Cross POV:

I felt bad for Nightmare. He'd hardly let me out of his sight since it happened. I don't blame him. Right now he was holding me in his lap on the couch and trying to plot with Error. I was bored. It was boring without the others. I missed them. A lot. I had no one to play with. I leaned onto Nightmare more. He wrapped a tentacle around me. I smiled a bit. They were talking about how they could figure out which au the Stars would have set up in next. Then an idea struck me.

"What about their old base?" I asked, interrupting the conversation.

"What about it?" Error asked.

"Even if they moved the whole place physically, don't you think Ink would have forgotten at least one thing? Maybe something useful?" I explained.

"Maybe." Nightmare agreed. "We'll check tomorrow." He patted my head. I giggled. Then I yawned. "Someone tired?" He asked.

I just leaned into him more. Lately he's been having me sleep in the same room as him. I didn't mind, he was paranoid. I actually understood a bit. I slowly fell into a peaceful sleep against Nightmare.

Killer POV:

I threw a stuffed animal at the wall. I needed to stab something and Horror wanted more food. I need a knife. Horror sat on one of the beds. He was grumpy. I don't blame him. Right now we were alone, something we didn't get to be often. Dream was usually in here trying to explain that they 'saved' us. Neither of us were buying it. Dust wasn't here. We assumed that Nightmare managed to get to him in time, so we were relieved about that.

"Do you think Nightmare is coming for us?" Horror asked.

"Of course! Dad wouldn't abandon us like that!" I defended.

"Dad?" Horror repeated. My face heated up.

"Y-yeah. Nightmare is like one to us." I quickly explained.

"Wouldn't he be more of a mother though? He sure acts like your stereotypical mother. Granted a man could do it too considering he is one..." Horror explained. "Mama Nightmare."

"Heh. I like that!" I agreed. "Mama Nightmare!" I repeated. We giggled and kept saying it. It was fun. I still want a knife.

Dust POV:

I blinked awake. I was in a room. I wasn't here before...what happened? It wasn't my room, that's for sure. I hugged the blanket closer to me and tried to remember what happened.

Oh, right.

Flashback

Blue grabbed me and teleported. I was still waking up and started freaking out. He teleported into a hall and grabbed a bracelet off a table. I freaked out more and accidentally teleported somewhere. I summoned a bone attack that hit Blue in the shin. He clamped the bracelet on as he got hit. He dropped me and I ran. I was tired again. I had hardly gained much stamina and then I already used magic twice. We were in the Ruins of an Underground. I ran farther in and screwed up the puzzles to make them harder for Blue. I then ran into the sassy rock.

"Oh. My. God. Just move!" I shouted at it.

"Try asking nicely, shouts." It replied.

"Please! I don't want to go with the other skeleton!" My tiredness began getting the best of me. I yawned. My vision began to blur.

"Oh!" I heard someone say.

Then everything went black as I passed out from tiredness again.

Flashback end

Great. I remembered I couldn't teleport though. I looked at the bracelet on my wrist. I tried to summon a bone. Nothing happened. I sighed. I sat up in the bed. Did the Toriel here save me? I looked around. I wanted to go home. Maybe I can figure out where I am.

~The Next Day~

Nightmare POV:

We arrived at the place where the Stars used to reside. There was nothing but grass and random things. Ink really forgot a lot. Cross was on my back, piggyback style. Error looked skeptical. We began looking around.

After about an hour, the most important thing we found was a drawing of a person. I sighed.

"I have another idea." Error suddenly chimed in as we all sat on the grass. I looked at him. "But you're going to hate it."

"Tell me." I ordered.

"What if we have Cross a listening device and maybe a tracker and let him get caught? Then we'd know which au they're in." He was right. I hated it.

"No. They are not getting Cross." I said flatly. I gripped onto him tighter.

"How do you get the other ones back then?" Error asked.

"What if they're in an au I can't access? Then I can't do anything!" I was getting more and more scared. What if I actually can't get them back? Cross hugged me from the side.

"It'll be okay. I'll do it if it gets the others back." Cross said. That made it worse. If it doesn't work, I can't get them back.

"You don't have to do that Night." Error said.

"But I need to get the others back." I replied quietly. I was weighing my options. "Are you sure you want to do this Cross?" I asked, just to be sure. He nodded and smiled. I put my face in my hands. If I lost Cross I'd never get any of them back. And it'd be "Okay."

~A Few Hours Later~

We'd gotten a few things and put them on Cross. I put a tracker in a hidden crease of his scarf. Then I put the tiny recording microphone on the chain of his locket hidden around the back of his neck.

"Comfy?" I asked. Cross giggled.

"Yep!" He replied, putting his hands on his hips. I smiled warmly. I put my arms on his shoulders and looked straight into his eyes.

"If anything happens, and I can't get back to you. Know I love you. Okay?" He nodded.

"I love you too." He replied.

He hugged me. I hugged him too. I secretly wished that this wasn't happening. I slowly let go. I wiped a tear away from my eye socket.

"Let's go screw up some lives." I said. He smiled.

~After a Lot of Destruction~

After a while, I couldn't find Cross and all three Stars were on us. I signaled to Error to leave. We both teleported home.

I immediately ran over to see if we could track Cross. We could!...but my excitement quickly faded as I realized he was in an au I couldn't access. I stabbed a wall with a tentacle. 'All that work...for nothing! I can't even reach them!' I put my face back into my hands. Stupid positive aus.

Cross POV(when he was brought there):

Dream set me down in some room. Killer and Horror were there. I also had a weird green bracelet on now.

"Did they get you too?" Killer asked.

"Yeah..." Nightmare had instructed me not to tell the others about the tracker and listening thing in case the Stars could hear us in here. "Also, where's Dust?" I asked, honestly confused.

"We thought he was with you and Mom!" Horror said.

"Mom?"

Killer groaned as Horror explained everything again. It was super adorable to be honest.

"Still though, where is Dust?" Horror asked. "If he's not here, not home, then where is he?"

We all just stood there awkwardly, wondering where the murderous skeleton is.

"Where would he be?" I asked, quite confused.

"He might still be in the au. Im not sure though." Killer replied.

Dust POV:

I figured out where I was. I hadn't left the au. And the Stars had set up just outside the ruins in the snowy forest. I wanted to get my friends back. If Nightmare wasn't here yet, I assumed he couldn't get here. He'd mentioned a few times that there were aus he couldn't get to.

I said goodbye to Toriel and walked out of the ruins. She handed me a slice of pie on the way out. Cinnamon Butterscotch. I thanked her. I could leave and go back to Night, but I wanted my friends back first. He'd be so happy if we were all back. I walked into the forest and began searching. How would a I figure out where the Stars were?...

...

I kicked a pebble. It was the middle of the night. I hadn't found anything and I was lost. I couldn't do anything with this stupid bracelet. I needed a way to get it off. I grabbed the pebble I'd kicked. I took it to the bracelet and tried to slice it. It didn't work. I groaned angrily. It echoed through the forest. Maybe a bigger one. I dug through the snow. I found a bigger rock and dug it out of the snow. I tried to sneak in under the bracelet. I got it under and yanked it up. It hurt my wrist but it worked. The bracelet was gone! 'Now I've got magic! I'm coming for you friends!' I thought excitedly. I teleported to the area near my friends.

I saw the house nearby. 'How do I get to them without alerting the Stars...' I saw Horror looking out a window. I sent a bone gently flying at the window. It scared him, but didn't break the window. He spotted me and lit up. He left the window. He came back with Killer and...Cross?! I didn't think he'd be here. Killer banged on the window. Horror took Cross back away. Killer kept banging on it until I saw someone grab him and pull him away. I assumed it was one of the Stars. I sat behind a tree for awhile. Then suddenly a toy boat came flying through the window, shattering it.

"I did it!" I heard Killer's triumphant yell.

I grabbed one of the broken glass panes. The three slowly climbed out of the broken window. Cross climbed down on Horror's back. They ran over to me. Killer practically tackled me with a hug. I sliced off their bracelets one by one with the glass pane.

"Now let's go surprise mom!" Cross said

I was confused.

"One more explanation!" Horror said loudly. They quickly explained the mom thing. I laughed.

"Hey!" We all recognized Ink's voice. We held hands. I quickly teleported us home.

We arrived just outside of the castle. Horror walked up and knocked on the door. It took a while and a lot of knocking, but then Error opened the door. He looked stunned to see us. He brought us in quickly. We sat in the living room. Error walked off to go get Nightmare.

"What is the stupid surprise?" I heard Nightmare's voice down the hall. He was not happy. He walked into the living room and gasped. We were all looking over the couch at him.

"Hi mom." I said quickly. He stopped for a moment.

"Mom? Am I a mom now?" He smiled. We nodded.

He sighed happily. He speed walked over and hugged us all. We all leaned into his touch. Error watched from over the couch.

"I am so sorry! You were in an au I couldn't get to. I-I..." He said. "I should have seen this coming." He let go of the hug.

"Don't blame yourself! Blame the Stars!" Cross chirped. He hugged back onto Nightmare. We all followed.

"Ah yes, too-touchy family affection. Also, Dust. What the hell happened to you?" I looked at Error who asked that.

"Oh, right." I giggled nervously. I began to explain what happened with me.

~A Little Bit Later~

I'd shown Nightmare the slice of pie Toriel gave me. I asked if he could make it. He was trying to. He handed me a slice of the pie he'd just made. It was delicious. Just like the other one. I smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Good. Enjoy it." He patted my head.

He's a good parent. I'm glad we're finally back.

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