Later, after an elaborate escape that involved toothpaste, a garden hose, and Death.

Nightmare silently stood in the background, arms crossed, leaning against a wall; His eyelights scanned the new environment. First of all, it was far more visually appealing than the Star Sanses' rainbow seizure hell. And not nearly as blindingly bright or claustrophobic. It was a rather large room. Almost Greek Revival-like in style, but still quite different in design- like someone mashed their favorite architecture types together. High walls stretched more than several feet above. A rich mocha colored them, accented by a cream white wall trim. The ceiling they led to had many decorative wooden roof supports. Brass/copper chains hung on the supports, holding lanterns crafted from the same metal. Each lighting fixture varied in size and held a candle burning with magical flames.

Coffee and tortilla shaded tiles checkered across the area of the floor. No rugs or carpet adorned the square/rectangle stones. Two curved staircases sat at the back of the room, leading up a small platform with a rounded balcony attached. Hung on the wall behind was an elaborate tapestry. Various things were embroidered into the fabric: Coffee plants, beans, a coffee cup with hot steam wafting off it- Just overall coffee related things.

The Lord of Darkness turned his attention to the inhabitants of the building. Many different monsters - primarily Sanses and the occasional Papyrus - were bustling about, standing in groups/chatting with each other, or sipping on a fresh cup of coffee. It was a sight to behold; A strange one, at that. Various powerful, intimidating monsters lurked amidst the crowd. He could recognize a few such as Color, Fresh, Death (for obvious reasons), and- Wait, was that Blue? Upon closer inspection, the skeleton did not appear to be the Star Sans; Rather, he was a casually dressed Underswap Sans with a pistol holstered on his side. Nightmare sputtered and did a double-take. Indeed, the Swap skeleton was armed and coolly talking to a Mafiafell Sans.

That... is unexpected.

Done staring at the spectacle, he directed his attention elsewhere. An intriguing group stood nearby; A few inches over to be exact. None of the members sparked a hint of recognition in his mind. However, one, in particular, was a dark glitching skeleton that looked similar to the missing destroyer, Error. Pitch black attire clothed the other. The hoodie's hood completely covered his skull and shrouded his face, making it impossible for Nightmare to check for tear marks. Error symbols glitched around him, but they were far more subtle than the real Error's. He quietly pondered whether or not his colleague knew of the doppelgänger's existence. Likely not. If Error did, then Nightmare and the gang would have gotten an earful about it.

A second oddity stood directly to the monster's left: Another male skeleton, who also had bones as dark as onyx and flickering symbols; Unlike his comrade in err, he did not hide a single aspect of his appearance. A wide grin stretched across the other's skull. His yellow/magenta eyelights randomly changed between dots and stars, and little yellow stars rested around his eye sockets (three on the right and one on the left). The color residing behind the nasal cavity and eye sockets was solid blue while the teeth took on a lighter shade. Sky blue, perhaps? Probably not, Nightmare could hardly differentiate white from eggshell white. The second glitch spoke very animatedly with the doppelgänger, waving arms and making hand gestures for emphasis. It was somewhat reminiscent of a Papyrus or Swap Sans. Given the short stature and signature grin, Swap Sans seemed more likely. Especially when factoring in the other's 'battle body.' A primarily black version of Blue's outfit with hints of blue, red, and yellow.

The error Swap glanced to the side and met his eyelights as if he knew Nightmare was staring in his direction. Then, grin widening a fraction further, he winked at the dark lord before taking a step to the side and returned to his conversation with the doppelgänger. A certain feeling of perturbment crept in the background. Unease settled in Nightmare's nonexistent stomach. Those actions could not be anything other than deliberate. No one suddenly decides to wink at a random person in the room. The silvery-boned skeleton shuddered at the realization that, although he was discreet, the monster recognized (perhaps from the very beginning) he had an audience.

In a room containing a minimum of fifty monsters, he managed to pick me out of the crowd. Effortlessly, at that.

I should be cautious around him. He is not the kind of monster I want to make my enemy.

Slowly, Nightmare shifted his gaze to the newly revealed spot. That single step exposed yet another glitchy skeleton: A poor soul that held the expression of a monster who wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and die.

How many of these glitches are there? If there are these three - plus Error, where ever he is - then has to be more; each looks like an AU variant of some kind. But that makes no sense. Error has no AU, only the Anti-Void. Do they spawn in the Anti-Void at random then?

Does Error even know about them?

...That blank hellscape of his is so vast they may have never crossed paths, and he doesn't exactly make a habit of exploring the place.

Could he have been hiding them from me- the gang and me?

Nightmare shook his head in an attempt to chase the thought away. No. Just no. The destroyer may not be a member of their tight-knit group, but he was still semi-close to them. Enough so that they rely on each other during the occasional battle against the Star Sanses. Besides, Error was too 'in the moment' and rash to be deceitful or sneaky. Information of this nature would have been shared long ago, especially considering how Error loved to rant and rave about abominations.

He quickly went back to focusing on the new glitchy Sans. Negativity practically encompassed the other's soul. It reeked of self-loathing, resentment, hatred (directed at Error's lookalike for some reason), loss, and determination. Instead of black/multicolored bones like the other two, he had sheet-white bones and a splash of crimson caused by the blood dripping from his jaws; colored squares and rectangles glitched to and fro, mainly around his body. A red slash hovered in front of his chest.

A red slash...

The Guardian of Negavity's eye sockets widened. Hold on- This is another Aftertale Sans. Where are they coming from?! A secret experiment gone wrong? An unfinished AU? No. No. There is no way Ink created them. Not with the looming threat of Geno beating him to a pulp and turning him into his namesake.

Is the Anti-Void making them, too?

Nightmare frowned and continued to examine the Sans. His red and blue eye sockets were always in motion, ones and zeroes running behind the numeric-shaped eyelights. Green colored binary code danced along the black shirt and shorts beneath his white lab coat. Crimson blood tainted the snow white of his fluffy slippers and trickled on the tile floor below.

I feel sorry for the monster that has to clean that up, Nightmare thought.

Suddenly anxiety spiked amidst the valley of emotions. The glitchy skeleton jolted, strange box-shaped glitches shifting in a sporadic, almost painful-looking way. They promptly stepped to the side and returned to hiding behind the Swap error. An odd reaction. However, the other appeared to dislike being surrounded by so many monsters. Not a phobia per se, more like severe apprehension. Nightmare sighed and allowed his gaze to wander from the trio. As much as he would enjoy picking at the monster's fears, it was a pointless endeavor at the current moment and a waste of time. His eyelights flitted from one group of monsters to the next. While unique and unknown to him, none were particularly worthy of further examination; most seemed to be AU variants he had not encountered before. Though, the weird Sans holding a sock puppet and screaming gibberish was mildly amusing.

The guardian's frown deepened. He would never admit it, but a hint of jealousy arose as he eyed Homicide's mass collection of followers. At least a few hundred dwelled in the enormous building- bustling about, chattering, working together, bring the entire place to life. As a king, his castle should be just like this; full of life and loyal followers. Yet, the opposite held true. His castle - the home of him and his boys - was deathly silent in comparison. The boys played pranks and argued and sparred, but it failed to eliminate the silence lurking in the dark halls.

Maybe that would change once he officially joins Homicide's coffee cult?

A disturbing thought struck Nightmare, If I am here to join the Mocha Marauders, will I be expected to give up the gang?

Despite spreading negativity across the Multiverse and killing men, women, and children in cold blood with ease, the notion nearly brought him to tears. The corrupted blob he called a soul clenched painfully at the mere idea. He could not and would not abandon his boys. Dust, Killer, Horror, Cross- They needed him. They relied on him. And, as much as he loathed to think it, I need and rely on them too.

The Void will overtake the entire Multiverse before I give them up.

The silvery-boned skeleton nodded firmly and began to scour the room for his less than sane acquaintance. He and Homicide had some matters to discuss, chiefly the terms of him joining the Mocha Marauders. Their contract would include everything (within reason) that Nightmare deemed necessary: an agreement beneficial to the boys (indefinite protection or something of the sort), the privilege to keep his gang together, headquarters visitation rights his followers (Stars knew they desperately needed more social interaction), and the ability to borrow fellow Marauders when required.

Either Homicide complied with those wishes or Nightmare walked- left on the spot without joining the group and vowing to attain vengeance for his (fragile) pride. They were non-negotiable. The Lord of Darkness would sooner kiss Dream than accept anything less; That was saying a lot considering he wouldn't even hug that creep while wearing a hazmat suit.

His eyelights scanned over the crowds and passersby until they flitted passed a familiar splash of red and white. He immediately backtracked, searching for the iconic colors' source. Between the almost literal monster sea and the vast collection of hues, relocating them turned into a tedious chore, but Nightmare did eventually find the colors again. A silent cheer sounded in his mind when he did so. Unfortunately, while the monster bore the correct color scheme, they were not the one he sought. The Guardian of Negativity bit back an exasperated groan when he realized the skeleton he found was the Aftertale glitch from before.

I swear if I find him again instead of Homicide, I will throw him out the nearest window just to be sure I won't see him a third time.

Nightmare spun on his heels, facing in the opposite direction of the Sans to ensure his mistake would be less likely to reoccur. Then the search for Homicide began anew. He gazed upon the valley of monsters for an exceedingly long time until, as luck would have it, he spotted his target. The bloodied skeleton stood along the wall in a mostly uninhabited area, eyelights focused somewhere in the main crowd. Nightmare couldn't help but notice a particular addition to his psychotic recruiter's outfit. A few long, raven-like feathers. The plumage hung just off the end of his raggedy red scarf.

Perhaps he took them from Reaper?

"If you keep staring like that, everyone is going to think you are a bigger creep than me." A hauntingly familiar voice called from the side.

Nightmare's head swiveled to the left so quickly one might think he got whiplash.

"Homicide!" He exclaimed, somewhat confused. "But weren't you just," His eyelight flitted back over to the wall, only to find it deserted. Apparently-not-Homicide had vanished. "...over there?"

Homicide raised a brow, frowning slightly. "Hmm? No, I was in the kitchen harassing some weirdo in a top hat and yellow vast, who was trying to make deals with everyone."

He was there. I know he was there- "Are there any other Aftertale Sanses here, then?"

"Heh, not unless Geno has come to exact his revenge for me stealing Reaper out from under his nose." The other answered nonchalantly, with a shrug of the shoulders.

Nightmare scowled, glancing between Homicide and the empty spot.

Either you are pranking me, which is highly likely, or you have an infiltrator hidden amongst your group.