Happy birthday to me.. And I'm sorry for the wait... My brain died, for this story, and I got caught up in other stories, and other things...

So, who's ready to return to Shades, and Searcher's, story!

----

Searcher coughed as his head was pulled out of the bucket of water.

Skeletons couldn't drown, but they could be traumatized by the pain that they went through....

"Well, what is your answer, brat?" Fear asked.

He was sitting on a throne, watching as his minion forced the younger Skeleton's head under the water in the bucket, before he was brought up for a round of questioning.

And this was another round of that questioning.

"I already told you!" Searcher snarled at Fear, as the water dribbled out of his skull. "Fuck... You!"

Fear growled, as his minion forced Searcher's head under the water again.

--------

Searcher coughed up water as he was thrown into his cell, and he slowly managed to crawl over to a corner, to an area covered with tally marks.

He picked up a piece of charcoal, and he used it to add another tally mark to the ones on the wall.

Five months.... He had been here for five months....

He was too tired to crawl over to the pile of straw that acted as his bed, and he closed his eyesockets...

But he had a feeling that he was missing something...

------

Pregnancy was quickly driving Goth up the wall, skeleton pregnancies were 6 months long, but he pitied the Skeletons on Ser’s side of their Spilt Multiverse, their pregnancies lasted for nine months...

He’d never figured out the reason why their pregnancies had a time difference, but now he was glad, because it that meant that he didn't have to go through an extra three months of waddling around, like an idiot. He was going to enjoy seeing Searcher waddling around like an idiot....

The tiny proto Soul had finally left his Soul and now, it was developing into a tiny babybones.

And with a sigh of relief he sat down, stretching his arms and his legs as he got comfortable.

Which at this stage, was not an easy thing for him to do.

He placed a hand on the large belly of his ecto body, and the shimmering Magic, where his baby grew, was hidden by his clothing, but it wasn't his normal clothing, it was maternity clothing.

And once the baby was born, he’d have to buy new clothes for himself, thanks to the sudden growth spurt that he was going through.

He wasn't going to be as tall as Searcher, but he wouldn't be mistaken for a child.

“Hey now, none of that.. Your Mama needs his rest...” Goth said, as he rubbed his belly, in the area above the place that his unborn child had kicked.

Palette had asked him to marry him, but they hadn't tied the knot... Goth wanted Solas and Searcher to be there...

He was five months along, and they didn't have no clue, or a lead, to the location of Searcher and Solas....

Five months.... They had been gone for five months....

And that one cry, had told them, that their counterpart was in a lot of trouble.....

But they knew, that they were alive, somewhere, and one day, they would find them...

“Ah... I remember this stage of pregnancy." A voice said, and Goth looked up and then, he gave a tired smile to his mother.

“I’m terrified, and excited, at the same time." Goth said, looking down at his bump.

“You should get used to that feeling, you’ll feel it a lot, as a parent." Geno teased his eldest son.

“Yay..." Goth sighed.

“So, I was wondering if you could do something for me...” Geno said, and Goth blinked.

“Do what Mama?”

------

Searcher woke up, in a dark void, with a massive headache.

It felt like his head was ripping itself apart.....

"They're talking too much Magic from you."

Searcher turned around to see the Error of his Multiverse. "Error..."

"We won't be able to hold on like this, we have one month left, and then, they'll get what they want..."

The Destroyer was sitting on a beanbag. "You need to find a way out of that place."

"I know.... I wanna go home...."

------

Geno had no clue why he had asked this, but he knew that it had been born from his desire to know his son's other self. Goth had explained Umbra was not quite another personality or another being, and he wasn't a multiple personality disorder.

There was a chance that the Fate created self would remerge with Goth, Goth had said that his Error self had already merged back into himself, he wasn't needed anymore.

It made his head hurt.

But as long as Gothy was happy....

But.. Geno did want to learn more about Umbra.

He’d known about Umbra for a long time, he had heard of the powerful being that made Ink and Error flee.

Umbra was whispered in legends of many AUs, as a shadowy angel and a Guardian. He was curious if Umbra, or Goth, knew that they were written into the legends of Classic's AU.

But... they didn’t know Umbra personally.

They knew Goth, they knew Error.. But Umbra was a mystery.

The only time they’d seen aspects of Umbra was after Goth was finally home, when Goth was freaking out about his drunken night with Palette.

And Umbra had not made another appearance, since that day, after Solas's call for help.

Umbra had been the paternal figure to his younger, light using, counterpart, and he was doing what he could, to cope with the fact that Ser, and Solas, was missing.

So that was why he’d asked Umbra, to show him, his Void Core.

This way, Umbra couldn't sleep everything away.

It was always amazing to watch his son become Umbra, the shadowy Guardian's golden gaze was watching everything, and everyone.

And Umbra had spent a lot of time, watching the Multiverse, for Fate.

Fate..

He didn't know what to make of such a being....

They’d torn apart their family, they had stolen his son, from them.. but...

If they hadn’t done that, the Multiverse would have ended.

But he wasn’t happy....

“It will be uncomfortable, to travel to the Void Core, Geno, and even if the Save Screen is at the edge of the Void, it will not protect you, if you leave my side, or the Core.” Umbra said, his face was mostly hidden by his scarf, and a hand was reaching out, towards Geno.

“That’s fine.” Geno said, taking his hand, and then, they were gone.

Umbra was rather nervous as he carefully pulled Geno into his Void Core, and if the bloody skeleton made a mistake, he’d be ripped apart by the void.

“Oh, that’s nice.” Geno said, when he saw the false black sky and it's spectral stars, and he smiled, when he saw the black sand that tricked the eyes.

“It's not much, but this is the main part of my place, but I can't show you the rest of it, you aren’t a Guardian, and the shadows might hurt you.” Umbra said, as he walked to his bed, in the centre of the sand ‘black hole’ and he sat down, in the pillow nest.

“It's very nice. It's better than my Save Screen.” Geno responded as he discovered the rather nice kitchen, and the huge bathroom.

“Are... Those Gasters, square dancing in the void?” Geno asked in a far away voice, having looked out of the window, into the pure void.

“Ignore them...” Umbra said dryly.

“But that’s my Gaster...” Geno said in disbelief.

“Just ignore him, they think that it's hilarious.” Umbra said, hiding the window from sight, without moving from the bed.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Geno walked over, and he sat down, next to the Guardian of Shadows.

“So... I think that it's time that we had a talk.” Geno said, and Umbra blinked.

“About what?" He asked, with a confused look, on his face.

“You and I.” Geno said.

“Ah... I see, you're Goth's mother...” Umbra said.

“I’m your mother Umbra.” Geno said, looking at him, and Umbra froze.

“You are?” He asked Geno, with a surprised look on his face.

“You, and my Gothy, are one being, just different aspects, correct?” Geno said, and Umbra nodded his head.

“Yes... But I sleep, when I'm not trying to locate Ser and Solas.” Umbra replied, to Geno.

“And that makes me your Mother Umbra, and I don't care about your origins, you're Goth, even if you were born as a result of Fate's actions.” Geno pointed out, and Umbra, to his shock, found himself being pulled into one of Geno's Mom hugs.

And then, he cried, he hadn’t thought that he’d truly be accepted, by Geno, and his family, he had been created by Fate, he shouldn’t exist....

“Don't cry, Umbra, now, pull your jacket, scarf and gloves, off. I want to see what my other oldest son looks like.” Geno said, and Umbra sniffed, a bit, and he removed those items of clothing, and Geno blinked, as a slow smile spread across his face.

“You're our kid.” Geno said.

“Eh?”

“You look like an older Gothy, but with two eyelights, instead of one...

Will Gothy grow up to look like you when he gets older?” Geno asked, and Umbra giggled.

“Maybe, I’m not sure, but now that he’s not sharing his energy with Ser, to keep him stable, he’ll probably get taller. But there is a good chance of our two aspects returning to one. Ser will probably gain a more light aspected body as he gets older, and hopefully, he won't get taller...” Umbrra said, it wasn’t something that he’d thought about...

“As long as you're healthy and happy, I’ll be happy, just don’t have any more grandchildren for a while... Gothy is still too young for it.” Geno said, ignoring the fact Goth was older then the Multiverse.

“Yeah... if we have more after this one, it will be further in the future.” Umbra said, with a wry smile, on his face.

“Good, now let's get home, so I can start dinner.” Geno said kindly, and Umbra left his jacket, gloves and scarf behind, and he offered his hand to Geno.

Moments later, they were home.

“Goth should go and get Palette, he’s probably started to panic, when he couldn’t find us.” Geno said, when they got home.

“That would be a good idea, he’s getting more freaked out the closer to birth that we get..” Umbra smirked, and then, he frowned.

“Whats wrong Umbra?” Geno asked.

“We can’t seem to be able to flip our form, minds yes... but I can’t get back to our true form..” Umbra said worriedly.

“Oh.. oh dear...” Geno said.

It had started out as a good day too.

------

Umbra had no idea, that for a few minutes, he would be given the chance to talk to Searcher, and Solas...

------

Searcher frowned, he could feel that Umbra was very annoyed about something, or someone...

'You know, I hope that you're not annoyed with me, for being a damsel in distress...'

'Searcher... where are you?! I can hear you!' Umbra cried, through their reopened link.

'I don't know, but it's a Traveling Multiverse....'

'Aw crap! I hate those... that means we could loose connection at any moment... And Solas hasn't dealt with them before. I'm reinforcing our link, and I hope that it will help me track down a door, that we can use to enter the Travelling Multiverse.' Umbra replied, and he reinforced the link. 'Oh, by the way, Congratz.'

'Why do I have the feeling that I am going to love, and hate, the news that you're about to give me...'

'Well.. you know how you treat Shades like a little brother.. even though, technically, thanks to me, he's older..' Umbra said embarrassed.

'Yes, he is my little brother... Umbra.... What happened to Shades?!'

'Well... You and Solas are about to become Uncles... well.. as soon as we figure out why we're stuck my body, and you can blame my Dream, he spiked the punch.. and well, things happen.... Palette and Shades are waiting for you, so they can get married...' Umbra giggled.

'.................. I'm going to kill your Dream. Shades is my counterpart, and the baby needs a counterpart.....'

'...' Umbra replied,of course they'd be frozen in his form, as every being in the split Multiverses had a counterpart.

'And this means that, when I get back, I'll have to have a tango, with Seeker, in a bed, and I'll have to get pregnant, to give the baby a counterpart.....

And that means that you might have to give up Solas cuddles, for nine months....'

'Yup.. Dream's deeeeeeeead...' Shades giggled, as he entered the conversation.

'Aw, come on, I'm already in Solas withdrawal!' Umbra cried.

'No Umbra, you can't find a way to summon Solas as a separate being, in a temporary form, for cuddles.' Shades dryly replied, to the dark Guardian.

'But my baby....' Umbra whimpered.

'Yeah, yeah.. Ser.. why haven't we heard from Solas?' Shades demanded, and the two halves of the shadowy guardian, were making the connection stronger.

'....... I have to keep him safe.... Your Fear wants him for his powers, I have to keep my son safe, he's in the deepest, and most protected part of my Soul, and I have Magical barriers, around his Soul Shard....

But, Fear is draining my Magic... I only have a month left... A month to get out of here, before those protective barriers fall, and Fear could take Solas away from me....

And he's torturing me, he makes one of his minions, force my head into a bucket of water....'

'Stars darn it!' Umbra snarled.

'Ser.. You're going hate me. but since we're stuck in Umbra's body, I have the share power.' Shades said, and he forced a huge amount of Magic, and energy, down the link between them... he hadn't used this link for a very long time, it had supported Ser's body when part of his Soul.. aka Solas.. was missing.

'Hang.. on.. Ser.. Solas..' Came the dual mental voices of Umbra and Shades, as the link finally faded.

But this time.. a thin thread, kept their connection alive...

Searcher took a deep breath as the Magic, and the energy reached his body, and he slowly sat up.

He could breath again....

"I'm sorry for not telling you the truth...." Searcher could feel the tears running down the left side of his face. "...And for not telling you about this...."

He touched the massive crystal, that was poking out of his right eyesocket....