Blue had been left bedridden for days after the unfortunate incident, curling in on himself as he often hurled into a container kept near the bed for the first day. Life, Nightmare and Dream hovered over him as they had to take out the rejected magic personally, though he could hear them murmuring about changes. The vagueness terrified Blue, and he knew they sensed it, both twins comforting him constantly.

What scared him the most was how he was utterly blind at first, feeling his sockets wide open yet nothing illuminating his mind.

Everyone visited him at least once, but their visitations were tainted by unease from many due to the fact that their precious little berry was hurt and listless. That part crushed him inside.
So to make up for his blindness, he stretched out his mind to sense the world around him, which wasn't too bad. He still couldn't see, but it was close enough to visual stimulus. He could practically overlap it on top of his normal sight.

The third day, he was finally able to sit up and move around, which led to the discovery of claws on his phalanges, and the fact that he couldn't retract his fangs, which were out and noticeably present. It bothered him, but not nearly so much as the constant pressure in his tailbone. It actually ached sometimes, making him feel irritable- which he never gave into. Blue couldn't bear to be cross with anyone when they had done nothing wrong. He didn't even blame Draco, the skeledragon wasn't thinking straight and had been fretting for a while- that led to him thinking he had no other choice. Not the most brilliant decision on his part.

It was when the three gods decided to combine their power in a new attempt to fully reverse the effects of the mana poisoning did he get his sight back, though it was not the same as before. He could still 'see' the glow of life all around, like it was a filter placed over everything. Blue could see the brilliance pouring out of the twins, god of Life and Death as he hovered in the corner, each god carrying a different signature, yet in the case of Nightmare and Dream, the differences were nearly indecipherable.
But beyond that, his eyelights were permanently ice blue with streaks of white running through them.

He was okay with that.

What he absolutely wasn't okay with was how his magic was unresponsive at times. He'd returned to his studies beside Eragon, now crippled in his own way. He was perfectly fine after a week, aside from his fangs permanently on display and his phalanges tipped- the tailbone pain he could ignore- but when he reached to pick up a pitcher in Oromis's hut with blue magic, it spluttered and he dropped it, unable to sustain his power. By then Blue broke down sobbing, unable to cope with the idea of losing such a part of him.

Oromis was kind to him, but had Blue training as normal as soon as he was ready, only changing the regimen when his magic was suddenly inaccessible to him.
That alone sent Blue to a dark place. A monster without magic was a bird without wings or beak.

If it weren't for the unending kindness of those around him, Blue understood that he would have Fallen Down.
The thought scared him.
To leave the world without him at such a crucial time, with everything in the balance? To leave his brother? His friends still left in the Multiverse? How could he ever do that to them?
So he summoned up what little Determination he had and kept going, refusing to give in to the obstacle as the elves' celebration drew closer.
Blood-Oath Celebration.
Agaetí Blödhren.

He set to work on something of his own to present there with what little control he had left, red glimmering in his bleached eyelights as he relied on Determination.
This little gift was something he hid from everyone else, a surprise waiting to be unveiled.

At the same time as all of these preparations, Blue came to enjoy much of the time spent in the city of elves, Arya would come and guide them around the capital, showing both him and Eragon many things and people. She even took them to concerts, bringing one of the Wyrdaí Islingrya with her as well, though it was more often than not Spacey that joined them, as well as Orik or Maud the werecat.
By this point, the Apple Twins had taken to doing it as well, occasionally catching Arya and acting totally surprised until it stopped being so unexpected.
Blue would grin as he saw how their auras- as what he called the light he could now see pouring off of them and suffusing the air- writhed and hung around her in thick curtains when she was near. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he knew.

Hanging out with friends helped lift both Blue's and Eragon's spirits like nothing else, and he loved it so much, Blue managed to convince them to stay over one night, gathering ingredients for a blueberry pot pie from Life and baking it. When his magic faltered as he was lifting it out of the oven, he nearly cracked yet again, but GB had thankfully been present and caught it for him, the dish hovering with the magic he shared a name with. The skeleblaster had avoided using his skeleton form most of the time, but that was a day he'd spent close to Blue, watching over the normally energetic skeleton.

He was struggling to stay chipper with his infirmity affecting him like this.
Blue wasn't expecting himself to be harmed in this way, but in the end it felt poetic.
But he had to stay strong, for himself and everyone else.

Something he often didn't notice until he had a moment to reflect was the strange bubble that hung in the back of his consciousness. It wasn't really obvious, and it really just felt like it was another mind with primitive emotions, not even capable of coherent thought. At first he worried it was some connection that appeared between him and Draco since the incident, but it was soon clear that this was not a bond to Draco's mind.
So for the life of him, Blue couldn't understand what it was.

Until he started humming for himself one day, GB curled up on the pad behind him in the study as he read a scroll. It was a perfectly casual setting that was abruptly shattered by the sound of a second, wobbling and faint note joining the first.

Blue felt himself locking up, scroll falling from his hands as he felt the vibration of another, tiny Soul singing close to his. GB's skull had shot up in alarm as well, hearing it and knowing full well it hadn't originated from himself.

With shaky hands, Blue summoned his Soul, only to freeze yet again at the sight of it.
The aura around it was supposed to be a light blue, but it was yellowed with streaks of royal blue emanating from the now parasitic unformed Soul that had latched onto his.
His first thought was to curse himself for not checking his own Soul sooner for anything wrong, but that was immediately drowned out by the horror of what this meant.

The weak Souling that he had seen had apparently attached to his Soul to stay alive, transforming into a sort of parasite. He only knew this because it compared to old folklore in his AU of skeletons who couldn't safely carry children, so the partner would try to transfer the Souling to themselves out of desperation... and the unborn child would instead become a parasite of the parent.
"Blue.." GB murmured.
"I know." He choked, before speaking softly. "Does Draco know."
"I... think a part of him does, but he's in denial."
"How do we tell him."
"I don't think we safely can."
"So what? We wait for him to find out the hard way? When his own child is stillborn and turns to dust in front of him?" His voice was cold and dead, words halting and broken. "Did I kill one of your children?"

GB tensed up at the question, warbling under his breath in fear. "It wasn't your fault. It was already dying." He eventually spoke, avoiding Blue's intense, whitish eyelights.
"What do we do." He changed the subject, not wanting to hurt his friend more than he already did.
"I don't know. There were always doctors that dealt with these things, and healers.. we can't go to Life, you know her stance on living things." The skeleblaster said quickly, looking to be on the verge of a panic attack.
"Then we go to Nightmare and Dream." Blue asserted, standing. He peered back at his Soul, seeing the smaller light pulsing alongside it. A part of him broke in that moment. A tear slid down his face, landing on the already lost Souling. It peeped innocently in response.

The sound of a weight collapsing on the floor drew his attention back to the present. GB was laying on the floor, sockets wide and blank as his front talons seemed to knead the air subconsciously. ".. GB?"
A crack sounded from the dragonic skeleton. His voice suddenly pressed on Blue's mind.
You're going to have to go without me, I think I felt a crack.
It took a second to sink in. "Now?? But-" Blue cut off, thoughts swirling wildly.
"Do you need Life? A healer?"
It fucking hurts! GB snarled before he twitched. But in case she knew this whole time and protected it, then I could probably be a great distraction while you get heLP- His voice shot up an octave as he yelped.

"Eragon! Saphira!" Blue ended up shouting. The human was already at the top of the stairs. "I heard GB crying out in pain- what's wrong with him?" Blue spun and grabbed him by both shoulders. "I need you to get Life right now. He needs her. No one else. He needs that goddess." He shook Eragon slightly. "Please." He added, trying to preserve his old personality. "You can probably find her in her gardens- but if you find one of the other gods please let me know- I'm looking for Dream and Nightmare."

"But what's wrong with him?" Eragon lowered his voice after GB exploded with a shriek. Blue glanced at his friend, who killed his skull to the side and gave him a blank expression.
"Eragon.. he asked me to keep it secret, but now it can't be hidden any longer. He's pregnant."
The human deadpanned as it set in. "But.. how.." "There's no time, we need you to get Life over here immediately- and don't tell her I've left! I'll explain later, but you need to listen to me. Please and thank you."

He didn't wait for a response, Blue just turned, nodded at GB, and leapt out the open window, falling about a hundred feet before stopping himself with blue magic and landing on wobbly legs. It was only after he took off running that he realized how risky that was without full control of his magic.
It was too late now. He zoomed towards Tialdarí Hall, remembering where the Twins stayed. He silently prayed that they were there before he tripped over himself realizing he could just contact them.
Oh, he felt like an idiot.

He raked his eyelights around the place, getting a bearing on the faint wisps of their presence before closing his sockets, shutting out the normal world and delving into the nearest vein, which was flowing upwards inside a pine tree. It gave him something to lean on as he gathered his wits and finally spoke.
Dream. Nightmare. I need to talk to you.

It's the Souling, isn't it. Nightmare responded after a moment.
You knew?
We did, but Life never let us do anything about it!
Can you do anything while she's distracted? I.. can't let this continue. It's going to kill me.
Can you reach the Menoa?
I believe I can.
Then hurry. We have a plan, but it involves Reaper and we have to get him.
I'll be right there... thank you.
I'm sorry we couldn't do anything sooner.. it kills us both to see you so miserable.
Well we can work on fixing this. Blue told him. I hate moping around like this.

He disconnected, and was running again, pirouetting around a stone here and racing around a tree trunk there, leaping clear over streams as he raced through Ellesméra, Soul pounding steadily as he made his way to his goal.
It wasn't long until Blue burst into the clearing surrounding the gigantic Menoa Tree, lights decorating it's branches. He nearly cried out as all of his forward momentum was jolted to a stop by a tentacle grabbing him and holding him in the air. "Nightmare?"
The Guardian of Negativity gazed at him forlornly, before letting out a deep sigh.
"I think we both know it's better you were asleep for what we are about to do."

The magic began seeping into him, clouding his senses as Blue hesitated.
"I... yes, Nightmare. It probably is." He hung his skull as he gave in, not wanting to fight against his own healing.
His Soul let out a final note, saying goodbye to the companion it never knew it had until minutes ago.
A tear slid down his face as the smaller gave a squeak in return. No. He didn't want to be conscious when they did this.

Nightmare stared at the limp skeleton before him, still touched by the sadness that had radiated from him in his last moments of awareness. He glanced to the side as vine-covered arms wrapped around him from behind.
"He was so mournful.." "I know, Dream."

There was a moment of silence as they thought, the God of Death hovering patiently a dozen feet away.
"You need to rest for this, Brother." Nightmare murmured, lowering Blue to the ground. "I know, but.." Dream squeezed him tighter, breathing shakily.
"You need a hug." Nightmare noted. The lighter nodded into his shoulder.
Negative sighed, curling his tentacles around Dream as the other timidly reached out with his vines.
"I would say take your time, but that is currently of the essence."

Dream mumbled softly, tightening his grip as their extra appendages merged, his mind slipping into Nightmare's as his Soul nestled beside the darker's. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓽. 𝓔𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓼.. 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓑𝓵𝓾𝓮.
𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔩𝔢𝔱'𝔰 𝔥𝔲𝔯𝔯𝔶 𝔲𝔭 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔭 𝔥𝔦𝔪, 𝔟𝔢𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔬𝔴 𝔠𝔩𝔬𝔰𝔢𝔰. ℜ𝔢𝔪𝔢𝔪𝔟𝔢𝔯, 𝔡𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔰𝔞𝔶 𝔞𝔫𝔶𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔦𝔱. 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔬 𝔴𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰.
..𝓨𝓮𝓼... Dream sighed, having to settle within another body once again, Soul humming as Nightmare beckoned for Reaper to come closer, the God of Death looking positively unsettled by what he'd just witnessed.

Branches curled around the sleeping figure that was Blueberry, pulling out his Soul and flipping it over to reveal the misbegotten parasite attached to it.
"Man.. you know this is still pretty diy of a procedure, right?" He asked, hesitant to act.
"We don't have time for you to be stalling." They explained severely, voice strained as they addressed him.
"Okay.. okay..." Reaper shivered, rolling his shoulders before reaching out nervously, phalange trembling slightly as he barely tapped the Soul parasite. It suddenly screeched, a sound like a chime mixed with metal being ripped as it's protective outer layer dissolved. The skeleton encased in branches gasped softly in his sleep, the light fading slightly as the Soul's natural blue aura returned, the dying disease collapsing in on itself, before suddenly seeping into the Soul itself.

"Wait it's not supposed to do that." Reaper deadpanned. The treeskeleton gaped slightly before activating their power, drawing out the mana before it could do damage, but it resisted, instead fleeing into the host Soul, coloring it with shades of bleached yellow. Blue writhed in place, sensing something amiss while unconscious. Reaper suddenly backed away, afraid.

Without warning, Blue arched his spine, going rigid as the magic infected him, seizing. The Twins started panicking, not letting it show as they continued pulling at the poison, only managing to remove a small fraction before the rest of it escaped, swirling around inside its host dangerously. It then weakened, unable to keep itself together inside, dissolving into the magic it had just saturated.
"Shit."

A strangled noise came out of Blue's throat as the Soul snapped back to it's protective cage, activating as it became aware of danger. "Nononononono-" They panicked, minds whirling as they processed possibilities and loopholes to work around this.
But instead, flames gathered around them, and a voice spoke.
"I think I can help."

. • ° . • ° . • ° . • °. • ° . • °

Blue strode to Eragon's side and stood there, beaming at the sight of GB curling around four bluish white eggs. His hope was soaring, as he'd teleported here. Never in all his life did he imagine he'd be so grateful for the ability to teleport, yet here he was.
Life had already left, apparently hearing the call of more lives coming into the new world.
Blue had a sneaking suspicion of who it was.

No, he didn't hate the Toriel for allowing the curse to grow within him. It was her nature to protect all that was living, and technically, it had still been a living thing.
What pained him was the fact that it was gone.
It didn't deserve to die before it could live.
But it was never going to live.
His smile faltered.

"Blue?" Eragon noticed him. GB cracked open an eyesocket. Did it work?
He crouched down and peered at the eggs, not ready to use his voice yet.
The shells were clearly bone, a thin layer of magic coating them in a barrier, the younglings inside slumbering.
"Are you alright?" Eragon asked.
He blinked, giving GB a soft look before speaking. "I'm okay." He turned and smiled at the human. "I'm really good." He stood up and hugged the other. "And I have a feeling that you're going to be alright, too."

"Thank you, but I don't see what's got your spirits up so suddenly." To this, Blue couldn't help but giggle, stepping away and summoning a dozen bone attacks and spinning them around.
"You've recovered?"
"YES!" He exploded, attacks dissipating as he grabbed the human by the shoulders and swung him around, laughing joyously. Eragon chuckled at the infectious nature of the other before asking. "What caused your infirmity, anyway?"

Blue paused, hesitating as he set the Rider back on his feet. "It.. It was a parasite." He admitted quietly, looking away. "Like Fresh?"
He stiffened. "No! Not at all! Fresh is unique."
"Where did it come from, then?" Eragon prompted.
"The incident."
"What exactly happened in that incident? You never told me what happened."
Blue rubbed an arm nervously. "I don't want to talk about that."
Eragon sighed, hobbling over to the chair and sitting down. "Well, how about how they killed it?"
Skeleton shrugged. "I didn't want to know. I was asleep during the procedure."
"My bad."
"It's nothing, I understand your curiosity."

Blue leaned against the desk beside Eragon as they both studied GB's new eggs. The skeleblaster smiled at them.
I'll be honest, I didn't expect eggs. From Draco, maybe, but me? No.... Wow, I'm actually like a dragon. He nuzzled one of them. Do you think they can remain in stasis until He is dead? He quested thoughtfully as Saphira arrived at the vestibule, crawling inside and peering at the eggs with wide eyes.

"I think we'll need to ask Master Oromis for the answer to that. Or Life. They both seem like they would know. If not, we could try to enchant them to stay in until it's time, if at all possible." Blue explained. GB snorted. I just hope it won't do anything to them. His tail wrapped around the eggs and a soft sigh blew out of him. Who's going to call for Draco? Because I'm not moving..

Blue straightened. "I don't mind. Should I tell Master Oromis as well?"
Sure.
The skeleton grinned and leapt out the window for the second time that day, teleporting away before he hit the ground.

He found himself outside the cave Draco had been using during their time here, only to be hit with the sound of feral hissing.
"Draco?!"
The skeledragon blinked, eyelights glowing fierce blue and yellow before softening. He seemed to flinch at the sight of Blue.
What are you doing here? Dauthíblakka is not as well as he seems. Glaedr's voice caught him off guard, and he turned around to see the massive one curled around the entrance of the cave, one of his claws only a foot behind him.

"My bad, I should have expected Draco to have his children at the same time."
Same time? Same- The skeledragon scrambled to his feet, grunting and rasping as his talons scraped against the stones beneath him. Where? How far along- "It's already over. He has four eggs that he wants to protect, which is why he wanted to find Master Oromis as well. He doesn't want them hatching until Galbatorix is out of the picture."
Draco stared at him intensely from within the darkness of the cave, flames flashing from his eyelights as sparks fell free of his jaws.

A soft growl left his parted teeth and Draco slowly sat back down, curling his tail around something beside him. Eggs. And an elf looking over them quietly.
"Master Oromis!" Blue perked up, heading over as he kept a wary eyelight on the skeledragon watching from close by.
"Uniter." The Rider acknowledged him, but continued to regard the eggs, mindful of Draco as he watched them. The elf murmured spells under his breath, stiff as he disregarded a blackened egg with streaks of blue. Something about it called out to Blue's attention.

He reached over carefully, staring at Draco as the skeledragon snorted at him, before laying down, his skull ever so close to his brood. Blue took it to mean he was okay with him touching it. He traced the side of it with his phalanges, before blinking in memory.
This was the egg holding the fleshy dragonet. It may be completely opaque, but he could feel that it was the same one.
Yet it was dead.
He could see the lack of a Soul inside it, only residual magic holding it together. Blue drew back his hand, staring at the dark egg in comparison to the vibrant, glowing brood surrounding it, young Souls shining within them.
"Draco, I.." His words died on his tongue.

What.
He met eyelights with the skeletal dragon. "You know something's off with this one."
That one is going to grow up a beautiful and magnificent dragon. Draco promptly said. Blue blinked, seeing Oromis give him a look out the corner of his socket. His Soul twisted at the deceptively peaceful look on the other's face. His very aura radiated joy for his little ones.
Blue couldn't- he couldn't break it to him. He looked away, instead staring at the egg whose Soul was taken from it before it was even born.

He blamed himself.
After all, not too long ago he'd just been the carrier of the Soul that was supposed to reside in this egg.
Now, if anything of it was left, it was probably part of him now.
His hands froze at the thought.

Without really thinking about it, Blue slowly slide his phalanges beneath the egg, lifting the surprisingly dense thing up and drawing it towards himself, sitting down and placing it in his lap, stroking it absently as he leant it some of his energy. Blue's eyesockets slid closed so he could better witness the mana flow into the egg and illuminate the body curled inside.
He felt it more than saw it.
A twitch.
He felt it shift as his magic flowed inside it.

Blue gasped, eyelights darting to the teacher beside him. Oromis regarded him solemnly, face a mask. If he was going to give answers, it was not here, not now.
Steeling his nerves, Blue let his power envelop the undead thing.
It may not be alive as it should be, but that was something they could work on later.
Maybe it will grow up big and beautiful.
Perhaps he wasn't thinking straight, mind still full of excitement and joy after being freed of his burden, the unbearable weight of unreliable magic- but he was already fantasizing about how he could save the child who's Soul had been lost.

A faint part of his mind told him this was a bad idea... but he was listening to the Wyrda, the sea that dwelt within all of the Wyrdaí Islingrya, the Fated Illuminators.
It was telling him yes. It was whispering that it would be good for the future..
He trusted it.

"Draco... can I protect this egg for you?" Blue found himself offering.