That was the beginning of a new adventure. From then on, I was determined to make a difference, to do the best of my ability to help in some small way. First, though, I had to learn how to use said abilities. At the start, it was clumsy and awkward, trying to figure out the wings. It took a while to make them do what I wanted, summoning and unsummoning, moving, turning… flying. Regardless of the fact collisions in the Doodle Sphere don't drain HP, things like crash-landing on my face hurt regardless.
Before long, Ink realized he didn't want to fix my jacket constantly nor cut holes out, and thus decided to do something a bit more creative: paint it. I don't think "practical" is in his vocabulary. Magic paint, in the design of the Delta Rune, now covered the back part of the fabric. Wings retracted, it looked like the typical symbol we all knew so well: wings spreading from beneath a circle which hovered above the three up-down-up pointing triangles, the middle one replaced with a save star. But, whenever it was time to fly—or flop around like an injured bird—my wings took the place of the ones on the rune. Ink was pretty chuffed with the whole design.
So, after weeks upon weeks of waiting, eventually, finally, I got my chance to make a difference.
It was a relatively normal day in the Doodle Sphere. Ink was pacing about, darting from sketchbook to sketchbook, murmuring to himself and misplacing art supplies. I glanced between him and one of his notebooks, entitled "Minor AUs," looking through the different pictures and trying to learn about these worlds. Just as Ink lost track of the 26th colored pencil, Dream vaulted through a portal.
"Ink! Serif!" Dream called, his voice chipper, "It's all clear! Ready!" Upon hearing this, Ink bounded to his feet; a handful of forgotten colored pencils fell from the folds of his scarf.
"Excellent! Great work Dream," Ink exclaimed, gesturing to me and pulling open a portal of his own. "Onwards!" he declared. I leapt up.
"'onwards'? to where? what's going on?" I asked. I noticed Dream roll his eyes at Ink before hopping into the rainbow portal.
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you," Ink murmured, trotting ahead of me towards the portal. "It's your first tag-along mission to an AU! Ready?" Before I even had time to answer, Ink grabbed my hand and excitedly hauled me with him through the rift in space.
After a blinding display of psychedelic light, I was chucked from the portal. Ink kept me from falling, though, pulling me back just in time to keep me from face-planting in the pine-needle-littered snow.
"thanks…" I murmured dizzily, feeling somewhat sick despite having no physical stomach.
"You'll get the hang of landings soon enough," Ink assured me happily, closing the portal. Once my head stopped spinning, I joined Dream, peeking over the edge of a bush.
"where are we?" I asked, Dream shushing me when I spoke too loudly, and added—"and why are we being quiet?"
"UnderFell," Dream explained in a whisper. "It's like… an edgy version of the Classic world. Here, it really is 'kill or be killed.' And, we're being quiet because of him," he explained, pointing.
I followed his line of sight. There, at a nearby sentry station, was an unidentifiable form. Whoever it was had a spikey, fluffy black hoodie, lined with beige fur, pulled over their head, which rested in their arms. It seemed they were asleep.
"Cherry knows of the AUs, but, it'd be best if he doesn't see us," Ink added, coming to crouch beside me. "We're not really on good terms." I shot him a confused look, mouthing "cherry?" Ink shrugged. "Cherry's the Sans of this world. Blueberry gave him the nickname. He's the only one on Cherry's good side." I nodded, turning my attention back to the treeline, realizing Cherry must be the napping sentry.
"so why are we here?" I whispered.
"There's a chance Error has been here recently," Ink explained. "He drops in from time to time to steal stuff. Ever since Blue was captured, I've been keeping close tabs on Cherry's things, namely the refrigerator."
"I picked up on some frustration a few hours ago," Dream continued. "It's a pretty specific feeling unique to whenever Cherry notices something's missing." He stared a moment more at the sleeping Sans, then turned to Ink. "I sense he's still out. Doubtful he'll wake any time soon."
"What about Papyrus?" Ink whispered.
"Last I checked, he was going to Undyne's house in Waterfall on his way back from Hotlands. He shouldn't return for a while." Ink nodded, grabbed Dream and I, and teleported.
The forest flashed into oblivion, replaced with a house in horrible disarray. My two friends scattered in an instant, intent on their mission, but I took a minute to take it all in.
Bright red walls and jaggedly-patterned carpet gave an overall sense of chaos. From where I stood, I could see most of the first floor and part of the second. On one side of the room stood a table with trashed paraphernalia. Further still was the entrance to the kitchen, where Ink and Dream busied themselves. In front of an old TV was an old couch, which was about as black as the dead screen it faced. At the top of the staircase I could faintly make out a door; based on the general layout of the house, I decided it must be equivalent to Papyrus's room, except, its "Keep Out" signs were not as friendly and humorous as the ones I knew. Doubtless Cherry's room was a bit further down the hall.
Turning from this harsh reflection of home, I headed for the kitchen to join Ink and Dream. Ink sat in front of the open fridge, hurriedly listing its contents, while Dream searched through the cabinets.
"heya, is there anything i should—" Ink and Dream dashed towards the doorway, pulling me along with them.
"Kitchen's unchanged," Dream summarized. "We gotta check Cherry's room. Sooner we're out of here, the better. Time's of the essence. If we get caught, they'll try to kill us."
With that comforting explanation out of the way, we scrambled up the stairs, past Papyrus's room, and down the hall to Cherry's. Ink nudged the ajar door open. Once we three were inside, he pulled it to again.
"Look for anything unusual, like a completely empty box or drawer, or something recently broken," he instructed.
We split, scouring the corners of the room. If finding Error's tracks meant finding a trace of Blueberry, I could understand why the two Star Sanses were so intent on this mission. So, I was determined to be thorough, too, even if it meant digging through a fellow Sans's stuff.
Scanning through a pile of bins, despite the vague advice, I searched for anything out of place. A minute later, I moved to the next cluster. And the next. And the next. There didn't seem to be anything.
Judging by what I found, I soon realized my lifestyle really was different from this skele doppelganger. For starters, I wasn't exactly a hoarder; I didn't want to keep stuff, I was just too lazy to throw anything away. But I recognized lots of things Cherry shouldn't have in the first place; he'd stolen them. I recognized objects from the lab, Grillby's, Undyne's house, and even from the castle. There weren't as many science related objects… more trap related ones. Also, instead of empty ketchup bottles, I found empty mustard bottles. Gross. I couldn't believe anyone could drink such a thing.
Just as I managed to slip through the jammed closet door to continue my search, I heard a sound. My soul stuttered. Ink and Dream heard it too. THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP…
"Someone's coming!" Dream whispered desperately.
The other two skeles shared a panicked glance. An idea hit me. Flinging my hand out, I pinged Ink and Dream and gave a hard yank, pulling them into the cramped closet.
Crushed together like sardines, trying not to bump anything over, we stopped breathing. I shifted slightly, trying to see past Ink's scarf, and peaked through the door slit. Moments later, the pounding footsteps neared, and a monstrous shout of "SAAANS!" later, the bedroom door slammed open. In stomped Fell Papyrus.
In plain honesty, despite him somewhat resembling my sweet bro… Fell Paps was kinda scary. Instead of a friendly, inviting smile, his expression was jagged and menacing. A scar-like crack crossed over his right eye socket; the lights in his eyes were red. The long gloves clenched tightly at his sides were also red, as was the tattered scarf fluttering agitatedly behind him. Angry, tall crimson boots with black straps pounded the ground as he scoured the corners of the room. Tucked inside said boots were the ends of his black jeans, complimented by his black, spiky shoulder armor.
"WHERE IS THAT LAZYBONES?" Papyrus murmured, loud despite his intentions. "HE SHOULD BE BACK BY NOW… I SWEAR TO ASGORE, SANS," he suddenly yelled, "IF I FIND YOU ASLEEP ON YOUR LAZY BUTT, I WILL PERSONALLY DUST YOU! YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING TRASH BAG!"
I cringed at these unkind words. This guy was nothing like my Papyrus. I turned away, no longer intent on stealing a glimpse out of the closet, when something caught my gaze. If I'd had the chance to look through the clutter earlier, I wasn't sure I would have noticed, since it would normally be taller than me. But now, it was hard not to notice; it was right beside my face.
Stacked behind me, digging into my spine slightly, were stacks of plastic bins. The top one closest to me was open, and… empty. Well, not quite. There were a few short, tangled bits of yarn littering the bottom, along with a small shred of unnaturally bright blue. Curious, I pinged it and some of the bits of string out, lifting it from the bin and holding the scraps in the palm of my hand, bringing it close to my face to get a better look. i think the blue thing is… fabric?
As I nudged Dream to show him my finding, the bins shifted. My soul went rigid as Papyrus turned towards the tiny sound. I don't know what happened, but the moment I looked into his red eyes, fear spiked to critical levels and my wings snapped out. Bins toppled. A dangerous smile grew on Papyrus's face. He started towards us, fast, muttering "WHY, YOU LITTLE DUST-DOOMED COWARD…" while he picked his way through the clutter. Ink gave a tiny panicked gasp, grabbed Dream and I with a grip like iron, and suddenly teleported without taking time to pinpoint the location. Doubtless, Papyrus saw the flash of the teleport, but at least he didn't catch us.
We dropped, about a yard above the ground, into a slush mound in Snowdin Forest. I was fortunate enough to land on top of the heap, and Ink was unfortunate enough to land on the bottom. Despite this, he bounded up within moments of impact, sending Dream and me sprawling once more.
"Never again!" Ink exclaimed, evidently shaken, wearing a tight circle in the snow as he paced. Dream helped me up.
"sorry…" I muttered, feeling awful. "maybe you shoulda left me behind…"
"It's alright," Dream comforted, "these sort of missions rarely go smoothly. Also," he pointed out, "things would have gone a lot worse if you hadn't hidden us in the first place."
"There was nothing…" Ink murmured to himself, sockets hollow. Dream and I turned to him. He seemed to sense this, and his eye lights came back on. "Did you find anything? Anything at all?"
"Nothing missing from the cupboards or the room as far as I could see," Dream sighed. Ink's expression turned injured at this.
"Serif? Did you?" he asked hopefully.
I began to shake my head when I stopped short; there was the empty bin, and the blue scrap. I had forgotten about it in the panic of the moment. Pondering for a minute, a memory came to the forefront of my mind. when error attacked us, the strings seemed to come from his fingertips, so why…
"it's probably nothing…" I started slowly, "but doesn't error make his own string?" Ink looked puzzled.
"Yeah, it's magic," he affirmed. I dug in my hoodie pocket.
"then, is it possible he stole an entire bin of it?" I concluded, holding up the string and shred of blue as evidence. Dream and Ink peered at the scraps intently. "there was a nearly empty box in the closet," I explained. Hesitantly, they each picked up a piece and inspected them. A minute later, they swapped, then simultaneously, both gasped and said—
"Blueberry!"
"Blueberry!"
"what? did he leave that stuff? how do you know? is he here?" I asked hopefully. Ink's eyes flickered spastically through new symbols excitedly.
"Not likely, but he was here!" Ink exclaimed.
"Blue loves to knit," Dream explained, "Perhaps Error searched for some yarn on his request! And he brought Blue here to choose the colors!"
"The proof: this fabric is a piece of Blueberry's scarf! He musta left it here in hopes either we or Cherry would find it!" Ink stared at it in awe. "Error was telling the truth. Blue's still alive."
This was fantastic news to say the least. But the elation of the moment was shattered as a loud yell split the silence—
"SANS!"