((Decided to be extra nice and give you a chapter early! Warning though, it is a bit cringy in my opinion...))

One day, Eragon returned to the hut from his hour of meditation and spoke. "Master, I have done as you told me to. I listened until I heard no more." Blue faced him curiously as he stopped at the door, ready to take the human's place as had been the schedule. Oromis considered the words, then said. "Tell me."

For more than an hour, Eragon went on and on about the lives and attributes of every plant and animal within the glade of the stump, smiling like one would when talking about their own family. He told the tales of the creatures, the omnipresence of the plants, the thoughts or animals and impulses of insects.
Until Oromis stopped him with a hand.
"I am convinced; you have heard all there was to hear. But did you understand it all?"
"No, Master."

"That is as it should be. Comprehension will come with age…. Well done, Eragon-finiarel. Well done indeed. If you were my student in Ilirea, before Galbatorix rose to power, you would have just graduated from your apprenticeship and would be considered a full member of our order and accorded the same rights and privileges as even the oldest Riders."
Oromis slowly heaved himself to his feet. "Uniter, go to the glade and meditate as planned. Eragon, lend me your shoulder and help me outside. My limbs betray my will."

Hesitating, Blue watched as Eragon helped Oromis out of the hut, feeling a strange sense of sadness. Then he sighed, putting up his supplies and merely teleporting to the clearing. He stared at the stump blankly.
Why am I hurt like this? Blue pondered.
Eragon has achieved something amazing! So… why am I sad..?

He sat down on the aged wood, drumming his phalanges on the dead material as he pondered.
…. I'm afraid of being left behind. He slowly realized.
They wouldn't do that. I'm included with them. We're included. Aren't we? He patted his sternum thoughtfully, considering the dragonchild in his Soul.
He only felt a spike of fear.
…
I need to catch up. I'm somehow behind, I need to get ahead again. He concluded, shaking his skull to dismiss his pounding Soulbeat.
Working out the kinks in his neck vertebrae, Blue slowly forced himself to relax, his bones cracking as he let his half-form out, tail slapping the wood as it elongated.
Curling up on the stump, Blue kneaded the air as his mind spread out through the glade, emptying of thought as he both focused and unfocused, drifting in the currents as his sockets slid shut, leaving him with nothing but the energy and auras and minds of the world.

When he finally returned to himself, Blue curled up in a tight ball, utterly disappointed in himself for not doing any better than before.
He'd experienced no changes for several weeks and now Eragon had gotten past him, and was likely to leave him behind.
The possibility terrified him.
He didn't want to be left here.
He didn't want to be lesser.
Blue struggled to hold back tears.

A croak from inches away from his skull startled Blue from his mind. He flinched, turning around to see.. a Froggit. A grey, shimmering shadow of a Froggit, but one of the frog monsters nonetheless. He could see the vivid aura of Horror's magic enshrouding it as it croaked at him.
It turned and hopped off the stump, waving a foreleg for Blue to follow.

Forgetting his previous state, Blue sat up in curiosity, staring as it hopped away.
.."Wait, come back." He called out, still in a half dragonic form.
It glanced back at him, waving impatiently.
Blue scrambled to his feet, stumbling as he made to catch up. The toad proceeded to hop off, moving faster and faster as he got closer, it's form blurring and turning to smoke in it's speed. He briefly wished he'd learned frogspeak when he had the chance, but brushed the thought aside as he ran.

He only slowed in his pursuit of the froggit when he realized he heard voices.
Dozens of voices.
Maybe even a hundred or so.
They all drifted in the wind, like the murmurs of echo flowers in a acoustic cavern. They whispered as though caught on the rivulets of moving water. They faded in and out like they were spoken down a long, long tube.
Yet all the same he could hear them.

Blue had heard something like this before.
When Horror touched his mind, with his new, changed consciousness.
It sent shivers down his spine just remembering that.
The froggit reappeared, deadpanning at him.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I was just surprised by the sounds of others." He explained.
The froggit blinked.
Oh right.. he doesn't know Wingdings. Blue had to stop himself from facepalming.

The toad warbled like it was saying "Come on", turning around and jumping slower, looking back to make sure he followed.
I wonder why he's doing this.. and where exactly he's taking me. Blue pondered to himself.
The answer didn't seem much clearer as he spotted more of the spirits, just acting normal as they walked around, chatting with each other and exploring the area, which was full of granite slabs jutting out of the earth.
There was a solid figure on top of one particular precipice, laying like a cat with a few limbs hanging down the edge, precariously close to falling off, yet perfectly stable all the same.
Blue recognized Horror's expansive, strangely vivid aura that was spreading out throughout the entire clearing, almost like a bubble.

The froggit brought him to the base of another rock, the only one with a slope that led safely to the top of the tallest boulder. It faced him then, cocking it's head to the side as it's beady eyes studied him.
Blue peered up at Horror's seemingly sleeping form.
He pointed at him, looking at the toad.

It croaked at him, then leapt at Blue with a squeal. He flinched in surprise, only for it to pass straight through his ribs as a cold, tickling sensation flooded his Soul. Blue doubled over, shocked by the feeling.
Blue coughed, shaking as he sensed the layers of Horror's mana curling around his Soul, tingling as it passed through his bones.

He saw you upset and asked you to take me to him. A rather nasally voice spoke in his mind.
You're in me! Blue exclaimed.
Neither of us could understand each other otherwise. You clearly don't know freidgitten and I don't know any skeletongue. The ghost explained.
.. Freidgitten?
The name of the froggit speech.
Oh. If that's the case, the word for ours is Wingdings. Blue informed it.
I never thought I'd learn something like that about skeletons! The froggit chirped. But can you hurry? I was trying to find something cool I've only heard about.
I'm sorry. Blue apologized as he started making his way up the stone. But why?
I don't know, I just want to hurry!

Now a little awkward, Blue scrambled up the slope and found a semi comfortable spot beside Horror.
"Horror.. did you really bring me here?" He asked, confused. The froggit that had somehow gotten inside his Soul seemed to mutter something, it's voice suddenly too muddled to be comprehensible.
The broken skeleton shifted with a quiet sigh, twitching.
"Horror?" Blue was confused, the froggit still murmuring- it suddenly occurred to him that it may be able to communicate with Horror via thoughts.

The other suddenly rolled over, sockets closed as his hand suddenly clasped around Blue's radius. "Horror, that's me! Can you let me go? And maybe explain why I'm here when I should technically return to Master Oromis?"

His eyesockets snapped open. Blue couldn't react. He only had time to notice that Horror's eyelights were a myriad of vivid, maddening colors with red flames producing blue and grey smoke before the other took ahold of his Soul with blue magic, forcing it out before Blue could make a sound and suddenly his jaws were in the space his Soul had been.
Blue choked as he felt the very core of his being get shoved down the broken skeleton's throat, Horror grabbing him in a rough hug as suddenly the bright, white, red and blue tinted Soul was forced into his ribcage.
The force and suddenness of the actions knocked Blue unconscious.

. • ° . • ° . • ° . • °

He glared at the spirit in front of him furiously, red and blue smoke billowing from his mouth and nose cavity, bloody flames flickering in his sockets.
"Why."
The ghost looked away, at the sleeping form in his arms.
"Part of me wanted to know what it felt like."
"And the rest of you?"
"He was miserable! I heard it from Enheir! Isn't that what you do? Save the broken?"

"Number one." He stood up angrily, ignoring the frantic pulsing inside of him. "He was upset. That doesn't mean his whole life is hell! I helped those with insufferable lives, Doggo! Number two, out of ALL the monsters I've EVER KNOWN, Blue is the happiest I've ever seen in my life, excluding Papyrus! How could you do that to my friend? Try to take him away from his good life simply because you wanted to know what it felt like? What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"But Sans, it's what you do. You give us life through yourself, why wouldn't he want that too? You're denying his ultimate purification!" The dog grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking frantically as a fevered gleam took ahold of his eyes.
Horror stared at him for a long minute.

"I should have known better. You're still insane." He spoke softly, brushing the paws off and stepping away.
"You need to know better, Doggo."
"Please. Let him live. We can all enjoy the freedom together."
"You know I'm the reason for your freedom. I could just as well punish you for what you've done." He warned, shooting him a look as he reached under his ribcage and gripped his own spine. The dog quailed under the gaze, tears staining his fur, leaking from his red eyes.

Horror just turned away from him, waiting for the ghost from his AU to wander off, somewhere else within this place. The dog stood there, breathing heavily, sometimes hitching.
He just watched as MK chased a Froggit, laughing as they weaved through the maze of granite slabs. A modicum of peace returned to him, the rims of the sphere encompassing the clearing softening from their previously jagged edges.
Doggo inevitably turned on his heel and ran away. Horror kept a mental note on where the monster was dashing off to, but left him alone as it became clear there was no particular destination in mind.

He doubled over and gagged suddenly, remembering what was fluttering inside himself. Horror edged away from the drop-off, not wanting to be seen by anyone in this moment. He retched over the rough granite, desperate to get it out. He could feel Blue's familiar magic seeping into his bones, a cool sensation that bloomed from within him. That scared him.
This shouldn't have happened.
He'd just wanted to help Blue.
The swap had helped him on so many occasions on so many levels back in the Multiverse, all without a thought to himself.
And the moment he tries to return the favor, he hurts him.

Tears dripped down his face as he was finally sick.
Horror coughed, shivering as he heaved, choking when it came up and lodged in his throat. Black was encroaching on the corners of his vision when the Soul didn't budge.
He wanted to scream.

Horror found himself collapsing on the ground, blind with a tearstained face.
A distant voice was calling out to him, his shoulders being shaken, but he couldn't tell what was doing that to him.
Horror you need to get up.
I can't.
Yes you can. Get up.
Why. I did this. I should have known, I could have stopped it, now Blue's dying before his time and it's my fault-
No, it isn't. You can't let someone else's decisions dictate who you are. I'm not dying just yet, I'm just as needed as you are. Now get up, Horror. I need your help.

He blinked. Blue was standing over him, but the other was greyed, a blue hue coloring his form, the blue seemingly originating from his eyelights, shimmering in waves as it radiated around him, stopped only by the reddish color of Horror's own magic. Only concern was gleaming in Blue's lights.
"Can you get up?"
"Blue.. oh God."
He shook his skull, shaking Horror slightly. "I don't know what happened, but I don't blame you. I can tell you didn't mean it. Now, stand up. Please."

He held out his hand, and Horror took it gently, surprised by how solid it was.
Then he realized blue magic was being used as a barrier for him to do so. Blue tugged him to his feet, and he tried to hug him. "I'm so sorry, I just wanted to talk to you, I never meant for Doggo to-" "It's fine." Blue held up a hand. He smiled, turning and gesturing to the floor. His body was there, still in it's semi-dragonic state. "It's a strange little out-of-body experience, but I know if that's still there and I'm still here, I know I'll be okay. I'm not dead."

Horror stammered momentarily, then looked away. "I put.. my Soul in your ribs because I thought it'd slow it down." He muttered. Blue gazed thoughtfully upward. "I think I can feel it. But where's mine?"
Horror winced. "I.. can't feel it."
Blue blanked for a moment, eyesockets dark.
"I'm so sorry, I should have known, Doggo was always kinda off-" Blue raised a hand, silencing him. The energetic skeleton gave him a sympathetic look, approaching him.
"Hey. It's okay. Maybe you just need a little help." He gently wrapped his hands around one of Horror's. "I believe in you."
Tears the color of diluted blood sprung from his sockets. "I.. Blue.." "Just try."
"Why are you so sure-" "I can feel it. Wyrda. It's not my place yet." A sweet smile was directed at him. "You know?"

Horror couldn't look at him. "I can't.. really feel it like before. It's blocked by everyone else's thoughts." He gestured vaguely. "Are you really sure." Blue chuckled softly, inching closer for a hug. "Absolutely."

They now stood together, Blue hugging Horror tightly as he just choked on his breath, trying to restrain his tears for the berry. Horror slowly returned the embrace, but the action seemed to make Blue lose whatever non-existent solidity he had, passing into him without much more than a shocked gasp. Horror gasped himself, paralyzed by the feeling of Blue's cool mana in his bones, tingling like electricity as he lost control of his own body. He was mute, Blue's mind suddenly weighing on his own, thoughts darting about as he started to panic.

Blue?
I don't know what that was, it wasn't my intention to.. I don't know! Stars, I wanted to give you a hug, not.. "get under your skin"!

Horror relaxed then. It's okay. It happened with Ghost, too… it just didn't feel so cold. You chilled me to the bone.
That wasn't funny.
Felt pretty humerus to me.
Horror grinned internally as he felt his own foot stomp and a pout form on his face, only for it to fade as Blue seemed to realize what he just did.
Yeah, you're possessing me. How's it feel?

... I'm sorry.
Nah, maybe it'll help.
Help? How? I'm-
Well maybe you can find whatever's left of your Soul at the moment and go back to normal. I don't think you're stuck like the rest of my.. spirits, as you don't look like the rest of them. You're grey, and have a lot more of your magic left.
...Grey? But aren't all of your spirits grey?
What? They're all in color to me.
Oh. Well when I saw them they were like smoky shadows.
Huh. Must be me, then.

Blue hesitated, then stared at his body resting on the pebbly stone. Mind if I..?
Go ahead, I'm fine. Horror told him, delving into himself to find here his friend's Soul might be, if it wasn't fully dissolved. It was surprisingly difficult with the emptiness in his ribcage. He could feel his pulse separated from himself, beating within Blue's ribs. It was disconcerting as Blue sat down and pulled his own body into his lap.

It's so.. strange. Looking at my face.. or sort of my face. Blues traced the edge of the teeth. Can you feel that? If your Soul is in mine's place?
Do you want me to try? Horror countered. Blue blinked. What would happen if you spread your mind in my body? Could that help you find my Soul, wherever it is in yours?
Is that even a good idea? I could give you mana poisoning if this goes wrong and we succeed.
It's certainly better than being a ghost.
Horror had no rebuttal to that.
Do you know how to do it?
Yes, Blue…. I always did that when I killed someone or something.
… Oh.
Sorry.
No, that makes sense. Go ahead.

Horror paused, then slowly reached out to the prone figure technically resting in his lap. He touched where the mind should be and felt only echoes of consciousness, reverberating louder with his presence, perhaps sensing that the Soul was somewhere in him.
Then he suddenly opened his sockets, not sure when they'd closed.

Oh my gosh I was not expecting that. Blue choked mentally. Horror just blinked, mind slow to catch up.
His own face came into view, except his eyelights were seemingly stained with silvery white and blue.
Oh shit. He realized.
Blue nodded slowly with wide sockets.
I think we literally just performed the first ever body switch.
Horror suddenly burst out laughing at the realization before slapping his hands over.. Blue's hands? Either way, he shut up as he noticed how.. not himself it sounded.

Blue cringed. I don't even want to try talking if you sound like that with my voice.
No, try it. Blue, I wanna hear you talk in my voice, I swear.
Absolutely not. Blue pouted, glaring. Horror snickered at the look. Oh my God you make me look so stupid.

Blue gasped. How dare you! I'm the cute one, I'm not supposed to be scary!
Horror grinned, trying to look as unsettling as possible.
Blue deadpanned at him. I'm afraid you don't know how to make a dragon face spooky.
Oh, and you do?
Yes, because I've had it for weeks. That and I think I can just tell. He stared ahead blankly as he thought. Then his eyelights flashed excitedly. I can feel the dragonchild! Blue exclaimed.

Oh, you stopped sensing it? Horror sat up, ignoring the existence of Blue's tail.
Blue nodded, eyesockets closed as a frown tugged at him. He's scared. He murmured, suddenly not so cheerful.
What about your Soul? Is it with that? Horror asked.
...Yes? I think? It feels.. stretched thin, I can't feel all of i- Blue cut off, face slack.

Blue? Horror felt tense. What's wrong?
The other merely bent over, face scrunching up as his shoulders slumped. Horror reached out, growing ever more concerned. Blue, what's wrong? He questioned, lightly shaking (technically) his own shoulder to rouse him.

Then he felt it.
A stinging sensation in his own bones, currently possessed by the skeleton whose body Horror himself was currently possessing.
Actually thinking about it was baffling.
But either way, it felt as though his own marrow was being sucked out of himself. It was getting exceedingly more painful as it went on.
Blue what's happening..? He nearly fell forward before Blue caught him in a hug, leaving Horror to shiver at the terrible sensation of something akin to losing blood. He weakly grappled with the arms, losing his ability to control the body that wasn't his. What are you doing..?

He started losing consciousness as Blue started spasming. Wait, no… please! He begged silently, afraid of losing his friend for real.

. • ° . • ° . • ° . • °

Horror found himself gasping as he jolted awake, eyesockets wide as he choked on air. He stared up at the sky above as he struggled to process what happened.
Was.. was it all a dream? He wondered distantly.
No. A voice responded, a whisper in his mind. Horror blinked slowly as he returned to himself, a face resolving in his vision fuzzily.
"Blue!" He wheezed out in surprise, reaching up weakly. The Rider pushed his arm back down gently. "Don't. Save your energy, Horror. You're tired."
"I thought you were.." He trailed, confused.
Blue smiled softly. "I'm fine. More than fine. You, on the other hand, are not. You nearly lost all your strength and died- it's only through your friends you're even awake now." He explained carefully.

Horror stared in shock for a moment, voices rising up in his mind in agreement and worry.
"You need to be more careful.." Ghost murmured softly from the side. "It's more than yourself ya gotta worry about."
His breath hitched slightly at the realization. "I'm sorry.."
Blue shook his skull. "Don't be. None of us could have known." He chuckled a little. "But now we do know. So it's not happening again."

Horror smiled half-heartedly at him before thinking. He wet his teeth and inquired. "How are you, then?"
Blue's eyelights flashed silver and yellow as he grinned. "I'm.. aware. I can feel and see more- and I understand something I had been doing wrong in my own training…. I have you to thank for that."
"I pretty much killed you and you're saying thanks."

"It wasn't your fault, and you didn't- I think it was meant to happen. Wyrda works in strange ways, doesn't it?"
"I don't want it to be like Fate."
"You and I both know it's not. Now. Moving on from that topic, can you tell me where in Tialdarí Hall?"
"And you just happen to have the strength to go there?"
"Yes. I'm not putting you down unless it's in a bed, Horror. I'd watch you until you were better myself, but I have other duties.. unfortunately." He sighed, shaking his skull. "I suppose Life will be alright."
"...She screwed you over, Blue."
"You can't blame her for that one, it's her nature to protect, and she did have good intentions."
"You're asking me to trust her. Road to hell's paved with what again?"

Blue shot him a look. "No arguing with me! I have to return to Master Oromis and explain my absence!"
"Then go, I'm fi-" Horror was interrupted by a loud chorus outcry within his own skull, eyelights vanishing as the voices overwhelmed him. Blue grimaced as though aware of them as well.
"They agree with me." He stated.
"Unfortunately." Horror whispered with a groan.

Blue suddenly glanced to the side, making Horror tilted his skull back to see what he was looking at. Ghost was addressing the other, voice only a murmur drowned out by the multitude of voices within Horror's own consciousness. He gritted his teeth at his inability to distinguish between the skeletons and the community of monsters around them and held in his Soul.

Then Blue spoke up, addressing him. "Ghost here is willing to help get you home."
"Wait, how?" Horror questioned, confused.
"Well you're about to find out." Said spirit chuckled before holding out a hand to Blue. The energetic skeleton gave it a critical look. "Dude, I can't have a whoopie cushion." "I'm always suspicious." Blue muttered before taking ahold of it. There was a moment of silence before Ghost dissolved into smoke and washed over Blue.
Horror felt a chill go down his spine seeing this, concerned for Blue as he sensed the spirit settling.

Greyed white eyelights settled on him. "Ta da." He narrowed his sockets at him. "That isn't safe. You could give him mana poisoning or something worse because of what literally just happened."
Ghost didn't answer, only sighing and picking him up suddenly. Horror yelped in surprise, clinging to the other in momentary fear. "What the hell!"
"Hey, I didn't realize how much I missed touch." Ghost spoke out loud, his voice malformed as it came from Blue's face.
"What are you doing?!"
"Getting us home." Ghost explained bluntly, taking a few tentative steps forward.

"This isn't safe." Horror argued weakly, blinking as he draped an arm over the other's shoulder, suddenly aware of his own exhaustion.
"It's perfectly safe. Ya just worried."
Horror shot him a glare. "Hearing Blue say slang sounds wrong."
"He is cringing at me." Ghost admitted before the world around blurred with shadows.
The rest of the spirits left in the open drew near. Mk peered at Horror with wide eyes, right in front of them.
"Sans? Can I help?" He asked shyly.

He reached over to rub the kid's head, mist curling past his phalanges as he did so. "You can c'mere." He smiled. The child beamed back, hopping forward and disappearing.
I helped! He heard Mk shout with glee. He couldn't stop the chuckle that left him as the lizard yelled. Ghost grinned and nodded at the others, Horror reaching out with a smile. Voices started up as they regarded each other, the vessel drawing the spirits into himself via the magic eternally shrouding them.

The clearing emptied of the shadowed beings, Horror going limp as the day caught up with him.
"And that's what we were worried about." Ghost muttered, turning and making his way down the granite boulders to the leaf-strewn ground, stumbling every now and then.
"You're gonna fall."
"We will not." Blue stated Determinedly, catching Horror by surprise as the other started walking easily.
"I thought Ghost-" "He's tripping, so I'll be walking to the cliffs." Blue promptly explained with a slight smile.

Horror shook his skull and sighed, draping his free arm over his ribs as he tuned out the outside world, letting the community of lost Souls fill his senses.
Come home, come home! Voices called sweetly, sounding from a place in his mind filled with buttery sunlight and open plains.
"You spent so much time showing us what was outside, Horror, you forgot to explore what had been created inside." Ghost whispered loudly.
"Go rest." Blue added softly.
"Okay." He mumbled, letting go of the world as an unknown one reached for him, familiar faces and hands yearning towards him.

He stepped on grass as soft as fur and gleaming with golden dew, lights darting through the air as the clouds.. around them glowed white and silver.
Phantom, as Ghost's Papyrus was now called, greeted him in a tremendous hug that felt nothing like the ethereal misty embrace from before. Horror was reminded of his own brother, something that brought tears to his sockets.
"Come on other brother, we have no time to waste! You must meet everyone who refused to leave home!"

Horror could only stutter in surprise as he was carried away through unreal fields of grass towards a cliff edge ahead of them, dogs and froggits racing after them, Mk laughing as he struggled to catch up.
"I.. where.. what.." He stammered.
"You're home, of course!" The taller exclaimed joyfully before leaping over the cliff and into open sky.
"WAIT-!" Horror cried out, but too late, they fell through the clouds, chill mist whipping by as a random wild tune echoed by, growing louder and louder as they plummeted.
He was no longer afraid.