"Ugghh" Ink groaned, his arms draped across Dream as they walked through the icy plains. "How long have we been walking for? It's so cold and I'm tired!"

Dream sighed, nudging Ink's arms away from his neck, as the more they moved the more Ink's arms tightened around Dream's neck to the point Dream was walking for the painter.

"Don't worry Ink, we'll get there very soon and we can get you something warm". Dream reassured the painter who continued to pout.

Error barked out a laugh at Ink, who in turn glared at the destroyer, "Ha! The so-called protector cannot take the cold!"

The said proctor growled, but couldn't say a word as the cold breeze blew across their bones. Quickly grasping his arms to warm himself up.

The destroyer continued to laugh at the misfortuned painter.

The group continued to walk in silence, slowly the temperature around them started to warm up and in the distance was the beginning of the array of green trees.

"Finally!" Ink exclaimed, picking his slow stride into a dash towards the green environment

"Ink wait!" Dream called, but ultimately failed as Ink's figure slowly shrunk into the distance. The yellow man sighed, and grabbed his temples while mumbling under his breath.

"That little shit!" The destroyer growled, watching the short man run away with his scarf, "Get back here!"

"Error! Not you t-" But Error took chase after Ink. The negative king let out a yell before taking chase.

Soon enough, the group starts to chase after the two before anything unfortunate happens.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

"Where the fuck could they have gone?" Dust asked, panting as he looked around the tall trees.

The trees were around the size of a building, its leaves were thick which blocked the beaming sun from hitting the moist ground beneath them.

"Surely there's footprints somewhere," Blue suggested, lifting his muddy boots from the mushy dirt and grimenced when a chunk of mud splat onto the ground with a disgusting squelch.

Searching around, there was nothing around that could ___ that they were once in this area. 

Nightmare was using his vines to lift himself into the branches of the tall trees so he could get a better look around their location but unfortunately, he couldn't find anything through the thickness of the trees.

He sighed, as he sat on one of the branches

"Hey guys," Cross called from below him.

He leaned forward and slowly climbed down the tree that he was once sitting on.

Cross jabbed his thumb behind him, "There's a gravel path this way".

"Oh brilliant!" Blue beamed, "Let's go follow it, I'm tired of being here".

Before anyone could say anything, the blue clad male skipped towards the path, leaving the rest of the group behind.

"Oh fucking hell," the destroyer grumbled and followed behind the skipping skeleton.

Tall dark trees continued to surround the gravel path, its thick leaves covered any sunlight. The group's only light source was the soft blue plants that littered across the floor of the forest. 

It would've been peaceful if the further trees appeared to have eyes staring directly at the group.

For the king of nightmares, those eyes really creeped him out.

Thinking of the destroyer, Nightmare couldn't help but miss the presence of the taller male.

In his peripheral vision, he could see his brother giving him a knowing smirk. He shot the archer glare before turning back to the front and watching his boys so they wouldn't do anything rash.

Further in the distance was a small straw village that contained many mythical creatures.

"Excuse me, have you seen two skeletons running through here? One of them was a short skeleton and the other was a tall dark bone skeleton." Blue inquired.

A small fairy squeaked in surprise when a big blue male approached her. She quickly flew away from the group and hid behind a furry wolf.

Blue quickly reassured the fairy, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you".

The wolf growled, "What do you want pal?"

"We were just searching for our companions," Nightmare growled, stepping in front of the grey wolf, "we only needed your input".

The wolf huffed, "who was it that you needed to find?"

"Our friends. We thought that maybe someone from your village had seen them," Blue added.

The wolf let out another huff before pointing a finger at a brown owl. "Go ask Matilda, she's our all seeing eye, she must have seen something".

"Oh thank you!" Blue beamed, as he was about to walk over to the woman but felt a hand grabbed onto his arm.

Looking back, the wolf had a firm grip on his arm while his other hand was out.

Blue gave the man a confused look which infuriated the wolf more which he aggressively shook his hand.

"Payment," The wolf snarled.

'Oh', Blue mumbled, before grabbing out a coin and placing it into the hand of the wolf.

He looked at his paw, nodded with a grin and walked away with the small fairy in tow.

"What was that about?" Dream asked, rubbing the back of his neck in confusion.

The blue male shrugged, before walking off to Matilda, who was sitting on a log, drinking tea.

As __ stepped closer to the female, her head spun around to meet the gaze of the group.

"Hello deary,"  She smiled, her voice was soft and mellow as she greeted the newcomers. "How may I assist you".

Blue stepped closer to the owl, "Hello miss, we were looking for our friends, have you seen them?"

The said owl hummed in thought before taking a sip from her teacup before answering, "Afar from town, travelling through dangers, must they find treasure".

"The fuck does that mean?" Killer commented.

The owl promptly smiled at the group and took another sip of her tea.

"This bitch.." Dust growled under his breath before pouncing at the female.

A vine has quickly extended and snatched Dust out of the air and placed beside Nightmare.

"What the hell, boss". Dust barked.

The negative guardian proceeded to glare at the shorter skeleton, "if we want her help, we shouldn't be going around killing them".

Matilda sat unfazed and resumed her speech,, "Through the dark, may they gain a mark",

"The fuck is she on about!" Dust snarled, "She's useless! Let me kill her!"

The leader shook head and continued to watch the feathered being, "Surely, we could use what she's telling us, I doubt she'll give us anything more".

"I'm tired of this, I'm leaving," Dust groaned, exaggerated.

Horror tugged onto Dust's bandages, "I'm hungry".

The short male nodded and held his hand, leading him to a small restaurant.

"Where are you off to?" Nightmare questioned, crossing his arms as the duo paused.

"We're off to get food, join us if you want but we're going," Dust said with his usually monotone voice, and began to walk towards the store with the large skeleton.

Some others agreed and left with Dust towards the small store.

Nightmare's mouth gaped as he watched his subordinates leave, he let out a small 'what?' before huffing.

The golden male chuckled, patting his brother's shoulder, "It's ok brother, they're just hungry. We'll find your boyfriend and Ink soon".

The negative guardian gasped and retreated from his brother's touch, "He's not my boyfriend!"

"Yet," Dream added, with a sly smirk.

In the store, Horror looked at the abundance of food that sat on top of the shelves.

"HELLO!" a voice boomed from the small store, "WELCOME TO MY HAPPY ESTABLISHMENT!"

The large skeleton winced and tried his best to cover his skull from the obnoxious voice of the owner.

Dust, seeing his friend wince, glared at the owner who shrunk down in her spot behind the counter.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "is this better?"

Horror looked at the store owner and smiled, nodding his head as he softly thanked the female.

She beamed and continued to whisper to the two, "is there anything I could do for you?"

The large skeleton mumbled that he was hungry, in which the woman beamed and started sprouting out all the food she had for sale.

"We have cakes, bread, cheese, veggies," the owner continued to spout all the things she had in her small store.

Disclaimer: slight gore warning

"Meat?" Horror meekly requested the storekeeper as he fidgeted with his scarred hands.

The female squeaked, "w-we don't sell meat here!"

The large male pouted and asked for some vegetables for some stew.

The rabbit hastily nodded her head and dashed for the ingredients that were needed.

Horror sighed, saddened by the thought of having no meat.

The smaller skeleton looked up at his companion, before grinning and whispered, "How's rabbit stew?"

He beamed, nodding excitedly, '...sounds good..."

Dust chuckled and stalked towards the rabbit who was putting a carrot into a basket with other vegetables.

A shadow appeared behind the owner who slowly turned around, she shrieked but was stopped by a knife plunging into her throat.

The murderer watched her body fall limp onto the ground with the basket beside her.

"Horror," Dust called out, "Let's grab as much as we can and get out of here".

The said male nodded and went around pocketing any food that wouldn't go bad so quickly.

He looked at the fallen body and looked to Dust where he gathered some resources, "meat?"

"What?" He questioned before turning towards the body and Horror, "Oh yeah, rabbit, for your stew".

Again Horror nodded before finding an axe behind a shelf and chopping the body into smaller pieces so it would be easier to cook with.

Looking around the store, Horror searched for some ice and a container to leave the meat inside. Fortunately, in a smaller room, were packs of ice and boxes.

The cook happily grabbed the containers and ice and packed the meat inside and deposited the meat into his inventory.

End of warning

Walking over to Dust who slouched while holding onto the wall for support.

"...need... help..." Horror asked,

Dust shook his head, "I'm going to force Killer to help carry this. Are you done?"

"Yes..." Horror replied.

"There you are!" Cross yelled, "we were looking for you!"

"What happened?" Dust pushed himself up from the ground with the help of Horror.

"Someone said they think they saw Ink, come on," Cross beckoned the duo to follow him.

Following the monochrome male, they exited the store with the food and reached the outskirts of the village.

"Why are we here?" Dust questioned, fidgeting with his scarf,

"Like I said before someone saw what they thought to be Ink," Cross answered, "and here we are seeing if they're still around here".

"Oh hey guys!" Ink greeted, gaining the attention of the group.

The creator could be seen spinning a glowing purple pendant around his finger, which Error quickly snatched from the painter.
"You fucking idiot, you'll lose it again!" Error chastised.

"What happened?"

"Basically,  this idiot," Ink let out an offended gasp from behind him,  "Ran off with my scarf into this stupid domain and we had to go through puzzles and shit, just to get out."

The dark guardian hummed, "and you couldn't just leave the domain once you entered?"

"We couldn't because idiot," Error proceeded to glare at Ink, "pushed a fucking button and we had to complete it or we'll be killed".

Killer barked out a laugh, "sucks to be you, glitchy!"

The destroyer growled, while Killer continued to laugh hysterically at Error's misfortune.

"ShUt the fuCk up anOMaly, I wIll FuCking K-kiLl YoU!" Error yelled as his glitches started to get worse.

"Now now, there's no need to fight," Dream assured, trying his best to calm the two.

"Killer." The said male turned to the voice, "Stop it".

Killer pouted but stopped.

"Thanks Night," Error quietly thanked as he slowly calmed down.

To the side, Ink could be seen grinning like a mad man at the destroyer, he tried his best to ignore the creator.

"Could we take a look at the artifact?" Dream asked, hand out waiting for the creator to give him the jewel.

"Sure!" Ink cheerfully answered before extending his arm back and throwing the pendent at the positive guardian.

"Ink!" Dream yelped, before attempting to catch the flying necklace.

"I got it!" Blue lifted his hand in the air that held the pendant. "Here," before passing it to Dream.

"Ink! Don't do that again," Dream scolded.

The protector only giggled.

The light guardian sighed then inspected the pendant, he slowly turned the jewel in his skeletal hands, feeling the smooth surface of the stone. The stone was an eggplant purple that faded into violet. The mineral was wrapped in golden metal that was also connected to a golden chain.

"Where to now boss," Killer nudged Dream, while using air quotes when he said 'boss'.

"I think we're going to..."

Dream paused as he looked at the map. The places they've been seem to have small subtle ticks.

"Another section of this forest?"

"Oh great," Error huffed, "I had to deal with that idiot, and now I have to do that again!"

"Let's go".