Ink was in shock. He had been unable to do anything, as if frozen, while Dream, Red and Lust left. As he continued to think, he pieced more of the situation together, 'They left with Dream's friend, Indigo- wait, I think Dream called him Nighty... does that mean that was Nightmare? How? Nightmare's a goopy black skeleton with tentacles, how could he look like a normal skeleton? Why did Dream bring Nightmare here? Wtf just happened?'

"Ink! What's going on?"

"Ink! Are you okay?!"

"Ink!"

"Ink!"

"Ink!"

"INK! SNAP OUT OF IT! WE NEED YOUR HELP!"

Ink came back to reality with a start,

"Sorry. I don't know what got into me, I was just completely out of it. It was like I was watching through a window, I could see what was going on but I just couldn't do anything."

"Ink, I'm not talking about that. I'm worried about Red," said Sci. "He and Lust went with them, and who knows what could happen now?! I don't want him to get hurt."

"Sci, we'll find him, but to do that, we need to work together. I'm going to try and find Edge and Hearts, maybe they'll know something about why their brothers left. I need you to keep everyone in line. Get Outer and Thorn (Flowerfell) to help you."

"Got it, Ink. Hurry, okay? With both you and Dream gone, this is going to be madness."

"True. I'll try my best to do it quickly. In fact, I'll get going now. When I get back, we can discuss what to do next."

Ink swiped Broomie on the floor of the Doodle Sphere, opening a portal to Lusttale. He hated it there, but he had to talk to Hearts, and Edge would probably murder him if they had to go to Lusttale.

As he landed in Lusttale, he could already tell that he wasn't going to enjoy finding Hearts. Not one bit.

╼╌╌{ᴛɪᴍᴇʟɪɴᴇ ᴅᴀᴍᴀɢᴇ ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛᴇᴅ}╌╌╾
ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀsᴋ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ᴅᴇᴛᴀɪʟs ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʟᴜsᴛᴛᴀʟᴇ, ɪᴛ ɪsɴ'ᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ. ɪ'ᴍ sᴄᴀʀᴇᴅ ᴏғ ʟᴜsᴛᴛᴀʟᴇ, ɪ'ᴍ ᴏɴʟʏ ɪɴᴄʟᴜᴅɪɴɢ ɪᴛ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ʟᴜsᴛ ʜɪᴍsᴇʟғ ɪs ᴀɴ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇsᴛɪɴɢ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ᴘʟᴀʏ ᴀɴ ɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴘᴀʀᴛ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴ.
╼╌╌╌{sᴋɪᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀғᴇʟʟ}╌╌╌╾

"Welcome to Underfell, Hearts. Stay close to me, monsters here kill each other for fun. Actually, now that I think about it, I've got a better idea. Hearts, take my hand, please?"

"Okay!"

As soon as Hearts grabbed Ink's hand, they disappeared, taking a nice shortcut to the Underfell bro's house.

After they appeared right outside the front door, Hearts noticed dust on the snow, and he was horrified. Ink ignored the dust, used to the horrors of AUs, and knocked harshly on the door, making sure that Edge could hear them. When Edge seemed to be ignoring them, Ink yelled, "EDGE, IF YOU DON'T COME GET THE DOOR RIGHT NOW, I AM GOING TO PAINT YOUR ENTIRE F****** HOUSE HOT PINK!!!"

The door remained shut, so Ink swiped Broomie at it with a type of paint he rarely used- acid paint. The door began to melt, and soon there was a hole large enough for Ink to reach through and unlock it. He quickly did so, and opened the door for himself and Hearts to enter. Ink began to look throughout the house, even checking the bone closet under the sink. He found nothing of interest, not even a bottle of mustard.

"I guess that Red must've come to get his stuff, and maybe his brother went with him?" Hearts said.

"You're probably right. Hearts, would you like to return to Lusttale now, or come with me to the chaos that is a Multiverse council meeting gone wrong?"

"I think I'd like to go home, thank you," said Hearts, still spooked by Underfell.

Ink and Hearts quickly portalled back to Lusttale. The portal dropped them at the edge of Snowdin forest, and they headed straight for the Lusttale skelebros home, ignoring the horror that is Lusttale.

"Think you'll be okay from here on Hearts? I need to get back to the Council meeting, it's probably even more of a mess than before now."

"I'll be fine," said Hearts, not worried in the slightest.

Ink immediately leapt through a portal after that, returning to the council meeting, while Hearts walked home. He noticed that the lights were on, which wasn't right, as he had turned off all the light before he had left.

As he walked up to the door, Hearts could hear laughter and bone-rattling coming from inside. He opened it to find his brother chasing a red-eyed skeleton with a hole in his skull around the living room, while two other skeletons watched from the sidelines, laughing. When they noticed he was there, they all just stopped in their tracks awkwardly and there was a moment of complete silence before Hearts ran over to Lust and grabbed him, giving him a massive hug.

"Brother! You're okay!"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"That dude with the giant paintbrush, Ink said that some bad guy took you. I was worried!"

"Ink? Ink was here?!" said Nightmare.

"Errr, yeah?"

"Hah! Pay up, Nighty," Dream said, pleased with himself. He had won his and Nighty's bet on how long it would take Ink to show up.

"Oh, shards," said Nightmare, before handing something shiny, probably gold, to his brother. "Dream, why do I make bets with you?! I always lose," he complained.

"Oh, hush Nighty. You've won before. I just know what to expect from Ink," said Dream.

"I don't care, I hate losing," grumbled Nightmare.

"We can all tell that Nightmare," said Horror, before returning to running away from Lust, who was trying to hug him.

"HORROR, YOU NEED HUGS!!! THEY'RE THE BEST MEDICINE FOR EVERYTHING, EVEN WEIRD CANNIBALISTIC TENDENCIES!!!" Lust yelled, continuing to chase him.

"Does this happen a lot?" Nightmare whispered to Hearts.

"No, he only does this to people he likes," said Hearts. He then quietly squealed, "I have a new OTP!"

Nightmare looked at him strangely, while Dream just sighed, having gotten used to fangirling, or in this case, fanboying, long ago.

"Hey! Lust, have you got all the stuff you need?" Dream asked.

"Wait what? Where's my bro going?!" Hearts exclaimed.

"Oh, I thought you knew, sorry for not telling you! He's coming back with us to Nightmare's place, as now that he's switched sides he could be in danger staying here."

"C-can I come too? I don't want to be alone!" Hearts cried.

"Nightmare, may my brother come with us? Lusttale is rather unsafe alone, I don't want to leave him to the mercies of some of the idiots around here. Plus, he knows where we're going and if Ink returns... well, my brother can't tell a good lie to save his life. It'd be safer for all of us if he came. Also, Edge went with Red and Killer back to the castle, so it's not like we don't already have some other Papyruses in residence. So please, I beg of you, allow him to come."

"Fine, if only to prevent whining. Now let's head to Songtale to get the shopping over with."

"We need to go back and get Red so he can go shopping too!"

"Okay, if you insist."

————⊰↺♫↻⊱————

Well, this chapter would've gone longer, but I decided to cut it off here and save the shopping for another chapter, as it needed a bit more work.

- Snow ❄️