The Bitties finally convince Karma to leave the Void but that might not have been the best idea...

——

Void

Karma had been having a great time, especially with Gaster having so many interesting ideas which he was just itching to try!

They had even talked about certain areas of the Void that had openings to rather unique sounding AU's, which had truly caught his interest. It mainly meant not having to rely on anyone else or portals to travel around and it sounded so much fun.

Sure the time to travel to those areas was uncertain but considering he had not felt any hunger since being here and he did have his Inventory that was filled with food due to dads instance he bet felt he would be fine.

"✌︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☼︎☜︎✌︎👎︎✡︎ ❄︎⚐︎ ☝︎⚐︎📪︎ ☹︎✋︎❄︎❄︎☹︎☜︎ ✌︎☠︎⚐︎💣︎✌︎☹︎✡︎✍︎"

"Yeah! This is going to be great, Gaster. Can we try going to the one where all the monsters have DETERMINATION inside them? I bet their SOULS would be ama-"

"Karma? Would you mind having a chat? In private "

Sunny had been quick to interrupt, the gleam in the babybones a tad disturbing to witness, let alone the topic choice. He was thankful when Karma easily agreed, even getting out of Gasters hold and walking a bit further into the Void.

Seeing the innocent inquisitive look was more relieving than he could put into words, deciding it was best to try and steer the kid far away from any more Gasters in the future.

..he already had a feeling that he would fail but he could dream!

"Sunny? What did you want to talk about? Did you perhaps want to go to a different AU? I know Gaster talked about one where there might be Bitties, so that could be cool-"

"WE WERE ACTUALLY THINKING OF PERHAPS LEAVING THE VOID"

He was glad Azure spoke up, as his eyes had been starting to glaze over with the manic emotions Karma was starting to feel again. He logically knew that the emotions he would feel from their 'owner' would be more intense, then one from any other monster/human he met, but it was still a tad overwhelming.

He had made sure to research thoroughly everyone they had been rehomed to and questioned every Bitty he met, wanting to make sure his group had the highest chance of survival they could. He knew they would one day have to choose someone if they wanted to survive, having heard many horror stories of Bitties who were deemed 'defective'.

He knew this but that didn't mean he would have settled for just any being. He was the leader of his small family, the one who made the final decisions, his magic helping him weed out the many monsters who saw them as nothing but a novelty and would surely grow bored of them after a few months.

That was why he was initially wary when he first met Karma, despite the emotions he felt from them. Children could be just as cruel, if more so than adults and with Bitties being so small...well, it was easy for accidents to happen.

He wasn't surprised when they ended up attaching themselves to the babybones who had far too little self preservation for his liking. It helped greatly that they were never treated as inferior or like a simple pet and he would never regret his choice, especially after getting to know them more...but that didn't mean they didn't cause him an immeasurable amount of stress!

"...leaving? Are you not liking it here?"

He felt a surge of guilt as he saw Karmas eyelights dim, almost giving in but just glancing at the endless black it was fathomless and could easily crush him with ease he kept his resolve. He bet if he let them, they would spend years here and despite having no sense of time, he had a dreaded feeling they might have already been here that long.

"No! That's not it. We just thought to see something else...like perhaps visiting your original multiverse..?"

He felt he might have accidentally stepped on a landmine with how stiff the babybones became. He watched in trepidation as Karmas red eyelight grew darker, their hands gently always gently taking the three Bitties out of his scarf and gazing at them with a deep intensity they were not used to.

For a second it almost felt like they were looking at a stranger, Karmas spread wings seeming much darker then the surroundings ever could be, the black parts of the feathers seeming to draw them all in. None of them noticed how they were unconsciously leaning forward and would have surely fallen, if not for Karmas' hold on them.

Sunny decided the worst part was Karmas blank expression, feeling as if their SOULS were being analysed and judged all at once.

"...We can do that, if you truly want to. I guess this place isn't meant for everyone"

He shivered at the neutral tone, not a speck of emotion present and if he hadn't been able to sense the rush of emotions from them, he would have said they were a statue more than a monster.

"KARMA..ARE YOU OK?"

"I'm fine, Azure. Let me go say goodbye to Gaster before we go"

None of them believed him but didn't know what to say at their sudden switch of mood. They stayed silent as they were carefully placed back in the scarf, not saying a word when Karma had a whispered conversation with Gaster, not even piping up when Gaster handed something to the babybones which was swiftly hidden before the three of them could see it.

"👌︎☜︎ 👍︎✌︎☼︎☜︎☞︎🕆︎☹︎📪︎ ☹︎✋︎❄︎❄︎☹︎☜︎ ✌︎☠︎⚐︎💣︎✌︎☹︎✡︎📬︎ 💣︎✌︎😐︎☜︎ 💧︎🕆︎☼︎☜︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎ ❄︎⚐︎ 👍︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎ 👌︎✌︎👍︎😐︎ ❄︎⚐︎⚐︎ 💧︎⚐︎⚐︎☠︎📬︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ✞︎⚐︎✋︎👎︎ ✋︎💧︎ ✌︎☹︎🕈︎✌︎✡︎💧︎ ☟︎🕆︎☠︎☝︎☼︎✡︎📪︎ ✌︎☞︎❄︎☜︎☼︎ ✌︎☹︎☹︎❞︎"

Karmas' mouth twitched into a semblance of a smile, leaning into the floating hands that pet his head and fussed over his clothes. He would miss them but now that he knew their SOUL or what was left of it he was sure he could find them again.

"See you later, Gaster"

He had offered Gaster the option of going onto the next step of the cycle, even offered it to River and Dings but none had accepted it Dings had gone weirdly pale when he asked but he had been distracted by Gaster before he could ask what the issue was . He hadn't had a chance to meet any other SOULS like them yet but as they weren't going against any natural order, he was fine to leave them be.

The Void was what one could call a limbo, a middle state that didn't really affect the whole omniverse. That was what he had discovered in his time here, his role pretty neutral on what he should do. He still used his magic to free the few who wanted to leave but he would hardly force anyone.

Ghost existed for a reason and unless a Creator had made certain rules for their Creations, then his job was pretty much the same wherever he went. Dad always had an odd pinched expression and an odd look in his eyes when he mentioned it but he hardly saw his role any different from Destruction.

He might look like a child but that hardly meant he was as innocent as one Reaper made sure to get rid of the last of that .

"Let's go then. This one should be easy to do"

He said reassuringly to his friends, knowing every single speck of his Birth multiverse and one of the few places he could portal to without any issue. He waved his hand, the familiar dark magic coalescing into a perfect circle with zero imperfections.

He stared at the portal, not noticing how he was frowning or the slight shake of his hands. He took a deep breath and walked through, in his anxious state missing another crucial detail.

The slight gold that tinted the portal.

-

*^&$@ multiverse

Horror AU

Karma stared and stared some more, as if hoping if he did so long enough the scene would magically change. Sadly nothing of the sort happened, his wings drooping as he realised he may have zero idea where they had ended up.

The one good thing from this mess of a situation was that it unintentionally helped to soothe that slight anxiety of potentially visiting his Birth multiverse, no matter how irrational he found the fear.

He liked his original Error and Ink, having even seen them recently and knew that Reaper could no longer find him dad had been very clear on that but that didn't mean he forgot 500 years of memory of being stuck in a multiverse that had felt like he was slowly drowning with little support.

Brother and dad had made life better but that didn't mean it had all been perfect.

"...Karma? Your magic is..."

He sighed at Blots' observation, abruptly pulling in his agitated magic that thankfully hadn't destroyed anything important, glad there had been no one else around to see that. It was a tad embarrassing losing control of his magic for such a silly reason, just from reminiscing.

He was fine he was not and he had much more important things to be concerned about.

Like figuring out where they actually were.

He frowned at the AU they were in, recognising it as a standard Horror AU but that was pretty much it. Something was weird about it though, his frown growing deeper as he saw the monster dust everywhere.

"...it's too early for that. This should be long gone by now"

He crouched down to look over the dust, flinching when something that looked like numbers flickered in his vision before spluttering out. He did not like that at all, deciding he needed to explore more and ignore whatever that was before he could figure out what was happening.

Azure was rightfully on edge, this whole place putting his instincts into overdrive. Everything he saw only made the feeling grow worse, hands clenched in the babybones scarf as they floated above the snow to some unknown direction but they at least looked like they knew where they were going.

He let out a startled hiss when he saw movement in the corner of his eye, jumping when Karma gently pet his skull.

"You don't need to worry. They can't see us right now"

"H-HOW?"

"My magic of course. Did you never meet any Reaper Bitty? I'm pretty sure they had similar powers to the originals but I didn't really interact with many Bitties in the end...."

He let the babybones ramble, their voice helping to ground him as he took in what they were saying. He hasn't really gone to many AU's and it's not like he was taken out often, considering Bittys were considered 'fragile' and 'delicate', making him grumble at how idiots thought they were made of glass.

He wasn't sure he liked this new place though, the noises he could hear in the distance sounded more like wild animals then monsters, now having that cursed knowledge due to Karmas continued rambling.

Sunny watched speculatively, looking between his friends and the surroundings and not liking what he could gather at all. He did his best to calm Azure and reign back Blot, who looked to want to ask a million questions, before his gaze travelled to the babybones.

At first glance they looked fine, their speech calm and their movements smooth but they couldn't hide it all from him. While he could agree the area was a tad unsettling, he hadn't forgotten the way Karma dealt with those things in the Void, very much doubting a starved monster would be much of a challenge.

He would wait for a bit before confronting them on how they were actually feeling, wondering just what could be alarming the babybones.

-

Karma had given up on maintaining his calm facade and was very much panicking, fiddling with his scarf nervously as his eyes darted around almost frantically. He was having several major issues right now, feeling the day was going from bad to worse.

"This is the beginning...this place is so new "

His voice had a slight hysterical edge, staring at the destroyed parts of the CORE in this AU.

"There have been no RESETS. This place is too fresh! It should be locked down and not have any visitors to let it grow and become more stable! What is the Creator doing?!"

He hissed out, not sensing a single barrier or anything that would deter a foreign entity from another multiverse entering it. What kind of Creator didn't know that?! It was the basics and everyone should know it was almost as if this place knew hi-

"Oh no. No . I refuse! One time was enough! I refuse to repeat it again!"

The three Bitties went wide eyed as Karma stiffened, all unsure whether the babybones was about to cry or burst into hysterical laughter and still having no clue of the cause.

Their alarm only grew when Karma harshly spiked their magic, watching as the rusted chair in the Lab disintegrated from the magic. It wasn't only thing affected, soon a sphere of perfect destruction surrounded the babybones with them growing visibly more frustrated the longer it went on.

"IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT-"

"This has to be a mistake..Why isn't it working?!...what can't i feel any of them?..i-i don't understand"

"Karma. You need to take deep breaths. You need to slow down your breathing. Come on, Karma. It's ok. We are here with you. You're not alone"

Karma might have eventually calmed down from Sunnys gentle instruction, perhaps he would have had a more level head and made a more reliable plan, that could help him out of this situation.

Sadly that possible future would never occur, as fate could be a funny thing. The set path was chosen, when the babybones sensed a monster he would be unable to hide from about to enter the AU, the stress pushing him to make a rather hasty decision.

They quickly threw their magic to make a portal, forgetting all the lessons on creating them and having just pure desperation to leave.

Karma flung himself through the portal with little care where it went, the same gold tint once again staining what should be pure black.

-

The AU was now deadly quiet, apart from when the new monster entered it, the flap of their wings the only noise heard. A black cloaked skeleton monster landed exactly where the babybones had been mere seconds ago, their magic stretching out in curiosity. Their pure black wings folded behind them, with their endless black sockets looking around in utter confusion while they casually leaned against their Scythe.

"..I was sure there was something here. Maybe I should check in with the Creator in case its a bug..? I better not have to reap the whole place again . I really thought they had gotten better at making mortals"

Reaper would have looked around the AU more if he didn't suddenly feel a tug on his SOUL, frowning when he realised he had more work to do.

Sure he didn't have to do it, Ink having told Asgore that Repeartale was just the representations of certain forces, but no one was sure whether to believe that was all they were, especially from someone who was known to be so forgetful.

He didn't particularly mind going out to reap SOULS, as it's not like he had anything else going on for him not like he could touch anyone or cure the perpetual loneliness . There were a manageable amount of AU's anyway, really hoping Ink didn't make too many AU's.

He needed sleep and didnt want this job to be the death of him.

He snorted, thinking he was far too hilarious for his own good, some days.

"Well, I guess its back to work. I wonder if Ink made any new places..?"

~~~~

*Karma and Gaster discussing increasingly crazy schemes*

Sunny: *Full of determination to stop this* I have a plan!

Azure: *Whimpering when he overhears Karma suggest playing with DETERMINATION*

Blot: *Being held back by Sunny from unintentionally encouraging Karma further*

-

Sunny: *Thinking his idea is genius and genuinely curious* Can we visit your Birth multiverse?

Karma: *Many traumatic flashback* S-Sure

Bitties: *Feeling they have majorly mistepped at the sudden change of attitude*

-

*In *^&$@ multiverse*

Karma: *Unhealthy suppressing emotions like a pro* I am fine. Everything is fine!

Sunny: *Knowing full well they are lying*..sure you are