Uhhh, hi. If any of y'all have read ATE - yeah, that - and happened to like it..I am writing a heck ton of oneshots for it. (I have already got over 12,000 words, and I'm not stopping anytime soon). If you guys would like to see something ATE related, you can make a request here. This will stay here until I upload said oneshots. No guarantees on length, but anything goes except ships and things I know nothing about (like why the chicken crossed the road [I have actually seen a chicken cross the road and I have no idea why he did it- anyways-]). Like seriously. If ya guys want I will literally turn Dust into a heckin' bunny (hehe, Dust bunny). So yeah. Basically anything in anyone's PoV, and you will be credited for your idea(s) unless you want to remain anonymous (you will be credited by default if you say nothing about it). With that said, I'd like to hear you guys' ideas and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

And enjoy this half-a-day-early chapter because I might have plans tomorrow and I don't wanna forget yayyyyy!

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It wasn't good. Nightmare's gang had been opposed at every junction, and it was finally getting to be too much. Horror and Cross had been bedridden due to injuries, Paps and Chara had discovered that a ghost's capabilities did not include keeping a balance alone, Killer had needed a cast on his left arm for the past month, I had been running on pure determination for two months, Error hadn't been able to destroy corruption as efficiently due to increased opposition, and Nightmare..Nightmare had been ill - severely ill. It had only been Killer and I on our runs, sometimes with Error, sometimes without. The protectors knew that we were cracking under the pressure, but they wouldn't let up. The positivity in the multiverse had even reached our own negative home; everyone's emotions had been fluctuating except mine, since my code was broken, and those of the ghosts, who wouldn't have been affected due to their different emotional system. I was currently checking Nightmare's condition in the living room; as the least affected, Killer and I looked after the sick and injured. Nightmare honestly hadn't looked worse in the time that I had known him than he did now; he had even retracted his tentacles from the pressure.

"D-Dust.." His voice was so weak..

"I'm here, Dad." I tried to be negative in his presence; I was the only one who could be near him safely, since the others were being too affected by the positivity. "I'm here."

"B-balance.."

"Is it bad again?" I asked, receiving a strained nod. "Dad, please..we need to do something..can't we tell someone?"

"T-too..d-danger.."

I sighed. "I understand, Dad.."

"D-Dust?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"I-if.."

"Dad, don't use that word.." 

"M-must.."

"Dad, please.." I felt tears swarming to my eyesockets.

"I-if..d-die.." Nightmare's words were so dark..I didn't want to hear them.. "T-take..c-care..D-Dream.."

"Dad, that's not going to happen! You're gonna be fine! Everyone's going to be fine! This will pass!"

"N-no..l-lies.."

"...How are we going to keep the balance without you?"

"M-my..job..n-not.." Nightmare whimpered from the pain. "Y-y-yours.."

"Dad, you need to rest." I pulled a blanket up onto him. "Killer and I are going to go out now, okay? We're going to make the pain less, okay?"

"O-okay.." Nightmare closed his eyesocket, hopefully finding solace in his sleep.

I turned on my communicator.

"Killer, it's time again." I stated.

"Gotcha, Dusty." Killer replied. "Which AU?"

"Can you think of a happy one?"

"Dancetale's pretty happy."

"Then we're going there."

"Seeya there, Dusty."

"Seeya."

I opened a portal to the aforementioned universe, closing it quickly; we didn't want any of the positivity to seep into the living room. Soon after, Killer appeared; his smile hadn't left his face for weeks..he couldn't help it. After readying our weapons, we began our attack on the town. We had been forced to worsen our methods in order to cause more chaos, since we needed to cause as much as possible; instead of simply burning a house down, we now forced the owners of said house to watch it burn. That doubled the amount of negativity produced, which doubled efficiency; it was tripled if we inflicted harm on them while they watched their house burn down. Before long, our adversaries arrived - Dream actually bothered to show his face this time - to stop us in our work. Ink had a devious grin as he stepped up to face us.

"Don't you two know when to quit?" He had a happy tone in his voice. "This is the fifth time today!"

"Why can't you just leave us alone?!" I was sick of dealing with them; they were inadvertantly - except Ink - killing the only person I had ever been able to see as a true dad..

"You're committing crimes, duh!"

"What you're doing is worse!"

"There's no way to stop it, now!" Ink gave a smirk. 

"Ink, what are you talking about?" Dream had no clue; the swap brothers were in much the same predicament.

"They may or may not have found out about my chocolate addiction." Ink chuckled.

"Ink, we really need to get you off that stuff."

"Never!" Ink paused. "Huh..feeling kinda happy, eh?"

Killer and I heard no more of the conversation; it didn't matter if we did or not. The positivity felt too overpowering..we needed to get home immediately! When we reached the house, the negative aura that had covered it for so long was..dissipating. We ran to the living room, finding Error nearly hyperventilating over Nightmare, who was whimpering constantly. 

"Is he okay?!" I knew the answer..I didn't want to believe it.

"The positivity is too much!" Error looked as if he had been searching through Nightmare's code since we had left. "There's nothing I can do!"

"Dad, please don't leave us!" I clutched to my father figure in desperation; he wasn't moving..

"I-I.." His voice was barely audible. "L-love.." His form was changing. "Y-you..."

"N-no..no! No, no, no, no, no.." I whimpered.

I felt tears falling as the figure on the couch lost his form..it was over.

"..We love you too, Dad.." I closed my eyesockets and pulled a pristine jar out of my pocket; I had dreaded this day.

I didn't open my eyesockets until I heard his soul shatter; that was it. I didn't allow myself to mourn yet; I didn't deserve that comfort. With tears crawling down my skull, I gathered the substance that was once my dad into the container and held it as close as I could; I knew what was going to happen next. Ghosts, uncoded beings, and soulless beings were about to watch the world turn into their worst nightmares as everyone else lost their minds. First, it would seem peaceful; everyone was happy all the time, right? That was great! Until part two. That was when people realized that they no longer had a conscience. No conscience, no care. Murders, thefts, and overall crime would skyrocket; nobody cared as long as they were happy, right? There might have been some heroes, but the allure of having no conscience would have been too much to resist for most. Third, those who weren't affected would have either died or been forced to flee to remote universes to escape the eventual destruction of everything; with no conscience and no penalty for crime, people would turn on eachother and destroy their homes quicker than they knew it. All they would have wanted was to be happy.

"Heya, Dusty!" Killer spoke. "Wanna play a game?"

"Killer, I've got a better idea." I was glad that Nightmare had made an emergency plan for this situation. 

"What is it?"

"Let's play 'Bring Dust the Extra Emotion Comms.'"

"Oh, boy! I'm gonna win that!"

Killer was off, and he returned within a few seconds with a box that we had hoped would have never needed to be used: Nightmare's emergency plan. If he ever died, we were to give one communicator to each person we cared about that would have been affected by the lack of negative emotions, either until a new Guardian arose..or forever. The communicators were infused with some of his most powerful magic, and they would never have stopped working - except when they were broken, of course. He had made twenty, but we didn't have twenty people that we cared about, if we were being honest; the rest were just backups. As soon as Killer gave me the box, I took off his old communicator and switched it for the emergency version before doing the same with Error; although Killer's old one helped a little, it wasn't enough to keep his emotions stable for this. Both of them broke down crying when the communicators took effect; they worked. Within the hour, the remaining members of Nightmare's gang were in a mourning state; I allowed myself to join this. I didn't know how long we stayed like that..it must have been days. When we couldn't cry anymore, we spoke.

"How long do ya think it'll take?" Killer knew the destined results of a balance tip just as well as the rest of us did.

"Well, we've been inside for three days.." Error had been keeping track. "Maybe a few months?"

"How much food do we have?" I asked. "When everything goes down the drain, it might not be so easy to get.."

"We're not going to let it get that far."

"Error, we must plan for a worst-case scenario; we'd be fools not to."

Error sighed. "You're right. Horror, do you have anyone you want to save?"

"Jus' m' bro." Horror answered. 

"Get him, then you're on food-gathering duty. Get anything edible with magic levels; taste doesn't matter."

"Got i.'" Horror nodded. "Stayin' here?"

"Yes, we're staying here.."

"Right." Horror left through a portal with an extra communicator.

"Wh-what if we're c-compromised?" Cross questioned.

"Then we'll find a way to keep everyone in the Anti-Void safely." Error replied. "I can cut off anyone from entering except you-know-who, and I'm sure we can bypass the insanity-inducing atmosphere."

"Do we spread his dust?" I held the jar close.

"...Not yet. You were working on revitalizing dust, right?"

"It's only in the beginning stages, but..yes."

"You can take your time, but someday..Nightmare will walk again."

"Right."

"What about..them?" Killer didn't want to speak the names of those who had helped murder our dad.

"..What about them?"

"He wanted us to watch over Dream.." I responded.

"He.." Error looked down. "I guess we should respect his last wishes..Dust, you're going to help me get Dream boy; Killer, Cross, there are a few important people in the multiverse that we're going to have to save if any of us want to survive this." Error handed Killer and Cross a list. "Make sure everyone on that list gets a communicator and passage here; once that's done, we're not saving anyone else."

"Got it." Killer nodded.

"Wh-what do we do i-if they resist?" Cross wondered.

"In that case, knock them out and give them a magic suppressor; we can't go without them."

"A-all right."

Killer and Cross left as well, leaving me and Error alone; Paps and Chara had been mourning in their own ways, and they weren't finished yet.

"How do we get Dream?" I inquired.

"Well, we don't know if he's going to be affected by this or not.." Error pulled out another communicator. "But it's better to stay on the safe side."

"So we rush in and kidnap him?"

"Unless you have any better ideas."

"Rushing it is, then; think we can handle it if they start talking about him?"

"Yeah..let's just try not to get hung up on it; he'll be back someday, anyway."

"You're putting a lot of faith in my abilities.."

"It's one of the only things keeping me grounded."

"I understand..where to?"

"Underswap: it's the most likely location if he's been affected."

"Lead the way."

Error nodded and opened a portal to the well-known universe of Underswap, where we almost immediately caught sight of our target..he was smiling happily; we didn't know if that was good or bad. Dream was talking to the swap brothers about something. We knew that if we approached the group, anyone that had been affected wouldn't have cared, since there was no anger that could have been directed at us. Upon our coming into sight, the swap brothers merely looked at us with smiles, while Dream gave a look of surprise; he obviously hadn't been affected, which was good. So we grabbed him. Quickly, and without hesitation, we snatched the Guardian of Positivity and chucked him into a portal before waving goodbye to the all-too-happy swap brothers; they couldn't have cared if they had wanted to..it was creepy. Once we had followed the positive guardian into the portal, we slapped a magic supressor onto him and set him on a couch in the living room; he was..less than happy.

"What are you doing?!" Dream struggled as Error tied him up in his strings.

"Keeping you safe." I replied, shrugging.

"How is kidnapping me keeping me safe?!"

"When part two starts, you're going to thank us."

"Part two of what?"

"I could go into detail, but for time's sake, let's just call it the apocalypse."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed it."

"Noticed what?"

"There is no way you're that dense..haven't you felt the lack of negativity?"

"I hadn't really paid attention to it, but..I felt something..where's Nightmare?"

"..." I had to plan this properly. "Do you usually forget stuff that happens before you pass out?"

"Um..actually, I have a pretty good memory!"

"If someone tells you something shocking, do you usually pass out?"

"Not unless it's life or death."

"Hm. Well, I'm not going to risk explaining everything and then having you forget it."

"Are you trying to make me pass out?"

"Actually, this would be better if you stayed awake, but if you feel the need, please, take your time."

"Can you just tell me where my brother is?"

"..." I placed a pillow at the end of the couch Dream sat on. "Dream..Nightmare has fallen down."

"F-fallen down? N-no, that can't be right!"

"..He's dead, Dream."

As expected, Dream passed out, and he had the decency to land on the pillow perfectly. After that, Killer and Cross began to bring back their "captives": Classic Sans, his brother, and the..Chara from Undertale? I decided not to question it; if Error believed that the child was important, I would accept his judgment. The two skeleton brothers were promptly tied up in Error's strings as well, but the child sat down..willingly? I wasn't going to question that, either. 

"What do you want with us?!" Classic Sans struggled, obviously not having realized his situation.

"That's a weird way of sayin' 'Thanks.'" Killer scoffed.

"Indeed, it is." The child glared at Classic Sans. "Thank you, mister Killer and mister Cross!"

"Now that is a thank ya." Killer was pleased.

"Sans, why are surrounded in..yous?" Classic Sans's brother had never been permitted to remember the resets.

"I thought he was exempt from multiversal matters!" Classic Sans was very angry.

"There was no other way." Error stated. "It was either save him with you..or let him die..and if he dies, every Papyrus dies."

"Outside of Undertale! And where are we now?!"

"We had no choice. If he stays in Undertale, he will be killed, and if there is a glitch in the code, he will likely never come back."

"There are no glitches in Undertale! Every known-" Classic Sans was cut off.

"They're planning on quitting." Error interrupted. "And when they do, Undertale will no longer be safe."

"Wh-what?!"

"You are right: certain beings created to manipulate code have been protecting Undertale for centuries, but they were never going to last forever. Their time is coming, and you and your brother - including different variations thereof - have the most impact on multiversal affairs; if you were to become glitched, it would spell disaster for everyone."

"Why are you trying to save us?"

"Wait until Dream wakes up for that talk; we're only going over it once."

"What about the kid, then?"

"I would kinda be shirking from my duties if I didn't save a fellow Guardian.."

"Um..what?"

"Don't worry, I've got this down!" The child giggled. "You know me as Chara, the weird demon kid. My full name, including title, is Chara, Guardian of Determination, refined and cultured demon kid."

"I am terribly confused.." Classic Sans's brother was terribly confused.

"I think I'm just gonna..take a nap.." Classic Sans didn't want to deal with this.

"Wonderful timing, Sans..just wonderful."

"I assume you know the situation?" Error looked to the apparent Guardian.

"Yeah, I just couldn't do anything about it, since I couldn't find the power to actually care." The Guardian excused. "And..my condolences for the late Guardian of Negativity..it is unfortunate that this has happened."

"Thanks.."

It took about an hour before Dream woke up, and it took another three hours to get him to calm down enough to talk to him; he was honestly soulbroken over his brother..we knew the feeling. Once he had calmed down, we decided to begin.

"Now for the reason you're here." Error was going to lead this presentation. "Since Nightmare is no longer capable of preserving the existence of negative emotions, we're about to get into a very uncomfortable situation.."

"What do you mean preserve?" Dream didn't know.

Error sighed. "Did you really think those attacks were for fun? Those attacks were the only thing keeping this balance of emotions stable, but when you and your friends started fighting back too much, the balance began to tip, and everyone began to be happier. Since that point, the balance has been completely offset, and negative emotions have ceased to exist...he couldn't survive the positivity, just as you wouldn't survive if the balance was tipped to the negative side."

"So this is my fault.." Dream buried his face in his hands.

"Wait, you said negative emotions don't exist?" Classic Sans asked. "Then how is Dream crying? Heck, how am I feeling angry?"

"Dream isn't affected by these balance changes; he was created with a full set of emotions, and it doesn't matter what state the balance or he himself is in." Error explained. "As for you, that watch you're wearing stabilizes your emotional patterns; Nightmare created them for emergencies..such as this one. As long as you keep that on your person, you will be able to feel whatever emotion you can think of."

"Then everyone else is just..happy?"

"Essentially. Every positive emotion in the multiverse has been magnified infinitely in every soul affected."

"Remind me why that's bad? Who wants to be sad?"

"Ask yourself what emotion we must feel in order to have law and order."

"...Is justice an emotion?"

"That's a difficult line to draw, but let's just say you're right for this demonstration. Okay, why do we have justice?"

"Because we don't want people to be hurt?"

"Sure. Why don't we?"

"Because we care?"

"Indeed. Now, that resides in the realm of positive emotions, but what about the other side of the spectrum? If you kill someone, what do you feel?"

"Depends on who it is." Classic Sans hummed in remembrance of genocide routes.

"...That was a bad question. Okay, what do you feel if you kill someone you care about, say, the lady behind the door?"

"I guess I'd feel pretty bad.."

"Guilt. You would feel guilt. You would be plagued by your conscience."

"...And how does that apply now?"

"Oh, there are no consciences anymore. Nobody can feel guilt anymore, since guilt is a negative emotion. You kill that lady, you might just laugh it off. Now, back to positive emotions. Why do you care? Why would you protect, say, your brother?"

"Because..I don't want anything bad to happen to him?"

"Right. But..in order to think of bad things happening, you would require negative emotions; if you think of your brother being killed, you must feel negative emotions, or you will not be able to conjure the thought, because you wouldn't understand it. If you see everything in a positive light, you won't care about your brother's death, and you won't even care about yourself. When someone wants to kill your brother, you won't do a thing to stop them, because you won't care."

"...So the emotions are related?"

"Precisely. Without one, the other is just a path to trouble."

"What if it tipped the other way?"

"Most likely..everyone would live in fear of everyone and everything..or despise everything; actually, if positivity was erased, the outcome would be difficult to predict, since negative emotions are a bit more varied than positive ones."

"Then..how do we fix it?"

"...I have no idea."

~~~chapter end woot~~~

Night bean die and oofers.

Thanks for reading my dreading writing!

Bye!