Chapter three:

Over the past week Dust has been visiting Ink in his home every second day. He just switches between physical and emotional hurt. He's been using more emotional hurt as it is becoming harder for Ink to hide his feelings. He doesn't want a physical injury to give away the truth.

Ink hardly speaks to anyone even when he goes out. He tries to act okay even assuring others he just has nothing to say, so he is staying quiet, he has luckily been able to barely make the others let go of it. He just isn't sure how much longer he'll be able to convince them that he's okay... Even though he's not. He curls up in his living room and is about to take off his sash, as he has been doing at home, when Dusts most recent words from yesterday hit him.

'You know what you are. Don't you? You're better off dead. Worthless and useless. Especially now that AUs are all in one world. No one wants you here. Even Error has moved on from you.'

Ink takes his hand off of his sash, leaving it on, and he glances to another part of his home. His eyes fall to half open in deep depression.

Error and Blue arrive at Inks home. They've decided to surprise visit him. They thought that maybe Ink would be a bit more chatty in his own home.

Error knocks on the door then waits.

No response comes from inside the home.

"Is he not home?" Blue wonders out loud as Error knocks again with the same result.

Error has a bad feeling about this. He can feel it in his soul. He moves back and glances to the window to the living room. He sees the curtains are closed.

Ink never closes them, not even during the night or if he's not home.

"S-Somethings wrong." Error tells Blue and moves back to him. He tries the doorknob finding it unlocked. He knows that it means that Ink is home. He is aware Ink locks the door if he's away from the home. He moves inside with Blue following behind him.

Both are now worried.

Error glances around in the entry way. "I-Ink?" He calls out with no response. He moves further into the home then spots a knife on the floor in the living room. His vision partially blocked by a wall. He hurries that way also noticing blood. He hears Blue chase after him.

The two freeze at the scene they come upon in the living room.

Ink Is laying on the floor unconscious. His arms are deeply slashed.

The knife laying just a little away from him.

"I-I-Ink!" Error hurries to the others side as does Blue. He shakily reaches towards Ink as Blue tries using his magic to heal Inks wounds. He should have been able to stop this. He's known Ink longer than anyone else. He should have realized that Ink was feeling so much worse than he was letting on.

Ink must have been feeling so horrible for him to try to kill himself. He's never even talked about harming himself, or even about suicide before ever.

Error glances up as Blue gasps stopping the healing.

"I can't heal him!" Blues voice is full of panic. "The wounds are too deep!"

Error picks Ink up bridal style and opens a portal to the hospital. He races through it with Blue at his heels.

Once they're through it the portal closes.

A doctor notices and hurries over taking Ink from Error, then rushing him deeper into the hospital.

Error wants to go after him only for Blue to put a hand on his shoulder. He stops and looks back to his boyfriend with panic and worry.

"Let the doctors do their thing." Blue suggests and tries to look as calming to Error as he can. He lets some worry slip to show the other he's worried too. He gently leads Error to the waiting room. He sits not forcing Error to sit too.

Error paces in front of Blue his arms crossed over his chest. "H-How could I-I have not n-noticed how m-much pain he w-was in?!" He questions no one in particular.

"He was hiding it well." Blue points out wanting to try to help ease Error. "He managed to convince everyone he was doing better than he was."

"I k-know him! I've k-known him f-for more years t-than anyone! I should h-have been a-able to see h-his pain!" Error pauses as Blue gets up and hugs him.

"We can't change the past. For now we should try to be strong for him." Blue offers his advice for Error. "He needs us more than ever."

Error shakily nods then hugs his boyfriend back. He sobs to him with each sob being as glitchy as his voice.

Blue rubs his boyfriends back trying to stay strong for him. He is really worried about Ink as well. He wonders what could have drove their friend to this.

The two sit in a chair each after Error manages to calm down.

Blue decides that once they get the news on how Ink is doing he'll message the others. He knows they'll want to know how he's doing, so he should know before he sends any messages.

Eventually a doctor approaches causing them to leap to their feet. It is a grey cat monster with black stripes and a fluffy tail.

"H-How is h-he?" Error questions nervously as he stares at the doctor intently.

"We've stabilized him for now. His wounds are too deep to heal with magic. We've patched them up the best we can. He's still in critical condition. There is the chance that he won't wake up or may dust." The doctor sees the twos looks of hope fall at hearing this. "If he does wake up then it'll be a good sign. His fate is still up in the air as of right now. We've done all that we can. It is now up to him to make it out of this."

Error almost wants to collapse but Blue hugs him.

"Do you mind if I ask what happened? I need to know if this is something we need to report."

"From the scene we walked in on he tried to kill himself with a knife." Blue explains, as Error is shaking and glitching even worse than normal at the thought of Ink dusting. "We aren't sure why though."

"I see. Well I'll schedule an appointment with a hospital therapist. If he does wake up." The doctor nods to this.

"C-C-Can we s-see him?" Error manages to get out and he is trying to control his glitching. "W-We're the c-closest he h-h-has to family."

The doctor nods. "Just be careful with him. And don't force him to wake up. Also there's a button labeled with a phone symbol on the upper side of the bed. Press that if an emergency comes up and you need a doctor right away. Though there will be check ins to see how he's doing otherwise." He leads them as the two nod in understanding.

As soon as they get to the room Error is the first to run inside.

Error stops beside Inks bed looking over a still unconscious Ink.

There is machines hooked up to his upper arms to avoid where he slashed his arms. He doesn't have a soul to hook some machines up to, but at least they allowed him to have his sash on still. It is well known that he feels emotions with his sash of paints. His lower arms are bandaged, and there is an oxygen mask that is designed for skeletons on his face.

There's oxygen masks that were made for all kinds of monsters. So they can be used as needed.

Blue joins at Errors side as they look to Ink worriedly. He moves away fro a moment bringing over a chair for Error to sit. He also brings one for himself. He smiles as the other quietly thanks him then sits down. "I'm gonna message the others. They'll need to know." He tells his boyfriend instead of sitting in his own chair.

Error nods softly so Blue leaves the room.

The doctor has already left to give them time alone.

Blue pulls out his phone and sends a group text to all their skeleton friends. He doesn't want to type it over and over again. He leans against the wall by the door once it is sent. He finds worried tears streaming from his eyes. He quietly cries to get it out. He knows that Error is feeling worse. He needs to support him. He wipes his eyes as he gets a bunch of responses. He's glad he hasn't added Error to the conversation to not bug him. He wants Error to have some peace without getting all the messages from the others.

Blood and Farm have Dust over to the farm.

Blood had showed Dust his favorite animals there which are the chickens. His eyes widen as he gets the text. He looks to Farm who also looks horrified at the news.

All they know is that Ink tried to kill himself and is in the hospital. With it unknown if he will make it or not.

Dust reads the text then glances as Blood and Farm move close being affected by it. He smirks as no one is looking to him. He quickly drops the smirk and fakes a concerned look. He follows them as in the group text everyone decides to come by the hospital.

Everyone arrives one after the other in groups of at least two. They are now gathered in Inks room all looking worried about their friend.

Dream stays close alongside Error as Blue talks to the others.

Blue can see Cross also be worried about Dream, along with worrying about Ink.

"Do you know why he did it?" Stretch asks his brother worriedly and Blue shakes his head.

"Me and Error went for a surprise visit. Hoping to make a good day for him." Blue explains as they all listen to him. "Error saw something off so we went inside. We found him in the living room. We didn't find any note. And he was already unconscious. We really have no idea what happened to cause this." He feels a hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. He leans close to his brother who had put his hand on his shoulder. "I couldn't heal him. Error opened a portal to the hospital. There's still a chance that he might not wake up and turn to dust. We're just hoping he'll make it."

"We will all hope that he makes it." Dream tells Blue gaining his attention. "We need to be strong for him. And put our faith in that he will wake up. Then we'll support him and try to figure out what happened. Without pushing him."

The others make sounds of agreement to that.

"I'm sure he'll be very thankful to us all." Blue agrees and closes his eyes as his brother comforts him.

Few by few after awhile they all leave for their own reasons, until finally leaving behind three couples.

Dream and Cross, Blue and Error, then finally Stretch and Edge.

Stretch wants to stay to support Blue while his brother supports Error.

Edge wants to be there for Stretch. He loves him too much to leave him to deal with emotions alone in this situation.

They all turn, expect for Error and Dream who focus on Ink, as some extra beds are brought in by some nurses.

The grey cat doctor comes in then smiles to them, he clearly knows that they'd want to stay without them telling him. He lets the nurses arraigned the beds so there's still space to move around easily, plus be able to wheel Inks bed out easily if it is needed. "It's good that he has those who care about him to help during such a time." He mentions to the skeletons. "In situations like this it is beneficial. I've seen better recovery process if they have a support with them."

"Thank you." Edge speaks for all of them even as they all have looks of gratitude.

The doctor does a check on Ink as the couples figure out who will sleep where.

The nurses have left the room with the beds in place.

There's only three beds so the couples will share a bed each.

"Well so far things are looking good." The doctor mentions pulling away after the check. "Hopefully it'll continue." He sees the others nod and leaves the room.

The group set up a schedule so that way at least one couple is always awake. Since they don't know when Ink will wake up... They're trying to stay positive. They just know that they will all need to sleep at some point.

In the meantime Dust arrives to his home and starts laughing maniacally.

Dust Papyrus hovers by him. His connection to his brother causes him to be able to feel his brothers emotions. So he smiles feeling the happiness Dust is getting from what happened. "Do you think that he'll wake up?"

"I hope not." Dust responds as he settles his laughter. "Did you see the looks on Blood and Farm!? Hilarious!"

Dust Papyrus is used to Dust being evil even though Dust had been acting good for awhile. He nods. "Yes. I did brother." He confirms with a smile of his own. He is angry at Blood for hurting Dust so it did please him to see Bloods look.

"Just wait until they find out that he dusted in the hospital! All that hope of him recovering draining away." Dust chuckles then heads to make himself a celebratory dinner.