I LIVE! So I'm sure a lot of you have been wondering where the hell I have been. For those who haven't, well that's how the cookie crumbles I guess. But anyway, so I know all you little gremlings know I was in the process of moving states to be closer to family upon my last chapter post. Well I ended up in the hospital again. This time it was actually something that was a little concerning. I ended up with Viral Pneumonia. Up until about a week ago (of which I spent it mostly rest and recovering from being out of the hospital finally and getting ready to start my new job since my start date got pushed back due to my Hospital stay) I was literally dying coughing up a lung and slowly losing the ability to breath because my lungs were filling up with gunk. So yeah, the last month has been literal hell, but me and the rest of my family (of which my uncle and cousin ended up with bacterial and walking pneumonia themselves respectively, both are fine now) are finally recovering and in celebration of that, I have decided to post a chapter for you guys for Raising the Protector. So long note finally over, enjoy and have a wonderful week and stay healthy ya'll!
Disclaimers:
Undertale belongs to Toby Fox
Prism belongs to I'm_Sorry_Buddy from his For the Forgotten Ones (For those who can, it is only found on AO3)
Ink could say without a doubt that the last month had been one of the best yet. His brother's seemed slightly less busy then they were before they'd left him to be watched by Edge and he now had another new playmate in Reaper.
The Death God had taken to coming over a few days of the week to give him a few lessons in the multiverse. Two of those days fell on days when Error came by to give him portal lessons, of which Ink was proud to say he was getting much better at by the day, and the final one was during his usual day off from portal lessons. Reaper never kept him in his own lessons for long on that day, would simply go over a few things he'd already taught Ink to ensure he had been paying attention in previous lessons before allowing him to run off and play for the day.
In fact, he had just finished said lesson and was eagerly making his way to his Doodlesphere with the God following behind. Ink had still to yet ever accidentally open a portal within his Doodlesphere and the frequency of which he was opening them was lessening with each lesson he had, but his brothers were still always worried that he'd fall through one when they were busy, thus why Reaper decided to play with him today. Apparently it eased some of Nightmare's worries when the God would keep an eye on him for them.
Ink found the door to his Doodlesphere with ease, being the only one in the whole castle that ever could though Nightmare came as a close second. He eagerly rushed inside, leaving the door open for Reaper, and scurried to the mirror with a wide grin. Maybe today he'd get to see Misfit and Glitch again and tell them all about his lessons and friends he'd made.
He eagerly rushed to the mirror, his excitement growing when he saw there was someone who wasn't himself in the reflection.
"Misfit!" Ink exclaimed eagerly, only to frown as he realized the skeleton in the mirror was definitely an adult and not a child, "Who are you?"
The other looked down at him curiously, colorful eyelights like Misfit shifting shapes as he did, before becoming excited.
"Oh another Ink! And you're even younger than Misfit." The other said excitedly.
"You know Misfit?" Ink asked eagerly, perking up at the mention of his mirror friend.
"Ah, I see you already met him then. Yep. I met him a little while ago." The other replied as Reaper floated into the Doodlesphere and over to Ink.
"Who ya talking to baby bones?" Reaper asked, looking into the mirror curiously.
"Another me!" Ink replied cheerily, grinning up at his cloaked friend.
Reaper hummed in response as he turned his eyelights from Ink to the other in the mirror.
"And you would be?" Reaper asked, reaching down and lifting Ink into his arms when he tugged on the bottom of his cloak.
"I'm Ink, but you can just call me Prism. It's nice to meet another Ink with a Soul besides Healer. Though this is the youngest one I've met yet." The other Ink, Prism, replied with a smile.
"Are Protectors usually adults in other multiverses?" Reaper asked.
"Most of them, though I was a child when I was found so I can't say if being a child is uncommon. You must be this Ink's guardian right?" Prism responded.
The Death God shook his head in response, adjusting his hold on Ink as he climbed up him to get to his shoulders.
"No, that title belongs to the Guardian of Negativity and his band of troublemakers. I am simply a killer babysitter." Reaper joked, grinning as Ink giggled at his pun.
That's what made Reaper so fun, he was constantly making puns that had to do with his Role. It drove Nightmare up a wall, but left Killer in stitches half the time. Ink liked them too, he wondered if it was because he was originally supposed to be a Sans from a normal AU, but he couldn't be sure.
"Huh, another Multiverse where Nightmare took in an Ink." Prism said thoughtfully before seeming to straighten and focus on Reaper, "Do they treat him well?"
"They do. Though if they didn't I'd certainly not leave him in their care." Reaper replied, making Ink look down at him curiously as his voice filled with an emotion Ink didn't recognize.
"That's good, surprising, but good." Prism said, with a nod.
Ink cocked his head at the statement.
"Why is it surprising?" Ink asked.
"Oh, it's just that usually Nightmare is dealing with what most Multiverse know as Negative and thus can often be… well unkind would be putting it mildly." Prism replied, his words fading off as he spoke.
"He can? Why's that?"
Prism seemed to think for a moment before looking to Reaper for a moment then back to Ink.
"Well, do you know about Roles?" Prism asked carefully.
"Mhm! Reaper has taught me that there are six major Roles in the multiverse. The Two Pillars of Foundation; the roles of Life and Death. And the Four Balancers; The Guardians of Negativity and Positivity, the Destroyer of Creation and the Protector of Creation!" Ink chirped back eagerly, repeating what he'd learned in his lessons with Reaper.
"Very good. Do you know which role often belongs to Nightmare?"
"Guardian of Negativity."
Prism nodded with a slight smile at Ink's eagerness to give the correct answers.
"Correct. I'm guessing that your Nightmare also carries this role." Prism said, waiting for a nod from both before he continued, "The issue with that role is that often Nightmare ends up eating the Black Apples during the events of Dreamtale. After which Nightmare is darker, less concerned with keeping the balance and more focused on spreading as much Negativity as possible. This often leaves the Guardian of Positivity struggling to keep their end of the balance from being overrun. Although it appears that your Nightmare is free of such problems."
Ink cocked his head thoughtfully as he went over what Prism just told him. He supposed it made sense. Nightmare hid a lot of what he had to do for his Role from him, though by Killer's personality and how eager he often was to go on missions Ink could guess that they were less than pleasant things. But the more Ink thought about it the less concerned he was. From what he could pick up on Nightmare wasn't excessively cruel like Prism had seen, and he definitely never did anything to Ink. And as long as his brother's cared for and were kind to him, it really didn't matter what Nightmare had to do to fulfil his Role.
"Well, Big Brother takes care of me and protects me so I think it's okay." Ink said simply.
Prism blinked in surprise at his words before grinning at him brightly.
"I suppose you are right, little me." Prism said, before his smile fell slightly and he looked to Reaper, "Is everything else in the Multiverse fine then? No lack of balance or over abundance of Creation or Destruction?"
"Nope. Life and I haven't had to deal with a major influx on either front. The balance for Creation and Destruction aren't perfect at the moment due to some Corruption outbreaks, but beyond that nothing that would que the possible end to our Mutliverse." Reaper replied.
"Hmm. Interesting. This is the second time the mirror has connected me to a Multiverse that isn't in need of immediate assistance." Prism said thoughtfully, his eyes dulling slightly as his thoughts seemed to turn inward.
"Perhaps it is because Mischief is so young." Reaper suggested, drawing Prism's attention as he cocked his head curiously.
"Mischief?"
"That's me!" Ink exclaimed excitedly, making Reaper snort in amusement.
Ink loved both his names! His first name was well his very first name. It was important, but his second name. Well he was the only one in all the Multiverses that had that name. "Ink" linked him to the other hims, but "Mischief" made him unique.
"Fitting for a fellow Ink." Prism said with a laugh, grinning as Ink giggled in turn, "Did Nightmare find him in his AU or in the Doodlesphere?"
"His AU from what I understand. A Multiversal Phenomenon from what we understand." Reaper explained, reaching up and lifting Ink from his shoulders.
"Oh! So he has his SOUL!" Prism said in surprise, looking at Ink with a slightly sad expression, his eyelights becoming a teardrop and circle with two shades of blue, "Be sure to take good care of it Mischief."
"Okay." Ink agreed easily, unsure what that meant.
He wriggled in Reaper's arms to be let down and the God easily complied as he set him on his feet in front of the mirror.
"Don't worry, we'll be sure to keep him safe." Reaper said to Prism as Ink scurried away. He wanted to go explore the door with the origami cats on its island again, he liked playing with the paper felines.
"Good." Prism said as Ink left them behind.
As cool as it was to meet Prism and learn about Nightmare's Role a bit more, he would much rather go and play while he could. Besides, Misfit was his main mirror friend, so Prism being the one to show up had been just a bit disappointing for him. Oh well, he'd be able to tell his brother's all about the new him he'd met during dinner at least.
It was another week before Ink finally got his wish.
Another lesson with Error finished, another trip to his Doodlesphere to unwind. Ink had already checked his mirror and had decided to play in the field of fake flowers nearby when he'd seen no sign of a different Doodlesphere on the other side. He was picking some of his favorite flowers in the field when he heard the sound of a shout and splash coming from the direction of the mirror.
Gasping eagerly, Ink dropped the bundle of fake flowers and scurried to the mirror where he could just see Glitch pulling himself and Misfit from one of the Ink pools on the other side.
"Hi Glitch." Ink called cheerily, eager to see his two friends.
Glitch snapped his head towards Ink a frown marring his face before he seemed to jolt and turn to a very still Misfit.
"Ink!" Glitch exclaimed, shaking Misfit with no results. Ink wondered what happened to his friend, did he get too tired. That happened to him sometimes, Nightmare often told him he just needed to take a nap when it did though.
Ink watched his friend mutter to himself about something before smacking his forehead in a similar manner that he'd seen Dust do when Killer was being especially annoying. He didn't understand why they would do that, hitting yourself seemed like it would hurt you rather than what was irritating you.
"You can't make anything easy for me, can you!"
Glitch's shout made Ink jump in surprise and stare a little wide eyed at the other. He realized quickly that he was shouting at Misfit, who remained unconscious much to Ink's growing concern. Was Misfit sick? Could they get sick? He'd never asked because he'd never thought of it.
He watched as Glitch turned to look at him again, his confusion growing further at the range of emotions that swiftly crossed his friend's face.
"Hey Mischief. Where do you keep the backups?" Glitch asked, making Ink cock his head in confusion.
"Backups? What backups?" Ink asked.
"The backup vials. Where are they? Obviously you would know, tell me!" Glitch shouted making Ink shrink back slightly.
Why was Glitch mad at him, he didn't have any backups.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ink answered fearfully, tucking his hands close to his chest.
"The paints! Where do you keep your paints!?" Glitch demanded, stomping up to the mirror making Ink flinch back from the other despite the mirror between them.
"What paints?!" Ink asked in a panic.
He didn't understand. What paints was Glitch talking about? He had his paint river, but he didn't have paints laying around in his Doodlesphere, not like Misfit had his large array of paint buckets. Why would Glitch think he had them?
"Ink's paints!" Glitch shouted angrily, "The paints that make him alive! Those paints! You have to know! You have to!"
"I-I don't k-know." Ink sobbed feeling his tears overflow as his fear and confusion consumed him.
He didn't have any paint. And he didn't take Misfits. He didn't! His brother's had already taught him not to take anything that wasn't his without asking first and he didn't even know Misfit had paints that he needed. Why did Glitch think he took them? He didn't, he knew he wasn't supposed to take things without asking!
Ink sobbed loudly as he grew further worried that his friend no longer liked him because of Misfit's missing paints. Never noticing as Nightmare manifested into existence behind him with a panicked look.
"Ink, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
Ink hiccoughed as he was scooped into his eldest brother's arms and cradled to his chest to try and soothe him.
"Glitch is yelling at me about paints, but I don't know of any paints!" Mischief cried, shaking in Nightmare's arms, rubbing frantically at his eye sockets to try and get rid of his tears.
He cuddled in close to Nightmare's chest as the Guardian ran a soothing hand down his back allowing him to cry out his fear. Ink was oblivious to the next few minutes as he calmed down, sniffling and hiccuping while Nightmare's hand ran up and down his back. He looked back to the mirror as he heard Misfit's voice finally join the conversation.
"Hi Error. Good to see you." Misfit said, his voice overly cheery as Ink watched Glitch let go of Misfit to glare at the other.
"Don't "hi error" me. Do you know how worried I was?" Glitch demanded.
Misfit seemed to ignore him as his yellow sun and triangle eyelights moved to where Ink and Nightmare stood.
"Hi you two. It's so great to see you again. How exciting! Hey Error, how did we even get here?" Misfit said happily, receiving a glare from Glitch once again.
"By the creators, you're annoying like this." Glitch said as he took a vial full of what looked like blue paint and shoved it down Misfit's throat.
Ink watched a little mystified as Misfit swallowed it down. Could he do that? Nightmare had told him that paint wasn't good for him and never to drink anything from his paint river or he'd end up sick. But if Misfit could do it, did that mean he could too?
"Error, what happened? Why do I feel- Oh God." Misfit asked only to then throw up the very paint he'd been forced to drink.
Oh… Nightmare was right then. Ink definitely didn't want to drink the paint now. He watched as Misfit, still bent over, held his hand out to Glitch who then set a drawer full of vials in his hand.
"Sorry." Glitch said regretfully as Misfit began sipping at each colorful vial in the drawer.
Maybe he drank too much of the blue then? Did that mean Ink could drink them if he didn't drink too much? He'd ask Nightmare later.
"So are either of you going to explain what that was about?" Nightmare asked, giving them a perplexed expression.
"Ah, sorry about all that. Guess we should explain." Misfit said.
Nightmare carefully settled on the ground like Glitch and Misfit did to listen to the story, settling Ink in his lap. Ink wriggled and reached for one of his brother's tentacles to hug it close in comfort while Nightmare set a hand on his head to further soothe him.
"Where to start?" Misfit said with a bit of uncertainty.
"How about we start with the paints?" Nightmare inquired.
Ink agreed, Glitch had yelled at him about them, he'd like to know why they were so important too. He felt a bit bad about that thought when he saw Misfit look down a little uncomfortably.
"Of course you would want to know, considering you have your own Protector to think about." Misfit said softly.
"So?"
Misfit sighed before Glitch straightened, pulling Ink's attention to him quickly.
"The paints are what keeps Ink alive." Glitch said, receiving a shocked look from Misfit, "He needs them. They're like an artificial soul. If he runs out, then he enters a dead state."
Ink felt the tentacle in his hold twitch, signifying his brother's discomfort at the implications. To be honest it scared Ink a little as well. He hadn't thought his friend was hurt when he'd seen him earlier, but now thinking about it his lack of response to Glitch made more sense.
"I'm guessing that was the state I saw him in earlier?" Nightmare inquired, Glitch giving an answering nod.
"Yes. He's practically dead in it, that is until you give him more paint. Then he wakes up just fine. As you saw."
"So does that mean- Misfit, do you not have a soul?" Nightmare inquired, making Ink jolt slightly at the thought.
Misfit's sad nod was answer enough for Ink, but the following explanation was also insightful.
"Yes. The creators said mine was lost. So they brought me back with the paints. The paints are from the creators. It's like a piece of their soul that they put into their creations. It turns into paint and goes to me. With it, I can act as any being with a soul. As if I actually had one of my own."
"Is this common for Protectors?" Nightmare asked, his other tentacles curling around Ink almost instinctively.
"I'm sorry. I don't know." Misfit replied with a shake of his head, "The creators won't tell me much of the other Multiverses."
Ink perked up slightly as his friend's eyelights fell on him.
"Mischief still has his, doesn't he?" Misfit inquired, his tone slightly melancholic as he spoke.
"Yes, he still has his. I found him in his AU. Their creator abandoned them." Nightmare explained, his words making Misfit flinch though he didn't seem to notice like Ink did, "Mischief was the only being there with a soul, so I removed him from that place."
"You saved him." Misfit commented with a smile, his eyelights going back to Nightmare.
"Yeah, I did."
The expression that crossed Misfit's face was full of gratitude as he thanked Nightmare before moving closer to the mirror and placed his hand over where Ink sat. Ink blinked at him with wide-eyed wonder as his friend smiled at him.
"I wanted to tell you this as soon as we met again. Take care of it. Don't let anyone ever take your soul from you. It's precious. Okay?" Misfit said his tone was firm but gentle in its warning.
That was twice now he'd been told to care for his SOUL. Prism had told him to take care of it as well and yet Misfit's request felt so much more important then the previous one he'd received.
"I will." He replied with a nod, receiving a nod from Misfit before he moved back to Glitch.
"Well, now that the question of the paints has been answered, guess I can ask my next question. What happened to you two? You look like hell." Nightmare inquired.
Ink could tell his brother was trying to change the subject. His unease was clear over the mere thought of Ink needing to protect his SOUL from those who would harm it. However, his questioning also wasn't wrong, Glitch and Misfit looked like they had been tumbling around in prickle bushes and lost.
"Uh, that's a long story." Glitch said, exhaustion clear in his demeanor.
"I have time." Nightmare responded easily.
Ink bit back a giggle as Glitch sighed in resignation at having to explain themselves before both of them launched into an explanation of their introduction to their Multiverses Nightmare. He was both surprised and not at the other Nightmare's and Gang's actions. Afterall Prism had explained to him only a few days ago that most Nightmare's weren't the kindest of people, it only made sense that the Gang most likely wasn't either in those cases.
But nonetheless he'd only ever known his Nightmare. The one who had taken him into his home and treated him with kindness and care. The one he called Big Brother and had given him more brothers to love and care for him despite their own issues and insecurities. To hear of versions of his brothers that would so willingly harm children like Misfit and Glitch was a bit upsetting.
By the end of the explanation Nightmare appeared completely flabbergasted.
"Jeez, you two weren't kidding." Nightmare commented.
"Yeah, it's been a lot." Glitch agreed, before looking at Misfit, "Also, when were you going to explain that the huge scary skeleton was actually nice?"
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't stop to explain to you that Horror was actually a good guy while I was actively entering a dead state. My bad!" Misfit shot back with a glare.
Ink was amused at Glitch's view of Horror, he supposed with how his friends met their Horror he could be seen as scary, but he could only ever see the brother that made him pancakes and hot cocoa when he was upset.
"Sorry, you're right. There really wasn't any time to explain."
"You probably scared the shit out of him." Nightmare said with a laugh, clearly amused at the thought of the other Horror's reaction to two children opening portals.
"Yeah, we probably gave him quite a scare." Misfit agreed, chuckling.
"Glad you both find it so funny. I, however, was terrified." Glitch pouted as he crossed his arms.
Ink hid his growing grin in Nightmare's tentacle at his friend's antics.
"Aww, scared of the big skeleton." Misfit teased, causing a blush to spread across Glitch's skull.
"I am when said big skeleton is running at me with murder in his eyes!" Glitch yelled in embarrassment. Misfit and Nightmare laughed, causing Ink to snicker as well.
Despite how seeing his friends had started out, Ink was glad everything was okay now. Misfit had his paints and was okay, and Glitch seemed back to himself. He hugged his brother's tentacle closer to himself as he listened to them speak a bit longer, his crying finally catching up as he became tired. He'd demand Nightmare nap with him after they were done here, but for now he'd just continue enjoying the soothing sound of his two friends and his brother talking calmly between one another.