Chapter Text
It's been several years since Ink and Error's first meeting. Both have just been by themselves throughout this time. Nothing much has changed, minus for Error growing more and more tired of being forced to destroy.
Ink is hard at work creating a universe for The Creators when they inform him of a universe that is on its last legs, and it wasn't caused by anything that usually causes a collapse .
Dreamtale, it's called. This interests Ink. How could that happen?
He asks The Creators, "How does that even happen? A universe can't just… collapse like that. Its core would've had to gotten messed up."
Ink knew of that universe, sure, but he usually diverts his attention to newer universes after a few years or so. And Dreamtale was one of the older ones, being created soon after Undertale, Underswap, and Underfell.
He does do a quick weekly check-up of every universe, but he hadn't done that today.
The happy creator responds. "Dreamtale's core is… different from other universes, to say the least. Are you gonna go there?"
"Absolutely." Ink says, pumped up and excited over this mystery presented to him.
He abandons the creation for now, and teleports to Dreamtale in an inky blob. He'll finish what he was doing later, it isn't gonna go anywhere.
Dreamtale is filled with a gloomy atmosphere. The sky is dark. Not with the kind of darkness that takes over at night, but instead its a dark and dank fog. The moon can't be seen, making it nearly impossible to see anything.
Ink creates a lantern, improving his sight a bit. This universe didn't look like this before, it had always had a cheerful and sunny atmosphere. The Creators were right when they said something had happened.
He walks around, finding the remains of a village. The buildings appear to have been destroyed, none appearing to be livable.
Ink can't seem to find anybody at all, making the universe even more eerie than before.
Eventually he comes to a stump of a huge tree, with a stone statue lying down next to it. Upon closer inspection, it's apparent that this is a statue of one of the sanses of this universe, Dream.
He stares at the tree. It’s the only tree that is around here for a while, so does that mean it’s… that tree? If it is, something serious happened to it. Obviously.
“Is this,” Ink gestures at the tree, “Why this universe is nearly dead?”
The happy creator lets out an affirmative sound. “Yep. That’s the core of this universe. The tree of feelings.”
Ink states the obvious. “It got all fucked up.”
“Anyways,” he continues, “Two things I’m wondering. Firstly, where’s Nightmare. Secondly, what happened to Dream?”
The ruder creator responds, “Error might know. Unlike you, he constantly pays attention to the multiverse and its state.”
“H- Hey! I check up on it every week! I- I have other things to do, y'know!" Ink replies.
The happy creator scolds them, "C'mon, don't be rude! Both of you, stop."
Ink huffs. "Alright, fine." He stares at Dream. "Do you think that something bad would happen if I took him home with me?"
"How? How are you going to do that ???" The ruder creator replies, shocked. "He's a stone statue and much bigger than you!!!"
Ink approaches the statue. "Here, watch!" He attempts to pick him up, but struggles. He keeps trying, to no avail.
After thirty straight minutes of him trying to pick up the stone, he gives up. He lies on the foggy ground, and sighs.
"Oh Dream, why don'tcha just move for me! Become lighter, pleaseeee!" He moves the lamp in his direction, staring at him with puppy dog eyes.
Dream does not move for him.
Dream is a statue.
Dream cannot move.
Ink thinks. And soon, he gets an idea.
He opens an inky portal to his universe right next to Dream, and pushes him into it. It takes a bit of effort, but he gets him in.
Back in Ink's universe, the ruder creator asks, "Why didn't you think of that sooner?"
Ink grins. "Dunno! But we got him here, didn't we?"
"You just stole something probably important."
"Eh, it'll be fine. I'll take care of him, I prommy. P.S., 'prommy' is short for 'promise'."
"You would be a menace to society if you actually participated in it."
Ink ignores the creator. "I'm gonna paint 'em."
He moves Dream to the middle of his room, and sets up his canvas and paints. He has to adjust the statue a bit, but eventually he gets him into a good enough pose. Enough of a pose he can get, with him being a statue and all. Chugging some of his joy vial, he gets to work.
He paints and paints, not noticing that the statue is… cracking. And glowing, too. Glowing a soft yellow.
The statue cracks from his waist to his legs and head, as Ink strokes and paints on his canvas. Soon, Ink actually notices that something is different about Dream.
“Huh?” Ink sets down his paints, his art piece nearly finished. He approaches Dream.
Ink pokes the statue, and it fully cracks, revealing… a now awakened skeleton.
The skeleton, Dream, jolts up. He looks around frantically, confused and scared.
“Night? Night?!” He shouts. He curls up, his surroundings unfamiliar and forgein. He breathes heavily, on the verge of a panic attack. Memories fill him, past events that he isn't sure are real or not.
Ink stares at Dream, nervous and also confused. "I… uh…" He looks around frantically for something to calm down the skeleton.
"You better do something to calm him, Ink," The ruder creator strictly states.
"I'm working on it!" Shouts Ink back. This doesn't help Dream's mood. He becomes more confused, tears filling his eye-sockets.
"Good job, Ink."
"Hush."
Ink nervously sits next to Dream, and pats him on the back gently. "H- Hey now… shhh… it's alright…" He hushes.
Dream stares at Ink, shaking. "D- D- Do you know where my brother i- is?" Ink shakes his head, causing Dream to tremble more.
"H- Hey! Hey… d- don't worry. I'll try to find 'em for ya." Ink promises. This is hard for him. He doesn't know where his brother is. He might be dead for all that he knows.
But he can't tell Dream that.
Dream leans closer to Ink. He buries his head in the other's shirt. Ink rubs his back.
The two sit in the messy room, Ink trying his best to calm down Dream. His social skills are lacking, but he's seen enough of other people in other universes to catch on to some things.
Eventually, when Dream calms down more, Ink asks the question that he's been dying to know the answer to.
"What happened, Dream?"
Dream moves to stare at him. "I- I don't know…"
"You don't?"
"I- I mean I do , but… it all happened so fast… Night, he… and the villagers, too…"
"T- Take your time."
"I- I was gathering some flowers for mom, and w- when I came back… everybody was fighting! There was an axe… mom was dead… S- Somebody chopped her down. T- They… they… she… I-" Dream begins to hyperventilate.
Ink looks at Dream, shocked. "Shh… shh…" He pats him on the back gently. "Dya, uh, are ya still okay to still talk about it?"
Dream shakily nods.
"N- Night… he a- ate the apples. All of them . I- I don't know why! Night was so nice, the villagers were too, I just…" He curls up. Ink leans next to him. "It doesn't make sense!"
"H- Hey-" Ink attempts to comfort Dream.
"A- And I'm no better! I ate the last apple!!! I- I- I just wanted to help Night!!! But I didn't! I couldn't!"
Ink drags Dream into a hug. He sobs into his chest, leaning into Ink's smaller body.
"H- H- He came up to me… came up to me n' turned me to stone… I know he didn't mean it though! I- I could tell!"
Ink hugs Dream tighter. "W- Well, we'll find him, m'kay. He's gotta be out there, 'n guess what?"
"W- What…?"
"H- He probably misses ya. You seem nice, 'n ya tried to help him."
"B- But I-"
"It doesn't matter if ya failed, 'kay? You're here now, right?"
Dream nods.
"So me 'n you can find 'em, alright?"
"...A- Alright."
Ink and Dream sit there together, wrapped in a hug. Eventually, Dream lets go.
"Can I ask you something?" Dream requests. Ink nods in response. "...W- Why did you take me here?"
Ink tilts his head.
"M- My home… is it that bad?" Dream asks. Fear fills his voice, as if he's afraid of a response.
Rubbing his head nervously, Ink says, "I… uh… It's better off if ya see it, I think," He gets up, and offers Dream a hand. "C'mon."
Dream takes his hand, and Ink teleports the both of them to Dreamtale.
Dreamtale is still alive, somehow. Reality hasn't started to break yet. There's a tension in the air, as if the very universe itself was barely holding itself together.
The fog is still thick, and it's still hard to see. Dream's grip on Ink's hand tightens as he takes in his surroundings.
"I- It's so dark… It's never been like this before," Dream shakily lets out.
Ink looks at him, but the other is hard to see. Ink creates another lamp, penetrating the fog by a bit. "Do you wanna go see her? Your mom, I mean."
Dream nods. Ink can hardly see it, but he gets the message. The two walk to the hill where the tree formerly stood. Dream's footsteps grow slower as his mother slowly comes into view.
Soon they are on the top of the hill, right next to the former tree. Dream lets go of Ink's hand, and sits next to the stump.
"Mom…" Dream lets out, "...I'm so sorry I couldn't save you."
Ink moves to sit next to Dream. "Was your mom nice?" He asks.
"S- She was. She'd give us shade when it was too hot, and let us climb on her branches so we could see the stars better at night. She let us sleep on her roots, and it's like she would curl around us til' we fell asleep."
"That's nice. She seemed like she was nice," Ink laughs, "I- I never had a mom, so I wouldn't know what a good mom was. Maybe we can be momless together, huh?"
"I- I guess… But that doesn't keep me from wanting her back."
"'S not supposed to. But we have each other, yeah?"
"Yeah…"
Ink grabs Dream's hand. "How's about you start living with me? I can always make a new room for ya."
Dream blushes. "N- No, you don't have to!"
"But guess what? I want to," Ink looks to the side. "I've been a bit lonely as of late, 'n I'd really appreciate a roomie."
"I- I don't even know your name though!"
"It's Ink. Now dya want to?"
Dream looks from Ink, to his mom, and back to Ink. He nods.
“Alright.” Ink pushes himself up, and offers Dream his hand.
Dream looks at his mother one more time, and murmurs softly, “Sorry I couldn’t save you, mom.” He takes Ink’s hand, and he teleports them off.
In a universe that has just begun to die, Error is busy fighting its core. Not a human this time, there is no human as of current. A soulless being, a flower. The flower is putting up a fight, much to Error's surprise.
But… Error feels watched. Which is normal most of the times when he does this, but he’s in a generally isolated area right now. Nobody but him and the flower are here. He doesn’t like being watched when he does… this .
It just makes the unending guilt that he has worse.
He ties the flower up for a moment, and while they struggle in the web, Error looks around for anybody who could be watching him.
He looks all around, and when he finally thinks that maybe it was his imagination, and nobody was really watching him, a dark liquidy figure appears behind him.
Error sighs. "Ink, please. I don't want to deal with you right now."
The figure materializes more. The figure is goopy all the way through, and tentacles flick on their back. "Ink? Oh, you've got the wrong guy. I don't know an 'Ink'."
Error stares at this new figure, shock filling him. "Y- You're…"
"Oh, you seem like you recognize me. Suprising, as I've never seen you before. Please, tell me who I am, if I'm familiar to you." The creature waits for a response, a smile visible on his face.
Error stutters out, "Y- You're one of the sanses from Dreamtale. Nightmare. You ate all the apples from the tree of feelings. What are you doing in this universe?"
"Ah, you know about… that. It was unfortunate, but it had to happen." Nightmare pauses. "What I am doing here, you ask? Just admiring your work. It's lovely, if I do say so myself."
"What do you mean?" Error demands.
Nightmare sighs. "Destruction follows you wherever you turn. It would make sense that you were the one causing it… Am I wrong?"
"I-" Error starts.
Nightmare interrupts him. "I was not done." He gestures at the flower Error still has tied up. It has stopped struggling, curious about this talk between two outcodes, but it still has some kind of fear within it. "See. You were attacking this flower before I arrived, weren't you? And look around you. This universe isn't stable. Would that be your doing?"
Error glares at him. "Can I explain myself?"
"Go ahead."
Error sighs, and starts talking. "I di-"
Before he can continue, an inky portal appears. Ink jumps out of it and quickly spots Error. "Hey glitchy! How are ya?" He cheerfully says.
"Who might you be?" Nightmare asks Ink, before Error can respond.
Ink turns to the goopy creature. "Oh, hi! Didn't notice ya here! I'm Ink. Are you one of Error's friends?"
Nightmare stares down Ink, observing his figure. "Ink, hm? You may call me Ni-"
"Oh!" Ink grabs at his scarf, and he looks for something on it. After a minute of searching and the other creatures staring at him, he appears to find something. "I think I might have somebody who's looking for you!" He exclaims. "You're Nightmare, right?"
"Yes, that is what I was going to say before you rudely interrupted me. Now who is it who you said was looking for me? Everybody used to know is dead." Nightmare rudely responds.
Ink's grin does not falter. Excitement fills his being. "Gimme a sec! I'll be right back." He teleports in an inky blob, leaving Nightmare and Error staring.
"It seems you are acquainted with an… interesting being."
"Trust me, if I had a choice I wouldn't be."
The two stand there, neither saying anything. They both wait for Ink to return.
"Do you think he's going to come back? I'd like to continue our conversation." Nightmare asks.
Error sighs. "He wouldn't lie about that. Unfortunately, he wouldn't lie about that."
As if he heard the two doubting him, Ink comes back, holding a nervous somebody's hand. It's Dream.
"I'm back! And I brought a friend!!!" Ink smiles.
Dream looks around nervously. His gaze drifts from Ink. Then to Error. Then to the flower he has tied up. Dream flinches at the sight of it. Ink nudges him, and tilts his head towards Nightmare.
He meets Nightmare's eye. Fear goes from joy as he exclaims, "Brother?! Y- You're-"
Now his brother is the one to interrupt. "I thought you were dead."
"I wasn't though! Ink, h- he saved me! And now I can see you again!!!"
Nightmare pauses. It appears as if he is whispering to himself. He glares at Dream. "You weren't there, were you?"
"N- No, I wasn't. B- But-"
"You were out playing. Neglecting your duties as a guardian. You weren't there."
"B- Brother, I- I'm-"
"What? You're sorry? 'Sorry' doesn't fix it. Any of it. Don't worry though…" Nightmare grins. "...I'm better now. They're all dead now. I'm stronger now."
Error buts in. "He's your family, Nightmare. You shouldn't take that for granted."
This gets a laugh out of Nightmare. "And who are you to talk? You break up families all of the time. You kill people, glitch. I assumed you'd be on my side about this."
"It's not my choice. I don't want to do any of this." Error growls out.
Ink, getting a bit nervous about the change in topic, interrupts the both of them. "H- Hey guys. Let's all take a moment to chill out! Okay. Chill…"
"What do you think?"
"What…?"
"What do you think about what the glitch said? You seem to be acquainted with him, or know him at the very least. Are his statements truthful?" Nightmare asks.
Ink pauses. Reality grips him as he realizes what he's gotten himself into. Is what he's doing really so bad? Risking all these universes just so he can create what he wants?
No, that's not right. Is it? No. It's The Creator's faults. If they would just be understanding, none of this would have to happen. But…
But they would hate him if he told the truth. He's already hated by Error and The Creators. And… Dream has a good heart. Dream… his first real friend. Losing him would be… He can't even think of how that would feel. He would be better off lying to him than losing him.
This is all because The Creators are being unreasonable. They… they're such assholes , thinking that they're better than him. Stars…
Ink decides. He can't tell the truth. He's already in too deep.
"No. I don't understand what he means. This universe was perfectly fine before."
A shadow fills Error's face. "What do you mean? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!?!?! "
Error summons a sharp bone in his hand, and charges at Ink. The inky creature quickly teleports out of the way, causing Error to fall over
He quickly gets back up, and searches the surroundings for Ink. Nightmare watches Error angrily glitch out, looking around and around. He finds it… entertaining, to say the least.
Eventually Error finds Ink hiding behind a crumbled wall. He teleports behind him, ties him up, and holds the bone to his neck.
"Tell me why." He demands.
Ink feigns ignorance. "W- Why what? I don't know what I'm doing wrong, bud."
"You know exactly what you're doing. I didn't think you could get worse, but here you fucking go I guess!!!" Error tightens the bone around his neck. Ink coughs up ink.
Dream's expression is fearful. "I- Ink! Please, let him go!!!
"No, keep him tied up. This is funny." Nightmare laughs.
Dream stares at Nightmare in horror. "N- Night…"
Nightmare laughs harder. "Go on, try to stop him. Or are you just as powerless as before? Ink didn't teach you any new tricks, didn't he?"
Dream starts to cry, teardrops filling his eye-sockets. He's useless right now, powerless to stop his new friend from getting killed. "G- Glitchy guy!" Dream shouts to Error. "Please!!! Don't kill him!!! Please…"
Dream gets onto his knees. "...I'll do anything…" He sobs.
Error stares at Dream, then to Ink, then back to Dream. Eventually, he grumbles to Ink in a tone only the both of them can hear, "I'm only doing this because of your friend, got it?" Before Ink can even reply, he lets him go.
Ink immediately teleports back to Dream, and starts comforting him. "Hey, hey…" He pats the other on the back. "I'm okay, see. The scary guy doesn't have me anymore."
Dream looks back at Ink. "B- But I couldn't do anything…"
"That doesn't matter. You can always learn."
"A- Alright…"
Ink gets back up, and points at Error. "How dare you make him cry! Along with destroying this universe? Shameful…"
Before Error can say anything at all, Dream starts berating him as well. "Y- Yeah! Destroying universes and attacking my friend isn't right!"
"I didn't-" Error lets out.
"You need to stop!"
"I- "
"Yeah! Ink's right!"
Error buries his head in his hands, attempting to stop an incoming crash.
"I think you're insane."
"Universes deserve to exist! You need to stop killing them off!!!"
Stop… Error wants them to just stop . He doesn't want to do this. He doesn't. He doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't. He just… doesn't.
But he has to, with the way things currently are. And that horrifies him.
With all of this going on, Nightmare in a fit of laughter and Dream and Ink dogpiling on him, Error finally crashes, his strings unraveling from above.
He can't shake the feeling that things will only get worse from here. And he's right.