Warning: Contains dark and disturbing topics such as cannibalism, murder, and...Uh. I don't actually know what to call it, but it might make you want to puke. If you have a tender stomach, or really don't like that sort of thing. I guess just 'suicide' will work, but it's a little more...complicated. If you're fine with those sorts of things, proceed. Otherwise, please skip this. This is probably one of the darkest things I've posted.

Undertale Multiverse

When Ink got a call from Error, he stopped everything and gave it his full attention. Error never called him unless something was horribly wrong.

"What's going on?" Ink said immediately.

"50m-0m-0m37h1n9...50m37h1n-1n-1n9...3v3ry0n3 15..." came Error's hushed reply.

"Where are you?" Ink asked urgently.

"Und3r-3r-3rf3ll," Error said, "Bu7-"

Ink didn't wait for Error to finish; he opened a portal and jumped through.

He was not prepared for what he saw.

Error looked scared. As Ink surveyed the scene, looking at the piles of dust, Ink understood.

The most disturbing thing was the motionless human body.

"Wh...what happened...?" Ink asked in a quiet voice.

"1 d0n'7 kn0w," Error admitted. "Bu7 Fr15k's b0dy 15 571ll w4rm. 7h15 w45 r3c3n7."

"A-are there any survivors?" Ink stammered.

Error shook his skull. "N0n3 7h47 1 c0uld f1nd w17h1n h4lf 4n h0ur."

Ink swallowed hard and gazed around again. He spotted a lifeless golden flower near Frisk. Whatever had done this hadn't even spared the soulless thing.

"What could've done this?" Ink whispered.

"1 d0n'7 7h1nk 1 w4n7 70 kn0w," Error said gravely.

Ink's phone buzzed again.

Blue? He answered it, dread welling up inside him. "Hey, Bl-"

"Help me!" Came Blue's terrified, hushed voice. Ink had to put him on speaker and turn the volume to max just to hear him. "He's l-looking for me! He already ate e-everyone s-s-souls, I d-don't want to be n-next!"

If Ink and Error could've gone pale, they would've gone ten shades paler.

As it was, the opened a portal and ran to find their friend.

When Blue convinced Error to take him home, he had been given the glitchy's word that he wouldn't try to destroy his AU again.

So it came as a cold shock when he came out of his house  and heard people screaming in terror.

At first, Blue was confused. Who was everyone running from? Why were they so freaked out?

As this thought came, an arrow embedded itself in the ground by Blue's feet. Suddenly, it was a rain of magic missles.

Blue dove back inside and peered out through his window, watching as everyone fell to the ground. But they didn't die; that wasn't their attacker's intent.

Soon, everyone outside was pinned down, unable to get up.

CRUNCH! Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Someone was walking through the snow. It sounded like they'd dropped down from somewhere.

From the tree line in the other side of Snowdin, a yellow-clad skeleton wearing a crown appeared. He looked calm, but there was something disturbing about him.

The stranger approached the monster nearest to him. Little Asriel. The child whimpered, and with the town being otherwise silent, Blue could hear it clearly.

"D-dont hurt me," the boy whimpered, "P-please."

The stranger only brought the boy's soul from his body.

Blue gasped. That shouldn't be possible! How-

All thoughts evaporated when the strange skeleton brought the soul to his mouth,

And ate it.

One bite, and it was gone. Asriel turned to dust. The arrows holding him down vanished.

Blue watched in horror as the stranger went from terrified monster to terrified monster and devoured their souls.

Oh god, Blue suddenly thought, Where's Papy?

Oh please let him be in bed the one time Blue wants him to be there.

"Sans?"

Blue sighed in relief. Papyrus was just waking up.

"What was that screaming?" The lazy skeleton asked. Suddenly he was on edge. "Was it the human? Or Error?"

"Shhhh!" Blue said frantically. "It's neither! I don't know who but-"

"NGAHHHHH! LEAVE THOSE MONSTERS ALONE, YOU DISGUSTING-"

"Alphys?!?" Blue squeaked. "Oh no- Papy, listen to me. That thing out there-it's eating monster's souls! Alphys is going to die, we need to help her!"

Papyrus was on his feet in an instant.

That was five minutes ago.

Now, Blue was hiding in his shed, with the door locked from the inside, praying the monster wouldn't get in.

He could hear him walking around and around the building, muttering about being hungry.

Blue had called Ink just a few seconds ago. Hopefully he'd make it soon.

"Hm...If I break the window, can you boost me up?"

Blue held his breath. Who was he talking to?

A moment of silence before he whined, "But Nighty- I'm hungry-"

Who the hell was 'Nighty'?

After another moment, the monster sighed. "Oh, alright..."

The sound of retreating footsteps came through the walls.

Blue breathed.

SMASH!

Blue screamed as the yellow stranger threw himself through the window; a window that was far above anyone's head.

He landed in a crouch in front of Blue, his bright, pretty yellow eye lights full of crazed hunger.

"Your soul," he said in a friendly manor. "Or I can keep chasing you all day."

Blue summoned one of his blasters. "C-come one step c-closer and I'll b-blast you!"

The stranger laughed. In an instant, a bow was in his hands, and an arrow of blue energy was nocked in its string.

"Come on Sans. It's not that hard. Just. Give it to me. You wouldn't let someone starve, would you?"

Blue blasted him and ran for the door. The soul-eating lunatic cried out in surprise and pain.

Blue ran for the cover of the woods and almost ran into Error as the Destroyer came out of one of his glitchy portals.

"Oh thank god," Blue cried. "Please get me out of here!"

"Wh3r3'5 7h15 7h1n9 7h47'5 3471n9 3v3ryb0dy'5 50ul5?" Error asked urgently.

"Some insane Sans," Blue told him, "I don't-"

The sound of footsteps quickly approachws. Blue spun around in time to see the skeleton running towards them, an arrow in his hand like a knife.

"Run!" Blue yelled.

Error, being Error, grabbed Blue and pulled the both of them into the tree tops. The skeleton slowed to a stop, searching for them from the ground, but Error had already swung away on his strings, Blue in tow, to look for Ink.

Meanwhile, Ink was suffering the consequences of a portal malfunction.

"Great," he grumbled. "Stuck in a wall while Blue is in danger." He sighed. At least no one unwanted will find him, since he was in the quiche room.

"5qu1d!"

The voice was far-off, but unmistakable.

"Error?" Ink called back.

"Wh3r3 7h3 fr199 4r3 y0u?"

"Over here!" Ink tried to push himself out of the wall again, to no effect. "Where's Blue?"

"Here!" Blue's voice called. He was much closer than Error. "How did you get stuck?"

Ink glanced at what little of himself he could see. "Uh...portal trouble."

Blue peered around the corner.

"Yeah..." Ink sighed. "Not entirely sure how I managed it, but at least it's not a flower."

Blue snickered. "Error, I found him!"

Error, upon seeing Ink, laughed and said, "W3ll, 7h15 15 4n 1mpr0v3m3n7."

"Shut up and get me out of here," Ink grumbled.

Error and Blue, using Teamwork (yay) managed to free him from his solid wall prison.

"Right," Ink said, dusting himself off, "Now that that's done...Who was-"

Blue's amused expression faded into numb horror. "I...I don't know," he said hoarsely. "He...he just came and..." He trailed off, covering his mouth.

Ink put a hand on Blue's shoulder. "It'll be alright, Blue," Ink assured him. "Did he get to the human yet?"

Blue shook his skull. "N-no. Chara should be in Hotland by now, over by Grillby."

"Then we just have to kick out this Soul Eater guy and get Chara to reset," Ink said. "Right?"

Error, the expert on the resets, frowned. "H0w w1ll 3v3ry0n3 c0m3 b4ck 1f 4n 0u7c0d3 d357r0y3d 7h31r 50ul5?" He asked.

Ink blinked. "Uh-"

Error sighed. "0f c0ur53. C0m3 0n; l375 90 f1nd 7h3 hum4n 4nd 47 7h3 v3ry l3457 k33p 7h3m 54f3. 7h3n w3 c4n-"

Thunk!

A blue arrow of energy hit the wall behind Ink.

A thin scratch went across the side of Ink's skull where it had grazed him.

"He's found us," Blue gasped. "Oh no-"

Two golden eye lights glared at them from a ledge above.

"Who are you?" Ink demanded, brandishing Broomie. "Why are you doing this?"

The skeleton said nothing, only launched himself at Ink.

"AGH-" Ink jumped back and splattered him with paint, sticking him to the wall.

The stranger didn't even struggle. He stared at Ink wide-eyed. "You don't have a soul...? How?"

Ink exhaled. "Look, whoever you are, I'm sorry someone else got to my soul before you could, but could you please stop trying to eat my friend's souls? Or anyone else's?"

The skeleton frowned. "But...You shouldn't be alive. How can you be alive without a soul?"

"I've been asking myself the same question for several decades," Ink admitted. "But about the soul eating thing-"

The stranger eyed Ink warily.

"...Y0u'r3 7h3 0ne wh0 w1p3d 0u7 Und3rf3ll," Error suddenly realized. "H0w m4ny AU5 h4v3 y0u 90n3 7hr0ugh?"

The stranger smiled. His teeth were coated in very faintly glowing substance. The other three's stomachs lurched as they realized it was from the souls he'd eaten.

"Only two," He admitted. "It was so easy though. Even easier than those fuckers from the village, and they came straight to me."

"V-village?" Blue asked tentatively.

The stranger's yellow gaze fixed on Blue. They reminded Blue far too much of a tiger's eyes. Pretty, but deadly once you were close enough to get a good look at them.

"Yes, 'village'. Is that so strange? That my AU wasn't your stereotypical story of an entire race being trapped underground by another?"

Blue looked away.

"Why 4r3 y0u 3471n9 p30pl3'5 50ul5?" Error asked. "C4n'7 y0u 5377l3 f0r ch0c0l473 0r 50m37h1n9?"

"I can make tacos," Blue murmured. "If, y'know, you want...so long as you don't eat my soul..."

The stranger chuckled. It quickly turned into hysterical laughter. "Can I-?" He laughed. "No. No, I can't. I need souls. Nothing else can satisfy me." He suddenly stopped laughing. His eye lights slid away from them, looking at something near him that they couldn't see. He looked...sad. "...Is that bad?" He murmured to himself. "That I can't bring myself to eat anything else?"

What the frick. Who is this guy?

What kind of screwed-up AU did he come from?

"Oh for the love of-"

Ink groaned and opened a portal to the source of the distress signal.

Apparently the nickname Ink had accidentally came up for this weirdo had stuck. The Soul Eater was now a known menace to all AUs.

And because of his lack of having a soul, literally everyone had voted Ink to be their 'savior'.

Because that was a wonderful idea.

Today, the Soul Eater was going after a copy of Mafiatale.

Ink appeared in a splash of goop to find his sort-of sidekick, Killer, already chucking knives at the Eater while he was firing those weird arrows back.

"...Huh. Not a single casulaty so far," Ink mused. "Nice."

Killer glanced at him, then turned his blank gaze back to the Eater. "Yeah, except for this AU's Papyrus."

Ink sighed. "Still. Pretty good, considering."

"Uh-huh. You gonna help or what?"

Now, you're probably wondering why Killer has been helping Ink with this.

Easy: he doesn't have a soul either. Not a real one, at least. The Soul Eater tried to eat it once, but spat it out. Apparently target-shaped souls don't taste very good.

Ink equipped his brush and got into a battle stance. The Soul Eater snarled at him.

"Why can't you two just leave me alone?" He said.

"Because you're insane," Killer growled. "Which says a lot, coming from me!"

"You're hurting innocent people, eating souls is morally wrong, et cetera, et cetera," Ink ran through the abridged hero spiel. "Think I've covered most of it, next."

And so, the fight began.

Killer almost caught the Soul Eater, but he got away. Again.

"God dammit," Killer muttered. "I'm getting real tired of his shit."

Ink sighed. "Me too. I was having fun doing nothing before this."

Killer scuffed the ground with his shoe. "What now? Do we go after him?"

Ink shrugged. "Probably?"

They stood in silence.

"...Hey," Killer said slowly, "Didn't you say that he refused to eat anything other than souls?"

Ink tilted his skull to one side. "Yes...? What about it?"

"What if," Killer said, putting his knife in his pocket, "What if we could find a way to keep him from eating? Could we get him to eat something else if we made him hungry enough?"

Ink rubbed his chin. "Hmm...that's not a bad idea. But what would we give him? And how do we know he wouldn't try to eat our dusty remains?"

"Meat?" Killer suggested.

Ink considered this.

"Okay, next problem: how do we keep him from eating?"

"Tie him up real tight, throw him in an empty AU?"

Ink blinked. "Holy shit we have a plan."

I can't see.

It's all black.

Am I dreaming?

I'm so hungry...but that's normal.

...Where's Nighty?

Where's Nightmare?!

Why isn't he with me? He's always with me!

"N-Nightmare?"

"Get away from me!"

There he is! But he's backing away from me. Why?

"Nighty-"

"Don't come any closer!"

He sounds so scared. Is...is he scared of me?

"Brother, what's wrong?"

"You're not my brother!"

"Wh-what?"

"My brother isn't a monster!" He yells at me. "You're not him!"

I step towards him. He stumbles back. "What are you talking about? Of course I am."

I can almost smell his fear. I don't understand why he's scared of me. "Did I do something wrong?"

He looked so...incredulous. Like he thought I was crazy. I'm not crazy!

"Did you do- did you do something wrong?" He laughs hysterically. "You ate my soul! You killed me! And you've killed thousands, if not millions of other people! You're insane!"

I step back.

"I...I didn't kill you," I protest. "Them, yes, but-"

"Didn't you?" He says. "You did the exact same thing to me as you did to all the others. How is the result any different? I'm dead because of you!"

"I-"

My head hurts. Why does my head hurt?

There's another version of him now. The real one. He floats over to me and hugs me.

"Come on," he says." Its just a dream. It's alright. You didn't kill me." Then he smiles at me. "See? I'm right here."

I hug him back. The fake one tries to shout at me, tell me lies. But I know better now.

I ignore him, and he eventually fades away.

But the guilty feeling doesn't go with him.

Error waited for Ink and Killer to arrive in the empty Snowdin forest, feeling anxious.

Why had he agreed to this?

Oh, right. Ink had actually presented him with logic.

Godammit. The one time.

"We're here!" Killer announced.

"0h, 900d," Error sighed. "9u355 my d17ch1n9 4773mp7 w1ll h4v3 70 w417. H0w d0 pl4n 0n 93771n9 7h15 9uy h3r3 4nyw4y?"

Ink held up...

"N0," Error said, turning pale. "N0 w4y."

"Its the easiest way to get his attention," Ink said. "You ever notice how he seems to know when someone's upset or happy?"

Killer poked Red's cheek. The gagged Sans glared at him.

He, and several other monsters from various Fell AUs, were hog-tied to a giant-ass stick that Ink somehow managed to hide until he brought attention to it.

"Live bait," Killer said. "These fuckers will act as one big angst generator, so hopefully he'll come running. If not, I have a backup plan."

Error swallowed. "Why d0 1 937 7h3 f33l1n9 1'm 7h3 b4ck-up pl4n?"

Killer grinned.

"Ready, kids? Uncle Killz is about to summon frickn' Satan."

"DMMT YMM DMRR SMMMCRMFS MMM TMMM SMMTMM!" Razz, Swapfell Sans, yelled.

"Ah, shut up," Killer said. "You're not a sacrifice; just a lure. Ink, you mind taking down whatever shield thing you put up?"

Ink nodded and snapped his fingers.

The Fell monsters yelled muffled protests, but it was suddenly raining paint, indicating that the barrier thing had dissolved.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then, from the trees, two golden yellow eyes illuminated the shadows.

"Holy shit," Killer muttered. "It actually worked."

But the Soul Eater didn't get any closer. He just glared at them, eyeing the free meal suspiciously.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"D1d y0u 7w0 4c7u4lly 7h1nk h3'd c0m3 runn1n9 l1k3 4 cr4zy 4n1m4l?" Error muttered to the 'heroes.'

"No," Killer said.

"Yes," Ink said at the same time.

Killer sighed.

The Soul Eater turned his gaze onto Ink.

Those yellow eyes were so piercing, they made even the soulless skeletons freeze in their tracks. And he knew it.

"Well?" He said. His voice was rougher than it had been. It sounded almost like he'd just woken up.

"We're here to kick your ass," Killer said bluntly. He had no pretense of honor or righteousness. He was in this for the paycheck.

And yes, he's getting paid chocolate for this. That's the only reason he's doing it, besides not wanting his friends Dust and Horror to be eaten.

The Soul Eater chuckled. "Oh, I see! You thought you could catch me by luring me here with a bunch of souls?" He looked over Error. "And you would catch me with your strings. Isn't that right?" He laughed dryly. "I'm not an idiot."

"That's unfortunate," Killer muttered. "Why do I have to play hero when the 'villain' has commonsense and logic?"

The Soul Eater took a step forwards. His arms were crossed, and he had an insane grin on his face. "What a shame it would be if I somehow managed to get away."

In a blur, he was suddenly over by Error, his hand outstretched to take his glitchy soul.

Error leapt back and attacked, but the soul eater dodged.

"Do you think I could get away with a measly snack?" The Eater asked innocently. He leapt for Error again, being extremely careful to avoid the strings.

Ink joined the fight, slashing the air with his brush and sending paint flying at the crazy skeleton, but the Eater kept out of the line of fire.

"Why do I always have to be the logical one," Killer grumbled. He opened a portal, untied the Fell monsters, and let them escape. "I want to kill shit, not make sure the bait gets home."

With that, he launched himself into the fray.

After dodging a few more attacks, the Eater noticed that the large source of food had vanished. He hissed in outrage. "Clever," He snarled. His yellow eye lights were small and angry. "Very clever."

With that, he ran. A portal opened in front of him, and closed behind him as he escaped.

"Hurry!" Ink said. "We can't let him go far!"

"Y0u'r3 901n9 4f73r 7h47 9uy?" Error wheezed incredulously.

"Yes," Killer said, not waiting for Error to follow him or Ink through the portal the artist painted on the ground.

"1'M N07 C0M1N9 W17H Y0U!" The glitchy yelled after him, but they were both gone.

"D4mn w4nn4b3 h3r035," Error grumbled. "1'm 50 9l4d 1'm 4 b4d 9uy, 3v3n 4 l3553r 0n3."

Ink and Killer chased the Soul Eater through multiple AUs. Each time, they managed to stop him before he ate anyone's soul, although it came close.

The Eater was getting frustrated.

Finally, the had him cornered in an abandoned Grillby's in a dead-end AU. He was exhausted and hungry, and he'd already used all his magic. He couldn't escape.

"You're not eating anymore souls," Ink growled. "Ever."

"Come quietly and we'll leave you with something meaty," Killer said. "Put up a fight and we'll have to feed you broccoli."

The Soul Eater's eye lights darted around, looking for an escape. But there was none. He looked scared.

"I-"

"There's nowhere to run," Ink reminded him. He raised his paint brush.

The Eater backed away from him, his back hitting the wall. "N-no-"

Ink brought his brush down. The Eater ducked, and Ink's paint hit the wall. Ink was too short for him to run under, so he just pressed himself against the wall.

Killer sighed. "It's either paint or handcuffs," He said.

The Eater gulped. Then, he did something strange.

He started crying.

"N-Nighty," he said through tears. "Nighty, where are you?"

Killer and Ink glanced at each other.

"Who's Nighty?" Ink asked.

"Nightmare?" he cried again, his voice rising. "N-Night, don't leave me! Please! Come back!"

"H-hey," Ink awkwardly, "Please don't cry-"

Killer realized that this must've been how Error felt when he first kidnapped Blue.

This was awkward as hell. Especially since they were supposed to be the 'good guys' for this.

The Eater's eyes locked into the air next to him.

Then, he hugged the air, like someone they couldn't see had appeared out of nowhere.

He looked to be sobbing into someone's shoulder.

Ink glanced at Killer.

Killer shrugged helplessly.

"H-hey," Ink said, realizing he didn't even know the Eater's name, "Who's Nightmare?"

But the Eater ignored him.

His mind was further gone than they thought.

"I guess it'll have to be Asylumtale," Killer muttered.

Ink nodded, not taking his eyes off the skeleton.

His stomach groaned.

He groaned with it.

He was so hungry, but these people wouldn't give him souls. And anyone who came in stayed near the door, where he couldn't reach them thanks to the chain around his ankle.

He'd tried to break it plenty of times, but to no avail.

They often left vegetables or fruit or lumps of cooked meat, but he couldn't eat them.

He'd tried, he really had. It always came up.

The people here were trying to find something he could eat, but so far all he'd been able to hold down is water.

Why can't they just give him souls?

It's not like there weren't people who nobody would miss.

And another thing!

He didn't deserve to be in this AU! It was a giant asylum. He wasn't crazy!

He wasn't!

Just because he was the only one who could see his brother didn't mean he wasn't there. Just because eating souls wasn't exactly a healthy lifestyle didn't mean he was crazy.

It was just...what it was.

Why couldn't these people understand that?

Ink and Killer, especially.

"Any news?" Ink asked.

Asylumtale's resident doctor sighed and looked over her clipboard.

"A lot, but not enough. He believes he sees the ghost of someone named 'Nightmare', whom he affectionately refers to as 'Night' or 'Nighty'. If I had to guess, they were friends. He also has a very obvious addiction to souls, and physically can't eat anything else." The doctor shook her head. "As to the reason how he started eating souls, or why he sees this 'Nightmare', or even what his name is, we still don't know. He doesn't interact with any of our personnel except to try to tear their souls from their bodies."

Ink rubbed his foreskull. "Great. Any chance a he might eat if we tell him something's made of souls?"

The doctor shrugged. "Voluntarily? Very likely. But it's more likely that his stomach can't handle anything else. It happens a lot with people who get addicted to...'exotic food'."

Ink shuddered. He knew that she didn't mean bugs or monkey meat.

"Is it worth a try?"

The doctor thought. "Well...we'll have to do something so it at least tastes different. Maybe we can use some human soul flavor substitute."

Ink blinked. "Wait, what? I thought that was a joke?"

"No," the doc said, "It's legit. And it tastes weird, let me tell you."

"Tastes like bacon," Killer said, appearing out of nowhere. "Bacon that went bad yesterday and was still fried on the stove in its own, rancid bacon grease."

"You've eaten that stuff?" Ink asked.

"There's hardly anything interesting in my AU," Killer reminded him. "Variety is the spice of life. And human soul flavor substitute is not one of the good ones, trust me."

The doctor stared at him.

"Uh-"

"Try to put me in one of the cells and I'll stab you."

The doctor quickly looked away.

"R-right. Uh, yeah. HSFS. We'll try it."

"Cool," Ink opened a portal to go back to whatever he was doing before. "Call us when you get some results, okay? Later!"

With that, he was gone.

The doc blinked, then sighed. Her day was going to be crazy no matter what; this new strange didn't bother her too much.

"Hey, wake up."

He scrunched up his face and turned away from the voice.

"I'm tired," he complained, not opening his eye sockets.

"We have food," the doctor said.

He groaned and turned back. He eyed the plate of what he was pretty sure was beef inside a weird, yellowish shell thing with cheese.

"What is that?" He asked. It smelled really good.

"It's a taco," the doctor said, surprised. "Have you never seen one before?"

He shook his skull.

The doctor sighed. "Alright, well...it's spiced ground beef in a crunchy tortilla shell, cheese, and usually lettuce and sour cream and things like that. We decided to keep it basic."

He took the plate and sniffed it.

It still smelled good, but it had strange underlying scent of something...familiar.

"...what else is in this?" He asked suspiciously.

"Human soul," the doctor said calmly.

The skeleton narrowed his eye sockets at her.

"...You're lying."

The doctor was surprised at the certainly in his tone, but didn't outright show it.

But he knew.

"What did you actually put in it?" He asked nastily.

The doctor sighed. "HSFS."

The skeleton blinked. "HS...what?"

The woman chuckled. "MTT-Brand Always-Convenient Human-soul-Flavor-Substitute. Thought you might be able to stomach some food if it tastes like what you usually eat."

He let out a short laugh. "Oh; I honestly thought it stood for something like 'Harpy Sourced Feather Sauce'."

The doctor smiled at him, but he sensed the uncertainty in her. She still thought he was crazy.

"Are you going to eat it?" His brother's ghost floated next to him. "Even I can smell it," the shade said appreciatively.

"Yeah," he murmured to Nightmare. "I will."

He realized he didn't know how to eat a taco.

"Um..."

The doctor realized this problem.

He could see the human trying to devise a way to solve it in a not-awkward manner.

He glanced at Nightmare. The shade shrugged, and pretended to pick it up in a way that looked right.

He tried it.

The doctor stopped trying to brain, telling him that he'd done it right.

It tasted good. He actually really liked it.

But after a couple of bites, his stomach rejected the food. The bucket from before, which had been emptied and washed, was put to use again.

The doctor sighed.

"I'm sorry that didn't sit well with you, either." The woman picked up the plate, which had fallen to the floor. She was within striking distance, but he was too woozy from puking to attack.

"Why can't I just have real souls?" He rasped.

The doctor didn't answer.

"They still think you're crazy," Nightmare said, giving the woman a look of contempt.

"I'm not crazy!" he said hotly. "I..."

He stomach growled again.

"I'll send someone in to clean up," the woman said softly. "Oh, and Ink wanted to talk to you later."

With that, she left.

He set the bucket on the floor and curled up.

"I dare you to puke in front of the door for whoever comes in next," Nightmare snickered.

"Yeah, but that would smell gross. I'd rather have it smell like despair than sickness."

The shade rolled his purple eye lights at him. "You're no fun," he sighed. "Fine. Wanna play a game?"

Ink walked to the door. It's number was 1111. Eleventh room, eleventh building.

He found it strange that the Soul Eater was in this particular room, but who cares? Not him.

He knocked. The voice from inside cut itself off. Then,

"Fuck off."

Ink chuckled, and opened the door. "'Fraid I can't, bud."

The Eater looked like shit. His bones were chalky, and his yellow eye lights were dull.

"Jeez," Ink muttered, looking him over. "You really need to eat."

The Eater's scowl deepened. "I would, but they won't give me anything I can actually eat."

Ink sighed. "Yeah; I heard that HSFS didn't work for you."

"It's not that I don't like how it tastes," the crazy skeleton said. "I do like it; they make really good food!"

Ink raised a bone brow at him.

"I just...I can't handle anything else," he continued. "But I'm so hungry..."

Ink leaned against the closed doors.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "Is there anything you haven't tried yet?"

The Eater shook his skull. "Why do you pretend to care?" He asked.

"I...I'm sorry?" Ink stuttered, caught off-guard.

Those predatory yellow eyes seemed to pierce him.

"You can't feel any emotions," he said. "You don't care, and you couldn't if you tried. So why do you pretend?" He sounded confused. "Doesn't that take more energy?"

Ink didn't answer for a second.

"Sometimes," he admitted. His voice was quiet. "But it's not about making others believe I care. It's about...feeling normal. I miss my emotions, and my vials can only do so much." He pulled out the green one and turned it over in his hands. "Even with stimulated happiness and anger and everything else, they don't help me care." He gave the Eater a wry smile. "So really, I only care because people keep telling me I have to be the 'hero' and because I'm really curious about you. I've never met anyone like you, so I want to know your story."

The Eater was quiet.

Ink sighed and stood. "Welp. If you're not up to talking, I can just leave."

"Dream."

Ink stopped, his hand hovering on the doorknob. "Sorry?"

The Soul Eater's eye lights were almost friendly. "My name. It's Dream."

Ink grinned. "Dream, huh? That's funny. See ya; Dream."

So, so hungry.

Unbearably hungry.

Dream wondered how long had it been since he'd last eaten. A week? A few days? He didn't even know.

But he was so damn hungry.

Maybe they'd bring him some souls soon.

Hah. Yeah right.

He saw what the were trying to do.

They were trying to starve him.

They were angry. They were angry that he'd kept Nightmare away from them.

They knew they couldn't just kill him, so they went with their next best option.

Bitches.

He did trust Ink, though. Ink had no idea. He didn't know Nightmare. He doubted he could convince Ink to bring him souls, though.

...Wait.

He felt it.

There was a soul nearby.

A soul he could eat.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

The doctor nodded. "It's better than nothing."

How pretty. But...

The nurse sighed. "Alright. I'll call the hospital and tell them to bring some feeding tubes."

It's was strange...

"Thanks," the woman said. "For now, I'll go tell him that he's going to have unfamiliar visitors."

This soul pulsed with a familiar energy.

The walk from the front desk to her patient's room was long, but the doctor set a risk pace.

He couldn't place where he'd felt this kind of magic before. But it didn't matter.

Soon she was in the eleventh building.

"Are you sure?" The ghost asked. "This isn't the only way."

"...Yes."

Nightmare smiled sadly. "Alright. See you on the other side."

She opened the door.

Dream ignored her. She wasn't going to stop him.

He ate the yellow, glowing apple in one bite.

Then everything went black.

This is it.

Little bit of explanation about what was going on in Dream's dream-

The first Nightmare was legit. Dream believes that he really was protecting his brother, but knows that he killed all the other people who's souls he ate. Deep down he knows that there really is no difference, and that Nightmare was Dream's subconscious trying to logic.

The second Nightmare was real to Dream, but was really a slightly less malicious version of Dust's Papyrus. He's there for Dream, a coping mechanism, conjured by his mind. He's not real. He's there to 'guide' Dream, but he's really just there so Dream can believe that he did the right thing.

Dream refused to listen to the first Nightmare because he doesn't want to believe he did anything wrong.

As for the ending....

Well; we can't all have a happily ever after, can we?

Dream's mind was too far gone to even realized that the soul was his own.

But who will miss him? Not his dead brother, and not anyone else. He had no friends.

Sometimes, we can't stop bad things from happening.

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Dream opened his eye sockets.

He was in a vast green field, full of flowers.

He felt hollow.

Where...?

"Dream!"

He turned.

"N-Nightmare?"

His brother smiled at him. In his hands, he held a flower crown made of wild daisies. On his own skull, he wore one made of violets.

"Who else?" He joked. "It's good to see you again, even after everything."

For a second, this didn't make any sense to him. After...what?

But he knew. He knew exactly what Nightmare was talking about.

"I-" He chokes on the words. He felt like throwing up. What had he done?

Nightmare walked forwards and set the crown of daisies on his head. "It's over," Nightmare said softly. "And it wasn't your fault. What matters now is what we do with our afterlife."

Dream felt tears prick at his eye sockets. "N-Nighty, I missed you so much..."

Nightmare's purple eye lights were full of kindness. "I know. I missed you too."

They say that if you were to go to a green field of flowers, sit down, and wait a while, you would see the ghosts of two young skeleton brothers frolicking through the grass, making flower crowns, or lemme ting over the lives they could've had.

Sometimes, you can hear a faint song on the wind....

"Neverland is home

To Lost Boys like me

And Lost Boys like me are free"