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Ink sat in an ally of some surface building of a classic pacifist timeline. He leaned his back against the cold stone and sighed. He didn't exactly know where he was, he'd picked a random AU that was far enough from Error's reach that he wouldn't be a bother, but he didn't exactly care as long as he could hide rest. At least it wasn't a more hostile AU like a fell or genocide timeline. And at least the child in his arms was asleep. The rise and fall of Tapestry’s chest reminded him that they were still alive, that he hadn't messed up yet. He hoped the cold didn't bother the poor thing. It was mid-December and snow had already fallen thickly, and it was still snowing even now. Ink wasn't able to feel sensations very well and he personally quite liked the cold, but he'd learned from the Stars that most didn't exactly share that sentiment.
To him snow was pretty. It looked so soft and glittered in the fading light. Plus, not everything here was covered in it. There were still tree branches and trunks, the sides of the buildings, and the occasional misplaced object or outdoor decoration.
He felt so tired; he may be immortal but apparently rest was still a requirement. Running around avoiding Error, his usually forgetfulness of his own needs, doing his job as a Star Sans, and taking care of Tapestry all at once had been harder than he thought it'd be. Not to mention he still hadn't actually told the Stars yet. He didn't know really what to say, "Hey by the way I had a kid with Error a little bit ago and I didn't tell you?" He couldn’t remember any stories with the right words to tell.
Ink closed his eyes and slumped a little. They'll find out eventually.
---
Frisk opened the door backdoor to their house. The snow was just so pretty. It glittered in the fading light like stars and fell from the sky like cotton. It was a little late out but Tori had said they could play for a few minutes. They hopped off the stairs straight into the snow. It squished under their boots like powder. Frisk giggled and kicked some of it up with their toe. It flittered down, leaving little imprints in the snow.
They turned their head, scanning for something to do. A green plastic shovel stuck out from the snow. They hopped over to it. The snow was a bit hard to get through; it was halfway up their shins after all. But then, something caught the child's eye. Over by the side of a neighboring building, a figure sat with their knees to their chest and something in their arms.
Abandoning the shovel, Frisk bounded over. The figure wasn't dressed in any sort of winter clothing. They must be freezing! Maybe Ms. Tori would let them inside to be warm?
The stranger appeared to be a skeleton like Sans. He was also asleep, a very Sansy thing to be doing. But unlike Sans, this one was shorter, thinner (Sans was a skeleton but he somehow manages to still look all squishy), had brown clothing, had a long beige scarf, and had a splotch of black on their right cheek. Frisk shifted where they were standing and spotted what exactly he had wrapped in his arms. A baby! A little skeleton like who was presumably their parent, but with almost black bones and a third eye under their left. Black ink leaked from the right eye almost like tears, but the baby seemed to be happy at least to Frisk.
Well, they can't just let them freeze in the snow. Once the sun went down it was going to get colder anyway. Ms. Toriel would be distraught if she knew Frisk let someone freeze out here. Frisk poked the skeleton's face. He didn't move. They (lightly) shoved his shoulder, that seemed to work.
"Dream if..." He trailed off at his tired eyes focused on the child standing in front of him, "Oh. Hey there." His eyelights were mismatched and shifted as he spoke.
Frisk asks him why he's out in the snow.
"I couldn't really go anywhere else. But I'm used to it don't worry.”
Instead of accepting the stranger’s words, Frisk insisted that he come inside and be warm.
"Really we're okay-" His denial was cut short as Frisk grabbed his hand and dragged him up. The baby in his arms made a little noise when he lost footing for a brief moment and he held them closer. "Alright, alright, I'm coming." He laughed as Frisk pulled him along.
Frisk decided to the front door was better so they and the skeleton walked around the side. All the while the human child rambled about things they’d done that day. Frisk hopped up the stairs and rang the doorbell.
After a moment, a tall goat monster opened the door. Distant sounds of a tv along with some guests’s voices from the other room. She smiled at the human child and turned with a surprised look at the stranger. He tugged his hand from the child's surprisingly strong grip and gave an awkward wave before wrapping the arm around the baby in his arms like he was trying to hide them from the unknown lady
"I am terribly sorry if dear Frisk dragged you over here. What are your names?" She questioned in that soft voice of hers.
"I'm Ink. Uh. This is Tapestry." He gestured the baby in his arms. They blinked up at the goat woman with their three strange eyes, having woken up from the talking. Tapestry made a silly little noise as they cocked their head.
"I didn't know there were other skeleton monsters that lived here." Toriel said absently.
"Hah, well it's a funny story. Complicated really- We're not from here." Despite how obviously tired he was, he sounded so cheery.
"Why don't you come in and get warm. Do you have anyone you can call that might worry you’re gone? Anywhere you're staying? It's only going to get colder and you already look like you two have been out for a while."
“Nah just me and the smalls. We were just stayin’ outside, we’re leaving soon anyways.”
The goat woman gave Ink a concerned look that he didn’t understand. He was used to sleeping outside, he did it any time he wasn’t at Dream’s or Blue’s houses. After a moment, she shifted to the side to let the shorter ones through. Frisk bounded past, pulling Ink by the hand.
In the living room, Sans was slumped on the couch with Metaton sat awkwardly next to him while Papyrus stood lecturing to the other skeleton. Ink could hear a few other voices coming from the kitchen meaning this was most likely a party. Frisk greeted them and hugged Papyrus. Well, more like Papyrus's legs.
"Sup Frisk, 'n company." Sans said, he glanced at Ink. He said nothing about the stranger but acknowledged him with a lazy wave.
Papyrus stopped his ranting and turned to pat the human child’s head, "Hello, Frisk! Oh! And who's your friend?"
"Ink. Nice to meet ya. Papyrus and Sans, right? Frisk told me about you."
“Correcto.” Sans responded, “Who’s the little dude?”
Frisk excitedly answered that the child’s name was Tapestry.
“Are they ok?” Mettaton asked carefully, leaning over slightly to examine the odd features and black ink leaking from one of their eyes.
“Hm? Oh yeah, they’re fine. They just look like this.” Ink responded with a dismissive wave.
“Well, Ink, why don’t you sit down and we can continue the movie.” Toriel said setting down some chips on a coffee table. Ink nodded and sat in a separate chair beside the sofa. He set Tapestry down on his lap while Frisk scurried over to play with the child. The skeleton baby giggled as Frisk made little noises to them.
The movie, that one about the red nose deer Ink could never remember the name of, played on. He could feel the heaviness of his eyelids but he didn’t let himself fall asleep. This may be a pacifist classic timeline, but crazy stuff still happened in those and he didn’t know what would happen if they somehow recognized him and the danger he posed. Many out in the multiverse weren’t happy about the so-called Protector. Besides, he remembered Dream had told him sleeping at someone else’s house unless they actually invited you over to sleep there was rude. He didn’t exactly care if he was rude but it would make Dream happier if he pretended to have manners.
Frisk ran out the room to bring some toys from their room. They came back with an armful of magnetized wooden blocks and MK trailing behind them. Ink didn’t really want to but he sat Tapestry down on the floor for them to play together easier.
“Cute kid.” Sans said in a quiet tone as to not disturb the others.
“Mhm.” Ink replied absently.
His eyes turned back to the movie. “So, is it just you?”
“Technically yes.” He replies with a forced smile, not elaborating further.
The rest of the night dragged on and eventually Ink regained enough energy to teleport to the Doodlesphere safely. So he told Tori that he and Tapestry had to go.
“Are you sure? It’s pretty dark out.”
“Don’t worry we’ll be fine. Thank you for letting us stay as long as we have but my friends will get worried.” That last part… might’ve been a lie. Blue and Dream had no idea where he was and probably assumed he was at the Doodlesphere. But whatever to make her feel ok with them leaving.
He waved goodbye at the door and went outside. It was much quieter outside. And dark as hell as Toriel had mentioned. He summed Broomie and created an inky black portal. Holding Tapestry tighter in his arms and Ink jumped through, feet landing on the cold ground of the only place he called home.