#lava’s okay too. i read a lava fic once that was pretty good. the kai in it was greyro and having a crisis over his First Ever Romantic Attr | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fanfalc-616 · 4 years

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Ok, so here’s my ‘literally elements’ AU, chapter one. It’s my first time making a fic on tumblr, so bear with me.

“Is- is there anything else that I, uh, that I can do for you, sir?” The shopkeeper stutters out, staring at Lloyd in awe.

The teen shakes his head. “No, but thanks anyway. And, er, call me Lloyd, okay?” He forces a smile. The reverence people show can get kind of annoying after a while. After all, he’s only been the Master of the Elements for a year now.

And with that, Lloyd takes the pack of supplies and heads out. It’s been over a month since he’s checked on the elementals, so he needs to get on that.

In all honesty, he’s been putting it off. He’d much rather play video games and read comics than micromanage them.

With a sigh, the blond heads out. He’s in Jamanakai Village right now, so the closest place would be Zane’s home, the Glacier Barrens.

It’s a good thing he can’t get frostbite.

—————————-

Lloyd sighs as he reaches the edge of the snowy area. Thankfully, the elementals typically seek him out as soon as he steps into their territory, which is nice.

And just like he assumed, moments after he crosses the threshold into what’s officially the Glacier Barrens, the snow beside him begins to shift, and Zane forms from the frost.

“Lloyd.” He greets. “It has been a while.”

The teen smiles. “It has.” He agrees. “How’s everything going?”

The Master of Ice frowns. “The snowfall has been quite heavy, and it has begun to grow beyond my territory. I am not sure what to make of this, but I do not believe it is cause for concern.”

Lloyd nods. “Interactions with the others?” He prompts.

“Jay has been visiting more often than usual, and I think something is troubling him. But beyond that, I have had no arguments or major difficulties with them.”

The Master of the Elements opens his mouth to ask his next question, but Zane continues speaking.

“However, I have had some minor earthquakes disturbing my routine, and have not heard from Cole in a while.”

Hmm. Well, he’ll have to look into that. Cole typically limits the earthquakes to non populated areas- but there have been times when people have annoyed him to the point of more major tremors.

“Anything else I should know about?” Lloyd brings himself back to the conversation.

Zane shakes his head. “No, that is it. Would you like to stay for lunch? I have been working on some new recipes.”

Lloyd smiles. Zane’s food is some of the best he’s ever had- likely because he’s practiced his cooking for millennia. And while he does need to check on the others, well… a quick bite wouldn’t hurt.

“I’d love to.”

So the Master of Ice leads him to his cooking space- he doesn’t really have a house, considering that he doesn’t need sleep.

He actually has an abundance of ingredients, which seems kind of unexpected, considering where he lives. But he typically gets them from one of the others- usually Cole- in exchange for some of the food he uses said ingredients to make.

They talk idly while Zane cooks, and continue to do so while they eat. Lloyd shares news about the outside world, and the elemental eagerly asks for more details.

But soon enough, he has to head out. Bidding Zane goodbye, he heads off to find some cave or underground tunnel.

It’s time to go talk to Cole.

———————

Before he makes it somewhere underground, he comes across a storm- or more accurately, the storm comes across him. Looks like Jay found him first.

And sure enough, the Master of Lightning materializes in front of him. “Hey!” He greets cheerfully. “How’s everything been? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Lloyd hesitates a moment, trying to come up with an excuse. He can’t exactly tell Jay that he was avoiding talking to them.

“That new Fritz Donnagen comic came out.” It’s not quite a lie, one did come out recently- and he was one of the first ones in line to get it.

Jay lights up- literally. Sparks fly off of him, and the smell of ozone that follows him grows stronger. “It did? What happened?! How did he get away from the Imperial Sludge?!”

Lloyd stifles a laugh and pulls the comic out of his bag. “I brought it for you.”

The elemental attempts to grab it from him, but Lloyd pulls back, leaving him grasping at air. “First, I need a report on how everything’s been going.”

Jay huffs. “Okay, okay. There’s been a minor heat wave- which affects my storms, by the way- and Kai’s been acting weird, so I’m not sure what’s going on with that. And it’s starting to get harder to control the rain- which I did have less control over already, rain isn’t lightning- but this level of minimal control is just weird. And I’ve tried talking to Zane a lot, but he seems pretty busy with something, so he hasn’t really been up for chit-chat. And-“

“Hold on.” Lloyd puts his hands up. “What’s going on with Zane?”

“I don’t know. He seems kinda stressed about something. Not sure what, it’s kinda weird, actually.” Jay frowns. “Come to think of it, even Cole’s been acting kind of suspicious.”

“You’ve spoken to Cole recently?” The teen frowns. Zane said he hasn’t had any contact with him, so it’s good to see that someone has.

“Yep. We were on top of a mountain and I swear, he got so upset that it nearly split in two! We weren’t talking about anything that could upset him like that, so I’m really not sure what set him off. Can I have the comic now?”

The Master of the Elements shakes his head. “Not yet, I have more questions.”

A pout crosses the ginger’s face, and he crosses his arms. “Ughhh. What else do you need to know?”

“You said that Cole’s been upset, Zane’s been hyper focused, and that Kai’s been acting weird. What do you mean by weird?”

“Well, there’s been a big heat wave down in the Sea of Sand, and the Boiling Sea has just been a mess. It’s so hot over there, I can’t even use rain to cool things down! Not to mention that trouble I’ve been having with the rain…”

Lloyd feels his brows furrow. Hmm. That doesn’t sound good. And why wouldn’t Zane tell him about whatever he’s worried about? Nothing seemed to be bothering him when Lloyd was there, but then again, Jay knows him better.

This is what he gets for putting things off.

“Do you have any idea why they might be so stressed out?”

Jay shakes his head. “Nope. Well, Cole mentioned something about Serpentine, but I’m not really sure why that’s such a big deal- they’ve never done anything he can’t handle.”

Lloyd nods and hands Jay the comic. “Thanks. I’ll check up on everyone.”

The Master of Lightning waves with a smile. “Good luck!”

And with that, he vanishes back into the storm.

————————

Lloyd carefully makes his way down into a cavern- he doesn’t really have a particular one he heads to each time, he just trusts that Cole will find him once he’s underground.

And sure enough, rubble shifts, and the Master of Earth stands beside him, leaning against a cavern wall. “It’s been a little while. Is everything okay?”

The teen nods. “Got caught up with some other things. How’s everything going down here?”

Cole hesitates. “I’m having some trouble with my powers.” He admits bluntly, getting straight to the point. “The earth hasn’t been responding the way I want it to, and some Serpentine have been taking advantage of that.”

Lloyd frowns. “What do you mean, it hasn’t been responding the way you want it to?”

“Moving the earth around takes a lot more effort than it used to, and, well, sometimes it doesn’t work at all.”

“And you’ve never had trouble with this before?”

Cole shakes his head. “Never.” He confirms. “I tried to head over to talk to Zane about it, but I couldn’t get there. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get inside his territory- it’s like there’s an extra layer of frost outside it.”

Lloyd nods slowly. “That’s… odd. Jay and I didn’t have any trouble getting in.”

“I’m not sure what’s up with that, but I have talked with Kai. I think he’s getting close to snapping with how upset he is at this whole thing.” The Master of Earth admits.

Lloyd curses under his breath. Kai’s always had difficulties with self-control, and having trouble with his element is just going to make all of that worse.

“I’ll check up on him now, unless there’s anything else you need to tell me.” Damn, he should’ve gone straight to see him as soon as he knew something was up!

Cole shakes his head. “Good luck.” And with that, he disappears back into the rubble.

Lloyd takes a deep breath. Time to find the nearest volcano.

————————

Torchfire Mountain was quite a ways away from where he was, and Lloyd didn’t even realize it would have been faster to go to the Fire Temple until he was standing at the base of the volcano.

With a sigh, the Master of the Elements begins to trek up. It takes several hours, and by the time he’s at the top, he’s exhausted. Maybe going to visit everyone in one day was a bad idea.

He sits down on the edge of the volcano’s rim, looking down at the lava below.

“Lloyd!” Kai greets. The teen almost flinches from the way he suddenly appears in the ash beside him. “I haven’t seen you in a little bit. Everything’s okay, right? You’re not hurt?”

He nods. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Kai scooches closer, looking him over carefully. “You sure everything’s okay? If someone’s bothering you, I can-“

“I’m fine.” Lloyd interjects. “Really. But I’ve heard about everyone’s powers fluctuating, and I wanted to see if you’ve been having trouble with them, too.”

The Master of Fire looks away with a sigh. “Maybe a little bit.” He admits. “But it’s nothing I can’t handle.” He tacks the end on quickly, but Lloyd knows him well enough to know that the elemental is just worried about being seen as weak.

“The others have been having trouble too.” Lloyd tells him. “I think that there’s something going on here.”

Kai pauses a moment, but then nods. “There might be something going on at the Fire Temple, I’ve been feeling something off around there for a week or two.”

“A week or two? Which was it, one or two? This is important!” Lloyd stares.

The elemental scratches the back of his neck, a sheepish expression on his face. “I’m not sure.” He admits. “When you’ve been alive as long as I have, time can get kinda fuzzy.”

A sigh escapes him, but he knows that he can’t blame Kai for that. The Master of Fire has been alive for eons, it’s a wonder he has a grasp on the length of human time periods at all.

“I’ll go check it out.” Lloyd decides. “Anything else I should know?”

Kai shakes his head. “Loss of powers has been the only main issue. I’ll see you at the temple?”

The Master of the Elements nods. “I’ll see you there.”

So he begins his trek over to the Fire Temple, which is a little under a dozen miles from where he is now.

Sometimes Lloyd hates his job.

#literally elements au #ninjago #ninjago au

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keelywolfe · 5 years

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FIC: Terms of Engagement ch.3

Summary: Rus is still a kid himself and with his life turned upside-down, he has no idea how he’s going to take care of his baby brother. Having other kid skeletons appear in his world wasn’t exactly the help he was looking for.

Tags: Pre-Spicyhoney, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans, Undertale Sans, Undertale Papyrus, Babybones, Scientist W. D. Gaster, Possible Past Child Abuse, Skellie Daycare, Growing Up Together, Big Brothers Caring For Their Little Bros, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Angst

Notes: I sort of desperately needed a little more of the Adventures In Skellie Daycare. Enjoy!

Chapter One | Chapter Two

Read Chapter Three on AO3

Read It Here!

~~*~~

Before he’d ever met the others, before he’d inherited a pack of baby bones to watch on every third day, Rus was already pretty used to waking up with a small, warm, bony body sleeping on him.

When Blue was only a little boney maroney, they’d shared a room and whenever he’d woken up crying, Rus was the one who went to him, soothed him, fed him from the bottles the scientist left even if they couldn’t be trusted because there was nothing else to eat. He’d tuck his little brother into bed with him, holding him close and taking his own guilty comfort from no longer being alone.

He’d promised to keep the kid safe all the way back then, one of the first promises he’d ever made. First one he’d ever broken, too; his memories of how or why were fuzzy on the details, but he knew it was true. Rus had made the some promise again After, this time to three little ones who all looked up at him with worshipful eye lights, believing every stupid word that came out of his mouth.

He’d kept his promise a lot better this time.

Blue usually slept pretty well on his own these days, but sometimes he’d wake up from a bad dream, or maybe those fuzzy memories trying to find a way back in. He’d wander in and burrow into Rus’s blanket-and-cushion pile with him, all snuggly-warm, and Rus would wake up with a little brother squirming against him, ready for whatever breakfast there was.

So, it wasn’t too weird to wake up with a heavy weight on top of him, even if it did feel heavier than normal; maybe Blue brought one of his toys in with him? Rus blinked heavily, but the room was completely dark. None of the artificial daylight nor the glow of the lava made it all the way down here. He fumbled for the lamp, wincing at the sudden flood of light. It was only when his vision cleared and he saw it was Edge sleeping on him that Rus remember.

“shit,” Rus mumbled, scrubbing at his face roughly with one hand. They needed to get moving and over to visit in Red’s world before Sans got here with Papyrus if he was going to have time to talk to Red. He did hate to wake the kid; Edge was sprawled out on him like a starfish, drooling enthusiastically on Rus’s pajamas and his rabbit hanging loosely from one hand. But time was a-wasting and Rus wasn’t even sure how much they had. They needed to get going.

He gave Edge a gentle nudge, “hey, kiddo, time to get up.”

Yeah, and that was the reason he hated having to wake Edge up. The kid woke instantly, already scrambling to his feet and away, his eye lights skittering around wildly. Rus didn’t know what Edge was looking for, but he only relaxed when he didn’t find it.

Edge didn’t seem to think there was anything strange about waking up like he was expecting to find something (someone?) gnawing on his femur. He only yawned and gave Rus a sleepy smile. “Morning, Russy.”

“good morning, sugar skull,” Rus gave the skull in question a gentle knuckling, “we need to go talk to your bro real quick before blue wakes up and sans gets here with papyrus. lemme get dressed and we can go.”

“’kay,” Edge scrambled to sit on a cushion while Rus scrounged through his clothes for something reasonably clean. The kid started automatically putting his thumb into his mouth and paused with it halfway there, forcibly settling his hand back into his lap. Rus pretended not to notice, Edge’d been trying to break the thumbsucking thing for ages and usually had it beat. Must be really worried about his bro if that habit was putting in an appearance.

When Rus finally found a sweatshirt without too much in the way of stains or stink, he shrugged into it and a pair of shorts, groaning and stretching with every step. It was too damned early to be up, Red better appreciate this. He wouldn’t, but Rus could hope. Once he’d shoved his feet into his sneakers, he paused by Edge, who was looking up at him hopefully.

Rus raised a brow bone at him and those sockets went wider, his jaw quivering tremulously. It made him chuckle and shake his head, giving in, “okay, c’mere, kiddo. you’re starting to get big for piggy backs, ya know.”

“Not too big!” Edge said sulkily, but it turned to a gleeful crow when Rus swung him up on his shoulders.

“no? thought you weren’t a baby bones,” Rus said slyly. He winced as Edge flicked him between the sockets, his bony finger making a hollow thock against his skull.

“Don’t be mean, Russy!” Edge whined.

“me?” Rus rubbed his skull ruefully. “okay, quiet down, kiddo. we’re gonna check on blue and then head over to your place, yeah? don’t wake him up or he’ll hafta come along and this’ll take too long.”

“okay,” Edge whispered. He hunkered over Rus’s skull like he was using all the energy in his little bones to keep quiet.

Good enough.

Rus knew all the places on the floor that creaked by heart and avoided them, easily balancing Edge on his shoulders as he made his way to Blue’s room. It was Red who’d pointed out that all the squeaks and creaks were good as an early warning system in case anyone ever came wandering down here, so Rus left them as they were. So far, the only use they’d been was to warn him about an escaping baby bones, but hey, that right there was worth the price of admission.

A quick peek showed Blue was still sound asleep, curled up in his little bed with his own lovey. He’d sleep for a while yet if Rus didn’t wake him, so if they hurried, they’d be back before his bro even noticed he was gone.

True to his word, Edge kept quiet as Rus crept back out and down the hallway to the machine room. It was only once they were inside that he shifted uncomfortably, his sharp little fingers pinching a little against Rus’s skull.

Not that Rus blamed him. Using the machine always made him uncomfortable, too.

There was something about it, something that felt wrong, prickling uncomfortably over his bones. It was stupid, but sometimes Rus had this weird idea that machine wanted him to use it. Didn’t make any sense, it was a machine, machines didn’t want things, and he never mentioned it to Sans or Red. They’d think he was dumb. Dumber.

Dumb or not, it didn’t stop him from feeling it, but there wasn’t much choice about using it, it was the only way to get to the other worlds. Rus reached back and gave Edge a gentle pat as he tapped in the coordinates he’d long ago memorizing, waiting for the rush of painful cold from the opening portal.

The shimmer of black that appeared was eerily silent as always. Rus never did figure out how Sans worked up the nerve to walk through it the first time, because he sure wouldn’t have done it.

Well, maybe.

The portal wasn’t that tall, Rus usually had to duck to go through it, and this time he swung Edge off his shoulders to balance him on his hip bone before walking in. There was a certain guilty comfort to holding him close, even as Edge shivered a little in his arms. This kid didn’t much like it, either, although he’d never heard a complaint from Blue or Paps.

Stepping through it took less than a second, but it was like falling through ice on a lake, chilling him to his soul.

The machine room in this world was weirdly similar to his own, down to the same feeling of prickling discomfort that didn’t ease until Rus went through the door. The second it closed behind him, that feeling was gone like it was shut off with a switch and Rus gave himself a little shake and went looking for Red.

The building itself was laid out different than his own, a weird mirror image and Sans’s was the same way. Sans joked that it wasn’t just him and Blue, it was all of their world that was swapped around from theirs and so far, Rus hadn’t seen any proof that he was wrong.

Didn’t matter much, all it meant was that he turned left instead of right to get to Red’s room and that he had to follow the path of creaks and squeaks in reverse.

Edge’s fingers were gripping his sweatshirt so tightly it was pulling it off his shoulder, and Rus rubbed his back soothingly. He kept quiet though, biting back any soothing words. Something felt…off, ominous, he couldn’t explain it. The door to Red’s room creaked loudly enough to make him wince, but there was a light on and he didn’t need to let his gaze adjust to the dark. Red was sprawled on the bed, snoring away, a blanket draped haphazardly over his legs.

No wonder Edge was worried; even asleep, Red looked like shit. He’d taken to wearing sunglasses lately like an asshole, and Rus hadn’t thought it worth anything past an eyeroll. Looking at him now, he was obvious he’d been hiding the dark circles under his sockets. How long had he been hiding this shit and he’d been watching the little bros like this? What if he got them sick, too?

Rus sent a Check at him to see how bad it was and what came back to him chilled him worse than any walk through the void.

Sans: LV 3 1 ATK 1 DEF *he’s only pretending to sleep

“oh, fuck,” Rus whispered. He stumbled back a step, sockets so wide they ached as Red rolled over and looked at him, and never had those crimson eye lights, that permanent sneer with those razor teeth seemed so threatening.

He barely noticed Edge squirming in his arms. “Russy, you’re holding too tight…Russy? It’s too tight, you’re hurting me…!”

His feet were moving on their own, shuffling backwards and nearly tripping over his laces so he didn’t have to look away from Red. Who was climbing to his feet, reaching out to them with his sharp-clawed fingers and he had EXP, he had LV, killer, he was a killer—

“wait!” Red cried out and Rus was so stupid that he actually did, paused at the pain in that voice and the tears that were suddenly tracking down Red’s face, because when had Red ever cried? Never, that was when, Red played the badass, always, even though he was a full head shorter than Rus, he didn’t cry, never cried. Until now, sinking down to the floor amidst socks and sweatshirts, curling into a ball and burying his wet face into his upraised knees as he rocked and wept, “i didn’t have a choice! i didn’t…i couldn’t…”

Rus glanced at the door out of the corner of his socket. He could make it, one quick dash and he could maybe slam it closed, trap Red in here while he and Edge made for the machine.

Instead, he hesitated, watched the quiver of Red’s shoulders even as he clutched Edge closer to him despite his complaints, “what happened?”

Red lifted his skull, his blotchy face awash with tears that he tried to wipe away roughly on his sleeve. He snuffled hard, “not in front of the kid.”

Yeah, he wasn’t that stupid. “either tell me, or i’ll take him back with me.”

Red’s eye lights flicked to his brother, who was starting to sniffle himself, still trying to worm free of Rus’s grip. He nodded reluctantly. “i was at the dump, digging for somethin’ to sell. usually, i can get in and out without nobody seein’, but this time, they caught me. i thought i lost ‘em but they followed me back here and—” The tears started again, trailing down his cheek bones to meet at his chin, falling in droplets. “they attacked me, tried to kill me. called me free xp. i couldn’t…they knew where we lived, they coulda found the machine. coulda gotten to all of you, i didn’t know what else to do!”

Some part of Rus’s soul cried out that there was always something, that killing was never the answer…but it was weak, easily squashed. He’d always known this world was more dangerous, he and Sans both knew it, talked a few times about maybe quitting with the even steven in babysitting and only watch the kids in their worlds.

Just thinking of what kind of Monsters would call Red free XP, little Red a full head shorter than Rus in his striped shirt and stupid boots, thinking of those Monsters getting to the machine, getting to his world, getting to Blue—

“fuck,” Rus mumbled, because what were they supposed to do?

“couldn’t let ‘em hurt you guys,” Red said, dully. He’d given up on stopping the tears, letting them fall, staining his face. “couldn’t. not my bro, not blue and paps, i couldn’t.”

“i know,” Rus said, struggling with numb fear of his own. This could happen again easy and what was Red supposed to do? Keep killing anyone who found him out, piling on the EXP until it drowned him in LV? He knew about LV, knew what it could do to a Monster, and Red was an asshole, but they couldn’t let that happened to him. Worse, he might not earn EXP, he might get dusted, and then Edge would be here alone and—he didn’t realize how hard he was squeezing Edge until the kid smacked him, squalling again that he was holding too tight. He loosened his grip absently, his thoughts a’whirl, what could they do—

The solution was so simple he couldn’t believe he’d never thought of it before, clicked in his head like one of the puzzles that the three trouble triplets loved to do.

“listen,” Rus said, slowly, “why don’t you and edge come live with blue and me?”

That got him a fresh emotion from Red. His eye lights flashed and he snarled out, “we don't need your pity!”

“good, because you’re not getting any!” Rus shot back. "how are you gonna protect our bros here, huh? how can you keep edge safe? you know things aren’t the same in my world, so come stay with us! no one is gonna call you free xp there!”

Red flinched, the truth of that hitting him hard. He was wavering, so Rus finally set Edge down and let him run to his brother, flinging himself into his arms. Usually, Red would tolerate hugs from the kiddos with a lot of grumbling and shove them away after a minute. This time he gathered Edge close, holding him in tightly as his little brother bawled and clung to him.

Over his little bro’s head, Red’s eye lights twitched to the wall where a few pictures of all the kids were tacked up, taken with an old camera Sans found at his lab. One of them was of Blue, swallowed up into one of Red's old jackets, the sleeves hanging over his hands as he beamed up at the camera with starry eye lights. There were plenty of others; Edge and Paps and Blue as baby bones, working their way up from toddlers till now, the three of them laughing and playing. Safe.

Red tried to swipe away his tears again, uselessly, and snuffled out, “you mean it?”

“course i do!” Rus said stoutly, with more confidence than he felt. Okay, it was gonna be a pain in the ass, he knew that, but it was a helluva lot better than the alternative. “red, you guys don’t need to stay in this shithole

He still didn’t look convinced. Edge squirmed free of his arms, for once having to fight loose from his brother’s grip. He stood there in his too-small footie pajamas, looking up at Red, and his voice was pure hope as he asked, “We’re gonna live with Russy?”

“yeah, kiddo,” Red sounded like he was still trying to persuade himself. “you like that idea?”

To say Edge lit up gave lightbulbs too much credit. The kid all but glowed, shining with delight, and he stood on his toes to whisper to his brother too softly for Rus to hear.

Red only snorted and shook his head. “you still on that idea? he ain’t marrying you, that ain’t how it works. is that why blue keeps askin’ me, you put that idea in his head?”

“am so,” Edge repeated stubbornly and for all that none of this was very funny, Rus had to cough to hide his own smile. Kid had a long memory, that was for sure.

Red looked around at the room, at the scattered clothes, the pictures and let out a slow breath as he nodded. “okay, give me some time to get everything packed up and we’ll head over to your place, yeah?”

“I can help!” Edge said eagerly. He started to run out, paused and gave Rus’s leg a hard hug.

His skull was only as high as Rus’s hipbone and he gave it a gentle pat, crouching to press a soft kiss to the curve of it and murmured, “go get your stuff, sugar skull. bet you and blue can share a room for a little while, yeah?”

“Yeah!” His delighted grin was the last thing Rus saw as he ran out, heading to pack what was probably too many toys and not enough clothes. Ah, well, he was sure Red would double-check.

Red was already stuffing clothes into a bag, frowning as he tossed a few things aside. Rus jerked his thumb at the door, “i’m gonna go back and give my brother a heads up. this’ll work out, red.”

He nodded jerkily, adding a striped hoodie to his bag. “yeah. least i know my bro will be safe in your world.

You both will, Rus didn’t say. He left them to pack and headed back to the machine, shivering his way through the void and back to his own world. It was no surprise that Blue was thrilled with the idea of having Red live with them, even if he had to share his room with Edge, and he spent the morning neatly splitting his room in half. Rus was less amicable about sharing; there were plenty of empty rooms in the lab, Red could pick a new one. They might even be able to find Red a mattress, short as he was, it’d be easier than finding one for Rus.

They were still waiting for their new roomies when Sans showed up to drop off Papyrus, who was so disappointed that no one was moving in with them that he started to cry. Rus gave Sans an abbreviated version of what was really going on while he soothed his little bro, and he decided to wait around instead of heading off to his own world, get a bead on how things were gonna be changing.

They were still waiting at lunchtime. At dinner. Still waiting that night when Rus tried to use the machine and found that it wouldn’t open a portal to their coordinates. Sans and Papyrus could head home, but their machine didn’t open to Red and Edge’s world either, only flashed a brief pattern of warning lights and stopped.

They waited the next day and the next, while Blue and Papyrus cried over their friends, and Rus and Sans sat in silent worry, trying the coordinates again. And again. Until eventually the kiddos stopped asking when Red and Edge were coming back, until Blue only looked at the pictures of his friends sadly, placing them in a scrapbook, and he wore that old jacket of Red’s until it was rags. Until Sans came up with his Idea and the four of them had to make a choice. But the machine never opened a portal to those coordinates again.

Rus kept that worry in his soul, waiting for a portal that never came, for the next fifteen years.

~~*~~

tbc

#spicyhoney #papcest #keelywolfe #underfell #underswap #underfell papyrus #underswap papyrus #underswap sans #underfell sans #undertale papyrus #undertale sans #baby bones #terms of engagement

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