The Dreamscape (Stretch's Dream)
Stretch knew he was dreaming. He could remember jumping into the rift-portal with Error and Blue, so he was probably with them wherever they were in the real world. Perhaps whatever was on the other side, or maybe even the portal itself, caused him to pass out.

He could see Dream attempting to hide behind a tree in a misty forest which seemed oddly familiar. Then he realized that Dream wasn't alone. An eerie tentacled sans dripping with black slime was standing in the shadows behind him. Stretch guessed that was probably Dream's twin, Nightmare, who Error had told him about on their walk through the Void. Ink had probably sent Dream to interrogate him or Blue, so he knew that he probably couldn't trust Dream, but Nightmare... Nightmare was a wild card.

"Hey! Dream! Nightmare! Come on out and we can talk like civilized people!" Stretch yelled, annoyed with them hiding in the misty shadows of the trees.

They slipped out of the forest, and as they came closer to him, Nightmare's slime receded back into himself, and he was shown to be a sans nearly identical to Dream, but with a darker color scheme and a moon symbol on his crown, while Dream merely seemed to look a bit more regal.

"So. Are you two here to interrogate me for Ink?"

"No, actually. We're here on our own behalf, because we need to talk with you," Dream said.

"We need to talk to you about Error and the Balance," Nightmare said.

"Oh. Error told me the basics about the balance- there's a limited amount of space in the Multiverse and he has to destroy or else many AUs might be lost to the Void," Stretch said.

"He gave you a good baseline, but there's a lot more about the Multiverse you need to know," said Dream. "That's why we're here- to give you the ultimate Multiverse crash course."

"Plus, I want to tell you something," Nightmare said.

"If you hurt Error, I will kill you, slowly and painfully...Take care of him like you do Blue, he needs loving, kind friends to help him recover from being the destroyer for so long. He was alone for a long time in the Anti-Void, not knowing how to leave, and he still has nightmares about it. I don't give him those either- he has enough problems without me giving him more."

"Nighty, we're not here to threaten him, we're here to give him a Multiverse crash course!"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry Dream."

"It's fine Nighty. I know you're worried about Error."

"Yeah. I really am worried about him, but we do need to start. We have limited time, after all."

"Okay- So, Stretch, you know of the basics of the Multiverse. We're about to give you an AU crash course, so you know about all the different AUs, and about all of the Outcodes."

"What are Outcodes?"

"Outcodes are people who don't have a link to an AU- Nighty and I, Ink, Fresh, Geno, and Error are all Outcodes. There are others, but those are the really important ones," said Dream.

"Hey, what about Cross!" Nightmare added.

"Yes, and Cross! Now on to the AUs. The main AUs in our Multiverse are the originals, and those are what we'll be covering. I won't go into detail for all of the Swaps and Fells, they're there and that's all that really matters."

"Your AU was part of the first AUs created, along with Underfell, after the original Undertale core of this Multiverse. Some of the other AUs that we know of are Outertale, Outerswap, and Outerfell, and Dancetale also has the same kind of swap and fell variants. There were also several lone AUs: Dreamtale, Flowerfell, Lusttale, Reapertale, Songtale, Dusttale, Swapfell, and Fellswap."

"Several of those AUs are gone now though. Dreamtale collapsed due to... an accident my brother and I had, and Inktale, where Ink came from, is gone, but we don't know what happened to it," said Dream.
"Aftertale, despite what people may call it, actually wasn't an AU, it was an alternate timeline. It had a really bad mess up. It was a full genocide AU, in a loop. The Sans there was so fed up with it that he injected himself with determination, summoned the reset button... and was trapped in the save screen with the Frisk of that AU- in most AUs Frisk is the equivalent of your Chara. Poor Geno was trapped there until Reaper- the sans of Reapertale- found him there and helped him out. Geno is technically dead, so he and Reaper are perfect for each other, Reaper can be all flirty like he tends to be and Geno can be a tsundere. It's hilarious!" Nightmare added.

"Oh, Nighty," Dream said, laughing.

"What, they are!" said Nightmare indignantly.

"There is also evidence of several other AUs existing at one point, but we don't know anything about them," Dream said.

"And here ends your Multiverse Crash Course! Did you enjoy it?" Nightmare asked.

"Yes, but I have some questions."

"We'll answer them if we can," said Dream.

"Do you know what Error's original AU was?" Stretch asked.

"Sadly, we don't. We've tried to find out, but nobody knows, not even Error himself," said Nightmare.

"Also, do you know anything useful about Error? If you're going to kill me if I don't take care of him Nightmare, then you should probably tell me whatever useful information you've got."

"Well, he really likes chocolate. He also enjoys watching Undernovela, even though he doesn't understand Spanish. He's tired a lot, but that's most likely due to how much magic he uses destroying AUs. He has magical haphephobia, which is connected to his glitches. It's better to not touch him due to his haphephobia, as he tends to crash when people touch him too much. He also uses his strings to crochet, knit, and various other things. That's all of the good info I've got on him," Nightmare said.

"Can I wake up now?" Stretch asked.

"Yup! We'll send you out of the Dreamscape right now!" chirped Dream cheerfully.

—————⊱❨✦❩⊰—————

"So Nighty... what do you think we should do?"

"I don't know, Dream. This is really bad. Without Error, the Balance is going to tip towards Creation and lots of people are going to die."

"What do you think about bringing out plan #26? I feel like that might be our best option."

"Holy crap. Dream... you're a genius. Plan #26 is going into action as soon as Ink has his next meeting."

————⊱❨✦❩⊰————

"Dream, I'm calling in all the Sanses. We need to find Blue and Stretch."

"Ink, I told you already, I looked for them. They were nowhere to be found. I don't think they're in any of the normal AUs."

"Well, we need to notify everyone of their disappearance anyway. So I'm calling a meeting."

"Okay... if you insist."

"Dream, I need your help and support with this. I can't wrangle them all myself, especially not Red, he never stops arguing with anyone and everyone. And I hate keeping an eye on Lust... please will you help me?"

"Fine."

"The meeting is going to be in a few hours. Since you can also open portals, will you help me send out invitations?"

"Okay."

————⊱❨✦❩⊰————

"Perfect! It's all ready for the meeting."

"I'm going to go get a snack, I'll be back in time for the meeting," said Dream.

"Okay. See you in a bit!"

'Time to talk to Nighty. I need to let him know about the meeting so we can put plan #26 into action,' thought Dream. 'This'll be an interesting conversation, that's for sure.'

Dream then pulled out his phone and texted his twin.

| PositivelyDreamy: Nighty, Ink is holding a meeting today.
| SteerFearOfMe: Time for plan #26?
| Dream - Yep!
| SteerFearOfMe: Yay! I finally get to spend some time with you outside of the Dreamscape! It's been so long since we could last do that! =D
| PositivelyDreamy: OMG. Nighty, I just had another idea. I think you'll enjoy it. I have to know one thing first though- has Ink ever seen you in your passive form?
| SteerFearOfMe: No, I don't think so... Oooh I know what you're thinking. And my answer is yes.
| PositivelyDreamy: Just make sure you hide your moon symbols. Those would be a dead giveaway.
| SteerFearOfMe: So, how am I getting there? I don't think it's a good idea for me to use my magic to make a portal to Ink's place, it'll be too noticeable.
| PositivelyDreamy: I'll make you a portal as soon as you're ready. Also, if you need some clothes that aren't all dark-looking, you can borrow some of mine. I've got some more 'normal' outfits than our guardian attire.
| SteerFearOfMe: Thanks Dream! I would appreciate borrowing some normal clothes.
| PositivelyDreamy: I'll open a portal for you as soon as I find you some good clothes to choose from. Also, is it okay if I send a few things to your place? I have some stuff I want to keep, and I highly doubt that Ink will just let me come waltzing in here to get my stuff.
| SteerFearOfMe: I'm ready whenever you are. It's about time to put this plan into action. And yes, that's fine. You'll be staying here with me and the gang, after all!
| PositivelyDreamy: Yup!!! Can't wait to see you!
| SteerFearOfMe: Same here!

Dream hurried over to the closet full of various clothes, and grabbed some clothes in darker colors he thought his brother might like. He also grabbed a deep indigo hoodie, and a pair of shoes that should fit, they were identical twins after all.

He then opened a portal to Nightmare's castle, and chucked a cardboard box full of his most important things through it. Now his stuff would be safe from Ink. Then he sat down on the bed, and a few minutes later, Nighty poked his head through the hole. He was already in his passive form, and he looked excited for what was to come.

"Hey Dream! It's been too long since we've seen each other outside of the Dreamscape!"
"Yeah. It really has. Now come here, I want to give you a hug!"

"Nooo not the hug!" Nightmare said jokingly.

"Okay, fine. Now get dressed, you can pick your clothes but I've already found a jacket for you. Here-," Dream said, tossing him the indigo blue jacket.

"Thank you... it's perfect. You remembered my favorite color," said Nightmare.

He quickly got dressed in some normal clothes, black pants and a plain white T-shirt, with the jacket over it.

"You ready Nighty?"

"Yup. Let's go- oh wait, I probably need some sort of nickname or something, don't I?"

"That's probably a good idea. How about Indigo? It's your favorite color, and it seems like a nice name."

"I'm good with that."

"This is going to be so fun," said Dream. "I've been wanting to do this for a while- Ink's been out of control. We should probably head to the meeting now though, before Ink comes to find me."

————⊱❨✦❩⊰————

"Ink! I'm here, and I brought an old friend of mine. His name is Indigo. He was missing for a while- he comes from a really messed up timeline, similar to Geno, so it was hard for him to get out, but he's here now!" Dream said, faking a cheerful smile.

"Welcome to the Doodle Sphere Indigo! It's nice to meet you! So, does your AU have a name?"

"I don't remember my AU... It was destroyed a long time ago, and I was trapped in the space between worlds. Dream found me there while I was dreaming and helped me escape. I'm very grateful to him," Nightmare said, using the backstory he and Dream had come up with on the way there.

"Sorry for asking about that," Ink said, a slight hint of sadness in his voice. Maybe he was thinking about his own AU and how it was destroyed? He doesn't remember much, though- his memories are all kinds of mangled.

"It's okay. You didn't know. Now, isn't there supposed to be a meeting starting about now?"

"Oh, right," said Ink

"HEY! LUST! QUIT HARASSING SCI!!!"

"Sorry about that, Lust has... issues, to put it simply. He doesn't know when to stop," continued Ink.

"Well that's the understatement of the century," muttered Dream. "Indigo and I are actually going to go talk to him. I need to have a nice chat with him about something, and Indigo will probably enjoy watching me talking with (read: yelling at) him."

"Okay. See ya later Dream!"

"Good riddance," Nightmare whispered under his breath.

"Well, come on. We actually are going to chat with him and Red," Dream then whispered to Nightmare, "We need to tell them the truth."

"Okay. I'll come with you. So, when is it fun time?"

"After we've talked with them. Then we'll pull off the most dramatic exit in a century."

"Yes. I'm so excited. You know I have a flair for the dramatic!"

————⊱❨✦❩⊰————

"Hey Lust! Do you know where Red is? I need to talk to you two."

"I think he's just over there, sweetie. But wouldn't you much rather play with me instead~"

"LUST! This has NOTHING to do with anything like that!"

"Hey, what do you expect from me? I'm from freaking Lusttale after all."

"I know. Now come with me and Indigo, we need to find Red and then we can talk about stuff."

"Okay. I saw him over there earlier. I think he was having a swearing contest with Beat (Dancefell Sans)," Lust said.

"Well, then over there we shall go," said Dream, and they headed over to Red. "Hey. Red. We have some very important things to talk to you about."

"Why is Lust with you? Please keep him away from me. I might be from Underfell, but Lust scares the shIRT outta- FRESH, WHY??!!"

"Dawg, your unradical language isn't gonna be allowed at this here meeting. Sorry, but I gotta be here and I can't help it," said Fresh, although he whispered the second sentence much more quietly so that only their small group could hear.

"Fresh, are you here to explain what Indigo and I cannot?"

"I suppose could do that. I have news to give ya though."

"Fresh, please??? You know I can't tell them about it, I swore not to tell anyone who doesn't already know. Just tell them it exists and I can do the rest. Please???"

"Alright Dreamy brah, for my radical bro's sake."

"Thank you so much Fresh."

"Okay, So Red, Lust, the reason Ink and Error fight is due to the Balance of the Multiverse. Too much creation without destruction to balance it and many AUs will come crashing into one another, destroying each other and take hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. A similar reason exists for various other outcodes. I am the guardian of the balance itself. I help make sure the creator and destroyer don't go overboard. Normally more on the creation end, as Ink has a tendency to create too much, bringing the Multiverse closer and closer to widespread destruction, especially now that Error is out of the picture. Mainly due to Ink not knowing about the balance and refusing to listen. So, Dream can explain the rest now. Bye!" Fresh immediately just disappeared with a FRESH POOF!!!

"Welp. He's gone. If y'all want an in-depth explanation you're going to have to come talk to me later... but please, spread the word about that, it's really important. Now today, I'm refusing to help Ink tip the Balance any more. The AUs are already in massive amounts of danger, and Error's only been gone a few days."

"Okay, I'll help you. If only because I want an explanation," said Lust, surprisingly with absolutely no innuendos or flirting.

"I'll help you, but I'm going to stay here. I don't want to put my bro in danger," said Red.

"Well, just stick near me. You'll know when the dramatics start," said Dream. "And trust me, okay?"

————⊱❨✦❩⊰————

"So, Indigo, are you ready?" Dream asked quietly.

"Hell yeah. We should probably wait for Ink to get everyone together though, for maximum drama," said Nightmare.

"I like drama," Lust muttered. "It's fun."

"I just wish I knew what's going to happen," grumbled Red.

"Okay, Nighty, just wait until Ink starts the meeting. Then we can start the drama, and it'll be very entertaining," whispered Dream.

"Got it. I'm going to text the boys now though. They promised not to kill or maim anyone if they come as backup," Nightmare whispered back.

"Thank you for making them promise, but to be honest, I don't think we should bring them. I feel like that would be safer, as we really don't want to be on everyone's bad side any more than we already will be."

"Yeah, I'll do that. Now hush and let me text them."

Dream hushed, and he kept a careful eye on Ink as he made his way over to the speaker's platform in the meeting hall. The meeting was about to officially start.

"HEY! GUYS! MEETING'S STARTING!!! GET OVER HERE!" Ink shouted, trying to be heard over the many groups of people chatting.

Almost everyone quieted down, and the few who didn't were hushed by their friends and soon were also quiet. Within a minute, the meeting hall was nearly silent other than small clicks of bone and shuffling, and of course the ambient music, which was very similar to that of the Doodle Sphere - after all, it was located there.

"Hey guys! I called you here for a reason- one of our fellows, Blue and his brother, Stretch, were taken by Error- um, what is it Dream?"

"I have an announcement of my own to make. Error didn't take Blue and Stretch, they went with him of their own free will. I spoke to Stretch myself, in his dreams. And if y'all won't listen, then I'm leaving," said Dream. "In fact, I'm leaving either way- I refuse to stay with a person who would attack with one of their friends in the crossfire. I would rather stay with my brother. He might be considered evil, but at least he's got a policy of leaving nobody behind, and he checks to make sure that he won't hurt his friends."

Ink looked rather stunned, and he just stood there, like a deer in the headlights.

"NIGHTY GET OVER HERE!!!"

"Fine, I'm coming, I'm coming," grumbled Nightmare as he made his way over to the platform. He climbed up onto it and stood next to Dream.

"You're scared of Nightmare because he makes you feel 'bad' emotions and he is a 'relentless killer' right? Well, he's been here for this entire meeting- chatting with some of you, chilling, and he hasn't harmed a single person," said Dream. "Hey Nighty, wanna talk to them, or do you want to get out before they get over their shock?"

"We should probably leave- I'd prefer to not have to call in backup. Even with a promise, Horror and Killer are rather unreliable."

"I want to come with you," said Lust. "I don't want to be in danger of being in the wrong place at the wrong time with Ink. It seems that it's safer with you, and I may not trust Nightmare, but I trust you Dream. So may I come with you?"

"Of course, the more the merrier! Just come over here, Nighty and I will be portalling us."
Lust joined them on the stage, and the Dreamtale bros began to open a portal. They did it together to make it extra dramatic, as their opposing magic created cool swirling effects in the air as the portal formed.

The group then stepped through into Nightmare's castle, and they immediately closed the portal to prevent anyone following them.

"Well, welcome to my castle," said Nightmare. "Hey boys! Get over here! We have some new people to greet!!!"

"Coming Boss!"

"Who'd ya bring?"

"Did you get food while you were out?"

"SENPAIIIIII!!!"

The group of 'evil' skeletons ran in from different parts of the castle.

"So, Dream, Lust, those idiots over there are Killer, Dust, Horror, Blackberry, and Raspberry."

"HEY! I TOLD YOU, DON'T CALL ME RASPBERRY!"

"Swap Sans is Blueberry, and since you wear a dark magenta colored outfit, you can be Raspberry. See? Perfectly logical reasoning," said Nightmare.

"Fine," said Raspberry, rather annoyed.

"Now, back to introductions. Gang, this is my twin brother, Dream, and that's Lust. They're on our side, yes, even Dream. Oh, and that's Cross on top of the piano. Wait, Cross, why are you on the piano?"

"Because I can, and I wanted to."

"That's a good enough answer for me."

'Oh my stars... Cross is adorable when he's not trying to destabilize the Multiverse. I see why Nighty likes him,' thought Dream, staring off into space.

"Why are you and Dream suddenly getting along?" Killer asked. "Normally you're fighting like Ink and Error."

"We've never truly been enemies. We just pretend, to keep everyone safe. But now, the Multiverse is in grave danger, and we can't do that anymore," said Nightmare, gently poking Dream to get his attention.

"If we let Ink create any more AUs, hundreds of thousands will die without cause," added Dream. "We have to find a way to stop him. If we don't, then the AUs will begin to crash into each other, and Original AUs could be destroyed."

"Ink doesn't make new AUs- he just makes copies of the original ones with slight changes. The main reason we don't see the Judges of those AUs is because they are rather weak compared to those of original AUs and can only leave their AUs if they are destroyed, and if that happens and they survive, they end up in the Omega Timeline," added Nightmare.

"Original AUs- like yours, Razz- can't be destroyed by anything other than crashing into each other, except some very rare, very powerful occurrences when they become unstable. Dreamtale, where Nighty and I come from, was a good example of an unstable timeline. Xtale, Cross's home, is extremely unstable as well, but it hasn't 100% self-destructed yet, it's currently just an antivoid. Inktale and its kin were destroyed by... something, but we don't know what," said Dream.

"I wish Lusttale would get destroyed," muttered Lust.

"Yeah, me too. Sadly, everyone is rather scared of Lusttale though, so I doubt that'll be happening anytime soon," said Dream. "Ink never made any copies of it, thankfully."

"Error is terrified of Lusttale. I think any sane person is, really," said Nightmare. "I'm the GOD of fear and I'm scared of Lusttale."

"I'm from Lusttale yet it still scares me," said Lust.

"Yup. Nobody likes Lusttale," said Horror. "Now can we go back to explaining why the Multiverse is going to shatter into a bazillion pieces?"

"Yes, sorry about getting off topic," said Dream. "Now, where were we?"

"We were getting to how unstable our Multiverse is," said Nightmare.

"Thank you Nighty. Actually, I think we covered all that we need to, really."

————⊱❨✦❩⊰————

"I know Cross is really cute, but that doesn't mean you can space out and stare at him for hours, bro," said Nightmare.

"I didn't mean to! I just never realized how cute he actually was while he was trying to destabilize the Multiverse," said Dream sheepishly, blushing golden.

"Oh, bro. I know. Really, I do. But still, try not to stare at him. He'll get nervous and run away. It's really awkward, you know?"

"Yeah, I know... it's just that he's too freaking adorable!!! Like, oh my stars, I just want to hug him! He's so fluffy and precious!"

"This is why I don't let you do the talking most of the time," said Nightmare, sighing good-naturedly.

"Sorry, Nighty," said Dream, still caught up in his own thoughts.

"I don't think we're going to get anything done, so go to bed, Dream. I'll see you in a bit- I've got some more stuff to take care of before I enter the Dreamscape tonight."

——⊱❨✦❩⊰——

Published 7/23/2019