With Dream in the front leading the party, Nightmare slowed his pace so he was walking beside the destroyer.

"Are you alright?" The king asked, "She touched you".

Error groaned, "Why did she go for me?" he shivered as he remembered the snakey woman touching him. He turned and faced the guardian, "you really wanted me out of her grasp." in which he grinned, "Do you love me?~"

The king sputtered, a light cyan blush rose to his cheeks, "I- how preposterous,," he averted his gaze from the destroyer, finding more interest in the dry soil.

He chuckled, looking at the king's blushing face, 'cute'. He followed behind the group, leaving the embarrassed man behind.

"Is he ok?" Horror asked the glitchy male when he jogged beside him.

Error laughed, "oh, he's fine. Fantastic really".

Horror tilted his head in confusion but did not question the male who was grinning like a mad man.

With his height, Horror could see their surroundings more clearly than their other team members. From the hill, Horror could see a large abundance of ocean water with ships along the port.

Horror called to the group and pointed towards the port, "ocean..."

"Finally! I swear, this shit is getting repetitive", Killer groaned.

Cross sighed, before thanking Horror for finding something.

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

As they neared the port, screams echoed through the air. From below them was a giant masacre, most were killed as they tried their best to escape and the rest were taken as hostages.

"The ships!" Blue pointed to the sunken ships, "What are we supposed to do now?"

Dream hummed in thought before hitting his fist in triumph, before announcing to the group how 'they should sneak into the biggest ship'.

"How do you expect us to board the ship?" Error snarked, before gesturing to the masacre. "They must be pirates with how they dress".

As Ink opened his mouth to suggest something, he was immediately shot down by Error, saying how 'anything he suggests is a bad idea'. The protector huffed but stayed quiet, he wanted to disguise himself as a pirate.

"We need some sort of a plan!" Dream urged, "The ship is about to set sail!"

As Dream yelled, the sound of voices calling members of the fleet to retreat into the ship.

"We'll go through the side—" Nightmare pointed at the worker who was wheeling in two large crates, "—and sneak past those workers to get on that ship".

Understanding the plan, the group gave the king a thumbs up and hums of affirmation before getting up and descending down the hill.

Hiding behind some nearby crates, the team watched the male leaving the ship to carry more crates in.

Swiftly, swerving through other crates, they made it into the ship.

"Hide", Nightmare whispered, keeping his voice down to not be heard and running to the further end of the ship away from the side entrance.

The others followed suit and hid within the abundance of large crates.

The entrance was shut and left the storage with no light. Within the dark, the sounds of many footsteps were heard from above their heads.

Horror assumed the pirates were still boarding the ship.

Waiting, the group sat silently in their hiding spots and no one spoke a word.

Clinking from the trapdoor above them shook as the pirates' feet walked on top of it.

The footsteps finally halted and muffled voices were heard. The voice belonged to a male, which seemingly was the captain as he was heard announcing to the crew about the long trip they'll be taking before they make it to Askerand.

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

It was hours later until Ink spoke, groaning about how bored he was but was only shushed by Dream to quiet down.

"But Dreaammm," he whined, his words stretched as he grasped and started shaking a skeletal arm of what he thought was Dream. "I'm borrreeed".

"Knock it off, will ya," Dust growled before yanking his arm away from the painter.

Dream sighed before Blue tried to reassure the protector, "I'm sure there's something in these crates that could be fun," he suggested while tugging open one of the many crates that sat in front of him.

"Does anyone have a light? I can't see what I'm touching" He asked as he felt around the crate, the crate was squishy and soft, which confused the blue male.

"Yeah," Error answered before proceeding to summon a small ball of light from his hand.

Blue mumbled a small 'thanks' before continuing to look inside the crate, only to find a small colourful box with some switches closing the box.

"Here," the guard in training handed the god the colourful container.

The said protector took the box within his skeletal appendages as he oo'd and ah'd, turning the tiny chest within his hands.

To the left, the negative guardian was opening another small crate. Inside it was two glittery shells in the shape of hearts, holding it into his hands, he inspects the shell before pocketing it and looking deeper into the crate.

"What now", the eyeless killer asked, slouching on the quiet murderer beside him, "we just wait it out?" he asked, turning to his boss who sat on top of a pile of crates.

The negative guardian turned to the male and nodded, but before he could say anything the ship started to sway.

Left and right.

Rocking the skeletons off their positions and onto the bottom of the ship. The skeletons tumbled around the ship alongside the crates that were once neatly stacked on top of another.

The storage became dark as the glitchy skeleton was knocked to the ground, his magical orb vanishing into the air.

After a few minutes of tumbling around, the ship came to a halt, screams and yells were muffled from above the storage.

A sickening melody was sung, and loud blasts were made, rocking the ship.

"Who's singing?" Cross asked, picking himself from the ground and helping Horror beside him.

"They must belong to sirens!" Nightmare explained, "I read it in one of my books, if we listen to their song, we'll– well, I'm not sure what it'll do but surely it's not good".

Immediately, the trapdoor opened and bright light from the morning sun shone into the storage. The face of the a blue scaly face peered down into the room that held the skeletons, it smiled a toothy grin, and loud wet hair draped down their shoulders.

"Oh? My play things~" it barked and laughed, pointing at the skeletons, "Come join us up here".

Its croaky cackle echoed into the cellar, as it lifted itself towards somewhere out of view.

"What do we do?" Blue inquired.

"We'll fight it!" Ink exclaimed before climbing the stairs up to the dock.

"Ink wait!" Dream called, before chasing after the painter.

As they made it up, a big group of sirens surrounded their smaller team, laughing and cackling at them.

"How fun~" one remarked. "I never played with skeletons before,"

"They're so cute" another purred, its eyes gleaming at the skeletons, "I just want to crush their little skulls!"

As the sirens continued to laugh, Killer took a step forwards, "Oh yeah? Not unless I have my fun first–" before he jumped towards a blue skin siren that sat the closest to the group.

When the eyeless killer's fist made contact with the siren's jaw, all the siren's had their eyes locked onto him.

The fish creatures in the front leaped forwards onto their arms and crawled swiftly to the killer, ready to pounce at him before he could react.

The rest at the back, lifted themselves up high and screeched on top of their gills a torturous melody, causing the skeletons to cover their skulls.

Seeing the goopy eyed male, distracted, a siren pounced onto the male and scratched and clawed at him.

"Ah! Fuck!" Killer fell back onto some steps and tried his best to keep the siren off while keeping his hands on his skull.

"I got you!" Cross yelled before kicking the siren off of the fallen skeleton.

"Thanks," Killer grunted.

Error quickly wrapped his scarf around his skull, summoning orbs of magic and attacking the incoming foes.

To the side, he could see Ink and Dream copying him, and helping him attack.

Ink played music from his instrument and Dream quickly shot arrows at the crawling sirens. The others were dodging attacks from the sirens, hands still clasped over their skulls to avoid the wretched melodies of the creatures.

"Ark" Nightmare's voice echoes through his head as he watches the negative guardian get knocked off the ship by one of the sirens.

"NIGHTMAr-E!" Error screamed, his voice glitched at the end as he tried to catch the falling leader.

The guardian gasped, as he was shoved. Losing his footing as he fell back and off the ship's railings.

Falling backwards off the ship, he could see the panicked expressions of his team. Surprisingly, Horror dashed towards him with his hand outstretched, quickly Nightmare reached for the larger male's hand but ultimately missed and fell into the wet abyss.

"Damn it!" Horror yelled before leaping over the railings and after his boss.

More yells from the group were heard before he hit the water below.

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

The dark guardian slowly opened his eyes, and was met with the cold, dark abyss that was the ocean.

He gasped, clutching his ribcage but surprised when he didn't start to choke on the water. Looking around, there was nothing more than sand, seaweed and corals. 

'Hmm' Nightmare hummed in thought, swivelling himself around to get a better look of his surroundings.

A small glow came from his pocket which caused him to check what it was. Grabbing the object from his pocket, and it was the two shells that he took when he was in the ship.

'This must be what's allowing me to breathe,' Nightmare thought as he carefully stashed away the shells again and now surveying the area.

From the corner of his eyes,  he could see something resembling a skeleton, swimming closer to get a clear view of what it was.

As he swam closer, the figure started to look like Horror. He gasped. It was the larger male.

Quickly, he reached into his pocket to give to Horror and shoves the shell into Horror's

"Come on, come on..." Nightmare urged, holding the red eye male from drifting.

The king wouldn't admit it out loud but he cared deeply for his fellow team, so when he saw that Horror wasn't waking up, he felt afraid. Afraid that he's lose someone he so much cared about.

It was quiet as Nightmare stared at the unconscious male, unsure what he could do for the hooded man. The king found it difficult to know if the other was breathing when they're in the water, and how shallow Horror's breathing usually was.

'Ugh'

The king perked up, eyes wide as his eyes darted towards Horror's face as the male shifted, and slowly opened his eyes.

"Boss?" Horror coughed, grasping his chest as pain filled his senses.

Nightmare laughed, overjoyed that Horror lived, "Yes! Yes it's me".

Horror smiled, "Glad, you're ok, boss".

The hooded male was shocked when he felt arms wrapped around his torso. It was strange to see the lord care for them, but he smiled, shaking off the thought before hugging the king.

"How are we breathing?" Horror gasped, his eye darted around his surroundings.

"I— I don't know, I think it's this," Nightmare grabbed the shell out of his pocket and presented it to the man, "I found it in one of the crates, I think it's like a tool to travel underwater".

Horror commented on how cool the object was, before a loud sound was heard. 

Behind the duo was a large blue whale, littered with glowing blue splats. It released a monstrous wail before directing its path towards the two skeletons with its mouth open.

"Oh no..." Horror muttered before the king yelled for him to move, urging him to swim away from the whale.

Swimming as fast as they could away from the large beast.

"Where do we go?" Horror exclaimed as he frantically searched for an escape.

Also looking for an escape, Nightmare spotted a small, narrow hole in a rock. Quickly dragging Horror to the boulder, whilst weaving through seaweed to avoid the whale's line of sight.

Hiding inside the boulder, they watched as the whale slowly swam around them. Surveying the area for the two skeletons, but left when it couldn't spot the duo.

The king let out a sigh of relief and checked his subordinate for any injuries that he may have gotten on the way.

"I'm fine, boss," the larger male reassured.

Nightmare mumbled about how glad he was, while in the corner of his eye, a dull light shone through layers of seaweed.

Curious, he slowly swam towards the light.

Horror watched the leader swim out, "boss?"

"Come," Nightmare instructed, "there's something over there".

"What did you find?"

Through the seaweeds, the two found a large cave, within the depths of the cave was the dull glow, now fading in and out.

Swimming closer, the two find  two small mermaids that seemed like children, huddled between two large rocks. The figure in the middle seemed to be a mother, who was the source of the dull glow that the King saw.

Once the female noticed the duo swimming closer, she bared her sharp teeth to them, the children quickly swimming behind the mother.

She growled at the two, trying her best to scare them away but in her weakened state, Horror and Nightmare wasn't threatened.

"Are you alright?" the dark guardian asked, reaching his hand out to the woman.

In defense, she bit his hand when it neared her shoulder.

The king flinched, pulling his hand back, and checking the injury. The bite, thankfully, wasn't too deep.

"Hey..." Horror nudged his boss, subtly pointing at the woman, "there's two holes on her collarbone".

The holes were a spiral, similar to the small shells they had.

He quickly pulled out the shell in his pocket and held it in front of him, trying to match the hole.

"It's a match," Nightmare whispered in astonishment. He extended his hand towards Horror, replicating a grabbing motion.

Feeling the light weight on his palm, the king slowly swam closer to the mermaid who was soothing her children.

Sensing movement, she backed away from Nightmare and continued to growl.

"Here," Nightmare's hands were cupped around the shells, bringing the shells closer to the female's collarbone.

Once the shells were close enough, the shells started to glow and pulled into the spiral shaped holes.

Suddenly, the two skeletons felt an invisible tug that pulled the duo away from the now glowing mermaid.

Nightmare could feel his non-existent throat begin to clog, he started to feel light headed. Panicked, he and Horror quickly tried to swim back to the surface. The sunlight reflects the water and the closer they got, the darker their visions became.

He gasped, as more water clogged his throat, and his vision faded.