In the Doodlesphere....

Inky was bored. He had no inspiration, and he didn't feel like visiting Dream. There was always the option to see if Nightmare was causing trouble somewhere, make sure he didn't get carried away, or even join in the fun. He still hates Dream, but they weren't fighting constantly, anymore. Nightmare's a jerk, but he's a reasonable jerk. He convinced them there's some sort of... balance keeping the multiverse's emotional state stable. He claimed this "emotional balance" was a foil to bounce off Inky's own emotional state, something the creator hadn't considered. Though, he'd begun to wonder why, if his emotions affect how an AU turns out, he hadn't started creating AUs exclusively positive, or exclusively negative. He sees a little bit of both in every world, but thinks nothing of it, attributing it to the AU building on its own, like a child moving out of their parents' house.

The opposing sides reached an agreement of sorts, finally putting an end to the conflict. This agreement crudely stated that Dream would spread positivity and happiness to the AUs that needed it the most, while Nightmare would combat complacency and stagnation in places where it was too positive, toxically so. These AUs had a habit of developing cold wars, breaking long-respected trade deals and causing economic collapse. This happens because, while the AU is generally positive and content, there's always that small percentage of the population that's too greedy for its own good, and it starts to take advantage of the oblivious and naive individuals who feel fine with it. It's Nightmare's job, then, to disrupt this process using a method he likes to call, "creating a power vacuum."

Sometimes, these infiltrations into an unsuspecting civilisation were dangerous, which is where Nightmare's "gang" comes in. They helped him in his exploits, even before the arrangement was made. This led the majority of the multiverse who had heard about them to believe that Nightmare had brainwashed these "Dark Judges" to his side. Cross disproved this notion by immediately defecting to Dream's side when the peace treaty was signed and sealed. Yes, they had an official document. Cross went off to hang with his secret buddy, Epic, and the multiverse soon settled into a tenuous peace.

But enough about the past. Inky whipped out his trusty paintbrush to make a portal and find out if either of the guardian brothers were busy, when he saw it.

A paper torn to shreds, the pieces just disappearing.

He ran over to it, then noticed a rather long trail of paper leading away from him into the distance. His brows furrowed together as he straightened up. Someone, or something, was destroying AUs! He could practically feel the inhabitants crying out in fear and confusion as their homes were destroyed, and he wiped a tear away before it could trickle down his cheekbone. He had to stop this. And fast.

He made a portal and hopped through to Dreamtale. The AU had been left mostly the same after Nightmare left, only now there was a pretty decent-sized house on a hill overlooking the Tree of Feelings. Inky raced to the door and frantically knocked as loud as he could. A skeleton dressed in a lot of yellow and teal promptly answered it.

"Dream!" Inky started, pausing a moment to catch his breath. "Something's destroying AUs!"

"What?!" Dream cried. "What do you mean?!"

"AUs are being ripped to shreds! C'mon, I'll show you!" He grabbed Dream's hand and pulled him into a portal. In the Doodlesphere, more and more AUs had been destroyed, leaving quite the mess of paper. Though, it was starting to look less crowded.
"See?! I told you!"

"What do we do?" Dream replied, picking up a piece of paper only to watch as it vanished in his hand.
"You're the creator. What should we do?"

"We should check it out," Inky brandished his paintbrush and created a portal to an AU he could feel was in trouble. Maybe they could stop this threat by getting to its source?

"Should I tell Nightmare?"

"Nah, I'll bet he's already there. He probably sensed the negativity, and went to see what's causing it."

They arrived to find a nearly destroyed Snowdin in a copy of Dancetale. Smoldering buildings were lit up like fireworks, and what was left of the monsters scattered, trying to escape the carnage. The two skeletons ran to the tree in the middle of town to see if they could spot what was causing all this. Inky was shorter than most monsters, so he climbed the tree to get a better view.

"See anything, Ink?" Dream got his staff ready.

"No..." he held his hand over his eyesockets and continued to look, when his eyelights landed on a figure.
"Wait! What's that?" He pointed down the path to the skelebros' house, showing Dream there was someone else out here.

I had just finished dusting the pathetic creature who claimed to be Sans. Tch, he may have looked like him, but he couldn't even fight! All he did was move weirdly. What did he call it, again? Dancebreaking? No, no, that can't be right. Breakdancing! Yeah, that was it. It was stupid, anyway.

"Hey!"

A voice rang out. At first, I thought it was just another voice from my head, but it spoke again, only... closer?

"Hey, you!"

I turned around to be met with two very short skeletons. I grinned in amusement, holding myself back from bursting out laughing. Aw, they're so tiny! I could pick one up and spin it in my arms like a little doll! Huh, that reminds me. I wanna make a couple of dolls to keep me company in the Anti-Void.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

(Damn, random-ass Skyrim quote cuz why not-)

"I'm destroying this waste of space," I said matter-of-factly. It seems to have pissed off the shorter of the two skeletons, the one with the giant broom thing, because he basically barrel-rolled towards me with the broom. I smirked and dodged. Hmph, these anomalies won't stop me if this is the best they've got. I shot some bones at the teeny tiny janitor, but they whacked them away with that huge broom.

"Stop destroying this world!" they yelled, settling to an attack position.
"What has it even done to you?!"

I said nothing, but summoned three blasters. They fired, but the tiny skeleton created a black wall to block them. Wait a second.... Is that wall made of... ink? Maybe they're an artist, not a janitor. That would explain why their "broom" looks so... unorthodox. I growled lowly. It's just another stupid mistake!

Out of nowhere, a beam of light hit me and sent me flying. I landed gracefully and dodged another beam. The other skeleton, the one dressed mostly in yellow, approached with a gleam of anger in their eyelights.

"Stop this," he said firmly. "Please, you don't have to do this!"

"Hah! Hahahahahahahaha! I don't need to do this! Th-that's funny, it really is!" I laughed more, which seemed to anger the artist skeleton even more. They swiped paintbrush at me, sending red paint in my direction. I decided to try the same trick they'd used on me, and summoned a wall of bones. The paint splattered on the wall, leaving me unharmed. Heh, I got this one figured out, already.

"Why are you doing this?!" the artist shouted.

"Because they shouldn't exist!" I yelled back.

"That's not true! I made them, so they exist whether you want them to or not!"

"You? You made them? Pffft- Hahahaha! What was the point? Why create such useless mistakes?!"

The small "creator" growled.
"They are not useless! I made them to add variety and beauty to the multiverse. If you can't see that, then you are blind!"

I growled. He doesn't get it. The voices told me these "universes" are not needed, and they haven't lied to me, yet. Not even once. I shot a river of strings at the artist, anger pouring out of my being like a rogue wave. The skeleton in yellow flinched from it, but remained where they were. I manipulated my strings into a whip, and slashed the creator with it. He cried out in pain, I'm just guessing he's a he now, and fell to the ground.

"Ink!" Golden Child ran over to who I assume is named Ink, and glared at me. I shot some more bones at them, but Goldie summoned a yellow orb around them. Well, that's just no fun. Eh, if they stay out of my way now, I don't care. I could find something better to kill, so I continued on my way, destroying everything and everyone I came across. I didn't get far, though.

"Stop!" I turned around again to see the same idiots ready for round two. Complete imbeciles, these two.
"I won't let you destroy anymore!"

The creator was readying a blaster thing similar to my own. It was all black, almost liquidy with how it moved, and its eyelights were two different colors and shapes. Kinda matches Inky's, now that I thought about it. It also didn't glitch, of which I was a little jealous. Ok, a lot jealous. It fired, and instead of a searing hot, white beam, black liquid I correctly guessed was ink sprayed from its mouth.

I was so shocked, I couldn't move. For a moment, time slowed down as I watched the jet black stream shoot toward me. I focused on escaping and my magic, hoping it wouldn't fail me. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact just in case, though. But nothing happened.

Like, nothing.

I cautiously opened my eyes. I had teleported behind a destroyed building, and giggled softly. Guess my magic didn't fail me, after all. I peeked out from behind a charred wall and watched as the two skeletons searched for me. Heh heh. They'll never find me, now! I teleported to the next area to continue my work, leaving the morons to follow their wild goose chase in vain.

... ... ...

"Damnit!" Inky shouted up at the barely visible ceiling. They had lost the strange skeleton. The stranger was unlike anyone Inky had ever seen, and he's seen a lot, considering he's made, visited, and explored many, many AUs by now. Never in the time he's travelled from one universe to the next has he ever seen a skeleton that glitched. It's as if he'd been infected by a computer virus, but Inky has never made a universe with computer viruses, has he? The stranger said Inky's creations were practically trash, and he was just getting rid of it. Inky couldn't believe what he'd heard! His creations were his passion, his artform, his life's work! How could this-this thing believe that such diversity and elegance be worth throwing away and eliminating?! Who even gave him the right to do this in the first place?!

"C'mon, Dream," Inky growled as he stood up. "We've got to find this guy and stop him before he hurts anyone else."

... ... ...

Aha, I finally found the human. They were just about to enter the castle. I shot a bone through them, killing them instantly, and took their soul prisoner. So far, I've seen that a human I usually encounter is the one controlling the AU. With all that power, though, I see that they have quite a few choices to make. The consequences of those choices may not always be what the human wants, so they reset.

Heh, or they would, if I didn't take their ability and their freedom away.

Some of these humans I've actually let go, allowing them to go through and kill the monsters. Once they started showing mercy, however, I would kill them and take their soul to the Anti-Void. I strung up each soul I captured into what I thought was the ceiling, but could just be an endless expanse of nothingness, just like the rest of this blank world. I couldn't wait to string up my latest victim into my web of prisoners, but first, I had to finish this AU up.

I opened a portal to the AU's code and ripped it apart. I watched the world crumble around me for a moment, thinking. At length, I shrugged, but I hesitated, opening and hopping into a portal to the Anti-Void, wondering if I'll see those skeletons ever again.

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Quick disclaimer: Most of this story is told in Error's point of view, in case you get confused. I'm trying out a new writing style, and though it's a little late to be telling you guys this, I thought it better late than never. I don't want to put "*Person's* POV" constantly, and this is the way I came up with. Just keep in mind, if it's ever "in somebody's point of view," it's always gonna be Error's. Hope this helps, somewhat.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and sorry for the wait. I only just got the motivation to continue this story yesterday, so I dunno when I'll post the next one. It could be in another month, or it could be like, tomorrow or something. Nobody knows!

Except me, lol :3