Bin frequents abandoned unfinished worlds, searching for his own. Any sketches he finds in these worlds, soulless or not, he brings back to his own pocket dimension, the "Rainbow Sanctuary".
Bin does his best to polish them up, working with them to give them a more finished design that the sketch themself is happy with.
The Rainbow Sanctuary earned it’s name because it’s inhabitants tend to be a rather colourful bunch. After all that time in monochrome, unfinished worlds, they’ve earnt a splash of colour and often embrace it.
yup wrote another, Was fun to do, and yes this is the one that i accidently i bit more angsty. But should still be fun. Soooo here we go
What death takes from us
Word count: 8,457 words
Chapter 1 / 3 (Complete)
(next chapter)
Summary :
Waking back up is the easiest and the hardest part. As long as he doesn’t move. He knows what happened, even if he can’t remember how. He had died and had just regenerated. It feels different than waking up from sleep. It’s like he is slowly pieced together, piece by agonizing piece.
or
Error has just woken up after being dead for who knows how long. Have things changed? and more importantly, does his boyfriend still remember him? What changes has death brought this time?
--Link here to Ao3--
Or continue below the read more line
Waking back up is the easiest and the hardest part. As long as he doesn’t move. He knows what happened, even if he can’t remember how. He had died and had just regenerated. It feels different than waking up from sleep. It’s like he is slowly pieced together, piece by agonizing piece. The floor below him is cold, smooth, and familiar. Considering it’s the only tangible surface of the Antivoid, you get to know its feeling pretty well. Espeasily after being stuck here for as long as he has.
He knows he should move, he has a job to do. There are people…people he should see, like..Ink, Blue, and Lust. Let them know he was back, that he was alive. But letting them know would meen moving, which means he would start to glitch, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. But he can’t stay naked on the ground forever. And the thought of Ink or god forbid Fresh finding him like this.
Yeah, Fuck no.
It’s time to be alive again.
He quickly came to from the crash, now lying on his back, instead of his front. Gasping and panting like had run a marathon. His throat hurt, and his face burnt. He must have screamed himself hoarse, wouldn’t be the first time.
He slowly curled his fingers against the floor. Only for the glitches to start rapidly moving over his entire body. Moving the joint hurt. And it made his arm jerk. Causing a chain reaction of pain with every movement he made. His body was on fire, being poked and needled from every direction Like he was getting electrocuted from the inside out.
He was screaming, tears flowing from his eyes, glitches gliding painfully up and down his body. Not able to see anything, and he blacked out.
He rolled to his side and with effort got on his hands and knees. Vision still swimming, and the burn on his bones was not fading, but he could start to tune it out. The voices were coming back too, Some of them were telling him he should call for someone, others laughing at him, at how the destroyer could be reduced to such a sad pile of bones. He ignored all of them, trying to find where in the fuck in the Antivoid he appeared this time.
To any other monster, it would appear as if they were just in an endless white room, but then again he wasn’t any monster now was he? So even with the few glances he got between his glitched-out vision, he ripped open a portal, closer to his home, and fell on through.
He landed right next to the beanbag with a hard thud. And he lay there for minutes on end just writhing in agony, waiting for the glitches to pass.
Once he had a little control, he tried to take stock of things. His web of souls lays undisturbed. Good seems like the truce with the stars still stood, glancing to the side, his dolls were fine as well if a little moved around. Probably his boyfriend, Ink liked to make little stories with them from time to time, not caring that most of them were filled with monster dust.
Dream called it disturbing, he called it endearing. Fuck he had to find his phone and let the others know he was alive again. He wondered how long he was gone. The last time he died, he had been gone for a week. But then he had only drowned..this time.
…
…
What had happened this time? Fuck he still couldn’t remember. Just that both Ink and Blue had come to him to ask for help dealing with a threat. And maybe he could handle puppy eyes from one of them. But his boyfriend and best friend teaming up. Well…he was no longer made of stone.
He started to take stock of his body. His body felt stiff, not too strange after dying, Glitching badly? Also normal. Naked. No surprise. He pressed a hand to his chest and pulled out his shard of a soul. Its beat was in its regular irregular rhythm. A bit faster than maybe normal, but considering how badly he was glitching. Nothing to worry about either, so he put it back.
Dream hadn’t seemed sure of his involvement. But he could care less what that golden bastard thought of him. But then what?
His mind just felt like static and h groaned as his head hurt more the more he thought about it. Okay so dropping that for now. Not too important, he’ll just ask Blue later.
Slowly and with difficulty he sat up. He should probably find his clothes, but the idea of putting anything onto his burning body was seriously unappealing. Instead, he just went through practicing if he could summon all his attacks, Starting from basic bone structures, up to his blasters.
The blasters seemed to whine in pain as he summoned them, but otherwise fine and he put them away. Fuck it was a bad one this time. He let out a deep breath and brought a hand to his face, luckily his face didn’t burn more as he touched it and pulled the strings from his eyes. Good not the absolute worst then. If he was in pain again from summoning his attacks he would seriously destroy four times as many universes the second he could.
IT would be fine, Ink would understand.
Right, call Ink.,
Let him know he was alive. If that rainbow bastard didn’t forget about him already. And he ignored the voice telling him how fitting that would be for someone like him. Just as he stood up, he felt a tug, a familiar call. He was being summoned, fuck, did he have to…
He grumbled under his breath, but if he was being called. Ink would most likely be there, so that would deal with that. He glanced around and found a pile of his clothes neatly folded on the other side of the beanbag. But what was on top of them made him pause.
That…
That was Ink’s scarf…
He picked it up, seeing the thousands of scribbles his boyfriend left on it. His vision was still too blurry to read any of them. But it was definitely Inks, he had felt it enough during their soft kisses, pressed against his chin. Or wrapped around his arm as a makeshift shield on his bad days.
He felt the call again, and he grumbled loudly. A petty part of him really wanted to ignore it. But there weren't many people that could call him like this. And most of the ones who could, would know that he was dead, so to call for him...
Well, something must be going on at the very least. He quickly put his clothes on, biting through the way the normally soft fabric still made his bones itch But he wasn’t gonna stroll in naked. He looked at the brown scarf he had thrown on his beanbag in his quick change. After a second of hesitating he quickly warped it around his neck and jumped through a portal.
“So I was right, you are back, I figured seeing Ink was wearing your scarf, Now can you Please stop your Boyfriend from trying to murder one of mine? Before I break our truce and kill him”
The chill Snowdin air felt nice against his burning bones as he landed behind Nightmare.
"What the fuck do you need?" He crossed his arms as he noticed his voice was glitching more than normal.
Nightmare glared at him, and an air of constrained anger surrounded the guardian. It only made him raise an eyebrow. As he noticed a few of the other members of his gang stood around him, ready to spring into action
“But just for you, keep your boy toys in check. You really must have messed up to get Ink that furious.” Not waiting for an answer he took off, teleporting closer, and then summoning strings to make his way toward the running pair.
He snorted, “You are truly pathetic thinking you could kill him, but I ain't want to fight you.”
He got ready to spring into action, seeing a brown blob that he assumed was ink chase angrily after a blue with red blob in the distance. He really should be wearing his glasses, but he felt uncomfortable enough.
The closer he came the more curses he heard from the murder abomination. And he caught up with them as Ink slammed Dust hard into a wall. Hovering above them in a web of strings Ink crowed against Dust, lifting him up by just his shirt. Dust tried to kick ink away, struggling to breathe.
Dust was dropped, and a dark portal appeared beneath him. Looks like Nightmare was smart and take his boys away. Ink angrily whipped around, and he noticed that Ink’s Firey red eyes had crosshairs in them.
He supposed that was his cue.
“Oi Squid!, You ain't breaking our truce again?! Are you?!”
He crossed his arms and scoffed.
“Seriously ink, I can’t leave you alone for even five seconds can-”
“Error!” He could hear the way Ink's voice was filled with absolute adoration and joy.
And he couldn’t help the fond tuck of his own smile, as Ink Jumped up on top of one of the trees, to meet him. Ink stayed there a few feet away, balancing on top of the tree, eyes glancing up and down his body, while flickering rapidly through different symbols
It was nice to be appreciated.
“You’re back…” It was said with a sigh of happiness,
Eyelights stuck flickering between, yellow stars, and pink hearts.
He chuckled and pulled more strings from his eyes.
“Yes, and what a mess it is, seems I need to remind you how things are done”
He let out a burst of manic laughter and attacked. Attacks zoomed around him, he dodged and weaved. Laughing every time he managed to get a hit in. The land around them was uprooted in their fierce battle. Some inkjets hit him in the side and face, leaving his face and clothes a disgusting mess of ink.
Ink's smile broadened into a bright grin, Jumping back down with a somersault, the showoff, Ink grabbed broomie and stood at the ready.,
“Bring it on you Glitch”
All the while Ink kept taunting him and laughing. And the more they chased each other the better he began to feel. That he could see his own bright blue scarf against the artist's brown clothes. Was also filling him with possessive glee. That it made the other easier to spot and follow without his glasses was just a bonus
He doesn’t know how long they fought, it felt barely a few minutes but he heard a desperate
“guys…Guys stop…Please…Ink! Error!”
He recognized the voice, and both he and Ink jumped down to the ground. In front of Blue, who just seemed to stumble away from some debris. Ink rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
“Sorry…forgot you were here..”
Blue waved him off,
“It’s fine, I get it. And Blue turned his happy grin to him.
“Good to see you again Error, been too long,” He gave him a nod, deciding against pleasantries as he saw the last of the stars stumble out of the rumble behind them.
Dream angrily stomped over to Ink And started yelling at him about the usual things. Bla bla, safety of the universe, blah blah could get him killed. Like Dream wasn’t immortal himself.
Dream looked non to pleased,
“Ink, what the hell!”
He tuned out the one-sided argument, it wouldn't be the first, and Ink can handle himself. Turning to Blue, who seemed to keep an eye on them. As he continued with a bright smile
"How are you holding up?" He asked
He gave half a shrug. "Could be worse "
Blue's smile turned sympathetic. The other could read between the lines. But also knew he wouldn't say too much with Dream around. Wouldn’t give that golden bastard any information he could use against him.
"I am sure you gotta deal with the balance for a while, but once you're free. Let me know. Lust and I have been aching to catch up on Undernovella. We could hold a little marathon!"
He looked back at the other pair. Ink was looking hurt. Not the, one that came from his blue paints. Whatever Dream had said, had cut deeper.
He couldn't help the grin. Fuck yeah, he wanted to nerd out with those two. No one else could appreciate the fine drama of it all.
Ink certainly tried. But it wasn't the same. Blue grinned back. Before suddenly snapping his head to the side
"Dream! You did not just say that"
Blue marched over and yanked Dream a couple of steps away. Who had still been standing angrily over ink.
Dream bristled in response, and he got closer to his boyfriend. The smile Ink gave him seemed relieved, some of that sadness ebbing away. And he glared at the golden twin. As he stood protectively behind Ink.
"Hey, could either of you open a portal to my universe? I think Dream here has been in a few negative universes too long. With everything else that happened.” Blue trailed off, raising an eyebrow at Dream started to protest but ultimately decided against it.
But Blue seemed to be giving him a verbal beatdown already. "I don't care what you think Dream. You don't play with his emotions. No don't interrupt. I don't want to hear it. You know just as much as I, that Ink cares about him. And he was dead for fucks sake. He has every right to be happy… what's with you. "
Blue sighed. And then a sudden understanding seemed to come over him and turned back to face them.
“Well, this might be a tipping point. " He finished and Blue caught his confused glance
"I'll give you the details of what you missed later, but I think it's better we deal with this now"
Blue thanked him and pushed Dream through. Giving a wave as it closed behind them. Ink looked up at him with a small smile that seemed to reach his eyes again.
Dream gave another sound of protest, and even he could tell there was something about the guardian that wasn't right.
He glanced at Ink who was not looking at either of them. He glared. Another reason he hates dying. He had no fucking idea what was going on. But he didn't want to hang out here longer than necessary.
He rather go back to the antivoid so he made a portal for the other two.
He glanced around at the destroyed landscape around them and couldn't help the small grin.
"We'll…that's one hell of a welcome party"
Ink snorted.
"Certainly is in your style"
His grin grew brighter there were puddles of ink and loose strings everywhere. He glanced at Ink who was looking kinda proud himself. Probably seeing something artistic in the mess they made.
He stretched.
"Well...I suppose you got to finish your job."
One of Ink's eyeligths became a teardrop. More saddened by the sounds of having to perform his duties than normal. he opened a portal to the Antivoid, glancing at Ink.
"Visit me once you're done?"
The voices were screaming at him to go back and talk to Ink. Or that destroying that universe is better. But he ignored it. Flopping down onto his beanbag with a groan.
Ink instantly brighter up. Rocking in place.
"You bet!" Before one eye turned into an exclamation point.
"Oh here. Let me remove my ink from you first"
The bristles of the giant brush swept over him as quickly and softly as the brush was capable. Which caused more glitches to appear,.but he was thankful his clothes were clean.
"See you soon, Squid. Don't forget!"
And he stepped through the portal with a sigh.
Glitches were still traveling up and down his body in erratic fashions. Fuck it, he sat up slightly to take his long coat off and threw it on the ground in a huff. He thought about taking the T-shirt off as well.
Maybe he could rest a bit now. See if the glitches actually settled the fuck down. His skin had been itching and burning the entire time.
His throat still felt like sandpaper. The only time it felt remotely like how he should was when he was fighting Ink. And even then the problems didn't go away.
But Fresh might still show up unexpectedly so deciding against it. He could use a hot bath or something like that though.
Letting out another sigh, as he thought of ink, he hoped Ink was okay. He'll get to the bottom of what happened. But he also trusted Blue and could be patient enough to wait. And besides if he didn't like what he heard he hunt Dream down anyway.
He leaned back once more, closing his eyes. Yeah, that be kinda nice. Go to a hot spring in an empty AU. Let his body relax and glitches settle. Ink could be sketching his half-naked body as he had done a few times before.
He would pose however the Artist wanted him to. He could admit to himself at least that he didn't mind the attention he got for modeling for his boyfriend.
"Aaah Oop sorry!"
The wet splash of a portal opening sounded followed by Ink's excited footsteps against the antivoids floor.
The fact that Ink was still so excited to see him was doing things to his soul. He knows his face was covered in a pleased smile as he called
"Close. the god damm portal Ink"
Hearing Ink turn around, to close the portal, and once Ink's footsteps sounded close once more. He opened an eyesocket and took a good luck at his squid.
"Hey Kiki"
Ink was panting lightly. A small pink-yellow flush on his face. Glutching at the blue scarf he was wearing.
Right! He hadn't asked it back yet. Also noticing that Ink's eyes were trained around his own neck where inks scarf was.
Inks flush grew brighter and gained some extra colours as Ink's smile nearly split his face
"Hey Ruru"
He felt his soul speed up, Ink hadn't forgotten him, or their relationship it seems. And fuck if that wasn't the best thing that happened today.
Ink kept bouncing on the balls of his feet. So he summoned some strings to pull the other down into the beanbag with a yelp. Leaving enough room for them to sit apart comfortably as they had done countless times before.
"Quite hovering stupid Squid"
"Sorry…sorry it's just*. Ink replied. As he untangled himself, both of them turned to lie on their sides to look at each other
"You are back…" Ink said it in a cross between awe and relief. a small happy smile on the other's mouth. His own cheeks flushed lightly.
He looked back to see one of Ink's eyes becoming two triangles that reminded him of an hourglass. Head tilting back in thought. Tapping his fingers as he will do when trying to recall something.
He veered his eyes away.,
"Yup.. so tell me how long was I gone?"
"I think you have to ask Blue to confirm it. But…nearly two months?"
"Ru…?"
He stayed silent staring at the other dumbfounded. Then leaning back and staring up. A hollow feeling filled his chest.
Two months….Two fucking months.
He glanced back at Ink, who looked concerned.
"I really…didn't expect it to be that long."
Yeah. He suppose it was. He gave his boyfriend a careful once over, before deciding to drop it for now. Besides he didn't want Ink to be sad. He rather have that happy expression back.
Ink gave a shrug but something felt off about it
"Not like you could help it? You are back now. that's the important part..isn't it."
Ink gave him a smile and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. They have been without contact for longer stretches of time. But that was before they had been a thing.
He also had a nagging feeling that Ink was gonna brush off how much his absence had actually affected him. Brush it off...or maybe he didn't fully understand himself.
To most people, it was clear that Ink had trouble understanding emotions. But the truth is...the emotions he struggled hardest with were his own.
"Ru..?"
Oh, he had never answered.
"Sorry, Kiki…just…" he dragged a hand over his face, frown deepening as he felt his own glitches spark.
"This whole situation just fucking sucks, and I don't think I have fully recovered yet"
Ink hummed sympathetically.
"Is there anything I can do?"
He glanced back to meet his gaze. The shapes in the artist's eyes shifted between red, orange, and yellow colours. Hopeful determination is what he called that combination.
He could hear the plea in there even if it wasn't voiced.
The dread in his chest tightening
"Don't think so Squid, sorry"
"That's okay...I can be patient, I have been in the past"
Ink's face fell very quickly. Eyeshape once again a blue teardrop. Then Ink shook his head and smiled once more.
Again it felt too forced. Like he was picking the colours to focus on, instead of letting them flow naturally
Something ached in his chest and it was not his glitches causing it. He had been so proud of what he and Ink had managed to achieve. How far they had come. He doesn’t know how much time has passed since he first met the Inkblot and their first semi-friendly conversations. Decades at least, if not centuries. For a long time, both of their sense of time was out of wack. Having mortal friends did stabilize that, but he knew it wouldn’t last forever.
But that didn’t matter. He was gonna cherish these bonds all the same. But Ink was special, it wasn’t someone he ever had to say goodbye to. That eased some awkwardness. But over time he had come to genuinely like hanging out with ink.
Espeasily when it got through the artist's memory that he didn’t like to be touched.
And then…friendship shifted. When, and how….was a little fuzzy. It kinda feels that his obsession with needing to know what Ink was doing so he could stop and destroy him, had just..shifted. He still would like to know what the squid was up to all the time. But now, it was just genuine curiosity. He didn’t mind listening to the artist ramble, on and on and on. When he was working on a new project.
And then came the touches. Most, in the beginning, had been accidental. That Ink now remembered that he didn’t like it….doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. They still fought a lot over the different AU’s. And in fights as intense as theirs could be, some touching wasn’t avoidable.
Also, Ink was just a fucking clutz. Tripping over anything and everything. But he found, that even with the pain…he didn’t mind.
Then one day, after the two of them had pulled a prank on Nightmare. Ink had held out his hand for a high-five…
and he just..he just did it.
It had given him glitches…but. Damm had their grins had been near face-splitting.
He stared at Ink whose eyes were flickering between all the souls strew above them. He could just…lean over and kiss him if he wanted. He could, but he felt a sharp pain run through his spine. He wasn’t an idiot, doing so would hurt right now.
And from there…well more touches, confessions, and now they were here. Dating for what?!…three years…? Longer?
Fuck they had been able to kiss, which was something he never thought he could have. Let alone enjoy.
Ink had probably missed him…he closed his eyes. No definitely, would he have found Ink's scarf here, if he didn’t? He wanted to do something. Maybe a bit of contact…just feel like he was back himself.
Even before today, it wasn’t like his glitches stopped as he kissed Ink. The other once described it as, splatterings of hot oil. To him that seemed like an extremely bad time. Ink claimed he enjoyed it.
He still isn’t sure how he felt about that particular statement.
“Hey Inky…?” he mumbled,
He couldn’t help the fond grin himself. It was fucking adoring how much Ink tried for his sake, how much even the littlest thing still excited him so much.
“Yeah?” he felt the weight of the bean back shift as the other got up slightly.
He stayed still a moment longer. Then held out his hand. He heard Ink gasp. And he looked from the corner of his eye. Eye shapes flickered through many shapes, as it seemed he was visibly restraining himself not to wiggle happily in place.
Suddenly a hand flew to inks mouth and he ducked his head. And he flinched backward, knowing the signs of overexcitement all too well at this point.
Ink waved him off, but he already noticed the slight greyish filter the colours in his eyes had gotten. He knew pushing it wouldn’t change a thing, so he sat back up, facing Ink who was smiling once more.
Ink stayed still a couple of seconds, then it sounded like he swallowed, and slowly raised his head with a sheepish grin.
He let out a sigh, and if it was any other day, he would have bonked the idiot on the head for swallowing his ink like that.
Instead, he just said irritably
“Don’t swallow you, idiot, you know how bad that is for you”
But this time, it didn’t feel too bright or too forced. Ink held out his hand.
“Whenever you are ready Ruru” A yellow and pink flush had once again made himself known on the other's face.
He nodded, shifting a final time. And reaching out as well. He stopped just before, he felt a heat...and a pushing sensation…like a magnet being forced away.
He frowned and wondered if Ink could feel it too. But he would push through, Taking another deep breath and interlocking their hands
The ringing in his ears stopped next. Only to be replaced by the frantic cries of his boyfriend
Fuck it hurt, it hurt real bad, it felt like his hand was on fire. The ringing in his ears got louder and louder. And he wasn’t able to see anything. Glitches were springing forth from his burning hand, running up his arm, his shoulders, everywhere.
He was sure he heard a scream but he couldn’t make it out over the beeps and dials from his incoming crash, until suddenly the pain in his hand went away.
“Error…fuck Error I am so sorry…what do I do..aah there are no notes on here?!..”
“Ye-es? What…what do you need?”
Shit yes, he was wearing Inks scarf still…not there would be anything useful..but still. He tried another couple of breaths
“iNkY?!” he managed to get out.
With a few more calming breaths his vision came back, but all the calm he had built up before had gone, his body was more agitated than ever.
Ink was close by, not touching. No, he had let go some time ago, but he could still feel his presence, and his voice was too loud.
Speaking hurt, even as the glitches were coming down, the edges of his vision slowly coming back, as he tried to indicate, slow down…and give me space.
It took a couple of tries, but then he felt Ink get up, and the pressure around him lessened, and with it, he let out a relieved sigh
He looked up to find Ink a few paces away from the beanbag. Rubbing at the hand that he had held, and when Ink noticed him looking, quickly hid the hand behind his back, and that was an even bigger tell
“Fuck…”
He fell back into the beanbag. Fuck that had hurt, and worse was, not only him but it had hurt Ink as well
“Error?”
He blinked hard, he wasn’t gonna fucking cry dammit. It was fine. He was just tired, he just needed to recover.
“Error?”
He just, needed a good long rest, maybe a calming bath, and they could go back to holding hands, and he wouldn't have to worry about anything.
“...Ru?”
He blinked again and tilted his head, Ink was closer and his Eyes downcast,
“Do…? Do you need some time alone?”
Need?
Probably,
Want?
Fuck no!
Dangling them in front of the artist, who was still not looking at him. He let the strings sway forward, brushing against the top of Ink's skull. Who gasped and looked up. He started at the strings for a few seconds, before he recognized the old gesture, and wrapped the other end of his strings around his own hand.
He wasn’t gonna send Ink away, not like this. But he didn’t know what to say. What to do, he wanted Ink close.
He had missed Ink, in how far being dead made him able to miss stuff.
He summoned some strings from his eyes, wound them around his fingers, and let the other end come up to the Antivoids ‘ceiling’, and back down.
Then the same happened in return. They managed before they could ever touch after all.
It wasn’t like hand holding, nothing his strings did compared to actual touch, but it was his magic, and he knew when something was in them. And like this…well,
He curled his fingers, pulling the strings tight, and then slacked them.
“No Inky…I don’t want you to leave…and sorry”
He didn’t look at the artist, but he felt another tug against the strings. And he blinked against more tears wanting to spring up.
“It’s okay…” Ink murmured, it sounded a bit hollow, but inks voice wasn’t always able to portray his emotions. He could check..but…that didn’t feel fair. Ink was trying to be reassuring, that was good enough for him.
He tugged at their locked hands again, silently encouraging Ink to sit back down. The artist shuffled closer but didn’t really do anything. Error found himself frustrated at all this, why the fuck did this happen to them. He wanted to think of something else, anything else than what was happening between them now.
“Is there any reason you took my scarf Squid”
“Huh…what?”
He slowly sat back up, looking at Ink, who had one eyelight changed to a question mark.
“My scarf…why did you take it?”
He leaned forward and felt a smirk play on his lips, it wasn’t often Ink got flustered. Not much would trigger the paints that made embarrassment, so he would soak up this treat of Ink flushed on all his pretty colours.
Inks head tipped side to side. And he was beginning to think that the idiot might have just forgotten. Until Inks's face broke in a rainbow flush.
Oh…now isn’t that interesting
“Just..it’s just…please don’t be mad...I hadn’t intended to..” Ink tugged at the scarf to hide his face, like he would his own, Only to realize he was still wearing a blue scarf, and flushing even brighter.
“Then what did you do intent.?” He wasn’t mad… surprising even himself. He had found it annoying that he hadn’t been able to find it…but mad? It hadn’t even come to him
Ink murmured something Into the scarf. In response he tugged at the strings, pulling the artist's connected hand away from where ink pressed it against his blushing face. His soul raced at seeing the flush.
“What was that, Squid”
Ink didn’t meet his eyes, but they had turned a deep blue and purple. And he felt the grin on his own face drop, those..were not happy colours.
“I didn’t wanna forget you..” Ink's murmur was much clearer, and he sat there, mouth open in slight shock as he stared at Ink.
Ink squirmed a bit, one hand coming up to his face to wipe at his cheeks, and saw it left a little swear of blue ink left behind.
“Kiki…”
He…Fuck....
Of course, Ink had been scared of forgetting him! Ink was worried about that fact with him around.
Two months with no contact. Yeah..yeah of course Ink was terrified of forgetting more every day.
Ink twisted the end of the scarf he was holding.
“I just…I had been coming here, just…just to be sure I wouldn’t forget you…”
He realized two things in that instance...
First Ink hated the antivoid, as much as the squid loved visiting to annoy him. He would not stay here willingly if it was empty. Ink could never describe why he hated it, only once staying it was ‘too white'.
So to come here, ALONE, despite that fear…he felt his soul swell up.
“Just…being here…with your stuff…like...It’s still here, so it meant you must come back right? And this is where you always showed up, so I thought. Hey, might be nice to have someone here for once. “
The second thing was something like… recognition. Being dead didn’t make him…unaware. A weird side effect of being immortal he guessed. Even tho he wasn’t here…or...anywhere. He could tell people were in his home. Not that he could do anything about it.
And yeah. He could remember feeling Ink visiting often… frighteningly often.
Often enough that he could feel the presence of Blue or Dream, however briefly. Probably getting Ink to go somewhere else. Only for Ink to return.
He doesn’t know how he would have reacted had he seen Ink here…He had been looking for him. But had Ink seen him in his vulnerable naked state, he wasn’t sure what he had done. Yell at him most likely.
“And just…this week wasn’t great.”
He frowned, by Ink standards that meant, it was probably really shitty.
“And just…I needed….I wanted.” Ink buried his face a bit more into the scarf.
But he couldn’t, not physically. But he was gonna try with words. If ink came here, again and again Despite this place freaking him out. That he could speak some goddam words to make him feel better.
He felt lost, he hadn’t seen Inky like this in a while. Last time was...what?. Their first kiss. When Ink had freaked out about his ink puking. But now…fuck what could he do. He couldn’t go up and hug Ink. He wanted to. He wanted to so fucking badly.
He wanted to be able to comfort him dammit.
“Thank you Inky” Ink looked up surprised, eyes utterly lost.
“For not forgetting me…I mean….or us for that matter” Ink's eyesight stuttered, and he looked completely taken aback
“Oh” something like realisation filled his eyes
“I…i didn’t forget…i…haha..I didn’t realize. I had been so worried about not….that…”
He gave a soft chuckle. Leave it to his idiot to forget that he was remembering. Wasn’t that just so wonderfully Ink?
“Yeah..ink you didn’t,”
Ink started smiling again, but it was different from the previous ones. It was the most similar to one he got from Ink after a kiss, and the thought made a blush on his own face rise and he broke eye contact. And he heard Ink let out a giggle
Ink laughed a bit louder “ Yes, sir”
Infuriating, handsome squid.
“Also…just to be clear, I don't mind you wearing my clothes,, but now that I am back, ask first! you got that, idiot?!”
He felt the flush on his face growing darker. Glancing back to see that Ink had done a small salute.
“One more thing..”
“Mnn yes?”
“You look good in blue”
Ink’s whole face coloured pink, he sputtered a few times, before a hand came to his mouth. And he wasn’t gonna let ink poison himself by recycling his paints a second time.
“Fuck it, INK, don’t swallow again!” He yelled at his boyfriend,
Who doubled over and at ejected a large puddle of Ink from the depths of his stomach. He gave a glare at the new stain on his pristine floor. But also let out a sigh of relief,
He gave a small tug at their still-connected hands
“Was that all Kiki?” Ink held up a hand, indicating for him to wait a moment, and made some heaving sounds. And spit out a last glob of paint,
“Uhh ink?” Ink let out a sigh of relief
“Gross..” Both said at the same time.
Ink laughed, and he looked up. Eyes no longer held that weird grey sheen and were slightly duller than they were before.
An exclamation point appeared in one of Inks's eyes, and he quickly looked down checking his scarf.
“Good, managed to keep it clean” And he felt a pang of affection run through him. Why Ink remembered those small little details about him, he'll probably never know.
He felt a slight tug at his hand, as he saw that Ink, had wandered off to grab his big ass brush. Coming back, to clean up the mess he made with a little hum. Something inside him settled. Looking at ink like this. Felt normal. Coming home to something he had lost.
He gave the strings a little tug and saw Inks's smile widen. Eyes shuffling peacefully through its many colours, But once he saw a red square appear in one of Ink's eyes, he suddenly remembered something.
“Why the hell, were you angrily chasing Dust anyway?” Ink looked up from what he was doing, before returning to brushing away the ink with a frown.
“Revenge” It was said, coldly. Not jokingly, and it made his arms drop from where he had crossed them. Giving the artist what could only be described as a look. But Ink didn’t look back up. In fact, it seemed his mood had soured again.
“For what?” Ink was quick to forget stuff, and often blamed himself for causing any arguments, but something felt off about this
“He tried to damage your scarf” Ink’s tone was flat, eyelights shifting to white dots. Ink wasn’t that low on paints, not as far as he could tell. He should be able to last another four hours, based on the brightness before.
No ink was deliberately trying to not feel. What the fuck is going on?
“That all?” he asked skeptically, and Ink, still looking down, gave a nod
“I told him to be careful, how would he feel if I went after his precious scarf.” He saw Ink's hands tighten around broomies handle,
“Lying doesn’t suit you Ink” The artist flinched, and a brief red-purple hue came through his eyes.
He went through his mind when he saw that combination before, coming up empty. But he could guess.
“He kept making comments on how it wasn’t the same, that I didn’t know what it was like, something like that.”
Inks eyes turned into crosshairs again, as he snarled
“Cause the soulless doesn’t feel anything, does he? You can take what he loves, cause he won’t care in the end. Not like he remembers. Not like you were dead…that…you were gone...that I wasn’t trying to remember you.”
Inks eyes shifted, dark blue and cyan filled the different shapes, that were all turned upside down.
He saw tears gather in Inks's eyes, and he took a step closer. Remembering with a start that he couldn’t touch him, as Ink’s angrily rambling, turned into heaving with barely contained sobs.
He hadn’t said anything, didn’t know what to say. Every word Ink spoke was a like a knife wound to the chest. Like it drove right to his soul. And he knew from experience what that kind of pain felt like.
“That I hadn’t seen you get blasted up. No, I am soulless so that means I don’t care. I mean…he is right…I can’t care…I can’t love…but it still hurts. And you were gone. And I just wanted you back, 'cause I missed..you. Cause I lo- “Ink cut himself off.
Dropping broomie, hands digging into his eyesockets like he was trying to stop the crying.
Chest heaving with unshed tears. He couldn’t see Ink's eyes anymore, but he saw hints of blue and purple streaks form against the other's cheeks.
He gave a desperate little tug at the strings still holding their hands together. Hoping for something, anything. Cause what could he say, nothing that would reassure him. Inks self-hatred for his lack of soul rang deep. It was something that he tried to teach the fucking squid to stop.
Ink wasn’t emotionless, nor careless. Just different, he had a lot more trouble with feelings. Big fucking whoop. Like all of them were so perfectly balanced. They were just as messed up as if no more so.
“Kiki”
Ink's head shot up, turning his head towards him but not fully facing him.
“But you got bigger worries than me, so don’t worry about it okay? I am sure you need to focus on the balance for a bit, I tried my best to keep it as even as I could.”
Ink was smiling again, there was yellow and orange in his eyes. Like if he could focus on those colours. He could eventually feel them.
But he knew ink, that was not how it worked, and he wasn’t gonna let this go.
“Fuck the Balance for now ink, My LOVER’S feelings will always come first”
“Your feelings matter Ink. How many times do I gotta tell you that before you get that tidbit in that thick skull, do I need to write it down here?!.” He shook inks scarf still around his own neck.
The yellow flickered out, replaced by a shocked purple and pink. The Smile fell as Ink's eyes met his.
He took another step forward, slipper stepping into the last remaining bit of inky puddle, but he could care less
Inks eyes snapped to it like he just noticed it. Or more likely had forgotten he was wearing it again.
“Of course, you care that I was dead, I ain't fucking surprised Inky. “
He was stepping closer and closer to Ink. He felt that same pushing energy trying to keep him away. His glitches agitating
“B-but…”
He was just. So fucking angry. Not at Ink.
No at everything else. Everyone else that made Ink feel like he was just a puppet, instead of a damm monster like everyone else.
“No Buts!” he heaved. “I say it as many times as you fucking need to hear it, I fucking Love you, you stupid squid. That is your lack of soul included. I know who you are, And I don’t choose fucking lightly. So don’t put yourself down, and don’t fucking believe those lies. You hear me?”
“Good, you stupid inkblot” Ink let out a stuttering laugh, before looking up. He was close enough that he was towering over him.
Ink nodded, face flooded back with a pink colour
“You had a RIGHT to be angry. You had a RIGHT to be upset. So what, you didn’t feel it 24/7, no one would, and anyone that tells you is a liar. You hear me?” Ink nodded again.
After a few heaving breaths, and shifting of the eyelights. Ink's eyes stayed a Star and little soul. And with a slow smile, as he was close enough to see the many different hue's trying to mix in the other's eyes. Ink said softly.
“Thanks for loving me Glitchy, I love you too”
His own face which was flushed with anger before was now flushed for an entirely different reason. He could count on one hand how often he heard those words from Ink.
He leaned down and kissed Ink.
And…fuck now...
He didn’t think, he really should have. But hearing those words, he just had to.
It was sadly a decision he immediately regretted, Cause his body erupted in so much pain. It was like he was thrown in the middle of his worst crash in an instant, and then just ramped up. He couldn’t feel anything, besides the burning pain scorching through him. Could feel his body being split apart by the glitches, and reassembled itself again.
He didn’t know if he moved if he stumbled back, it still felt like people were touching all over him. He struggled against the feeling trying to get it to stop before darkness overtook it all.
There was noise, so much fucking noise. Not sure if he himself or if it was Ink that was making it.
Oh fuck no Ink,
Get away from Ink,
Don’t hurt Ink
Ink.
When he woke up, he didn’t know how much time had passed. Only that he was still tired. His throat was hurting worse than before. He somehow was more sore, and he couldn’t open his eyes.
Fuck that was bad, he hadn’t glitched out like that. In a long, long time. And all that because he wanted to kiss….
Fuck Ink. Where the fuck was he?.
He tried to get up, even though his body protested.
Fuck! Ink would feel so guilty everything had just reassured, probably just thrown out the window. Would Ink even still want him around? Would ink -
“Lie down, please”
“Error?” he stopped in his tracks turning his face to where he heard to voice coming from, it sounded distorted, but also familiar
“Ink?”
There was a long silence, where he tried to get up once again, just calling out for his boyfriend. Fuck what if he hurt him, what if..?
He tried again, no, he would not go without knowing where Ink was, feeling tears stain his already burning face
“No I have to get to Ink!” he yelled out, confused
“Ruru…I am here…it’s me..” The voice still sounded wrong, distorted. And garbled, but also familiar. His breath hitched, sitting still and turning back towards the voice gain
“Ink..?”
“Yeah, it is me Ruru, just…lie back down okay…could you..for me?”
Even if he didn’t want to, his arms gave out beneath him and he fell back.
More silence. “Yes..of yes of course I won’t, I’ll stay right here okay? Right here. Just rest Ru…please…take a rest”
“Error!” He reached a hand out towards the voice.
“Inky?...please don’t leave. “
He tried to protest, but within the next second, he was out again.
He also didn’t know, how much time had passed after his second round of unconsciousness. Felt longer than the first. His body was still in a lot of pain, but at least somewhat bearable. He opened his eyes to the harsh light of the Antivoid.
Ink was sitting a few feet away from him, making tiny figures in a puddle of ink. He watched Ink moving them around. He wasn’t sure, his vision was slipping in and out of focus. But it might be a playground or a skatepark. The little figures were jumping all over the little buildings at least.
He tried to focus on Ink, and the first thing he noticed was that inks hands were shaking. Gazing up at Ink's eyes, which were watching his own creation with purple eyelights, occasionally it would switch to blue, and then back again.
Ink was scared…how long had he been here?
It was as if Ink could feel that he was looking, cause he froze for a second. When their gazes met, he saw the purple shift to green and yellow. And before he knew it, Ink was kneeling next to where he lay on the floor.
Ink seemed to understand tho, as he opened a inky portal, and stuck his hand in. pulling out a water bottle. Ink opened it, he wondered if he stole it.
“Hey, Ru…”
“Ki..” he grimaced, his voice feeling too scratchy, saying even that much hurt.
“Open up, I don’t see another way to do this without touching, and I don’t think you can move just yet…”
He gave the lightest nod he could. And opened his mouth a little, Ink hovered the bottle as far above his face as he could without aggravating any glitches, and carefully tried to feed him the water.
It didn’t go perfectly, it splashed on his face, and his clothes… Ink's scarf that he realized he was still wearing. But he managed to get a few gulps of water down.
Ink set the water aside.
“Better?” and he gave a nod.
There was a silence between them. As the reality of what had happened settled over him.
Part of him didn’t want to cry. But his body was exhausted, and his soul longed for a comfort that it hadn’t had for a while, and probably wouldn’t be able to experience again for a long time either. He could feel them slide down his cheeks, down to his vertebrate...
He had crashed kissing Ink. Not just crashed, but glitched out harder, and more painful than anything in a long while.
Whatever process they had made, it had fallen back to zero, no even further than that. He had felt it again, that pulsing force to keep ink away when the bottle was above his face...
He heard a sniff and looked to see Ink with tears in his eyes as well
Ink choked on a laugh, not really sounding genuine. And he laid down, far enough away that they didn’t touch. There on the icy floor of the Antivoid, the web of souls, he could just see from the corner of his eye.
“Look at us idiots” he mumbled
He let out a hum of agreement, not sure his throat could do more.
Ink hadn’t moved him from where he crashed. As it was probably unsafe to do so.
He isn’t sure how his body would have reacted if ink touched him even if he was out cold.
hey.. it’s been a bit since I last posted art.. I’ve been really busy since I got procreate and a new stylus, so I will be periodically posting what I’ve drawn! *cough* oc redesigns *cough* and I’m gonna start with one of my favorites so far :D
(also gonna post some info on them, gotta flesh them out a bit more :) )
Name: Moon
Gender: Female
Pronouns: She/her
Species: Starscale Dragon
Age: Depends on how you wanna interpret it. Human hears? Late twenties. Dragon? She’s over five hundred years old. (Dragons, especially starscales, live a very long time)
reasoning to the design change: I wanted her to have darker scales and look a bit more intimidating, and the feathers were getting hard to draw. I’ve come to the conclusion that dragon wings change to feathery when in their skeleton form, and are like this in full form. As a way to hide amongst birdtales and such :3
Additional information:
Moon is one of my oldest OCs, and the one I’ve changed the most. She used to be a side charecter, but now she’s one of the most important! She’s the Queen of the starscales and protected of the Hidden AU along with the rest of the Dragon Guard. She’s fierce and intimidating to those she doesn’t know or trust, but if anyone gains her trust she will protect them with her life.
She met Ink when she was still young, and about to become queen after her mothers passing, who was old enough to remember when the three races lived together and Starfruit tree groves stretched for miles in the original timeline. Already overwhelmed and stressed, she decided to go for a walk to clear her head. That’s when she came across Ink. He was unconscious and had some pretty bad cracks in his legs. After about five minutes of inner turmoil, she decided to bring him back.
Let’s just say people were pissed that she brought an outsider to their village, and that they had no idea who he was or what his intentions were. Moons sister, Sun, supported her decision to take the skeleton monster under their wings until he was healed. He woke up after about a week, and explained what happened. Weeks turned into months and they all became close friends. After agreeing he was well enough to start physical therapy, they took him to meet the rest of the dragon guard. And they hit it off too.
But soon, things… changed. Ink and Moon started acting differently with each other. Sunny knew what was up, but the others had zero clue. After explaining that they were both into eachother but were oblivious, of course they all plotted to set them up.
Long story short, they end up trying out a relationship. Nothing too serious, just testing the waters..
After about a hundred years of them dating, something happens. Not going too into detail for plot reasons, but something happened and they split up. Nobody knew why, but didn’t press them.
Ink, who had been doing his job and stopping Error from destroying another AU got a call from Moon, who sounded like she was freaking out.
Turns out, she was carrying. Shortly before they split up, they ended up screwing (how ironic-). They didn’t think anything would happen, they used protection. But somehow Moon was carrying.
Ink and Moon agreed to parent together even if they weren’t dating anymore, and they do a pretty good job.
When their daughter is fifteen is when shit really picks up.
Thanks for reading! I know it’s long.. but I figured I should show her history and a little bit of who she is :D
Ok so how i died… It wasn’t anything terrible, no getting mauled beyond recognition or bleeding out. Heck, I didn’t even dust.
Me, Error, and there were one or two other people I don’t remember, who tho, were going through an abandoned AU since it was going to collapse anyways and the supplies and stuff would’ve gone to waste, so we were getting it together to give to Horrottale or something. Error didn’t think it would collapse for a while, he thought we had time… he was wrong.
we had been in that AU for thirty minutes when it happened. The ground shook, and Error and me turned to each other with terrified looks on our faces. Things began to crumble, everything started collapsing. We rushed to find the others. Thankfully, they had already gathered where we agreed to if shit hit the fan, and had a portal opened and were waiting for us. I don’t know what I was thinking, apparently logic didn’t live in my mind that day. But I turned back for some dumb reason I can’t remember.
Error screamed for me to come back, the AU was going down. And anything inside when it completely disappeared would get deleted too.
I managed to get whatever I’d turned back for, and ran back to the portal. Error had his arm outstretched for me to grab so he could pull me through to safety (we’d been working on his Haphephobia together), but at that moment a piece of the AU landed in front of me just as I was about to grab him, and I had to jump back. Error tried to jump back into the collapsing AU to get to me, but the others grabbed him and pulled him back. My scarf flew off my neck and went through the portal just as it closed. The last thing I remember after that was the AUs binary code on my bones burning, and Error screaming my name, and then I was gone.
Yay! That was one heck of a memory flash when I had it! Very unfortunate ;-; idk what I was grabbing, that part was really fuzzy, but I just know I was dumb TvT
