Bite-Sized: Prologue

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.

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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."

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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.

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"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."

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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.

Scales

The coming of winter didn't really affect the chill of the Depths. It was always took cold for comfort. It was why Dream was such a vital source of heat for the shiver. But it was quite unfortunate that there was only one of him. And that he rarely liked to stay still. The shiver tried to take measures to keep Dream close whenever the water was too frigid, and Dream was usually more than happy to oblige. But there were times when he couldn't. If Dream himself needed to be somewhere, or if the shiver split up... So they all sat around, each curled up in one of Nightmare's tentacles, ready to brainstorm ways to keep warm when the living heat source wasn't present.

"I say, Dream turns into his leviathan form and we all just cuddle him like that," Killer said, almost like he believed it was a good idea.

"Uh-huh, I hear you, but I'd rather not be boiled alive." Dust replied. Cross murmured his agreements.

"Wellll, we could just go up to the surface to soak up the sun. Or, I could. Just me. Y'know-" A large tentacle pinned Dream down mid-sentence. He huffed and got himself comfortable. His brother and the shiver were determined to solve this problem before Dream left to explore the reef. Which was quite unfortunate for the goldfish, as they had been discussing this topic for the better part of an hour.

"If it wasn't so time consuming, we could bring back the heated rocks..." A gigantic hand scooped some rocks and pressed them to the trapped mer. "It always worked when we were younger," Dream shoved the rocks away.

"But we're not. And cuddling with rocks  is sooo uncomfortable brother. Besides, I would need to heat them back up a lot more than the ones you used. It's colder down here,"

"Couldn't we just... use your scales?" Horror spoke up for the first time in a while. The shiver fell silent.

"A moment, please," Nightmare said before dragging Dream deeper into the trench. The sharks all gave each other questioning looks before curling up into a purring pile. Whilst nestled together, the water heated up considerably.

"𝒮𝒯𝒪𝒫 𝐼𝒯! 𝒢𝑒𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝓅𝒾𝒹 𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝑜𝒻𝒻 𝓂𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊-" Dream's screeching could be heard from wherever he took Dream.

"Stay still. I know for a fact that this doesn't hurt."

"𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓆𝓊𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒! 𝐿𝑒𝓉 𝑔𝑜! 𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂!" The sharks approached the place they last saw the leviathan twins and looked into the deeper darkness. The water was almost unbearably hot when they reached the edge of the trench.

"That is the worst lie I've heard all century," Nightmare deadpanned from the abyss. Loud, incomprehensible screeching words could be heard as the water started to cool once more. Nightmare emerged with his much smaller brother at his side and five glowing objects in his hand. He placed one by each of the shiver and gave a wide grin like he hadn't just plucked off what were clearly Dream's scales in his larger form. There were a few inquisitive noises from the sharks until they realized just how warm the scales were.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Killer asked, practically drooling as he cuddled the scale that was almost too large for him.

"Because it requires me being in my leviathan form. And Nightmare harassing me. Apparently."

Octopus

An octopus slowly crawled out of its cave. The shell of some unfortunate creature was held in one of its many tentacles as a shield. As though such material could protect it from the dangers that surrounded it. The world was dark, the moon high in the stary sky, making only a sliver of a reflection. A large shadow passed the tiny being and it sunk into the coral, switching colors to be as close to invisible as it could get. The shadow passed, leaving only a trail of bubbles in its wake. The octopus continued onward. Despite being to close to the surface and so far away from the demons lurking in deeper water, the shallow reef was far from safe. Suckers clung to the rocks and coral and it continued moving in search for... something.

Bubbly giggling could be heard and the cephalopod held the shell up in the direction of the noise.

"Aww," The thing cooed as it watch the octopus with great interest. "You're so cute!" It squealed. The octopus backed away, keeping the shell up as the only barrier between it and the creature. As it moved away, the water got warmer. "Don't leave, I just want to play~" The octopus did not understand the words and slipped itself into a crevice of the rocks. "You're no fun," The warm being whined before swimming closer and snatching the shell away from the suckers with multiple little pops. "You're really bad at hiding you know," And those were the last words spoken before the small warm thing turned into a giant, sweltering beast that dug its fingers into the rocks and broke them open. Escape was impossible, so the octopus changed its colors and sunk as far down into the remaining sanctuary as possible. The being was boiling the water around it and thus, the water the octopus was in. Living in such extreme heat was impossible, but that wasn't what killed it. When the being became small again, it shot its head forward and bit down with all the force of an ancient being.

Dream opened his jaw and let the dead creature float into his hands. Oh, this was going to be fun. The glowing mer sped off towards the depths, octopus in hand. The water around him got darker and darker as he left the sunlit zone and entered the trench. There was no light except the glowing scales of the goldfish as he went deeper and then- he stopped. A glowing cyan light suddenly appeared, bathing Dream in it's light.

"Nighty!" The goldfish chirped. "I brought you something, I think you'll like it," The giant beast, "Nighty" lifted and hand to take whatever his brother had brought back down.

"I don't like the look you're giving me," The kraken said as his brother drifted into his hand. The small and slightly deformed body of a tentacled creature. Nightmare huffed, the action causing the octopus to start drifting away if it hadn't been for Dream who quickly caught it again. "You're the bane of my existance" The leviathan deadpanned. Dream laughed, a warm, bell-like sound that Nightmare would have loved hearing if it hadn't been directed at him.

"Oh c'mon brother, it looks just like you," Dream said through his fits of giggles.

"No, it does not. It's tiny and pathetic and-"

"Literally exactly like you?"

"Shut up."

"No." Dream said, his eyelights glinting with mischief. Nightmare growled and pinned his brother down with one of his many tentacles. "Come ooooon Nightmare, it was funny,"

"It was not. Now stay." Nightmare pressed with the slightest bit over pressure, careful not to hurt his currently tiny brother. The body of the octopus drifted past the very stuck Dream.

"You can't just let it go to waste, at least it eat," The trapped mer complained- Before having his catch shoved unceremoniously into his mouth. Nightmare released his brother and tucked the tentacle back with his others.

"See, not waste. Happy?" Dream gave his brother an empty glare before ripping the octopus apart and eating it. He offered some to his brother, but the kraken declined. And no, it wasn't because it was "cannibalism," because it wasn't. He wasn't an octopus. He was a leviathan. His brother was just being ridiculous.

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.

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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.

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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.

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"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. 

platonic zane and cole fic where they talk about the struggles of being Not Quite Human But Almost There™ maybe? 😙<3 -may i go by clover anon?🍀

Life on the Bounty was as normal as it got for the six ninja aboard. Jay and Kai were playing video games, Lloyd and Nya were complaining about being the youngest two on the team, and Cole and Zane were in the kitchen. The kitchen was silent except for the soft bubbling of whatever culinary masterpiece Zane was making. Cole was sitting on the table, head shielded by his arms, trying to ignore the food he could no longer taste.

Soon, the ghost peered up deciding that talking could probably distract him from the work of art he’d be missing out on. But, of course, the first thing he said just had to be related to the food, didn’t it?

“Hey, Zane,“ The nindroid looked over. “Whatcha cooking?“ Zane smiled, always happy to talk about anything he was making.

“Right now, I’m working on an alfredo sauce for some pasta,“

“Nice, have you taste-tested it yet?“ Zane’s smiled faltered at those words.

“No. I was planning to have Lloyd help me with that,“ Cole instantly noticed the change in demeanor when he asked his question.

“You can’t taste either,“ It was more of a statement than a question. The white ninja nodded sadly.

“It’s one of the few things I lost when I rebuilt myself. I wish I knew how to bring it back,“ Cole stood up and walked over to the nindroid to give him a hug. Zane accepted it quickly, arms gripping on to Cole just to keep him grounded in reality.

“I haven’t had it since the temple...“ Cole trailed off, trying not to bring Zane down any more. The nindroid backed out of the hug and put his hands on Cole’s shoulder, a serious expression on his face.

“You- You haven’t- I... I’ve known that but... You can’t get it back...“ Zane’s voice got softer and softer until it was a barely audible whisper.

“It’s fine Frosty. Besides-“ Cole glanced behind his friend, his eyes widened. “I think the sauce is burning,“

“WHAT?!“ Zane whipped around and got back to fixing the mess of not yet ruined alfredo sauce while Cole laughed.

“Looks like you’re losing your touch, Zane,“ Cole said light-heartedly. The nindroid gave the ghost a light shove, only to find his and went straight through the master of earth. Cole’s laughing got louder when he realized what Zane had tried to do, and how he failed.

“I have never wished you to be human more than I have right now,“ Zane said, pointing a spoon at Cole’s chest.

“And why is that?“ The ghost asked, cheeky smile on his face.

“Because I could actually retaliate against... this,“ Zane motioned up and down where Cole was standing. Cole snickered.

It wasn’t long before more chatter and laughing filled the kitchen. The pains of being so close to human long forgotten, swept away by the teasing and messing around that was a very human quality.