Question: Hmm, I wonder, what will happen once you reach the max chapter limit for this book? ;-; Yeah there is still alot of chapters till then but still I kinda wanna know.Will you like make another book specifically for the shorts?Or smth else :P

Answer: I'll probably make another book :3

Also: I'm surprised nobody has found the fourth wall break in Peace Week..I'll give y'all a hint. The break is in Killer's point of view. Remember that a fourth wall break can be even as small as acknowledging the readers' existence! Good luck :3

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Nightmare. (Ooh, different?)

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Things hadn't exactly been going well. In the past week, Killer had suffered a severe concussion - he was better now, thankfully - Horror had broken his axe again, Cross had been the only one who had been lucky, I had been dealing with the tilted balance, Error had been almost constantly working, and Dust had been knocked unconscious by Ink a few days ago..he still hadn't woken up. It was undoubtedly the worst week ever, and I honestly believed that it couldn't have gotten any worse...there was only one day left, in any case. Nothing else was going to go wrong; I was sure of it. I had just woken up in my- this wasn't my room. The walls were blank..the bed didn't even have any blankets on it..where was I? I must have fallen asleep in a different room; I occasionally did that. I sighed, getting out of the bed and rubbing my eyesocket. I left the room that I had fallen asleep in, turning to walk down the hall. As I walked, I contemplated what we needed to do for the next few weeks; Horrortale's food supply was getting low once more, I needed to check Dust's magic restorer, Error had requested help with some sort of coding issue-

"Hello, Killer." I noticed that one of my sons had come up to me.

"The heck are you?" Killer hadn't used that tone when greeting me before..

"Is there really need to use that vocabulary?" 

"Listen, buddy, I don't know who ya think ya are, but ya ain't gettin' by with a 'Hello, Killer.'"

"Is this some sort of game?" I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"I think I should be askin' you that, ya overgrown octopus."

"Killer, are you feeling all right? Perhaps that concussion did more damage than I thought.."

I reached a hand to check Killer's temperature, but he quickly swiped it away.

"Don't be touchin' me!" He snapped; perhaps his communicator was malfunctioning.

"Maybe we should just calm down.." I sighed. 

"How'd ya get here?"

"Um..I live here?"

"Last I checked, this was a villain base, not an aquarium. Beat it, unless ya wanna sleep in the basement."

"Killer, are you feeling all right? Perhaps you need to take a nap.."

"All right, octo-dude." Killer pulled out a knife. "Ya asked for it."

"Killer, I don't think you're in your right mind!" 

"Never was, ya tar pit!" Killer slashed at me.

I feared that Killer was having a relapse into insanity..that wasn't good. I attempted to reason with him, but it was of no use. I decided to allow him to knock me out; that might have brought him back to his senses, or, at the very least, one of the others would have realized that Killer wasn't well. In all honesty, I expected to wake up in the living room, or even just on the floor..I had no expectation to end up in a cell in my own basement! That was how I woke, unfortunately, and it occurred to me that I might have misjudged Killer's condition..he was not going to realize that I wasn't a threat to him; I was going to have to wait for one of the others to find me, hopefully before Killer became too much of a problem. In the meantime, I needed a way out of that cell. That seemed easy at first, before I realized that Killer had put me under the influence of a magic suppressor, limiting my abilities infinitely. Well, that was just great. I couldn't even summon my appendages without some form of magic, and they had retracted earlier..that meant that the waiting game was becoming very real. I sighed, leaning against the bars of the cell. I waited for a good half hour before someone came, who I recognized as Cross; he would have been able to clear the entire matter up.

"Wh-who's this guy?" Cross didn't just say that..

"Dunno." Killer shrugged. "Found him walkin' around. Think he's a spy?"

"Th-those Star Suckers do h-have some g-gimmicks." 

"Star what?" I had no idea what they were talking about.

"De-derogatory terms f-for the Star Sanses?"

"Since when did you have those?" I didn't remember my boys ever wanting to give such terms to anyone..except for fun, of course.

"Since forever?" Killer looked at me confusedly. "So, who do ya work for?"

"I work for myself, Killer."

"Ain't seen ya 'round." 

"Haven't."

"Huh?"

"H-he's correcting you." Cross pointed out.

"I don't need to be corrected!"

"Killer, Cross, it's me!" I wondered if insanity could spread. "Nightmare?"

"Never heard the name." Killer stated. "Ya sure are weird, though."

"Don't you remember me?"

"I'd have to meet ya to remember ya, weirdo." 

"I-I don't think h-he's right in the s-skull, Killer." Cross muttered.

"Neither are we..why don't we just kill him?"

"H-he might have s-some information; let's k-keep him f-for a while."

"Aw, fine. At least tell me I can play with him.."

"You d-do you, Killer."

"Perfect."

"What do you mean by that?" I was starting to realize that my sons were not in their right minds..

"You'll see, octopus.." Killer started to walk away. "You'll see."

"I-I think he l-likes you.." Cross snickered, following after Killer. "G-good luck, octopus; wh-where'd he even get th-that name?"

That was..odd. If anything, it proved my theory that my boys were not in their right minds, and they needed help..I just couldn't help them while in a cell. A few days after that, Horror came along; he had the same condition, and it seemed as if Error had also forgotten about me..they claimed to have had no relation to the Destroyer. I wondered who could have made them forget about me; who had the power to do that, and who would have wanted to make them forget me? I didn't know for sure, but I had my suspicions leaning towards a certain artist. As the days passed, I realized that my boys had changed; Horror was focused solely on Horrortale, Cross was sarcastic, and Killer was downright murderous! His so-called "playing" involved knives and injuries; he didn't even care if he hit himself! Over the next few weeks, my boys were taking prisoners, and none of them were being treated very well; I didn't realize how much of an impact I had made on my boys' personalities..they were like entirely different people! I soon realized that they were the only ones who had forgotten about me, and it was awkward explaining to my cellmates that they had utterly lost it. Then that fateful day came..

"Let me go!" I recognized a familiar voice..

"Hold your horses, Squid!" Killer giggled.

"How are you even overpowering me?!"

"It's called strength, ya half-wit."

"I know that!"

"Then why'djya ask?"

"I..have no idea.."

"Thought so. Here, Squid, meet Octopus. You should make a cute couple."

"What?!" Ink grunted as he was cast into the same cell as me.

"Have fun!" Killer walked off.

I glared at the artist; he chuckled nervously before me.

"I know I'm not one to use such vulgar terms." I stated. "But what the hell did you do to my boys?!"

"I can explain!" Ink excused.

"Then start explaining."

"So..I um.." Ink thought for a moment. "Okay! So, there I was! Thinking of something to do! And then..I thought, 'Hey, what would the world be like without Nightmare?' Heh..turns out it's worse than before?" 

"So this is your fault."

"Heh..heh.." Ink backed away from me a bit. "Yes?"

"You have no idea how much I would like to rip you limb from limb right now."

"So I made a mistake!"

"A mistake?! You may have just doomed the entire multiverse, and you call that a mistake?!"

"I didn't know!"

"Didn't know what?"

"I didn't know that..without you, everything's a mess.."

"Thank you for realizing that a Guardian is actually a good thing. Finally!"

"In my defense, I have no defense."

"So how are you going to fix this?"

"Why do I have to fix it?!"

"It's your doing. Fix it."

"Um..I can't.."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"My code magic is magic! With my magic suppressed, I can't use it! With the entire gang out of commission.."

"You mean we're stuck here."

"Essentially, unless I can get out with my magic..and have your entire gang and Error accept their memories back.."

"Why do they have to accept them?"

"Well, erasing memories is easy, but restoring them is..difficult."

"You can do it, can't you?"

"Well, if I'm being honest, the last time I erased a large portion of someone's memories was over a century ago, and he still hasn't accepted the memories back.."

"Who?"

"..." Ink looked at me sadly. "Nobody..just forget I said anything.."

"Who are you talking about? Do I know this person?"

"...You might."

"Who?"

"..." Ink seemed like he was contemplating telling me; the others in the cell moved closer. "I met him back when I wasn't soulless. I knew his mother before she..passed away; she asked me to take care of him and his brother. What I didn't know at the time was that his brother was the definition of estranged..they barely spoke, let alone saw eachother; I didn't even meet his brother until centuries later..did I mention that they were Guardians? They were immortal."

"What were they the Guardians of?"

"Uh..something."

"Oh, yes, the Guardians of Something; I think I met them back in college."

"Very funny."

"Return to the story."

"Anyways, I became quite close to this Guardian, even going so far as to..adopt him. In his own words, I cared for him more than his own brother..we were thick as thieves, if the term fits. He..had a wish. He hated being a Guardian, stuck in his AU for eternity; he wanted to travel the multiverse. He wanted to stop being a Guardian, and we worked for centuries to fulfill his goal..but it wasn't enough. For a Guardian to quit his job requires him to give up his soul..but my friend didn't have one. So we made a deal; instead, I would give up my soul to quit my job, and I would spend the rest of eternity with him. But he knew that a soulless being wouldn't be able to feel emotions, and he begged me to wait one year."

"What did he do?" I was curious.

"He gave me..these." Ink held up a vial. "He handcrafted them, all from his own magic. They allow me to feel, and they even refill themselves! He really thought of everything. Error was made as my replacement..he has my old soul, if you haven't figured it out by now. It was weird at first, not being able to feel anything but the emotions provided by these vials - I haven't felt complex emotions such as adoration since then - but I slowly got accustomed to it. Of course, I had to train Error first..it took seven years. Seven years of constant training..seven years of exile from the rest of the world..I devoted everything to training Error as quickly and well as I could, and it took seven years..seven years to throw my life into a downward spiral that has never ceased since then."

"...What happened?"

"My friend was abused for being the Guardian of something not exactly pleasant..he could sense that even his brother didn't fully like him, if only because they never spent time together. I was the one who kept him going, apparently; when I left, he had no one to protect him from his abusers, and they knew that. From what I've managed to gather, he lasted six years, eleven months, and twenty-nine days..two days can really make a difference. He broke. They had pushed him too far, and he broke. When I returned, his AU was a wreck..I could still smell the smoke, and the ground was littered with dust..I found him in the spot we always used to sit at when he just needed a break; Outertale was always his favorite. I didn't recognize him, at first, but he kept calling me 'Uncle Ink,' and I remembered him. I was searching through his codes, trying to find a way to reverse what he had done..but my hand slipped; I had erased every memory he ever had of me, and he lost his mind. I was able to help him regain his sanity through code, albeit against his will, but memories require permission, and I never.." Ink sighed. "I never managed to get it."

"..You must have been close."

"He was the one person whom I could say I truly loved..he was the best honorary nephew in the world, and he's gone.."

"Is that why you act..the way you do?"

"Surprisingly, no..I tried to get him back for decades..until a voice came and told me to stop. The fool I was actually listened, and now I can't ever get him back..unless he accepts his memories.."

"What kind of voices do you hear?"

"The kind that give me the ideas such as erasing you from the memories of everyone you care about, obviously!"

"I sense that you don't necessarily like this voice of yours."

"Doesn't matter." Ink looked down. "At least it'll actually stay, unlike..everything else.."

"Well, in any case, maybe don't listen to it as much, and perhaps we wouldn't have to suffer for your mistakes?"

"These sort of things usually end up happily, at least; we've got a good chance of everything going back to normal if someone gets us out of here."

"Yes..so how hard did you hit Dust?"

"I didn't know my freedom was going to rest on his shoulders at the time!"

"I can't believe you, sometimes." 

Ink chuckled at that.

"What?" I didn't understand.

"You just..remind me of him.." Ink was displaying real emotions without a heavy influence from his vials..that was nearly unheard of.

"You must have cared deeply for him."

"I did..I thought I had gotten over it, but I now know that I haven't..and it hurts..so bad.."

"Ink, if you want to talk about it, nobody's stopping you."

"I don't know if I should.."

"Go ahead; we might be here for a few weeks, after all."

"...He was a Guardian.."

"You've already said that. What was he the Guardian of?"

"Negativity."

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Night bean and Ink bean talk!

When you have thirty chapters of story for a character but the story gets lost so you decide to use an exposition short 'cause you aren't writing all of that again-

Thanks for reading my exposing writing!

Bye!