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With a small hum leaving Ink’s throat, if he even could hum, after all, he was a skeleton and could skeletons even hum? They didn’t really have voice boxes, or throats, they were just bones, they could rattled their bones but that was about the closest they could do. But we’re not going to go on about how magic skeletons can hum and make other noises and speak. But either way, Ink found himself inside a different AU. Despite knowing the contents of this AU, Ink decided to dabble in it anyways, knowing that it would probably end up in him fighting someone. This AU was DustTale. It wasn’t a pleasant one to say the least, the human did genocide again and again, until the Sans of this AU killed monsters to gain LV. It was… Horrid, but maybe Ink could change that. Well, maybe Ink couldn’t change the whole AU, but at least try to convince Sans not to kill other monsters to defeat the human that was making him relive this terrible fate.
Entering the AU, Ink’s ink portal vanished. Wandering through Snowdin Forest, Ink looked around the AU. It was practically the same as the original universe. Though there was one major change. Dust, it was dust, from the monsters. The human had already committed genocide, so Ink wasn’t here in time like he thought he was. That was a shame. But that was alright. Maybe Ink could still speak to the Sans of this world. While continuing to make his way through Snowdin Town, the smell of dust filled the air, if dust even had a smell, actually. It smelt of burnt magic, in a sense, when monsters die they turn to dust, everyone knew that because it was common knowledge. But the smell of dust was something different than just burnt magic, while some would describe it like burnt magic, it smelt similar to cinnamon and lemon, but if there was too much cinnamon. Either way the smell was confusing and it wasn’t something Ink wanted to focus on.
As a soft breath left Ink, paintbrush on his back, the skeleton managed to make his way into Snowdin Town, but like usual, there was nobody there. Nobody to see and nobody to hear. Everyone was gone, but that was expected of a Genocide timeline AU. Nobody would want to be around while the human of the AU was going around killing everyone. Ink surely wouldn’t want to be there either if he was just a ‘normal’ monster like them. Ink is partly a normal monster, he’s the protector of the AU’s but Ink isn’t some God, so maybe. It was pointless to even imagine Ink in their position. Maybe the monsters here were already dead. That was probably the solution as dust was everywhere, it surrounded homes, the pathways, even the small tree that was in the center of Snowdin Town. It was isolating to have to walk alone in a graveyard, literally. Everyone was dead and Ink couldn’t do anything about it.
Though then, a thought managed to creep its way into the skeletons mind. What if Ink could get to Undyne as quickly as possible to warn her of the human and this AU’s Sans. Maybe, that could work! Sprinting off in the dusty snow, Ink kicked his feet back to help him cover more surface area as he tried to run out of Snowdin and into Waterfall.
Meanwhile, in Waterfall, Sans was already at Undyne and so was the human of this AU. With another hit of the human’s weapon, Undyne managed to be on just a little bit of HP, just managing to hang on until the end. But, that wasn’t the end. Sans came out from behind his hiding spot and with a swift bone plunging itself straight into Undyne’s SOUL, she was gone. Turning to dust as her SOUL hovered there for a moment before also vanishing, turning to dust. Sans looked over to the human and gave them a smirk. There was no way that he was going to let the human overtake him in LV. Sans needed more of it… After all the times the human had done this. Every time Sans tried… Every time the human came back it was so annoying! He hated it. Hated the fact that this human would come back again and again, death after death. Even after killing Sans. The human would reset and do genocide all over again.
“Seeya kid.” Sans spoke with a chuckle in his tone. Then quickly vanishing, the human then left to go over to Hotland, just to try and see if they could get any more LV before fighting Sans once again. For the 294th time, every single try the human would win, always, that's just the way it went and this time it wasn’t going to be any different than the previous 293 times that the human had done this. It was tiring, it was tiring for Undyne, it was tiring for Toriel, it was tiring for Sans, especially since every time he had to kill Papyrus, again and again. Having to look at his brother in his eyes and kill him. With no mercy. It was horrid. Yet that's what Sans was used to and it was all that he was used to. If anything, Sans would rather kill his brother through his own hands rather than the human. He wouldn’t let that filthy human touch Papyrus. Never… He couldn’t, he wouldn’t. The human will never have the right to touch or even look at Papyrus again.
Now Sans was gone, and so was the human. Everyone in the Ruins was gone, everybody in Snowdin was gone and everyone in Waterfall was gone. It was only a matter of time before the human made their way into the Hotlands and murdered every monster there. That's if Sans didn’t get to it first, after all. Between Sans and the human it was a game of who could murder more monsters first. It was a horrid experience for Sans, having to do this over and over again, but he didn’t care anymore. He didn’t care that he was killing all these monsters. The only thing he cared about was making sure that this stupid human was dead… The human had to die. Permanently and Sans would do that, no matter what it takes. Maybe Sans was just a little bit insane, well, screw that, Sans was very much insane at this point. He had to kill his brother again and again, just because he wouldn’t let the human kill them. He refused to let the human kill Papyrus.
Time in the Hotlands went by quicker than Sans and the human expected. Now that Sans was waiting in the Last Corridor. The ‘Judgement Hall,’ but could it really be called that if Sans wasn’t really a judge anymore? Sans was just as bad at the human after all, yet he did it to make sure that the Human wouldn’t commit any more genocides… How high did his LV have to be to overpower this stupid human?!
Sans let a low, dark, chuckle escape through his boney mouth. Staring down the corridor, there was another figure standing there. Though it wasn't human… That would have been too quick. So who was it? “Come on out… Whoever you are… If you’re with… That human… I will kill you…” Sans’s voice echoed throughout the Last Corridor. Standing on the other side of the corridor was another skeleton. Ink, so thankfully Ink managed to come here before the human did. Good, though to Ink, this Sans looked like quite the handful. “I’m not here to hurt you. Sans.” Ink spoke, taking a few caution steps forward, his boots tapping against the tiles as they hit the floor. Ink didn’t want to hurt Sans, he would never want to hurt another skeleton if he could mean it. Though after taking a few steps forward, an attack with many Gaster Blasters was instantly launched towards Ink, Ink didn’t have much time to react.
Just managing to quickly dodge the Gaster Blasters that Sans had sent out. Ink tried his best to get a few more words out of him, despite Ink saying that he wasn’t here to hurt Sans, Ink probably guessed that Sans didn’t believe him, so he had to do something else in order to gain Sans’s trust. “Sans, please, just listen to me. I don’t want to hurt you. Just calm down-” Ink tried to speak again. Sans had his hood over his face, Ink could barely see the other's face. With the attack finishing, it was Ink’s turn. Ink is sparing you. Sans paused. What the hell was this? Sans didn’t want to believe what was happening right now.
“...” Sans paused. ‘Ink’ ? This name wasn’t familiar to him, he was confused. “Who… Are you?” Sans managed to finally get a few words out. Ink had a smile on his face, he was glad that Sans wasn’t going to attack him anymore. “My name is Ink! I don’t want to hurt you, okay?” Ink responded to what Sans had to say. “I’m not with the human you’re trying to kill. I just want to help you.” Ink spoke once again, taking a few more steps towards Sans. Ink had to be cautious not to suddenly scare the other skeleton at the end of the Last Corridor.
Once again pausing, Sans took a step back. He didn’t want to believe this, not at all. This random stranger, ‘Ink’ wanted to help him? Him of all people. “I don’t care.” Sans spoke bluntly. “Please, let me help you. You’re hurting, you have been for a while.” Ink responded in a kind and caring manner. He really didn’t want to hurt Sans, Ink just wanted to help. “Hurting?! Of course I’ve been hurting, do you KNOW how many genocide runs ive had to sit through?! Do you know how many times I’ve had to kill my own brother all because of that… DISGUSTING human?! You don’t know anything. You don’t know ANYTHING about me so stop fucking pretending like you do.” Sans spiraled into his words. A low chuckle escaped him as he looked back at Ink.
Ink paused. He really didn’t know what to do in this situation and Sans was right, Ink didn’t know anything about this AU’s Sans, at least not personally. Ink knew that this Sans was suffering through genocide runs, but Ink didn’t know anything else about this particular AU Sans. “I’m sorry.” Ink spoke softly, trying not to make the situation any worse by raising his voice back at the other. “You didn’t deserve that. It wasn’t your fault that your human did this to you and your family, your friends.” Ink tried to be sympathetic, though it wasn’t his best attempt.
“Why would you even care?” Sans responded, hands on the hood of his hoodie as he pulled the hood down. It was rare to see Sans without his hood up. Maybe it was a sign of trust? Maybe, maybe not. Although it was strange nonetheless. “I care about everyone.” Ink responded in a minor blunt tone. He didn’t mean to sound so blunt, but he did. “Even monsters like you.” Ink then tried his best and gave a small smile to Sans. Taking another step forward, Sans took a step back. Right, distance, that was something Ink needed to keep an eye on.
“I don’t want you.” Sans responded bluntly back. Ink couldn’t change what had happened in the past, but Ink could intervene now and try to help Sans be… Less insane-ish? “I understand, but I can help you leave this place if you really want to.” Ink spoke, sort of forgetting that this version of Sans may not know about the multiverse and all the different AU’s. When looking back to see Sans’s face, Ink could tell that Sans was shocked to hear about leaving this place. Who wouldn’t be if they were once trapped in a cycle of torment, only for some random monster to come up to them and say that they could leave with their help. Who would even trust a stranger they just met?
“What do you mean I can ‘leave’ ?!” Sans responded with a cold glare in his eyes as it was Sans this time who took a few steps forwards towards Ink. Ink let out a soft chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well- This may be a lot to take in, but I can travel through the multiverse, there are different versions of you and they’re found in what are called ‘AUs’ or Alternate Universes. If you leave, you won't have to worry about anything happening here. You can be free, for once in your life.” Ink tried his best to explain, though before another word escaped Ink, Sans was practically right next to him.
“When do we leave?” Sans seemed different than usual, like he was a little relieved to finally leave this place. Ink chuckled before grabbing the large paintbrush on his back. “Broomie can take us somewhere!” Ink responded to Sans as he swiped the paintbrush and a large puddle of black ink appeared on the floor. “How is this going to get us out of here?” Sans asked the other skeleton, seemingly confused by what Ink was even doing. Although, Ink let out a chuckle and extended his gloved hand out to Sans. “We jump in!” Ink spoke before grabbing Sans and then jumping through the ink puddle on the floor. As they left, the puddle vanished behind them.
“What the-” Sans spoke before being interrupted by Ink. “Cool, right?! This is the Doodle-Sphere! This is where I can keep an eye on all the different AUs!” Sans looked around for a moment, seeing all the different papers in the area. While looking down at where they were standing, Sans took a step back. “How-” Once again, he paused before being interrupted. “We’re standing on nothing! Don’t freak out though, you’re fine.” Sans looked around once again, then his eye-sockets landed back onto Ink. This was all so new to him and he honestly didn’t get it whatsoever, but hey, what happens, happens after all.
Sans took a moment to breathe. But it was starting to become difficult. Ink managed to notice and looked over to Sans. “You okay?- Sit down.” Ink motioned to the nothingness that they were standing on. Ink sat down first before Sans eventually joined him. Gripping his hoodie, Sans seemed to be out of this world. “Sans?” Ink spoke again before Sans snapped back into reality. “I never… I never told you my name-” He responded to Ink, he paused. “Well, as said before, there are different AUs. So there are other you’s in a sense. I only assumed. Unless you want to go by a different name?” Ink asked.
“Dust. I want to go by Dust.” Dust responded to Ink’s question. Ink seemed like that was a good name for Dust. “Dust… I like it!” Ink happily chuckled for a moment before looking around the Doodle-Sphere. “You wanna go explore some AUs, Dust? Maybe you can give me a hand here and there and you’ll meet a bunch of new people! It will be fun, I swear!”