Dream went to the doodle Sphere to look for Ink, despite Ink not being comfortable with others inside the Sphere.

"Ink...?" Dream glanced around then heard an alarmed voice from behind himself.

"Dream!" Ink was appeared into view from behind an entire forest of AU papers, "You shouldn't- Why are you here??"

"Ink..! You just.. ran off! I've never seen you... do that before. I got worried."

"Where's Cross? He's not here, too, is he?"

"N-no, of course not. I left him back in the AU."

Ink sighed then smiled shakily at his friend. "Well," Ink began, "I'm okay. No worries. I just... got to thinking about some things." It was clear to Dream that Ink wasn't telling the complete story, but before he could mention it, Ink continued, "I'm sorry I left you back there with Error. He didn't give you any trouble, did he?"

"Oh... N-no. He left." Dream paused. "Are you sure you're okay...?"

"Of course I am!"

It scared Dream that Ink could so easily lie to Dream like that, but the younger prince figured Ink had his reasons for keeping quiet. All he could do was give his friend some space and trust that Ink wasn't holding in more emotions than he could handle.

"Okay... But if you ever have anything you want to talk about, you can trust me, okay?" Dream offered a smile, which Ink returned.

"I will. But I might forget to, so you may have to remind me." He gave Dream a good-humored wink. "I'm going to get back to work now, okay? You should probably get back to Cross; don't want to keep him waiting." Ink smiled slyly, causing Dream to blush.

"I-It's not like that with him and I..." Dream fumbled for words.

"It's okay; 'If you ever have anything you want to talk about, you can trust me, okay?'" Ink recited Dream's words with a smile. Dream laughed nervously.

"It's a deal."

"Good! Now, get back to your bodyguard, okay?" Ink squeezed Dream's shoulder, "I've got a lot of work to do."

"Will do," Dream responded, and, exchanging smiles, the two of them parted ways.

* * *

Days later, Nightmare went for a walk in none other than Overtale. He would never get tired of that AU. He had his one favorite park beside the ocean, a few benches places so you could look over the vast expanse of water below the high cliff. Every now and again, he'd see the human Sans and his little goat-Frisk playing around in the park, but Nightmare'd never dare go interfere. According to Ink, it was better for an AU's characters not to be interacted with, but there were exceptions:

If the AU's story was finished or cancelled, or if the "characters" were out!codes, they could be talked to as much as they like; such as the discontinued Flowerfell or Undertale itself.

Nightmare never kept up with AUs' story-statuses, so he just never interfered unless he was with somebody who knew they could.

He was about to sit at the bench when he heard the sound of teleportation behind him. Nightmare for some reason assumed it was Abyss, so he turned around with a welcoming smile, but his expression quickly turned guarded as soon as he saw who it really was.

"Well, look at you."

...Dust Sans stood before Nightmare.

"...Yeah, look at me, indeed," Nightmare's voice was unenthused; even a little angry. "I haven't seen you show your face since..."

Nightmare paused a millisecond too long.

"What? Since you turned soft?" Dust's face was twisted with betrayal. "Since you abandoned me and everyone who was loyal to you? Everyone who thought you were great?"

Nightmare was surprised at the anger and hurt in his former comrade's voice. Dust wasn't ever one to show emotions; not even rage.

"I'm tempted to apologize since you're feeling so betrayed right now, Dust..." Nightmare began carefully, "But I don't regret being me again." He paused. "Wouldn't you want to actually be with your brother again if you had the chance to? Especially if it meant changing yourself for the better? Your AU's characters are dead. Your world is dead. It's over. What then? Either stay an evil, sadistic murderer forever knowing you'll never get rid of enemies, or redeem yourself and be with your only family again. I'd choose the latter, personally. You?"

Dust went quiet.

"...Exactly."

It made Dust uncomfortable that Nightmare still had such authority over him even now, and Nightmare wasn't even trying.

"Thanks for being civil, at least. I've been around one too many crazies lately." Nightmare turned away.

Dust shook his head slowly, digressing, "...Killer's following Error now." He spoke flatly.

"Wait, what? Seriously?" Nightmare turned back to Dust. "Why?"

"I guess that mutt just needs someone to give him orders. I ask him to just come back with me but no, he scampers off in Error's direction like some dog just looking for someone evil to be his new owner." Dust's voice was bitter.

"...I'm actually sorry, Dust," Nightmare said after a moment, "I know you two were buddies."

"Yeah, we were. Before he left me behind for that... that..." Dust searched for the perfect insult for Error, clenching his fists, but gave up, looking away with a less angry expression. More of an "I give up," expression.

"Hate to suggest this, considering the side I'm on, but why wouldn't you just join Error's team too? Then you and Killer could be fighting pals again or whatever." Nightmare's hands were in his pockets.

"Are you insane?" Dust looked almost offended. "Error's crazy. He's not rational about his plans or attacks like you are. All he wants is destruction and he doesn't even have a long-term plan. It's just destroy, destroy, destroy, for no reason, with him. I'm... I refuse to ever even pretend to be loyal to him."

"Why are we even talking about this?" Nightmare said suddenly, "If you don't want to follow Error, come back with me. You could fight against Error. You're indifferent right now, Dust, but let me help you see the right perspective." Nightmare looked concerned. Dust frowned.

"You used to tell me destruction and rage was the right perspective," Dust said quietly, looking down.

"You know I wasn't right in the head back then," Nightmare's voice grew harder, angrier. "That wasn't me."

Dust hesitated then glanced momentarily to the side as if looking at someone else.

"I..." Dust clearly didn't know what to do.

"Dust." Nightmare's expression grew serious. "If you were ever loyal to me, if you trusted me before, then trust me now. Come back with me. I'm the same person you used to know... Just with a better outlook on life."

Dust's expression gave away what he was going to answer. After a moment he looked back to Nightmare.

"...Okay."

Nightmare opened a portal back to his own void. "I'm trusting you with this, Dust. Don't take advantage of me. I'm still as strong as I used to be. You will regret any funny business." Nightmare's voice was calm but threatening.

"There he is. There's the familiar threatening boss." Dust gave a rather promising smile, the first one in decades, before following Nightmare into the void.

---END OF CHAPTER 7---