Pax opened his eyes to complete darkness, 'Where am I?'He looked around and saw only darkness. 'I guess this is the void... probably best I stay... here...'

'Are you giving up?' a voice asked

'I might as well, Chara can escape herself... besides I'm always just a reminder of her past...'

An aura of amusement and pity arose from the voice, 'Is that so?'

'Yes, it is,' Pax said annoyed, 'My timeline isn't even supposed to exist! It's only that way because she reset so many times.'

Understanding was now emitted, 'Do you resent her for that?'

'W-what? I mean, no... I'd be a real arse for resenting her.' Pax said, a frown creeping around his face.

Laughter instilled some peace in Pax, 'You're kind of contradictory, you know that?'

Pax smiled still not able to see where the voice was coming from, 'Yeah, I'm also a knuckle head and dense.'

I finally decided to reveal myself; if I had a camera for Pax's face I would've taken a picture of it, "So this is my little funny bone's child?"

Pax's mouth moved up and down, trying to form words in vain. Finally, he asked, "A-Arial?"

"That's Grandmaw to you dear.. on second thought, Arial will do fine for now." I say, giving a good laugh. I looked at Pax's confused face; tracing it back to my body, realizing that I might look different than he imagined.

"Why are you so colorful?"

"That's actually a long story, all you need to know is that one of my many sons live in these files. He kept me alive, knowing I'd need to help you."

"W-what? That doesn't make sense! In the files of what?"

I sigh, "Looks like you have Gasters logic; look the void is one of many 'files' in the universe. The void is it's own timeline, one of infinite possibilities. Kind of like a blank canvas, it's a universe where the 'big bang' never happaned. This is where two of my sons live and bicker amongst themselves; always spouting on about ending timelines and restoring them, it's rather cute."

"Is that why there were colors I could see in the void?" Pax asked, his eyes glimmering.

Before I could answer my little Artsy Bone appeared, "I'm surprised you could actually see those Pax."

Pax raised his fists, "Who are you?"

"Yep, he is definitely one of my creations. Cautious; but I know you have a funny side to you. My name's Ink, nice to meetcha" Ink held out his hand, which was covered with paint from his giant paintbrush; realizing this he wiped his hand on his shirt, the paint immediately drying.

"What do you mean that I'm one of your creations?"

I tapped Pax on the shoulder, "Remember how this world has infinite possibilities; well Ink here is the reason behind that. He creates timelines once one goes sour or if his brother Error destroys it. Kind of like a puppeteer if you will."

"Arial, could you not make me seem so dastardly. All I'm doing is cleaning up after Error; he had to destroy our timeline just to test out if he could." Ink said, holding his head.

"Another head-ache?" I ask; Ink recently suffered from terrible migraines because of a recent fight with Error.

"No Arial... I'm fine. Look, Pax, I've been alive for centuries awaiting the moment that I could paint your timeline... but unlike Error, I age. I'm close to death, and the recent painting I had of you and Chara has you destroyed in it... so that means you're dead..."

"Well when you say it like that Ink, I might as well not be happy about my grandson being here," I say, crossing my arms in feigning annoyance

Pax shifted, catching both of our attentions, "So I was supposed to have a perfect ending with Chara?"

Ink put a finger to his chin, "Well... yes. You were to be wed, it was going to be the final chapter of Ink. I'd have done my job and Error would have no one to fight with because I'd be gone, so in turn he would too as I am the one who has kept the void alive for so long."

"Way to be blunt Ink; I'd hate to have been your mother," I say with actual annoyance this time.

"My mother died trying to stop Error, hence why I'm Ink now."

"Oh..." I say, regretting my quick judgment.

"Hey," we turn towards Pax, "Look I can't be dead-"

Ink interrupted, "They all say that you'll get used to it."

"Yeah, even I said that for years," I say, smiling.

Pax shook his head, "NO! I can't be dead! Chara needs me; I'm not going to leave without helping her!"

I laugh and embrace Pax, "You are so much like me! IT'S TOO CUTE!"

For a second or so we went tumbling without stop due to the void having no gravity. A lasso of ink held on to us and slowly pulled us back, "No gravity, remember Arial?"

Pax cleared his throat, "So as a 'god' can you revive me?"

Ink laughed, "Look kiddo, I'm nowhere near godly status. That's Reaper's station."

"Reaper?" Pax gave a cute and confused look.

Before I could explain Ink waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about that. But look, back to me dying; I need someone to take my place."

"Can't Arial do it?"

"Do you think she is responsible enough?"

I crossed my arms angrily, "Hey! I Captain of the Royal Guard!"

"Former Captain remember, you're dead," I raise a finger but Ink cuts me off, "Anyways Pax, I'm sorry to tell you the only way to be brought back from the dead is a full reset and Error already took out all the 'saves.'"

"So I'm stuck here?" Pax said, sad realization dawning on his face.

Ink sighed, "No if you would have listened you can take my place."

"But then wouldn't that create another version of me? Error Pax?"

"No, Error and I were twins; we weren't born what we are today... enough subject change. Look if I let you take my place, you might have enough power to get the file and save Chara. But when you do so, you must reset every Universe in the 'data.'"

I gasp, "Wouldn't that mean..."

Pax's voice rings in a question, "Mean what?"

Ink nodded, "Yes, it would mean that."

Pax waved his arms, accidentally rotating himself, "Could someone tell me what doing so would mean! Also turn me around please?"

I grab Pax by the shoulder and spin him around, placing my other hand on his other shoulder, and contemplate how to explain how everyone he knew would never know what happened; finally, I said with a choked up voice, "It basically mean... it means none of this ever happened..."

"What?"

"It means no one will remember you, you will never have existed, your relationship with Chara would have never happened. Not even your dad will remember any of the resets... or you" Ink said, not a hint of remorse in his voice.

Pax was silent for a long time. His demeanor had changed, he seemed solemn and sad; all his bravado gone. His entire body was so still I could feel my body stir, and I was technically a ghost. "Pax-"

"Ok..."

"Ok?"me and ink both asked in unison.

"If it means that Chara is safe and won't remember all the times she killed everyone... I'll do it; the only thing I've ever done for her makes her worry when I'll die. At least now she won't have to worry 'cause I would've never existed. I'll do it but only on one condition."

"What is it?" Ink asked

Pax stared up, his eyes serious, "I get to kill her Father then bring Chara and her Mother to the underground.."

Ink shrugged, "I don't know about her mother, but Chara is a positive. You just have to get back in the 'file' before the outside crumbles"

Pax nodded and took Ink's hand when he held it out. A brilliant light filled the void for the first time in ages, and for a moment I could have thought that I saw Ink's Universe. After the light died down I saw Pax, he was wearing a multicolored smock opened down the middle, revealing a shirt with an image of an artists palette and color stained jeans, I laughed and said, "This is what you'd call 'retro' right?"

Pax laughed, "Yeah I think I'm a hipster now."

We both stood there for a bit laughing, but eventually my mind turned elsewhere, "H-how is everyone?"

Pax smiled warmly, "Well Undyne became Captain of the guard, Papyrus is on his way to becoming one.."

"Sans? Gaster?"

Pax frowned a bit, "Well Dad is a Professor at College... and Grandpa... well he fell into the void; but don't worry he is alright!"

I smiled as Pax began telling me the whole story; he really was something to be proud of. It made me kind of sad I didn't get to raise my kids and see Pax as he lived. There was nothing I could do for him when he left the file, but I thought of one thing I could do, "Hey Pax, come here."

Pax drifted closer, "What is it?"

I grabbed the sword at my waist, broke off the chain around the hilt, and focused my energy on it. As I did I could feel myself disappearing, my physical form dispersing, "I can't do much for you... but with this... you should be able to win."

"Arial! What're you doing! You're disappearing, stop that! You can still leave the files." Pax said, shoving the chain back at me.

I grabbed his hands and put them together, clasping them between mine and nodding my head with a smile, "No... the only reason I'm alive is from Ink's power... since you aren't really him you can't keep me alive... but with this I can keep you alive..." As flakes of energy rose past me my eyes turned dark, vision fading I gave Pax one last hug, "I know this is fast... a-and you don't know me t-that w-well... but you're my Son's child... I-I can't l-let you die..."

As Arial's spirit dispersed Pax cried. He hadn't even known his grandmother that long and here he was crying for the loss of her. No not only that; he was crying because of how fast these events were thrown at him. In a matter of two years he had loved, died, fought to survive for his loved one, and now here he was having to give up on everyone so he could save Chara. No one would remember him after this; his actions never happened. All his family would never even be sad because he wouldn't have ever been a thought. It also meant he would have to see all the actions unfurl and not even be able to help stop them. He lost his will, his hope of saving Chara, he just sat there balled up in a sphere of tears.

Unbeknownst to him, swirls of ink decorated the void. But unlike the other colors, they vibrated with feelings of memory, love, happiness, sadness, every emotion he had felt. Each color met and ended, paths restarted and closed, figures drawn and being drawn. When all the colors ceased to move, a scene of Pax's entire life was magnified on imaginary walls, even ones before the resets. The mural began to pulsate with light, almost reacting to Pax's feelings. Every time he sobbed loudly the light grew in intensity; It went on like that for what felt like hours. Eventually the mural glowed with a almost divine radiance, forcing Pax to look in amazement. He looked on with nostalgia and sadness mixed in; his eyes finally rested on the last picture, it detailed a human crying, darkness seeping out of him. As he floated closer he heard words, 'I don't want to die... I never asked for this... How can I even do this?... Maybe she could be better without me...'

"T-that.. that is me..."

The figure shifted and looked at Pax, reaching his hand out. Pax reached for the figure too; as their finger tips touched Pax felt cold and warm at the same time. The figure shrieked in pain and began to smoke and as it did, Pax felt his courage reemerge inside of him. When the figure completely dissipated the wall cracked and Pax saw outside the void for the first time.

A white, pristine area loomed; at first, he couldn't tell where the walls were. Stepping inside he was surrounded by armed humans. They moved like the warping man but spoke like one of the hollow men, their voices shrieky, "Burn the PLAGUE!"

As they ran towards Pax, he instinctively shot his hand up. All around the humans grew tendrils of ink that completely enveloped them in a matter of seconds. But as they were destroyed, more humans appeared. Pax repeated this process; eventually some got close enough to hit him. But he found his agility had significantly increased. As he fought he heard more footsteps file in from nowhere; in his pocket he felt the chain Arial give him increase in heat. When he pulled it out he saw multiple colors envelop it. After a couple of minutes and a few enemies beaten the chain had finally formed into a metallic paintbrush. Pax grew curious and slashed it around a couple of times, on the third a blade of ink solidified out of the hairs, 'This is more like it!'

A smile grew on his face as he slashed through his enemy; he felt no remorse because he could tell these were just corrupted creations made by Error.

Hours pass and Pax felt himself tiring; he was also getting bored of these creations, "Error! Show yourself!"

All at once the corruptions ceased and fell to the ground like lifeless dolls. A distortion appeared and out stepped Error, "Ink, nice to see y-" Error took a good look at Pax and said in a huff, "You're not Ink; you're that Pax who gave me barely any fight. In fact I believe you stabbed yourself."

Pax grew angry, "Shut up! Where's Chara?!"

Error laughed,opening another distortion to where Chara could be seen still as molasses. "I'm afraid she can't be seen right now, you see preparing a host takes quite a bit for me."

Inside the distortion, Chara stirred, "Pax..."

Pax noticed this and shot towards the distortion, surprising Error long enough to slip in before he could close the portal.

On the other side, Pax picked up Chara off a table of some sort. "Chara?"

Her body stirred for a moment and her eyes opened, "Please Mom, just twelve more minutes."

'I'm really going to miss her..' Pax thought, his smile fading. Shaking his head he looked around for something he could use to reset everything. His eyes finally rested on a glowing Delta Angel; he didn't understand why but he knew it would reset everything. Walking towards it he prepared to teleport back to the void after hitting it.

Before he could put Chara down she woke up, "Pax? What's going on?"

"Nothing, just go back to sleep.."

The sound of a portal opening behind him and Error's voice made Pax wince, "Yes, why don't you go back to sleep, princess. You aren't going to know him for longer, that is if he beats me."

Chara shook her head, "Pax why is Error here and what does mean?"

Pax put Chara on the ground and said, "Nothing.., just stay safe and know I've got this." Pax flicked his brush and the blade extended out. Then he raised his forearm, ink solidifying into a shield type square.

"He wishes to reset the entire multiverse, meaning he won't have ever existed. You'll go back to your first life. You'll repeat the entirety of your life because you won't remember a thing. You'll even kill everyone again." Error said, his voice more distorted than usual.

"P-Pax?"

Pax turned around, and gave a warm smile, "Don't worry, I'll guide you when I can."

With that he took off towards Error, leaving a screaming Chara behind.