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There was a gentle breeze, pleasant and warm, with an all encompassing smell that Error only knew how to describe as “fresh.” The sun beat down from the sky overhead as Error briefly closed his eyes, hands in his pockets as he failed to come up with any other way to describe the crisp, earthy scent in the air. He figured his initial description made enough sense; Farmtale produced pretty much any kind of fruit or vegetable you could really think of, after all.
“I got it!” A bright voice chirped, Error looking over with an amused and lazy expression.
Ink popped up from his hunched over position, showing off the bright red tomato he plucked from the lines of tomato plants that surrounded them, “This one should be good, right? It’s super red and juicy! See? I told you we’d find some!”
Error rolled his eyes with a defeated sigh as the edges of his mouth curved up against his will, “Fine, fine. I’ll think twice the next time I question your, oh so constant, optimism.”
Ink triumphantly lifted his chin into the air, “That sounds like a good idea, Mr. Grumpy Pants. It’ll serve you well.” He then looked around him, wondering aloud, “Do you think we’ll need any more than this? I’m having trouble spotting any other good ones…”
Error gave a skeptical glance to the tomato plants surrounding them on every side. They were currently fighting for space amongst the weeds from the lack of care they had been receiving. Shrugging, Error answered, “Yeah, I don’t think we need much more than that.” He raised an eyebrow as he watched Ink gleefully stick the tomato into the bag that wrapped around his side, “Why are we even doing this anyway? How exactly does playing farmer fit into ‘Project Save the Multiverse?’”
He wanted to snort at the infuriated look Ink shot him. Sticking out a multicolored tongue, Ink huffed, “Because even we have to eat sometime! How can we expect to save the world on an empty stomach?”
Error opened his mouth, but Ink interrupted him as he turned his back with an exaggerated eye roll, “And no, we need to eat something other than chocolate and sweets some of the time.”
Pursing his mouth, Error shrugged. Eh, that was fair. He took a few steps backward until the shade of a tree covered him from the relentless glare of the sun overhead. He leaned back on the tree trunk and gave a nod to the stone figure beside him, highly reminiscent of a Farmtale Sans if he wasn’t mistaken, “So, what are you looking for now?” Error called out, turning his head and watching Ink scavenge around the crops, “Surely we’re almost done here, right?”
“Yep! I’m gonna try and find one more good tomato and then we can go look for some corn!” Ink’s faint voice called back, leaning over to search through the leaves again.
Error shook his head with a smile when Ink’s top half disappeared, now only his brown trousered rump being visible, “Great, I’m going to have to put a leash on you so you don’t get lost.” Ignoring Ink’s grumbled retort, Error looked back over to the stone Farmer Sans.
A piece of wheat was perched between his teeth and a straw hat sat on his brow, hands in his pockets with a relaxed expression as he kept watch over that mighty tomato field. He looked the same as Error remembered, no different than any other Farmtale Sans he may have encountered... Only this one was made out of solid stone as grass grew tall around his feet, nature slowly reclaiming him as he unknowingly kept his eternal vigil over his prized tomatoes.
Error tsked with pity. Poor guy. He had probably just been minding his own business, attending to his field on what he thought was a normal Tuesday afternoon. After working in the sun for a while, he took a brief refuge under the tree. Little did he know that would be the last action he would ever take before he became a statue of cracked gray stone.
Poking Farmer Sans’s cheek, Error pondered to himself. Would becoming stone be a particularly uncomfortable experience? He wasn’t sure. Perhaps he should have asked Dream. He got turned into stone once upon a time, right?
Flashes of memory shot through Error’s head and he quickly looked away with a flinch. He shouldn’t be thinking about “what ifs.” It was pointless to dwell on things he may never get the chance to do again. Quickly shoving the memory back down, Error refocused his attention on the stone Farmer Sans statue. He didn’t know if turning to stone was an experience you were… awake for, or if you kinda just took a very long nap. If the experience was like taking a nap, Error didn’t think it’d be that bad. Maybe a bit disorienting at first when you finally woke up, especially with having to deal with all the mental fuckery that being stone for possible years would do to you, but other than that, it didn’t sound awful. Error might be able to deal with that. Now, if he was conscious? That might really fucking suck. What if… he got an itch? Did he just have to stand there, forever, never being able to scratch that itchy spot?
Geez, that would be hell. Error grimaced. He waved a hand in front of Farmer Sans’s face, his expression never changing from the relaxed one it was frozen in. Chuckling, Error rested his arm on his shoulder and leaned on him, “Well, I sure hope you’re not conscious for this, buddy. Having to watch your tomatoes go to shit and you can’t do a damn thing about it.” A thoughtful look crossed Error’s face and he put a hand on his chin. Then again, Farmer Sans maintained Sans’s characteristic laziness, right? If anything, he was probably forced to put the bare minimum into his gardens anyway, even before the calamity.
Rolling his eyes, Error grumbled to himself, “Yeah, probably put the bare minimum into your fields and they still ended up being the best.” A whole lot of Sans variants got inexplicably lucky that way despite their chronic laziness. Error couldn’t tell if that trait genuinely annoyed him, or if he was jealous since the luck didn’t seem to really carry over to him. A part of him hoped it was simply jealousy. It was so frustrating to be annoyed with an aspect of someone you genuinely admired.
Error moved to lean back on the tree again, but paused when the entire underside of his sleeve was coated with a layer of gray. Disgust twisted Error’s features and he roughly wiped the bottom of his sleeve, bitterly grumbling to himself. He always had a hard time telling when these statues were going to leave a residue or not. He kept wiping, but it was sort of… pressed into the fabric at this point. Sticky dust that clung no matter how much he wiped, “Wow, thanks a lot, pal. I know you can’t help being the stone part, but do you have to be so dusty on top of it?” Grimacing, Error figured that yeah, it had been a while. But surely not long enough to accumulate this amount of dust, right-?
The wheat clutched between Farmer Sans’s teeth suddenly fell out of his mouth. Error snapped his head over, watching that piece of wheat hit the ground with shock. Hurriedly, Error scrambled for the wheat piece, “Shit! Shit, I didn’t mean-! Okay-” He raised back up and attempted to put it back in Farmer Sans’s mouth. However, the wheat piece was significantly more fragile than he thought. Any amount of pressure sort of… just smushed the piece in between his fingers, feeling much more like sand than stone.
Error stared at the wheat piece he inadvertently smushed between his fingers. Wow, the stone these statues were made out of was really inconsistent. It was either hard and brittle, or like sticky sand; there was no in between. Error managed to shove the piece of stone wheat between Farmer Sans’s jaws again. He stood back with a nervous grin and hands on his hips. His face fell when Farmer Sans’s jaw was deformed. Indents of Error’s fingerprints sat in his cheeks and his jaw was sort of lopsided and- Wait. Was it… Was it moving?
The bottom jaw fell off Farmer Sans’s skull and Error nearly jumped out of his sandals, “Shit! Oh, goddamn it, no, no, you’re fine, oh shit-” He scrambled to grab the jaw off the ground before Ink’s voice called out, making Error whirl around as he clutched the stone jaw behind his back.
“Error? What are you doing?” Ink was giving Error a skeptical look as he stood out in the fields. His face then contorted with a judgemental frown and he grumbled, “You’re not messing with the statues and giving them funny poses again, are you?”
Putting his free hand on his chest with an innocent expression, Error dismissed the idea with a forced laugh, “Me? No, who do you take me for? I’m being good, I’m not doing anythi-” He broke off when a strange sound came from behind him. Like that of soil being dumped onto the ground. Error snapped his head around just in time to see Farmer Sans crumble to a pile of stone dust. The jaw in his hand, likewise, slithered through his fingertips like a bunch of sand. After a long moment, he slowly looked back over at Ink and pointed at the pile with his thumb, “I didn’t do that.”
Ink had an expression that was hard to read. It was like a mixture between concern and… if Error wasn’t mistaken, a sort of haunted look. As quickly as it formed however, Ink chased it away, letting out an annoyed sigh as he marched off through the field, “Way to go, Error. Killed another innocent civilian.”
Quickly wiping his hands free of the dust, Error chased after Ink until he fell into step beside him, “Hey, I didn’t actually do that this time! Besides, he’ll be fine. Once we break the curse, he’ll be right back to normal.”
Instead of playing around with him like Error expected, Ink glanced up with an uncertain look to his eye. His voice was quiet as he almost timidly asked, “What… makes you so sure?”
Error came to a stop, looking down at Ink with a dumbfounded expression. He motioned to Ink’s bag, “You know, like what the map says.” He gestured for Ink to take it out until he hesitantly complied.
The map was crumpled and covered with dark brown stains. It faded due to time, but Ink’s drawings and instructions were still clearly legible on it. Error tapped a finger against it with a self-assured smile, “See? We just gotta get all the stuff until we break the curse. Then boom, everybody will be back to normal.”
“Yeah, but…” Ink looked away, clearly not convinced, “How… How do you know?”
“How do we know?” Error corrected him. He gave a shrug, muttering, “Eh, the exact details escape me, but you were the one who wrote it out, Squid. We’re just following your lead.”
Ink looked back down at the stained map, biting his lip as his fingers dug into the paper slightly harder.
“Hey, look at me.” Error gently urged. He only continued when Ink hesitantly looked up at him. Giving him a warm smile, Error reassured him, “You don’t have to feel bad if you forgot the exact details too. That’s why you wrote them down.” Putting a hand on his shoulder, he added with a wink, “And remember; you don’t have to be worried about the lack of Broomie. You don’t need a world-hopping paintbrush if you got me.”
A hard to read emotion flashed in Ink’s eye as soon as he mentioned his old paintbrush friend, but he didn’t let it linger long. His colorful eyes glanced away, seemingly still not convinced.
Extending his pinkie finger out, Error flashed Ink a smile when he hesitantly looked over, “It’s you and me, Squid. If anyone can save the multiverse and kick this apocalypse’s ass, it’d be us.”
Face morphing into a gentle smile, Ink hooked his pinkie finger with Error’s, signifying their promise with a small laugh, “Yeah, I… guess you’re right.”
Putting his hands in his pockets and beginning to walk again, Error snorted, “Of course I am. Don’t worry about Farmer Sans back there either. I’m sure that ‘breaking the curse’ means undoing everything the curse did. So, statues becoming dust piles shouldn’t matter because when we reverse the curse, they’d never have been stone to begin with, you know?”
Ink’s laugh was like tinkling bells. He walked alongside Error as they made their way to the cornfields, “Yeah, you’re right again, Glitchy. Thanks.”
Error nudged him affectionately, “No problem, shorty.” They soon came to the cornfields and stopped in front of them. Luckily, the corn seemed to be doing just fine even despite the lack of attention given to them these past couple of years. There were plenty of ripe looking ears of corn right there for the picking, and they didn’t even have to wander into the maze to look for them.
Reaching up and snapping off an ear of corn, Error handed it to Ink with a joking smirk, “Look at that, I didn’t end up having to put a leash on you after all.”
Ink glared up at him, tragically the shortest thing around for a good distance, “Oh, har har.” He snatched the ear of corn and stuck it in his sling bag. He opened the map again and looked over it for a minute before declaring, “Okay, so we got dinner down! We can rest for the night then we can get started again first thing in the morning!”
Error let out a weary sigh, “Not quite. We haven’t cooked it yet. So, your place or mine?”
Giving a shrug, Ink answered, “It doesn’t matter to me. As long as it’s not the base back in the Omeg-” His face twisted and he broke off, not finishing the thought. He rubbed his shoulder and mumbled, “As long as it’s not… y-you know.”
Error looked away with a solemn look. Yeah, the Omega Timeline was still too painful to visit. He reached over and intertwined his hand with Ink’s. He rubbed the top of Ink’s hand with his thumb, feeling like softly spun yarn between his fingertips.
He supposed he did it long enough that it caught Ink’s attention. Ink gave him an amused look, raising an eyebrow, “What?”
Chuckling, Error gave his hand a squeeze, “You’re really soft, you know that?”
Ink’s cheeks took on a colorful hue and he looked away with a flustered smile, “Wow, you’re being quite forward, aren’t you?”
Giving him a wink, Error placed a quick kiss to the top of his hand, “Just telling the truth.” He flicked open a teleport window and the two of them walked through, hand-in-hand as they brought that day’s long journey to an end.
******
At long last, Error stood back to observe his handiwork. The stone statue relaxing in the rocking chair was now decked out in a bizarre mess of a costume. A feather boa, an old-fashioned hat, and even a polka accordion that Error found stashed away in a closet, this statue now wore with pride. Or, as much pride as he could have. The old human man was kind of incapable of showing any expression other than the peaceful one he was frozen with all that time ago.
Error snorted and turned around from where he stood on the porch, presenting his masterpiece with both hands as he struggled to not burst out laughing, “Hey, look! Doesn’t he look great? He really outdid himself, if you ask me.”
His intended audience only half-heartedly turned his head over his shoulder. He didn’t even smile. His eyes were dark and the bags under his eyes gave him a concerningly frail look. His face slightly twisted with a strange expression, like a mixture of disgust and fear, before he slowly turned back around, hanging his head as he sat upon a large tree root farther off from the cottage.
A sharp pang went through Error’s heart and he let his hands fall. He gazed at his partner’s back for a long moment, mind wondering what he could do, before jolting when a loud thud came from behind him. He whirled around to see the man’s stone arm fall to the wooden porch.
Error picked up the arm and fruitlessly tried to attach it back to its rightful owner before giving up. He placed it across the stone man’s lap and made his way over to Ink. He slowed his approach as he got closer, slowly coming around until he was sure he was in Ink’s line of sight. His voice was cautious as he hesitantly asked, “Uh, Ink? You… okay?”
Ink didn’t even look up at him. He was staring down at the map on his lap as he loosely held the golden heart locket they came to this AU for in one hand. He didn’t respond for a long moment, Error beginning to wonder if he even heard him. Finally, he answered, but with a painfully monotone voice, “Tomorrow, it will have been three years.”
A dark feeling blossomed in Error’s soul and he quickly looked away. Movement directed his attention back forward and he met Ink’s gaze as he slowly lifted his head to look at him. His eyes were white circles as his voice wearily asked, “And after all that time… What do we have to show for it?”
Error’s facial expression twisted with thought, looking down as he struggled to think of what to say. He gestured to the map and the heart locket Ink held, “Those. We’ve been making progress. Don’t sell our work short.”
Ink looked back down at the map, face falling with a judgemental, unimpressed frown. Error leaned forward and pointed to various places on the stained map, “See? We already got a lot of these items. Just because each one takes a while to get doesn’t mean we aren’t making any progress.” He gestured to the locket Ink held with a grin, “We even got one today! So, try to keep your spirits up. It might not feel like a ton, but we are definitely getting closer everyday.”
“But… it’s not enough.” Ink looked up with a heavy, exhausted expression, “You’ve been trying so hard, and it’s still taking so long-”
“We have been trying.” Error corrected him, eye slightly twitching as he kept up his smile, “It’s okay. We didn’t come into this expecting it would be easy.”
Ink’s face twisted and he looked away, eyes narrowing as he muttered, “Right.” Letting out a sigh, he murmured, “Aren’t you… tired, Glitchy? Isn’t it about time that… we stop pretending? For you to admit the truth of this world?” He clasped the heart locket close to his chest, almost like he was clutching at a real heart, “The truth of our world?”
Error let his gaze fall, neglecting to respond. The silence served as his answer and Ink let out a small, dejected sigh.
“I’m tired, Error.” Ink murmured, voice thick, “I know you… want to keep going this way, but… I don’t know how much longer I can keep it up.”
They both fell into silence. Error let his gaze trail away while Ink kept sitting there on the tree stump, head bowed. A clump of flowers sat not far from him, growing in a patch of dappled sunlight within that vast forest. They were bright buttercups, blooming ever so hopefully, blissfully unaware of the calamity that wrecked their multiverse. Error approached the flowers and plucked a few of them, letting some remain in the patch of sunlight they called home. He wrapped some strings around the buttercups he picked and made a small bouquet, “I know you’re tired, but…” Error turned and presented the bouquet to Ink with a smile, “It’s in times like these that it’s important to remember the small things in life.”
Ink stared with a dazed and baffled look at the bouquet before shifting his gaze up to Error as his face twisted with further confusion.
“These flowers could have given up too. But they kept on growing. Kept surviving even if the multiverse itself tried to snuff them out.” Error tilted his head with a pleasant and warm expression, “There’s beauty even in tragedies, Ink. Even if everything went to shit, there’s still little examples of beauty if you are willing to look.”
“Flowers. A bouquet of… flowers.” Ink mumbled, looking back down at the bouquet with a somewhat perturbed look. His expression shifted to one of concern and sympathy, gazing up to his face with almost a sad glimmer to his eye, “Is… is that what you see?”
“A bouquet of buttercups to be exact.” Error gifted the bouquet to Ink. He then offered his hand to him, who gave it a cautious glance before taking it. Error guided Ink up to a standing position and he took the golden heart locket, putting it over Ink’s head. Ink buckled as soon as he did, acting as if it weighed five tons. Panic shot through Error and he shot his arms out, intending to break Ink’s fall, “Hey, are you alright?”
“Y-yeah, it’s just… heavy.” Ink forced a chuckle, balancing himself by lightly holding onto Error’s arms, his dainty hands barely having the weight of a feather.
Raising an eyebrow, Error easily lifted the golden locket now securely put around his neck, “This little thing?”
Ink’s smile fell and he looked away, murmuring, “You know, I’m not exactly… made for this.”
Cupping his cheeks that were as soft as yarn, Error gave him a loving smile, “Sure you are. Anyone with hope in their hearts can wear something like this.”
“But what if I… don’t have hope?” Ink asked quietly, a scared glimmer to his glossy eyes.
Folding the map up and putting it in his pocket, Error took one of Ink’s hands in his and put the other around his waist, “Then I will just have to hope enough for the both of us.” He led Ink around as he danced in wide, sweeping circles, humming a gentle tune to the best of his ability.
Ink’s hand clutched the bouquet harder as it curled into Error’s shoulder, following his lead. He gazed up at him, a slightly rainbow hue decorating his cheeks. His voice was soft with awe and almost a sense of melancholy, “D-dancing? You feel the joy to dance in a time like this?”
“Why not?” Error hummed. He gave an endearing look back down to Ink as he added, “You have to find your own joy when times are hard. Learn to spot the beauty in even things like a calamity.” Twirling around, Error directed Ink’s attention to their surroundings, “Like this AU. A nice little forest with a fairytale cottage, even after everything that’s happened. That’s really kind of beautiful in a way, if you think about it.”
Ink followed his gaze, a thoughtful expression crossing his face, “That’s… what you see? A scene like out of a fairytale? Rather than…” He trailed off, a dark look entering his eye.
“Don’t you see it too?” Error questioned, not sure why Ink of all people couldn’t spot the flowers growing, the sunlight through the trees, or the bright green of foliage around a cozy cottage.
“No.” Ink murmured, barely audible as he let his head fall.
Putting his hand under his chin, Error lifted his head until they made eye contact, “Then let me show you.” Giving a warm smile, he added, “You were the one who taught me to see and appreciate the little things in life, after all.”
Ink was silent before looking away with a conflicted expression, whispering “What if I don’t remember how?”
“Then let me remind you.” Error took Ink’s hand again and led him around in a dance underneath the trees. He hummed his gentle tune again, letting his actions speak louder than words. They would make it through this. They were making progress, even if it was slow. Saving the world wasn’t a race, not really anyway. It was more like an endless road of resilience and perseverance, stretching on for such a distance, one could think they would never reach the end.
But it would be okay. As long as they were together, then Error was sure of it. They would find a way to break the curse and everything would go back to normal again. All they had to do was keep at it, no matter how long or how hard. They would reach their happy ending. One of these days.
******
No matter what he did, the limestone doors remained shut. Remaining closed to people and time as the wind whistled across the barren desert behind them. Error lowered the golden pieces of the sacred amulet, his heart sinking in his chest. Why didn't it work? Was there an extra piece? An additional cantation he forgot to say? He couldn’t understand. They worked so hard, they needed this temple to open.
“Error, it’s over. We’re done.”
Whirling around, Error stared at Ink completely dumbfounded. He stood there with his arms crossed, scarf blowing in the sandy wind as the research camp full of stone statues sat lifeless behind him. Letting the pieces of the amulet fall to the sand, Error took a step forward as he gestured at Ink, “What are you talking about?! We’re so close! This is almost the last item, if we can just get this thing to open. Come on, get your map out and look-”
“Error! Give it up!” Ink cried, snapping his gaze onto him. Tears sparkled in his eyes and his hands balled into fists at his sides, “It’s been three years! We’re done! It’s over, just stop.”
Error stood back in shock. His voice was thin with disbelief when he muttered, “I can’t believe this. After coming so far, you want to give up now? When we’re so close?”
“We were never close.” Ink snarled. Tears fully trickled down his cheeks as he looked away, golden heart locket around his neck glimmering from the dark sky overhead. His lip quivered and his voice lowered to a depressed murmur, “We had no way of knowing that Ink’s plan was ever going to be successful anyway.”
Eyes narrowing, Error corrected, “Your plan. Ink, stop talking like this, we’ll be able to do this-”
Ink slapped a hand on his forehead and cried, “No! You stop!” He whipped out the map from his sling bag and clutched it as hard as he could in his hand, although the map didn’t even crinkle from it, “I didn’t make this! And I’m tired of pretending like I did!” He then threw the map as hard as he could, it fluttering away from him in the wind.
Error threw his strings out and caught it, yanking it back to him and gazing down at it in his hands. The dark stains still covered it, the drawings and instructions becoming increasingly harder to read due to the passage of time. Flashes of images threatened to seep through to the forefront of Error’s mind, like blood slowly welling up in a wound. But Error shoved it back down, forcing his mind to a blank emptiness as he stared at the map in silence.
“Error.” Ink was gazing at him with a loving but… sad expression. As if he pitied his very existence, “I’m sorry. I love you. I’ve… tried so hard to keep it up for you, to pretend as long as I could, but… I just can’t do it anymore.”
Smile twitching across his face, Error let out a strained laugh, “Ink, what are you talking about? Come on, quit joking around, we’ve got a multiverse to save-”
“Error, I’m tired.” Ink cut him off. He took a step forward, putting a hand to his chest as the locket around his neck was nearly the exact same size. His glossy eyes glimmered as if they were holding tears. A pained smile crossed his face as he let out a choked laugh, “I’m so tired, Error. I’m tired of… trying and pretending to be someone I’m not. I really want to be him, Error. I wish I was him. All I want to do is make you happy, but… I’ll never be him. No matter how hard I try. And I think… I think pretending to be him is only hurting you more now than it is helping.”
Expression hardening, Error shoved the map into his pocket and marched forward. He forcibly clasped Ink’s hands in his own, dwarfing them, and stated firmly, shoving down the thought of how his hands felt more like threads of yarn than that of a living person, “No, stop it. You are him. You’re Ink. For now and always. Quit screwing around, we don’t have time for this.”
“Please, Error.” Ink begged, voice thick with tears. He pressed his hands to Error’s chest, so weightless, that Error could hardly feel the pressure, “You made me, remember? And I-I tried to play the part for so long, for your sake, but… it’s not doing any good anymore. You need to finally accept reality. For your own good.” Ink’s beautiful face flashed in front of him. Flickering from the one he recognized; the one that haunted all his memories, before switching to a cheap, crocheted replica, cutesy button eyes instead of the real, stunning ones Error remembered getting lost in.
Error’s face twitched, trying in vain to push the truth back down. Force himself to believe it was Ink’s real face gazing pleadingly up at him rather than a doll’s, “Ink, stop it. You are real, this is real, everything is real. Quit trying to reframe reality, that’s fucked up-”
“I’m not the one reframing reality!” Ink cried. His beautiful face quit flickering between the visions in Error’s mind, fully landing on the real, cutesy one of a doll. Error snapped his head away. No, he wasn’t going to entertain it. He had to double down. Accept his reality. Or else it was all going to fall apart. Doll Ink’s voice continued, “It’s you! You’re the one who won’t see things for how they are!”
Error pushed away, turning his back on him, “No!” Error snapped, squeezing his eyes shut. His hands curled into fists before throwing them to the sides, gesturing to the stone statues behind them, but not having the courage to look at them, “I’m just- Making the most out of things! Seeing the little things in life?! Appreciating the small things… That’s what you taught me! That’s what I’m trying to do!”
“But I didn’t teach you that!” His voice fell to a hurt murmur, perfectly mimicking the one in Error’s memory, “Ink taught you that.”
Error didn’t respond. He kept his eyes squeezed shut. Head tilted down. Trying in vain to bury the memories, but they crawled back to haunt him no matter how many shovels of dirt he piled on top of them.
“Error, I wish I could be him. I wish his teachings could still apply. He taught you wonderful things.” A tiny hand made of yarn touched his. Doll Ink stared up at him with his doll eyes, the plastic artificially mimicking the shine of a real eye as they glinted back the light of a sky overcast with clouds, “But, even if his words had merit to them, how helpful can they be if you ignore reality for them? You aren’t ‘seeing’ the little things in life; you’re actively rejecting what is right in front of you.”
Shaking his head, Error growled, “No. I’m not. I’m just seeing what you’re too pessimistic to notice.”
“Then why won’t you look, huh?” Doll Ink challenged. He came around to Error’s other side and pushed him, trying to physically force him to gaze upon the research camp, though his far inferior size did nothing to actually move him, “Tell me, honestly. What do you see? Why won’t you look at all those ‘stone statues’ you were perfectly content to mess around with before?”
Error slowly turned his head over his shoulder. One moment, the stone statues in the camp sat underneath a dark gray, cloudy desert sky. The next, long decayed corpses and piles of dust sat in a camp of ruin and carnage underneath a sky stained blood red. Error snapped his head back around. He squeezed his eyes shut.
“I know. I know the truth is hard.” Doll Ink cupped his cheek, the reality of only being able to reach him because he was constantly being aided by his strings impossible to ignore. The permanent happy expression sewn across his face seemed more bittersweet. Melancholy, “But aren’t you tired of pretending? Aren’t you ready to accept the truth yet?”
Error squeezed his eyes shut tighter, “I don’t have to accept the truth. I don’t have to accept any truth. I don’t… I can’t…”
“See? You can’t even finish.” Both of his little crocheted hands touched his face. Error reluctantly opened his eyes and met the button ones of the doll in front of him, “But I think you’re ready. You’ve worked so hard, Ruru. And I’m so proud of you. I’m happy to have helped you along the way.” His voice choked up as he let out a strained laugh, “But you’re ready now, aren’t you? You don’t need the help of little ol’ me anymore. You can go on for real this time. Without pretending. Finish what you promised Ink you’d do.”
Tears welled up in Error’s eyes. The carnage of the real world sat all around him, impossible to hide away underneath pastel visions and bright colors like he did so effortlessly before. It closed in all around him, his peaceful, safe worldview sinking further and further away, unable to be reclaimed despite how hard Error reached for it. Error shook his head. He couldn’t. He couldn’t do this.
“Yes, you can.” Doll Ink encouraged him, able to read his thoughts as he always could. Possessing the abilities that no real person had, “I believe in you. Ink believed in you. Please. You can do this. Finish what you started-”
Error reached forward, dragging the tiny doll to his chest. He cradled it, squeezing his eyes shut as the suffocating atmosphere of death and isolation threatened to drive him insane, “No! I can’t do it! The only reason I did anything was because you were here! Because I pretended like he was still with-!”
His hands felt wet. Sticky. Covered in the blood and dust of fallen comrades. A weight sat in his lap. Heavy. Unmoving. Never to move again.
Error’s eyes snapped open and he stared straight ahead, breathing heavily. He couldn’t shove down the memories anymore, “Because… I pretended like… Ink.”
His beautiful face. The ink splotch on his cheek not standing out that much anymore with the splatters of blood across his face. Reaching up a hand, touching his cheek and staining it red with a weak smile. Giving him the map he poured so much time into as their last ditch plan to save the multiverse if everything should go wrong. His weak voice letting out a whispery laugh while he choked on his own blood.
“You’ll save everyone after I’m gone, won’t you, Ruru?”
Error let go of the doll in his arms. His hands flew to his eyes, shutting out the world and enclosing him in darkness. His legs were so weak. He wanted to collapse and fall to his knees. And yet, at the same time, he couldn’t; he remained standing, curling in on himself, covering his eyes as if that would effectively hide him from the world. He couldn’t touch the ground. The charred ground of ash and decay, “No. No, I can’t. I can’t do this. Please, no, I can’t do this.” His voice was choked, the lump so painful, it felt like it was going to burst through his throat. He squeezed his eyes tighter, the tears that sneaked through his fingers burning against his cheeks from the bitterly dry wind, “Please don’t make me do this. I can’t do this. I can’t. I need you. Please, I can’t do this by myself, I need someone. I need anyone, please I can’t do this. I can’t do this, I can’t-”
“Hey, hey, Error. It’s okay, look at me, it’s okay, alright? I’m here.” A familiar voice gently called out to him. Warm hands touched the hands covering his face, coaxing them down.
Error slowly lowered his hands. Ink’s face, his heartbreakingly familiar face, stared back at him; just as he remembered it, “I-Ink…?” He hesitantly asked, keeping his gaze locked on him, mildly aware that his suffocating surroundings were returning back to normal. Back to something he could tolerate and understand.
Ink gave him a smile. It was a heavy, weary smile, as if hiding a deep pain. His eyes sparkled, but only dimly. A profound sadness glimmered deep inside them, but he didn’t speak it aloud, only letting out a tired, relieved sigh, “Yeah, it’s me. I’m here.”
The frayed ends of Error’s mind slowly came back together. His panicked breathing slowed. He weakly grasped Ink’s hands, feeling like he just woke up from a coma, “What’s… going on? What were we doing just a few minutes ago?”
The faintest of a hopeful light died in Ink’s eyes. His smile faded, leaving a hollow, exhausted, and hopeless expression on his face. However, as quickly as it appeared, he chased it away with a weak smile, “We were trying to get one of the last items on the map. We were planning what to do until you… well, until you needed to take a break.”
“Take… a break.” Error quietly echoed. He looked behind him to the research camp with the dozens of stone statues before gazing back at the shut tight temple doors in front of them. His mind slowly caught back up, the broken pieces of it working together to construct this new lie and bury the truth under the crushing weight of denial again, “Right. We were… close, weren’t we? We just have to work a little bit harder and figure it out.”
Ink let his head fall, smile appearing overly strained as he choked out a small laugh, “Yeah, just… a little bit harder.”
Error gently cupped his cheek and gently urged him to look up at him. His eyes seemed so sad and hopeless. Sympathy and concern radiated through Error’s heart and he asked, “What’s wrong? We’re making progress. We at least found the temple this time, didn’t we?”
Ink just gazed up at him, eyes heavy and glimmering with unfallen tears. But he didn’t cry. He only reached up a hand to cradle Error’s as he weakly chuckled, “I’m just tired. It’s okay. Hard to believe we’re so close, huh?”
Giving him a warm smile, a new feeling of hope entered Error’s heart, “Yep, we’re nearly at the finish line. It’s all thanks to you. We wouldn’t have been able to do this if it weren’t for you and your map.”
Ink glanced away, smile faltering as he failed to answer him.
Error took his hand and led him back to the temple doors, taking out the map with the dark brown stains he couldn’t remember the origins of with his other hand, “Well, come on. We don’t have all day to work on this. The sooner we get finished with this, the sooner we can get out of this sandy air.” He paused as his thumb rubbed the top of Ink’s hand. It was soft. Incredibly soft. Like that of yarn. He gazed down at his hand with a thoughtful look, not knowing why the first thing he could think of when comparing him to something was yarn.
Ink noticed his pause, asking with an amused tone, although an underlying hint of hesitancy lay underneath his words, “What? What are you thinking about?”
Looking up with a smile, Error remarked with an endearing tone, “You’re really soft, you know that?”
An odd look flashed through Ink’s eyes. Such a sharp hurt, it was as if he were stabbed in the heart. He quickly looked away, letting out a strained laugh, almost like his words were choking him, “Wow, you’re… being quite forward, aren’t you?”
Placing a quick kiss to the top of his hand, Error winked, “I’m just telling the truth.” He then turned to the temple doors, picking up the pieces of amulet he discarded on the ground. He lifted them up and thoughtfully murmured to himself, oblivious to how Ink’s shoulders slumped and how he leaned over behind him, acting as if the golden heart locket around his neck was a noose, weighing him down, “So, we know that the amulet has at least two parts. But perhaps there was an additional part, maybe back at the camp and we didn’t look hard enough for it. Or maybe… I said the words wrong. There’s always a possibility I mispronounced one of these illegible words-”
He continued to murmur to himself, the wind carrying on behind him. He didn’t have to stress himself. It wasn’t a race. They were on a mission to save the multiverse. While, yes, it was important to be fast about it, everyone was stone. They weren’t going anywhere. It’s not like they were dead. They technically had all the time in the world to undo the curse and reverse the calamity. After that, everything would be back to normal. All their friends would be back, all the worlds would go back to how they were, and then he and Ink could have their happy ending. Once and for all.
Giving a happy sigh, Error fiddled with the amulet as his heart was light and hopeful, his fractured mind blissfully unaware of the bleak reality he forcibly repressed once again. It was all going to be okay, he was sure of it.
With Ink by his side, they could do anything.