Chapter 24: Control.
"You broke the truce, Ink. I thought you knew better than that." Error held a soul of Integrity by the strings in his hands before lazily tossing it onto the web of strings "But apparently, I was wrong."
The skeleton sighed as he looked at the dissipating Grimm around him before switching his sight to a glowing AU.
"Remnanttale, huh? You always pay me visits." The dark skeleton smirked dangerously "Now it's only fitting that I pay you one."
Patch
Everyone in the continent could feel the shockwave of the brother's battle. With every miss attack, the ground shook harder. People of Patch looked to the sky in awe and worry as the Light in the sky clashed with the Darkness.
In the shadow-covered sky, two brothers engaged in combat. Their movement can only be described as blurs as the continent shook under their battle. Truly, it was the clash of gods.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE!" Nightmare yelled.
"Oh, I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE BECAUSE I DON'T WANNA?" Dream yelled back.
Very childish gods.
From the rubble, Ink crawled out. He looked to the sky as the battle went on. The artist sighed as she flicked Broomy to the ground and an Ink Blaster came out of the ground soon after.
"Hey, can you use 'they' so that the readers don't get confused. I mean, it's not like I change my gender continuously, I just don't have one."
Of course.
The artist jumped on the blaster and launched themself to the sky, into the fray. The blaster shot at Nightmare, but he simply ducked back to avoid the shot.
The Avatar of Darkness stabbed his pointy tendrils through the incoming blaster while catching a Positivity spear with his right hand. The momentum sent Ink flying upwards, they quickly landed on a sheet of ink they created and flew over Nightmare like riding a magic carpet.
Ink flicked some ink to the sky and the golden droplets of ink immediately became 'Justice' spikes and fell down. Nightmare flew forward and weaved around them before blocking a downward swing by Dream's twin sword with his right arm.
Razor-sharp talons came out of Nightmare's right hand before he slashed right, only for Dream to jump back. The Avatar of Darkness had to summon a dome of Negativity on his head to stop getting hit by Positivity. He noticed that his brother was not at all affected by the spikes.
Who was he kidding? His brother is the protector of Positivity, after all. Force or weapons of creation can't hurt him.
"How long are you gonna hide behind Ink's skirt? More importantly, how much longer can they protect you?" Nightmare taunted.
"Excuse you! This is my jacket!" The artist retorted.
"Long enough to do this." Dream replied.
From the ground, chains of pure light bursted out and held Nightmare down. He tried to get out of the binding chains, managing to break a few, but a large anvil fell from the sky and onto Nightmare's back and held him still in the ground, almost crushing him.
"Don't just forget about me. Were it not for your powers, you'd be crushed by the Weight of that mistake. Get it!? It would WEIGH on your soul! *WHEEZE*." Ink joked.
Nightmare growled.
"Brother,... Enough of this madness!" Dream pleaded "Let us go home."
"Home? Home!? You mean under the tree? And do what!? Lie around? Sleep until I'm bored!? What is even there to do!? What is even left of our home?" Nightmare asked.
"Who caused that? WHO CAUSED THAT!?" Dream snapped.
"I accepted my powers, the very same way you did. You may be venerated for what you are, but at least this bad apple knew of his potential and position." The Avatar of Darkness taunted.
"You're mad. You're absolutely insane." The God of Positivity breathed out.
"Don't be so Grimm, brother." The God of Negativity smirked.
Giant black spikes came out of the earth, some even stabbed straight through his body, and lifted the giant anvil off of him. God of Negativity then turned into a swarm of avian Grimm and flooded Dream.
"Not again!" The God of Positivity cried out.
Ink spun his brush and was about to intervene. But before they could do anything, red strings came out of a portal and grabbed them by the arms, pulling them into a portal soon after.
The artistic monster flopped to the ground with a thud and groaned in pain. Looking up, they saw themself being in a destroyed city with Error looking down on them.
"Ya know, if you wanna go at it, you can just ask." Ink stated.
"What!?" Ink's significant bother blushed blue.
"I meant fight!" The artist clarified.
"Oh,..." The puppeteer sighed "Do you know why I brought you here?"
"Oh yeah,... Because I broke your truce and you wanna teach me a lesson?" Ink said nonchalantly.
"Bingo." Error replied.
"So, how are we gonna do this?" Ink taunted "You gonna come at me? Should I come at you? Should we come together? Ooh, at the same time?"
The destroyer remained silent, unresponsive to the blatant sex joke. His lack of response indicated how serious he took the battle. Error did not even spare a single angered response.
Just to show how seriously he took his thankless job.
"Ooh, you'll come. THEY ALWAYS COME!" Ink yelled as they engaged in battle.
The artist whipped their paintbrush to their right and the ink drops turned into spikes, but all were caught in a cobweb made of blue strings. Error tossed the web over his head without a care in the world before tearing more blue strings from his eyes.
Ink took out three smaller brushes in their left hand and was about to flick paint at Error, only for their left arm to be tied by the destroyer's strings. The puppeteer then cut said arm into pieces with his tiny, sharp strings.
"GAHHH! Gotta HAND it to you! You got better since we last met." The artist joked.
Not taking any more of their shit, the destroyer used his strings to catch the artistic nuisance's legs and tossed them straight into the building behind him. Ink groaned and was getting up when Error blasters appeared behind them.
The artist used their blood as ink and immediately created a safety bubble to protect themself from getting harmed. Ink dispersed the bubble and landed on,... The puppeteer's cobweb, and a giant error blaster appeared upon them.
"For someone whose purpose of existence is to destroy, you are quite creative." The protector of AUs commented before being blasted to oblivion.
The blast shattered the roads and broke down a couple of buildings. Error walked towards the destroyed building to inspect, only to find a puddle of red ink.
"You do realize monsters don't bleed, right? I am not falling for that trap. So whatever jokes you are Bubbling up in that pit, might as well spill it." The destroyer stated.
"EVER HEARD OF UPDOG!?" The voice came from the puddle of ink.
Emerged from the puddle, a crimson lindworm. The creature was about to chomp on Error, but it was cut in half vertically by one of the destroyer strings before the two halves got pinned to the ground by dozens of bones.
"Yes, I heard it got Ligma." The puppeteer smirked.
The creature's body splattered on the ground, being reduced to nothing more than a puddle of ink. Error stared at the puddle, waiting for the protector of AUs to emerge from it and attack him.
From the splattered ink behind the puppeteer, Ink rose and created a grenade with a catholic cross as a pin. In other words, the Holy Hand Grenade. They grabbed it with their left hand and cocked their hand back to throw it while muttering.
"You anti'd my joke. Prepare to Geeeeeeeeeeet-"
*BOOM*
"ACK-!" The artist yelled in surprise more than pain.
The grenade exploded and blew off the protector of AU's hand thanks to the strings that cut it in half.
"-dunked on." Error finished as he turned around, facing his arch nemesis "Of all the weapons in your expansive arsonal, you decided to use the Holy Hand Grenade for comedic effects?"
"OK! THIS IS FILTHY RICH COMING FROM ME, BUT YOUR POWER IS JUST RIDICULOUS!" Ink yelled in anger.
"Wire you angry? Is it because your hands are tied?" The puppeteer jest.
"Oh,... It's on, now!" The artist growled.
The protector of AUs swept the paintbrush around them and they were swallowed whole by their own dragon. The dragon breathed flame upon the destroyer, but he already summoned his own blaster to block the heat.
Error created a cobweb and sent it at the incoming dragon. Ink had crushed the orange vial inside the dragon before it was cut to pieces by the puppeteer's strings, so they continued flying forward unharmed.
The protector of AUs rolled on the ground before rushing forward. The artist weaved around the incoming bones and leaped upon the destroyer.
Before the artist could bring the paint brush down, the puppeteer's strings grabbed it causing the brush to slip from their grasp. Error tried to catch Ink with his strings, but they disappeared, revealing an Ink blaster behind them.
The blaster shot ink at the destroyer, covering him in black ink while the artist reappeared next to their large paintbrush and grabbed it. The ink then turned into chains and held Error to the ground.
Ink used a smaller paintbrush in their left hand and somehow cut the strings to reclaim Broomie. Error had just cut off the chains when a shark emerged from the ink puddle and chomped on him before flying at the artist.
The protector of AUs used Broomie to create a portal beneath them and fell into it while the puppeteer was dragged into it. Once on the other side, the shark turned into nothing but Ink and splattered on the ground wherever this nothingness was.
"Anti-void. Figures." Error muttered "Did you know why I'm so hell bent on destruction? Why do I always look for a fight with you?"
"Oh, cuz you wanna fuck me." Ink replied bluntly.
"..." Error remained in the awkward silence.
"..." Ink said nothing.
"I'm neither gonna confirm nor deny that statement." The puppeteer confessed.
"You know you love me." The artist continued pushing.
"That might be true, but no. That's not the reason." The destroyer commented.
"It totally isn't." Ink snarked.
"I fought you because it felt good. I feel alive. I have the strength and power for dangerous battles, and it is all I have. Nothing more. I ended dangerous AUs to prevent them from becoming like us. But since I stopped, many more of "us" have been created. And you had your hand in it." Error told them.
Ink's smile faded.
"You and I both fought because that's all we have, just for different things. But the creations you helped create, they wreak havoc on others. Remnanttale was a prime example. The creatures we fought belonged to Remnant." Error continued.
"What!? I thought they were Nightmare's!" Ink exclaimed.
"They are. Dreamtale and Remnanttale is one and the same. The brothers,... They don't even know that. But the witch they made was able to leave the universe and wreak havoc on others. So either quarantine it, or let me destroy it! The brothers are already a threat as it is!" The destroyer finished.
"OKAY! Okay,... I will." The protector of AUs nodded.
"Wow,... That's a first." Error commented "You never agreed with containing anything."
"*Sigh* You're right. Letting the creations of AUs free and go to one another is dangerous. I get it. It was already proven. I'll quarantine them from the Doodle Sphere. " The artist deflated.
"Ink admitted being wrong? Is the Multiverse finally collapsing?" Error snarked.
"Can we,... At least let me visit this AU for the last time." The white haired artist pleaded.
"... Fine. Be quick." The puppeteer said as he disappeared into one of his portals.
"*Sigh* Wonder how those two are doing." Ink pondered.
Remnant, Patch
"Have you lost your temper, brother?" The Avatar of Darkness taunted.
"NIGHTMARE!" Dream yelled as they sent out a shockwave of light that turned all of the Grimm into stone.
"You have lost your temper." Nightmare continued, unfazed by the blinding light.
With that being said, the Light God's world fell into darkness. A battle menu showed up in front of Dream and Nightmare showed up in front of him.
"What did we Sanses use to call this? It's something about hell,... Is it 'Special Hell'? Yeah, I remember it is." The Dark God pondered.
The Avatar of Light immediately went to attack him, but the invisible barrier stopped him.
"Ah ah,... It's not your turn." The Dark God taunted.
"nope, it's mine." The voice of Sans was heard from behind Nightmare. He turned around and was hit with a Gaster blaster.
"Crash!" Dream called out gleefully.
"close. it's seems that other me have traveled a lot." Sans responded.
"Oh,... Okay then. What should I call you?" Dream asked.
"Just Sans for now. wait, did i just speak in capital letters? that felt weird." The white haired summoner said.
"Ohh,... You'll get used to it. Likely not ever, since I took offense to sneak attacks. I'm not lettin' any of you escape." Nightmare threatened.
"hi 'not lettin' anyone of you escape', i'm sans/Dream." Both of them said at the same time.
*Triggered*
Letting out a shriek, Nightmare attacked. He launched himself forward, turning himself into a giant cloud of shadow that plagued anything it touches.
Dream created a bubble of Positivity to protect himself and Sans. The pressure on the bubble got higher and higher and the bubble began cracking.
"so,... any ideas on how to fight this guy?" Sans asked.
"Positivity! Anything good in your soul, give it all out!" Dream yelled.
"so,... like rainbows and unicorns?" Sans joked.
"YES! APPARENTLY!" Dream snapped.
"Good to know. ugh, i just did it again." Sans stated.
The summoner raised his left hand and the nightmarish cloud was sent to the sky. Hundreds of Gaster Blasters of different souls appeared around it before all of them fired at the same time and caused the glow to be seen even from miles away.
"RWBY, JNPR, let me borrow your strength." Sans muttered.
From Beacon hallway, Ruby fell to her knees. It felt like her soul was ripped off.
It was literally Breathtaking.
'WHY AM I MAKING A PUN NOW OF ALL PLACES!' Ruby screamed in her head.
From JNPR room
Ren breathed heavily, but it came as soon as it went. He quickly leaped off his bed and went to comfort Nora, who was screaming like a newborn.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?" Jaune screamed.
"I-It's draining our soul!" Pyrrha exclaimed.
From RWBY'S room
Yang laid uncharacteristically still as if she was getting sleep-paralysis. Blake grabbed her own chest and heaved. Weiss looked around, completely terrified at what was happening to her.
'relax, it's sans. i'm kinda in the middle of a fight and need your help. sorry for not telling any of you in advance.' Sans spoke to them telepathically.
"YOU INSUFFERABLE MORON! DO YOU KNOW HOW PAINFUL IT IS!?" Weiss yelled on top of her lungs.
"TELL US NEXT TIME, ASSHOLE!" Yang followed.
"This is so surreal,... Am I on drugs?" Blake muttered.
"I don't wanna do this ever again,..." Nora muttered.
"A WARNING would be nice!" Jaune growled.
"Don't ever do that again." Pyrrha said.
'SANS! Where are you!?' Ruby asked telepathically.
'Patch, crazy battle goin' on. i need to borrow your powers for a while. this hurts me a lot more than it hurts you, so bear with me this time!' The summoner replied.
'We'll help, but you're in a lot of trouble once you're back here' Blake warned.
'I know,... Now let me focus.' Sans told them.
'Did you just speak in Capital letters?' Ruby wondered.
"W-What?" Yang turned to Ruby with a questioning look in her eyes.
*Sans sigh*
'Okay, okay, don't bother you! Got it!' Ruby said.
Patch
"It's working!" Dream cheered.
Suddenly, from the light of the blasters' beams, tendrils latched out and pierced every nearby blaster. Nightmare was in the center of the tendrils, battered, but not out of the fight.
"It's not working." The Light God deflated.
The Avatar of Darkness shrieked again, spikes dropped down onto them like raindrops in a storm. The light God summoned trees of Life that blocked away the darkness from harming them.
But even the trees of Life withered away and provided them less and less protection. Sans had to teleport them out of there to avoid getting hit by the spikes.
The summoner teleported them on top of the clouds, onto a Blaster and rained rainbow colored bones onto Nightmare and pinned him to the ground. Bone giant dragon with blue flames as wings appeared in front of Nightmare as it's mouth burned of multi-colored fire.
Before the Dark God could lash out at it, the creature shot it's flame at him, blasting him deep inside Mount Ebott. The force of the attack blew him deep into the underground, straight into the Core.
"is he finally dead?" Sans asked.
"No. That's a hard hit, but it's definitely not enough to put him down." Dream answered.
"ffffffffffine,... let's go check on our resident dark god." Sans said in exasperation as the blaster they rode flew down the hole on the ground.
"I can now sense him." Dream suddenly stated "I couldn't after he fell into his own creation."
"what happened?" Sans asked.
"A rotten apple spoils the whole batch." The God of Positivity told him "He wasn't always like this though. It was my fault. Nightmare wanted to be loved, but he couldn't take too much Positivity lest it harm him. But I did not pay attention to that and spread joy wherever I went."
Sans listened carefully to the story.
"And in the end, the dark side of the tree of Life died. The apples,... They too died. He tried to save what's left of the tree, not caring for the fact that his Negativity can't match the whole world. He tried to eat the apples that went off, and they changed him. The rotten apples became his monsters, the Grimm. He must've brought them here." The Light god finished.
"believe it or not, the grimm are native here, pal. beatin' yourself over it won't help us now. from what my nonexistent code eye can see, you are from this universe." Sans explained.
"What?" Dream stuttered.
"yup. you're the light god. even after you two fought, life remained on this planet." The white haired summoner explained.
"So,... You mean our home,... I-It's not destroyed?" The Avatar of Light asked.
"yup." The blue hooded boy said "we're still here, aren't we?"
They both jumped off the blaster and wandered to the Core.
"Nightmare,... This is GREAT NEWS! We can finally go home! Start again!" Dream jumped in happiness.
"you have a home?" Sans asked.
"What's THAT supposed to mean!?" The Light god exclaimed before his head back snapped to its original direction.
"He's escaped." Dream muttered.
"crud." Sans let out a sigh again.
"Damn! I have to go to Ink again! He will help find Nightmare." The God of Positivity declared.
He tried to faze out of this reality, only to get thrown right in. He snapped his fingers again, and got pushed back to this AU again. Dream looked around confusedly and saw a portal opening and Ink poking their head out of the portal soon after.
"Ink? Why can't I escape this AU?" Dream asked worriedly.
Ink simply looked at him with a blank expression before answering.
"Sorry, Dream. You and Nightmare must remain at this AU until you two sort this out. I cannot allow you two destroy more than you already have."
"wait, wait,... you're telling me that you can force people to remain at their own AU? that's a thing!?" Sans exclaimed.
"No. It is mostly Error's work. I will help him for the sake of the Multiverse. I hope you understand." The artist explained.
"I-I do. I've been avoiding fighting Nightmare, but after the stunt he pulled. I don't think I can let him roam freely anymore. Can I trust the happiness of other AUs to you?" Dream asked.
"I can make no such promises. But I'll do what I can." Ink responded, blankly again.
"That's as good as it gets, I guess. Are you okay?" The Light God asked, his voice filled with concern.
"I'm fine." The white haired artist stated as they walked back through the portal before closing it.
"guess you're stuck with me now." Sans told him.
"*Sigh* Indeed." Dream let out an exasperated sigh.
The Evernight Castle
Nightmare tread past the Grimm in the lands. The pools of Darkness continued creating Grimms, so much that some could surround him in seconds.
Yet, none dared to approach him, to challenge him. They looked at him in fear and kept themselves at a safe distance.
Good. Seems like his old followers kept them in line. He hoped to see Salem, his friend again.
Boom! New chapter. Enjoy, friends.
I took quite a while just to get a chapter out due to heavy schoolwork. I'll do my best to upload as frequently as possible, so thank you for your patience. Yes, many jokes and scenes were taken directly from Hellsing Abridged, bless that damn show.
I love to hear your thoughts and comments on this chapter. It'll help me write. Peace.