(Title is in wing dings)

Ink's POV a week later

Zwip!

"Eeep!"A voice squeals

Zwip!

"Eek!"A voice squeaks

Zwip!

"No!"The voice shouts

Zwip!

"Please!"It pleas

Zwip!

"I just want to see my brothers!"It cries

"🕈☜☹☹ﾠ❄☟✌❄ﾠ🕈⚐☠🕯❄ﾠ☟✌🏱🏱☜☠📬 ⚐☠☜ ✌☼☼⚐🕈 ☹☜☞❄📬 👌✡☜✏"E!Gaster says

(*Well that won't happen. One arrow left. Bye!)

I grab a rock laying nearby. I throw it right as the arrow is released, deflecting it.

"Leave the poor kid alone, Gaster."I tell him

"Or what?"His talking translates to

"Or you're gonna regret it."I tell him

He chuckles, not believing me.

"You want to know where Error is, right? And his brother isn't talking so I'm your only source available..."I say, picking up another rock, this one bigger

He looks at me. I could see he was a little concerned at my words and movements. I raise the rock near my head.

"Would be a real shame if it was knocked out of my memory, you know how bad it is in the first place."I say, arching my hand back to prepare to hit

"Ok ok! Fine! I'll leave the kid alone. I'm bored anyways and have other people to see. But I will be back."He says, then glitches away

I smirk. I drop the rock. I feel pride fill me. I did something good. Then I hear crying. I look over and it's the kid. They were trembling in fear, arrows around them. They were scared. Too scared to even move. They look at me and I could see their fear.

"H-He's gone?"They ask

"For now, yes."I reply

"Phew."They sigh

I smile and sit up. I turn my head.

"You okay, E!Pap?"I ask

"Mhm...You?"E!Pap asks

"I'm recovering a bit."I lie

Really, I am in too much pain to even start recovering. But I don't want to worry him. Not now of all times. E!Pap goes over to the kid and helps get out from the wall of arrows. The kid thanks him. They chat for a bit. I doze off. I haven't slept in so long.

But I couldn't dream of anything. It's complete darkness. But then, a light comes and brightens it up. A figure walks closer to me. As they come closer, I recognize them. It's Blue.

"Hiya, Ink! I found ya! Are you okay?"He asks

"Blue?! What are you doing here?"I ask

"Well, I've come to get E!Pap out of here. I sensed he was in trouble and came to get him out of trouble. Couldn't let Error lose someone else. I've seen what happened now. I want to get both of you outta here."He says

"What do you mean someone else?"I ask

Wings and a halo appear on him.

"The Cross search task failed....he killed me."He says

"Blue!"I say, reaching out

He comes close and hugs me. I cry on his shoulder. Blue didn't deserve to die. He never did and never will. To lose someone like him is a hard hit to the skull. Why'd Dream send him on the mission? Why'd Cross kill him? I'm having serious talks with both of them when I get out of here and hunt them down. He pats my back gently.

"I know, I know...But you gotta wake up.Can't have you becoming like me. Or that'll make two spirits in the dungeon."He says

I nod. I slowly awaken and look around. I see a faint outline of Blue sitting beside me. He places a hand on mine. I feel a hand nudge me. I turn my head and the kid is sitting there.

"H-Hello."They say

"Hey there, kiddo. Is everything okay?"I ask, sitting up

"Y-Yes. I was just getting worried about you."They say

"Aww, no need to worry. I'm ok. I was just...catching some Z's."I say

"Why'd you save me, exactly?"They ask

"You're just a kid. You shouldn't even be in this mess. You don't deserve to get hurt. I was just doing what I felt was right. Especially for someone who's just trying to find their family."I explain

"T-Thank you...."They say

"Anytime, kiddo. You were honest about finding your brothers, right?"I say

They nod.

"Mama and Papa told me to find them and that I'll be safe with them."They say

"Who are your parents?"I ask

"Mama Geno and Papa Reaper.....Don't tell Geno I called him Mama. He's a Mama Bear kind of person but doesn't like being called it."They say

"Wait, so would that make you...? Your brothers wouldn't happen to be Goth and Raven, would they?"I ask

"That's them! That's my brothers! You know them?"They ask

"Yep. I do. So if they're who you're looking for, what's your name?"I reply

"My name is Shino, sir."She says

"I've heard a bit about you. Oh how they've missed you. Please, don't call me sir, call me Ink."I say

"Wait, what timeline Ink are you?"She asks

"Not Palette's Ink if that's what your thinking. I'm in a timeline different from others."I say

"No wonder you have a soul. What have they told you?"She asks

"Anything and I mean anything good."I say

"Really?"She asks

I nod.

"Wow."She says

"Hey, Blue!"she says

"You can see me?!"Blue exclaims

"Of course."She says

"We bOth cAn."E!Pap says

"Wowie! Okay....then, Ink, your brother needs to get his sight checked."Blue says

"Why's that?"I ask

"I went to see if Dust was okay and at one point, Ink!Pap came out. He insulted Dust and called him weird because 'nobody was there'. I get it if he didn't see me, but the way he spoke to Dust wasn't right. So....I might've slammed him into the wall and wrote a message in the dirt for being mean. He got spooked and ran inside."Blue explains

"Well, I'll speak to him the first chance I get."I say

"Are we gonna be okay?"Shino asks

I look at her and see she was scared horribly. I reach out and hug her, pulling her close.

"I-Ink?"She asks

"Everything is gonna be okay. I will get you to your brothers. We will get out of here."I say

She looks up at me, a smile appearing on her face. But then it disappears. She looks down and shakes her head.

"B-But how? They don't exactly have clear exits or a plan to just let us go."She says

"We'll find a way."I tell her

"AnD I mAy jUst kNoW tHat wAY."E!Pap says

I look at him and he pulls up this small screen. He starts tapping on it and had a very serious expression on. He presses a button and it glows. Then a booming noise happens and a tunnel appears. E!Pap shrank and faded away, until only his soul was left. What did he just do?! I reach out and hold his soul, making sure it doesn't break. A rebooting sign appears above it. I sigh relieved. He'll be okay. Blue flies down the tunnel and then returns.

"It leads outside! He gave an escape route! You can get out of here!"He says

"Wow! That's amazing! Shino, let's go!"I say, grabbing Shino's hand

Shino smiles and walks with me down the tunnel as I wrap E!Pap's soul into my scarf for safety precautions. That was until Shino stops. She points behind us. I look to see that Blue wasn't coming.

"Blue, aren't you coming?"I ask

He shakes his head.

"Change bought me some time, but it's running low....Now I'll buy you some time."He says

My eyes widen.

"Don't you dare talk like that Blue! Get over here!"I snap

"No. Go before they come."He says

"We're not going anywhere."I say

"What about Shino?"He asks

I look at Shino.

"You are my parents' friend. We can't leave you behind."Shino says

Blue sighs and shakes his head. He begins to build some kind of wall to block the entrance. I give Shino E!Pap's soul, wrapped in a torn piece of my scarf. I run over.

"We care about you, Blue! Come with us! I'm not leaving you!"I snap, reaching out and grabbing him

"Why do you make things difficult? Why can't you just leave me?"Blue asks

"Because you're my friend! That's not what friends do! So many times I wanted you to leave me but you didn't! Because you were being a good friend! Let me do the same! I know you're scared and so am I, which is why we have to stick together! I can't lose you, Blue! My friend! Friends don't leave friends!"I explain, crying

"Ink....Mwehehe."He says nervously

"Come on, Blue. Don't be stubborn. I need the Magnificent Blue to come with me."I say

He smiles. Then he pulls me close and hugs me. I smile and laugh a bit, but I could feel tears of relief coming down my face. I could feel him crying and laughing too. Then there's a bright light and I shut my eyes. When I open them, I look around. My skull is pounding. I look around but couldn't find Blue anywhere. Was the ceiling to the tunnel always this low? I thought it was higher. I noticed Shino's shocked expression. She is looking right at me too.

"Oh my stars! A Smokey Quartz fusion!"She gasps

"What?"I say, looking around

I see there's some rocks in the tunnel walls. I grab them and examine each.

"These aren't Smokey Quartzes."I say

"No! It's a character from a show I watch! You fused like they did! You and Blue! That was amazing!"She says

"Huh? I don't understand...."Blue says

I realize what she meant. I look down and there is a change. We did fuse. I see a mix between us for sure. There's my ink spot on my face, his blue star eye and my green oval one. Our scarfs merged, becoming one big, long scarf that spit in the back. The colors faded between brown and blue. We wore a lot of blue and long pants.

We grew taller too. I shake my head while Blue checked our stats. Then I knew what internal screams were like. Because Blue yelled his shock out in our skull.

"Let's just get outta here and figure it out later."I say, scooping Shino up

I run out of the tunnel to freedom. I check to make sure Shino is okay and that E!Pap's soul is as well. Yep. Blue dozed off on his part. That's understandable with the whole time-running-out thing. But the parts where the scarf split raise up and begin flapping like wings. I keep Shino in my arms, unsure of where this is gonna go. The wings pick up speed and next thing we know, we're soaring through the sky. It was amazing but I had to steer us clear of obstacles and make sure to stay out of sight. I check on Shino and E!Pap's soul while we fly. E!Pap is at 15% completion. Good. We do have a distance to go. We continue to fly.

Two days later, Blue's POV

We land softly and Ink looks around nervously. I see no threats and he puts Shino down. Shino puts E!Pap's souls down, right when he finishes rebooting. Pop! E!Pap appears and his soul fades from sight. He looks at us confusedly and Shino explains what happened. E!Pap smiles and Ink took his turn to sleep. I look around cautiously. I lead them behind a tree and untie the scarf. I shake it out and break any tracking devices they put on Ink's scarf. I take them down a few streets just to be safe. I have them climb a tree to hide at.

"Stay here. I'm gonna look around. I'll come back when I find something."I say

E!Pap nods and puts Shino in his lap protectively. I tie the scarf around our head to keep us from flying. I walk around and curiously check for any dangers. I find the house and smile. Bingo! I check all the windows and see that everyone except for us, Dust, Error and Cross are inside from what I could see. I go back to the tree and tell them this information. They climb down and I lead them to the house.

"You're sure it's safe?"Shino asks

"Yes, it is. They'll keep you safe. It's okay."I assure her

"Well then where are you going?"She asks

"I'm gonna go make sure my other friends are safe."I say

"Ok...But promise you'll come back before nightfall."Shino says as E!Pap knocks on the door.

"Promise."I say

I walk away and try to find Error or Dust. Come on, if I were Dust or if I were Error, where would I be? My pace quickens. But then, as I passed a space full of trees, I notice someone leaning against a tree. They look familiar. I walk back. I look at them. I see they have a hood so I couldn't see their face. I look at them carefully from a safe distance. I couldn't recognize them. They have their head down. I shrug and keep walking.

"Hey....you!"A voice says

I turn my head. They had looked up and were looking at me. I couldn't see their eyes besides one peeking out. I look at them. They stare at me. I look around. Nobody was around. I look at them and point to myself. They nod. I tilt my head confusedly.

"Come here."They say

I feel uneasy. Doing that would undo the safe distance. I don't recognize them and they could be a threat. And this time that would endanger Ink as well. I shake my head and slowly back away. I then turn and run. But the escape efforts were stopped when my, er, our soul was turned blue. That wakes Ink up.

Who's got our soul? He asks

I dunno! There was someone telling me to come to them but I ran and they used a blue attack on our soul! I respond

Okay, we gotta be careful. He says

I know.

"H-Hey, sorry, I just saw you were looking at me. I just want to know why."They say

"Oh, sorry about that. It's because I thought you might've been somebody I know. You look like them."I say

I look at them. They hold the hood over an eye. They are a skeleton, I can tell now. They look familiar. I look at them, right in their red eye-light. It reminds me of Dust...I smile a bit at that thought.They jolt and their face lights up. This perplexes me.

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?"I ask

"H-Huh? Oh right! Ya, I'm fine! Nothing's wrong. People just don't usually say those kinds of things to me....Usually they'd hate if I reminded them of someone. Who exactly did I remind you of?"He asks, releasing me from the blue attack

"You really think I'm gonna tell a stranger that? I won't give names, I'm not in a good situation to. That could get them into troublesome danger."I say

"R-Right....Danger...Heh, I know that kind of situation."He says

"Who.....Who are you?" I ask

"Ummm.....I'm...Tsud. Ya! Tsud! Tsud Snas! Nice to meet you!"He cheers, extending his hand

I look at him, processing the info. My expression dulls.

Really?

OMS! Hah! Blue, there...there c-can't be anyway that you fall for this trick! It's so obvious!*laughter*

Course not. Those tricks don't work on me anymore.

*laughing stops* You've got to be kidding me. T-T

What?

*laugh restarts* You're serious! *laugh*

What's so funny?

*laughing continues*

?????

I sigh and shake my head. I look at Tsud and hesitantly shake his hand.

"Everything okay?"He asks

"Ya, just not falling for that trick, Tsud. You're still a stranger."I say

"Okay, that's fair....But...."He says, his voice low again and slurring

"But what?"I ask

"Can....Can I hug you?"He asks, standing up

I sense trouble. We have to go.

"Sorry, but I really got to go! Bye!"I say, then run off

I run until Ink says that we should be safe and that the sense is gone. I pant and catch my breath. I look around. I take a step forward but then Ink stops us.

What are you doing?

Going to find Error.

Let's just go home.

No, he could be in trouble.

He's fine.

We don't know that.

Your brother would be happy to see you.

And how are we gonna explain the fusion?

....Dunno.

Your brother is probably wondering where you are. So why don't you go?

.....

I use some blue magic and we unfused. I hit the ground. I actually felt it! I sit up and look at Ink. He gasps.

"That was risky and you know it!"He says

"Why? What happened?"I ask

He does not answer. He's silent and staring with a shocked expression. I check my stats. I have half a soul. I check Ink's. He has half. We split! This is crazy amazing! I look at Ink and he has a sly look on his face now.

"I'm so gonna go get Dust!"Ink says, then ran off

I wander about. I call out for Error but then decide after a while not to. That can easily make me a target. I walk silently. I watch the sun go down. It gets dark out. I walk about and try to stay near the lights. At one point, I get uncertain of where to go next. I begin to feel like a not so magnificent idiot. I decide now would be a good time to head to the house. I walk through the dark. I hear a voice call my name. My pace speeds up. I run until I couldn't hear the voice. I stop under the streetlight at the corner of home's street. I smile. I take two steps forward before hearing the voice again. 

"BLUE!"A voice yells

I turn. Nobody is there. All I can see is darkness.

"Huh? Is someone there?"I call out

"BLUE! COME HERE!"The voice shouts

"Come where?"I ask

Complete silence. Not the best of feelings it left on me. Tense. Uncertain. Then I get a flashback to Cross. This was similar to how that went down. I frown, narrowing my eyes. I summon some bone attacks. I hear movement. I turn to face it.

"Cross, if that's you, I'm ready this time. You don't have the element of surprise now! So whoever is there, come out."I say

The movement comes towards me. I fire in its direction and the directions he could dodge too.

"Eeep!"A second, different voice yells in fright

I recognize it.

"Shino?"I call

The little kid comes running to me. No wounds luckily. She hugs me.

"Shino! What are you doing here? You should be at the house! Did I hit you with a bone attack? I'm sorry! I got startled!"I say.

"I'm here to get you! So should you! You broke your promise by three hours!You didn't hit me!"She says

"Phew, I'm sorry. I'm just looking for someone. I'll come home when I find them."I say

"Error is resting at the house, but I'm guessing you mean Dust."She says

"Error is?"I ask

She nods.

"Well that's hours gone to waste."I mutter

"Only Dust is missing from what everyone says. Goth and Raven are at another house apparently but will come over soon. I am staying with you until you come back as well."Shino tells me

"Ok..."I say

I look around one last time. Maybe it is best to go home. I take Shino by the hand and walk with her down the street. She smiles. So do I. But then we hear the yell again.

"BLUE!"It yells

"Yes? Who's there?"I call out

There's running footsteps. This put Shino and I at unease. Shino looks at me andpoints down the street.

"The house is just another two buildings down. We could make it."She suggests

The voice and the footsteps are getting louder. But now I can hear it more clearly. I recognize it. I turn around.

"Dust?"I call

"Blue! I'm coming!"His voice shouts

There's more footsteps, but they slow to a walk. Dust comes into sight. He looks at us and Shino clings to me nervously. Tears come to Dust's eyes. He smiles and rubs the back of his hooded skull nervously.

"You're back....You're really back."He says

"Yes, yes I am Dust. Or should I say Tsud?"I tell him

"Wait, how did you-Dang it, I have to come up with other names."He says

"Flipping yours kinda makes it obvious. Now come over here!"I say

"B-But-"He stutters

"Blue, he's a good Dust right?"Shino asks

"Yes, Shino, he is."I say

"Will he hurt us?"She asks

I shake my head.

"Ah okay. Quit stuttering and get over here, Dust!"She says

Dust nervously approaches us.

"Who's the kid?"He asks

"Goth's sister Shino. It's a long story. I'll tell ya later."I say

He wraps a hand around me and pulls me closer to him. Shino releases my hand. He lowers his hood. I feel my face warm but smile.

"I'm so happy you're back! I missed you, Blue."He says

"I told you I'd be back! I told you 'Cya soon' for a reason!"I say with a wink

His face brightens. He looks at me. He doesn't say anything, just nervously smile. I wipe his tears quickly.

"I know, I know. But still! I miss ya nonetheless!"He says

"You're so silly, Dust."I tell him

"No I'm not!"He objects

"Yes you are! Everything is gonna be okay. There's no need for you to worry."I say

"....Let's go home."He says

I nod. I take him by the hand, which makes his face light up even more, and Shino with the other. We reach the house and Dust opens the door. We walk in and everyone is in different rooms. Dust tells Shino that Goth is upstairs and she bolts up to find him. Geno, Change, Papy and Sprinkle were just chilling in the main room, chilling out. They were either reading or resting.

"We're home!"Dust says

They immediately catch on. Papy wakes up, or he was awake and just hiding his face. He looks over and smiles.

"Blue!"He cheers

"Papy!"I greet

He runs over and hugs us both. That's right, he included Dust in the hug. Quickly everyone joined in, squishing us in a hug.

"Guys, Blue just got off my list. Let's not put him back on it, shall we?"Reaper's voice says

I look up to see a tiny Reaper tied in a cocoon of strings.

"How and when did he shrink?"I ask

"A week after you went to find Cross. An arrow with a chemical got him."Dust says

"And why is he cocooned?"I ask

"He sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider to Error."Geno says

"Well that doesn't seem too bad."I say

"Error got shot and the arrow made him a spider."Change says

"Oh, then you had it coming, Reaper."I say

Reaper nods.

"I know. But his reaction was funny."He says