Nightshade fell through the portal into a dark cave. It was made entirely of ice, and every wall reflected the negative guardian's form like an unsettling mirror maze. A familiar laugh resonated from every direction

"/Oh/, /how/ /the/ /mighty/ /have/ /fallen/."

Nightshade growled.
"Caligo! Come out, you coward!"

The same, mocking laugh echoed across the room.
"/As/ /proud/ /as/ /ever/, /I/ /see/. /The/ /great/ /King/ /of/ /Negativity/, /reduced/ /to/ /nothing/ /more/ /than/ /a/ /small/, /insignificant/, /terrified/ /ptince/. /How/ /PATHETIC/."

Nightshade drew his lightsaber and looked around for his adversary. On the bright side, at least this evil creature couldn't freeze his tendrils. On the downside, he could still attempt to freeze him solid with all the water around him. This was always the problem trying to fight Caligo in his native element; he was impossible to hit if he turned into mist, as he so often liked to do, and his body was made up of ice. Even if Nightshade managed to land a hit, as long as there was water around, Caligo would just regenerate. How do you fight something like that?!

"Come out and face me!" Nightshade yelled out.

"/Oh/? /Eager/ /for/ /a/ /fight/, /and/ /yet/, /he/ /could/ /not/ /defend/ /himself/ /from/ /his/ /own/ /brother/. /Face/ /it/, /little/ /prince/. /You/ /are/ /weak/. /I/ /can/ /feel/ /your/ /fear/. /Wielding/ /a/ /weapon/ /of/ /a/ /civilisation/ /beyond/ /your/ /own/ /does/ /not/ /make/ /you/ /strong/, /does/ /it/?~"

Nightshade turned around, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. He couldn't fight an enemy he couldn't see. Besides, Caligo was right. He isn't strong. He could've been killed, by his own brother no less, and he hadn't been able to defend himself! He held his lightsaber in front of him and prepared his defense. The least he could do was stall for time and hope either Error could find him, or the water demon grows bored.
"What do you want from me?"

No answer.

"Why did you bring me here?!"

Still no answer.

'Ugh, he's just toying with me,' he thought. He tried to summon a portal to leave, but a spire of ice erupted at his feet. He leaped out of the way, and regained his footing rather easily, despite the slippery ice.

"/Oh/, /you/ /are/ /not/ /allowed/ /to/ /leave/, /little/ /prince/. /That/ /would/ /ruin/ /the/ /fun/~"

"Ugh, just leave me alone!"

"/Hmm/. /How/ /about/ /no/?"

"Let me out!"

"/Never/~"
Caligo's laugh sent chills up Nightshade's spine, and he tried to cut his way through the icy walls. He was panicking, and the cold was starting to affect his judgement. What was the demon's game? Suddenly, dozens of spires shot up from the floor, creating a labyrinth of ice. A few paths were open in front of him, and the demon's voice rang out once again.

"/Choose/ /wisely/, /little/ /prince/," he mocked. "/If/ /you/ /don't/ /hurry/, /you/ /might/ /freeze/ /to/ /death/~"

Nightshade really didn't want to go along with his sick, twisted game, but if the demon was right, he had little choice. Hesitantly, he chose one of the pathways, shivering from the cold.

Meanwhile, with Error and Template....

The glitch yelled out in frustration. Curse those fucking assholes! He wasn't fast enough to save Nightshade, and those demons could be torturing him, again! He slowly turned toward Template, a very displeased scowl on his face. The artist gulped.

"U-uh, I swear I had nothing to do with that-"

"I know!" Error spoke lowly through gritted teeth. Now what does he do?
"You are coming with me, and we are gonna find Nightmare. But how....?"

They sat in silence for awhile before Error's face lit up with a twisted grin. Template gulped as the glitch stood up. A portal opened up, and Error walked through it, dragging the still captive Template in with him. Error chuckled darkly as he surveyed the unsuspecting AU he was about to destroy.
"This will lure out those goody two-shoes Ink and Dream."

He moved his free hand, and a dozen gaster blasters the size of minivans appeared, readying their magic. Template tried to look away, but he couldn't. Tears welled up in his eyesockets as the blasters let loose their searing hot, white beams. The city below, once happy and full of life and beauty, was razed to ashes in a flash of white. Screams of fear and sorrow wafted up to the hill the two skeletons were on, and Template closed his eyesockets in pain. This is why he hated Pale so much. The soulless monster would regularly deal out such destruction without caring how it affects the inhabitants. Some of his best friends' AUs had been destroyed by Pale, and Template lost many more friends to the emotionless destroyer. It's why he took up the mantle of Protector of AUs; to stop Pale and his destructive and careless ways.

Anger swelled up in the artist's chest as his breathing quickened. He opened his eyes and glared harshly at his counterpart.

Error smirked when he looked back at Template, finding his expression amusing.
"Aww, did I make the widdle baby cwy? Hahahahahahaha! These pieces of filth you call AUs don't deserve to exist.

Template shook from anger with each word said, but that at that last part, he snapped.
"THEY SHOULDN'T EXIST???!!!" he shrieked. "IF THEY SHOULDN'T EXIST, THEN NEITHER SHOULD YOU, YOU FREAK!!!!!"

Error growled and abruptly tightened his strings around Template, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Tch, loud, annoying, little glitch."
He would've continued, had a voice not interrupted him.

"Error."

He snapped his head in the direction of the voice and snarled. Behind him, Dream and that group of skeletons had gathered, looking ready for a fight.

"So nice of you to ruin my parade, dipshits," he said sarcastically.

"Error, where is Nightshade?"

"Who?"

A skeleton resembling Nightshade marched right up to Error, completely ignoring his friends' protests.
"You know who, moron! He looks like me!"

Admittedly, Error was surprised how closely this skeleton resembled Nightshade. A navy blue blush spread across his cheekbones before he could stop it, but he quickly shook it off. He glared down at the skeleton, then back at Dream.
"Well, if Nightmare is this Nightshade person, who is this?"

"My name is Lunar."

"Whatever. And I was about to ask you idiots where he is, seeing as how you all are such buddy-buddies with Baron and his assholes."

"You saw them?!" Dream asked. If Baron is still somehow involved, Nightshade couldn't be in that much trouble, could he?

Error growled.
"That son of a bitch Caligo jumped in out of nowhere and snagged Nightmare. And no, I'm never calling him 'Nightshade.' Stupid fucking nicknames..."

"But he might get mixed up with me!"

"No. You're Lunar. You said so yourself."

Before Lunar could rip Error's arms off,

(Nights: Or die trying-
Me: Shush, he's got plot armor.
Nights: But Error doesn't know that.
Me: Exactly)

Switch picked him up and carried him over to a safe distance. Error glared at the Criss lookalike, but didn't attempt to attack. He reminded himself that wasn't his Nightmare. He had to get his Nightmare back before he could suffer any more. He rolled his eyelights when he heard another portal open behind him. Turning around, he spoke.

"Oh goodie. Idiot artist number two has... arrived?"

The skeleton that had stepped out was not, in fact, Ink. Rather, it was a tar-covered skeleton wearing a golden circlet and a grim scowl. He glared at Error, then turned his attention to Dream and the others.
"So this is why I could feel unnatural amounts of positivity and negativity in one place."

Dream stared in disbelief at the sight before him; here was his body, formerly a ray of sunshine a hope for those who needed it, now corrupted with darkness. His left eyesocket was dripping the substance and seemed unusable, while the right burned with a sickly yellow glow. Not only had his body changed, but his clothes, too, had somehow been affected. Kinda strange, considering Nightshade's outfit never really changed. His circlet once had soft swirls meeting in the middle; now they were sharp and pointed, and probably could cut you if you brushed your finger against one. His old, tattered jacket seemed to have repaired itself, leaving a high collar and a sweeping coattail. Kinda made him look like a dark nobleman, maybe even a prince. The belt he wore on his waist used to read DS; now, the letters had sharpened like his circlet, and had been reversed, reading SD.

(Me: Quick sidenote, this is not Swapped!Dream.
Nights: *gasp* Plot twist!
Me: I said he's not Swad!
Nights: But imagine the possibilities...
Me: No! Bad! Go to horny jail!
Nights: If I'm going down, you're coming with me!
Me: *screams in sinner*)

Terror followed behind him, an excited grin on his face. Seems this situation doesn't faze him. At least, it wouldn't if he hadn't spotted Error. Seeing the glitch made his childish smile disappear. If he was an actual child, the scowl on his face might've been cute. As an adult, it made him look downright frightening.

The skeletons all stared at each other, seemingly deciding how to break the silence. Error, unfortunately, had the audacity to break it.
"So, there's two Dreams? Why do you- wait a second..."
He looked between the two positive guardians, slowly connecting the dots. Suddenly, his eyesockets widened wildly in realization, and he turned to Solar.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

Summoning a blaster, he aimed it at Solar. In response, Terror jumped to attack the glitch. A few strings caught him, but it was enough of a distraction for Solar to get out of Error's range of fire. This landed him right next to Dream.

"Where's your brother?" Solar asked his counterpart.

"Even if I knew," Dream snarled. "I wouldn't tell you! All you want to do is kill him, and I cannot allow that to happen."

"But without his influence, the multiverse would be safer and better off. People would be happy!"

"But that's just it! I wouldn't be happy if my brother died, so that end wouldn't be worth it!"

As the argument continued, a portal appeared on the top of the building behind the battle. Out fell Ink. He got up, dusted himself off, and looked down at his buddies from the roof. Now this was his type of entertainment! He sat at the edge of the roof and watched Error fight off Terror while keeping Template captive, as well as Dream argue with Solar.

'Heh, they look like they could start pulling each other's arms off,' he thought with a grin. 'Wonder what will happen next?'

-----------------------------------------------------------

So, my parents go off on a business trip.
My brother requests I go get him donuts.
He specifically asks for lemon-filled ones.
I don't get them.
He pays me for a whole box of the Bavarian Cream ones I get, anyway.

Next disaster:
I get Boston Cream donuts for myself for breakfast on workdays.
Nothing happens.
I give my siblings the jelly-filled donuts.
Nothing happens.
My parents come home late. I wake up and think: Everything's fine.
I go down to eat breakfast.

O n e  o f  m y  B o s t o n  C r e a m ,  C h o c o l a t e  f r o s t e d ,  r a i n b o w  s p r i n k l e d  d o n u t s  i s  m i s s i n g .

mY HOUSE IS FULL OF PIRANHAS AAAAAAAAAAA-

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and my rant. Cya!