The next few weeks were filled with nearly daily visits from Error. He would arrive after the gang had breakfast and either Nightmare would go with them for the portal training or Nightmare would send Killer and Dust to ensure that things were fine if a corruption outbreak happened. Error often used near genocide branches of timelines to do the training and while the progress was slow, Nightmare could already see Ink was improving with his portals. It was also surprising to see that despite Error's usual day to day attitude he was extremely patient when teaching Ink about portals.
Nightmare also found it surprising that Error was such a good teacher for Ink. He supposed it was because they were opposites when it came to the Multiversal balance, but he couldn't say for sure. It didn't matter really as long as these lessons led to Ink's accidental portals stopping at least for the most part, the Guardian would take what he could get.
Nightmare was just going to collect Ink for dinner, Error having given the baby bones the day off to relax before they continued lessons. In turn the Guardian of Negativity had allowed Ink to go and play in his Doodlesphere for the day while he caught up on a few things in his office. The Doodlesphere was the only place they hadn't had an accidental portal incident so far which eased all of their worries with leaving Ink in it, though each of them check in on him regularly to ensure that doesn't change.
He stepped down the hall opening an occasional door trying to find where the Doodlesphere door had moved to this time. Ever since its original appearance the door liked to move it's actual location from time to time, most of the time the kitchen was the easiest access. But other times, like today, it would go from the kitchen to one of the doors in the hallway outside Nightmare's office. They never knew which it would be since the original door that appeared still remained in the kitchen even when it wasn't the current place to use to get to the Doodlesphere. Nightmare personally blamed Killer for this change since it only started happening after the other dragged Ink into a few of his pranks.
Finally finding the right door as he opened a closet door, the Guardian stepped through to let his eye light fall on Ink standing in front of his strange mirror.
"Hey Ink, Horror finished making dinner. It's time to go back." Nightmare called as he walked across the main island towards the tiny skeleton.
The baby bones turned towards him with a smile as he approached, but it was the lack of movement from Ink's reflection that had a spike of slight fear rocketing through Nightmare's being. He stopped next to his charge and stared at the two child Sans' that were looking back at him.
They were both older than Ink, probably closer to young teenagers rather than barely above a toddler. They appeared almost like twins, one's bones were mostly white with black patches all over while the other was the opposite. The black spotted one was dressed in a black turtleneck with a pair of brown flowy pants and a brown scarf around his neck with a pair of shoes on his feet. The other wore a more common Sans outfit of a t-shirt with shorts and a blue jacket over top with his slippers swapped out for shoes.
Both blinked at him with curious eyelights for a moment, though Nightmare took note that one of them had eye lights that were dual colored of yellow and orange and were even shaped into different shapes one being a star while the other was a question mark.
"Ink, who is this?" Nightmare asked, watching the non-reflections carefully.
He knew it was foolish to be cautious of two children in a mirror, but considering he'd never thought he'd find his charge having conversations through this large piece of reflective glass he believes his caution is warranted at least a little.
"This is other Ink and short Error!" Ink responded excitedly, beaming up at him with a bright smile.
Nightmare kept his expression blank, but felt surprise shoot through him at the introduction of the white spotted child. He didn't look like a typical Error, let alone like theirs. 'Another multiverse then. So this mirror must connect to other Doodlesphere's since it's here in Ink's domain.' Nightmare thought to himself as he visibly saw the child Error puff up at Ink's short comment.
"I told you, I'm not short!" Error shouted, bringing Nightmare's eye light to him once again.
"Well you're shorter than our Error, that's for sure." Nightmare said in agreement to his own Ink's words.
Feeling a little more relaxed at the thought that these two were probably no threat to Ink, Nightmare allowed one of his tentacles to stretch out and wrap around his charge to pick him up. Ink allowed it without protest, used to such treatment by this point and giggled softly at the slight tickling the action caused.
"That. Is. So. Cool! I've never seen your design before! So unique and strange. I love it. I gotta document this." The other Ink exclaimed, making the Guardian raise a nonexistent brow at him.
Cool? Really? Most children thought him scary. Terrifying even. Never cool. Well he supposed it must be an Ink thing since his own charge had never had a spark of fear when it came to his appearance.
He watched the teen summon a pen and canvas out of thin air with a slight widening of his eye socket before the kid began sketching away on the canvas. Nightmare gave a slightly amused smirk as he realized this Ink was trying to draw him. His amusement only grew as he realized both Ink's had a love and hyper focus when it came to their art as the teen practically forgot about everything else.
Teen Error loudly clearing his throat pulled Nightmare's attention back to him as the guardian felt his charge wriggle in his tentacle and begin playing with the end of a second one.
"Uh, Ink, is this really the best time to be doing sketches?" Error asked carefully, pulling the other teens attention to him with a questioning blink.
"Huh?"
There was a moment as Teen Ink appeared to look around in slight confusion before seeming to remember himself and jolting slightly.
"Sorry, forgot for a second." He said with a slight chuckle as he dismissed his drawing back out of existence in a flash of ink.
"So, you're another Ink?" Nightmare asked curiously, though not surprised.
Both his charge and this teen were far too similar in personality for him not to have made the connection on his own even without introductions, but nonetheless best to confirm.
"Yep. And you are?" Teen Ink inquired with a smile.
"Nightmare!" Ink exclaimed from where he now dangled from a tentacle, much to the guardians amusement.
"Nightmare. Got it."
Nightmare looked between the two teens and tilted his head curiously.
"I will say, I'm surprised to see the Destroyer in your Doodlesphere." Nightmare said casually.
He noted the immediate wince the Teen Error gave at his Role and fought the frown that threatened to over take his skull.
"Oh, was yours kicked out?" Error asked, crossing his arms with a smirk. 'Defensive deflection.' Nightmare noted silently, but chose not to comment on it for now as he met the child's gaze unflinchingly.
"No, he can't enter here. He wouldn't be able to stop himself from destroying this place as soon as he saw it." Nightmare replied calmly.
Nightmare never feared their Error ever trying to do so since the Destroyer himself had been the one to tell him to never reveal its location to him, but he wondered if that would even be a worry now with how the other was so oddly affectionate with Ink.
"Oh." Teen Error muttered, his smirk dropping at the explanation.
"Error?" Teen Ink asked, his tone concerned. 'Role is a touchy subject for this Destroyer. Interesting. While our Error doesn't necessarily like the role he was given, he certainly isn't sensitive about it, even enjoys it on a good day.
"This is getting too weird. I'm going to my room." Teen Error responded, before swiftly walking out of mirror view.
Very touchy subject apparently.
"Never seen Error be so in control. It's weird." Nightmare commented out loud, pulling Teen Ink's attention back to him from where he had been watching his friend leave.
The guardian watched as this Ink seemed to watch him for a few moments before a look of determination filled his eye lights. The child's stance firmed as if readying to make an argument or start some sort of debate with Nightmare. He wondered if this child realized arguing with him wasn't the best of ideas before deciding most likely not since the sight of a five year old playing through his tentacles while dangling in the air probably destroyed a bit of his intimidation.
"Speaking of Error. Do you know where he came from? I mean before the Anti-void?" Teen Ink asked, that fire of determination never wavering as he asked.
Nightmare was already shaking his head however without even thinking the question over. He had never known Error before he appeared as the Destroyer and what little he could remember from his time as Negative was blurry and patchworked.
"Sorry kid, but no one knows where the Destroyer comes from. Not even Error himself." Nightmare replied honestly.
He felt a little bad when the teen looked down and seemed to slump in slight defeat at his words.
"Hey, you seem smart. I'm sure you'll figure it out." He assured, smiling slightly at the disheartened child. The teen straightened slightly and smiled back with a 'thanks.' before Nightmare then turned to his own charge once more dangling from a new tentacle.
"Alright Ink, we should get going." Nightmare said to his baby bones.
"Okay."
He blinked at the echo, turning to look at the teen in the mirror with an amused smile.
"If this continues, that's gonna be confusing." He commented with a huffed laugh, receiving a nod of agreement, "Maybe some nicknames are in order."
Nightmare turned back to his charge watching with ever growing amusement and fondness as the tiny skeleton tried to climb the tentacle he hung from. His little mischief maker really. And there it was.
"Alright kid. Since you're always getting into trouble, you'll be Mischief." Nightmare declared, bringing the baby bones to dangle in front of him so he could boop him with his finger. The immediate sunshine filled laugh that came from his charge had Nightmare softening ever further towards the child in his care. At least Ink, or well Mischief, never seemed put off by the names he'd given him so far.
"What about me?" The teen asked, pulling Nightmare's attention back to him.
The other was pointing at himself with wide eye sockets and an almost hopeful expression on his face that made Nightmare's SOUL clench just slightly.
"Hmm. You're all mismatched with those black spots. So maybe, Misfit?" He suggested carefully, smiling when he received a happy nod of agreement.
"And Error?" Misfit asked, turning to look back at where his friend had gone.
"Easy! He's Glitch!" Mischief chirped cheerily.
Almost immediately, Nightmare heard the sound of swiftly approaching angry steps as the other teen once more appeared in the mirror's image.
"Why do I get such a stupid nickname?" Glitch demanded angrily, glaring at them both. It wasn't nearly as intimidating as their Error's, but he had no doubt given time that Glitch's glare would become just as fierce. He shrugged in response to the teen's question however.
"Because you're more of a Glitch than an Error anyways. I think it fits." Nightmare commented.
He hadn't even thought he was an error at all when he'd first seen him let alone the same as their Error. He didn't have the glitches or error words around him like most Errors tended to not to mention this child had far too much control over himself to be considered a full error even if he was Error in another multiverse.
"I refuse to be called Glitch!" Glitch said with a glare.
The answering giggle from Mischief told Nightmare that Glitch was fighting a losing argument already.
"Glitch! Glitch!" Mischief exclaimed as he pointed at Glitch.
"Ugh!"
Glitch once more stormed off from the mirror's sight, back to his room probably, which had Nightmare realizing something with a bit of confusion. Glitch hadn't said he was leaving earlier, he'd said he was going to his room. Then he'd heard Mischief nickname, so did that mean they lived in the Doodlesphere?
"Wait, if you have rooms here does that mean you're living in the Doodlesphere?" Nightmare asked for clarification.
"Yeah." Misfit replied, making Nightmare blink in slight concern.
Who was caring for these kids?
"So who takes care of you then?"
"Oh the Creators do."
More confusion. Creators? What the hell did that mean? How do unseen beings take care of children? Let alone a Protector and a Destroyer?
"You know the voices in the sky. Creators of AU's. Those Creators." Misfit clarified, clearly concerned by Nightmare's continued confusion as he pointed to the sky of his Doodlesphere.
"You hear them?" He asked in surprise.
It appeared it was Misfit's turn to be confused as his eye lights changed shape to a pair of question marks and shifted to light blue and green while he narrowed his sockets at the Guardian.
"Wait, you don't?" Misfit asked.
"No. we don't." Nightmare said with a shake of his head, "Must be unique to your multiverse."
It made sense that the age difference and even Error being allowed in the Doodlesphere wouldn't be the only differences between their Multiverses, but nonetheless it was rare that a Multiverse could hear the creators. Even rarer for that Multiverse to be able to communicate with the Creators in any capacity.
"So the creators are raising you both?" Nightmare asked.
He was a little surprised that the creators were spending time taking care of two children in a place that they were basically gods to.
"In a way. Yeah." Misfit answered with a shrug. Nightmare blinked in slight horror at this, once again trying to figure out how what are basically gods could possibly raise two skeleton children. Could they even physically interact with them? He couldn't imagine trying to raise Mischief if he couldn't physically remove him from situations or danger and he wasn't a teenager like these two.
"Something wrong?" Misfit asked, tilting their head at him.
"No nothing." Nightmare replied, trying to reign in his horror at the idea of two children basically raising themselves since he doubted the creators were a constant guardian.
Nightmare turned his attention once more to Mischief before deciding that they had taken far longer than he'd meant to. Horror was probably trying to hunt down the door now to shove food down both their throats.
"Anyways, we both should get going before Horror hunts us down." Nightmare said aloud, turning to look at the teen once more.
"Well bye, Mischief." Misfit said with a wave.
"Bye Misfit!" Mischief exclaimed with a cheerful wave.
As if sensing the end to their conversation, the image in the mirror faded away until only their own reflections remained. Nightmare stared at their reflections for a few moments in silence, slight worry for the children on the other side filling him. But he quickly brushed it aside as he turned towards his Castle door, taking Mischief into his arms as he let go of his tentacle with a giggle.
"I like them!" He cheered happily as Nightmare settled him against his chest.
"Oh? Well that's good. Perhaps the mirror will allow you to talk to them again in the future." Nightmare responded as he stepped out into his Castle hallway.
"That would be fun! Glitch was funny! And Misfit seemed like fun!"
Nightmare hummed in response to Ink's chatter, allowing the child to go on about his alternate self and Glitch.
"I wish I could introduce them to Error, he needs more friends." Ink commented as Nightmare stepped into the kitchen where Horror appeared to be just standing up to go search for them.
"Perhaps in the future you can Ink." Nightmare said agreeably, flicking a tentacle to signal Horror to sit back down.
"What took you two so long, Boss?" Killer asked from where he sat next to Horror.
It was interesting to see how their small kitchen table had become so crowded so quickly with the five of them. Killer and Nightmare used to sit on either side of Ink with Horror in the final seat, but the addition of Dust had led to them dragging in an additional chair. Dust had then promptly shoved Killer's chair aside to place his next to Ink's and Nightmare had since had to stop more than one fight breaking out over it so they didn't lose their only place to eat.
"Killer! I met another me!" Ink exclaimed, wriggling in Nightmare's hold to get closer to his SIC.
"Oh? And how did you do that Ink?" Dust inquired, reaching his arms out in an offer to take the child from the Guardian.
Nightmare declined as he adjusted his hold and placed Ink in his seat where Horror had just set a plate full of potatoes, broccoli and bbq chicken down.
"Apparently Ink's mirror is capable of connecting to at least one other Multiverse and allowing the Ink and Error in that Multiverse to speak with him." Nightmare explained as he too sat down.
"Oh that must have been quite interesting." Horror commented, smiling at Ink as the child eagerly began telling them all about the meeting.
The guardian was unsurprised that even though his charge had appeared distracted, he had in fact heard the entire conversation and was able to give the gang a whole recap of it without Nightmare's assistance.
"Should we be worried about this Boss?" Killer asked carefully, a deadly aura surrounding him as his SIC realized the same as he had.
If the mirror connected to one Multiverse it was feasible to assume that it would connect to others in the future and not all of them might be as nice or friendly as this one had been.
"No, at the moment I don't believe it is a concern. We should keep a close eye, but I don't believe anyone less than a Master Coder would be able to do anything through them." Nightmare instructed, his SIC immediately calming at the instruction.
"I'll be sure to check in with Ink while he's in the Doodle Sphere more often and I'll add a couple days of staying in there with him." Dust said with a nod as he appeared to listen to something, "And Paps says he'll help keep an eye on him as well."
Nightmare nodded and gave a glare to Killer when the other opened his mouth to most likely comment on Dust's hallucination. None of them could see this Phantom Papyrus like Dust could, though Ink appeared to pretend he did, but that didn't mean they needed to point out it was a hallucination. As long as Ink was unharmed by Dust's hallucinations, he could be as crazy as he pleased. Besides he hadn't thrown any weapons at Ink like Killer had.
As if sensing his Boss' thoughts Killer seemed to flinch and turn to Ink to press further on the mirror interaction. Nightmare allowed the other skeleton to be a coward and avoid his accusing gaze. It wasn't like he was still upset over it, it had been months after all, but if Killer was gonna throw stones he should think twice before doing it in his glass house.
The rest of dinner was their usual affair ending with Dust scooping Ink out of his chair and spinning him around as he carried him off to get ready for bed. Nightmare allowed Ink's giggle to soothe whatever worries the mirror had brought to the forefront before heading towards his office with Killer while Horror cleaned up. They could do nothing about the mirror since it was part of Ink's Doodlesphere, meaning Nightmare had no choice but to push its possibilities to the side for now until he had a better understanding of it. So for now they would continue as usual and hope they would have less surprises in the future.
Nightmare really should have known better than to jinx himself with that thought process.