Chapter Text
[The Backrooms]
"If you’re not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you’ll end up in the Backrooms, where it’s nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you."
~~Prologue~~
“Come on, hurry!” Dragging his friends through the bushes, he presented the area to them. It was a park, one surrounded by tons of wildlife and beautiful flowers. “Ta-daaa!!” Ink chirped, spreading his arms out to present it. It was a chaotically beautiful sight, and Ink deemed it perfect for a short film for their children when they were grown enough. He and Error had agreed that they would document some of their lives so that when they were fully grown they’d be able to fondly look back on these without a problem.
Dream’s face lit up. “Oh, Ink, this is beautiful!” He smiled, pushing the little trolley he’d been carrying further in. “Isn’t this just wonderful, Swap?”
With a nod, Swap began unbuckling the baby that was snug in the trolley. “Yes, it is. How do you always find AUs like these, Ink?” He asked, exhaustion apparent in his voice. Looks like Swap was just as tired of raising a child as Error.
“Ohhh, you know, soulless omniscience.” The protector shrugged, pulling out a little video camera. “Come on, let’s get this tape done so we can have fun!” He bounced a little in place, watching Swap pick up the little one in the cart.
Dream tilted his head as he looked around. “Where’s Error?” He questioned, taking a few steps to the side.
Taking a deep breath and holding it in, Ink tried to remember where Error said he’d be. It was at times like these where he forgot things like those. “I think he said…” The artist jogged over to the other side of the park’s play structure. “…right here!” He pointed at Error, who was resting with his arm over his eyes and a baby on his stomach.
Grumbling, Error sat up—making sure to support the baby, thankfully. “Are they here?” He asked, sliding his glasses back on. Ink nodded, putting the camera in his scarf and taking the infant from him as he stood up.
Swap gave Error a short side hug, and Dream gave the destroyer a smile and a wave. “Congratulations on your little one, Error.” The guardian congratulated, eyes on the baby Ink was holding.
“Yeah, you too.” Error responded, eyeing the baby that Swap was holding as well. Oh, right, neither had seen the other’s kids yet.
As if an introduction was overdue, Ink held out the baby in his arms slightly. “This is Paperjam!” He boasted, his pride and joy letting out a little coo. Trotting over to Dream and Swap’s baby, he held Paperjam close. “Say hi, Jammy!”
Of course, Paperjam did no such thing. “This is Camellia, I’m sure Ink didn’t introduce him because he forgot his name again.” Dream introduced with the same amount of pride Ink had over his own child. Ink gave a little glare at the remark the guardian had made, but he paid it no mind shortly after. “Say hi, Camellia.” Dream cooed, watching the little one ignore the request as the other had.
“Let’s get a video of them with Paperjam first.” Error suggested as he rubbed his eyes, his intentions of having Paperjam out of his care for a little longer clear as day. Something about having a relatively normal soul made raising children exhausting for parents, and since Dream and Ink didn’t have normal souls—or a soul at all in Ink’s case, they were the only two not tired out of the four.
With a nod, Dream took Paperjam out of Ink’s arms. Digging in his scarf for the video camera, Ink tried to get it to work. The video feedback was pitch black, which confused him. Didn’t he take off the camera’s cover yet?
He flipped the camera over, revealing that he hadn’t. “Oops! Got it.” He pointed the camera at his friends, hitting record a little too early to catch a genuine moment. “Ready?” Ink asked, smiling at his friends.
After sharing a look with each other, Dream and Swap nodded at Ink. “Ready.” They said in unison, cracking a smile at their synchronization.
“Okay, wait, let me get the right angle.” Ink said rather loudly as if there was a sound barrier all of a sudden. He crouched down a little, zooming in on his friends and taking a step back for better focus. “PJ, Camellia, look here!”
Dream and Swap chuckled, holding them closer together to each other. Of course, Ink had completely forgotten about his spouse behind him, taking a few more steps backward until he bumped into the other. With a grunt, they both fell down. “Ah- shit!” Error exclaimed.
Instead of hitting the ground hard, Ink felt his body phase through the floor, as if he had summoned an ink puddle to jump through. Except he hadn’t. His body hadn’t turned to liquid as it typically would. He could also still feel Error and his glitches. He could hear Error screaming.
Screaming? What was the cause for panic? Ink turned around as best as he could, seeing the freefall they’d entered. Wait—freefall?? Where were they! Everything around them was… black, pure black. There was a dim, yellow light emitting from below them—but that was way below them.
Out of instinct, Ink grabbed Error tightly and tilted him above himself so that if they landed, Ink would break the fall for the other. But of course, they wouldn’t land. Ink could easily teleport the two. He closed his eyes, willing himself to summon an ink puddle right under himself to get out of there.
This, however, did not work. As Ink opened his eyes, he found that not only was he still in freefall, but looking under himself, the yellow light was way closer. Shit! He opened his mouth, wanting to ask Error to summon strings or a portal, but it seemed that at some point during all of this, he’d crashed.
Somehow, Ink hadn’t noticed the sudden lack of screaming and the glitches fluttering on his bones. The sound around him consisted of nothing but the air loudly announcing its presence in his ‘ears’.
Taking one last glance under him, he could tell they were a few seconds from making contact with the ground. As a last resort, he tired to wrap himself around Error as much as he could given his powers weren’t working. Ink wasn’t going to let his spouse get hurt if he could help it.
Feeling himself phase through one more surface, everything soon went black with a loud thud.
~~Chapter 1 Start~~
[Level 0]
A weight lifted off of Ink’s chest, taking away the warmth that had been radiating onto him. “Ink, wake up!!” Something violently shook the protector. “Shit… wake up!” It clutched his shirt tightly as it trembled.
Horrible pain struck through Ink’s skull, starting from the back of his head and ending at his eyesockets. With a groan, his hands attempted to shoot up but failed, dropping to his chest. “Owww…” He tried to flip onto his side, causing a ton more hurt to course through his entire body.
“You’re awake!” The voice pointed out. “D-don’t move…” It sounded a lot clearer now, but it was still a little foreign thanks to the ringing in his ears. Thankfully, Ink didn’t need much to realize who it belonged to thanks to the constant buffering.
Completely ignoring his orders, Ink sat up. “Error-” Naturally, pain shot through the protector again as it cut off his sentence with a hiss, but Ink ignored it to the best of his ability. “Error w-where—” Trying to open his eyes, Ink realized he couldn’t see. Everything was pitch black.
Panic began coursing through his body. He can’t see. He can’t see!! His vision—his eyes! Is that why he’s in so much pain? Where is Ink? What happened? Where is Error?? “Here, u-um…” Two hands landed on Ink’s torso and back, presumably Error’s. They painfully helped him move over. “I’m right here.” Mumbled the destroyer, holding Ink in his arms. The feeling of his glitches which would typically tickle him now felt a lot more like harsh pokes.
Ink held him tightly, his breathing panicked. “I can’t see.” He spoke softly. “Error, I can’t see.” Without warning, Error moved Ink into a position where he had to use strength to hold his head up. With one of his hands on Ink’s chest, Error wrapped his arm around the protector. Two fingers were soon shoved into Ink’s eyesockets, popping something. Suddenly, ink began gushing out the protector’s eyes. The sensation was nauseating. It was like he was throwing up through both of his eyesockets instead of his mouth.
Slowly, his vision began clearing out. “Y-you had a lot of—wait, your skull is cracked!” Error traced his finger along the back of Ink’s head, presumably following the path of a long crack.
Ink ignored the injury, looking around as Error’s voice faded in the background. This AU didn’t… seem familiar at all. The floor was covered by a dull brown carpet, one that could easily burn you with friction. The walls were also covered by an odd wallpaper. Actually, looking around, the walls were nonsensical. They barely formed a room; all of the walls were missing at least one big chunk out of them, as if they’d meant to put garage doors of all different sizes in. Looking up, there was a big industrial light on the ceiling, the kind you’d see in classrooms. It hurt Ink’s eyes, so he looked back down at the carpet. Paying attention, he could see that his ink—or rather the kind that would come out as blood—had stained a lot of the area near them. Turning his head, it was all around. The buzzing in his ears from the lights was borderline deafening as he spaced out in worry.
That’s… not good. If that much of his ink had gone, then… how much of his vials did he have left? Wait, he had his vials with him, right?? “Hey, are you paying attention to what I’m saying?” Error asked, gently slapping Ink’s cheek as if to snap him out of a trance. “We’re not safe here, Ink, I need you to get that through your all that blood in your ears!”
Alarm began coursing through Ink’s body. “Not safe?” He echoed, looking up at his spouse. Now that he was a bit more awake, he noticed how his throat hurt when he tried to speak.
“There’s been some weird footsteps passing by every few minutes.” Error explained as he pulled strings out his eyes, Ink only now noticing how quiet the other had been speaking. “And they’ve been louder each time.” The destroyer handed Ink one of his spare paintbrushes that he kept in his sash. “Here, heal yourself.” Oh, thank goodness, Error had his vial sash.
As soon as Error had what he deemed enough string, he ripped it and began coiling it up. Picking up the paintbrush, Ink tried swiping behind his head. Every time he tried, however, his arm ached. “Ru, help me take my shirt off.” The protector asked bluntly.
Error paused in his activity, glaring at the other as he blushed a little. “What?” He frowned. “Ink, now’s not-”
“Please, my entire body hurts. I can barely move my arms.” Ink pleaded, adding in a bit of clarification. A look of clarity crossed Error’s face.
Looking around, Error began undoing Ink’s scarf. “Can you move your arms out like this?” The destroyer asked, holding out his arms in front of himself. Ink tried, before letting out a defeated grunt when his arms hit the floor. Ow. “Shit, how are we going to get this off then?” He bit his finger.
Ink reached up, tugging at his sleeves. “Break these, we can just fix them later.” He suggested, though it sounded like more of an order. Without thinking it twice, Error ripped his sleeves off.
Turns out Ink’s right arm had cracked badly, and his left arm had been slightly dislocated—not enough to render it unusable, but more than enough to get it halfway there. After getting Error to painfully crack his arm in place, Ink fixed up his arms and took the rest of his shirt off. A few ribs fell out, causing him to wince. “Oh, you’re kidding.” He sighed, picking them up and painting them back into place. Well, no wonder everything fucking hurt.
His legs also had suffered from the fall, having been—uh… wait? What fall? Ink furrowed his brows, fixing those up before double checking his tailbone. Apparently he’d fallen, but from where?
Putting his pants back on, he noticed Error had been fixing his sleeves for him with his eyestrings. Ink took the chance to fix the back of his skull beforehand. His body still hurt, but it was significantly less than what it had been earlier. Stretching, he heard his back crack multiple times. “That sounds awful.” Error noted, throwing one of Ink’s shirts at him. “Are you better now?”
Ink nodded. “Yeah, way better.” He responded, taking note of how his throat still hurt. He swiped his brush at it, wondering if that would do anything. “Did I fall here?” The protector asked, dropping his brush to put his white undershirt on.
“I think we both did.” Error paused his sewing for a second, adjusting his glasses. Looks like one of the lenses broke from the fall. “I was rebooting for a while, but I could hear everything around us.” He shrugged. “When I came to, I was on top of you and you looked like you bled yourself to death.”
With a wince, Ink let out an awkward chuckle. “Yeah?” He knelt down, grabbing the little paintbrush again. “I can’t tell if your voice woke me up, or if it was how cold I got when you got off.” He joked, shaking his head. He painted Error’s glasses, fixing the broken glass. “Have I ever told you how much I love your warmth?” Ink tilted his head, a smile spreading through his lips.
Error blushed, letting out a sigh. “You want to flirt now? When we’re in this strange AU?” Ink nodded, taking a seat next to his spouse. “Idiot.”
With a shrug, Ink leaned onto the other. “I mean, we could always surprise PJ with a little sibling.” He joked, quickly being pushed away by the destroyer.
“H-hell no!!!” Error exclaimed, glitching a little. “If you try anything funny I’ll leave you tied up back here!” He threatened, throwing Ink’s other shirt directly at his face. Error knew that wouldn’t work, Ink always got out of his strings easily.
Ink caught it, slipping it on quickly as he could. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” He giggled, struggling with getting his head through the neck of the shirt. After he managed it, he picked up his scarf. “Say, where even are we?” He asked, wrapping the scarf around his neck snugly. “Actually, I don’t presume you know where we are…”
Shaking his head, Error responded. “Yeah, no. No idea.” He muttered, looking around. “Let’s just try to get out of here before we run into whatever was emitting those footsteps.” He shoved his hands into his pockets, ones that were barely visible. Ink looked at a wall, seeing a little note taped to it. He walked near it, studying it for a quick second. It was a drawing of a ladder leading up to a hole in the wall, an arrow pointed to it. At the start of the arrow, there seemed to be a person running, with some weird thing standing behind it.
“Ink, come on!” Error called, causing the other to flinch and jog over. “I don’t want to stay in one spot, I feel like we’re being watched.” He mumbled, seemingly studying something on the wall. It was an arrow, calling for them to turn right.
Before leaving, however, Ink backtracked. He almost left his sash! Running over to where the big stained puddle was, Ink leaned down to be met with nothing but the camera from earlier. “Where-” Ink turned around, spotting Error with it wrapped around one arm, blue string he pulled before heaved over it neatly. “Here, let me carry that.”
At the other’s request, Error handed over the sash. Turning back to face the arrow, Error seemed to be deep in thought. It wasn’t that big of a deal, it was just an arrow.
Letting out a curious hum, Ink walked slightly to the right, before realizing that it was a dead end. Backtracking, he looked to his left and saw another arrow in the distance through a missing piece of wall. “Hey, there’s another one there!” He pointed out, lightly jogging over.
Error ran after him. “W-wait! We don’t know where they’re leading us!” He reasoned, grabbing Ink’s scarf once he came to a stop. “Don’t run off, stupid, you’re supposed to be smart.” He mumbled, a snarky remark Ink wasn’t meant to hear.
After shooting the other a glare, Ink looked in the direction the arrow was pointing. There, written on the wall far away, read ‘THIS WAY?’ with a bunch of question marks. Surrounding it. The way it had been written looked very sharp like the person writing it struggled with scribbling.
Ink grabbed Error’s hand, walking forwards. He figured the other was right, it was dumb to run off like that in a place neither of them recognized. Surely, they’d find the vent in no time, right? Right.
“Hey, so what were the footsteps like?” Ink asked, wanting to make conversation. The more he knew the better.
A moment of silence passed before Error finally responded. “I don’t know how to explain it too well. It was more of… an internal thing, I guess? My soul would start pounding, I could hear it in my ears. The footsteps were barely audible, I was just being a bit dramatic if I’m being honest.” He admitted the last part reluctantly, though the look on his face told Ink he was re-evaluating whether or not he himself was a credible source.
Ink hummed. “That sounds kinda scary.” He thought back to videogames for some reason. Maybe it was a proximity thing. Maybe whatever that thing was had that natural reaction with souls so it could listen closely. Maybe it did that so it could find people faster. With that, Ink managed to make himself uncomfortable. Taking a look at Error, he noticed the other was laying down the string he’d pulled from his eyes on the ground.
Confused, Ink questioned him. “What are you doing?” He asked again, looking behind himself and at the string.
“You know Sansel and Gastel, right? That folklore AU?” Error began, seemingly proud of himself. Ink nodded. “Well, I thought that we could use this to not backtrack or get lost.” He boasted at the shorter.
At first, Ink thought to congratulate him on this great idea, but then- “Won’t that just make it easier for the monster to find us?”
And just as Ink said that, loud footsteps were audible in the distance. They shook the floor, something that very clearly caused the destroyer panic. Ink looked around trying to identify where they were coming from. Out of nowhere, the camera from when they were with Dream and Swap fell from his sash, now a few feet from them.
Error seemed to notice it fall too, because his strings shot out and he grabbed it before Ink could dash at it. “Here, take it! Let’s go!” He exclaimed, grabbing Ink’s wrist and pulling him into a sprint before letting go. Ink was barely able to get a grip on the camera, wondering how it was barely damaged. He hadn’t noticed, but it had actually been recording this entire time too. As they sprinted, Ink followed Error on autopilot as he recalled they’d been with Dream and Swap. Were they here?
Actually, probably not. They would’ve been with Ink and Error if so. “It’s all the same!” Error complained, stopping in front of an intersection. An ear-splitting screech came from their right, warranting them to look over. Shit.
There was a tall, slim, pitch-black entity. It very vaguely resembled a skeleton, and it seemed to be made of ink, almost like Ink himself if he were an eldritch horror of some sort. Whatever it was, it was hard to tell what exactly it looked like, because all of a sudden Ink’s vision had blurred. One thing Ink could tell, though, was that it started running towards the pair at a high speed, leading Ink to grab Error and drag him away.
The creature never paused its never-ending screaming as it chased the two, making it hard for Ink to even think from the pain in his eardrums. “What are you doing?” Error exclaimed as he was dragged off, “Let’s kill that thing!” He pulled strings out of his eyes, trying to string up the entity behind them as they ran to at least slow it down.
Ink shook his head. “No, we can’t! We can’t kill it!” He explained, panic coursing through him. “We have to find a vent! A vent!!” He felt a pull on his arm, assuming Error attempted to string up the creature.
After a few seconds, Error sped up more. The footsteps paused with a loud thud for a few seconds, but they quickly resumed after a bit. “How do you know?!” He questioned, yanking Ink around a sharp corner. That was… a good question. One that Ink had no answer to. At first he had assumed that this was an AU, but since he was unable to place which one it was he assumed it was an outcode. He wasn’t supposed to know anything about outcodes.
“I don’t know, I just do!” Ink responded with a shaky voice, panic overtaking him. For the first time in his life, he felt… vulnerable. But not vulnerable in an intimate way, no. He’d felt like that with Error before. It was an endangered kind of vulnerable. Like he could actually die here even if he had his vials. Wait! “A note! I saw a note!” Ink recalled, speeding up to the pace Error was running.
Pulling on Ink’s arm and grabbing his waist, Error lifted him up. He used his strings to get a grip onto the ceiling far in front of the two. “A—a note!? Are you crazy!?” The destroyer exclaimed, pulling on his strings and flinging the pair far ahead. “What the fuck do you mean you ‘saw a note’!?” The screech faded into the background quickly. Ink noticed Error’s strings that had been around his shoulder were now gone.
They turned a corner into a big room that consisted of nothing but pillars five feet apart each. Ink squirmed out of Error’s grasp and onto the floor, signaling for the other to follow him. “Yes, Error, a note! I think it could help us!!” He explained, sticking to the wall as he ran. The thumping in his head had become more bearable. His pain tolerance was supposed to be far more than Error’s, he couldn’t imagine how much his spouse had been suffering. Ink didn’t even have a soul and he could feel the placebo of his vials beating, he wondered if it had been borderline deafening for Error. “I don’t understand why you’re so distrusting of these things, they could be a part of how this AU works. I think it’s an outcode, so we’re going to have to trust it.” Ink took a sharp right turn, hearing the other’s footsteps as he did the same.
Error grumbled to himself, caving in. He said things along the lines of “This is stupid.” and how tired he was. Ink felt a little bad. Paperjam had been draining most of Error’s energy, it’s true he was probably exhausted. Ink got off lucky and he was a bit ashamed at how long it took him to realize this. Stopping in his tracks, Ink suddenly felt a pull. It was a magnetic one, begging him to look in a certain direction.
“Why’d you stop?” Error asked after he bumped into the shorter. Ink didn’t respond, focusing on trying to keep his head from turning. It was… he had to look. He…
He turned his head abruptly, feeling the pull becoming stronger. To his right, there was a tall figure, that seemed like what had been chasing them but made on a low budget. It let out a screech and distorted Ink’s vision with a flash of light and colors. Ink let out a low scream, covering his eyes as he fell backwards onto the wall. Error knelt down next to him, alarm in his voice. “I-Ink?? What? What happened?” He asked, his volume wavering as if he were looking around frantically.
Rubbing his eyes, Ink slowly opened them to look at that same spot. Nothing. “W-wha…” He stuttered, narrowing his eyes to try and see it again but eventually giving up. “There was… there was something there, I swear there was!” He pointed, grabbing onto Error’s arm. He felt Error’s glitches fluttering around his touch, grounding him a little. “I…” He looked up at his spouse.
Error met his eyes, letting out a soft sigh and picking him up off the ground. “I believe you, I don’t trust this place one bit.” He responded, though Ink almost believed it was just out of pity for him. “We can’t stay in one spot for too long, that thing is still after us. I can feel it.” The destroyer pressed a hand to his chest.
With a nod, Ink began leading the way cautiously. Error was right, Ink could feel it as well. Surely, if they walked straight they’d spot an arrow at some point. Maybe. He was hoping that they would. They walked past a few different colored lights, at some point, which was odd.
After walking at least 20 feet, Error seemed to want to further discuss this outcode. “What AU do you think… this came from?” He asked, sheepishly. “Or, could it be like the Doodlesphere and Anti Void and Mirror room and—well, yeah.”
“I’m not sure… I can’t sense an ounce of familiar magic.” Ink responded. Pressing himself to a wall, he peered around the corner and spotted another arrow signaling for the two to come through. “Look there.” He pointed, crouching a bit so Error could lean over as well even though that action wasn’t needed.
“If you’re right, then… these things are leading us to the- uh… vent?” Error bit his finger, walking out. Ink noticed the destroyer grabbing onto his scarf, something he hadn’t realized the other had been doing again. The arrow wasn’t far, once again pointing to the right. They’d been taking a lot of right turns… or, maybe Ink had just been focusing on the right sides and not noticing when they turned left? He couldn’t tell.
Walking up ahead by a bit, Ink motioned for Error to press against the wall with him once again. He didn’t trust this place one bit after what happened just now. Or what happened earlier either, actually. Peering around the corner, he spotted nothing but a couch with an odd glow behind it. It also had a stain directly in front of it, but that didn’t spark much concern for Ink. “Um… coast’s clear.” The protector mumbled, puzzled.
He felt wind caress him gently as Error walked past him to go into the room. “Is that a c-couch?” He stuttered, clearly as confused as Ink.
“Yeah, it… looks like one.” Ink stepped out from behind the wall, cautiously walking towards it. “It’s got this like, angelic glow behind it.” He pointed out, wanting to know if Error could see it too.
With a nod, Error hesitantly followed. “It does, yes.” Behind the chair was a glowing orb, one that had a strange pattern. It resembled one of those… weird, squishy things that had nets around them to make bubbles of sorts. You know the ones.
Ink hovered his hand over it, tempted to touch it. Looking at Error, the other shrugged, clearly as curious as Ink was. The protector let his hand land on it, but it disappeared with a strange noise as soon as he did.
The destroyer gave his spouse an odd look, before letting his hand go where the sphere was. Ink didn’t pay that much mind, though. He could see somewhere in the corner of his vision the words ‘Simulation core.’ His eyes couldn’t reach the words in time before they disappeared.
“What the hell…” Error grumbled, leaning on the chair. “It just… disappeared as soon as I touched it.” He was looking down at his hand, flexing and unflexing it as if he’d never felt something like this before.
Wait, hold on. Touched it? Ink was the one who touched it and then it disappeared. “Could you still see it when I touched it?” There was no way. Error had to be playing some weird prank. He had to be joking.
It was quite literally impossible. “Yes.” He confirmed, shaking his hand in the air before standing up. “I could see it.” He signaled for Ink to follow him, an arrow on the wall pointing to the left. An arrow Ink hadn’t noticed when they first stepped into the room.
Huh.
“Let’s get out of here, this place is creeping me out.” Error mumbled, pulling on Ink’s scarf like a leash. Oh, the nerve!
Ink stumbled after him, before snatching his scarf leg out of the other’s grasp. “Hey! I’m not a dog!” He complained, watching the other raise a brow. “Don’t use my scarf like a leash.” Ink clarified.
As if the concept seemed like a ridiculous thought that never crossed his mind, Error burst out laughing at him. “I—haha—wasn’t trying to do that!” He shook his head, slowing down as he doubled over a bit while laughing.
With a frown, Ink took a left turn an arrow on the wall called for. He could feel a very gentle yet now constant throb in his head, but he ignored it. “Sure you weren’t.” The protector crossed his arms. “I don’t believe that for one second.” Rolling his eyes, Ink turned a corner and bumped into something. The thumping in his head was incredibly strong out of nowhere, and he barely even hit the floor before he felt Error’s strings wrap around him and yank him away.
“Shit—shit! Ink, run!!” Error yelled, helping the other stand up before grabbing his hand and dragging him off. Run? Ink opened his eyes and looked to the side. Out of the corner of his eyes. He could see the entity again. It seemed to have shape-shifted, though, as its head was now completely different.
Oh, yeah. Running might be a good idea. Ink looked around, spotting an arrow. “Error, go to the arrow!” He commanded pushing his partner off to the side. “I’ll catch up with you in a second!!”
Error paused in his running. “Fuck—what are you doing idiot!?” He exclaimed, watching as the monster chose to keep chasing Ink. Ink had his gaze on Error momentarily, before turning to face the front.
“Just do what I told you and go!” Ink took both of his tiny paintbrushes out of his sash, brandishing them as if they were dual swords. As soon as he saw Error finally run towards the arrow on the left, Ink took a hard right towards what seemed to be a dead end.
It seemed big enough to fit both him and the monster in, but small enough that Ink wouldn’t be able to slip away normally. Perfect. Picking up his speed, Ink sprinted towards the rapidly approaching wall. He just had to… nail this, or find out what exactly these entities are chasing Error and him for.
And honestly? Ink did not want to find out. About six feet away from the wall, Ink broke his sprint and jumped right at it. It seemed as if time itself had slowed down as he managed to grip the wall with his feet, dashing on it while gravity wasn’t working against him. Three footsteps… four… five. When he was close enough to the ceiling, he dove backwards without a second thought. He let his gaze fall towards the hand that was currently reaching out towards him, but strings beat the hand to wrapping around Ink.
He was yanked off to the side, almost crashing into the wall if it weren’t for his quick reflex of turning his feet towards it. “Oof-!” Ink yelped, but didn’t waste another second. While the entity was disoriented, he jumped down towards the ground and slashed his brushes in an X shape. Paint shot out of them, crashing against the floor with Ink.
The protector raised his arms as soon as he got his footing, a wall of paint shooting up to temporarily trap the entity in that dead end. Ink turned around, being met with a fuming Error who was holding strings in his hands. There were some also dangling from his eye, which seemed… like it had been painful to abruptly pull off like that.
Goodness. Ink walked towards Error. “Ru, we have to go, now.” The other simply glared down at him. “Now, Error!” Ink picked Error up in a bridal carry, running over to where he’d remembered the arrow was and following it.
Error didn’t move or make any complaints, just sat in Ink’s arms grumpily tense as the shorter sprinted across the place.
After running for a little more, a small opening caught Ink’s attention. Maybe they could hide out in there for a bit? “Here, let’s rest.” Ink offered, stopping his sprint abruptly as he quickly turned to the slide and slid his foot out in front of him. Ow. That burnt.
Ink walked over to the small opening, putting Error down and checking inside it. The entrance was incredibly thin and had two turns you had to take to get in, which made it feel safe. It seemed clear until Ink spotted another one of those… core things. Whatever, it seemed harmless enough. “Go on in, Glitchy.” Ink encouraged, watching the other begrudgingly comply. Now, why was he mad? Following Error in, Ink used the brushes still in his grasp to splatter some ink on the ground.
The protector wasn’t looking at the small wall he was summoning to fill the gap, he was looking at the destroyer who had sat down grumpily in a corner—which… was a sign for Ink to figure out what he did wrong while Error calmed down. Though, first he wanted to get rid of that damn sphere, it was so distracting!
As he put the brushes into his sash, he walked towards the sphere. ‘Simulation Core, 2/8.’ Whatever that meant, Ink shrugged and sat down next to Error. He kept a respectful distance within the other’s personal space. It wasn’t too much, but for somebody like Ink it was far more than it would’ve been for any normal person since he was always glued to people in one way or another.
Now… what could’ve made Error angry? He seemed exhausted, meaning he was already more irritable than usual. Ink had noticed him slightly trailing behind as they walked, that’s why he suggested the other run ahead. Earlier when Ink woke up, he could recall that Error hadn’t been unconscious. He had crashed, but he was fully aware of the environment, meaning that he hadn’t gotten any real rest. But Ink couldn’t just chalk it all up to being tired, could he…
Maybe he was worried about Jammy—okay, no, Error might be worried but he seemed ticked off by something.
Could it be Error was mad at Ink for running off? In all his selflessness, if he’d been caught it would’ve all been in vain, and stars had that been a close call. Maybe that was it, yes.
Ink leaned over, glancing at the other’s face. “Error…?” Ink mumbled, touching the other’s pinky finger with his own as he slid his hand closer. Error reluctantly looked over, taking some time to glare at the ground beforehand. “I’m sorry.”
Hesitating as if his words wouldn’t come out, Error finally asked him. “What for?” Of course, he wanted to know Ink actually meant it.
“For trying to distract the monster so you could get away…?” Ink responded, though it sounded a lot more like a suggestion than a statement.
Error let out a sigh, shaking his head. “T-that’s not—that’s not why I’m mad.” He mumbled, leaning into the corner as he turned his body slightly towards Ink. “You know we fight well together.” As if what he were going to say were petty, he began pouting. “When I suggested… killing it earlier, you said we couldn’t—then you run off and try to do that exact thing, almost getting yourself killed!”
Though he knew it would make the other feel a bit worse, Ink couldn’t help the snort that escaped him. “Well, I wasn’t trying to kill it,” Ink leaned slightly towards the other, who’s frown was more intense. “I was trying to drag it away from you since you looked tired.”
The destroyer’s face switched to one of shock momentarily, before he turned his glare down to the floor. “W-well, whatever. You should’ve told me!” Error crossed his arms.
If there was one thing Ink loved about an angry Error was how cute he got when he realized Ink’s actions weren’t inherently malicious. Oh, stars, how corny of Ink to have thought that. “You’re right, you’re right.” Ink hummed, smiling and nodding. “You should rest.”
“What? No, where did that come from? We should get out of here!” Error declined, standing up. Ink grabbed his sleeve before he could fully stand, though.
As their eyes met, Error let Ink drag him back to the floor. “We don’t know how to get out.” Ink paused. “Or, I guess… where to get out from. We don’t even know if the vent will actually get us out of here, we can only hope.” Ink hovered his left hand over Error’s cheek, silently asking for permission. Error nodded. “We’re in a safe place right now…” The protector’s thumb glided across the other’s cheek, watching as the destroyer subconsciously leaned into his touch.
With the room’s width being thin enough, Ink was able to feel the other corner hit his back as he barely scooted a few feet away from Error. “I don’t need to sleep, but I know beings with souls do.” Ink’s other hand landed on Error’s right cheek, gently tugging him forwards. “And you’ve been working so hard with Paperjam.” Feeling his spouse’s head land on his chest, Ink moved his right hand to the top of Error’s head as his arm wrapped around. “You should rest.”
At first, Error seemed to want to dispute Ink’s suggestion, but his eyelids were already closed as he began to speak. “We should be… out there.” He mumbled pathetically; his arms already wrapped around Ink’s waist as he lay there. Ink could feel the pink vial’s magic surfacing as his torso fluttered wherever Error was touching.
And uh—maybe he could feel a little something else as nausea crept up on him. Shit. No, no. He wasn’t going to throw up on Error! But… his pink and yellow vials were swirling together in his stomach, already too invested in their dance to spare Ink the embarrassment. Quickly moving his left hand to get one of his paintbrushes, he hoped he could make a little vomit bag before it all splattered out.
Luckily enough, Error seemed to be oblivious to the internal battle Ink was having with his vials. Cruel… so cruel. Tapping the ground, he was able to summon the barf bag from his drawing and put it on his mouth just in time for his ink to spill out into it.
Error felt the way Ink’s stomach contracted and looked up at him, soon after his puking audible. He raised a brow, glancing at the bag as Ink put it down.
Wiping his mouth, Ink let out a small chuckle. “Sorry, you were being a little too cute.” He explained, wrapping his arms around Error’s head and pulling it back down to rest on his chest. Error blushed, a small pout on his face as his head complied. “You can probably sleep now.” Ink slid the other’s glasses off as he spoke.
Not even a few minutes of Ink petting the other’s head and Error was soon fast asleep.
Ink didn’t know how long it had been since Error had last been awake. He’d been spacing out, thinking about nothing but keeping the wall of ink up so his partner could rest. It had to have been at least an hour… or five. Maybe ten. Well, however long it was, the protector had no idea. The only thing keeping him grounded had been the way Error’s glitches peacefully fluttered in his sleep, given they were the only thing stimulating him that didn’t make him feel like he was going insane.
Unluckily for Ink, his magic was running low, which meant—splash!
…that the wall that had been keeping the two safe would fall soon. Or, well. It just fell. Thankfully, the sound seemed to wake Error up. Stirring grumpily, he sat up as he shot an unintentional glare through squinted eyes at Ink. “Sorry, vials almost out, Ru.” Ink muttered.
Surely, Ink’s eyelights must’ve been incredibly dulled out and almost little white dots, because Error reached towards the other’s vials for him. “W-woah! Hey, it’s okay, I got it.” Ink stopped his hands, grabbing an empty vial from his sash he used to mix all his paints in. It was labeled with how much of each vial to put in—even with what order Ink favored because of how the colors seeped into the liquid above and under itself.
Error slid his glasses back on and watched him make his little paint mocktail and down it, finally speaking. “We should go.” He muttered. This caught Ink off-guard. It wasn’t like Error to want to move right after he woke up. Hell, Error would usually have to be awake for half an hour before he decided he was ready to speak!
“…okay.” Ink stood, helping the other up. Well, at least Error looked significantly better. “Are you still tired?” He asked, walking towards the slit in the wall. There was paint staining the carpet, which squished under Ink’s typically silent footsteps.
As Ink checked to see if the coast was clear, Error stretched. “Yeah.” His tone sounded as if he didn’t want to admit he slept well, his voice a little raspy as he pulled his elbow over his chest. “Thanks.”
Softly smiling, Ink offered his hand to Error. The other took it, which in hindsight they should’ve waited until they weren’t squeezing through that damn gap in the wall. To their right was the arrow, still pointing in the same direction.
Surprisingly enough, they were able to peacefully continue for a while, until they found another enclosed room. What caught their attention was the green light that spilled out from it.
“Come on, Ru! There could be something super cool in it!” Ink pushed, dragging Error over to it.
Error was completely against going in. “Or there could be an entity waiting in there to eat us alive!” He argued, trying to use his feet to keep the other from moving him. Unfortunately, Ink and Error’s strength were pretty on par despite how short Ink was, so this was more of a struggle than Error hoped for.
The protector pouted. “We don’t know what the entity wants!!” He defended, knowing damn well it was more likely that the entity wanted to eat them alive than not.
“Yeah? Well, I’m not looking to find out either!” Error responded, doubling down on his stance. “We’re not going and that’s that!” He finalized.
With one final pull, Ink let go of Error and jogged over to the slit in the wall. There was an audible thud as the destroyer presumably fell to the floor. It was small, maybe even smaller than where they’d initially rested. “Hey, get back!” Error called.
Ink ignored him and slid in, alarms instantly blaring in his head as he poked his head into the room. The walls were splattered with the same black liquid the entities seemed to be made of. Down on the floor, resting against the wall, was a corpse covered in the same substance. The Lost Soul.
Letting the other pull him out, Ink shook his head as he tried to get rid of the mental image staining his vision. “…what did you see?” Error asked, clearly unable to keep his curiosity in check.
“I don’t remember.” Ink shrugged, grabbing Error’s sleeve and dragging him towards the next arrow.
Error stumbled after him, though he didn’t believe a word he’d said. “Yes you do, tell me what you saw.” He demanded, tugging his sleeve out the other’s hand and grabbing his shoulder to stop him.
Ink’s eyes landed on the arrow behind Error as he was forcibly turned around. It was drawn on with the same substance. Everything out of place was with that substance. “I don’t know what I saw, I don’t remember.” Ink puckered his lips as he shrugged playfully.
Starting to walk again, the protector felt the other grab onto his scarf leg and grumble. “Yeah, right, whatever you say.” He was barely audible.
A bit of guilt crawled up on Ink, but he just… couldn’t describe it. It was like, like the splatters weren’t splatters. It was like the substance itself had grown vines that slowly spread throughout the wall. It was… odd. The corpse barely even looked like a corpse.
Shaking off his emotions, he turned left and spotted a pink light, over the word ‘EXIT?’ written on the wall with an arrow under it. It pointed off to the right side. Error saw it too, meeting Ink’s eyes. “Is this… is this it?” He asked, letting go of Ink’s scarf and walking up to the wall.
Ink shrugged. “I don’t know.” He walked up next to Error, looking towards the right where it was pointing. A dead end. Walking through the open part of the wall it might’ve been pointing at, he spotted another arrow pointing to the right on the wall. “Error, here!” The protector called out, waving his spouse over.
Of course, as soon as Error walked up to Ink, a loud footstep boomed near them, followed by a familiar shrill screech that blurred Ink’s vision and once again blinded him. “Ah, shit!” The destroyer exclaimed as both started looking around frantically.
“Watch out!!” Ink exclaimed, tackling Error to the side. Coming at them at a high speed had been the entity with a strangely camera-shaped head, barely missing the two by a second. Ink realized that their last encounter with this entity had been rather silent. More footsteps thumped next to Ink and Error, footsteps that were different from the first entity. Footsteps that were faster.
Error used his strings to stand up swiftly, flinging Ink and himself over a second entity. “Why are there two!?” Ink grabbed Error and turned a sharp corner, both of the entities hot on their trail.
Stressing out and thinking about what to do, Ink frantically responded. “I don’t know!! The paper said there was only one!!!” He complained, looping the same plus-sign-shaped intersection of walls. “What the hell do we do!?”
“We…” Error paused for a second, before pulling Ink out of the loop they’d been running. An entity had tried to loop around and meet the two to corner them while the other kept running behind them. The never-ending shriek got louder for a second. “We risk it!!!” Using his strings once again, Error blocked the path behind them momentarily, succeeding in stopping the entities as they tried breaking through the makeshift wall.
Following the arrow that had been pointing to the right, there was a small piece of wall poking out and a vent with a ladder leading up to it, a second arrow pointing directly at it.
Ink felt himself be lifted off the ground and thrown towards the vent, landing on the top step of the ladder as his shoulder crashed with the vent’s sharp metal. “Oof-!” He yelped, before noticing the Error crawling up the stairs. Ink quickly crawled into the vent, going deep enough so his spouse could fit.
A large arm attempted to shoot through the vent to grab the pair instantly after Error made it in, resulting in the two huddling close together away from it.
Finally, Ink’s vision was able to fully focus again. “…we did it.” He mumbled, hearing the other start to laugh. It was a laugh of relief. “We did it!!” Ink wrapped his arms tightly around Error, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
Error turned, meeting Ink’s lips with his own for a long second as he wrapped his own arms around the other. The pair had barely escaped the likely cruel fate that would’ve been getting caught by the entities, and they were now kissing and slobbering in front of the threat as it clawed into the vent to grab them. It was as if they were rubbing their victory in its face.
Eventually, the two split. “Let’s get out of here.” Error sighed, letting Ink move deeper into the vent first. The nearly silent crawling was soon interrupted with a loud scream, one that belonged to Ink.
As the protector had been crawling deeper into the vent, his vision had been restricted by a slowly growing darkness that quickly obstructed his vision. This had made it impossible for him to see the end of the vent and the hole that he had just slipped into. One that went straight down.
“Ink!?” Error called out, followed by another scream that erupted—from the destroyer this time. It was safe to assume Error had met the same fate. Especially since eventually Error’s body had met Ink’s since he was falling at a slightly faster rate.
After 5 more seconds and a dim light becoming more apparent, Error and Ink hit the ground again. Fuck this place and its stupid obsession with dropping monsters into new areas.
~~Chapter 1 End~~