(Above picture is just an image of an origami crane I found when looking for one. Trust me, there's a reason why)

(Also: I do not care if anyone says otherwise, deities get to have pets here... not all of them have pets but some-)

(Today's chapter reveals a character [or version of another character] created specifically for this story. Enjoy)

"Undertale Copy #4 has gone down!!"

The words that echoed that morning, out of nowhere.

Most AUs had several copies made of them, often with a few changes made to differentiate them from the originals. Undertale Copy #4, for example, had a Dog Shrine instead of a Dog Casino hidden underneath the skeleton brothers' sink. The shrine could have gold donated to it in order to increase the amount of stuff in it.

It was... a weird experiment, but nonetheless Ink loved it, just as he loved everything he made... even those creations that would later cause him trouble, he couldn't exactly hate what he had poured his blood, sweat, and tears into.

So, it hurt him just as much as the others to see it go out of the blue.

That morning, it had just... collapsed. Crashed. Died.

There was nothing left, no trace of what had once been.

...almost...

"This bag of bolts was the only survivor-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!"

Ink had brought together what he called the Destruction Survivor Recovery Team, or DSRT, to help people make it out of AUs before they could fully be destroyed by Error. Those survivors would usually be moved to the Omega Timeline, home of CORE!Frisk, to stay, as they wouldn't really have any homes left. The team consisted of the strongest in the multiverse (that were willing to join), so mainly those in the same role as Valor, who was the team's leader.

Valor came in, dragging the sole survivor by the hand.

Strange.

Out of everyone who could've survived, it was the Mettaton of the world.

Mettaton.

...though something seemed off about him:

He seemed to be a weird cross between his normal and NEO forms: mostly like the EX form, but his second, weird, glowing eye was showing (his hair wasn't blown out of the way the way it was in his NEO form, but it certainly seemed to have been moved), and he had the arm cannon.

...unlike either forms, his color was all black and white (battle-style).

What happened to him to cause this? Undertale Copy #4's minor difference was what was under the skeleton brothers' sink. Also that the Mad Dummy remained the Mad Dummy and never became Mad Mew Mew. That was it.

Then there was the question of just how he survived.

Mettaton was never really considered particularly special in most AUs (though most versions of him pretended they were). Ink never seemed to give them as much attention (it didn't mean he didn't love them, he loved all of his creations, but still).

Mettaton also didn't have the kinds of powers you'd expect from someone who'd be able to survive a multiverse wipe-out. He had no god-like powers, no DT, not even the ability to teleport.

He was just that one ghost/robot celebrity in the Underground.

"Yes, yes, YES!!" Ink said with enthusiasm. "At least one person made it out alive!! That's... better than none. Mr. Undertale Copy #4 Mettaton Sir, do you know what happened to your world that caused it to collapse? I-I know it may be an uncomfortable question and all, but... it's really important to know, y'know? This stuff's been happening for the past few days to multiple AUs and we need to find out who or what is causing all of this to happen."

"Oh, you're that Ink guy, yes? I think I've heard of you before... To answer your question, well... Today started out normally, but then... the world itself just started cracking... m-my mind is blanking out on most of it... sorry, I guess."

"Oh, uh... d-don't worry, take your time to recover from... uh, whatever happened to you... you can stay here at the council building for now. It's about the only safe place in the multiverse. We'll work on finding a more permanent home for you when this gets sorted out. So... make yourself at home here for now."

Ink knew he was going to have to ask more questions eventually, especially regarding the survivor's current... condition, something which clearly didn't occur naturally (or at least Ink had never seen it before in the many, many, many AUs he had created over time). But, for now, he wanted to give the poor man a bit of time to breathe. The events that just transpired would certainly need some recovering from first.

And so, Ink went to his room. He didn't really have a permanent home (he didn't need to sleep, eat, or anything, really), so his "room" was mainly for relaxing on the very rare occasions when he had the chance and for keeping things he didn't want to lose or damage.

He had a closet for the few clothes he had (he never really felt the need to own too many), a desk, various art supplies, and other various things he just happened to like (especially related to current obsessions. Recently, UT!Alphys [people called her "Cam" for the amount of cameras she had set up around the Underground to watch Frisk's adventure when they had fallen] had gotten him into Mew Mew Kissy Cutie, and he had already amassed quite the collection of merchandise).

He sighed in sadness. He had only just barely kept himself together out there, so that others wouldn't have to see him cry. Crying in front of others gave him a strange, intense feeling of embarrassment he couldn't describe (then again, he often found difficulties with describing his feelings in general). 

Now that he was alone, however, he finally let the tears spill.

"I-I'm so sorry... I-I-I'm so..."

It slightly hurt to try and speak through his tears.

He had failed yet another universe.

He felt like just crying into a pillow right there, but he didn't have a bed or anything, and he didn't want to leave his room like this.

So, he just had to struggle through it there.

Ink had always had difficulties with controlling his emotions. A lot of people thought of him as... moody. He had many intense reactions to things that would normally be considered pretty minor.

...so, when something that was a big deal happened, things were even worse.

Another thing about Ink was that he often experienced paranoid thoughts.

And so, his mind was racing with all kinds of imagined scenarios of everyone dying, people blaming him, him somehow being responsible... and it hurt. His precious creations dying, people hating him... 

It made him cry all the more.

Eventually, after what felt like ages, he managed to pull himself together enough to pull off the other thing he was in his room to do:

He grabbed a piece of paper on his desk, and wrote "Undertale Copy #4" on it.

Then, he folded the paper into a little origami crane.

Then, he picked it up and walked over to what would look to most like the door to one of those closet rooms people had in their homes...

He opened the door.

The walls of the room, which was quite large, were covered in shelves.

On the shelves rested many, many, many other origami cranes of similar origins.

He managed to find a place on a shelf to put the new one.

This was his way of commemorating the worlds that had fallen, whether to Error... or whatever was causing the current destruction now.

Elsewhere in the building, Horror and Cross had finally gotten a chance to get away from the others and talk in peace. Horror sighed.

"I'm guessing they're gonna accuse us for this if they run out of ideas... Can't say I blame them considering our whole shtick, but it's... yeah.'

Whenever something went wrong, usually it was due to either Error or the Bad Guys (well, Fresh sometimes also caused trouble, but not as much as the others did). So, when there was a problem, they were usually the first to be blamed.

This situation was different, however, because Error was (presumed) dead and he was the only one known to have the ability to destroy universes (...or at least the only one who actually used it...). So, the Bad Guys were presumably not responsible for it, and Error literally could not have done it.

"..."

Cross didn't respond. He was too distracted by his own thoughts.

"...Cross? Buddy?"

Horror poked him in the arm, causing him to snap out of it.

"S-Sorry, Horror, I was just, uh... thinking."

"About what?"

"Um..."

Cross hesitated admitting. If Nightmare found out what he was thinking about, he'd likely have Cross killed on the spot.

However, this wasn't Nightmare, nor Killer, nor Dust. It was Horror.

Horror still had some sanity left.

"...I honestly... wish I could quit the team."

"..."

Horror didn't seem to know what to say. So, Cross continued:

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for having a place to sleep, and a way to get money and food and all. But... the things Nightmare makes us do..."

Cross looked down. He felt a bit... mixed about admitting this, even if it was to someone he was rather close to. Cross had never really been open about his past, his feelings, or anything really. He always tried to change the subject when asked.

"No, I understand."

"...what?"

Cross was surprised by Horror's reaction.

"Y-You really get it?"

"Yeah. I don't really like doing this stuff either. I just... don't know how else I could survive... it's the same for you, right?"

"...yeah..."

The two had always bonded over their similar situations: struggling to provide for their brothers, forced into doing some... morally questionable things to accomplish that.

However, neither really shared how much they hated their job.

...at least, until now...

"But, hey! Not like we have any other options, right? Or at least I don't. I mean, look at me."

Horror pointed to the hole in his skull.

"Who the hell would think hiring me for a job is a good idea? Except Nightmare. Guess I just fit right in, huh?"

"...and Nightmare didn't even really let me choose if I wanted to join in the first place... now neither of us will ever be able to quit and move on."

Cross dreamed of the day when he'd be able to run away from Nightmare, his problems, his sins, and be free to start over. He'd find a job that paid at least decently and work as hard as he could to put food on the table for him and his brother

...but that was merely wishful thinking, he thought, someone like him didn't deserve good things.

Not after all he had done,

Not after all the lives lost because of him,

Not after that one fateful day with a particular target, the day things went awry...

"I get it, trust me. Your secret's safe with me, buddy."

"...thanks."

Meanwhile...

Across what was known as the Undertale Omniverse, there were several multiverses. Some, including the Core Multiverse (the one at the heart of the omniverse, the first one, that started it all), were run by mysterious gods (sometimes multiple per multiverse) that seemed to reside on another plane of existence (though some chose to take forms in the realm of the omniverse, like the Annoying Dog).

However, there were some that were run by god-like beings known as the deities, who resided on the same plane of existence as the omniverse.

Fate was one of said deities.

This multiverse, Multiverse #13, was Fate's personal responsibility. This was the multiverse they created and were in charge of, that they alone had control over.

...and things were already falling apart, before even a megaannum had passed...

Fate was usually alone for the most part (at least ever since a certain person escaped...). Today was one of the few days they got any company, from one of the other deities: Luck.

Luck had her own multiverse to deal with. However, hers was usually more stable, so it didn't really require constant monitoring. So, she tended to visit the other deities, or play with Chance, a dog she had adopted (some deities chose to adopt random pets, or create them for themselves. There wasn't anything in the Deity Code against it. It wasn't exactly common, though) and given the gift of immortality (a deity could imbue others with certain powers, as long as they didn't make them too overpowered [to the point where they could very well be deities themselves).

Luck (and Chance) had decided to pay a visit to Fate today.

"Well helloooooooooo there, Fatey!" she said as she entered through a portal. The short, green hair of the form she took was just as shiny as ever.

Luck had a habit of changing her outfit whenever possible. This time, she sported a red dress with white stripes, plus a sunhat of matching colors.

Quite the colorful individual.

Fate barely had time to respond before finding themself being pounced on and licked by Chance.

Chance always seemed to like Fate for some reason. Fate had no clue why.

"Haha!" Luck laughed. "Well, looks like someone's happy to see you!... not counting me, I mean."

Luck and Fate had always been pretty close, often helping each other decide what to do about the mortals of the deity multiverses.

Fate managed to get Chance to stop licking them by holding him up. They didn't have the energy to get up, though, so they remained lying down. The small Maltese dog was always pretty playful.

"....guess so," they responded. They weren't exactly in the mood for anything fun at the moment (though they basically never were).

"Ohhhhh c'mon, Fatey, lighten up a little!"

"...my multiverse is doomed."

Hearing Fate say this, Luck was caught off guard. She had previously thought this had just been a case of Fate's usual bad mood.

"...how so?" she asked, concern showing in her green eyes.

"Destiny, they... they got free. I don't know how, but they did... and they... they sent Error somewhere else..."

Fate finally sat up and put Chance down, then got up on their feet. Luck picked Chance up.

"Then they left, and I don't know where they are..."

"...oh. Oh dear. This is certainly quite the ordeal... should we tell the others?"

"I'm sick of making them clean up my messes... besides, this is probably the last strike anyway... if they found out about this, they'd..."

"I see. I guess that means I can't help. I mean, you know what the Code says..."

Fate sighed.

"Yeah, 'no using your powers on other deities without permission from the majority' or whatever, I get it... "

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't say that. The fault is mine and mine alone. I'll just have to deal with this... You can leave now."

"...well, I guess I'll get back to my multiverse then. Goodbye...

And good luck."

And so, Luck and Chance left, and Fate was alone again.

"...Really missing you right now, Des..."

(Author's note: First introduction to other deities! Don't worry, Luck will be back eventually.

So will Chance because I decided to give deities pets and I refuse to not let cute stuff happen with it)

(Oh yeah, also:

Don't worry, the... weird version of Mettaton here [yeah that's the thing I made specifically for this story] will return, just not immediately next chapter. He needs some time to recover and I need some time to give other plot details focus... I'm the one who decided to have, like, four subplots and I'm going to use them)

(Finally:

There's probably going to be more time between chapters from now on since I had a lot of these already written before publishing but I'm reaching the point where the chapters I haven't all pre-planned are up next, so I need to write a ton of stuff, then make sure I'm satisfied with what I have, can make the order in which events happen work, etc.

Don't worry, this fic won't be on a hiatus or anything, just don't expect daily updates from now on)