Chapter Text
“Do you ever have nightmares? Like… repetitive ones? I guess I should probably explain a little more.”
“Well uh… it starts with me in a boat. Not a cool big one either, a small little dingy boat. I’ve got no one with me, no oars. I’m stuck drifting in a big black ocean of tar. But… but I never seem afraid! In fact, it makes me feel brave. It feels… it feels as if I’m the captain of the boat. Like, I’m a fearless adventurer and no one could ever stop me.”
“Anyways, the sky is dark… If you could even describe it as a sky. It’s all just… gray.”
“I’m just drifting out. Doing nothing in particular until the ocean starts to rise. I panic, of course! This thick black… goo is going to swallow me and the SS Palette whole! I look around this little boat frantically, looking for anything to keep us afloat… but there is always nothing.”
“Of course the water starts to pour in… if it’s even considered water. It was thick and sticky. Like… like swamp water or something. Anyways, I try to use my hands to scoop it out but soon my bones are completely stained black! It sticks to the gaps, to my sleeves and everything.”
“I try kicking it out, but it latches onto my boot like a fricken’ parasite! So of course, I slip and fall on my back. This stuff is as slippery as it is dark. My boat continues to sink.”
“I try to sit up, but it’s as if it’s attached itself to my back, binding me to the boat. I struggle, I try to yell out for help. But who’s gonna help you out in the ocean really? As I keep struggling against this strong… oil, I keep yelling as it covers my entire body. Of course, it’s not long until it gets into my mouth.”
“It’s disgusting, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. I try spitting it out, coughing it out but that never works. Soon I’m swallowing the stuff and I can feel my insides churn at it. It’s literally so gross that my body wants to reject it instantly, but then it seeps up to my nose. I try holding my breath, but my need for air is desperate and I breathe it in.”
“The tar, it always burns my lungs and my throat as I suffocate in my boat. I choke, being strangled by whatever this is. At this point I’m crying, pretty pathetic I know. All I can think of is ‘get me out of this damn boat! I don’t want to die, I don’t want my parents seeing me like this. I don’t want to die yet!”
“My vision gets blurry as I can physically feel this disgusting tar fill my lungs with its thick goo. My body contorts as I struggle to get out, at this point my bones grow tired… Soon, I give up. Me and my boat sink to the bottom, being completely engulfed in an ocean of grease.”
“It doesn’t end there. As I’m drowning in an ocean, I can see something glimmering. It looks like… a crown? My dad’s crown at least, but a little different. It has this… moon on it. It seems to be a little bigger at least. I try swimming towards it, pushing what little strength I have to get to it. But before I can reach it, my body goes limp. I feel everything fade to an isolating black.”
“And that’s about it anyways.” Palette smiles, shrugging. He finally looked his friends in the face. They didn’t look happy; in fact, they seemed extremely concerned. His two brothers Blueprint and Paperjam stared at him in bewilderment. Palette’s smile faded as he saw the expressions. Oh, had he really described it that dramatically?
“Palette… that’s..” His best friend and confidant Goth started. His red scarf stuck out from his white clothes, a singular pupil searching for any sign of distress on Palette’s face.
“That’s fucked up.” Paperjam crossed his arm, stating the fact quite bluntly. The youngest of the group, Blueprint nodded frantically.
“That sounds terrifying! Is it as vivid as you really say it is?” He asked, tilting his head in a worried manner.
Palette let out a forced, nervous laugh as he adjusted his cap.
“I guess I’m a good storyteller, huh? It’s just a nightmare though. It’s a little scary, but now it’s just a common dream I have.”
“Speaking of Dream…” Goth interrupted, placing a finger to his cheek as he thought deeply.
“Don’t you think it’s a little strange that the son… of Dream… who’s the guardian of hopes and dreams… is having the opposite of dreams?” He asked, glancing over to the others asking for confirmation.
“Actually now that you say it that way, yeah that is weird.” Blueprint agreed. The energetic boy gripped his scarf tightly.
The trees outside the treehouse swayed. The quadrant of children had made a treehouse out in the far depths of Outertale. It was far enough from the original AU that they hopefully wouldn’t be spotted, but also they could still enjoy the rare meteor showers.
The idea of building a treehouse in an AU that didn’t have trees came from Palette. He and his best friend Goth wanted a place for their friend group which had been appropriately named “the scarf sanses” by Blueprint, considering they all wore scarves. Paperjam hated that name, but he was outvoted three to one.
“I know this is rich coming from me but… have you ever spoken to Dream or Ink about this?” Paperjam asked, adjusting his sitting position as he reached for the stash of candy that Goth as he mischievously followed his reaper father around the AUs collecting souls.
“Ah. I don’t really want them to worry about me.” Palette confessed.
“It’s not really that big of a deal. I swear! A nightmare isn’t anything concerning.”
“It can be if it’s repetitive dude. It can screw with your head. Give you an anxiety disorder or something.” Paperjam chewed on the watermelon gum, blowing an obnoxious bubble which annoyed Blueprint.
“Actually that’s a good point. What if you enter a situation where you’re stuck on a boat with no oars?” Blueprint questioned, Palette groaned playfully.
“Then I’d just walk to shore, duh!”
“You can’t get out if you’re stranded, dumbass.” Paperjam spoke again, popping another bubble.
“Can you quit that? We’re trying to have an important conversation with our brother!” Scolded Blueprint. Paperjam shrugged. He didn’t really care, he and Blueprint had always been at each other’s throats. Blueprint was very lawful while PJ was more chaotic neutral.
“Hm. Well, if you don’t wanna tell Dream then I guess we can’t force you. But we would really like you to. Maybe Ink would know how to help?” Goth suggested. The creaky boards of the treehouse groaned under their weight. Naturally the treehouse wasn’t perfect. In fact, majority of it was made by Palette and Blueprint. Paperjam wasn’t good at creation magic and Goth obviously couldn’t help. So, it was up to the younger half brothers to put up with it.
Goth sighed, concerned with his very best friend. He loved Palette and they’d be friends forever, but he could certainly be stubborn at times. He scrunched you his face in disapproval as Palette shook his head again.
“Ink doesn’t dream. What a weirdo, amiright?” He giggled, Ink had always been such a peculiar dad. He wasn’t the best, that’s for certain but he certainly wasn’t awful.
PJ nodded, the group fell silent. Maybe it was time to end the meeting here. They had done some nice practice of their magic. None of them were as strong as they’d like to be, but they were certainly taking the right steps. Their battle skills had improved quite a lot.
“Alright goth, do you have a way to get back to Reaptertale? We could get Jammy to open up a portal for you.”
“That’d be appreciated, Blueprint!” Goth smiled thankfully. Paperjam rolled his eyes. He was not a taxi for them! But.. he was the only one who knew how to open portals as of now. Thanks Error.
The group of teenagers climbed down from the tree, their movements significantly slowed by the lack of gravity which only made their spars more fun. Behind a few rocks was their training grounds, it was currently covered in dry ink and intense attempts at cleaning the magic before another child was accidentally formed. Paperjam was probably the most cautious about that. He did not want to accidentally make an incest baby, that’d be nasty as hell. Incest is bad kids.
“Alright, stand back. My portals still aren’t entirely stable so…”
Paperjam felt ink spill from his fingertips slowly, the lack of control he had always made things difficult but being in a place with no gravity made the formation of portals much easier. The paint mixture bled from red to orange to yellow as the mixture slowly formed a circle. He squinted his eyes as he focused on the imagery of Reapertale. He… didn’t entirely know what Realertale looked like, but it always seemed to get Goth to and from, so there was no issues there. The string of ink connected with itself, as the rainbow magic shined with a prideful glow, the portal had begun to form.
Palette admired his older brother, Paperjam may be the weakest one out of the group attack-wise, but he was certainly convenient with making temporary shields and portals. The poster-boy stared in awe every time Paperjam got to work. Seeing the son of creation and destruction work his magic was always a sight to behold. If only Paperjam could get a better grip on his magic.
Soon, within the portal formed an image. A beautiful Toriel sat on a rock as she spoke to a flower. A yellow flower. Goth smiled seeing Life doing her best.
“See you later guys!” He smiled, waving at his friends before quickly hopping into the unstable portal before it could close.
“Bye Gothy!” Palette waved wildly as his friend vanished into the portal. Paperjam grunted as the portal instantly collapsed the moment Goth was safe on the other side. Portals always build up a sweat.
“Alright, while we let PJ catch his breath… Blueprint. I’d really appreciate if you didn’t tell anyone about my nightmares.”
“What? Why?” He asked innocently, Palette when to reply but was interrupted by Paperjam randomly entering a coughing fit. He sent his older brother a look which said ‘die quieter’. Paperjam gave his brother a thumbs up as if to respond ‘I get the point’.
“Because you’re terrible at secrets, Print. You’re incredibly honest and that’s a great virtue of yours but… sometimes white lies can be good at preserving someone’s joy.” Palette placed a hand firmly on his younger brother’s shoulder. Blueprint looked up at Palette and sighed.
“I’m usually against lying, I really don’t understand why you want to keep this nightmare such a secret but… I’ll try my best.” Blueprint nodded. Palette sighed with relief.
“Thanks dude, it means a lot.”
“If you didn’t want people to know, why tell us?” Paperjam asked after finally catching his breath. Palette shrugged.
“Well, maybe if you hadn’t of insulted the bags under my eyes, I wouldn’t have dumped that all on you.”
“Saying you’re ugly isn’t bad. I’m just being honest.” Paperjam retorted playfully. Palette snorted.
“As ugly as you? That’s an accomplishment.” Palette punched his older brothers arm lightly.
“Take us home, Jammy.” Palette confirmed as he stood back slightly. Paperjam nodded as more ink spilled from his fingertips.
A much larger and much more stable portal opened up. He could visualize the void perfectly well. So it wasn’t as much of a struggle for him. It was still very difficult, just a little easier.
“Go! Go! Go!” He yelled, as his two younger brothers burst into a sprint. They both leap through the portal at the same time, causing PJ’s magic to falter slightly. They cleared the way on the other side for their older brother. Getting Paperjam to cross was always the hardest. He struggled to keep a portal open while also transferring through it.
They held their breath, hoping their brother would make it through. Last time it didn’t work, Ink had to find him on Broomie and bring him back.
“Why do you two always jump in at the same time!?” A voice called out, PJ’s body was shot through the portal harshly as he skidded across the floor. He had made it.
“Because we give you more time to get though!” Blueprint defended. Paperjam groaned again on the floor.
“It also makes things ten times more difficult for me to hold stable, dummies!” Paperjam snapped as he got off the ground. He brushed his clothes off.
“I think I smell Blue’s tacos.” Palette cringed, gripping onto his scarf nervously.
“Barf.” Blueprint sighed. They’d have to get Error to steal some chocolate from Underfell again… maybe.
The three brothers entered the void, where the two of the three star sanses sat.
“Where have you boys been off to?” Dream asked with a bright smile. Blue’s head poked up, as he held out some seemingly innocent tacos.
“We’ve been training.”
“No we didn’t! We had a meeting in our treehouse.” Blueprint corrected Paperjam who sent his brother a look.
“Which includes training, brainiac.” He scowled, narrowing his eyes.
“Well, excuse me for forgetting we did ten minutes of training underneath all of that slacking!” The two bickered again. As Palette shook his head politely to deny Blue’s tacos, he pointed over at the other two to suggest that they should have some of Blue’s utterly delightful tacos.
“Where’s papa?” Paperjam asked.
“Error is out fixing an issue with Ink, you two have got to try my newest recipe! I worked really hard on it and no one in Underswap seems to be around to taste them.” Swap brushed Paperjam’s question off. He was as forgetful as any papyrus and as eager as one as well. It was evident that Papyrus was definitely hiding from his brother’s awful cooking.
“Uh-… No thanks Uncle Blue. I’ve uhhh… got some brooding to do.” Paperjam try to deny but he couldn’t, quite literally couldn’t deny Blue.
“I’ll try some, father!” Blueprint spoke with a beam. He took a taco, sending a challenging look to Paperjam before taking a bite. Instantaneous regret spread across Blueprint’s face.
“You look frightful, Palette. Have you been crying?” Dream asked, gently cupping Palette’s cheek. Palette forced another laugh, he suddenly felt super bad lying to Dream.
“Ah! Nah, nah. I’ve just been having a bit of trouble sleeping lately. Maybe I’m staying up too late.” He looked down, he held a smile. He hoped his father couldn’t detect the lack of positivity within his grin.
“Alright, if you won’t be honest then I won’t push it. Just know that I’ll always be here to make sure you're happy and safe.” His eyes didn’t cease with a soft, concerned look. He had caught Palette in the lie, crap.
Palette shook his head, smiling again.
“I promise you I’m fine! Why do you worry so much?” Palette sent his dad a playful wink. Dream didn’t move.
“It’s my job to worry.” He spoke bluntly. Palette smiled awkwardly.
“I-.. I know. I just think you worry too much dad. I’m alright, I swear.”
Another lie.
Dream sighed, crossing his arms.
“Maybe I’m getting old. Five hundred and six years certainly takes a toll on you.” Dream adjusted his crown. Palette giggled.
“Sure, sure. I wouldn’t know because I’ll be yout-“
“Blueprint! Get it away I don’t want it!”
“Eat it Paperjam! Eat it and tell my dad how wonderful it is!!”
“Because you can’t!?”
“How dare you!”
“Hey! Stop that! Dios estrellas, ¿por qué no pueden comportarse como tú?” [translation: ‘my stars, why can’t they behave like you?’] Dream muttered. Palette watched as his dad seperated his two siblings. His smile faded.
Paperjam was spiteful and sour.
Blueprint was hotheaded and honest.
But Palette?
Palette was a little bit of a liar.