Brush your teeth before you cross the road

"Uh- hey guys."

Ink.

Error and Blue immediately stopped bickering, both quickly spinning around to face the artist. 

"You!" Error yelled furiously, stomping over towards the startled artist and grabbing him by the scarf.

Ink squeaked in surprise, struggling to break free from the destroyer's clutch.

"Woah pal- what's up?" Ink cried out, his eyes flickering between shapes.

"You know what's up!" Error barked, forcefully pushing Ink away. "Don't act all innocent!"

Ink stumbled backwards onto the ground and hissed, narrowing his eyes at the destroyer and Blue. They seem pretty mad. The artist heaved himself up and dusted down his clothes, folding his arms and raising a non-existent eyebrow.

"I don't get what's gotten into you."

Error clenched his fists and bared his discoloured teeth, barely managing to suppress his volcanic anger boiling up. One more blatant lie from the artist would send him into a burst of fiery rage. 

Blue sighed in exasperation, blocking out the two and instead focusing on his unconscious friend- this was way more important. He crouched down beside Dream, inspecting the wounds and making sure none of them were extreme. He had a single scratch on his skull below his eye- it didn't look too painful, there was no traces of blood and would hopefully heal soon. 

"You're going to be perfectly okay, Dream." Blue mumbled softly, biting back tears. "I promise-the magnificent Blueberry is never wrong."

He furiously wiped his watery eye-sockets with his gloved hand and returned to analysing the damage, briefly noting the absence of his golden-yellow cape. Weird. His baby-blue shirt was smeared with light blood stains and the metallic smell of copper lingered on the guardian. Blue gagged, the stench making him feel queasy. He didn't want to check the guardian's leg- just by sparing a glance at it he knew the bones were heavily fractured and disfigured. It seemed to be rested at an uncomfortable angle and the dark blue clothing clung to the bone- matted and crusty with thick, dried blood. It was a nauseating sight.

"Hey guys?" Blue called out with an air of urgency. "I think Dream needs immediate medical attention."

Much to his dismay and irritation, the two quarrelling skeletons paid him no mind and instead continued to argue with one another.

"Guys?" He tried again, glaring over his shoulder at them.

"You think I'm the reason for all of this mess?"

Every damn word the deceitful artist spoke only fuelled the inferno within Error.

"None of this would have happened if you'd have just stayed out of Nightmare's business!" Error barked, pointing accusingly at the indifferent artist.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I've done nothing." Ink answered bluntly, absentmindedly fidgeting with one of his vials.

Error snapped, all of the fury erupting faster than magma and just as destructive. He practically threw himself at Ink, raising a fist and violently swinging it at the artist. Ink jumped out of the way and reached back to grab Broomie however both skeletons suddenly froze in their tracks.

"Stop it!" Blue screeched, his eye blazing a fierce blue. He'd managed to grab the two with his telekinesis and prevent them from tearing each other apart for now.

"Don't you see we have a much bigger issue at hand?" He exclaimed, gesturing towards the guardian of positivity. "Our friend is temporarily dead and his universe is in big trouble- we don't have time to be fighting like this, we need to work together to fix this mess!"

"Dream is not dead." Error deadpanned. 

"He is at the moment- and we need to help him immediately!" 

Ink remained quiet, though this seemed to rile up the destroyer even more.

"Don't you have anything to say about this-? you know, since you're the reason this all happened in the first place."

"No." Ink replied.

"And you don't even bat an eye." Error seethed. "Do you not care about Dream anymore? Because it sure does seem that way."

Ink once again stayed silent. He shouldn't have taken his vials today, the guilt was unbearable. He clenched his teeth.

"Ink, I thought we were all best friends." Blue whimpered, his eye returning to normal and the hold on the two skeletons slipping away.

"You've always been someone I looked up to- I admired your ability to help those around you and create things that made others happy. But lately I began to notice something different about you- like there was perhaps a hole in your heart. Something missing."

Ink glanced sideways.

"You started acting strange. I don't think Dream or anyone else noticed it but I did. I could see the emptiness in your eyes when we were all together playing games and going on adventures. I could see the curiosity and a dangerous glint in your eyes. You wanted to try something- something bad. I started losing trust in you, but... maybe I should've tried to help you."

Ink closed his eyes.

"I know this is your doing. I just don't understand why- are you really willing to throw away the memories we all made? Will hurting us fill the void in your heart?" Blue asked, voice cracking.

"Stop, you talk to much." Ink croaked, trembling and refusing to face the other.

Error huffed, glaring daggers at Ink.

"But he's right- if you abandon the memories of your friends and leave things how they are now then all that awaits you is emptiness!" Error spat, his voice more jittery than usual. "And if you do that, you're worse than trash, Ink."

Ink seemed to deflate, the tension slipping away and leaving traces of guilt and remorse in it's wake. Regret slowly washed over him and he wondered if he could still go through with this. The artist sighed and reopened his eyes, lifting a hand and fiddling with one of the vials attached to the sash he wore. Things weren't meant to go this way- he hadn't expected to run into Error, Blue and Dream in the anti-void. He knew he shouldn't have taken the vials.

Ink took a deep breath and spun around to face the two skeletons. Blue seemed hopeful yet afraid, his baby-blue eyes faintly glowing. As for Error, he had his teeth bared and arms folded with distrust evident in his mismatched eyes. The artist opened his mouth to say something however was abruptly cut off by the sound of a pained groan.

Startled, the three of them all turned to face the guardian of positivity. Dream stirred, his heavily wounded leg twitching violently and causing him to whine in discomfort.

"Dream- are you alright?" Blue asked, hurrying over to his friend's side and kneeling beside him.

The guardian didn't answer, though. His eyes remained closed and his breathing remained shallow. Blue's frown deepened, worry seeping in. He glanced up at Error and then locked eyes with Ink.

"Please, Dream needs to get healed soon- I can't lose one of my best friends!" He sobbed with empty eye-sockets, tears cascading down his cheekbones.

Ink swallowed thickly, switching his gaze between Dream and Blue. His two best friends.

Oh stars, what has he done?

"Okay, okay- I'll help fix this." Ink declared, succumbing to the guilt. "I'm sorry."

"Do you think 'sorry' is going to make up for everything you've done-?" Error spat however was silenced by Blue.

"Save the arguing for later- our priority right now is saving Dream!"

The destroyer rolled his eyes though didn't retort. Ink has a lot of explaining to do later on and Error doesn't think he'll be able to easily forgive the artist. But for now, he'll stay quiet and see how things play out. 

"Where can we get him healed?" Blue questioned, eyeing Ink warily.

"I guess any AU would work- let's try Outertale." Ink decided, subtly glancing at Error.

Error seemed to perk up slightly yet refused to look at Ink.

Blue nodded in agreement, watching Ink hastily paint a portal and scoop up Dream with caution. He hoped they could trust the artist this time.

"Okay, let's get out of here- the emptiness is getting to me." Ink half joked, hopping through the portal.

Blue and Error shared a look before jumping through the portal after the chaotic artist.

--End--

Dun dun duuun