Theweirdestroller - A Very Bored Author

Request for varian and the seven kingdoms! Fic where Hugo gets turned into a dog accidentally, probably by some wierd alchemy fail, and the group struggles to turn him back

The day had been peaceful and calm. Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing was chaotic or crazy. Varian had sent Nuru and the others to go shopping for some chemicals he would need for an experiment leaving the Coronan alchemist alone.

Ruddiger, of course, was also there, helping and making sure Varian didn't do anything dangerous or accidentally forget a step in whatever new project he was working on. Everything was in order. Varian smiled to himself as he pulled his goggles over his eyes, ready to try and stabilize his new compound. Just as he was about to add a single drop of stabilizer-

"VARIAN!" The alchemist dropped the pipette but quickly caught it before it fell to the ground. Nuru burst into the tent, her expression rather flustered, with Yong right behind her.

"Nuru? What's wrong?"

"THAT! THAT IS WHAT'S WRONG VARIAN!" Nuru pointed harshly at a golden retriever that trailed in behind Yong. Varian raised an eyebrow, an unamused expression crossing his face.

"Yong found an animal sidekick and you're mad there's three of them now?" Varian asked. Yong giggled while Nuru glared.

"That's not a dog, Varian," The princess was seething as she tried to calmly explain the situation.

"Pretty sure it is- Wait. Where's Hugo?" Nuru motioned over to the dog. "No. Nuh-uh. Do not believe you,"

"Well you better. We were out getting everything on that list you gave us and went to this little apothecary. Hugo tried to steal something and it turns out the owner knew magic," Nuru said, the exasperation in her tone clear.

"Did you try to get them to turn him back?"

"They kicked us out right after. Didn't even let us say sorry," Yong spoke up, one hand stroking Hugo's silky fur. Hugo huffed and brought a paw up to stop Yong from petting him. "Aww, sorry, but you're just so soft!" The pyrophiliac exclaimed before bending down and throwing his arms around the dog. Hugo gave up and just allowed it to happen.

Varian sighed and started putting away his current project. Nuru stopped Yong from suffocating Hugo and then proceeded to drag the dog outside by the scruff of his neck. When she came back in, Varian had completely cleaned up the tent. Ruddiger was now perched on the boy's shoulder, chittering happily.

There was little talking on the way back to the apothecary. Prometheus was pulling the cart. Nuru, Yong, Varian, and Olivia all sat inside. Hugo was forced to walk, an extended punishment. Normally, Varian would take pity on the thief, but the quicker they left, the sooner they would be at the next kingdom. Something that was going to take even longer because now, one of their party members was a canine.

Yong was looking over Varian’s shoulder as the Coronan was swiftly jotting down details about Hugo’s condition. It was easy to conclude that whoever did this was in no mood to undo it, so they had to find an different way to turn the thief back into a human. Nuru was looking at the map, occasionally glancing over to the miserable Ingvarrian. If there was a way to fix Hugo and begin their journey to the next kingdom, she was determined to find the quickest route.

There was a snap and Varian groaned. The pencil tip broke and he was too agitated to keep writing. He threw the pencil and opted for looking over what he had written so far. Nothing that would be of use. Hugo was completely dog, excluding his mind. He couldn’t talk, couldn’t write, he couldn’t even walk on two legs! Olivia climbed up Varian’s arm and grabbed the snapped pencil tip. She proceeded to draw a handful of vials filled with liquids of varying shades of gray, not that the pencil had any other color.

“What’s that?“ Varian asked the mouse. Yong gasped and started digging in his pocket for something. Nuru looked over.

“That’s- That’s what Hugo stole,“ She said confused. Yong had found what he was looking for and pulled out several multi colored vials.

“I got ’em! Hugo had them when he got turned into a dog so I kept them!” Varian’s eyes widened.

“What if we returned them?“ Yong carefully handed over the chemicals sloshing around in the glass. “Maybe, whoever it was will turn Hugo back,“ Varian mumbled a couple of things to himself before having Nuru lead them back to the apothecary.

Varian was the only one who walked into the store. Inside was a young person of maybe 14. They sat behind a counter counting the few coins they had gotten over the day.

“Excuse me?“ Varian said as he approached the counter. The person looked up, curious green eyes meeting Varian’s blue ones. “I- uh, would like the purchase these for my friend,“ They eyed the vials Varian placed on the counter warrily.

“Your friend is a dog?“ Varian nodded sheepishly. “Alright. Once you pay for these, he’ll be back to normal,“

Varian walked out of the apothecary to see Hugo hugged his very human body and the smallest bit of a floppy dog ear disappearing. Olivia was squeaking happily, snug in her human’s pocket.

“You bought the vials?“ Nuru asked. Varian shrugged.

“We needed them. And look, Hugo’s back,“

“I can’t pet him anymore,“ Yong said sadly. Hugo pat the boy on the head and started towards the cart.

“Sorry Firecracker. But lets not stay here too long,“ 

“He’s one to talk,“ Varian grumbled before following after the thief.

Shark

Horror was lazing around, curled up in one of Nightmare's many tentacles. He had insisted on hunting, but Dream took it upon himself to bring back something for everyone. It had been a long time since Horror could rely on someone else to take care of him, so he hesitantly allowed it. The two twin leviathans were far from the shiver he had lost, but they were still caring and loved him, so he could deal with them spoiling him if they wanted to.

As they waited, Horror was tangled up in one of the many gargantuan tentacles Nightmare had. Shortly after Dream left, Horror made the request to snuggle with the much smaller octopus form that he had only seen a few times from the leviathan. He was, grievously denied and Nightmare, though he apologized, still felt the need to make it up to him. So here Horror was, tangled up and enjoying the feel of the large suckers carefully caressing him. It was some mix between grooming and petting that the great white didn't care to place.

The peace was slowly chipped away as the water got warmer, uncomfortably hot, even. And Horror found himself squirming deeper into Nightmare's hold where the tentacles were still just a bit colder. Moments later, a massive, glowing beast entered the Depths. Nightmare didn't grace it with a reaction, so Horror stilled himself.

"𝒪𝒽, 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇!" Dream's familiar, yet endlessly louder, voice chirped. And the mer in Nightmare's grasp felt rather silly for forgetting that both his datemates were leviathans, not just Nightmare. "𝐼 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒻𝑜𝑜𝒹!" The goldfish swam up to his brother, forcing Horror to stay in the tangle of tentacles lest he be boiled alive. The golden brother noticed the discomfort and quickly returned to his normal, huggable form, letting the water start to cool.

"Great. Enough for everyone, yes?" Dream nodded his head enthusiastically causing a swarm of bubbles. Nightmare laughed and took the catch from his brother, dividing it equally among the group present. Horror got the smallest portion, due to his non-leviathan status, and Nightmare had- Was that a...

"Nightmare?" Horror asked softly, and though he was quiet, Nightmare heard him and turned his attention entirely to his smallest mate. "Is that a shark?" Dream flushed gold as he realized just exactly what he had caught and the possible implications such a feast might have.

"Goodness, Horror, I am sooo, sorry. Brother, I'll go right now and get you som-" Horror scooped up Dream who was already on his way out of the Trench and brought him back to Nightmare, who was pushing the carcass away from the rest of his food.

"Apologizes Horror. I did not realize-"

"It's fine, both of you. I'm not a full shark. Just... surprised." Nightmare gave a small smile and gulped down the shark first, just so Horror wouldn't have to look at it any longer. Horror, on the other hand, was quite flustered that both of these deadly, ancient beings, were worried about being disrespectful to him, a tiny mortal.

-------

Ah, yes, a wonderful chunk of fatty tuna. Dust was purring away in Horror's arms as he ate his meal. The pilot fish were swimming around nabbing whatever crumbs they could pick up from Dust's admittedly messy dining habits. Nightmare was also eating, his brother perched on his shoulder, tentacles wrapped around his shiver of two. It was quite the feast the twins had in front of them. A ray, crab, and a hammerhead, and that was only what was left from everything. Dust paid no mind as his more fishy, not-mer cousin of the ocean was devoured by the kraken that he loved so dearly. He did, however, notice that Dream had been watching him for a reaction on said meal. And that was quite amusing to the whitetip.

------

The shouting and hollering that echoed around the trench alerted the two leviathans to the return of their tiny shiver. Killer, the source of the noise, was the first to dart back into the Depths, bragging with his chest puffed out. He was so proud of who-knows-what that Dream just wanted to scoop him up and kiss him. But, that could wait. The bull shark grabbed Dream's hand and led him over to where Horror and Dust were still dragging back their kill, all the while chattering about just how very impressive his hunting skills were. Nightmare allowed himself to emerge from his part of the trench, following his brother and their newest shark out to greet the others.

Horror branched off from Dust and made his way over to the behemoth that was one of his mates. He settled into Nightmare's palm before offering up a carcass that looked just a bit too much like three of the mers present. Nightmare hadn't noticed that Killer had stopped prattling, his eyes staring directly at what Horror had just given to Nightmare. Dream had noticed, thank you very much. And was gently shaking Killer's shoulders, really hoping that when he returned, he wouldn't be hostile or afriad.

"YOU EAT SHARKS?" He asked rather boisterously, as he did everything. Nightmare finally turned his attention to Killer and ducked his head in a way resembling shame. "Oh shi- That, sorry Night. Didn't mean it like that- I just-  didn't.... Expect it? I mean, you and Dream have three of us now and- uh..." It was a pitiful attempt at backpedaling, but it was just amusing enough that Nightmare let out a small laugh.

"Worry not Killer, I just didn't want you to fear Dream or myself"

"Never," Killer said as he pulled Dream to Nightmare and snuggled into the both of them.

-------

"Hey, um... Has Nightmare ever... How do I say this..." Cross said, stumbling over almost every word. "We're not on the menu, right?" Horror made a humored sound as he looked at the familiar tail of a shark disappearing into Nightmare's mouth. Killer made no attempt to hide his maniacal cackling at the question. Cross flushed purple. "It-it's a good question, alright!" He tried to defend himself. "We're tiny and he could easily swallow us,"

"Wouldn't that be nice," Killer said through his insane-sounding laughter. Cross somehow got more purple.

"It's fine. We're good. He only eats normal sharks," Dust explained, handing an anchovy to Cross as he sorted through their latest hunt.

"Cool... That's good." The poor thresher said before gulping down the fish he was given.

"It is funny how all of you react to the same situation," Nightmare mused as he scooped up the shiver.

"Very much so. You mortals are all so silly!" Dream said, darting around and giving each shark a quick peck. 

Leviathan

"It's a seal!" Reaper cried out, tail thrashing in agitation.

"It was in mine territory. And not every seal falls under the protection of you and ink-for-brains over there,"

"Hey!"

"I mean, he's not wrong," Error said, arms crossed.

"guys-"

"I don't think it matters if it was in your territory or not. Lay off the seals," Reaper growled.

"Guys-"

"Ah, yes. Because you're allowed to control what me and the shiver decide to eat. It's not like we eat them regularly."

"Seals should be off limits. We really don't need selkies to think we're a direct threat to them,"

"Why on earth would they even think that? We eat all sorts of things that have mer variants and I have yet to see a rebellion of anything against us,"

"Guys!"

"It's a valid point, sure, but you don't see us going around eating sharks,"

"Because, none of you even like eating sharks. And I've eaten them before. You think if anyone wouldn't, it'd be Dream and I."

"𝒪𝒽 𝓂𝓎 𝑔𝑜𝓈𝒽, 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒮𝐻𝒰𝒯 𝒰𝒫!" The water warmed instantly as Dream fell into his larger form. "𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝒾𝒸𝓀𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝐼𝓃𝓀, 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓇. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒩𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉'𝓈 𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎. 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉. 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝑒𝓍𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓁. 𝒮𝒽𝓊𝓉 𝓊𝓅. 𝐸𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓇. 𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝓎 𝑒𝒹𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓃. 𝒲𝑒'𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝑜𝓁𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀𝑒𝓇 𝒸𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓏𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝓎𝑒𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒹𝒶𝓎." Dream allowed himself to shrink back down. "We know not to eat anyone that's been claimed by a leviathan. All other prey is allowed."

"But-"

"No buts! Geez," Dream threw up his hands and started to swim away. "Deal with this amongst yourselves. Just- don't tear any boats or cities apart. Thanks," He spat sarcastically.

"Are they always like this?" Cross asked from his place beside the shiver.

"Unfortunately." Dream growled. The four sharks, two selkies, and one goldfish continued to watch until finally, the leviathans ran out of things to argue about. And thank goodness for that. Any longer and someone was bound to get hurt.

Nightmare broke off from the rest of the group to scoop up his shiver and brother, returning to the Depths as quick as he could.

"I can't believe you were even bothering to argue with him,"

"It's not my fault they don't know when to meddle,"

"Oh my goodness. You're not allowed in our cuddle pile tonight,"

"I never am," Dream looked at the shiver.

"Who wants to find some nest away from Night for this evening?"

Ink and Error grabbed Blue, swimming off to their own territory.

"That was a pretty stupid argument. Let them hunt what they want," Blue said from within Ink's grasp.

"But Blue, what if they get ideas?"

"Then I'm safe with you guys. But I don't want you having petty squabbles over something like this,"

"Seriously? Seals? That's what you're arguing about?"

"I-"

"No, stop. Lets just get back home." Reaper made a dejected sound and carried his upset selkie away.

Bite-Sized: Prologue

So, this is a bit of a prologue. The story before it starts. Because really, every story has to start somewhere. And this one starts, not at the beginning, but at, technically, an end. The end of a normal life, the end of calm, the end of quiet. And it begins again in pain and loss. But don't take to much at once. It's small, bite-sized, if you will. So let us begin. Or end, whichever you see fit to describe this.

---------------------

Papyrus had been dreading this day ever since the core failed. Why would he not? The people of the Underground had been slowly starving for years now. There was no one who could get enough food to properly sustain themselves. No one, except one. It wasn't Sans's fault that Papyrus never let him go hungry. He was only six, it would be wrong to deny him even a snack. Of course, now, that had all backfired.

"NO."

"Papyrus, I'm not asking anymore."

"I KNOW THAT AND I DON'T CARE. " The tall skeleton remained in front of the door, blocking the Emperess.

"Do you understand how dire the situation has gotten?"

"YES. I'M ONE OF THE MONSTERS LIVING THROUGH IT. BUT I REFUSE TO HAVE SANS SUFFER WITH US."

"That's not what I'm-"

"NO, WHAT YOU WANT IS FAR WORSE, UNDYNE." She sighed.

"papy? what's going on?"

"GO BACK INSIDE SANS, UNDYNE AND I ARE JUST HAVING A CHAT,"

"Papyrus..."

"whatcha talkin' 'bout?"

"UNDYNE-"

"We need someone with really strong magic to help start the Core back up,"

"and you need papy?"

"YES! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT UNDYNE NEEDS! A MAGNIFICENT SKELETON SUCH AS YOUR BROTHER! THAT'S WHY SHE'S COME, TO ASK FOR MY ASSISTANCE!" Papyrus knew it sounded forced. But he also knew that his baby brother was unlikely to notice.

"so cool papy!!" Sans cried out giving his brother a hug around his legs before running back inside and shutting the door.

"You can't keep doing this forever Paps,"

"I'LL DO IT AS LONG AS I NEED TO. I SUGGEST YOU LEAVE." Undyne exhaled loudly and made her leave, bothering only with a wave and spoke no farewell. Papyrus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and entered his house.

"did you help her?" Papyrus smiled.

"AS MUCH AS I COULD, SANS. BUT WORRY NOT, EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE."

----------------------

Everything was not fine, Sans realized, if a bit too late. He shouldn't have gone alone. But he wanted to make sure that it really would be alright, that his brother really did help with the Core.

"p...papy?" His head hurt. It felt like it had been spiked through by a spear. And that wasn't an entirely incorrect statement. He couldn't see. All Sans knew was the pain blossoming through his skull. And that he was missing something important. What, he couldn't tell. But Undyne had been there. And now she wasn't. He thinks he might have seen her holding his eye, but also, that didn't seem right. His vision blacked out when it was forcefully torn from his socket, how could he still see?

"SANS? SANS, WHERE ARE YOU? IT'S DINNER TIME!" Dinner sounded nice. Papy always made tasty dinners but didn't eat much himself. Sans always gave him some of his snacks. His big brother wasn't the best at self-care after all. "S-SANS?" Sans tilted his skull towards his brother's voice.

"papy? i'm okay..."

"YOU ARE- VERY... NOT OKAY. GIVE ME A MOMENT BROTHER." Long, lanky arms scooped up the small body of the six-year-old and carried him in a gentle hold. They were walking, where? Sans couldn't see. They walked for a long time, and then, Papyrus set the babybones down, still as gentle as can be. "STAY HERE FOR A MOMENT, OKAY?" Sans only hummed his agreement before starting to doze off.

----------------------

"Papyrus-"

"UNDYNE. YOU KNOW THE SAYING."

"What saying? Paps, look, I'm real sorry it had to come to this, but your brother was the only one left in the Underground with enough magic to-" She didn't see the bone attack until it had pierced through her face.

"AN EYE FOR AN EYE, ISN'T IT?" Papyrus wanted to do more, he should have done more. But he didn't. He had a brother to get back to. Before leaving Undyne to her pain, Papyrus knelt down and picked up something round and squishy from where it landed after his attack. "YOURS FOR HIS. YOU DON'T NEED THIS."

----------------------

When Sans awoke, he could see again. Looking around, because he could do that, he could see he was at home. He didn't know how he got his sight back, or how he got home, but here he was, vision and all. Maybe it had all been a nightmare? He really hoped so. But it all felt so real...

"SANS! YOU'RE UP!" Papyrus chirped cheerfully. "HOW DID YOU SLEEP?"

"pretty good. but i had a nightmare..."

"THAT IS NO GOOD. LETS SEE IF SOME FOOD WILL HELP YOU FEEL BETTER," Papyrus lifted his brother into his arms and marched them off to the kitchen.

And if he stopped by Alphys' lab later that night to question why she had directed Undyne to Sans? Well, that was nobody's business but his own.

So what if he had to stay up late to scrub the bits of brains out of his bones and off the shower floor.

Seaweed Nest

Cross was running his hand over the soft nest that he and the shiver had been sleeping in since he arrived. It was soft and plush, warm and safe. But it was starting to fall apart. He would have repaired it himself. If he knew how. There were quite a few nests hidden in the Trench. At times Cross saw the others working on theirs. It was amazing how everyone, everyone except him, knew how to weave these special nests that were all so comfortable. He wasn't jealous per se, but he certainly would love to learn.

"Whatcha doing Cross?" Dream swam up and curled himself around the thresher. He gave a small hum at the warmth.

"Just thinking," Cross received a bonk for his response. "How do you all make these nests?" The leviathan gave a squeal and darted away from Cross. Had... had he said something wrong. Just as the poor mer was about to leave, Dream swam back in, kelp in hand. He dumped the seaweed on Cross and sat next to him.

"Ooh, I've been wanting to teach you this!!" 

------

"Baha, oh my gosh Crossy-" A certain bull shark mer burst out laughing at the sight before him.

"Shut up," The mer glared at Killer for even thinking about teasing him. "It's Dream's fault."

"Don't blame me! I was just trying to-"

"Brother, you don't even know how to make a nest,"

"I do! It's just... Different is all," The goldfish pouted. Nightmare allowed himself to fall into his smaller form. Once a reasonable size, he untangled his brother and mate from the mess of seaweed they had made.

"Don't do this again. Horror will be happy to teach you both," He gave both of them a pat before leaving to dispose of the knot of kelp.

------

"This is nice," Cross murmured as he sunk deeper into the newly made nest. Horror only purred in response. Dream was still off sulking somewhere, though, it was likely Dust was with him as the whitetip had mysteriously vanished some time ago. "Thanks for the lesson," Cross got a kiss for his words.