Chapter Text
It was like routine now; feel a disturbance in an AU, go to investigate, and fight the culprit if need be. Ink was so used to it that he barely needs to be reminded on such things with the notes on his scarf. Weaving and dodging Error's attacks like second nature. It might even feel boring. This had been almost all his life. And while he loves protecting all these wonderful creations, a part of him would enjoy to have something else within his life, something MORE.
His head was brought out of the clouds with a barrage of of strings coming his way, making Ink have to summon a wall of paint to block it. It didn’t stay up long as the strings wrapped around it instead and tore it asunder, and Error rushed through the remains. Ink could only give a playful smirk, eye lights flashing a yellow swirl and red square, as he faced the destroyer head on.
Blasters, bones, strings, and paint flew about the Anti-void. A few jokes or insults were slung between them, not that he could recall or repeat them while focusing on fighting, but it was really nothing new. That is...until Ink noticed movement out of the corner of his eye socket.
Ink paused his attacks, looking directly at the movement, Error getting ready to take advantage of him stopping before he noticed it too. It seems a puddle of paint with the destroyer's broken strings dipped in it was...moving? What? The protector blinked, eye lights shifting to a light blue question mark and green triangle as he watched this strange phenomenon. The puddle writhed and squirmed, as if it were alive. But, surely that couldn't be-
A body.
A small, inky black skeleton body emerged from the paint. Ink stared for a movement, eye lights going void, feeling the rest of EVERYTHING fade as he processes what he just witnessed. Then, the shock and overwhelming torrent of emotions set in, and black paint spewed from his mouth. Error seemed to freak out too, if the telltale sounds of him crashing were anything to go by, but that wasn't important in the slightest. There was a little skeleton that came out of their discarded magic attacks, slumped and bare.
"Oh stars..." Ink wheezed out, eyelight flitting to different shapes and colors as the emotional hurricane rushed through his very bones. Above most of them, fear and, dare he say, hope, danced in a messy duet. He had so many questions, so many that he desperately wanted answered, but that can wait. He...he had to get the little one out of here before Error woke up. Yes, he needed to protect them, no matter where they came from.
Giving himself a moment to wipe any of the sludge he'd heaved out off his person, he rushed over to the...child's side. He wadded through the puddle and only stopped when reaching out, nearly touching it - them? Regardless, Ink hesitated out of a flicker worry and unexpected fear over touching the mysterious skeleton. I mean... surely a monster who has yet to move is clearly in shock, or frozen with fright. That can happen, right?
But if he doesn't get them out of here, Error will reboot and hurt them. He can't forget that. Taking a deep breath, Ink forced himself to push forward and rip a couple blue strings around them to scoop up the smaller skeleton in his arms Said little monster limply slumped into his hold.
"Oh. Okay." His eye lights flitted to a green teardrop and purple squiggle, voice uneasy. Guess they...passed out from clearly being pulled here, right? That must be it. He thinks he can recall someone passing out when they traveled with him once. Wonder who that was...
The familiar sounds of Error's system rebooting made the protector flinch, eye lights a pink exclamation point and plain white pinprick. Panic flooded his system, making him act on instinct. He dove for his forgotten brush, holding the little one to his chest and opened a portal to the one place that he knew the Destroyer couldn't follow. The Omega Timeline.
***
Ink popped into the "town center" of the refugee AU, startling a few people that were close by. He steadied himself to maneuver his brush to be strapped to his back, all the while balancing the smaller monster in his arms. He let out a breath, now in the safest place anyone could be.
Instincts faded as the protector of AUs straightened to a standing position to scan the area. A lot of eyes were on him. Oh stars. Ink was used to not interacting with large crowds, unless you count his friends Dream and Swap...or when he has to fight for his job. But being perceived so widely, all those eyes...
An itch tickled in the back of his "throat", and then Ink was wrenching up black sludge once more. His eye lights had disappeared through the over-stimulation. Gosh, that's embarrassing. But it at least had everyone around cringe and look away after that happened. So, silver linings.
Ink wiped his mouth clean, as was customary. Didn't want to have black ooze running down his chin. But that had a thought pop into his mind. He hadn't tried to clean off the skeleton he rescued. Stars, how rude of him! The protector got to work rectifying that by the scarf still in his hand and wiping down the kid.
Oh wow, they really WERE stained bad. A layer of ebony soaked the make-shift cleaning cloth, yet Ink hadn't seen a hint of the usual white bone that should be underneath. They must be drenched with how they were black from head to toe.
Wait...Why did they not have clothes?
It was only now that he realized that this little one was completely naked. Huh...That's not normal, right? Yeah, right, he started wearing clothes when figuring himself out because it's "indecent" to not wear. So, this is supposed to be strange. Definitely.
While scanning over such an oddity, Ink began actually taking in this little one's appearance. While the bones looked wet, like how he first thought they were just covered in paint, they were in fact dark-boned...Just like Error. They also had magenta inner eye sockets, much like how the Destroyer's are red. Huh...Ah! They have itty-bitty magenta and yellow splotches on their cheeks. Heh, they were matching Ink on that front. Weird that he couldn't wipe them away, though. But what was the most interesting thing about this skeleton, in the guardian's opinion, was that their skull was...broken? No, that's not exactly correct. It's that there were pieces that were disconnected, yet floating lazily in the air like a lava lamp. So intriguing.
"Ink?" The echoey voice of Core Frisk calling out to him made the guardian blink back to reality. His eye lights shifted to a yellow diamond and dark blue triangle as he looked down to the monochrome human.
"Oh, hi Core!" Ink greeted happily. "Been awhile! How have you been?"
Core's vacant eyes- eye sockets? Either way, they scrunched in possible confusion or concern. "I'm...good. Um, who do you have there?" They pointed to his slightly full arms.
"Hm?" The protector looked down, seeing that Core was pointing to the tiny, naked skeleton. Right, the reason he's even here! Core can probably help him figure out the mystery or their identity, and bring them back home.
"Ah, so it was the weirdest thing. I was just doing my usual thing, fighting Error and all that. And then this little guy popped out of a puddle of paint from a past attack. Was all tangled in some blue strings too. They must have accidentally teleported there, you know? Anyway, they haven't responded, just being all limp in my arms. I don't recognize where they could have come from, and they can't tell me with them all like...this." He lightly bounced the little monster in his hold, as if to gesture that way.
Core tilted their head, expression scrunched up in thought. "I see." They stroke their chin. "It's probably best to have them looked over by some healers, just to be safe. Then we can look into where they came from." They looked weirdly nervous when saying that last part, though.
Ink beamed at the suggestion. "Great!" He leaned down and handed Core the little monster. He only took a vague mental note about how they were smaller than even the eternal child. That might be worrying. "I'll come check in on them later. I'm no good in hospitals." He laughed while rubbing the back of his neck. What use were hospitals or healers when he can just use his brush to fix any damage done to him?
"Okay. I'll be sure to grab you later, in case it slips your mind." Core shifted the unconscious monster awkwardly and turned to leave. "And maybe go fix your clothes while you wait."
Huh? What did that mean- Oh...! Ink had glanced down to see his clothes were covered in burnt holes, and few chipped or melted ribs in the exposed areas. Well, that's certainly mysterious and interesting.