Ink was with Blue when he felt a sharp, throbbing pain clawing into his ribcage. The sudden searing agony brought him to his knees, a broken gasp of what might have been a scream if the feeling hadn't stolen away his breath, which the remainder burst from his teeth with ragged, irregular puffs.
He could see the blurry figure of Blue stagger, could hear Little Bones' feeble wail. Magic filled the air, static filling skulls, magic that didn't belong to any one skeleton within the house-turned-cage's walls. The white noise swelled in a crescendo, a chorus of wrong seeping into the song before… nothing. The walls had melted away into white, and the cries of his friends and charge had disappeared.
Nothingness didn't feel right to describe where he stood now.
Blue. There was blue. Blue strings, tethered to a non-existent ceiling. Error's strings. He could see the dolls now, swinging lazily, along with different souls, all varying colors that stood out against the whiteness of the Anti-Void.
Or, at least, they should have.
Everything was so… dull. The strings usually seemed to glow but, now, they seemed dead, pulsating miserably. He followed the mess of tangled thread, weaving and ducking to narrowly avoid itself, the cluster of lonely dolls, mimicking real life, and souls hanging heavily every few steps. The smiles sewn into fabric had gone, leaving tearful frowns. Many were strung up by their necks, rather than their arms.
And he came upon something that held the wrongness . The heart of this web of morbid, broken dreams; a soul of dark blue, glitched and cracked. Error's soul.
And then he was back in Blue's living room, and Blue was leaning against a wall, gagging. Little Bones was weeping on the couch, which was covered in the child's sick, and Stretch was up against the railing upstairs, skull tilted to the side as he groaned.
Ink used himself up with a grunt, rubbing his sternum through his clothes. Slowly, he made his way to Little Bones, lifting the kid up, who continued to weep.
"What happened?" Blue wheezed out, finally righting himself. He caught sight of the couch but choose to simply ignore it for the time being. The room spun still.
"I don't know," The Creator admitted lowly, "but I need to find out."
No more words were exchanged. Little Bones was deposited into Blue's arms, and Ink was gone, soon replaced by his brother.
Stretch's face contorted to a frown," I have a bad feeling about this."
"As do I, Papy," Blue said, "as do I."
Once everything was cleaned up, and Little Bones was calmed down, they him on the couch for a nap. Blue was fixing breakfast, some oatmeal with peaches, and Stretch was texting Alphys about their recent charge, dodging questions like he was in battle.
The silence was awkward, stretching out and consuming the usually loud house. The only thing that broke it was the quiet clicks of utensils and bones on hard plastic.
Slowly, Papyrus entered the kitchen, tossing the cell onto the counter. He watches his brother pour the meal into bowls.
"Alphys wants us to come in still, doesn't she?" Blue asked, grabbing spoons in a fluid movement.
"Ya guessed it, bro," Papyrus replied, "she says that she'll let us go early, though. She also wants you to talk to the queen."
Blue smiled lowly, "what's her excuse now?"
"'Dyne's sick."
The two laughed quietly. Alphys never liked to give progress reports, always said they were too slow-going and often times useless.
They took a moment to revel in this sweet peacefulness of domestic life; the gentleness of the quiet, the breath of breakfast, the buzz of contented magic…
The snoring of the child in the other room made it all the more perfect.
"I'll take Little Bones," Blue murmured, still marveling about how easy it was to fall into the use of the name.
"Ya sure?" Papyrus asked, "a kiddo might complicate things."
Blue smiled, "she'd adore him."
Papyrus' expression shifted into understand as his little brother disappeared into the living room.
Blue woke Little Bones as gently as he could, using Mr. Pah, having learned the name from a text from Papyrus, to help his endeavor. Still, despite the gentleness of his actions, the child had jumped awake as if stung. But, before he could feel the bubbling worry flood him, Little Bones had his small, thin arms around his teddy and a bright look in his eyes.
"Good morning, starshine!" Blue cooed, "food's ready!"
"Wha' is i'?"
After a moment Blue took to understand what the child had said (what is it?), he spoke again, "oatmeal and peaches!"
Even though the curious, confused look grew concern, he couldn't help but be amused by it. Or, at the very least, happy that he and the others would teach these little things about life to him
"Don't worry, Little Bones. You'll like it."
He didn't bother grabbing the kid's hand, just stood and led him to the kitchen. He could hear the soft pitter patter of bare-boned feet behind him, unsteady but determined.
This child was much too cute for Blue's soul.
Papyrus was in his chair now, phone tucked into his pocket, which released a chime as Blue helped Little Bones into his seat.
After reteaching the child to use a spoon, the three began to eat. Little Bones ate quickly, making a general mess, which no one really cared about, if they were being honest.
Once things were cleaned (again), the adults wished each other a good day with a fleeting touch. Ever since the adult Error had taken Blue, which both remembered with sickening sadness, they made sure to tell each other how much he loved him and to be safe. And, really, the ritual never hurt.
Blue walked through the snow slowly, adjusting his rarely used winter coat. He could feel little Bones gripping it as they pushed forward. People chatted around them, some calling out to Blue but, aside from a quick 'hello' and 'how are you', he didn't engage in further conversation. He was on a mission and the monsters in the little village knew well that he was focused in on that, though they never knew what his mission was.
He approached the Riverperson's boat with tunnel vision. Even the crunching of snow beneath his feel disappeared in favor of trudging ever closer to the rocking, wooden object that had become his goal.
Blue's laser focus shattered by a confused, murky question aimed at him. He snapped his head to the speaker. Upon recognizing Muffet, a smile crawled onto his face.
The water splashed against the bank.
"Hello, Muffet!" He exclaimed, "I didn't hear your question, sorry. Could you repeat that?"
Now that he really noticed her, Blue found himself lost. Her typical suit was gone, replaced with a stylish black dress that ended above her knees. Her hair had been pulled in a bun and a purse hung down from her shoulder, dark purple glimmering beside the short but lovely coat. Was she going on a date?
"I just asked what brings you to the Riverperson. You usually walk to Alphys'."
Blue blinked slowly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Then, he moved so his little charge was revealed, despite the child's obvious displeasure at the very idea of having to face someone. He could feel little Bones' grasp on his coat tighten with nervousness.
Muffet's mouth formed an 'o', all five of her eyes widening.
"It's a… child," she murmured.
Blue chuckled lowly, "yeah. We, um, found him. In the woods. I decided to take him with me to the palace."
"Oh. You're going to Queen Toriel, aren't you?"
"yep," Blue said, popping the 'p', "Ally is taking car of 'Dyne 'cuz she's sick."
"uh-huh..." the woman responded, drawing out the sound with a hint of understanding.
...
"So why didn't you leave the child with Papyrus?"
"Little Bones would get bored. Plus, Ms. Queen Toriel likes children, right?" He couldn't help but widen his smile at the mention of the queen. Of the, admittedly, few friends he had in this universe, she was one of the closest. He didn't mind telling her things he couldn't even admit to Alphys.
Both adults snapped out of their conversation, which had dived into contemplative silence, as the Riverperson began to sing. Blue looked to the boat, spotting the very kid he was to watch now inside the water-bound vehicle. He was nestled between the back and the last bench, swimming in his coat and scarf. The low, sweet voice of the Riverperson danced elegantly in the small clearing, a melody of something vaguely sad, vaguely lonely, but only just a pinch of these familiar emotions swirled within the otherwise peaceful notes.
A lullaby. It was a lullaby. A song Blue once knew.
Muffet and Blue moved to the boat, dropping three coins for the fee into the bucket attached to the front seat. They both settled into the back, just in front of Little Bones.
The boat began slowly, as to not jostle the child, presumably.
"so, Muffet," Blue began after a moment of silence, "you're dressed up nicely. Do you have a date?"
He watched the usually stoic bartender flush and cough into one of her hands. Naturally, this caused him to grin coyly.
She was nearly inaudible, "perhaps I do."
"Oh! My! Stars!" He exclaimed, visibly alight with excitement," Who is it? Where are you going? Are they nice?"
"Oh, um," her shy smile made itself known, "it's a blind date so I don't know. We... We have reservations at NTT's restaurant."
He beamed, "sounds like you're in for a treat, then! Have fun, Muffet."
The conversation died out again, this time less jarring and more relaxed. Blue and Little Bones for off in Hotlands to pick up the paperwork, which revealed that Undyne was actually sick, so Alphys simply stuffed the documents into his hands without looking and disappeared into the lab again.
one more boat trip and an easy trek through the least crowded roads later, the two skeletons were safely in the grand hall before the throne room. The child behind him seemed to have vanished, though, when checking behind him, he still found him there. Little Bones did not breath, blink, or move.
He snapped out of it when, a moment later, the doors swung open with help from two guards. Blue led Little Bones to the queen, feeling more confident, even as the child grew shier.
Toriel was settled among the flowers, a wooden stool serving as little table. Her fingers curled around a ceramic cup, steam twisting in the air to signal the warmth of her tea. Her cloak fell around her, the heavy silk concealing the majority of her body.
An image of something peaceful; an image that Blue marveled in and found his soul calm with.
Her eyes fluttered open and a smile met her lips," Ah, Sans. What a pleasant surprise."
Blue chuckled softly, knowing that she had prepared for his arrival. In fact, his favorite cup sat opposite of her, already filled.
"Good morning, Ms. Toriel." He murmured, moving to settle at the stool. Little Bones followed shlyly, movements ａｖｏｉｄｉｎｇ careful of the flowers.
"Oh," Toriel whispered," who is this?"
"...m' name's Lil' Bones."
Blue felt pride swell in his soul at the child's soft voice. Honestly, even if Little Bones hadn't tried to speak to Toriel, Blue would have been proud anyway. Little Bones felt like his child. Maybe not his alone, but still his.
His little boy...
Toriel smiled sweetly at the child, warm, honeyed brown eyes sparkling in delight," Well, Little Bones, it is a pleasure to meet you!"
She held out her hand for him to shake, but Little Bones simply stared at the fluffy paw.
Toriel took it in stride, pulling back and placing both hands in her lap.
"Shall we begin?"