Some time long, long ago...

Ink sighed as he saw another AU get torn apart. Yet this wasn't the work of Error. Error was still glitching out in the anti-void somewhere, oblivious to everything around him. 

The creators had been leaving the multiverse, one by one, group by group. They had found other, newer fandoms to dedicate their time to, and because they no longer associated themselves with the Undertale fandom, their ties to their AU's...snapped.

And the AU's snapped apart with them.

Every friend, every creature, every goddamned timeline in the place would soon be nothing but torn papers.

Ink had failed at his only job and his sole purpose.

...

No.

He can't give up like this!

He might not be able to convince the creators to stay.

But he knows someone who can.

=====

"Bill? Where are you...?"

"𝕴'𝖒 𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊, 𝕴𝖓𝖐𝖞."

Ink turned around to face the Sans.

"𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖇𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖔𝖉𝖆𝖞? 𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖞 𝖉𝖔𝖓'𝖙 𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖛𝖎𝖘𝖎𝖙 𝖒𝖊..." he moped.

Ink pinched his nose before sighing in frustration. 

"I want to make a deal with you," he declared.

Now that caught the attention of Bill. 

"𝕬 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖑 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖘𝖆𝖞?" he inquired, a mischievous smirk rising on his face.

"Yes, Bill. A deal," Ink sighed.

"𝕳𝖒𝖒...𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖒𝖘 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖑 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖒𝖆𝖞 𝖇𝖊 𝖔𝖋𝖋𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖒𝖊?"

"I...You know the situation with the multiverse, right?"

"𝕺𝖍 𝖞𝖊𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖘 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖇𝖊𝖊𝖓 𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌, 𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙?"

"Yes. My deal is that...My deal is that you ensure that they don't leave - or if they do, it's not enough to make the multiverse fall apart like this. In return, you may take...one thing. Just one thing from me."

"𝕳𝖒𝖒, 𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖐𝖞, 𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖐𝖞...𝖆𝖓𝖞𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖘𝖆𝖞?"

"Y-yes. Anything."

"𝕸𝖒...𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖆𝖇𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖈𝖎𝖔𝖚𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖑𝖊 𝖘𝖔𝖚𝖑 𝖎𝖓 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖈𝖆𝖌𝖊? 𝕴'𝖒 𝖇𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖉 𝖕𝖚𝖗𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖊 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖎𝖙 𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖓..."

"My-...My soul?"

"𝕴𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖊𝖉! 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖔𝖚𝖑 𝖔𝖋 𝖆 𝖉𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖌𝖔𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖎𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖌𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖎𝖙 𝖚𝖕 𝖙𝖔 𝖒𝖊 𝖎𝖘 𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖉. 𝕴 𝖙𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖘𝖔𝖚𝖑 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖈𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖘 - 𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖑𝖚𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖔𝖓𝖊𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖆𝖑𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖞 𝖑𝖊𝖋𝖙 - 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖇𝖆𝖈𝖐 𝖙𝖔 𝖘𝖚𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖌𝖗𝖔𝖜 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖒𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖊. 𝕴 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖐 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙'𝖘 𝖆 𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝖋𝖆𝖎𝖗 𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖑...𝖎𝖘𝖓'𝖙 𝖎𝖙?"

"I mean...is there no other way?"

"𝕹𝖔. 𝕴𝖙'𝖘 𝖊𝖎𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖌𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖚𝖕 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖘𝖔𝖚𝖑 𝖔𝖗 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖑𝖊𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖒𝖚𝖑𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖊 𝖉𝖎𝖊. 𝖂𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖈𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖘𝖊?:"

"I...I will give you my soul...in exchange for the creators staying."

"𝕰𝖝𝖈𝖊𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖙!"

...

"𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖆𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖌𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖚𝖕, 𝖞𝖊𝖘?"

"Yes."

"𝕹𝖔 𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖔𝖚𝖑 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖙𝖔 𝖋𝖊𝖊𝖑, 𝖙𝖔 𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖊𝖒𝖇𝖊𝖗, 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖆𝖘 𝖜𝖊𝖑𝖑 𝖆𝖘 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖔𝖜𝖓."

"I know."

"𝕳𝖚𝖍...𝖎𝖙'𝖘 𝖆𝖒𝖆𝖟𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖜𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖐𝖎𝖓𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖊𝖘 𝖕𝖊𝖔𝖕𝖑𝖊 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖕𝖆𝖞 𝖓𝖔𝖜𝖆𝖉𝖆𝖞𝖘. 𝕹𝖔𝖜 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖊 𝖔𝖓...𝓼 𝓱 𝓪 𝓴 𝓮 𝓶 𝔂 𝓱 𝓪 𝓷 𝓭."

Ink complied.

A bloodcurdling scream echoed through the AU as his soul was destroyed and repaired in a matter of seconds, effectively cutting him off from it. 

And when he awoke, he felt nothing but emptiness.

"𝔾𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕀𝕟𝕜! 𝕀𝕥'𝕤 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕒 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕖! 𝕊𝕒𝕪, 𝕨𝕙𝕪 𝕕𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕝𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕤𝕠 𝕖𝕞𝕡𝕥𝕪? 𝕀𝕥'𝕤 𝕞𝕖, 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕗𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖 𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕣?"

Ink said nothing.

"ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕜𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖? 𝕋𝕙𝕒𝕥'𝕤 𝕠𝕜𝕒𝕪! ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜 𝕠𝕟 𝕞𝕪 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝔸𝕌, 𝕀'𝕞 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕝𝕝 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖!"