Ink is getting used to having Karma around but feels things will change very soon.

——

Daemons Multiverse

It took a lot of begging and even bribes of food, to get Karma to even consider coming to stay with him. He could tell that the apple twins were reluctant to leave the babybones alone, most likely out of some guilt for what they inadvertently did.

He grew annoyed with their constant meaningless chatter, so turned towards them and threw them both into an ink portal, glaring at everyone else in the room in warning.

It was such a 'shock' when everyone else suddenly had vital appointments to get too and soon it was just him, with Karma and Chroma.

'Why didn't you do that earlier, Ink? They were so annoying'

"Hey! I didn't see you helping"

'That's what I keep you around for but after that slow performance maybe i should find someone else..'

"Are you trying to fire me?!"

"Well you suggested it..."

Ink grinned at hearing Karma start to giggle at their banter, glad this had helped to calm them down. As they continued he could see the babybones starting to yawn so crouched in front of them, asking them again to stay with him. The quiet 'yes' was relieving to hear and soon he had taken them to the Doodle Sphere in order to settle in.

-

It was a tense few days but when Karma had looked less resistant to his presence, he suggested they redecorate the room they were sleeping in. He had managed to get the results from the arch and was slightly terrified of making their delicate condition worse.

Sometimes when looking at them he could see a reflection of his old self, just close to the edge and willing to do anything to make it all stop.

Ink hadn't expected decorating their room to be a challenge but Karma had looked puzzled about why they would even do this. He tried to keep his voice calm, while internally he felt sad at how the childish joy was lacking in their actions.

He slowly managed to get them to voice out what they would like but it was mainly due to Chroma that anything happened. While wary of him they had no such issues with his partner. They did oddly enough one day start going out of their way to sit in his space, making him conclude the strange magic that had sparked from their wings was the cause.

His fingers twitched with want to feel all of their feathers, especially with the small sparks of light that came off them. Such unique wings that he was determined to draw at some point.

When a week passed he started to take them out to explore, not wanting them to feel cooped up in this space. He encouraged Chroma to stay near Karma, to help them to stand out less. He was known as being eccentric and had little care for how the majority saw him but he saw the way Karma would shrink into themselves, when Chroma was not seen by others.

Chroma had looked at him like he was an idiot and boldly told him they would have done that anyway, as Karma was so much more fun than Ink.

He sometimes wondered how Chroma had become so sassy but remembering all the meetings he had been forced to go to and being near Blue's mischievous Daemon, the answer was rather obvious.

-

Weeks passed in a routine before he had an idea to go to that large park in Haventale. It was a peaceful AU and the majority of monsters with children brought them here. Maybe Karma meeting others similar to his age would be helpful for their recovery?

He had never tried to help a monster in this condition before but was hopeful this would help.

"Karma! Can you come downstairs please?"

He plated the chocolate waffles, amused at the rant Karma had gone on about chocolate being 'the best thing ever created' when they realised he had never bothered to try many varieties. He was sure they would get along with Error, if they ever met but considering how antisocial the Destroyer was he doubted it would happen.

"Come on, sleepy heads! The food is getting cold"

He snorted when he saw Chroma as a snake, napping around Karmas neck and chuckled when the babybones woke them up by feeding them some waffle. He never really bothered with trying much food, as he wasn't the best cook. Dream and Blue would usually be the ones to help make his meals but with how skittish Karma was he would rather not risk it.

"Now that you have finished it's time to get ready"

Karma looked at them in puzzlement but when they remembered he saw their whole countenance change to reluctance. He saw them start to flap their wings and the way they angled themselves towards the door.

He was not going to run after them again, as even Chroma enjoyed making it as hard as possible for him to catch them.

He picked them up while they looked distracted and quickly made an ink portal, not letting them go until they arrived at their destination.

"It won't be that bad, Karma. Look at all the slides this place has! They even have a climbing wall!"

The deadpanned look was amusing but he tried to hype the place up. He was unsure how well he was doing but Blue turning up was a surprise.

"INK? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Oh hey Blue. Just here to let Karma get some sunshine. What about you?"

"I CAME WITH DREAM, AS YOU KNOW HOW HE LOVES VISITING THIS AU"

The positivity this place emitted was impressive but it did have the consequence of making Nightmare uncomfortable stepping in it. A perfect place to hide when he 'accidentally' annoyed the Guardian.

When a weight settled on his arm he assumed Karma had grown tired of carrying Chroma. He brought his arm to his neck, unsurprised his partner slithered into his clothes to find a quieter place to nap.

He must have been chatting longer than he thought, as when he waved goodbye to Blue he couldn't spot Karma anywhere. He first searched the play area but when they failed to be there his alarm grew. Had someone taken them? Who would be bold enough to go against someone he had made sure to claim?

Gazing around he snarled when he spotted a furby nearby. Of course the Parasite would be the cause. He destroyed the furby, wishing it was Fresh instead. He knew most people found Fresh creepy and that was mainly due to the shape their Daemon took. It didn't help that they found sadistic amusement in handing a furby to others, making others fear if they would be touching their Daemon or not.

Getting closer to the shaded area he shouted out in panic.

"KARMA! Where are you?!"

He would dust them if they had done anything to them. He had the small comfort that he knew that Fresh did not take children as his hosts. Something about how there wasn't enough space to stretch? He rushed towards where he spotted some colour and arrived, just as Fresh smirked at him with Karma in their arms.

*Fresh-Poof!*

He stilled on the spot, not pleased at the effort it would take to find them. Thankfully he knew the other well, so headed to their favoured AU to 'play' in. Reapertale was irritating to be in, with how uptight some of the so-called 'Gods' were. He avoided Asgore at all costs, making sure to be extra forgetful when they had to interact.

He took a step forward and frowned when his phone started buzzing. He was tempted to ignore it but reluctantly took it out, pleased that he had. It seemed Fresh had not wasted any time and wasn't too far from here.

When he arrived he was puzzled at Karma's words.

"Are you going to eat it?"

Eat?...oh no. Is that what he thought it was in Fresh hand? He usually didn't mind who Fresh 'ate' but the main powers were strictly prohibited for them. It was such a pain having to create them again, not to mention the disappointed look Dream would give him if he allowed it. He bet even all the other monsters would start complaining at how the 'great Creator abandoned them all'.

...Hmmm. It was growing more tempting to just have Error destroy this whole AU or hell, just do it himself. It's not like it was hard.

He reluctantly spoke up, when Fresh looked like he was about to eat the Daemon, unwilling to deal with the extra work he would have to do if he allowed it.

"No. You know the rules"

He was thankful they easily obeyed but stiffened when they started to cuddle Karma. The babybones even giggled when they nuzzled them! He was a possessive monster and did not like others touching what he considered his and Karma was currently his. His magic was about to lash out when he had to swiftly grab Karma, when Fresh threw them at him.

*Fresh-Poof!*

He would deal with them later but for now he had to make sure Karma was ok.

When he got to the Doodle Sphere he shut down the space to all beings and tried to check over Karma. They scowled at him in annoyance but thankfully had no issue with Chroma looking them over instead. Who knew babybones could be so strenuous to look after.

-

The following days he made sure to keep an eye on Karma's behaviour, wondering if they had noticed just what had happened in Reapertale. He started to relax when they acted like they usually did, so decided to have some quiet days in the Doodle Sphere.

That is why he felt alarmed when he spotted an odd red and gold coloured bird sitting near Karma. He knew it wasn't Chroma so started to creep slower, to see what it was.

"Stop! That tickles!"

At least Karma didn't seem worried about it but it was when it started to groom Karma's wings that he recognised the type of magic coming from it. That was a Daemon but definitely not from the babybones.

When Karma looked away it turned to scrutinise him, making him freeze under its intense stare. Thankfully it soon looked away and resumed its task of grooming the black feathers. When he made a sound Karma turned to him in curiosity but the Daemon burst into flames and vanished, making him still in wariness of where it went.

Who was managing to get into his space? He didn't recognise the Daemon but that was only more frightening. Glancing away from where it had been he stared at Karma, grimacing at the thought of another Multiversal visitor. He would need to alert Error to sort them out, as just going by the Daemon type, they hardly seemed the peaceful type.

"Ink? Did you need something?"

"....I'm fine, Karma. Just wanted to grab you for lunch"

He would need to tighten the defences of the Doodle Sphere..again. It was already irritating that the Parasite managed to get through them so easily, he hated the thought of anyone else being able to as well. This was his space!

He was rather pleased with the new defences he added but was dismayed at seeing the bird Daemon again the next day. The mocking look it gave him was irritating, as was the way he could clearly see that Karma liked it. Hopefully he could get rid of it in secret, before they became even more attached to the feather duster.

One thing he was happy about was how well he was able to care for Karma. He had little experience dealing with babybones but he seemed to be doing a great job. He was not a 'feral raccoon that can't even care for himself', no matter what Error said!

Speaking of the Destroyer they soon turned up, most likely hearing the news of the new visitor.

" Hey, trash goblin. It seems you have been busy lately "

"Error! Why are you so mean?!

' He only speaks the truth, Creator. I mean just look at you'

He shivered when Errors Daemon looked at him. Its beady little eyes always seemed to watch him, not to mention how vicious it was! Why did it have to be a wolverine? Errors Daemon was so un-cute.

He was glad that Error was not as rigid as the rest of the mortals about the 'taboos'. The only one Error cared about was if others touched his Daemon, mostly because it was theirs and they were just just as possessive as him.

" Where is your more tolerable half? Have they finally decided to settle as a raccoon? "

"Why do you ask this everytime? You know Chroma won't settle"

" I'm sure i could fix that with a bit of Coding "

"Don't you dar-"

"Ink?"

Ink groaned at the babybones turning up, with Chroma not too far behind. Before he could distract them from the unwanted guest he saw their eylight snap to Error before drifting to the mini devil. He was a tad jealous at how fascinated they were by them and he saw Error smirk at him in amusement.

Not liking the look on Error's face he mentally nudged Chroma to shift and smirked when Karma let out chirps of glee and now the 'unicorn' was the centre of attention. He paused in his thoughts as he realised how easily he had managed to do that. Some days it was easy to forget that Chroma was not actually his Daemon, due to the bond they shared.

Looking over at Error he felt sad that he didn't even have that sort of similarity with the Destroyer, his other half in the balance. His past mistake was really coming back to haunt him.

Karma's laughter pushed him out of those thoughts and he watched the interaction in silence. He wondered how long his happiness would last this time, before it was inevitably snatched away. He was unable to shake the feeling that it would be much sooner than he expected.

-

Ink was feeling tense. His thoughts were scattered and he couldn't help but feel guilty every time he saw Karma in the room. He needed to tell them the truth of what he was but he was feeling too jittery to even try.

Chroma had encouraged him to do this but seeing Karma happily napping on top of Chroma, made him doubt this was a good idea.

"Karma. C-Can we talk?"

They quietly mumbled before they settled back into Chromas brown fur. He looked at his partner for help, knowing he would otherwise run out of the room and most likely never speak of this again.

'Little bird, Ink is calling'

More mumbling came from the babybones with even a quiet hiss, before they tried to cuddle deeper into the fur.

'Karma...if you don't get up you won't like what i will do'

They both stared at the babybones, unsurprised at the lack of reaction that garnered....Did they just fall back asleep?

'Don't say i didn't warn you'

He stifled a laugh when Chroma shifted to a smaller form, before running out the room, leaving poor Karma to fall straight to the ground. He waited for them to sit up before trying to address them again.

"K-Karma. I-I want to t-talk abo-ut...y-you see the t-thing is-"

He felt the breath leave his chest as he was pushed onto the ground, now with an added weight lying on his chest. They looked just as happy as they had been on Chroma but his nerves would not let up, making him start to shake. The quiet purr from Karma caused him to try and slow his breathing, before he felt himself lock down the unwanted emotions.

"..Do you know?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know, Karma?"

He blankly gazed at their single eyelight, waiting for horror to replace their calm features, like it had so many others in other multiverses. He was glad Chrome had decided to stay nearby, as he was unsure if he would have been able to do this alone.

"Of course i do"

He felt relief at the answer and could tell his eye shapes were flickering as fast as his emotions were. A wing smacking him in the face made him focus back on the present with Karma's unimpressed face being much closer to his.

"Groom me. You woke me up so that is the least you could"

He smiled in amusement at how grumpy they could get without enough sleep. He had no complaints about this but could tell that he would have to do it while lying down. Such a demanding little babybones. He felt himself fully relax into his task and soon Chroma came over to lay beside them.

Hours passed by and he was growing tempted to have a nap himself, when Karma jolted upwards and flared their wings.

"Karma? Is something wr-"

"Oneiro!"

Karma laughed as he ran towards the adult monster and was picked up as soon as he was near Oneiro. He purred into their coat, chirping at seeing the others Daemon nearby as well. It was so cool they had a Phoenix and it did explain the random flashes of fire he thought he had spotted when he had first arrived here.

His skull was tilted up and he could see their smirk falter, making him chirp in confusion.

"Karma...why can't i see.....?~"

Realisation lit his face and he gave a small smile, hoping to calm them down.

"It's ok. I've grown much more used to it"

That weirdly didn't seem to help but then he remembered the news he had never gotten to tell them. He was sure this would make them happy.

"Guess what? I have a big brother! I met him in this weird place by accident but then he-"

Oneiro listened intently to all this information, making sure to look calm throughout. Their story did help fill in the gaps on how they had gotten healthier so quickly and it took a huge weight off of him, of it not being caused due Karma's glitchy Code breaking down.

He was happy for his child but was wary of the kind of power this 'brother' could have. It was already hard enough to keep track of them usually, he hated the idea of another being able to easily take them as they pleased. Nova was not going to be happy when he heard this.

He had thought they had gone insane when they muttered about the flashing pin on Karmas scarf, being the cause of Karmas disappearance but when he briefly paused his fingers over it he could sense the dense magic that it was made of.

"-but then i had to go but seeing all the cool Daemons was awesome!"

"That's great, little crow. Now I just have one question. Is it a safe place you go to when you visit your 'brother'?~"

"Yes....do you want to see it?"

Oneiro held in the urge to shout no and rip off the pin from his child's scarf. They were attracting too many dangerous monsters' attention and he was unsure if this one he could even stop them from seeing. He wanted to take his child and keep them safe in his home multiverse but he could feel how happy Karma was talking about some of his trips.

While not all good experiences, he didn't want to snuff out the brightness that made them who they were.

"Not right now, my little raven but i don't think it would be wise to ever bring Pale or Nova to this place~"

While he enjoyed their company they could be a tad enthusiast for destruction, which was not something he wanted in this case. He didn't want his little crow unwilling to tell him things out of fear of it being taken away or destroyed.

"Guess who i brought to see you~"

He placed Karma on the ground and put his hands in his pockets, grabbing the tiny creatures that were staying there.

"Hey! Be careful!"

"THAT HURT! WHY SO ROUGH?!"

"I'm tired..can i sleep yet?"

A chirp from Karma thankfully calmed the tiny monsters and he carefully handed over the Bitty's, smiling at the purr that came from Karma.

He placed his hands in his pocket, unwilling to worry his child with how hard his hands were shaking. He didn't forget the way they didn't elaborate on why their SOUL wasn't out, like his became in this weird multiverse. It was obvious that Karma had left some vital things out.

Things had gotten dire and he feared what he would see if he ever saw their SOUL for himself.

He needed to contact Nova now, hopefully they had an idea on what to do next.

~~~~

*Karma apathetically watching Ink try and convince him to stay with them*

Ink: Why is nothing working?! Surely you must want something?

Karma: I'm good thanks

Chroma:..if you come stay, we can cuddle more

Karma: Ok! Lets go!
-
*Oneiro looking visibly worried about Karmas lack of Daemon*

Oneiro:..is there anything you want to tell me, little raven?~

Karma:Hmmm...Oh yeah! I have a big brother!

*Oneiro internally crying at the weird situations his child gets into*

Oneiro:..Not what i meant but do go on~