The Bitties encourage Karma to explore and instantly regret that decision.
How does one babybones get into such weird situations?!

——

*^&$@ multiverse

AntiVoid

Ink felt like time was meaningless, the white almost feeling like it was trying to drag him down. His currently white eyelights darted around the area, as if looking for anything that might have survived the destruction but it was a fruitless effort.

Nothing was left, the ache in his chest growing worse as he continued looking around in what might be mistaken as desperation, despite not having a drop of paint in his system.

He paused in his thoughts when he felt an odd buzzing by his chest, fingers twitching when he felt something dark briefly obscure his vision. He looked down, soon faced with a tiny face with a single bright white eyelight.

"Are you feeling better now, Ink?"

He was silent, his mind taking a while to remember that this was 'Goth' the strange Creation he wasnt sure when he made . His hand moved away from his vials and carefully began to adjust Goths scarf, his mouth twitching at how much of his magic was on them.

His eyelights sharpened when he noticed magic dripping on the 'ground' behind the babybones, silently adjusting Goth so he could better reach their wings.

"You pulled out your feathers again. Why would you do that?"

He said blankly, mechanically stretching out Goths wings and easily spotting the damage. This was something he could easily fix, pulling out a small paint brush from his sash as he meticulously 'painted' back the missing feathers. He always felt an odd tug on his magic whenever he did this, Goth oddly accepting of his magic type, much easier than his other Creations at least.

His mind kept trying to tell him something but he kept drawing a blank, his memory feeling like a sieve some days.

He put away the brush when he was done, gently tapping Goths back, humming in approval when they stretched out their wings fully so he could make sure he didnt miss a spot. It was a useful system, less words needing to be wasted and began to examine every single one of the unique feathers for damage.

"It's done"

He said simply, his arms once again wrapping around them, idly taping his finger in time with their SOUL beat. He knew most monsters tended to find it unsettling when he did this or saw him in this state but Goths non-reaction made them an even larger anomaly in his eyes.

"Dont you need to go to the Doodle Sphere soon, Ink? It feels like another AU is going to collapse.."

He paused in his movements, his eyelights growing unfocused as he finally sensed what Goth pointed out, a relatively new power that he was still getting to grips with. It's not like his AU's had ever been in danger before but now that one of his Creations had left their world, he would have to make sure nothing else was messed with.

This place was his , greatly disliking it being disturbed or the stories interfered with.

He wished he could just wipe out Nightmare but their power made them rather annoying to deal with, not to mention the trail of mess they left behind. They also were no longer bound to their AU, so he couldn't just crush it and start again.

He hoped the second Guardian wouldn't be such a disappointment, feeling they would 'awaken' soon from their petrified state. Truly a fascinating bit of magic came from Dreamtale, that he would be trying to replicate later in other AU's, always one to experiment.

"You are right. Lets go, little god"

He took note of the startled look from the babybones but didnt do much apart from stand up, holding Goth close. He might not always show it but he wasnt ignorant to the unusual powers and magic Goth seemed to possess, wondering if someone from Reapertale had a child but unwilling to check they were his now and he wasnt willing to share .

"Hold on close. We will have to be quick"

He gave a quick warning before throwing ink on the ground and jumping though. His mind might feel sharper without paints but the deep need to feel always led him back to the paints.

Although, his memory had been getting better lately so perhaps things were getting better he was no longer alone, no longer having to watch but never interfere.

-

Doodle Sphere

Karma hummed to himself as he enjoyed sitting outside, very comfy on the beanbag Ink had made for him before they had to run off. They were very busy lately, his wings ruffling as he felt a major change would soon occur.

Time really was flying by, his gaze fully focused on the white hanging 'papers' on the ceiling. He made up a game by counting how many AU's crumbled, compared to how many were created, having lost count ages ago. 

The ones that turned fully black were the ones that truly caught his interest, it being rare he ever witnessed an AU get fullycorrupted. They were usually dealt with quickly but he supposed it was understandable with how young this multiverse was still the Destroyer had not been made yet but its only time .

01000100 01101111 01101111 01100100 01101100 01100101 01010011 01110000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101100 01101111 01100011 01101011 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01010100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01001110 01101111 00100000 01110110 01101001 01110011 01101001 01110100 01101111 01110010 01110011 00100000 01100001 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 01100101 01100100

He ignored the numbers in his vison with ease, far too mentally tired to deal with that along with everything else, his attention riveted as the 'papers' shifted and changed as quickly as he blinked.

The whole ceiling was soon covered with AU's before just as quickly turning to a deep deep black. He had never seen anything like this before and was utterly fascinated.

"Karma...what is happening?"

Sunny was very hesitant to speak up, Karmas emotions having been a whirlwind lately and the dull Pain/Alone/Apathy was sadly the best he had felt in a while but he needed to know more. While he was still unsure of the cause, he still tried his best to help the babybones while he could, even if it was nowhere near as much as he wanted.

This whole situation was a mess and he had so little information to go on, frustrated at having to hide like scared mice in Karma's scarf, so they wouldn't cause unintentional pain to Karma.

"These are all the AU's. They kind of look like stars, dont you think? It's a shame they dont come in many colours"

He slowly nodded, seeing what they meant with the power flickering of the hanging 'papers' but his mind still couldn't fully grasp the concept.

He was only a Bitty from a simple shop, only spending a few years in another multiverse before being reunited with Karma again. Still nowhere near enough time to gather more information of the omniverse and dealing with the monster called 'Nova' had made his body itch weirdly. He was doubtful that he had given a simple 'check up' but was not willing to argue with a monster who had nearly dusted Blot when they first met.

He had learned many new things but still not enough.

"WHAT IS THE GOLD ONE?"

He perked up at Azures voice, looking over to where they pointed and frowning at the bright sparkling AU, also confused about it and how he missed it .

"Reapertale. It's a bit more solid then the other ones. It's rather lucky its not linked to the other AU's though"

"WHY IS THAT LUCKY..?"

Azure shivered at the giggle Karma gave, a feeling of foreboding coming over him when Karma simply pointed to a group of AU's. He watched as one turned black, jumping when they all followed suit before crumbling into nothingness.

"The less linked places are, the less likely they will collapse any other AU when they go down . Although, i'm confused about just how many copies Ink has been making lately. Are they truly that bored..?"

'Copies'? ' Links'? All these terms were so confusing, trying his best to listen to Karma as he explained but his mind just couldn't comprehend it..at least Blot seemed to understand though, their rapid fire questions shocking him and was surprised by how much they truly seemed to comprehend.

He felt a smidge guilty for that thought, not thinking that Blot was an idiot but he had never seen them this animated on a topic, feeling this had to be linked to the monster they were based off of. Sharing a look with Sunny he could see they agreed, grimacing when they realised they would have to try and gather more information about a Creator.

He could tell that was going to be fun to try and accomplish...

While Sunny was enjoying watching how happy Blot was, even Karma looking happy to talk about everything they knew about this place, there was a small detail Sunny was quite confused about.

"How is Ink making everything so fast? I thought that took time..?"

He could see AU's be made in mere seconds and it never seemed to slow down, a growing fear in the back of his mind on what kind of monster they would be dealing with would they ever be able to keep Karma safe?  

"You are right. It can take a long time but we aren't seeing this in real time. Ink sped up time in the Doodle Sphere again. Pretty sure its been years outside at this point"

He felt his mind break at the casual way Karma said this, feeling he would never catch up to the seemingly never ending revelations.

"Any idea on how long..?"

He didnt notice how faint his voice was or the way Blot and Azure looked on in concern as he stared up at the 'sky' dead eyed.

How had his life become this?

"A good few centuries outside the Doodle Sphere, maybe a millennium. It's kind of hard to guess.."

Karma mumbled while he eyed the closest AU about to disintegrate, it hard to estimate the time passed accurately without actually leaving this place. He was curious if Ink would even remember he existed at this point, surprised they hadn't dropped in at all to check up on him.

Azure froze at the answer, wanting to cry at how long they had been stuck here. Nothing was making sense but he was more worried about how easily the babybones was taking this. They were far too casual about this and they were being way too quiet, especially compared to how lively they had been in the Void.

He might have disliked it and the creepy Gasters everywhere but at least Karma didnt look like this. It felt like he was watching an animated doll go through the motions and he didnt like it one bit. He had discussed it with his friends, all of them feeling uneasy when they realised that Karma hadnt talked about any of their friends and family since they were in Dreamtale.

He had tried to discreetly bring it up to the babybones but was instantly shot down each time, eventually having to stop when Karma started to once again started to block all their emotions from Sunny.

There was only so much they could do, Karma far too good at hiding things and none of them liked to imagine how this talent came to be.

"...can you talk about UnderFell more, Karma?"

He smiled when Blot spoke up, shaking his head in amusement at how Blot thought they were bad at talking to people due to who they were based off of. He saw how Karma gave a small smile, lightening up as they relayed everything they knew to a clearly enthused audience.

He let their voice wash over him, while he schemed with Sunny to try and cheer up Karma. They might not be able to solve the larger issues but they were resourceful and could still help, even if it wouldnt solve everything.

-

UnderFell

"I can't believe we convinced them to actually do this"

Sunny whispered to the others, still in awe that they got Karma to willingly leave the Doodle Sphere by themself. It had of course taken plenty of convincing and a bit of emotional blackmail a shiver ran through him, feeling he might deeply regret that but it worked out in the end.

They were out and about, free from the weird cloying atmosphere of the Doodle Sphere, which was no place for a babybones in his opinion but was almost fearful to ask Karma how long they had actually been in that space for.

Ignorance was truly bliss in this case, more than happy to ignore that for as long as possible while he tried to deal with the current issue, which was to get Karma to actually relax.

Surprisingly it was going quite well so far, a change near immediate in the babybones as soon as they arrived here even if he was deeply unsettled by the LOVE . Maybe today would go well, having reluctantly conceded to Karmas demand that they go back to the Creators space once they were done, even if he would prefer to stay far away from any Ink.

He was still hopeful going out would help, smiling when Karma giggled while they played in the snow.

Today was looking to be nice and uneventful, just the way he preferred.

Karma was pleased by his small snowman, deciding to make another one to go beside it. He sat in the snow and carefully began shaping the snow, glad he had changed into something much warmer before he left.

He wasnt sure why but the purple and gold outfit had really caught his interest when Sunny had encouraged him to change, the cute sun and moon symbols on it rather pretty and he loved how shiny it was . Ink had really made a lot of clothes for him, this outfit definitely going in his Inventory later.

He chirped in success at his small collection of snowmen, sneezing when a cold breeze blew through. He wiped his face and continued playing, feeling reasonably confident he could get back to the Doodle Sphere before Ink noticed or cared . He was sure he could portal in there, even by accident, eventually and it would be good practice for using his portals. 

He had been confused why Ink had allowed him into their personal space and even unlocked it for him but it was working in his favour so far, really not wanting to be caught by Ink before he got back. He didn't want them to put more stringent locks in place or get upset, as they were kind of his main safety net so far the only one. The others were all gOnE .

He paused in his playing and looked up when he felt a SOUL get closer, seeing a bunny monster who seemed to be trying to sneak closer to him. He spotted the glint in their hand that he realised held a knife, tucking the Bitties into his scarf for protection despite their protest, before standing up and shaking the snow off his wings.

His Judgement magic pulsed in warning when he turned to face them, unsurprised this monster did not recognise the magic type at all, as this AU was still far too new in the grand scheme of things and he didn't believe this monster would remember RESETS at all.

"Haven't seen you before. I feel you would be some nice free Exp and without a caretaker anywhere near. What a shame-"

He sneezed when monster dust fell on him, frowning when he saw how much got into his wings. That was going to take a while to fix, chirping in reprimand when something tried to touch his feathers.

" I apologise, it seems my manners have left me...oh, its you . I've been looking everywhere for you, little apple "

He looked up at the corrupted monster, confused when he heard his friends murmuring darkly in his scarf, wondering what that was about.

~~~~~~

Ink: *Very intrigued by the babybones* You have such interesting reactions

Bitties: *Hissing at how Karma keeps attracting weirdos*

Karma: *Oblivious to the effect he has on others*..thanks?

-

Sunny: *Staring at the hanging AU's in curiosity* Huh, those are kind of pretty but why are there so many?

Karma: *Opening his mouth and about to give another horrifying answer*

Azure: *Having expected this and desperately reaching for some earplugs*

-

Bitties: *Scheming to give Karma a normal day*

*Go to Fell AU, nearly attacked by a monster and bump into Nightmare again*

Karma: *Acting like it is just another day and fearlessly reprimanding Nightmare for trying to touch his wings*

Bitties: *Screaming in frustration at how all their plans go to ruin and trying to stop Karma from provoking the scary monster*