what is underlight?
note: i'm aware the character profiles are bad and cringe. i will not fix them. i have more things to add to the general information and they convey the basics well enough.
essentially, an alternate universe of underverse which focuses primarily on a scenario in which, after underverse 0.6, xgaster mysteriously dies and dream starts having visions of a past form of his brother. theoretically.
as expected, dream, cross, and nightmare are the main characters of this story. as seen in the (now destroyed) plot section, dream and cross travel to the corrupted AU which nightmare resides in to find the source of dream's visions and also what the hell happened to xgaster. that's the gist of it.
there's something going on with nightmare, try as everyone who lives in the damn manor looks away, and maybe dream's gonna have to come face-to-face with some truths he would've preferred to avoid.
this AU contains violence, controlling behavior, death of children, and fratricide. click away if you don't wanna see that.
there's ships here, too. not gonna spoil that because it's funnier that way lmao
the "good guys"
or: the "star sanses"
-dream-joku->
pronouns: they/he, but he doesn't have time to correct you if you get it wrong (most people ignore the "they" in "they/he"). nonbinary but presents "masculinely." aro/ace, but has experimented. he's the type of guy to go on a date with you if you ask him out so you don't get sad. there's enough negativity in the multiverse, after all, and what kind of guardian of positivity would he be if he caused more?
he's got issues i guess. im not that good at writing but he smokes weed to deal with the stress of being "multiversal protector." i got rid of the "can't feel negative for more than 3 minutes" thing too because it's boring. he's 500 years old, i think he can handle it at least a little bit.
in sheer denial of the fact that his twin brother is dead and gone. he's not supposed to be and yet he is. pass the blunt, please.
he likes helping others, but not helping others is stressful. sleeping and smoking are nice, but he can't afford to have such mortal pleasures, he's the guardian of positivity. there are people he could be helping right now.
used to be in a QPR with ink but since the whole underverse thing has unoficially broken it off by refusing to speak to him even when they do "cross" paths π
xX cross peΓ±aloza Xx
pronouns: he/him, but he can't worry about that right now, xgaster is dead and nightmare is giving him... well, nightmares. he doesn't need to tell anyone about the second one either. just his own mind playing tricks on him, like always. erm looks like someone's struggling with toxic masculinity... that won't come up later /s. bisexual and unfortunately pining for dream. his ass does not know his crush is aro/ace.
there's grief, of course, what with most of everyone he's ever loved being dead/stored away/overwritten. he doesn't know where chara is and that's for the best for both of them because they'll go straight to trying to strangle each other.
he really wishes his bestie epic were here right now. he can't remember much, but he does know they were real close once.
β swap "blue" prince β
pronouns: he/him. for real this time (transgenderism win!) also, unfortunately, pining for dream. he knows dream's aro/ace. this is painful for him. also painfully aware that he's basically in love with a copy of himself but slightly to the left. all sans aus are copies, but remember, dream and nightmare were cloned from swap!sans.
he'd like top surgery, but having 1HP and all makes that dream just that, a dream. binding is too risky as well, so the chest dysphoria goes crazy π im not projecting chat
now, swap!sans... now that's a topic of all time. this is blue. he's not swap. swap is the "canon" version by popcornpr1nce. swap is dead, just as popcornpr1nce has removed all "canon" underswap information from the internet. blue is aware he is a copy. he is not the original. he wonders, was the original swap a trans guy too? did error kidnap me only because i reminded them of him? i miss my AU. i miss my friends. i miss my brother. the only way to go from here is forward.
Λ epic y Λ
I HATE HIM AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH I DONT HAVE ANY NOTES
neutral characters
or: the centrists
ββ β ink comyet π ππ
pronouns: any!! gender is fake anyways, dream? why are you lookin' at me like that? me? oh, i'm aro/ace! i was in a qpr with dream, but he avoids me nowadays. why? oh, it's nothin'. don't worry about it.
my... soul? is it really that important? hey, look at my tattoos! aren't they cool? broomie? yeah, it's the best! i can do a lot with it, but it's impractical for smaller pieces...
my role? i'm the protector of AUs! (though... i've been doing a shitty job lately...) i've got a lotta friends from my time protecting, like dream... and... core!frisk! my rival? oh, glitchy? nah, he hates me, but i'm sure he'll warm up eventually. you know what i mean.
x...gaster? oh, he definitely kicked the bucket. i mean, there was his torso over there... and his head over there... a real bloodbath! i wrote more down if you wanna see- no? okay. my role in it? ha, what're you implying? that i did it? don't be silly.
oh... what were we talking about again?
β ErRoR qUeEn β
pronouns: they/them, but nobody asks because they're too busy being killed. sexuality? it does not [FUNK]ing matter!!! he they're about to ULTRA KILL you!!! although, kill might not be the right word. delete, more like. sort of how you delete a file from your computer.
dream? that anomaly? he means nothing to them! just another one of that [DARN]ed squid's pawns. he's... moving on. the x-anomaly? that's the one that made the squid break her promise, right? blue? that anomaly? he's nice enough. likes to listen to me. i think. too touchy though [here, error drew what looks to be a frowny face].
nightmare? that anomaly? it's nothing to me. even if it agreed to watch The Full Undernovela (All 300 Seasons) Movie with me. that meant nothing. why are you smiling!!!
i was gonna say something here, but looks like amnesia's my name and i've got beautiful eyes (womp womp womp).
β₯ core!frisk β₯
pronouns:they/them. a child, and even if they were an adult, they have more important things to worry about. like the protector and destroyer of AUs. and the guardian of positivity and the protector of AUs. and the guardian of positivity and the guardian of negativity-
past? they've got no memory of it. the core part of their name's irrelevant.
they know what happened to xgaster, by the way, but it'd ruin the plot if they told you.
β ccino nyanko β
pronouns: he/it/fluff, but it's got more important things to worry about right now. like the fact that their partner, however abusive, has recently booted fluff out of their home and into the omega timeline. it's a big change, y'know?
he's sure it's just being dramatic. nightmare wasn't that bad, it's fluff's own fault for being.. for being too, too... needy. and annoying, and worrysome. yeah. that's it. why would it listen to dream? dream's got his own agenda. that's definitely what's going on. fluff was dating nightmare for a long time, so dream needs it for information. that's why dream's so invested. that's too bad! even if he was bad enough to warrant being kicked out, there's no way fluff's telling dream where nightmare's manor is! that'll make it even worse of a partner than he was before!
...what's going on with nightmare? well, he's been kinda... moody. not in a bad way! just... talking less. snappier. to be fair, it was the one bothering him, but...
β color youmna β
pronouns: ze/it/he, but it's got more pressing things on its plate. it's in the fucking dungeon.
βΆ sans classictale βΆ
no fucking way guys it's sans classictale from hit show underverse
the "bad guys"
or: the majority of them are in nightmare's gang, known coloquially as "the silence" because they kill you so you don't talk
βΎ nightmare joku β½
pronouns: he/it/they, absolutely cares about this. refer to it using she/her and you will die π (diversity win! the abusive jackass about to run the multiverse into the ground is transgender!) there's something going on with both error and killer here, but it's not exactly the best. you read ccino's article already. you've probably guessed what these relationships are like.
he is the most normal guardian of negativity ever and he has never thought about killing themself again and is not three (or two) different people and it has never hallucinated and has never gotten drunk after realizing for the five hundredth time that things could've been different or anything of the sort.
don't get me wrong, they're a bad monster (for even if it wears skin, it is, at heart, a goop skeleton posing as elf) but don't you think that would take a toll even after 500 years? that he never felt regret? joku doesn't think so, and that's where we disagree. sorry, but i don't believe in the inherent goodness or badness of the "human" condition! i believe-[STATIC]
β¦Ώ killer rahafwabas β¦Ώ
pronouns: he/him, but he's got more to worry about right now. the boss is acting a little weirder than normal, isn't it? he's not hallucinating again, right? his coworkers hate him, but that's fine. his coworkers liking him would generate positivity, and we can't have that in the manor. the boss would get pissed.
people he likes... not many. there was one, but the boss told him ze was dead. so it doesnt matter =) he likes... no, he finds mildly less discomfort in annoying his coworkers. murder hates his guts, and that's fine, good even. it keeps the boss less-than-angry. horror avoids him like the plague. is it disgust or pity? hard to be disgusted when there's a hole in your head and your eye's made of blood. azure? scared of him. funny. jumps whenever ae see him.
food's not an issue. he sits out meals when they've got pasta, though. don't think about that too hard.
weird visions? he definitely doesn't get those. i mean, why would he? of a kid with a shadowed face, the same hair and voice as the boss, and a purple jacket holding roses? why would he? nope, no visions here.
β¦ murder [___] β«
pronouns: he/any. doesn't care. too tired and in pain most of the time to care about anything. he's too weak for this. he's too strong for this.
they're half-convinced that the goopy bastard keeps them around for ambient negativity, and they're right. as long as he stays on his meds, and doesn't move, and doesn't think, this is a fine job.
he hates his coworkers. they're just reminders of how his story could've gone better or worse. horror is fine, they suppose. if only the human had taken a neutral route, he would've been fine with losing his head. killer is a jackass. they hate him. he's not... he's not guilty enough. he killed his brother. they both have. and what? one keeps on living, the other doesn't. how can you do that? after destroying the one person who relied on you over and over and over and over and
sol notes: i remade this guy. the canon creator of dusttale requested people in fan projects to stop using him, so i'm trying to make a "substitute," if that means anything.
β horror [______] β
pronouns: he/him, but those who don't know him well use it/its. maybe he likes someone, but he's got more important things to worry about right now. like getting food to his brother.
he made this deal with nightmare so paps'd get food, didn't he? then why is he starving? horror doesn't cook. maybe that was a mistake. he's just holding himself back. maybe if he starts cooking for the gang, then paps'll get food again. that's it.
his coworkers? killer is unrepentant, but he'll deal with him if it means keeping in nightmare's good graces. murder is tiring to deal with, to say the least. he's so... how to put this in a normal way? bratty? stubborn? stubborn. they don't listen to him. they just want to laze around all day and- great. now he sounds just like paps.
γ azure halo γ
pronouns: ae/aer. ae doesn't have time to deal with that romance stuff right now the maze is growing
how ae got into the silence...? oh, ae was having a panic attack and the boss kind of appeared out of nowhere and offered ae a job and the cause of the panic attack was aer job, how did he know? so ae accepted and now they regret that a lot because now ae has to share a manor with at least three cold-blooded killers per day, since there are always employees coming and going. it's anyone's guess how ae managed so long without dying.
sol notes: this is my child. i birthed aer that's why aer "surname" is halo from starredhalo
fun facts
some of these are, well let's justr say, not very fun
relational facts
- dream and nightmare's relationship fell apart around a year before nightmare ate the apple!
- nightmare's favorite person in the whole world is dead!
- dream's friend neil was killed by nightmare in front of them a few years after they were freed from the stone!
- dream regularly has nightmares of the dead* child that used to be their brother!
- nightmare has "hallucinations" of his younger self being disappointed in what he's become!
- murder can see him. nobody will believe her.
- horror's favorite coworker is azure! ae think he's pretty nice* too!
- ccino and color were friends a long time ago!
- when error kidnapped swap, they fell in love with him. the day they were going to confess, he disappeared.
- epic and cross were together before cross got amnesia and epic's never had the chance to tell him since!
- ink and nightmare have bumped into each other at ccino's cafe more than once, had small talk, and never mentioned it to anyone else ever again!
- horror's the one who reminds murder to take his pain meds. he's been trying to get her away from cigarettes for a while now, but it never sticks.
misc facts
- ink's favorite pronouns are she/it!
- error's favorite fruit is apple! they love eating apples when they can. unfortunately, nightmare was present at one of those opportunities.
- this one's canon: dream cannot read.
- nightmare's shit at math
- blue runs the Official Star Sanses Verselight Account because the others leave him behind because of his poor health and they wanted to give him something to do
- both killer and epic have phds! killer's is in quantum mechanics and epic's is in [your mom]
- fate is real and she is homophobic!
locations
helpfully organized into order of appearance!!!
naturally the locations are where the stuff in this au take place. there's the spooky scary manor belonging to nightmare, the omega timeline, and... uh... umm... let's just get on with it, okay?
the omega timeline
where all that stuff about "maybe there is no such thing as good or bad" and "the only difference between me and my brother is if he kills and i don't" comes from. sure hope a broken and bruised guardian of positivity doesn't start his descent to what can only be described as purely reactionary actions here!
despite how dream ends up seeing it in-story, the omega timeline's a great place to live if your previous residence went a little silly (read: destroyed). cross doesn't feel like he can go back to xtale after everything that's happened, and although he wants cross to stay for other reasons, epic's been giving cross more and more reasons to remain in the omega timeline, "at least until he gets back on his feet." sure buddy we know what you are.
worth noting that the way that i, sol starredhalo, technical god and master over these guys, wrote a fanfic in 2021 that completely changed the way i thought of "post-underverse." i mean, how can you go back to a normal life after seeing all that? knowing all that? maybe you can't. so basically what i'm trying to say is that blue also chooses to stay in the omega timeline. at least until dream has their first breakdown.
the anti-void
jumpscare!! it's error's place. the three musketeers (dream, cross, and blue) (not their canon group name) make their way over based on a rumor that error... knows where nightmare lives!!! real shocker. a few revelations happen. not too important, don't worry about it. mentioned more than once in the Mysterious Journals (see Game section [does not exist as of dec 3])
nightmare's manor
majority of the plot happens here, in-stars-and-time-style. important. not much to say other than it's big, it's important, it's vaguely gothic despite nightmare being of the late middle ages, and there are gay people within. more than one. im quaking in my boots
one time i got sucked in2 the mirror world but yeah
what??? what???? this isn't supposed to be here. are you awake? am i? is this realm a dream or a nightmare? there's just a kid here. oh he's offering to translate those Mysterious Journals, how polite! i like your purple jacket, kid. and that crescent crown looks strangely familiar...
nightmare's bedroom
cross doesnt like being in here. error does though who said that. sorry this is all self indulgent stupidity but there are important things that happen here like dream and cross holding hands (to clarify: id ont ship them it's doomed to fail [see dream's profile]) also there's an extremely relevant Mysterious Journal in here that may or may not drive dream permanently insane but that's only if you're mean to them. dont worry :)