn't know. I had been close to attacking him before, but I only had to look down to the floor to see the reason I held myself back. I wasn't the one who needed revenge; Dust was more qualified than I would have ever been...and he didn't fight. He didn't curse Ink's name, and he didn't take advantage of his close proximity to his captor to break a bone. I was afraid that I would corrupt him if he saw me do what he wasn't willing to..and I didn't want to do that to him.

"Is it ready yet?" One of my dozens of roommates groaned, wanting his breakfast; I was in charge of making the meals for the high ranks, and I spent most of my time cooking.

"Two more minutes." I replied.

"We've been waiting for ten!" Another scoffed. "Can't you do anything on time?"

It didn't help that I was hated by my peers. Dream was the only one I could truly call a friend; the other high ranks ranged from friendly to cruel, and most of them were closer to cruel. I was an easy target for them, unfortunately.

"Take your time, Blue." Dream encouraged me. "I'm sure that whatever you've made will taste wonderful."

"Wonderfully late!" Someone else sarcastically added.

Over the years, I had learned to ignore them; being provoked - or reacting in just about any way - would only encourage their cruelty. Soon enough, I served breakfast, and the high ranks ate. I spent the next few hours with Dream, helping him with his duties around the compound, but when the clock struck twelve (the normal hour for lunch, which Dream had helped me with), I was standing before Ink's door, and I knocked. Ink answered.

"Oh, Blue." He opened the door wider, letting me in. "I'll be out for a while; you enjoy yourself."

"Yes, Sir." I nodded, entering the room as he left.

I looked to the ground, and I saw a small skeleton, curled up on the floor. I sighed, kneeling down next to him and rubbing his skull softly as I waited for him to acknowledge my presence; it sometimes took a while, when he was in pain, and I could tell that he was. When he calmed down, he began to sit up, and I put on a smile. I didn't smile all the time, but when someone needed to be cheered up, I donned one..and Dust might have needed it the most. I tried to constantly smile when I was around him, trying to lift his spirits even just a little. When I saw him, I knew why people wanted to protect the innocent things in life; he was just so..inspiring. He was a pure soul in a dark time, and I was going to do everything in my power to protect him. I couldn't do much, but I could at least offer reassurance.

"Hey, Dust." I greeted, as he sat up.

"Hi, Blue." He smiled a bit to see me.

"How have you been doing?"

"I've been kind of okay, what about you?"

"I've been great! It's a nice day outside; it's sunny and cool."

"..I prefer rain. It makes me feel calmer." Dusty shrugged slightly. "Sunny is okay, too."

"I love sunny weather; seeing all that light and feeling its warmth is..what most monsters used to want."

"Papyrus used to want to see the sun..he always told me it was the happiest star, since it got to watch over everyone on the surface. I..used to understand..but I don't anymore."

"The surfaces have changed..no more monsters..except for the few who have a permanent surface."

"I..don't want to talk about this.." Dust decided. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure, Dust."

I hadn't really known much about Dust back when Nightmare's gang was around; he had just been a misguided soul in my eyelights..I had never stopped to think that I had been the misguided soul. He had changed much since his initial capture; he had used to be a determined soul, stopping at nothing to reunite with his brother. Now, roughly twenty-five years after his capture, he was..timid. He was filled with fear at the sight of perfectly normal things, and if someone said the wrong things, he would flinch or cry; it was horrible to see him in this condition.

"Do you want to talk about your brother?" I offered.

"Yes, please." Dust nodded, thankful that we could change the subject.

I had to be happy for someone, and he was that someone. I wasn't sure if he knew that I wasn't always honest with my smiles, but he needed them anyway. He deserved every ounce of happiness he could get.

I was willing to give it to him.

~~~~~

"Desperation"

Cape is in this.

Classification: angst, with some drama.

Warnings: mentions of torture.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

I had gotten used to the screaming after the first year or so. The wails and cries didn't affect me so much anymore. I had followed every tip Dusty had given me. I had twisted every bar, looked through the collection of torture weapons in the cell, and even skimmed the edges of the roof for bumps, cracks, and crevices; nothing had worked..until today. I didn't know how long I had been here; I had stopped counting the nights once they reached over a thousand, and that had been so long ago. I knew that I had arrived about twenty years after the beginning of the empire; Dusty had confirmed that his time had been about fifteen years, and the empire had begun four or five years prior. Once I escaped and found safety, I could find out how long I had been here, but I didn't want to think about it yet. A few days ago, a torture device of note had come into the cell: a saw. Most prisoners didn't dare touch the counters of torture devices, knowing what horrors could be committed with those weapons; I, on the other hand, saw it for what it was: a chance to escape. I had been too injured after meeting the saw for the first time to escape, though; I was missing a leg, and I had to wait until I was reset, while hoping that I had hidden the saw well enough that no one would take it from my cell.

Today, I had been reset. The details..weren't important. What was important was the fact that I could move well, and Dusty had made it clear that I wasn't going to escape if I couldn't move. I had faced some torture during the day, but that was fine; I could still move, and some small remnants of torture weren't going to stop me. When night fell upon the dungeon, the guards left, and the screaming continued. I crawled over to the counter, opening one of the cabinets and reaching to the back. Grabbing the saw, I withdrew my hand, and I quietly moved over to some bars. I took a deep breath, and I began to saw. The screaming did well to cover the sound of the saw's cutting, but I didn't move too fast, intending to keep this as quiet as possible; my neighbors in the dungeon might have reported me tomorrow if they found out, since the current reward for reporting an escape was an entire month without torture..anyone in here who couldn't escape would have done anything for something so merciful. It took several minutes for me to cut through the first bar once..but I needed to cut it again to pull the bar out, and because of my size, I would have to cut another just the same. This was going to take a some time.

I had been sawing for a while before the bars came loose, but I couldn't keep track of how long or late it was; there were no clocks in the dungeon. All I knew was that I had roughly eight hours between the call for bedtime and the call for morning. When I had cut the bars out, I laid them on the ground carefully, and I returned the saw to its place in the cabinet. Squeezing myself through the gap, I sat outside my cell, and I placed the bars back in their places, hoping that no one would notice that they were broken until I was long gone. As soon as they were firmly in place, I took off my shoes and put them in my pockets as well as I could; I couldn't risk leaving them, but I didn't want them to squeak while I was trying to get out of this place! My first goal was to get out of the dungeon and into a disguise, but I had to be wary of the night watch. If I walked around in my current clothing (I was still wearing my servant clothing), I would have been sent to the guard lounge, which was bad, since they all knew that I was supposed to be in the dungeon! The night watch consisted of 101 guards, including one high rank, and they made thorough rounds around the compound; I had to be quiet and ready to hide at a moment's notice.

When I left the dungeon, I soon found that maneuvering in the dark was hard. It was pitch black in the halls, unlike the soft light that emanated throughout the dungeon at night. I walked slowly through the halls, trying to make as little noise as possible. I had hoped to find a map, but with this absence of light, I could have walked into one! The only light that was available was my eyelights, and I had cut the magic to them in order to hide better. I soon realized that I wasn't going to be able to do this; it was too dark, and it would be too late by the time morning came! I had to try, though; Dusty wanted me to be happy and to escape. I sighed softly, moving to my right and holding out my arms; I was going to skim along a wall, hopefully making it to a place in which I could find a disguise. I walked, and I walked, to no avail; the wall just kept going! I walked for as long as I could, but in the end, I had no more energy; the food in the dungeon didn't offer enough magic to provide more energy, and I collapsed. The clatter of bones on the floor was too loud to not be heard, and soon enough, armored footsteps approached me.

"Good try, but-" The voice froze as a light was shined on me. "Cape?!"

I..knew that voice. I pulled myself up to a sitting position, and I faced..my old owner.

"M-master..?" I spoke, not having the energy to believe that he was the one who had found me.

We stared at eachother for a good minute, and neither of us moved; I was surprised he even remembered me after as long as it must have been. After a prolonged silence, he knelt down next to me, and he placed his lantern between us.

"What are you doing out here?" He wondered.

"..Trying to escape." I confessed, bowing my skull. "Please don't send me back there.."

"It's my job.."

"..." I was doomed..

"But.." His words brought my now-lit-eyelights up to see him. "I owe you. I owe you for all the times you covered for me, and I owe you for the work you did in my service..for not being like the rest. The way I repaid you for that was horrible, and I do feel bad for it. You didn't even fight me when I sent you down there. It's time to repay you for your kindness."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

He..opened a portal. "This will take you to a place where you will be safe. Now get out of here, before someone else comes."

"..." I stood, ignoring my exhaustion. "Thank you, master."

"I'm not your master anymore, Cape..you're free."

I couldn't describe the emotions that flew through me as I fell onto the soft grass.

~~~~~

"Reassurance"

This short takes place in the "Escape" timeline!

Classification: fluff.

Warnings: nightmares and scared Dusty.

Canonicity: alternate timeline.

~~~~~

I had been with the resistance for two years now, and my life had improved greatly. I didn't stutter as much as I had at first, and I didn't have to stick by Papyrus's side all the time; the daily healing sessions in the safe room had made me feel calmer about things. I had made lots of friends there who had gone through torture, just as I had; it was nice to heal with friends by my side. My life wasn't entirely good now, though. I still had pains..they were just mental now. Memories could drive me to tears, and I found myself trying to avoid sleeping at night for fear of nightmares. If I did sustain a physical injury, I found myself back in that room, and I saw him..staring down at me with a twisted grin that promised pain. Right now, it was nighttime, and I was shaking slightly in my bed. I didn't enjoy having nightmares, but when I did have them, I wanted someone to hug. It was usually Papyrus..it was always Papyrus..but he was on a mission right now, and he wasn't able to comfort me. A thought soon came to my mind..and I decided to act on it. Quietly, I left my bed and started down the hallways of the base. They were shorter than the hallways in the compound, and they were lit at night; I preferred the base. When I reached my destination, I knocked on the door, and it opened within a minute.

"Dust...?" A tired voice noted my presence. "Do you need something?"

"I-I had a nightmare..P-Papyrus isn't here.." I explained, hoping he would understand.

"Ah." Cape nodded, opening the door for me. "Come on in."

"Th-thank you.."

I followed Cape inside the safe room, and he set some blankets up to make me feel warm; he was good at making people feel comfortable. He wrapped me in the soft blankets, and he sat by my side, offering a hug, which I accepted.

"Do you want to talk about it, or do you just want to sit here for a while?" He presented me with a choice, but I already knew the answer.

"I-I'm not ready to talk yet." I replied.

"And that's perfectly fine." Cape assured. "I'll keep you company."

Cape allowed me to lie down on his lap, and he kept me comfortable; he was one of the best at comforting people. After a few minutes of silent peace, I decided to ask something.

"Do you..get nightmares, too?" I inquired.

"..Yeah." He responded. "Not as much as before, but I do still get them."

"..Do you think they'll ever stop?"

"..I believe they will. You just have to hold on and believe that things will get better. "

"What if I can't?"

"..Then you have others to help you. You don't have to do it all yourself; the group activities we do show that you're not alone, and when you need to lean on someone, we'll be right by your side."

"I can't seem to stop leaning on someone.."

"That's not a bad thing; it just shows that you need a bit more help, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"..How did you get past it?"

"Get past what?"

"The fear..having peace one minute only to wonder what you would do if you lost it all? The anxious emotions that appear when there's too many people in a crowd and you might get separated from the ones you're with? The chance you could ruin everything by being scared at the wrong time and lose the ones you love? The chance you could be taken back? What would happen if you were? The undoubtedly cruel punishment..I don't want to hurt anyone..I don't want to be hurt.."

"..It doesn't all go away. Things like that take time, and they don't just disappear. Fear is a powerful thing; it can control people, if they let it sink too deep within them. The point of the safe room is to give people a place where they don't have to be burdened by fear..to offer a sanctuary for those who believe there is none. This place is meant to defend against fear and show that you don't have to be afraid all the time; it's supposed to serve as a comfort and a r-relief. Fear..can't be conquered at a certain time. It can't be shooed away without something to show it the door, and there are a lot of ways to get rid of it..but they don't stop it from popping in for an unexpected visit. The fear won't go away immediately, but it will downgrade over time; you just have to do what you can, I guess."

"Thanks, Cape." I smiled a bit.

"I'm here to help, Dust."

The rest of the night was peaceful. I ended up falling asleep in the safe room, and Cape tucked me in.

It was nice to have someone who cared.

~~~~~

"Perfect"

Classification: fluff and a bit of angst.

Warnings: torture, Ink's mind.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

Ink's point of view.

My toy was, to me, the perfect pet. Fifty years of careful molding had turned him into my best masterpiece, and it was clear to see. His quiet voice was a pleasure to hear, since he was never too loud for my liking. His small stature portrayed his lowliness and dependence; he was unable to do anything without me, and he knew that. He never interrupted conversations unless what he had to say was urgent, and even then, he opted to interrupt the other speaker, not me. He liked what I had taught him to like, and he despised what I despised. He never fought against his punishments, knowing that they were for his own good, and he screamed as loud as I wanted him to. His every action was tuned to my whims, and he would go to any length to please me, even to his own detriment. He liked to be cuddled, and he cuddled back accordingly, but he knew that petting was not to be reciprocated; dictators were not pet. He was dependent enough that he would be dead without me, and he knew it; he grew afraid if he was robbed of my presence for too long. When he learned lessons, he learned them well, and he rarely repeated his offenses. He didn't disappoint or embarrass me. He was a perfect pet.

"Dusty, come here." I beckoned.

He obeyed without question, coming to my bedside and looking up to me with a hopeful glint in his eyelights; he wanted to spend some time with me, and that was precisely what I had in mind.

"Lie down up here." I ordered.

He smiled, climbing onto my bed and lying down by my side, his eyelights planted firmly on me as he waited for my next action. Gently, I began to run my hand down his spine, before bringing it back up to his skull and moving down again. My toy grinned happily, enjoying the soft petting. Honestly, I liked to pet my toy; his smile was a pleasure to see, and he knew how much I liked it. It was just another reason I liked him so much; he was obedient, submissive, and loyal, and he never failed to please me. Well..he had failed on some occasions..but those instances had been out of his ability, and he couldn't have ever performed them correctly. Nonetheless, he had demanded to be punished for his trespasses, and I had obliged him; I would never have robbed my toy of his proper discipline. Today, I didn't gain the wanted satisfaction from seeing my toy's smile..but there were other ways to gain satisfaction.

"Dusty." I addressed my toy.

"Yes, Ink?" He answered me, focusing on me; I liked having his full attention.

"I feel like torturing someone today."

"Would you like to torture..me?" He offered himself; he really was the perfect pet.

"Yes, Dusty, I believe I would."

"..Shall I get the collar?"

"Yes, Dusty, get the collar."

"Okay.."

He stood up and went to get the punishment collar. The collar was usually used for, well, punishing him, but sometimes, I wanted to just torture him, and he understood, although..he was afraid. His fear was another reason he was perfect; he respected me, yes, but he also feared me..and his fear was obvious. The way he shuffled his feet on the way to get the collar and the slight hesitation in his voice when the prospect of his torture was brought up made his fear evident. I liked fear, and he knew that. When he returned with the collar, he slowly presented it to me, with a quiver in his hands. It spread to the rest of his body when I locked the collar around his neck and activated it; a whimper escaped him, and he took a step back when I left my bed. He would never run, however; he knew that trying to run from a torture session would end him up in a prolonged punishment session, and those were much more painful than torture. I began the session by kicking him onto the ground, and the screams started promptly; I loved to hear his screams. Paint soon followed, and a few broken bones accompanied his painful experience. I tortured him for roughly seven hours before deciding to stop, and when I did, he did another thing I adored about him.

"A-are you happy now?" He asked, not a hint of sarcasm or annoyance in his voice; he truly wanted to know if I was satisfied with his pain.

"..Not quite." I shook my skull.

He frowned at that, looking at the collar. "You should punish me now; I should have screamed louder or struggled more. Was it my lack of begging? Should I beg this time? I'll scream for mercy, master; tell me what you want of me, please!"

"I'd like a cuddle session, Dusty."

"I'll cuddle you, master! I'll make up for my misdeeds! I-" My toy paused, thinking of something. "Master, do you think it's possible to cuddle you while you torture me?"

"..." I hummed for a moment; that was an interesting thought. "Let's try that next time, Dusty; remind me. For now, let's just cuddle."

"Yes, Ink."

He climbed into my lap, and we cuddled.

He was my perfect pet.

~~~~~

"Friendly"

This short was requested by loseafy (not gonna lie this was very last minute, and I almost missed it, but I'm so glad I got your request before I started proofreading)! :3

Classification: Dusty's torture withdrawals.

Warnings: mentions of torture, manipulation.

Canonicity: canon.

~~~~~

I didn't enjoy the feeling that came upon me when I was punished. When I did something bad, Ink usually just used the punishment collar on me for a little while, but if I did something very bad..he would isolate me. Today was one of those instances, and I had been isolated for two weeks. When the door finally opened, Ink called me to come over, and when I did, he placed a knife in my hands; after two weeks, I was having a serious torture withdrawal, and I had to torture someone now! Ink knew that; he was the best! Without a word, he grabbed my other hand, and he led me to a cell in the dungeon, where I would likely find a prisone-

"I-Ink..?" My voice was low and fearful.

"Yes, Dusty?" Ink tilted his skull in question. "Is something wrong with the prisoner I've selected?"

"..I-it looks like Fell."

"That's probably because it is Fell."

"..C-can I please hurt a different one?"

"No, Dusty, this is the one I've chosen for you, and you will abide by my selection."

"..I-I don't feel like torturing anyone right now." I lied; I did want to torture someone..just not Fell! He was my friend!

"Dusty.." Ink came down to my level, grabbing my jaw tightly. "Don't you ever lie to me. I know for a fact you feel like torturing someone, and I've been so kind as to let you; are you going to accept my offer..or are you going to go back to your isolation chamber for a few more weeks?"

"I-I.." I whimpered slightly; Ink was doing this because I had been disobedient for something..that had to be the case! "I-I w-w-will.."

"Good. Now go play with your friend."

"Y-yes, Ink.."

Tears rolled down my face as I entered the cell, and Fell only looked at me with understanding..he was such a good friend! I gripped my knife as I prepared to satisfy my urges, and before I could apologize for my actions, I had tackled my best friend.

He forgave me later.

~~~~~

The end.

But wait, there's more!

Cue the bloopers!

~~~

"I will do literally anything for you." Dusty claims.

"Go take a hike." Ink scoffs.

Dusty goes on a hike in the mountains.

~~~~

"What are you afraid of?" Cape asks, in an effort to console Dusty.

"Rejection, betrayal, water, people, the sky, clouds, grass, buildings, toothbrushes, chairs, beds, bedframes, couches, sharp things, dull things, staples, nails, windows, heights-" Dusty pauses. "Can I just say everything?"

~~~

"Do you have bad dreams?" Ink asks.

"Every night." Dusty nods.

"How do you deal with them?"

"I don't."

~~~

"I don't need words to roast someone." Ink says, flipping Dusty on his grill with a spatula.

~~~

"What do you guys dream about?" Dream wonders. "I dream about freedom."

"Meeting my brother again." Dusty says.

"Ditching this armor." Fell sighs.

"The empire's fall." Blue responds.

"Destroying other people's dreams." Ink grins.

~~~

"I'm an immortal who can do literally anything!" Ink exclaims.

"You can't be mortal." Papyrus reminds.

"..Literally almost everything!"

~~~

"My favorite piece of clothing is my jacket." Dusty smiles.

"Mine is my crown." Dream says.

"I like my bandana." Blue giggles.

"I..have a paintbrush?" Ink shrugs.

~~~

"Dusty, describe my paintbrush in one word." Ink commands.

"..Painful." Dusty describes.

"..Wouldn't that make it a pain brush?"

~~~

"Do you like anything?" Ink wonders.

"Yes, but none of them are related to you." Dusty answers.

~~~

"There are some things that I don't understand." Dusty admits.

"You mean everything?" Ink deadpans.

"..Yeah, that just about sums it up."

~~~

"Who's the most caring person you know?" Blue wonders.

"Dusty." Ink answers.

"Dust." Dream responds.

"Dust." Fell confesses.

"Dust." Everyone replies.

"..Same." Blue nods.

~~~

The end!

Oh, boy, that was fun!

More fluff and less angst for a change!

Anyways, I actually really like this batch! ;p

Does anyone have any requests for the next extras? I really do love writing all your wonderful ideas!

Time for proofreading!

Words before: 40,377 words.

Words after: 41,185 words.

~~~shorts end woot~~~

Thanks for reading my extra extra extra extra extra extra extra writing!

Bye!