Since my failed disappearing act, Ink and Dream never let me out of their sight. Despite Ink keeping the reasons between us, Dream diligently contributed to my "babysitting." Ultimately, it was decided I was too fragile mentally to be left alone but to fragile physically to go anywhere. So I was stuck.
One day, though, an opportunity presented itself.
Ink paced back and forth, wearing circles in the non-existent ground, occasionally pausing to think. When he did this, he seemed to forget what direction he was pacing in, and would often go the reverse way. I watched him boredly, occasionally glancing down at my poor sketchbook, which still had nothing good in it. Eventually, Ink sighed loudly in frustration.
"Agh, fine!" he exclaimed to no one in particular, then turned to me. "Come on," he said. A swirling rainbow portal opened up beside him. I sprang to my feet.
"what?" I balked.
"I have to go check on something, but, Dream's busy right now, so you'll have to come with me."
My first instinct was to argue that I didn't need to be monitored, but, on the other hand, this was earning me a fieldtrip from the Doodle Sphere! Excited, I nodded and hurried over to Ink. Breaking a paint vial in his hands, Ink swept it out; the light lime particles materialized into a bubble like structure around me. With that, Ink pulled me through the portal.
After a bright burst of light, I was chucked from the tunnel into a deep snow drift. The bubble took the brunt of the force, but it was still unpleasant. Ink landed on his feet beside me and helped me up.
"Try not to wander too far, but, you can look around if you want. And remember; this is not your world. No teleporting; it could dislodge the patch on your back. Just be careful, okay?" Ink warned, then hurried off.
Awed, I gazed around me. It looked like we were in the equivalent of my Snowdin forest, except… this place was wrecked. Chunks of ground had been pulled up, forming precarious cliff-like structures. Trees were uprooted, buildings flattened, and the once soft, even snow was churned up. But, growing overtop all this were mosses and the occasional buttercup. It was almost tranquil.
I meandered about, climbing over the fallen trees in my way to inspect the town. I couldn't much tell the buildings apart anymore. Though, I think I stumbled over a chunk of Grillby's counter at one point.
"hey, ink?" I called, my voice carrying through the empty air. "what happened to this place? where are all the monsters?" A skittish Ink called out an answer from somewhere on the other side of town.
"This world was razed long ago. All the monsters were evacuated to a safe place called 'The Omega Timeline,' organized by someone named Core Frisk, who you'll probably meet someday. Anyway, it seems there's been some disturbance here, but, I don't know what, exactly."
Nodding to myself, pondering this strange information, I continued to search the overgrown wasteland. Moving back towards the big locked doors in the forest, I wondered if they had been wrenched open. Perhaps I could see into the Ruins. Sadly, the impenetrable doors were still shut, now barred with a fallen stone. Sighing, I glanced around. Interestingly, one of the chunks of ground appeared to be… a staircase? A perfectly formed, winding staircase rose up from the trees, with a few growing atop it, along with a patch of flowers. Curious, I decided to climb the steps.
At the top, soft patches of golden flowers covered the ground, shifting in the warm breeze. A few pine trees dropped their rustling green needles about. It was truly serene. I wandered the expanse until I came across something strange. It appeared to be a blue spider web, strung between some of the trees. I'd never seen anything like it.
"hey ink," I called, "what's up with this blue string?" I asked. From across the town, Ink whirled and cried out for me not to touch it—too late—as I nudged the web with my foot.
Threads whipped out of the ground, wrapping my ankle and yanking me up. I shrieked in surprise, flinching as my slipper fell off, conveniently slapping me in the face on its way down. Suddenly, a portal opened in front of me. Relieved, thinking it was Dream or Ink, I stopped struggling. But the skeleton who stepped through the portal was neither of my friends. In fact, he looked like an enemy.
His bones were black as night, as were his slippers, jacket, and shorts, the latter having a bright blue line down the side. His shirt was primary red. A large, yellow smile greeted me. His red eyes flashed eagerly; one side was nothing but a small white spot for a pupil, the other was composed of rings of blue and yellow centered on a black dot. Deep blue tear streaks stained his face. Flickering 1's and 0's glitched around him, as did the word "ERROR." His smile grew. The strings—which were coming from his fingertips—tightened around my leg as he approached me.
"WhaT's wrOnG? FeEling a LittlE hIgh StRung?" he taunted. Suddenly, there was a flash of light behind him as Ink teleported in and drew his paintbrush.
"Error! Back down!" he ordered. The threads wrapped me up securely, around my other ankle and wrists, waist and chest, lifting me back and higher… away from Ink. The dark skeleton, who's name I assumed to be Error, tipped his head to the side.
"HelLo InK. LoNG tIme, no sEe. I wOnDereD wHeN yOu'D CAtCh Up tO mE," he declared boredly.
"I'm not here for a fight," Ink replied. "I have no interest in an empty world; you can have it. Just put him down." Error chuckled, a glitchy, chilling sound. A bundle of strings wrapped together, forming a tentacle-like shape, and started poking me, probing for something.
"Oh, buT I'm nOt Here foR a WoRlD. I'm shoPpinG," Error explained. I gave a little cry of fear at the tentacle's searching and struggled to get away. At this, the strings pulled tighter, restricting my movement even more. Ink faltered at my cry. Error smiled and continued. "I'm loOKing fOr a New toY; mY lAst onE bRokE."
At these words, Ink looked stricken; he barfed a torrent of black ink, evidently almost choking. Barely giving himself time to recover, he took an angry step forward but stopped when the strings tightened, causing me to yelp again; a warning from Error to stay away.
"What have you done?!" Ink gasped, voice breaking in a mix of horror, sorrow, and fury. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO BLUEBERRY?!" Spastic shocks of color flickered violently into the air around him. I estimated mere seconds before Error (and by extension, me) ended up blasted into next Tuesday, give or take a few centuries. Then the Destroyer waved his hand dismissively.
"ThE chAtty piEce of FrUit is fiNe." The rainbow flurries faltered. "He'S noT a tOy, hE's my peT." Error glanced up at me. Our eyes locked. I shivered, panic rising. "But tHis oNe woUlD mAke A gReat pLaytHinG."
"no thank you!" I shrieked. Error tightened the strings in warning, almost to the point of making my eye lights pop out of my head. Focus still torn, Ink looked distraught.
"Error, you can't keep Serif. He wouldn't survive a teleport, let alone your games. Just let him go. Please," Ink beseeched. My soul was drawn out and Error wrapped it up in tight blue threads as Ink begged. Error cut his plea short.
"If hE's as fRagiLe as yoU feAr, He woN't SuFFer lOng." With that, the bundle of strings reached for my soul.
I felt a spike of energy as panic reached its peak. There was a flash of light—I was suddenly on the ground, facedown between Ink and Error. I had phased straight through the strings. For a split second, nobody moved out of surprise. A static growl laced the air as Error flung his hand up, summoned more strings, and shot a blast of them my way. Ink darted in front of me, swinging his brush to knock the attack off its path. I began to rise, but then fell back.
"ink… the patch, it's faltering…"
Ink swung his paintbrush once more, a bright array of colors temporarily solidifying between us and Error. Whirling, Ink grabbed the back of my jacket and shirt, yanked down, and swiped his brush across the widening gap, loosened by the strings and my teleporting. He was immediately forced to return to the defense.
My critically low HP slowly increased back to its whooping full capacity of 1. I stumbled to my feet. The hill on which we stood dropped off sharply behind Ink and I; Error was blocking the way down the cliff. Ink was slowly backing up, losing ground. There was no escape.
"Serif!" I turned my full attention to Ink. "Serif, I need you to get back to the Doodle Sphere, but I can't risk opening a portal near Error; you're gonna have to jump."
"what?!" I shrieked.
"The portal down there is still open. Down and to the left," Ink said. I peeked over the edge.
"are you crazy? i can't make a jump like that!"
"Trust me. You won't die," Ink insisted.
Apparently, I hesitated a little too long, because one moment I was standing on the edge of the cliff, the next moment, Ink whirled and shoved me. I plummeted through the air, falling like a stone. i'm gonna die i'm gonna die i'm gonna die! Then, faintly, I could hear the resonating sound of Ink snapping his fingers. Suddenly, the magical paint coating my back transformed, snapping out into teal wings.
Still panicking, I managed to pull up and came to a rolling crash-landing. Struggling to my feet, confused at the weight on my back, I sprinted for the portal and leapt through. Seconds later, Ink teleported from the cliff into the portal behind me and snapped it shut.