Ink watched silently as Solar and Terror left through a portal. A portal to where, he had no idea. Nevertheless, it would seem they have joined forces. He had to find the other Dream to make sure this one wasn't lying, and to tell them what he'd found out. Apparently, Solar was planning to kill Nightshade to end his tyranny. While Ink didn't care what happened to Nightshade, his true brother deserved to know what was going to happen.

And he knew the perfect skeleton to deliver the news.

After making sure the coast was clear, Ink whipped out his paintbrush and made a portal to Killertale. Yes, Killertale was intact. If Dusttale didn't have a murder-crazed human roaming around, maybe the AU would be hospitable enough to live in. Alas, this is not the case. Anyway, Ink knew that the two skeletons living there wouldn't refuse him if he asked for a favor; in fact, Killer would immediately jump at the opportunity to see Dream, again. Ink knew why, and it grossed him out, to say the least. But, as long as no one was dying, he could care less. And if someone else was telling their multiverse's Dream what Solar was planning, he could spend more of his time and energy spying on the two that got away.

He arrived in Snowdin and headed to the skelebros' house. Seeing as how it was only Killer and Dust living in the deserted AU, Ink figured it would be easy to locate them, since they hardly ever left. He knocked on the door and waited. He heard muffled voices on the other side, and knocked again. He was about to knock a third time when the door opened, revealing Killer with an irritated scowl on his face. His expression softened when he saw Ink.

"Oh, it's just you. What's up?"

"The ceiling!" Ink said cheerfully.

Killer winced. Of course the squid would still remember their friend's favorite pun. Ink had grown the closest to them since they first appeared. Ironic, since he doesn't really like getting to know people. Killer, Dust, and Terror had made an oath to keep their friend's memory alive since they believed the Kind One to be dead. The nickname "Kind One" was something Terror made up, and Killer and Dust decided to roll with it. It was to remind them of what had been sacrificed to save them from Nightshade's influence. The Kind One had sacrificed their life and peace of mind to give the trio theirs. And now, the Kind One was gone. They had no idea what had happened, but three years ago, the Kind One had disappeared, along with their team of demons and that bastard, Fatal Error. Dust was the first to suggest that that knockoff of a glitch had had something to do with it, and since that day, the trio had hated Fatal. They swore that if they ever saw him again, they would kill him for what he had done, to them as well as everyone who has ever tried to stop him. He was, after all, responsible for taking away the one person who had chosen to believe in them, believe they could change, that they could be good people, when the rest of the multiverse shunned and condemned them. They would be forever grateful for that, especially Killer. He'd never had such a great relationship with his crush, Dream, before the Kind One convinced the positive guardian that Killer really had changed.

Back to the present, Killer sighed.
"C'mon in, squid. Hey, Dust! Ink's here."

Dust poked his head out of the kitchen.
"Oh hey, Ink. Howzit goin'?"

"No time for small talk, guys," Ink said. "We've got a situation that needs our immediate attention. I came to you guys cuz I know Killer has a good... uh, friendship with Dream, so I was hoping you could go looking for him."

"Why? Don't you know where he is?" Dust asked.

"Unfortunately, no. I need you guys to go look for him and tell him that Nightmare is in huge trouble-"

"Tch, why would we care about that asshole?"

"I know, I know, ya have bad blood with 'im, but Dream cares about him. And if we don't warn him, some other version of him is gonna try ta kill him! He's got Terror on his side now, too, so there's that ta deal with as well."

"Wait a minute," Killer said slowly. "Dream... has a doppleganger? Since when?!"

"Since, uh, yesterday? I dunno, but that's the gist of it as far as I know."

Killer looked at Dust. They nodded to each other, then returned their attention to Ink.
"What can we do?"

"Like I toldja, find our Dream. He might look different, so look for Dream, but with wings. I think that's what he said. The other guy has wings. While you guys do that, Imma spy on Terror and other Dream. Toodles!"

With that, Ink made a portal and fell backwards into it, saluting the two as he left. Killer looked to Dust, and they both shrugged.

"Well, then..." Dust rubbed the back of his skull. "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah... Let's go." Killer opened a portal to a random AU. Hopefully, this won't take too long.

Meanwhile, back in Epictale...

Dream, Pale, Lunar, Switch, Criss, and Epic returned to Epictale to decide a plan of action. Dream had wanted to follow Error, but Pale had stopped him. He said that planning out their move would be more beneficial than charging in guns blazing. Or in this case, blasters blazing. Eh, depends on your abilities. Dream could understand this, but Nightshade could be dying, and worse! The other version of himself been responsible! Guilt weighed heavily on his shoulders, making the wings on his back twice as heavy. They decided to go back and help Epic and his people prevent another war between monsters and humans. Afterwards, they could discuss their plans of tracking down Solar and checking up on Nightshade.

And that's how they ended up in the President's office.

"So, as you can see, Mr. President," Epic said. "we monsters are very friendly, and we'd appreciate it if you didn't attack us!"

Epic!Gaster facepalmed, and Epic!Asgore coughed awkwardly.
"What my son is trying to say is we hope we can successfully establish peace between our two races. I'm sure we could both benefit from an alliance."

"Excellent point, WingDings," Asgore said. "This is a perfect opportunity to reconcile our races and erase the hostility between us."

"I agree," President Thomas Orrin replied. "However, I regret to inform you we must delay the negotiations. There are a few things I must attend to that cannot wait, so we will discuss this another time. For now, I hope we can stay in touch. There was an unprovoked attack on one of our most densely populated cities. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, do you?"

Asgore and Gaster exchanged looks, and Epic glanced over at his other companions. They respectfully kept quiet throughout the conversation, but when this point came up, they each shifted uncomfortably. They had a pretty good idea who was behind the attack, but if they revealed what they knew, there could be severely negative consequences for Epic and his people.

"O-of course not!" Asgore answered. "We only just arrived!"
While he was telling the truth, he may not have known all of it. And a good thing, too. He's too honest not to say anything.

The President sighed. He was usually good at reading people. These were monsters. He had grown up hearing stories and myths of these creatures, but thought he had outgrown the legends. Now though, there was undeniable proof, sitting right inside his office no less, that monsters do exist. And, eventually, he's the one who's gonna have to deal with them and their politics. Why didn't he go for that toolsmith job?

For the time being, he dismissed them. The group of monsters left the building after thanking the President for his hospitality.

"Welp," Epic said, putting his hands behind his head. "I'd say that went pretty well."

"You were fortunate we were not arrested or killed on the spot, Sans," Gaster grumbled. "If Asgore and I hadn't interceded, you and your friends would be dust."

"Hey, dude," Criss whispered to Epic.
"Thoughtcha said everybody in the underground called ya Epic."

"Yeah, bruh," Epic whispered back. "'Cept for my dadster, bruh. He ain't too keen ta my nickname, but he doesn't stop me, bruh."

"Goddamnit, Sans," Gaster mumbled under his breath. He needed a coffee. He was too tired for his oldest son's antics.

Asgore and Gaster left the group to attend to keeping tensions between humans and their new monster neighbors low, and the rest of the group walked into one of the towns willing to accommodate monsters. It was about a mile away from Mt. Ebott, and the humans were pretty friendly. The group of skeletons gathered in a small cafe in the middle of town and sat down in two of the booths to weigh their options.

"Well, bruh, we got that taken care of," Epic began, awkwardly trying to start the conversation when the whole group remained silent. "At least we can think of a plan in peace, bruh."

"I say we hunt the other me down," Dream stated angrily. "Who knows how many others he has hurt by now?!"

"W-we don't know if he's hurt anyone else!" Lunar replied swiftly. "Maybe he's just confused, and he-"

"Doesn't want to kill you?" Switch interrupted. "You know as well as I do that he wants to destroy all sources of negativity, including the other Nightmare, and he will stop at nothing to do so. Now though, he's probably gone crazy enough not to care who he hurts along the way in his 'mission' to rid the multiverse of negativity."

Lunar looked down sadly. Switch was right. Solar will go to great lengths to fulfill his goal, no matter the consequences. So, what could they do?

Just then, two newcomers entered the cafe. They both had their hoods up, so no one could see their faces clearly. They seemed to emanate danger, but they looked unarmed. Then again, one could never tell with people wearing baggy clothing, but that's beside the point. Dream looked up when he felt the threatening aura, and immediately relaxed when he realized who they were.

Killer and Dust.

"Killer! Dust! It's good to see you!" Dream stood up to greet them, but Pale stepped in between them. He eyed them suspiciously.

"Keep your distance, murderers."

Killer lifted his hood up and glared at the destroyer.
"And who are you? Dream's bodyguard?"

"You could say that."

Killer burst out laughing, amazed at the skeleton's bluntness. Pale's expression never changed, and he stood watching Killer with disinterest. His soulless being would never allow him to express emotions if he did not consume them from an outside source, so he always looked bored or dead inside. Killer's laughter died down from the other's intense stare, and he looked over at Dream.

"Heya, Dreamy. What's cookin', good lookin'?"

Dream blushed and grinned, thankful it was just Killer's regular teasing. Dust smacked Killer upside his skull, knowing this isn't the time for fun and games.

(Nights: Can you be any less creative?
Me: Shh! Only people who have been paying attention will get it!
Nights: Now you're being pointlessly vague.
Me: >:(

"Killer, we've got better things to do than flustering a random skeleton-"

"B-but it's me! Dream!"

"-and I'm Dust, nice to meet you. Anyway, if you really are Dream, I have a question for ya. Who is the Kind One?"

Killer rubbed the back of his skull as he looked back at Dust.
"Are you crazy?! We promised not to tell anyone who that was!"

"It's the only way to know for sure that this is the guy we're looking for."

Criss stood up from the table.
"They've got a point. How do I know you haven't been lying to me this whole time, Dream?"

Dream sighed and lowered his eyelights.
"Because I know of whom you speak."

The room grew cold, and the rest of the cafe patrons stopped dead in their tracks as a shadow passed over the town. Even Dream's intensely positive aura was hampered by the ghost of the past, and it wouldn't have surprised anyone if the person about whom they were speaking suddenly appeared, as if their name alone could bring the dead back to life.

"Their nickname," Dream took a deep breath, meeting Killer's empty eyesockets. "was Grim."

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Hello. How have you guys been? Sorry for this chapter being mostly exposition, but I had little inspiration for this one. A lot of it was improvised, so it may or may not make sense with the rest of the book. However, you have sneak peek of a bigger picture, as well as part of the next book. Please be patient. I'm trying my best, and I myself hate waiting. I will try to get a new chapter out by tomorrow, though. Cya!