Question: Are you ever going to continue that story with us commenting and basically roleplaying with the gang ? Or no? It's okay if not , it probably will be hard handling other things as well

Answer: Maybe..? I might continue that, but with fewer characters; having ten million different variants of beings isn't healthy for my sanity. If I do, it'll like have a few changes, such as the readers picking the characters they want to interact with. Hm..ya know what? If three people say they want it here, I'll revive it. If not, welp, it was a good idea. 

Also just 'cause I need help, I want a word limit, I've been writing ATE oneshots for literal days now and I have no idea where to stop I'm over 25,000 words somebody please give me a stopping point- Do I stop at 30,000? 40,000? I dunno anymoreeee! Ideas just keep flowingggggggg! 

And this is the last chance to suggest ATE shorts you wanna see *sad noises 'cause nobody has suggested anything yet*

~~~~~

Nightmare's gang was doing amazing! Nightmare had been feeling stronger than he had in a long time, and the balance seemed fine! We hadn't had to go out in an entire month! The last time we went out, we might have overdone it..burning a forest down was an accident, but it caused a lot of negativity..it had actually brought us out of a struggling time; we were keeping that event for emergencies. In any case, we had had a lot of time to ourselves to do whatever we wanted! We were all engaging in activities, and I had managed to take a ton of amzing photographs in different universes, some of which were going in my "Best Shots" folder; yes, I had that..it wasn't weird. I couldn't take pictures all the time, of course, and I was currently in the library, listening to one of Nightmare's stories; he always had some of the best tales to tell - apart from Papyrus's, of course, since he is the best. I had listened for about an hour when Nightmare suddenly stopped in the middle of a good part. At first, I thought he was adding drama - he did that sometimes - but I soon realized that drama didn't take that long.

"Are you okay, Dad?" I inquired.

"..The balance is off.." He said, quieter than usual.

"Oh..should we go out?"

"Not..that off.."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not tipped to the positive side.." He gave me a look of unease. "It's tipped to the negative."

"Oh.." I frowned. "Is it something we can wait out?"

"Dust, you know that once the balance tips, it'll just tip itself further; we need to take action.."

"But..we're the bad guys.."

"Indeed..that makes this more difficult than it should be.."

"Should I get the others?"

"Yes, please."

"I'm on it!"

I ran over to the door, ringing the bells in a formation to call everyone to the library instead of the living room; before long, the entire family was here - Error and Horror must have been visiting today. When everyone was present, Nightmare began to speak.

"Boys, Error." He addressed. "We are known as Nightmare's gang, a group of criminals..we are responsible for keeping the Balance of Emotions by spreading negativity.."

"We know?" Horror was confused.

"Today, something I didn't foresee occurred.." He sighed. "The balance has shifted once again, but it has shifted towards the negative side; as such, we cannot restore the balance by spreading negativity, and if we do nothing, it will ruin itself."

"So you need a way to spread positivity.." Error understood.

"Indeed, but how is a group of criminals supposed to spread joy?"

"National Knife Day!" Killer suggested. "Give everyone a free knife!"

"Give everyone a free way to stab you!" Error clapped. 

"National Rubber Knife Day!" Killer corrected.

"I don't think that would work." Nightmare shook his skull.

"Party?" Horror input. "Lotta people like 'em."

"I don't think anyone would come if we were hosting it."

"..." Error looked like he hated the idea he came up with. "Free Chocolate Day?"

"Error, I would never do that to you or Cross." Nightmare's response made both of them happy.

"What about Free Balloon Day?" Killer spoke again.

"I don't know how to make balloons.." 

"How about a fake peace treaty until the balance goes back to normal?" I shrugged.

"I don't think we'd get away with that, and if we break it too soon, we could be in a worse situation.."

"I h-have an idea.." Cross looked like he had a plan.

"What's your idea, Cross?"

"Hear m-me out on th-this, okay?"

~~~~~

Nightmare, an hour later.

Location: monthly multiversal meeting.

~~~~~

"And while we keep in mind the deadly nature of cupcakes, we must always remember that they have feelings, too, but-" Ink was speaking words that I honestly didn't want context to as I opened the door to a large meeting room. "Nightmare, what are you doing here?!"

"I didn't expect such a warm welcome.." I glaced at the hundreds of unique blasters that were suddenly facing me. "Actually, I'm here to give you a letter."

"A letter on why you haven't been attacking AUs in the past month? Are you surrendering?"

"No, but I believe that you may find interest in this; of course, if you don't.."

"Give me the letter, and don't try anything, or you'll be dead where you stand."

"I see that." 

I probably shouldn't have walked in on a full-blown meeting, but Cross wanted witnesses, and this was the best time to get those. I slowly treaded over to Ink's seat at the head of the table, avoiding eye contact with my brother, who sat next to him. When I reached the artist, I handed him the letter that my boys had written up, hoping that Cross's plan would work out; it was the best plan for us to spread positivity without raising suspicion. Ink took the letter cautiously, opening it and reading the paper, but I stopped him before he got too far.

"Read it." I ordered.

"I am reading it." Ink said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Out loud." I added.

"Fine." Ink prepared to recite the words as written. "Dear people from the other side - why is this written in crayon?!"

"Shut up about the crayon and read the thing before I take it back." If Cross wanted to write in crayon, that was his business.

"Whatever. Dear people from the other side, we have decided to take a break from our usual antics and offer you a part in a game of our choice. This game will have no winners, nor will it involve death - unless you want it to - as it is only for fun. We call this game 'Opposite Day.' As you may have guessed, this involves the protectors and ourselves. For one day only, we invite the protectors of the multiverse - Ink, Dream, and the swap brothers - to become the villains of the story, while we will don the titles of heroes. This will last for twenty-four hours. If you accept, Nightmare - why is there a poorly erased 'D' here? - will give you the further terms. If you decline, we'll literally come to your houses and watch you as you sleep. We hope you make the right decision. Signed, Nightmare's gang. P.S., we aren't joking about the sleep thing - we know where all of you live, and Error can find Ink's house if he wants to."

There was silence for a moment.

"I think we should accept!" Someone at the table didn't want to be watched at night - good, since I didn't want to watch him.

"Yep!" Another judge was smart enough to see the right answer.

"We accept.." Ink didn't like that idea one bit. "What are the terms?"

"Congratulations on making the right decision." I smirked. "Your terms are simple: be the villains."

"But we're good!" Dream argued. "We don't know how to be bad!"

"Better figure it out, because if you don't attack at least two of your precious AUs, we're counting it as a forfeit; we'll get your address."

"What about you?" Ink questioned. 

"We'll do your job for the day. We'll run around the places you do or do not attack and make people.." I pretended to gag; if I was supposed to be a soulless monster, I should have acted like one. "Happy.."

"How do we know this isn't a trick to make everyone lose trust in us?" The Underswap Papyrus asked.

"While that would be an interesting show, you shouldn't forget that all of these judges are present for this offer." I gestured to the crowd. "As such, you're limited to attacking their AUs; good luck, and you can't ask for permission - that would be cheating."

"What about Error?" The Underswap Sans wondered.

"He's a hero for a day, as well; Ink, we couldn't think of an excuse to get you to destroy an AU, even though you do possess that power..we're going easy on you, lucky artist."

"So it's either be evil or be stalked.." Ink weighed his options. "I think I'd rather be evil.."

"Yeah..being stalked sounds scary.." Dream sighed. "All right, brother; we will abide by your terms."

"Wonderful." I grinned, turning to the judges. "One last thing..as the 'heroes,' we don't want to be attacked by the ones we are 'protecting.' If a civilian does decide to attack us, we will take the liberty of writing their name in a little book, and when this game ends, we'll have something special in store for the brave souls..is that understood?"

The judges nodded; that was good.

I turned back to the players. "In that case, the timer starts at noon tomorrow; good luck with your attacks!"

Without another word, I fell through a portal back home.

~~~~~

Back to Dust. 

~~~~~

Nightmare had left to give our adversaries the proposal about ten minutes ago; we hoped he was okay.

"D-do you think th-they'll go for th-the idea?" Cross was hopeful.

"How could they resist, with the alternative?" Error chuckled.

"Gonna be mighty weird." Horror commented.

"Yeah, but we'll be able to do our job without anyone askin' questions." Killer pointed out.

"True." 

At that point, Nightmare fell out of a portal with a smile; we gathered around him to hear the response, hoping that they didn't decline..we really didn't want to watch people sleep..but we would, of course.

"D-did they accept?" Cross questioned first. 

"They were too afraid of being watched." Nightmare let out a small laugh. "Boys, we're being heroes tomorrow; get ready for one weird day."

"Yes, Dad!" We saluted happily, rushing out of the library to get some gear ready for tomorrow. 

At first, we thought about being like comic book superheroes, but we ultimately decided to just act like heroes. We decided to use specialized weapons for our limited positivity run, since it was special. Killer chose a few knives that had pictures which represented good things on them, Horror put a bow on his axe, Cross drew some hearts and stars on the blade of his knife, and I copied Killer's choice, picking daggers and knives that represented good things; Error and Nightmare didn't really use physical weapons, which limited their specialization. As for appearances, we decided to go with a dress code - we even got past Nightmare's goop. Error designed and created the outfits, giving each of us an outfit that looked like it had been drowned in glitter of our signature colors, with each jacket having the same black - or white, if the outfits were too dark - logo on the back, which said, "The Night Knights." Honestly, it was a cool name. As for extra accessories, Killer decided to use a katana sheathe that he had recently been gifted, Error wore his glasses, and Nightmare wore some sort of crown - it looked like it was made of real gold! - with a purple crescent moon emblem on the front.

"Error, you're amazing." Nightmare couldn't believe that Error had made six outfits in three hours.

"Not really." Error shook his skull, straightening his glasses.

"How long have ya had that?" Killer wanted to touch the crown; Nightmare handed it to him with a slight chuckle.

"I've had it just about as long as Dream has had his." He replied.

"How'd ya get it?" Killer fingered the moon symbol.

"They were gifts from our mother.." Nightmare sighed at the thought of his mother; we always liked to hear stories about our adopted grandmother, though.

"Oh.." Killer placed the crown back on Nightmare's skull, where it was straightened by a tentacle. "Why don't ya wear it?"

"It..brings back memories..Dream probably doesn't even know that I kept it all this time.."

"Are ya gonna wear it tomorrow?"

"Yes, I think I will. If we're going to be heroes, I might as well wear my crown as Dream wears his; it would be irony, at the very least."

"Think he'll take his off?"

"I doubt it." Nightmare looked at the time. "Now, if you boys want to have enough energy to be heroes tomorrow, you had better get some rest; go to sleep."

"Okay, Dad!" We saluted, running off to bed.

We had no idea what was awaiting us.

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Bean gang write crayon letter. 

Thanks for reading my lettered writing!

Bye!