Ink explained everything. How he was protector of the AUs, how Underfell was one of them, how the AUs were different. It was a lot of information, but Link listened to every word, excitement for it stirring in his soul.
They walked around Underfell for a few hours, finding no one. Just piles of dust. It chilled Link deep in his bones knowing the piles were once monsters, kids playing in the snow or adults talking about their lives. What once was their lives.
Once, they entered a small house, one similar to that colorful house back in his AU, but different. It wasn't just the lack of Christmas lights lining the outside, the shutters clinging to the window like its life depended on it, or the open mouthed window with teeth bared in a frozen snarl. It was the feel of the house. Papyrus' house gave off a nice, homey feeling, it didn't claw him up from the inside out this did. It cradled him in a comforting hand and with the smell of badly cooked spaghetti.
The little skeleton next to him didn't seem to notice, pressing on and into the haunting house. Their feet crunched on broken glass, alerting anyone inside their presence. The sounds didn't seem to affect Ink, who started up the stairs in the far corner.
Link could feel Flowey's gaze nervously flick to him occasionally. The flower could feel it, too. The uneasiness of the dark room looming over them. The skeleton didn't want to make it know they knew of its presence, instead he picked up a shard of glass and peered into his transparent reflection, the sides of his face cut off. The crack in his eye was there, plain as day for all to see. He leaked magic into his sockets, the curiosity of what Flowey, Chara and Ink were so focused on.
It didn't surprise him, not like it did with the others. He stared back at the colorful orbs in the shard of glass. It drowned out the image of his face, but he could still tell which eye it was holding the contest. The untouched eye glowed a nice, comforting blue. It seemed familiar, containing his forgotten memories and life.
The other glowed between the pieces of bone, separated by the dark space. It was a gentle purple, holding new memories and new beginnings, holding his new future. It was a new path he had to take. The purple eye also held something different, something the blue didn't. Curiosity. While the comforting blue did contain pain and torture, the violet carried his new found curiosity for his little adventure.
"Link?" Flowey's voice pulled his gaze from the broken piece of glass. The flower wasn't looking at him, but to where Ink had gone with worried gaze. Descending the stairs, was the colorful skeleton, trying to put an arm around the new skeleton's shoulders, who kept protesting.
This skeleton was more like Ink, being short and all, but the new skeleton was almost the complete opposite of the colorful skeleton. His shorts and jacket were black with gold accents, red sweater under the hoodie. His shoes were much like his style; black and red with gold laces. A single gold tooth stood out against sharp, white teeth, at least that's what it looked like. He only saw a glimpse of it before the red scarf was pulled over his mouth.
"Link, this is another Sans," Ink introduced. "But me and everyone in the void calls him Fell, after his AU." The new skeleton, Fell, turned away and mumbled some kind of greeting. Link only gave a small smile, hoping to see those hidden teeth again, but he didn't spare him a glance.
"In Underfell, they follow a saying that is said in Undertale." Ink led Fell to the beaten up couch against the wall. "It's kill or be killed. In Undertale, Flowey says it to Frisk, but here it's a way of life. I'm going to see if I can find any more survivors, can you stay here with him, try to figure out what happened?"
"Uh, sure…" Link said, slightly unsure of what he was to do. How was he going to do that? This new face didn't look like he wanted to talk. Ink nodded, satisfied with his answered, and left for his search. The house adopted an awkward silence, the small skeleton shifted every now and then in discomfort.
"What's your name?" Fell asked. Clearly, he couldn't take the quiet any longer.
"I'm Link, but everyone keeps telling me it's Sans." This earned a confused tilt of the head, and a scoff. The Underfell resident shook his head and looked away.
"Why?"
"I lost my memory during a genocide route." Link sat on the couch, keeping his distance from the dark character, and removed the black beanie. "When the timeline reset, I still couldn't remember anything."
Fell nodded, curling in on himself and grabbing the tattered scarf in both hands, pulling it over his mouth once again. Then, glared at the white bandages wrapped around Link's head. They lapsed into another stretch of silence as they waited for Ink. Right, he still needed to find out what happened.
"Hey, Fell." The skeleton glanced up, scarf still covering his mouth. "What happened here?" Fell's eye sockets narrowed, trying to remember.
"I don't know." He gripped the scarf. "It looked like Chara, but they had someone else with them. Boss tried to fight them, but now he's gone. This is his." Link felt his own grip tighten on the hat in his boney hands. How? How were they able to get here?
"Can I see that scarf for a second?" He could feel himself trembling, the thought of his Chara being here terrified him. The thought of what they could do to the other AUs terrified him even more.
"Why?"
"I need to see what Papyrus saw." Fell gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything as he held out the tattered end of the scarf. Link took it in his hands, gently, and ignored Flowey's warnings and protests. The familiar white hot pain in the base of his skull. He gripped the scarf in a tighter hold, trying to summon the memories.