Question: I absolutely loved this story but the ending confused me. So everything was a dream? And if so then how did dust know what gifts he was getting in the before execution scene even though his birthday happened when he woke up? And if so does that mean that they are still fighting ink and the rest? Was this something ink caused?

Answer: First of all, thanks! Second, okay, the ending can be confusing, sorry! To Dust, the entire thing was just a dream, but it wasn't. To him, he just had this crazy dream before his birthday. But, it actually was not a dream; it was a different multiverse! This actually happened to a version of DustI figured if different universes could have similar stories, why not different multiverses? There have been plenty of Forced Destroyer multiverses, and this is really no different from one of those. In this multiverse "type," the decision to attack on Dust's birthday - not that they knew that - was the "branching point" for different paths the multiverse could take. Believe it or not, the decision was completely up to Fell, who led the party to use Dust as a bargaining chip to force the others to surrender. In one path, he went along with the plan, leading to the route in which Ink becomes the dictator of the multiverse. In a different route - which the story ends with - that does not happen. To put it into terms we would understand, imagine someone talking to a corpse. In their bedroom. That would turn a lot of people off, and that's basically what Dust did before he was taken. In the path the story ends on, Fell was so disgusted by the fact that someone would actually do that, that he just called the entire thing off; Ink's party was never called to fight the others, and Dust was never used as a bargaining chip. So, long story short, Dust's talking to dust saved the multiverse because Fell was gonna throw up. Yep. He likely didn't remember the birthday gifts, but if he did, he would have probably passed it off as deja vu. They are still in conflict with Ink and the others. So, if you wanna go even further, ATE is another different timeline of a multiverse in which Error didn't escape! Just imagine how many Dusts are still under Ink's control in the vast omniverse..I'm actually writing a story about one of them in which he meets my version of Fgod!Error and my Dreamtale AU Nightmare (like seriously Nightmare is always bullied in Dreamtales so I took it upon myself to make one where the villagers are actually not jerks! Yay! Too bad Dream takes their place-) :3 Sooo that's enough rambling from me! Have a nice day!

If anybody wants to see the story, please ask but it has an angst warning-

And oh my gosh that is the longest paragraph I have ever written-

Enjoy!

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Nightmare's gang wasn't doing well at all. Our adversaries had been locating us quicker than we could spread negativity, and the increased efficiency was promoting positivity instead; Nightmare was at terrible risk. As a result, we had to go out as often as possible, which was also known as "every few hours." We hadn't had free time in weeks due to the new tracking system the protectors had developed; even Error's job was being inhibited by it! We had to think of something fast, or someone was going to die. The most likely candidate for death was Nightmare himself, since he was linked to the balance, but with the way our adversaries were fighting us, they could have honestly killed one of us..we had all suffered numerous broken bones, and Horror had been the most affected as of now; he had to stay home to avoid further injury. I was currently in my room, lying on my bed; we had been home for a while, but I was starting to wane..actually, I had been waning since day twelve, but this was day thirty. Paps was always there to help me, though; he's the best.

"You can get through this, brother!" Papyrus cheered. 

"Thanks, bro.." I held a broken arm that I had suffered a week ago; it still hurt tremendously..

"Dusty?" Killer opened the door to my room.

"Yeah?" 

"Time to go again."

"Okay.." 

I pulled myself out of my bed, checking for my weapons; they were on me. After that was settled, I followed Killer out to the living room, where Nightmare, Cross, and Error were waiting; we had decided that until the opposition passed, we were going to have to stick together at all times. Honestly, we were wondering if the opposition would pass..with everything proceeding like it was, we would have been lucky if they even gave us a break for one day, let alone a week. When we were ready, we decided to take the chance of going to a very negative universe, which might have been able to ward our adversaries off for at least a little while. Once we were in, we started immediately to cause chaos; we had no idea when our enemies would have arrived, and we weren't taking chances. We wished that we could simply portal out whenever they came to stop us, but they had also taken the time to develop a portal-blocking device; however, it only lasted for ten minutes, which was better than forever. We had only been in the universe for two minutes when our adversaries arrived, and I started the timer as Ink stepped up to face us once again.

"Nightmare and gang!" Ink had changed his line, since we couldn't actually leave anymore. "Surrender your weapons; you're under arrest!"

"Not.." Nightmare was feeling the effects of overwhelming positivity; he had been suffering.. "Happening.."

"Then we'll battle once more."

Our enemies began to attack us, and we tried our best to fight back; unfortunately, we could only fight so long before we broke, and our point was coming. I had noticed that our opponents weren't exhibiting exhaustion as we were..that allowed them to be faster and more efficient than us, which didn't help our situation in the slightest. Cross and I fought Ink, as always, and Paps was helping us; Chara helped Killer and Error against the swap brothers, since he could manipulate attacks now, as well. I was thankful that Paps was helping us, since Ink's swings with his paintbrush were weaker than they would have been otherwise; Paps is the best. I noted that we had been fighting for five minutes when Ink's tempo began to pick up, causing him to land many more hits than before. Cross still had enough energy to keep up with the dodging, but I wasn't as fortunate; Ink didn't even have to try to hit me. I just tried to attack as much as possible when I realized that trying to dodge attacks was going to do more harm than good. There was one minute left when I was fighting to stand up. Thirty seconds remained when Cross had lost his speed. Twenty seconds were left as Ink decided to pick up his pace once more. Ink looked at me when there were but ten seconds. He raised his brush at eight. He swung it at five. I was trying to find some magic to make a portal when I was struck at four. He had hit me near the soul; it hurt badly, but I couldn't focus on that.

The sound of portals retreating filled the air, and we were gone in an instant..

I blacked out.

I woke up in a forest; tall trees towered above me. I didn't want to move..everything hurt. Why was I hurting? I didn't remember-

I didn't remember..what didn't I remember? I was forgetting something; I knew that much, but I didn't know what I was forgetting! Uh, what was the last thing I remembered? I didn't..know? Who was I? I had no clue..had something happened to me?! Where was I?! People were supposed to remember who they were, right?! What did people look like?! I didn't know any people! What was a people?! I sat up, receiving a surge of pain; that wasn't smart. Where in the world was I? A forest, granted, but what forest? I didn't remember any forests..I had to remember something! I noticed the presence of something on my left wrist- wait, I was made of bones? I had to look past that..what was on my wrist? It looked like..a watch? Did I have a watch? I supposed that a watch might have been common..it was just past noon, according to it. I looked down, finding that my clothes were covered in..dust? Was I lazy about cleaning, or had I been lying there for a long time? I hummed, finding that the dust was stuck to my..jacket? Huh. Weird. Well, I was sitting in a forest alone around noon with no way to get up and walk without help and no recollection of who I was. That was just great. I supposed that I had to wait for someone to find me..

So I sat there. I wasn't going to risk walking and breaking another bone - I had noticed that one of my legs had multiple fractures anyway - which left only the option to wait. I found waiting to be boring, but it was better than breaking something and only hurting myself further. As I waited, I wondered who I could have been..what would my name have been? Maybe I was a carpenter? As I looked around the trees, ideas came to my mind on what could have been done with them..I wondered if I was capable of making it happen. One tree might have looked good as a support for a building; it was sturdy and capable of holding a lot of weight..how did I know that? Maybe I was a carpenter..or maybe I was just dreaming; perhaps I wasn't. I had waited for over an hour by the time I heard a sound from behind me.

"H-hello?" I realized that my voice was exactly as I had imagined it; well, at least I could predict that.

"Don't you know it's bad luck to stay in a forest alone?" A voice came from the shadows; it was familiar, yet I didn't feel safe around it..I wanted to run, but I couldn't.

"Wh-who's there?"

"I'm offended; you really can't place me? You must have been struck pretty hard in that last fight."

"F-fight?" I had been in a fight?!

"Golly, you are losing it, aren't you?"

"Sh-show yourself!" I regretted saying that as soon as I said it.

"I think I should take you back with me first; everyone else will be so glad to see you."

In an instant, I was out; I didn't see who had attacked me. He said that I had been in a fight..perhaps I lost my memories then? I wondered who I had been fighting..had I been fighting him? Maybe that was why he felt dangerous; he might have been an enemy. If he was an enemy, who were my allies? I couldn't remember. For the life of me, I couldn't remember! What if I had people depending on me?! What were they going to do if I was gone?! I didn't recall anyone..maybe I was alone. Maybe I was just alone in the world, and nobody depended on me? I hoped that was the case..I didn't want anyone to have been deprived of something that I had given them just because I had lost my memories. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a chair; my hands and feet were strapped to it..why? I opened my eyes..wait, bones..I must have been a skeleton of some sort, right? I opened my..eyesockets? Yes, that sounded right. I opened my eyesockets to find myself looking at two others. One of them wore a cape and crown, and he was smiling. The other wore a brown scarf and colorful paints...I wondered what they were for. I was startled when the one with the scarf began to speak; his voice was the same one from before.

"I'm surprised it took this long to catch one of you.." He didn't seem surprised..?

"You are?" I thought that surprise was supposed to be more emotional? Perhaps I had misremembered?

"Yep. Totally. Anyways, let's get on to the questioning; you know this routine by now." 

"I do?" Had I been there before?

"Haha, very funny." He wasn't laughing? "Question one: why do you work for Nightmare?"

"What?" Wasn't a nightmare a bad dream? How could I have worked for a bad dream?

"Allow me to rephrase the question: why do you work for a supervillain?"

"I what?" Why would I have worked for a villain? 

He sighed. "Playing stupid, eh?"

"What are you talking about?" I didn't think I was playing..I wasn't a child..or at least, I didn't think I was..although, I was short..maybe I was a child..how old was I? 

"You wanna try him?" He looked to the crowned one.

"All right!" The crowned one smiled brightly. "Why do you work for my brother?"

"Who?" I tilted my..skull?

"My brother? Nightmare?"

"Is that..a name?"

"Ink, how hard did you hit him?" The crowned one was concerned.

"No clue, but I might have gone a bit overboard.." The brown-scarved one seemed a bit unnerved. "I want you to think very hard, okay? What is your name?"

"Um.." I thought very hard, but I couldn't remember. "I don't know."

"Oh, dear.." The crowned one gave off a feel of dread. "Do you remember anything?"

"Uh..no?"

"Dream, my taking advantage senses are tingling." The scarved one chuckled slightly.

"Ink, we shouldn't." The crowned one shook his skull. "He's obviously lost."

"Unless he's faking it."

"His emotions are too pure for that."

"Then what do you propose we do?"

"Take him in."

"Dream, that's insane."

"No, it isn't! Ink, if we can get him to be good, everything will get better from there!"

"You're proposing to give him the location of my house."

"Yes?"

"What if he is faking it?"

"I don't think he is. Please, Ink?"

"Oh..." The scarved one sighed again. "Fine."

"Yes! Thank you, Ink!"

"What's going on?" I was intimidated by the two..they were very energetic..

"We'll tell you when we get home." The scarved one grinned.

"Who are you?"

"We're your..caretakers.."

"What do you mean?" The crowned one was confused.

"Listen." The scarved one whispered something to the crowned one, but I couldn't make it out.

"Ohh." The crowned one turned to me. "Yep, we're your caretakers!"

"Why do I need..caretakers?" I was absolutely clueless.

"Well, you are only..ten years old!" The scarved one smiled.

"I am?" I felt older..

"Yep!" The crowned one seemed a bit nervous.

"Oh.." I supposed they were telling the truth..they had no reason not to..

"Well, it's time to go home!" The scarved one declared.

"Just..a couple more questions?"

"Sure?"

"Why am I tied to this chair?"

"Um..you have an evil twin..heh..we mistook you for him!"

"..." I wasn't sure how to take that.

"Anything else?"

"What's my name?"

"Dust, but most people just call you Dusty.."

"Really?"

"Yep! Let's get you out of those straps, then!" The scarved one stood.

"That would be for the best." The crowned one agreed.

"What are your names?" I asked as the scarved one unstrapped me.

"Oh, I'm Ink, and he's Dream!" Ink giggled. "Must've forgotten that part!"

"Oh.."

"Well, let's get you home!"

"Okay.."

I was then untied by the two. Honestly, I didn't know if I could trust them, but..they were the only ones to trust..I had no choice. Maybe they were telling the truth - there was no way I was believing the evil twin thing, though - and I had just forgotten? Maybe. In any case, I was going to follow them to what was apparently home..

I hoped they were telling the truth.

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Dust bean uh oh..

Thanks for reading my forgetting writing!

Bye!