Ink traveled through the AU, frantically looking around. He jumped into one world, looked at every inch of the AU, then went on to the next. He wasn't at his home when Ink went to visit, and he couldn't find him in any world that needed him. He wasn't in Blue's house, in an AU that needed his help, anywhere. Ink couldn't bear the thought of Dream being missing from the Multiverse. The Multiverse is already struggling enough without Error, what would happen if Dream wasn't here? The protector tried to call Dream once more on his phone. Straight to voicemail.

Ink grunted and continued for another hour or so. He has already gone through most of the AUs, but Dream was still nowhere to be seen. Ink sighed, making a portal back to Underswap to be greeted to Blue's living room, said skeleton looking at Ink worriedly. Ink already knew what Blue was saying just by reading his expression. Still no Dream.

"Where could he be?!" Ink said, pacing around the room.

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere! We just have to keep looking!" Blue said in a loud voice, trying to be positive. Ink tried to take his advice, but it was difficult. He wasn't sure how bad the Multiverse could get with Dream gone as well. Many worlds were starting to become cramped, but no one wanted to destroy those worlds, so space was just taken up. That filled Ink's non-existing soul with fear.

Sadness, guilt, shame then came into the mix, and Ink's eye sockets widened. He didn't take his vials for emotions as strong as these to come up. He looked at Blue, who had the same expression on his face. They knew what this meant.
Blue summoned a bone and held it like it was a sword, while Ink took Broomy out and went in a defensive pose. They looked around, trying to find the source of the negativity filling in the room. They then spotted a black goop on the ground, slowly growing in front of them. The two backed up, as a black, goopy skeleton formed from the goop, his only visible glowing eye glaring at the two smaller ones.

"What are you doing here, Nightmare?" Ink asked, before Nightmare suddenly grabbed Ink and Blue with his tentacles, the laters struggling in his grip. Blue stabbed the tentacle, Nightmare not flinching as he ripped the bone away from Blue.

"I-I'm not asking again. What are you doing here." Nightmare got closer to Ink's face, the creator leaning back.

"Where's Dream?" Ink and Blue looked at him confused. Nightmare could just sense Dream's presence, no?

"What do you want with him?!" Ink asked, still struggling in Nightmare's grip.

"I can't feel his presence anywhere. Not even a bit." The two Star Sanses looked at Nightmare surprised. As furious or annoyed as he usually looked, not once has he come to check in on his brother. There was a long silence before Blue answered.

"Dream is missing." He said worriedly, lowering his voice. "We were looking for him everywhere! But there's no sign of him..." Nightmare remained silent for a moment, his face actually showing a bit of concern. Only for a moment though. He then released the grip he had on the two skeletons, making them fall on the ground with a 'thump.' Ink fell face-first onto the ground while Blue fell on his rump.

"This isn't good." Nightmare said as he sat down on the couch, staining it with his goop. Blue doesn't say anything as he gets back up, just glaring at Nightmare as he ruined the seat. Ink groaned as he lifted his head back up, looking at Nightmare confused. "Why do you care? You never did before." Ink said.

"Well, I'd rather not die, so if Dream's gone then we're fucked." Nightmare spat at Ink. Ink flinched, as all of his thoughts about Error disappearing returning, the emotions stronger with Nightmare's presence. He knew about Dream and Nightmares balance longer than he knew his own, so he understood Nightmare's concern.

"...If you can't tell where Dream could be, then I'd imagine he'd be in a pretty positive AU. But we already looked through all of them." Ink said.

"..How about we look together?" Blue asked. Nightmare and Ink looked at him, giving him a description that could only be described as "What the fuck?". "The more people we have, the more chances we have of finding him. If he's truly missing, then we're going to need everyone on board." Ink's eye sockets widened as Blue said that, and frantically stood up.

"Blue, that's a horrible idea- "

"For once I agree." Nightmare snarled a bit at Blue. "Give me one reason that would even be as close to a sane thought."

"If you don't want to make sure Dream is ok, then you don't have to. But then you would have come here for nothing." Blue leaned against the wall, Ink looking between the two. Nightmare visibly got upset at that, raising his tentacles behind him as he got up.
"And why would that be the case?" He growled, attempting to get closer before Ink stood between the two.

"Ok slow down- how about we don't break anything this time?-" Ink nervously said. Nightmare pointed the tentacles towards them, glaring.

"And what's stopping me?"

"The fact that things are bad enough right now!" Blue yelled. "Everything we know could be gone. We need to find a way to get things back on track, please..." He looked at Nightmare with almost begging eyes. Ink saw that he was genuinely upset now. He guessed he was hiding it before, not able to hold it back anymore.

Ink pondered for a moment, looking back at Nightmare. He still didn't fully trust him, but Blue had a point. They could die. Everyone could be gone. Ink sighed, backing up to Blue.

"Once we find Dream, we could go back to completely hating each other, deal?." Ink told him, wrapping an arm around Blue. Nightmare narrowed his eye, taking a moment before his tentacles slowly lowered and swayed.

"Fine. Only until we find him." Ink didn't expect that response, or for him to agree at all, but he wasn't complaining. He slowly offered a hand, Nightmare staring at it. "...I'm not shaking hands with you Ink."

"I was trying to be civil-" He pouted, Blue rolling his eye lights. "Thank you, Nightmare." He said, Nightmare nodding.

"Alright then, where should we start looking?-" Ink started to ask. Nightmare raised a hand to stop him.

"If I can't find him, then the three of us aren't going to get much done. We need more." The two tilted their heads a bit. "We're going to my castle. I'm getting everyone from my staff to join in, so we don't spend ages just trying to look for him."

"Well, I can't argue with that... Lead the way." Blue grinned, Ink hesitating a bit. They have never been to Nightmare's castle. It was almost like walking into the Lion's Den, in Ink's mind. Before he could say anything, however, Nightmare nodded and opened a portal, the one leading right inside his home.

"Just know, if you ever make one wrong move, you're dead, got it?" Nightmare suddenly stated, giving Ink and Blue glares that sent shivers down their spines.

"Got it." Ink responded, looking through the portal. No one seemed to be there, all that was in the room was an empty couch. With a deep sigh, he stepped forward through the portal with Blue following suit. Before they were pointed by a knife.